The Observation Deck

Think about this---McCain made a blatantly political choice (never mind that even politically it seems stupid) over the best interests of the country, by choosing someone who will be President the minutes he keels over from one of his medical conditions. So, he made a wild gamble to pick up a demographic over choosing someone who would be best for the job.

The VP choice is a reflection of how the prez would govern and make choices. Compare: Obama's choice versus McCain's. I can't wait to see a debate between Biden and Palin.

maybe there was a reason(clicky)

WASHINGTON - If Democrats hoped to paint Republican John McCain a pawn of Big Oil, their task has become a bit more complicated with the selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.

While an ardent advocate for more drilling — off Alaska, off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and in the off-limits Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — Palin also has shown she's not shy about confronting the likes of Exxon Mobil, BP and ConocoPhillips.

Palin seems moderate on most social and economic issues. Many women in their 20s supported Hilary primarily because she was a woman.

and Palin is a former state beauty pageant contestant. She will be on the cover of most fashion and entertainment magazines within a month. the McCain Campaign will be less able to run those nasty ads accusing Obama of being a "celebrity" now, at least with a straight face. Not that McCain was ever less of a celebrity than Obama. Obama has taken the high road by not accusing McCain of having "cooties" or liking the wrong national pizza franchise.

Ryan,

Palin seems moderate on most social and economic issues.

Could you tick off her moderate views by issue so as to support this assertion?

Many women in their 20s supported Hilary primarily because she was a woman.

Likewise, could you provide data to back this assertion up?

Thanks in advance.

well, every woman i went to college with who I stay in contact with told me they supported Hillary during the nomination process. Hillary is basically Reagan with tolerance for abortion rights. if not in terms of what she says, than in terms of actual policies her husband managed to squeeze through. Since she owes her political career to her husband, it is safe to assume her administration would probably accomplish the same things, without the benefit of transformative event of the world wide web and the fun side of its IT stock bubble.

the wikipedia page mentions Palin has friends who are gay and accepted the state supreme court's order to sign a same-sex benefits/rights thing into law.

she regularly uses guns, but in a moderate and legally acceptable way, like killing moose and caribou. the page did not mention whether or not she supported a state militia, like in the U.S. Constitution. A state militia is important for warding off Indians, land squatters, the French, and the Anglos(british).

She signed into law the largest operating budget in Alaska history, while maintaining a reputation for cutting pork barrel spending projects.

This all seems pretty moderate to me. I am a moderate guy.

Ryan you mentioned her wikipedia page, funny thing is the night before the announcement NPR said her entry had been edited 30 times by a user with the name "youngtrig". And this is why I don't trust wikipedia, it can be edited by pretty much anyone.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... 9&ft=1&f=2

Wow.

Thank you. With your kind contribution we have leaped from:

Many women in their 20s supported Hilary primarily because she was a woman.

to:

well, every woman i went to college with who I stay in contact with told me they supported Hillary during the nomination process.

Now, all you have to do is call your college chums up and ask them whether each supported Hillary only because she was a woman. Then, please, bring back the results here.

***

As for your response about her moderate positions, (in your view,) you bring here your typical output. My provisional guess is: you can't be bothered to actual figure it out; but this lack of motivation is no reason to not try to be funny.

Anyway, "she has gay friends" is a keeper as far as rationales for moderation go.

If I was one of her gay friends, I think I would be counting her as an ex friend:

Palin complied with an Alaskan state Supreme Court order and signed an implementation of same-sex benefits into law under protest, stating that legal options to avoid doing so had run out.

Palin's first veto was used to kill a bill that would have barred the state from granting benefits to the partners of gay state employees, after she determined from Alaska's attorney general that it was unconstitutional. In effect, her veto granted State of Alaska benefits to same-sex couples, which she opposed doing, but which was required by law.[

Wow.

Thank you. With your kind contribution we have leaped from:

Many women in their 20s supported Hilary primarily because she was a woman.

to:

well, every woman i went to college with who I stay in contact with told me they supported Hillary during the nomination process.

Yeah, that was pretty weak. And it doesn't say much for the company you keep if they are voting on gender alone.

ryan costa wrote:Palin seems moderate on most social and economic issues.

No she doesn't. She's about as far right as one can be. Pro-life, pro-gun, anti-gay, pro-creationism, pro-drilling in ANWR...

Aside from this being a transparent electability choice (rather than a governance choice) to scoop up the PUMAs, she will allow McCain to drift back toward the center, where he generally resided before having to shift right to win the primaries. She gives him more credibility with the religious- and far-right.

Fun fact: She earned her nickname, "Barracuda," while leading her high school basketball team to the state title in 1982.

Stephen Calhoun wrote:Anyway, "she has gay friends" is a keeper as far as rationales for moderation go.

I'm a tolerant guy, so a great diversity of perspectives seem moderate to me.

John McCain appeared on the Ellen Degeneres tv show and hosted saturday night live, so i guess he is a moderate guy.