Ha! The crowd she just spoke in front of is twice as big as the population of the town she was mayor of.
This is a tangent but did anyone else feel uncomfortable with the "U-S-A!" chants when she talked about sending her son off to Iraq? I mean this kid is going off to war not to play water polo at the Olympics.
I don't think was nearly as big a risk as many of you do. It's a risk if you're ahead or competitive, but McCain was almost definitely going to lose with a traditional pick. I would have loved Romney/Pawlenty for that exact reason. Looked at from that perspective, this was a perfectly rational pick. Sort of like, if you're down 7 with 2 seconds to go in a football game at the 30 yard line, do you run the ball or go with the "risky" deep pass? It's not so risky when you're a huge underdog and need a sort of miracle - it's perfectly rational and sensible. This was that play. Whether it works, who knows. But he had to do it. My hope was that his closing in the polls would cause him to go with the safe pick - he was smarter than I gave him credit for.
Well, I am worried honestly. Remember the infamous Gore sighs against GWB.? He came off as "mean" and people felt sorry for poor, simple, discombobulated George. Biden is firey and shoots from the hip. If he calls one of her foreign affairs answers "stupid" or something like that, it could really backfire. This is especially true with female voters, and the newly important demographic of MILF-hunters, who traditionally do not vote.
LOL! You have to be kidding me! That is beyond Orwell, friends. They seriously mentioned that Alaska is close to Russia and/or North Korea? Incredibly shameless and mentally bankrupt. On the flipside, maybe I should audition at FAUX for a job!
Yes, I prefer the nails on a chalkboard speeches Hillary gives. I've seen you libs scared before but this is amazing...and fun!
lol. Is this true. Maybe it is all she can do for foreign experience? BTW not to be cynical, but I think you will see many kids of politicians going to Iraq now that it is not as dangerous. Initially there were virtually none.
As previously stated, they'll probably send Hillary after her. Then Biden can quote Hillary's attacks against Peggy during the debates.
That is an interesting take and I think there is something to taking a bold step when your opponent is running a historical campaign. Still for as much as I criticize Pawlenty I don't think he would be a loser for McCain. I have some problems with his governance but from first hand experience the guy can really deliver on the stump and IMO would've done well in a debate against Biden. There is no way Biden would out average joe Tim Pawlenty. What makes this pick a surprising gamble is that the polls are so tight. Its possible the McCain camp has some internal polling that might suggest that there are some inherent problems that would require a bold move or that there was a huge opportunity to pick up women voters that would make Palin a good choice. Without knowing more though the problems that other posters have pointed out, her lack of experience, and coming from a very small (population) state, could also undermine McCain's campaign.
I don't see why anyone would have an issue with the acceptance speech she just gave. Granted, I heard it on the radio, so maybe there's a visual element I'm missing(kinda like the Kennedy-Nixon debate of 1960). But she sounded great, confident yet humble, and played to the crowd with ease. And that line about Hillary was brilliant. Make no mistake. This is a pander to women voters. But all it has to do is swing a small portion of women voters McCain's way and he wins. Obama is not doing well at all(compared to previous Dem nominees) when it comes to women over 40.
So basically McCain has picked a Russian -- the governor of eastern Siberia. Will Nikita Palin be able to prove that she does not have ties to the KGB and communist terror organizations ?
i think the comparison to hillary is a huge mistake. hillary is a VERY qualified women who has fought basically ALL HER LIFE for women's rights and she stood for more than just being a woman. so by comparing her to hillary like it's easy to be where hillary is, i'm sure hillary can make a case that she and her voters are offended. and hillary will come out saying that i'm sure. hillary will have a big role in the presidential race after all.
Oh I don't think Romney/Pawlenty would have been *bad* picks, but I feel that McCain was at a structural disadvantage. With a highly fractured Dem party and a virtually perfect month for him (including a new international crisis in Russia/Georgia), he still was generally behind in virtually every poll. And that doesn't even account for the enthusiasm gap or the ground operation disadvantages he had. I don't think there was much of a chance he could win with a traditional campaign. I think that's what the polls were missing. Pawlenty/Romney could equal out Biden - but he needed a game-changing type play. To me, that was Lieberman or a qualified woman - Palin was the best of them, though I thought she was off the table. I had thought Kay Bailey or Meg Whitman were the more likely options there. Those are the two strategies that seem to throw a complete wrench into all the standard analysis. Who knows - the next week of polling is going to be fascinating, especially all the underlying demographic breakdowns. You're going to have two conventions, the potential unification of the Dem party, a female VP pick, etc. Wow.
