I like her. I do. Policies not withstanding, (because as of yet, I have no idea where she stands on most issues) I think she’s articulate, she has that likeability factor, she’s more interesting than Old man McCain, and also, she wore fab red shoes with a formal black suit. What more could you ask for in a VP candidate?
Surely this ticket should be Palin/McCain, not the other way round? *g*
Her selection was a masterstroke, so major props to the person who decided to shake up the party.
I think Obama should have selected Hillary as his VP, but I understand possibly, why he didn’t.
What do you guys think?
katieM
September 20
7:39 pm
So, Bev(BB) never came back to explain what he/she was talking about, hmm? Must have been a troll.
Devon
September 21
3:14 pm
Great conversation! For the most part, it has remained really thoughtful and sane. People have brought up so many interesting points, I really have nothing to add. I know lots of disgruntled Hillary supporters, and this cracked me up last week:
Some Ecards
I saddens me to know end that for its coming down to who people can identify with most, as an American, Christian, Woman whatever, rather than the issues the US is facing.
Robin
September 21
6:28 pm
Devon, that card is HYSTERICAL!
I think the reason people are so drawn to the “identification” issue is because they don’t feel “represented” by their government, and the difference between representation and identification is not always clear to people. We can and most often are politically represented by people we aren’t personally identified with, and when that’s going well, no one thinks about it, IMO. But when it’s not, people gravitate toward the promise of being represented by someone they identify with, even though such a promise is so often an illusion.
This is not a partisan issue, either; I mean, just think about how Clinton was praised as “the first Black president” and how Carter ran on a humility platform, and on how Michelle Obama’s appearance on The View catalyzed a run on the dress she was wearing. We all do this, to some degree, perhaps because so many people still see politics as something abstract and non-personal, leading us to identify with the *persona* of a politician rather than with the personal importance of our own political views and values. So instead of looking at the way politics are personal, we look at politicians in a personal way, which often leads in unexpected, sometimes undesirable, directions, because the person someone appears when they want to secure our vote is not necessarily consistent with the politics they will practice once in office. And we’re not nearly diligent enough as a society in pinning down those particulars before we vote, IMO.
Lynne
September 21
6:56 pm
No, KatieM, Bev isn’t a troll. She posts frequently on romance blogs and has for a long time.
The “allie” person, on the other hand, has never posted here or on any other romance blog I visit, at least not that I can recall. It’d be interesting to see if the site traffic reports show that she actually is connecting in from Chicago, as she claimed to be.
EC
September 21
6:58 pm
And in the end, isn’t all about what to believe and who to believe in a world reeling under the weight of delivered information–and misinformation? The candidate looks good, talks good, says all the right things, but how expedient are their remarks, how ambitious for power are they? What will they say and do to get it? Do they really, really give a damn?
All we ever have to go on is their record in office and in life–and how skewed can that become once the media grabs it and shakes it?
I’m not an American, just a northern neighbor currently being battered by our own elections for Prime Minister of Canada, but basically in the same leaky boat.
Good luck to us all! And may everyone who can walk, crawl, or stumble get themselves to voting booth come election day.
Dee
September 23
5:49 pm
Did you all see this?
Palin bans reporters from meetings with leaders
She seems to really work at avoiding the press. I have to ask myself, why? Is it the campaign handlers keeping her from scrutiny? If so why? If it is her decision? Again, why? I would think with all the rumors and dirt flying around the web about her, she would want opportunities to be viewed in a positive light.
She’s only given 2 interviews since being selected by McCain.
I can only come away from this with two possibilities. 1) She and/or her handlers are not certain the opportunities would in fact be positive. or 2) She’s hiding, she doesn’t want the public to get to know her.
I’ve had enough secretive government. I don’t want more.
Angela James
September 24
3:14 pm
Anti-Palin rally in Alaska:
http://users.livejournal.com/_soulstar/138105.html
Karen Scott
September 24
3:24 pm
Wow, I wonder why the rally wasn’t covered in the mainstream media? You’d think they’d love this kind of dirt.
Jackie Barbosa
September 24
4:06 pm
The rally was covered by the mainstream media. The Associated Press distributed an article on September 13, and several local papers (including one of mine, though I can’t recall now which one) picked up the story.
Lynne
September 24
11:52 pm
This whole thing just keeps getting more and more surreal. I mean, we still had campaigning and presidential elections in the middle of the Civil War and WWII.
We’ve known about this crisis on Wall Street for weeks. Why the abrupt suspension of McCain’s campaign and the call for the cancellation of Friday’s debate? It’s hard to believe any serious campaign advisers would’ve even entertained such silly gimmickry, much less gone through with it.
anu
September 25
4:12 am
I’m beyond disgusted. Between Sarah Palin’s ridiculous non-answers to Couric’s interview and McCain’s blind flailing at the economy the last week, it finally looked like McCain’s shallow, insulting, moralizing campaign would be revealed. But this fucking stunt…unbelievable. If I ever thought I could vote for McCain, *now* I know otherwise. And now I know what a man looks like when he definitively, completely, absolutely puts politics before country. McCain is not presidential material. He is forever a candidate chasing the next news cycle. Palin didn’t piss me off. THIS…playing politics AT THIS LEVEL, WITH OUR LIVES. THIS. If this works…if such overblown grandstanding theatrics in the midst of the most serious economic crisis of our times works…ARGH.
Devon
September 25
4:16 am
One would think a more public presence by the people who will be leading our country through these difficult times might give a bit of hope, or inspire some confidence.
It’s a weird decision.
Kaylynne
September 25
5:05 am
Palin stereotyped herself. She labeled herself. She put herself and her family out there herself. She said ignorant and frightening things (seen the videos, read the transcripts) herself. She stereotyped herself as ‘having it all’. No one I know wants what she has. The contrived too busy to do my hair thing is a great example of calculated and focused appeal and there are many other examples. Good chance she would be President within 4 and surely 8 years with Senator McCain’s health history.
Dee
September 26
6:15 am
Is anyone besides me watching the interviews with Katie Couric? Tonight’s segment was almost too painful to watch. She definitely self-destructed. If you haven’t seen it, go over to CBSnews.com. They have the videos and the transcripts. It continues on Monday.
Kaylynne
September 26
6:28 am
OMGosh Dee! Thank you for the heads up. Yep. She came across as uninformed, way out of her league and too full of prepackaged religious and cultural jargon to learn.