Democrat National Convention

[cacophony]

Originally Posted by dubman

mccain can now shut up about obama lacking experience, he's just picked a running mate who's a newly minted governor as second in command of the entire country.

and obama can now shut up about mccain having a long term of service mired in the continuing problems of washington, he's just picked a running mate who has served even longer.

it's very odd the way they each picked a running mate that makes it impossible for them to use their first line of attack without pointing out their running mates' weaknesses.

[mmm skyscraper]

Originally Posted by cacophony

it's very odd the way they each picked a running mate that makes it impossible for them to use their first line of attack without pointing out their running mates' weaknesses.

balance has been returned to the force

[gambit]

I honestly can't wait to see the VP debate. Since Palin is so new to the national scene, she's going to be on the defensive, and it'll be interesting to see how she handles it.

And I'm getting something of a Harriet Miers vibe from her for some reason, but that may be just me.

[Troy McClure]

Originally Posted by gambit

And I'm getting something of a Harriet Miers vibe from her for some reason, but that may be just me.

good call.

Okay, I just watched the msnbc.com video feed. Things I noticed were McCain had to look at his note cards when saying who he had picked as a running mate. He did not shake her hand when Gov. Palin came onstage. They immediately hugged. Shouldn't they have shook hands first? Shouldn't women see that as just a little bit insulting to their intelligence or power? They even hug again after she says what an honor it is to run with him. She couldn't correctly pronounce nuclear. Palin obviously had no issue with bringing up that one of her kids is in active duty. At the end McCain finally, albeit weakly, shakes her hand. McCain consistently was eyeballing and looking over her during her speech. That was creepy.

I'm trying to figure how to say this without being an ass and demeaning Palin or women in general, but appearance wise, when you look at them together, it looks like Senator McCain is the CEO of a company who just asked his assistant to join the board of directors.

-Jason

[cured]

Originally Posted by Troy McClure

I'm trying to figure how to say this without being an ass and demeaning Palin or women in general, but appearance wise, when you look at them together, it looks like Senator McCain is the CEO of a company who just asked his assistant to join the board of directors.

Good call.

One interesting point I read was that this woman has a 4 month-old son with Down Syndrome that is likely to be neglected because his mom is going to have to do a LOT of campaigning and a LOT of studying up on domestic and foreign issues. It seems like an interesting choice to basically take a leave of absence from your son so you can play politics.

[Deckard]

Troy, you need to submit your question to him for one of the debates (in the style of )...

"So Mr McCain, tell me, why did you opt for attractive former beauty queen Sarah Palin as running mate?"

If he wanted a woman, why not one of the other more experienced female candidates like Hutchison or Snowe? Prior to this announcement, both of those were discussed in the media here as very able women candidates.

I hear the arguments about choosing a Governor rather than another Senator, and about choosing someone more youthful. But still, undermining one of the central pillars of your campaign's attack against Obama - that's very brave. As is choosing someone for VP who.....

John McCain first met Sarah Palin only six months ago and had just one conversation with the Alaska governor before offering her the vice presidential slot on the Republican ticket, the Arizona senator's campaign said Friday.

For someone so relatively unknown, then based on this information, she must have made quite an impression on him.

And he says he chose her because she's "someone with strong principles, a fighting spirit and deep compassion, she's got the grit, the integrity and commitment to the common good which are exactly what we need in Washington today". That's fair enough, although I'd say those are all qualities that would have been used to describe any other VP choice, male or female, and I'm still left wondering, why risk your own platform of attack by choosing someone so unknown? Is this REALLY just the Clinton factor?

McCain himself didn't speak with the Alaska governor until last Sunday — one day after Barack Obama named Joe Biden to his ticket.

Holding off on this decision until one day after Obama played his hand. It's possible it still might have been her of course....

I should add, these things aren't remotely, in themselves, criticisms of her as a candidate - hopefully that's obvious (though I think there's a fair bit to challenge, not least her views on homosexuality and atheism), but rather a wincing at the way these decisions are made. I'm at least heartened to read that she's a prominent member of Feminists for Life, so presumably she can't be all that bad.... can she?

To expand on what Cacophony has already said, it's also interesting how both presidential candidates are completely silent on what they themselves lacked, and sought to gain in their choice of running mate. Instead we get these nebulous endorsements, but it's never straight-up admitted. It's quite funny.

[Deckard]

One result of this is that we're now hearing more about all the other possible Republican women he could have chosen - plenty of others in addition to the two I mentioned who might have been more suitable - not just with rather more experience (thus leaving McCain's attack strategy unchanged) but people able to speak with more knowledge on the economy, which, from what I can tell, is McCain's dangerously weak point. Perhaps he already approached them and they said no.

Not seen the clip, but apparently one commentator on NBC news sitting next to Katie Couric: "McCain has "tapped" Palin"...he was attracted to her...he saw part of himself in her...he saw McCain junior in her"

Oh dear! I see this 'adulterer hires ex beauty queen' thing running and running on the satire circuit....

[cacophony]

Originally Posted by cured

One interesting point I read was that this woman has a 4 month-old son with Down Syndrome that is likely to be neglected because his mom is going to have to do a LOT of campaigning and a LOT of studying up on domestic and foreign issues. It seems like an interesting choice to basically take a leave of absence from your son so you can play politics.

i would be very careful with statements like that.

[cured]

I'm not campaigning so I don't have to be.

[gambit]

Originally Posted by Deckard

Not seen the clip, but apparently one commentator on NBC news sitting next to Katie Couric: "McCain has "tapped" Palin"...he was attracted to her...he saw part of himself in her...he saw McCain junior in her"

Damn, that's just full of punch lines! I can see Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert having a field day with that. (And Katie Couric is on CBS now.)