The Candidates
Matt I agree with you.
I really like Sarah. I think she has high potential, and she suits McCain’s purposes very well- but does McCain suit Sara’s? My biggest worry (among a lot of kudos for McCain’s smart pick) is that we are picking the fruit from the vine too early.
There is no doubt that Sara is a great spokesperson, breaks the political establishments mold but fits the regular Joe’s mold very well. She is a wonderful attack dog as well. But thinking through what this campaign has to offer her and the future of the party it could be very little.
There are several possible outcomes for Sarah career with this whole VP nod:
1. McCain wins and she becomes VP…will she ever have a chance at the presidency? I can’t see 3 GOP presidents in row with 20+ years in office. Toss up, but possible net negative for Sara’s future.
2. McCain loses yet Sarah as seen someone who helped a tough-to-sell ticket. Sara can be credited with what success McCain achieved in the election. At that point she is well set up for the future- although being on a losing national ticket seems to be political death. None-the-less, net positive.
3. McCain loses, in the process Sara has a gaffe or loses the battle with the media and ends up severally wounded. Net Negative. We picked the uripe fruit too early and we lose.
4. McCain loses, in the process Sara is seen as overshadowing him and perhaps lop-siding the ticket. No idea if that is a net neutral or positive.
Probably there are some people that will read this and say “Sarah isn’t in it for herself, so this is all moot. This is about winning today.” I would agree. To an extent. In terms of the presence, we shouldn’t be so concerned about Palin’s career, but instead winning in ‘08. But in terms of the future of the party, we need to be harvesting leaders for tomorrow, and considering the implications of decisions today on tomorrow’s elections. There isn’t much sense in playing our Ace in the hole early only to lose. The best scenario is winning today and harvesting smart for tomorrow.
McCain is playing to win today. I don’t blame him. I think everyone who runs for the office has already concluded before that the best thing for the nation is themselves. So I don’t blame him for wanting to use Palin to his advantage despite the possible negatives for her.
Now Palin has been picked, the beans are spilled and we have a great new leader to add to the ranks of the future of our party. But the great unknown is the next two months, and nothing is assured. Let’s not set a bar too high for her, only to see her knocked down with our projected hopes deflated unfairly upon her.
September 5th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
democrat state senator french in alaska has fast tracked his probe of palin. time to work this guy over as the partisan hack he is.
September 5th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
two words: Bobby Jindal
September 5th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
wise words Jason. We must resist the temptation to great such expectations with Sarah that no one can reach.
i personally would like a bobby jindal, a tim pawlenty, and a sarah palin available to form the core GOP leadership after our current group
September 5th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Jason,
You left out an option:
5. McCain wins and Palin becomes the VP. McCain passes on while in office and Palin becomes the new president. She can then run as the incumbent.
Not the best option, or the most pleasant thought, but nevertheless, a possibility.
September 5th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
The GOP has a future with plenty of good people, to name a few:
Bobby Jindal, Tim Pawlenty, John Thune and the usuals suspects: Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee, Condoleeza Rice y David Petreaus, assuming he’s a republican.
September 5th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
The GOP has a future with plenty of good people, to name a few:
Bobby Jindal, Tim Pawlenty, John Thune and the usuals suspects: Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee, Condoleeza Rice & David Petreaus, assuming he’s a republican.
September 5th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
If we come out and say, “We’ll never have three GOP Presidents in a row.” then I’m sure we won’t. However, if we have the attitude that we’ll have Republican Presidents for the next 100 years, that is the attitude that wins elections. We might not succeed at having 100 years of Republicans, but we should aim high.
September 5th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
actually mccain serving only 1 term makes us more likely to win in 2012 then not. palin would automatically become a historic nominee. the first woman ever nominated for president.
plus, you have to factor in the fact that there is almost no chance of mccain being as unpopular as bush for reasons such as:
the war will end before the end of his term
the economy will bounce back before the end of his term
he is likely to sign a slew of bipartisan legislation
osama bin laden will likely die before 2012
trust me, if we can win this year, we can win every year.
September 5th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
The Democrats ruled the White House from the beginning of the depression to the Korean war.
This is now a center-right country.
September 5th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Gallup Tracking is out, Obama is down to +4, from +7 yesterday…..
September 5th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
7. I want McCain in 08, we desperately need it with the war and the economic situation, but in general terms I am not so sure a Rep. President for the next 100 years or even three terms is good for the party let alone the nation for that matter.
September 5th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Brett,
You have correctly i9ndicated why 5-10 % of voters won’t vote for McCain, even if they were so inclined
September 5th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
#12, do you have polling proof that Obama has jumped that far ahead because of that?
September 5th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
dems held congress for over 40 years. i wouldnt mind holding the WH for a similar length
September 5th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Craig,
“You have correctly i9ndicated why 5-10 % of voters won’t vote for McCain, even if they were so inclined”
Do you have a source for that, or did you just make that up?
September 5th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
“The California chairman said he is particularly pleased by the often-replayed video of Palin on a firing range.
“The reports I’m getting back is that every time they show that footage, we get 1,000 precinct walkers from the NRA,” Nehring said.”
September 5th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
I was just at the grocery store, all of the US and People magazines were gone, there was a bunch of OK! magazines with Obama’s family on the cover still on the rack.
September 5th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
I totally disagree that if the GOP won this year, they couldn’t win in 2012. That is absolutely RIDICULOUS!! This is a center-right country. The Republicans have a natural advantage! Also, the electoral college re-alignment will occur after the 2010 census when more electoral votes will shift to Republican strongholds like Texas, Utah, Florida, and Arizona making it even harder for Democrats to win.
September 5th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
18. Who said that?
It is folly to plan your hopes around McCain only wanting one term (very unlikely) and him dying (morbid….and unlikely.)
I would also say that I would not be surprised if in 10 years Utah is not so red. Huge influx of Dems from out of state in laces like salt lake, Moab and southern Utah. These people tend to be nature people who vote Dem.
September 5th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Is there any video somewhere of Palin’s campaign appearance today?
September 5th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
If the Republicans can win now, they can win in 2012.
The problem is, I agree that Palin is fruit picked too early. Ten years from now, with more experience and a more detailed resume, she would have been a great nominee.
Now, however, she is far too inexperienced.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Dear God what a pointless post. Does it seem odd to any of you—or not odd if you, like me, were a student of Romney’s dire and disastrous primary career—that Romney supporters are stepping forward to cast doubt on Palin or to subtly suggest reasons why a McCain defeat would not be all that bad for the party or the country?
Did you know that many of the anonymous republican sources that the media kept citing were also linked to Romney or were Romney supporters? I would raise my eyebrows were I of a more conspiratorial frame of my mind. As I am not I will merely furrow my brow and wonder.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
act-blog is sour. He repeats the Democratic attack line on this site every 4 hours.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
#19 Confirmation. My sister has lived in Utah for a couple of decades and says the percentage of Democrats is growing surprisingly quickly. She thinks the reason Bush got such a big slice of the pie in 2004 is only because John Kerry was one of the worst candidates ever.
And agreed, John McCain is definitely not planning on one term. I don’t know where people would ever get that assumption.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Kristofer, do you honestly believe that - loyalty to the GOP aside, Sarah Palin has enough experience to be President?
September 5th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Even in the worst-case-scenerio and Palin hurts her future (which I don’t expect), we’ll still have Jindal. So it’s a smart risk.
Besides, barring disaster, she’s already miles ahead for 2012 if that needs to happen. This is still the GOP and somehow we always seem to pick the next guy in line even when it’s nuts to do so. It would have been difficult for the Alaska governor to break through and beat Romney or Huckabee or Pawlenty (had McCain picked him).
It’s safe to say she’s already next in line.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
act-blog, I’d take Palin over Obama any day of the week!
We should be smart enough to know, that know-one really has enough experience to be President, except for an active Vice President. McCain is one of those rare people who comes closer than most others.
act, you are a smart guy, give us something else other than a line from the backroom boys in the Romney campaign.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Did you readf this? Crowd turns on media. HA!
http://washingtontimes.com/weblogs/trail-times/2008/Sep/05/small-town-residents-boo-media-mccain/
September 5th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
“It is folly to plan your hopes around McCain only wanting one term (very unlikely)”
Disagree. McCain will be the oldest PResident in history, and, lets face it, is clearly not the healthiest man alive.
Also, unlike Reagan, McCain doesn’t appear to be getting in to drive some kind of broad, partisan agenda.
Also, consider that McCain thought very seriously about picking Lieberman. A Lieberman pick would have been one in the same with a one-term pledge.
At the very least, McCain is considering, somewhat seriously, the idea of only serving for four years.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
no-one*
September 5th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
26.
I wouldn’t go that far. Lets get through this election before we make those pronouncements. She is closer to that than she was two weeks ago, but we are not there.
And I disagree about this next in line thing. I don’t think McCain won for that reason. I don’t think coorelation equals causation in this case.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Kristofer, MWS,
Come on, guys. The polls all said that while many initially liked Palin , over 50 % were concerned about her ability to be Commander in Chief. Aren’t you ? Isn’t it a relatively large jump from managing the Sheriff’s office in Wasilla to being CIC of the world’s largest military ? What do you guys think is needed for the VP’s job, a winning smile? But, don’t pay too much attention to the polls. McCain doesn’t. The 6.1 % unemployment rate today and the 85,000 more lost jobs are, I’m sure, of little consequence to both tickets, since neither seems to have a clue about the economy and how really bad things are about to get. Just keep whistling past the National Enquirer ads about Sarah.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
#29, actually we have heard the opposite. You are living in a dream land, my friend. That notion was shot down last week.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Craig,
We do not want to question.discuss her experience anymore. That is not what this post was about.
Let Palin introduce herself……as so far she is doing well.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
29. Also, consider that McCain thought very seriously about picking Lieberman. A Lieberman pick would have been one in the same with a one-term pledge.
consider that he didn’t.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
34. You’re right it’s not. I am happy with her experience.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
“act-blog, I’d take Palin over Obama any day of the week!”
That was not the question.
—
“We should be smart enough to know, that know-one really has enough experience to be President, except for an active Vice President”
What makes a VP so much more qualified? Its a powerless position - at most, its an advisory post, no different than a cabinet member.
And, while it might be true that no one is completely qualified to be Prez, I think we can all agree that a person like Romney, with decades of executive ladership and years of economic experience comes a lot closer than a mayor-turned-1.5 year gov.
—
“It’s safe to say she’s already next in line.”
That isn’t a good thing - it will leave the GOP with a nominee who’s greatest claim to experience would be a year and a half as the Governor of the smallest state in the nation. It could undermine our claim to being the party of competence and experience, particularly if we run against a multi-term senator or governor.
And I don’t know if she is “next in line” or not. She may be the frontrunner, but “next in line” has traditionally gone to second-place finishers in primaries - a title that would seem to be held by either Romney or Huckabee.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
act-blog, WE DO NOT WANT TO CRY FOR ROMNEY FOR THE NEXT 60 DAYS!
NO MORE ROMNEY!
September 5th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
You would like that wouldn’t you. Romney in 2012! Only it isn’t ever going to happen. Even in 2012 Romney will still have to pass through a gauntlet of primaries and this time he will have absolutely no political base—he won’t be a governor or have just been a governor—he be an unelected nobody. (He really didn’t have a political base this time around either.)
To refer back to your wretched metaphor of unripe fruit I would say the Romneys’ political future lies with their sons. Get one of them into political office—a mayorship, a school board—and work them up through the system. Willard Milton is through.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
I just don’t believe Palin is ready to be President, and I worry what the effect on the GOP will be if she becomes the nominee in 2012.
For a year and a half, I supported Romney over many other candidates, some who could probably make a claim at being more conservative than him, or at least being conservative longer. There are two main reasons that I picked Romney over someone like Thompson or Huckabee, or any of the third-tier candidates:
1) He had a long and impressive resume of executive experience
2) He had serious economic experience
I have a hard time abandoning my belief that that is what we should have in a President in order to jump on the Palin bandwagon.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
31:
Causality or not, it keeps happening. At the least we know that it’s easier for an upstart to make it on the Dem side than ours.
37:
It’ll be six years come 2012 and she’ll already have one national turn under her belt. She can spend the next 4 years firming up her domestic record and studying foreign policy. Experience won’t be an issue.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Palin’s experience is perfectly fine with me. She spent more than two years dealing with issues important to all Alaskans and earned the highest approval ratings in the country.
Those of you still banging on about Romney are living in an alternative reality. Had he been the Veep pick, we would have seen regular “60 Minutes” pieces on what companies Bain “reorganized” by laying off workers and “shipping jobs overseas” — all in perfect harmony with a populist Dem campaign for the most liberal Dem candidate in a generation.
The sob stories and exposes about Boardroom Jockey Mitt Romney causing people to lose their livelihoods would have sent Kleenex sales through the roof.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
“You would like that wouldn’t you. Romney in 2012!”
That would be nice - having someone who was actually qualified to do the job.
—
“Only it isn’t ever going to happen. Even in 2012 Romney will still have to pass through a gauntlet of primaries”
As will anybody else…including Palin
—
“and this time he will have absolutely no political base”
He will have economic conservatives, he will have conservatives who want experience and competence, and who don’t believe that Palin has enough.
If Romney runs in 2012, his best shot will be to make it about experience, to point out the relatively powerless position that is the VP spot, and to compare his 25+ years in the private sector, four years as governor, time as an olympic organizer, etc. to Palin’s six years as mayor of a small town and 1.5 years as Gov. of the smallest state.
—
“he won’t be a governor or have just been a governor—he be an unelected nobody.”
Because we all know that Reagan was just an unelected nobody - oh wait, no he wasn’t, and that was before we had the internet, blogs, youtube, etc. to keep his name in the public eye for two years.
—
“He really didn’t have a political base this time around either.”
…and yet he still beat out several people who DID have a political base to become the second-place finisher. He lost only to McCain, who was only able to win because people thought his moderation would be a plus in an anti-GOP year.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
39:
McCain will be 80 by the time 2016 rolls around. The example of his mother aside, it’s difficult to see a man that age maintaing under the rigors of the presidency.
I too expect McCain to be a one-termer.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Via Ross Douthat, so much for the hysteria over Palin being a closet “Christianist“: Palin has not pushed creation science as governor.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
44. Considering his personality I have the feeling he wont leave w/out a fight.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Thank you for your candor. So this is about you and your separation anxiety and not our candidates for the presidency and vice presidency.
Look, I’m sorry your candidate lost. Mine did too and mine lost even more disastrously than yours did (Rudy). This is how the party system works. This is how we develop consensus: we fight for our ideas and our candidates and then by process of voting and caucusing we arrive at a single candidate that a lot of people like and a lot of others like less, but this is the way the system works—this is the way the system is supposed to work. If you cannot get over yourself then please consider a pass time other than party politics since you seem dispositionally at odds with the very principles upon which it is organized.
I don’t know what you do or why you’re here. But my purpose is activism. (I”m helping to organize McCain voters and help them to vote absentee in my expatriot community here in Canada. Not easy work. I’m in contact with the secretaries of state for about four US states at the moment trying to scrounge ballots etc.) And for a lot of others it’s activism too. So for us it is just really uncool to disrespect our candidates once they are selected.
We really don’t care about your personal issues.
We want to win.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Can’t we give up on Romney? He’s not running for anything and likely won’t be running for anything in 2012. I used to be obsessed with my man Huckabee and donated hundreds of dollars to his campaign, but that’s over! And just so you don’t think I’m biased against Romney because I was a Huckabee guy, I’ve been on other boards encouraging the Huckabee supporters there to drop Huckabee and get behind McCain/Palin. Whoever we supported in the primaries is irrelevant. The future of the country is way more important than any one political candidate, even if that candidate is Mitt Romney. Palin will have more than enough experience to be president in 2012 if McCain chooses not to run and she wants it. It’s just not meant to be for Romney. Same for Huckabee, Thompson, and Giuliani. None of them will ever be president.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
“Those of you still banging on about Romney are living in an alternative reality. Had he been the Veep pick, we would have seen regular “60 Minutes” pieces on what companies Bain “reorganized” by laying off workers and “shipping jobs overseas” — all in perfect harmony with a populist Dem campaign for the most liberal Dem candidate in a generation.”
…and all easily combatted by an ad or two pointing out that if Romney hadn’t saved the companies, they would have gone under, and EVERY worker would have lost their jobs. Run an ad with a bunch of people who’s jobs were saved by Romney, and, at worst, it becomes a he-said she-said issue that benefits nobody.
—-
“She can spend the next 4 years firming up her domestic record and studying foreign policy.”
she can study all she wants. Knowing what you want to do doesn’t make you qualified. The VP doesn’t make decisions, they don’t have to answer for policy failues, when something blows up - literally or figurtively, people don’t go runnign to the Veep.
Yes, knowing the issues helps, knowing what you want to do helps, but in the end, what we need is someone with a full, complete record of actually solving problems, making decisions, etc.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Right, and this points up one of Romney’s three key failings from last summer to this one, because he didn’t run as an economic conservative now did he. No, in Iowa he tried to outflank everyone to the right and morph into a social conservative. In MI he morphed into a Euro-Zone social democrat and basically promised to nationalize our automobile industry, hardly a position that an economic conservative LIKE MYSELF could ever, ever support. He was all over the map. He tried to be everything for everyone.
Anyway, this is all academic. SAVE IT FOR FOUR YEARS FROM NOW OR EIGHT YEARS FROM NOW. Then you can fight for your candidate again and maybe even prevail. In which case I’ll have to eat my opposition and fight for his victory because his candidacy will reflect the will of the party. This is the way the system works. Whining, carping, caviling, or sniveling is NOT the way the system works.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
act-blog,
WE DO NOT CARE ABOUT ROMNEY! IT IS OVER! LET IS GO, AND MOVE ON, OR AT LEAST SEEK HELP SO YOU CAN MOVE ON, PLEASE!
September 5th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Act, Romney ran more “ads or two” than his competitors combined in primary states across the US — and convinced people to stay resolutely at home rather than vote for him in droves! You thought his ads were great and impactful, as did many other dedicated Romney supporters. They still resoundingly failed him.
And offering voters a seasoned CEO at a time of a high economic anxiety is like offering water to a drowning man!
September 5th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
47. Being that this is coming from a guy who ran a site totally dedicated to attacking Romney, I guess your opinion isn’t going to hit home with a Romney supporter. I mean devoting so much time and energy to a negative doesn’t make any Romney supporter want to listen.
But…I do think we should stop worrying about Mitt for a few months. If he is as good as we think he is, he will come back another time and win. He could run well up to 2020. When he does I will support him.
Until then, McCain/Palin should be are focus.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
52. You forget Romney was at 2-3% nationally a year before the primaries. I don’t think you should chalk off his primary campaign so handidly.
BUt how about everyone stops on Romney, lovers and haters?
September 5th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
You know what? That’s a really good point. I need to work on my political skills.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
“This is how the party system works.”
…it also permits runners up to run again in four years.
—
“He’s not running for anything and likely won’t be running for anything in 2012.”
based on…?
—
“The future of the country is way more important than any one political candidate”
…which is exactly why I do not want to see us stuck with Palin as PResident in four years - I do not believe she has enough experience to be a strong and effective leader in four years.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
#56, “stuck with Palin”
Palin is our VP candidate.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
“Palin is our VP candidate.”
…and I don’t want to see her on the next step up.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Fine. I get it. Then go vote for Obama. Go campaign for Obama. Do whatever you want. As far as I’m concerned you’re not a Republican and you are entirely without principle. You’re just some guy who’s really into Romney. This just makes it easier for me to fight against him the next time around because that’s what turned me away from Romney this time around—the weirdness and aggressiveness of many of his supporters.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Look, this isn’t sour grapes. This isn’t about not wanting her to be VP. I could care less who becomes VP (with a couple exceptions), if that was as far as they were going to go.
The problem is that being VP makes you the frontrunner for the Presidency.
I do NOT want to see Palin as President.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
My bad for feeding into Act’s trollery. Apologies.
September 5th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
act-blog, then you want McCain to be defeated. You are against the Republican party and the GOP. You are working for Obama.
September 5th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
and conservatives*
September 5th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Kristofer and Dotan and MarkG and gobs of other people: If you don’t want to hear anything about Romney, then SHUT UP!! You’re the ones keeping it going! SHUT UP. DOWNRIGHT lies about the net impact of BAIN on the job situation, nothing short of LIES!! He SAVED tens of thousands of jobs (net), and that can easily be understood, and even bragged about, so QUIT YOUR DIRTY LIES. You are really ticking me off, and I’m a very, very nice guy. When people unfairly treat Romney, I have to stand up for the man. SO, again, if you don’t want his name mentioned, then QUIT bashing him.! GRRRRRRRRRRRR…sometimes you guys are total jerks!!!
September 5th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
“As far as I’m concerned you’re not a Republican and you are entirely without principle. ”
Then as far as I am concerned, you are a blind sheep who is easily satisfied just because someone has an “R” next their name.
—
“You’re just some guy who’s really into Romney.”
What I’m into is having qualified, experienced, competent leaders.
—
And I’m not saying that Palin is worse than Obama, I’m saying that Republicans are now (virtually) being forced to choose between having an inexperienced and resume-lacking President now, or an inexperienced and resume-lacking Nominee in for years.
September 5th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
“You are working for Obama.”
I’m not working for or against anybody. I can’t stand Obama, and I don’t believe Palin is qualified. I am being faced with too bad choices.
The only thing I am against is what I view as incompetence and underqualification in my party.
September 5th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
#64 Illinoisguy, I never said anything bad about Romney. I just said we should stop talking about him.
#65, “you are a blind sheep who is easily satisfied just because someone has an “R” next their name.”
No act, it is called loyalty and fighting for a cause I believe in. If another was chosen as VP, I would be fighting hard for him/her as well. You seem to be the one who is attached to the nipple of a sheep.
September 5th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
#66, your logic is so far off base, I am still trying to figure out if you are joking. You are calling Obama and Palin an equally bad choice? You are actually considering supporting Obama?
You seem very lost, and a RINO.
September 5th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
You were criticizing the Romney people, not the ones who were dumping gasoline on the fire.
September 5th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
“No act, it is called loyalty and fighting for a cause I believe in.”
So is arguing for experience and competence in our nominee - either the VP now, or the Prez. in four years.
September 5th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
“You are calling Obama and Palin an equally bad choice”
no. Palin is better than Obama. I am not considering voting for the Democrat.
What I am saying is that, when you set issues aside, neither is a good option for President. When you look at the ability to do the job, their experience, their resume, etc., Palin doesn’t have much of an edge.
September 5th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
You support Romney with religious devotion and I’m the blind sheep? I choose to support McCain-Palin on pragmatic grounds consistent with how our party system is designed to work and I’m the blind sheep? You cling to the person of Romney with total dead-ender rigor-mortis despair even after Romney himself quite rightly and quite correctly endorsed Sen. McCain and I’m the blind sheep?
That’s rich.
[...]
Boy do you not understand party politics.
Dude. You lost. (I lost too. But my candidate’s speech was way better than your candidate’s speech. Where was that Rudy in the primaries?) But the party has spoken. The votes have been cast. It is McCain’s party now whether you choose to cry about it or not. So be off with you then. Our task now is to elect John McCain as our next president and Sarah Palin as our vice president. Yours is to consider talking about your feelings in a safe, caring, supportive, and therapeutic environment.
September 5th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
ACT, give it up. In about 3 years we’ll have a better idea who stands in the strongest position. It could be Palin, it could be Mitt; it could be someone else. Palin could be hated by that time for all we know; she could be loved by nearly everybody; she could dive in deep and gain a thorough understanding of foreign affairs in the next three years, or she could goof off an learn almost nothing. The fact is we have our ticket, and its time to give it a rest.
If someone bashes Mitt as they often do, then feel free to jump in and support him, but its time to accept the fact that we have who we have, and we sure as heck can’t support Obama.
Guys, there is no way in H___ that ACT is a RINO. He’s just hanging on longer than he needs to because Romney really was the superior man for the job. Like I said ACT, back off, start finding ways to support the ticket, and we’ll back Mitt at a later date.
September 5th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
act, if McCain wins, Palin becomes the next in line. But, could we please just try to defeat Obama this year.
In the eyes of the public, the most qualified POTUS, is the VP. THAT IS SOLID GOLD IN THE EYES OF VOTERS.
September 5th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Dotan - You’re being a jerk! ACT is a Roman Catholic, why in the heck would he be support Mitt because of a religiou
If you hadn’t been such a Johnny come lately to the site you would know what you’re talking about a little more.
September 5th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Wait. I think I know what you’re referring to. If so, please forgive me for being unclear. When I wrote that act supports Romney with religious devotion I did not mean that he supports Romney because of his religion. I should have written manic devotion or uncritical devotion or something like that. If I offended you or anyone I’m sorry: I meant no disrespect to anyone’s religion.
I’ve been active on this site since last summer. Does that make me a newcomer?
September 5th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Dotan - You weren’t very active until the last few months. I remember someone welcoming you back after a long absence. And, yes you offend lots of people lots of times.
September 5th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Yes. Quite. Politics is a contact sport. You fight for your ideas. But in this particular case it was not my intention to offend anyone, and certainly not on grounds of anyone’s confession or faith tradition. Hence my apology. If you can’t accept it that’s fine, because the act of offering an apology is in itself a way of taking responsibility for ones offense, which is what I want to do. In other words I’m not trying to absolve myself; to acknowledge my stupid choice of words is all that I intend. Thank you for bringing my fault to my attention. I’ll try not to do it again. And I hope that you’ll help me by correcting me in the future should I ever err in a similar way.
September 5th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
My biggest concern is that, in four years, Sarah Palin is still going to lack the experience to be President, and that, barring a major campaign that starts soon, we will have no choice but to accept her - no matter how underqualified or incompetent she may be - as our nominee.
That is my concern.
If I could be assured that Palin becoming VP meant nothing more than that, I would be fine (minus the concerns about the economy) with campaigning my heart out for her.
Its what comes after she is VP that worries me.
September 5th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
look, is experience and competence too much to ask for in a President?
September 5th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Romney has zero Foreign Policy experience and he’s been on both sides of a lot of issues, so what makes him so perfect? Do you find him dreamy?
September 5th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
“Romney has zero Foreign Policy experience”
well…it wouldn’t kill the GOP to actually start gaining ground on domestic issues - which are likely to be a much bigger part of the job in the future. Of course there are situation where we need to defend ourselves, but we can’t stake the future of the GOP to how many wars this country can get involved in.
—
But I’m not looking for a deabte specifically on Romney, I’m asking a question: is it too much to ask for to want your party’s nominee to have experience and competence?
September 5th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
It is embarrassing how low we , as a nation, have lowered the bar for experience in Washington. But it directly reflects upon what we wind up with as a Governing clique. Regardless of party, we ask almost nothing, except the ability to read a teleprompter or 3X5 cards during a campaign. MarkG said Palin had a job she did well and that was OK for him. There are literally tens of thousands of low level Mayors and County Commissioners and JP’s and Judges who do a great job , but neither they nor I believe they should be one step away from the Presidency. We ask more expertise from a NASCAR driver or a jockey than we do from national candidates and look where it gets us.
The world is on fire with Jihadism. McCain will stand tough. Great, he has a background to do so.So does Joe Biden. Palin?, Obama?. No way. The country is collapsing economically and our solution is printing more money, because literally nobody running knows a damn thing about economics, unless you count Sarah’s two years running her fish business.And….we don’t really seem to care. Kind of a narcissistic ride on an economic Titanic. We all know there is an iceburg, but the band just struck up a waltz. Let’s dance and see what tomorrow brings. Is the Captain competent? Who knows? Who cares.
September 5th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
jerseyrepublican.
HaHa. I used to be a Jersey republican when it was down to me and one other, my wife.
Not to open this up again, but the old song about Romney’s “flip flops” get’s really tiresome. Could you PLEASE tell me one SUCCESSFUL national politician whose career is not littered with flip flops, lying out there in the sun , waiting for someone to find them. If a politician of either party has not ” flip flopped” or ” modified his views,” he’s either out of office or dead. And we all know Palin and McCain and Obama and Biden have a flip flop record THIS YEAR, that’s tough to beat.
September 5th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Why does anyone continue to engage the Romney trolls?
September 5th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
#85 As a hard time Romney supporter… I agree. Its time to let it go, Sarah Palin is a fantastic VP. She will learn quickly on the Job and she will be in fine position to take over the country… if she ever needs help she can always ask for Mitt Romney’s help or anybody else’s for that matter. The future is in fine hands with the McCain/Palin ticket. Romney is quite frankly out of the picture, maybe he will go at it again in four years. Its time to leave things in the past.
September 5th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
“The Democrats ruled the White House from the beginning of the depression to the Korean war.”
Well that really is only five terms and 3 of those elections occurred in periods of absolute crisis in the world. THats not quite the case now.
“This is now a center-right country.”
For now. Don’t presume it will stay that way. California, (home to Reagan, Nixon…) WAS a reliable republican state. Immigration and migration patterns have dramatically changed that. Those patterns havent changed. The failure to control immigration and appeal to new immigrants is gonna kill the GOP’s prospects in the future. You dont win in the long haul if your opposition grows faster than you.
Just sayin…
September 6th, 2008 at 4:38 am
It’s going to be Mitt v Sarah v Huck in 2012 - and aint it gonna be fun!
September 9th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Test:
Test
September 9th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Test