Or at least someone who could be a professional body double.
The good news about McCain's pick, for Democrats, is the fact that Jane Swift is more qualified to be Vice President than the Governor of Alaska. Just consider their resumes: both were governors for two years, but McCain's pick, Sarah Palin, was part-time mayor of a town of less than 7,000 people two years ago. Before that, she was a city councilor. At least Jane Swift had a legislative background to fall back on, as well as years of service as Lt. Governor.
So, yea, there goes McCain's 'experience matters' argument. It was the one thing he really had going for him. Too bad!
BTW - did I mention Palin's being investigated by Alaska's legislature for abusing her power as Governor and firing someone who pissed off her sister? It's McCain's gift that keeps on giving.
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25 comments:
Didn't Hillary have a few legal issues along the way, specifically Whitewater and Travelgate? Who has more administrative experience, Obama or Palin? Obama has been a US Senator for 3 years, two of which he has been absent from the Senate due to the campaign.Palin has been the elected Governor of Alaska for 3 years. Did Jane Swift ever actually get elected? I like the choice.
I'm no fan of McCain (or his choice for Veep), but be fair--the state trooper didn't just "piss off (Palin's) sister." The man in question was Palin's sister's husband, who beat her and threated to kill Palin's father!
Thankfully it was not Romney
AN ENTRY FROM ANOTHER BLOG:
I will say I'm interested in finding out, once and for all, how much of latter-day political "feminism" is really just a cover for issue advocacy and partisanship. Not that it would necessarily be a bad thing for the country of Palin, after all the talk about women angry about the glass ceiling, failed to close the gender gap; it might expose the corrosive tokenism of identity politics as a phony scam, in the same way that Obama's rise (and that of Deval Patrick before him) without undue reliance on the race card has.
Time.com has an interesting bio and commentary on the GOP VP nominee. I am struck by how comparable she is to Obama in terms of what they have actually accomplished. I dare say she has a more impressive resume than Sen. Obama. While he has been campaigning she has actually been doing important stuff like fighting corruption, etc. Read the bio on time.com. I guess the question I have is whether Palin or Obama is ready to be the leader of the most powerful country in the world?
Come to think of it Obama has more experience campaining than Governing. He may be the next President but don't crap on the VP choice of McCain about experience given the thin resume of Obama.
It's the Will and Grace reference a bit immature?
Immature yet funny, and a shadow of the sexist crap the Republicans have been throwing at Hillary (and Chelsea) for over a decade now.
And most importantly, I noted the resemblance before towel road did.
Talk about fourth tier--even within the group of Republican women in government, she's not in the top five.
Let the fun begin. Identity politics at its' worst. As my partner says every election cycle, "can't we find better candidates?"
All of that allegedly, Carolyn. A bi-partisan commission in the Alaska state legislature felt it worth spending $100,000 investigating, so at the very least there was the potential for major impropriety.
Anon 6:36 (among others): She's been gov for 20 months, not 3 years. Nice try.
But, honestly, I'm the person who screams "experience doesn't win elections." My only point in bringing it up is the fact that it completely erodes the one argument McSame had going for him - that Obama didn't have the experience to be President. If McSame thought experience was so darn important, he wouldn't have nominated a 44 year old Mayor of Smallville to VP.
She still has more experience than Obama.
Ryan:
Forget the "experience doesn't win elections" crap. What about having the experience to actually run the country. Winning and serving are two very different things.
Ryan:
This pick helps with the following constituents: 1) pro liferes 2) military families 3) fiscal conservatives 4) women 5) middle America (Red States). She does have as much if not more executive experience than Obama and your vote does not matter. Massacusetts is so far removed from real world that it truly does not matter what both you and I think.
Karen from Will and Disgrace
Interesting dialog! At least the inexperience is at the VP level on the GOP side. The Dems seem to have the novice at the front end of the ticket. Great comment earlier. Obama has spent more time campaigning than serving in a productive capacity as a US Senator. That's pretty compelling. At least Palin was the Mayor of a city and them Govenor for a period longer than Obama's productive time as US Senator. Sure gonna be fun!
Grace
Comparing this woman to Jane Swift is pretty rough. By all accounts she has a short but pretty impressive few years on the job. Perhaps she is too conservative for this blog, but she is surely no Jane Swift. Ryan, you are a leftie, but usually fair and well spoken. You are in the gutter on this post.
Karen
Gutter politics from the left? Who would have thought? Let the crap begin. Let the character assasination begin. She does have as much experience as Obama.
Just watched a special CNN piece on McCain. Not a perfect man, but a true American hero. That Hanoi gig surely gets him all the respect I could ever give another human being. His physical issues post Hanoi were enough to make most people quit. I'm voting for him for a lot of reasons, but is hindependent spirit and balls are high on my list. Ryan, you got a lot of balls poking fun at the man. Look at the imperfections of your guy. As left as they get I might add.
Semper Fi (although he was Navy)
Presidential Candidate 72 years old.
Presidential Candidate who seems to have been on heavy duty pain killers for many years.
Presidential Candidate who is handicapped from abuse as POW.
Presidential Candidate whose claim to fame is that of being a POW.
Presidential Candidate who as military officer was unfaithful to wife and wed a money bags new wife.
Family values, anyone?
Romney out - PTL!
VP of what state? OMG!
Just because she's female does not endow her with special privileges.
VP of what state? Uhm, the state that supplies us with a steady stream of domestic oil and has a budget that is the 22nd largest in the country.
That's what I thought.
Someone is being a snob.
If physical well being and marital fidelity are the standards please explain to me when Ted Kennedy is resigning? Remember Mary Jo? Speaking of Mary Jo, who was driving that car? Double standard? I think the "Liberal Lion" has gotten a pass for far too long. His physicality right now renders his almost useless. Step aside for Miss Vicki.
Of course McCain is taking a big gamble. Palin has been governor for less than two years, has no foreign-policy or national-security experience, and has never been through the gauntlet of a national campaign. Whether she can hold her own on the stump and under the withering glare of the national media, we will all know soon enough. But surely Palin's lack of expertise on defense and international issues makes Obama's inexperience all the more conspicuous. The Democratic nominee is as green and untested as she is. There is one key difference between them, however: She's not running for president.
Globe had an interesting piece on the brother in law. It appears that he may have been a bit of a creep. Governor Palin did just about what most folks should have done by helping her sister. Messy story and clearly something that will get more coverage than is appropriate but it is a net positive for the lady from the great State of Alaska. Sorry Ry!
Into the crapper with Joe at the helm!!
Biden: Palin's good-looking
Posted: 05:15 PM ET
From CNN Political Producer Alexander Marquardt
Biden and Obama campaigned in Ohio Sunday.
TOLEDO, Ohio (CNN) – Joe Biden says there are obvious differences between himself and fellow vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, but they’re not just on policy. She’s good-looking.
“There’s a gigantic difference between John McCain and Barack Obama and between me and I suspect my vice presidential opponent,” Biden said at an outdoor rally Sunday, getting ready to hit the GOP ticket for their economic policies.
“She’s good-looking,” he quipped.
“You are gorgeous!” a female supporter in the audience shouted out. Biden asked her to repeat it into the microphone so his wife at home would hear.
“I haven’t heard that in a long, long, long time,” Biden said as the audience laughed. “Being around this lean young-looking guy is making me feel pretty old, you know what I mean? I thought I was in pretty good shape until I hung out with this guy.”
At the rooftop rally, both Biden and Obama commented on Palin for the first time without prompting from reporters. Obama joked he’s now considering going to Palin’s home state of Alaska – the only state he says he hasn’t visited – but chose to focus his comments on her position on equal pay for women.
“John McCain’s new VP nominee seems like a very engaging person, a nice person. But I’ve got to say, she’s opposed - like John McCain is - to equal pay for equal work. That doesn’t make much sense to me.”
Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella called Obama's comments a disgrace and "an absurd accusation."
Obama later made sure his running mate realizes he's good-looking as well.
“You see, she thinks you’re gorgeous too Joe,” said Obama. “Jill goes back home and look what happens!”
“This is worth the run,” responded Biden.
Filed under: Joe Biden • Sarah Palin
Karen, Joe, etc.,
The problem is the fact that she did it to the trooper - and we just have to take her word for it that what was done was what was done. We have a criminal law system that's supposed to sort that stuff out. You don't get to fire someone because it happened to your sister if you're in the government. Alert the authorities and advocate for a hasty investigation? Sure. But beyond that and she may as well put on a hat and wings and call her Governor Batwoman.
Other at-large comments:
No, she does not have more "experience" than Obama, executive or otherwise. And, no, you can't freaking count her term as part-time mayor of a 'city' of around 6,000. The fact is she has less experience than Jane Swift. Enough said.
Barack's had experience on national and international issues - something essential to the office, while his state experience was with serving tens of thousands of more constituents and extending beyond that, through his community organizing - which has put him in touch with actual problems people have. One of the problems with this country is that too many politicians are completely inside-the-beltway. They just don't get what normal people are facing. Years in the South Side of Chicago will teach a person what's going on quickly.
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