Palin was selected because she is a woman.

[Barack_America]

Palin was selected because she is a mother.

Palin was selected because she is young and attractive.

Palin was selected to garner women's votes for John McCain.


She was selected to appeal to women as a working woman and mother. In terms of her experience and policies, there were better fits among other candidates (male and female), but she was perceived to best appeal to the working mother demographic.

It was John McCain who brought in her gender and status as a mother, not us.

Considering she was selected to appeal to us as women, mothers and professionals, why is it unreasonable that we women should want to discuss how well we feels she performs those roles?

And why shouldn't her decisions surrounding her last pregnancy also be open for discussion? One could reasonably argue that a small-town mayor and one-year governor from Alaska has not dealt with (m)any crisis situations in her career. It is possible that Palin's leaking amniotic fluid and experiencing strong contractions in Texas, while desiring to give birth in Alaska, was the biggest crisis situation she has handled to date. And it can certainly be argued that her decision not to be seen by a physician, and fly thousands of miles back to AK in this condition, says a lot about her judgment and ability to handle such crises.

She's applying to be a heartbeat from the Presidency. We need to know how she handles crises. She's never dealt with a national security or domestic crisis that we know of, so we need to take what we can get.

As for the various conspiracy theories surrounding her pregnancy, I think it says a lot about the McCain campaign's vetting of Sarah Palin that so many rumors of scandals have traveled from Alaska so quickly, with nary an official response from the campaign. In short, they did not vet her and now it up to the public to do so. I see no problem in discussing various rumors, as long as the goal is to assemble facts, rather than to smear. However, I personally will refrain from naming her children, as DU is searchable by Google.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.
:hi:

[TwilightGardener]

1. Agreed--good post.

[MichiganVote]

2. She is unqualified and that's the simple unvarnished truth.

As far as I'm concerned this sets back the advent of a qualified female candidate for VP or Prez. for the next 10 years.

Pathetic.

[Barack_America]

4. Absolutely agreed. And I am livid at the GOP for this slap-in-the-face to...

the fight for equality.

Palin has been selected as the fall-guy for McCain's inevitable loss, at the expense of women everywhere.

[TahitiNut]

10. It's a farce. It's demeaning to ALL of us ... all Americans. McCain farted in the nation's face.

He took the nincompoop 'Governor' of a state with a population 1/3rd smaller than the population of Detroit and with less experience than Kwame Kilpatrick and waved her CROTCH on TV as an obscene joke.

[Barack_America]

13. Exactly right.

And what a hilariously harsh way to highlight it.

*giggles*

[NoQuarter]

3. The fact the James "cannot and will not vote for Senator John McCain” Dobson is giddy

about the choice clearly shows what this is all about.

The evangelical robot vote. Nothing more, nothing less.

Anything else is just gravy.

[Barack_America]

6. She didn't highlight her faith in her speech, she highlighted her GENDER...

...and her status as a mother.

IMO, it is Dobson and his ilk who are the gravy.

[NoQuarter]

9. Her gender is

the bright, shiny packaging, and way too obvious to be the real reason she's there.

[Barack_America]

14. I think you're giving the GOP too much credit...

It really is possible that gender was McCain's deciding factor.

Now his advisers who pushed her? Well, I'm sure they were looking at her oil ties (cake) and fundie status (icing) as well.

[FrenchieCat]

5. Yep......she was selected by the McCain campaign to use her

to get the women's vote, despite her lack of qualifications.

But we knew that, and the media knows that as well.

[Barack_America]

8. And also to be the fall-guy for McCain's inevitable loss...

His poll numbers are going to plummet, partly because of this, but largely because of the Democratic Convention.

Guess who will get the lion's share of the blame though...yup.

McCain's trying to rewrite the history of his campaign as "If only he hadn't picked THAT WOMAN..."

:grr:

[quakerboy]

7. Palin was selected because Clinton Was not.

that simple. The whole of it is nothing but a cynical gamble that people will care more about electing a woman than about the future of the country.

[stray cat]

11. Plus ideology purity

[Imagevision]

12. McCain's Palin choice clearly displays the kind of leader he would be

imagine Palin taking over if something happens to McCain, that would be terrifying.

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

15. Politics First

[Barack_America]

16. No doubt.

I don't know how McCain can claim "Country First" when he's selected such an unprepared person as his VP.

Obama, on the other hand, passed up one of his best friends in Kaine to select Biden, a better qualified pick.

[BlueIdaho]

17. Least qualified candidate for VP ever.

McCain fails to pass the judgement threshold test.

[Liberal Dose]

18. McCain isn't using Palin to get Hillary voters. He's using her to try and get his own party to get

behind him.