McCain's choice of Palin. How do you feel about it?

[graywarrior]

Elaborate.

[deadmessengers]

1. VERY, VERY happy

Either Condi Rice or Kay Bailey Hutchison could have proved problematic for us in November - they're both infinitely more qualified to be president, that's for sure.

[sarge43]

2. Angry about the depth of the cynicism and contempt

McCain and his keepers have displayed by selecting this nonentity.

[livetohike]

3. Too bad I had to pick just one - so I picked insulted

As a 56 year old woman, I feel insulted, angry, and disgusted. Actually, I'm having a hard time putting all of my feelings on this into words - so many levels....

[graywarrior]

7. Same here.

[Breeze54]

8. Why? He picked a loser! Celebrate!

:D

[Breeze54]

4. Best thing that could have happened!

:P

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Not too worried, for reasons explained below

1) I think more people vote for the first name on the ticket than the second. Usually, anyway. (I once voted for a ticket based on the First Lady.)

2) I also feel that Obama's ticket has far more charisma and personality and while that may be superficial, the Kennedy/Nixon TV debates made clear that this matters in American politics.

3) Additionally, I think Obama's platform and way of reaching out resonates with a lot of people, especially those in the "center." Moreover, there is always a backlash against the incumbent's party when they have governed poorly (or are even just perceived as having done so.)

4) Yes, this choice will shore up _some_ of the conservative evangelical vote, but not all. There are plenty of Southern Baptists, for example, who may well have a problem with a woman being on the ticket. Either way, he is not adding any _new_ voters there. He is regaining possible lost voters.

5) Finally, looking at the demographics are there really more undecided, formerly apathetic, or outright disgruntled women who will flock to the GOP ticket than there are African Americans and other minorities who will come out to support Obama? (Unfortunately, with the voter rolls being purged and all the other election hijinks that go on we may not get to see the true number out in favor for Obama.)

[Fluffdaddy]

6. Cautious at first, But the more I find out about her the better I feel.

I think McCrazy failed his vetting of veeps class

[elocs]

9. What is more important is how those on the fence or undecided feel about it.

Let me add though that with the stark differences between Obama and McCain I cannot understand how anybody could honestly be undecided.

[graywarrior]

10. I've been calling people from our campaign office and trust me, a lot have

still not decided.

[elocs]

20. What on earth is it that they cannot decide about? I just don't get it.

What is it that Obama is not clearly communicating that would help these people make up their minds?

[graywarrior]

23. They have "issues".

I want to say "here's some tissues for your issues." Mostly health coverage issues. They don't think Obama is being clear enough about how he's going to fix things. Like, GO TO HIS WEBSITE YOU MORONS!

[Breeze54]

11. Poll: Who is the stronger VP choice? Biden by 68% (178,975 votes!)

Who is the stronger VP choice?

http://www.cnn.com/ (middle, right hand side)

Joe Biden -- 68% -- 178,975

Sarah Palin -- 32% -- 84,105

Total Votes: 263,080

[JitterbugPerfume]

12. cautious

obviously there is no depth to low for these people to go. Some people actually find her appealing. We need to take this seriously and work our butts off to defeat gramps and the bimbo

[Fluffdaddy]

15. Lets drop the female insults. It does not help us

[JitterbugPerfume]

29. That is not an insult

it is the truth .She wants to play with the big boys so let it be. Hillary was called much worse right in this forum


uhhh-- I am a female and I have been one for 67 yr

[melody]

34. She's a bimbo and McCain's a dick - I'm an equal opportunity insulter

:)

[gateley]

13. Cautious. They threw a wrench into the works that we weren't expecting,

so we will have to adjust our strategy.

And as I saw a pundit say, we (Dems) laughed at Agnew and Quale :shrug:

Plus, after the last two elections, I'm not going to feel confident until it's over and Obama has been declared the winner.

[Pale Blue Dot]

14. Worried and confused. This seems like such a blazingly stupid pick

that I can't even make sense of it. That scares me.

[Breeze54]

24. If the show fits,

then McDim is wearing it! :P

Shows how stupid he is... He's met her once and talked

on the phone ONCE with her before picking her?

Total lack of judgment!

[graywarrior]

25. Yeah, confusing. My head is spinning.

[ObamaKerryDem]

16. I had to go with insulted..

Even though I didn't vote for Hillary in the primaries, I, as a woman, am insulted that McCain evidentally thinks we will all disreguard our own beliefs and gravitate towards this unqualified, fundie soccer mom just because we share the same genitalia; it's also insulting and quite frankly sickening to think she could well end up being the first female POTUS, over women who are MUCH more qualified and have done much more to deserve it. What a token pick!

But really, I'm also still LOLing at this pick....ridiculous! :D This just makes me that much more motivated to get Obama/Biden in the White House and snickering at seeing the "experience" card fall right out of Papa McCain's hands! }(

[Debi]

17. I wish you had given the choice: WTF?

So I voted shocked. It makes no sense (except for the obiviously cynical 'see, I picked a woman..' or the cynical 'see, my VP's child is going to Iraq too...' or the pandering 'see, she's pro-life, pro-gun & a fundie ALL IN ONE!')

[Jack Rabbit]

18. !!

Please click here.

[spindrifter]

19. You missed one--outraged!

I am outraged by McCain picking this person with the least qualifications for the number 2 position in our government.

[graywarrior]

26. I added it.

Thanks. I couldn't sleep last night I was so outraged.

[nickinSTL]

21. cautious - on the face of it, it looks like a colossal blunder...

but considering that somehow Bush managed to take the Presidency TWICE - I don't discount the possibility that the media will try to turn her into some great asset for McCain, or the abject stupidity of enough people that the Repubs will get in again.

[LisaL]

22. Shocked.

Because of McCain's advanced age, whoever he picked as VP has a decent chance of actually being president.
Knowing this, what qualifies this woman to be a VP and potentially a president?

[HughMoran]

27. Don't give a shit - VP's can only hurt, they can't help

Biden can't hurt Obama as he has all the ingredients of a good President - including more experience.

Palin has nothing but looks and can hurt McPOW bad - and likley will IMO.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

28. Dumbfounded with hilarity. McGeezer and the Great White Huntress.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Quantess]

30. The woman in me is insulted. The Dem in me is pleased.

[SteppingStone]

31. As a woman, I feel insulted...

the "one vagina is all it takes" stupidity pisses me off. But, us women aren't that stupid. They made a big mistake by dressing Ted Nugent up in a dress (ummm, fur coat). They can expect some serious blowblack.

[graywarrior]

32. Welcome to DU and "one vagina is all it takes" just about sums it up.

[SteppingStone]

33. Thanks for the welcome, Grey. Glad to be here! n/t

[PATRICK]

35. Qualified pleased

I think it finally reveals the overall Rove strategy for this year. If Romney, this would have signaled strong confidence. If Pawlenty, it would have signaled a move to check Dem strength. Palin is a shock and awe tactic of desperation. From here on though the picture is at least clearer- in a way.

They whip up their core base. They must keep the shocks and aftershocks coming all the way to November. I don't think they can afford to wait until the Palin effect fizzles. That means every day is a crisis for them, starting with the Convention- and I am sure Rove intends to distract us by returning the favor. The bloody Georgia gambit installing a brief phony Cold War is a five alarm warning of what we may face OUTSIDE the campaign duel itself.

The model is the Hillary campaign which endured Obama in various ways until the end. The GOP has a way to make that work very well for them, but McSame is NO Hillary Clinton. A base unmatched for idiocy surely, but no personal strengths to make it work over the mistakes of terrible advisers and surrogates. Also, Obama HAS made a breakout with his speech and will threaten to do so again in the debates.

It is clearer therefore, assessing Hillary type strategy compared to McCain, that Obama will still win(assuredly in REAL count, not out of the doubtful cheating region until this plays out). The parade of shocks and news control leaves the initiative with the GOP- albeit in a risky fashion as the MSM is shaken up by Obama, and hopefully, reality. The cheating is NOT being dealt with aggressively enough and as we speak registration dumping and roll purges are costing us as much in remaining passively defensive as anything else. As far as issues or debate, the McCain campaign is in full castling mode in Lala Cloudland, refusing the battlefield of Obama's dominance and choice.

As things stand today, forget the polls. McCain the shaky, unsubstantial imitator of Hillary Clinton, Rove the entitled, protected and criminally ruthless superior to Mark Penn. You might win by just letting that play out, but it is monstrously scary. In 2006, the shocks of the GOP imploding on sex charges gave us the victory over GOP impunity. A lot of that was no doing of the Dems at all. This time we must take more initiative and that does not mean Obama's performance alone.
Biden needs to get himself out and double teaming the shadow GOP faux ticket. The party itself must fight back in what it does by the book and thwarting the GOP initiatives(save votes, save lives!) until it is exposed or stumbles critically by its sheer need to take absurd, criminal and destructive risks.

[200overcast]

36. Flabbergasted and wondering what the hell we're missing here.

There's GOT to be more to this than what's been observed so far...right?

[graywarrior]

37. And a welcome to DU to you too!

:hi:

[SeattleVet]

38. I feel the way Bill Clinton looks here:

If she stays on the ticket, they are SOOOOOOO screwed!

[Major Hogwash]

39. It's offensive on so many levels it is hard to explain just how poor of a choice she is

First, of all, she's not qualified to lead a band, let alone this country.
I could care less if she has a child that suffers from Down's Syndrome - she doesn't get sympathy from me for that.

She's not qualified to be the CIC, no way in hell. So, choosing some unknown to be his veep was a stupid, ridiculous decision.

Just because she is a woman, doesn't mean she has the same gravitas as Hillary, no way in hell.
I have no idea what kind of crack pipe McCain was smoking when he made this choice, but it makes no sense at all for him to say "she is exactly what this country needs."
Either McCain is high on crack or he is lying out of his ass.

Secondly, she lied already - must be a Republican loyalty test or something, have you lied yet today?

Third, she is not much of a financial manager, she left her town where she was mayor very deep in debt.

Fourth, she supported Ted Stevens' "bridge to nowhere" and then later lied about supporting it.

Fifth, she supports Bush and almost all of his policies - because she is an idiot.

Sixth, she wants to continue the Iraq War.

Seventh, she used her office to fire her sister's ex-husband and an investigation has began into her firing the police super over it. She is a vindictive witch! She should never have used her political office for personal vendettas.

Eighth, her husband is involved with running the state government. Although he is not an elected official, he has been sending e-mails and interferring with state business. He is her husband, not an employee of the state. An investigation into that has also started as dozens of e-mails from Palins' husband have been disclosed recently concerning the firing of the head of Palin's staff, because he started dating Palin's husband's friend's ex-wife. Peyton Place crap, eskimo-style.

Ninth, she thinks that being selected as vice president must mean she is recognized by the GOP party for being someone special. She's not. She is not a party insider. She is just a former beauty queen that will be kept out of the loop, never knowing anything, never being told anything, and she was chosen simply because she is a pretty face.

This doesn't go into extra innings, so that's enough.

[Quantess]

41. That post should be an OP.

[deacon]

40. It's the biggest FLIP FLOP of the campaign. All 19 months of it. n/t

[LWolf]

42. Other:

I feel like all these threads about McCain, Palin, Obama, and Biden should be in GDP.

Ask me there.