I hear the sound of a backfire, John.

Link

__________________

Reading is Fundamental.

We just met her yesterday.

Among those who know her, her stats are impressive.

She has the highest public opinion poling of any governor in the United States of America.

You're scared.

I think I would listen to the people of Alaska who have seen her in action. That tells more than someone that knows nothing about her.

Edited to add: the poll would mean more if it was taken from people that live in Alaska.

Ah, you might want to check your facts on that last claim.


Link

See also:Link

__________________

Reading is Fundamental.

I'm reading a book titled "Presidential Courage" right now. Amazon.com: Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America 1789-1989: Michael R. Beschloss: Books

I'd say that she seems to have, in her short time in office, exhibited a great number of the qualities of past great leaders.

It's a fascinating book and I have to say it makes me keenly aware how any of our current struggles pale in comparison to some of the worst days Americans have had to endure.

And I think THAT is why they're dismissing her.

Facts: Checked.

Palin frequently had an approval rating above 90% in 2007.[25] A poll published by Hays Research on July 28, 2008 showed Palin's approval rating at 80%,[26] while another Ivan Moore poll showed it at 76%,

Sarah Palin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fact: An approval rating in the past is not the same as an approval rating today. Exhibit Number One: George W. Bush.

Ah, Wikipedia -- a source that seems to have been scrubbed rather extensively over the past few days. Always trustworthy, better even than my neighbor's nephew's best friend's cousin.

Ah, but the poll showing 80% by Hays was just a month ago.

I just had to come back and say that having now fully read that Post piece, it's very obvious that that reporter sits far to the left of Gov. Palin and is presenting quite an unfavorable view.

I'd like sources for that.

From the much maligned wikipedia, a Rasmussen poll from July 31, 2008 showed 35% of Alaskans rated her performance as excellent, 29% good, 22% fair, and 14% poor.

I can't imagine a reliable poll with only 2 choices: do you approve or disapprove. IMO most people fall somewhere in the middle.

__________________
Ana
The Republicans have been putting lipstick on a pig for 8 years. Is a pitbull wearing lipstick an attempt to keep us from noticing the pig?

The Most Popular Governor

Story from 07/16/2007

"The wipeout in the 2006 election left Republicans in such a state of dejection that they've overlooked the one shining victory in which a Republican star was born. The triumph came in Alaska where Sarah Palin, a politician of eye-popping integrity, was elected governor. She is now the most popular governor in America, with an approval rating in the 90s, and probably the most popular public official in any state.

Her rise is a great (and rare) story of how adherence to principle--especially to transparency and accountability in government--can produce political success. "

She does not seem to be a very popular vice presidential candidate. She is more accepted by men than women.
Surprise? First Two National Polls Find Palin Gains LESS Support from Women

He could have picked someone like Liddy Dole, Kay Bailey Hutchinson or even Carly Fiorino. All might have been a bit more palatable to the women he was trying to attract.

How can we expect voters to have confidence in someone who is unknown? I have been searching the internet for info on Palin, and what I have read leads me to believe she is a great person, but greatly lacking in experience for the postition of VP. I too am from a small town like Palin, and if our mayor should happen to become governor next term, I can't imagine him then being on the ticket as VP. We must remember that a VP is next in line if something happens to the President.

Ann, I understand what you are saying, but consider Obama's level of experience. He wouldn't even be second in line - he'd be the big guy from day one.

He's spent about as much time working in the senate as she has as governor. His term has been a little longer, however, for the past 18 months much - if not most - of his time has been spent on his presidential bid and not on Senate business. Prior to that, he was a 'community organizer' in Chicago, where he worked to help solve the problems of minorities and the disenfranchised in impoverished neighborhoods. Noble work, certainly, but not 'national politics' at all.

They are roughly the same age. She got a degree in journalism and then worked briefly as a sportscaster. She and her husband started what became a successful fishing business. In other words... she has training in presenting herself to the public and she's got small business experience. She started her career in politics at ground level - the local PTA - and has worked her way through what would seem to be all levels of government - local, state, and now, I hope, national.

In other words.... her understanding of the workings of politics is based on more than just having seen Schoolhouse Rock videos as a kid.

I don't think being Pres or Veep are things you can really truly prepare for, but guiding principles and the ability to stomach criticism and forge ahead will get people a long way. IMHO, of course.

It's interesting that Karl Rove said that my governor, Tim Kaine, with far more experience than Palin, wasn't qualified to be VP and yet he thought Palin was completely qualified.

I think it's great you're doing your own research, since most people here have a pretty strong bias -- and, yes, I include myself in that. Read what's out there and make your own decision about her qualifications to be first in line to what will be the oldest president ever inaugurated, should McCain win. She, more than most VPs, will need to be ready on Day 1.

Tim Kaine hasn't been involved in an abuse of power scandal, but Palin's latest poll was at 68% approval.

Seems like her approval peaked early and has been dropping ever since, which is interesting for a Republican governor in a red state.

__________________

Reading is Fundamental.

If you're going to count Governor Palin's PTA experience, shouldn't you also credit Senator Obama with his 8 years in the Illinois State Senate or was that covered under "community organizer" in your treatise on their respective careers?

__________________
Ana
The Republicans have been putting lipstick on a pig for 8 years. Is a pitbull wearing lipstick an attempt to keep us from noticing the pig?

I can't even believe people are counting PTA experience as counting towards a run for the White House.

The mind simply boggles.

__________________

Reading is Fundamental.

You know, I was PTA president for two years. Additionally, I managed the Haunted House for the Fall carnival. And, to top off my apparently amazing resume, I found the person who managed the carnival funds used some of the money to buy herself some halloween decorations so I had to get the money back and move to have her replaced on the board because she was also the PTA treasurer. Oh yes, we have a small family business and I sign the checks and keep the accounts.



I guess I should put that little PTA thing back on my resume ????

ETA - I watched Cindy McCain actually tell someone when asked about Palin's national security experience ,"And, also, remember, Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia. So it’s not as if she doesn’t understand what’s at stake here. " More power to Ms. Palin, honestly, but OMG ....

I don't know why you all seem to think that it's cool to mock her PTA work, but so be it.

While it definitely doesn't make someone presidential material, I do think it's interesting that she literally started in a grass roots, regular person sort of a role when it came to public service.

What the PTA thing says to me is that she's involved and has always been involved. And the more involved she was, the more she saw that needed to be changed, and a little at a time she worked her way up. She didn't start out with a *job* in politics. She started out simply as someone who wanted to contribute to the wellbeing of a school system, and that whet her whistle for solving issues that had greater implications.

And being a Illinois State Senator is something I should've mentioned. I'm sorry I omitted it. But as been pointed out, it's not an 'in charge' job. He's been a collaborator, not a commander. The buck has never really stopped with him, as far as I can see.

ETA: Regarding Palin dealing with Russia, that's something I heard as well, but not via a CM quote. Someone else was speaking of the fact that Russian fishermen and Alaskan fishermen tend to fish the same waters and there have been some issues she's had to deal with regarding some defugalties there. Additionally, her office works on transportation issues with Canada since they border one another. It's not your typical foreign policy stuff - or rather, not the stuff that strikes fear in anyone's heart - but it's something.

Add "guts own fish" to that resume (only if you can of course), and you're on your way to the short list.

Didn't Mrs. McCain just get back from a visit to Georgia? Her remarks about "what's at stake" will likely be viewed as quite prescient by Rush and Billo.

__________________
Ana
The Republicans have been putting lipstick on a pig for 8 years. Is a pitbull wearing lipstick an attempt to keep us from noticing the pig?

I've donated to the PTA. Should I contact Obama about being Secretary of the Treasury???

__________________
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? " ~Epicurus

I guess that makes you an ethics reformer. You could be attorney general in McCain's government!

__________________
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? " ~Epicurus

One of the good things is how she handled BP oil company.
Also she talks often with Russian people that deal with some of the international waters with oil, etc.

edited to add: ethics reformer where she won the last election from a Rep. gov. and clean-up that mess that has been going on for a while.
She also ended "the bridge-to-nowhere".

As a fiscal conservative she tries not to waste taxpayer dollars.

Bridge to nowhere .... interesting information Palin touts stance on 'Bridge to Nowhere,' doesn't note flip-flop: Gov. Sarah Palin | adn.com

As far as wasting taxpayer dollars .... there is a sports complex in her little town with an interesting history Daily Kos: State of the Nation

Excellent news. Do you suppose I should include in my resume the facts that I love to canoe, camp, and trout fish (yes, I filet my own) and that I like deer meat and bear sausage, too

What I have read is that other projects were deemed more important for the state than the bridge.
Things to benefit the most people, etc.

I would not pay much attention to what is posted on Daily Kos.
Yesterday they started the rumored that the baby was not Palin but her 17-year old daughters.
Daily Kos also started most of the Obama rumors..birth certificate, etc

OMG -- that's horrible!

Part of the problem with her riff on the bridge to nowhere at her coming out was that if you didn't know better you would think that the money was returned to the federal government when in fact, it remained in Alaska. A bit of a sleight of hand (or tongue) on her part IMO.

__________________
Ana
The Republicans have been putting lipstick on a pig for 8 years. Is a pitbull wearing lipstick an attempt to keep us from noticing the pig?

I am guessing that the Anchorage paper leans a bit to the left. That piece was just published and it talks about the island being 'lightly populated' and how the bridge would have opened up the area for expansion.

I've been trying to research assertions like that by digging around for pieces published at the time they happened. This was from a year ago and defines 'lightly populated'. That place makes my hometown of 900 look like a metropolis! There are 50 people there and the bridge was going to cost $400M to connect them to a neighboring island with an airport. The federal money would've paid for half of that. Congress did allow Alaska to use those funds for other transportation projects in AK but ultimately didn't require them to build the bridge for which it was originally intended.

Alaska Seeks Alternative to Bridge Plan - New York Times

The thing I find interesting about that year-old piece is this: I read or heard today (can't recall which!) that Palin has been on McCain's radar since he first said he was running and that while his choice came from out of the blue to many close to him that it wasn't some sudden thing in his mind. That article linked above quotes John McCain as being frustrated about money going to that bridge, and said if that money had gone to someplace it was really needed like Minessota then perhaps that bridge in Minneapolis would've been in better shape.

Obviously, that's debatable - denying Alaska wouldn't have been a guarantee for MN! But the fact that JM was aware that they were wanting money for a bridge to speed up transfers by about 10 minutes for 50 people long before *we* knew he was thinking about her makes one think she wasn't just some last-minute afterthought of a VP pick.

Does Alaska receive more $ per capita in Federal funds than any other state.

I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's AK.

I'd be interested in knowing how much money with Alaska origins ends up in the federal bucket. I assume that the sale of oil by AK carries a hefty federal tax consequence.

So I guess a question to also ask would be how much per capita do Alaska and its residents pay in taxes to the federal government.

Do you know who Andrew Halcro is? AndrewHalcro.com |

Interesting blogging ....

This is going to be an interesting Fall !!

Nope, I'd never heard of him before. Two things strike me about his blog, though. One, he really trots his pedigree out there for the world to fawn over in a way that reminds me a little bit of Michael Scott (yes, I have been watching The Office reruns for the past two days!). Two, he seems to have been decidedly *not* a fan of Palin's for quite some time.

I do see that he was a past PTA president!

I guess in a place like Alaska, that is a huge stepping stone .... My kid's High School population is half the size of Wisalla.

There is certainly some interesting reading. No way to verify, but people in Alaska certainly do write and express themselves well. While there are people giving her props, I found this one interesting since this thread is about "low confidence" and all ...

"What America has to worry about is McCain having a heart attack, or cancer, or dropping dead and our Queen becoming PRESIDENT! Let's face it, Sarah couldn't even sit down with BIG OIL and negotiate. She pouted and had to rely on Marty Rutherford, the former TC lobbyist and her bias to get the 500 Million check to TransCanada written. As President, Sarah would be at the mercy of her appointees for policy decisions, since she would be incapable with her background to make a decision on anything other than what to wear. Trying to act like we are somehow fair minded in anlyzing the pros and cons of our incapable Alaskan Governor, when there are potential world scale disasters at any misstep strikes me as absurd and ridiculous. This isn't a freckin beauty contest. It's the future of America and the free world." Palin for VP: The S.W.O.T Analysis | AndrewHalcro.com

Did you read the piece published in the paper about him? I think it's under the "Who is the..."section about him.

He doesn't like snow at all and is, it sounds like, something of a city-slicker type who prefers fancy suits to hunting and fishing. It sounds like personality-wise he can perhaps be a bit of a bully particularly towards her.

This guy is no fan of Halcro's and admittedly, he's not all that zippy to watch, but the things he reads from the reports from the troopers assn. are interesting. Eleven of the accusations were sustained. There were 36 total complaints, and five of them were declared to be unfounded. The other 21, I guess, couldn't be determined one way or the other. He makes the point that Halcro gives the impression to people that the things that were considered 'not sustained' were 'unfounded', however, there is a significant difference in those two categories. Right now, they haven't sustained accusations that Casey Anthony is responsible for her daughter's disappearance, but I don't think anyone besides Cindy Anthony is calling the accusations 'unfounded'.

I read somewhere on this board that only five of the complaints against him were found to be legit, but that's not what YouTube guy says, and he seems to know the specifics on the case. It was sustained that he threatened to put a lead bullet through the head of Gov. Palin's father if he hired a divorce lawyer for his daughter. It was also sustained that he tasered his 10 year old step-son and called Gov. Palin (who was not Gov. at the time) and her daughter Bristol something extremely vile when they saw what was going on and begged him not to do it. It sounds like the step-son was actually asking to be tased to see what it felt like, and they told him not to proceed... and he called them f______ p____ies.

It doesn't sound like behavior becoming an officer. The man who was let go had reduced his suspension from ten days to five. It sounds like he's someone who should have been dismissed from the force to me.

I'm not completely clear on the timeline of all of these things, but I don't believe Sarah Palin was governor when those things were taking place. I could be wrong about that, though.

YouTube - "Draft Palin" Founder refutes Andrew Halcro (Part 1)

You have a point. Being a State Senator is nothing like being in charge (or the "commander") of a PTA bake sale

BTW Obama didn't start out with a job in politics either. He started out as someone who wanted to better the community....for 3 years he was the director of the Developing Communities Project, a church-based community organization seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods (not quite as glamorous as organizing book fair fundraisers). He wanted to do more and knew that could only happen with changes to laws/policies so went on to law school, became a civil rights lawyer, taught constitutional law and you know the rest of the story.

Please no offense to PTA volunteers I’m grateful for all the hard work you do helping our schools and children!

It would be if it were true, but Kos didn't start that rumor. It's been running around Alaska for a while now. All you have to do is look at some pictures of Palin when she was supposed to be seven months pregnant to start wondering what's going on. And she has her water break, gives a speech, then flies 10 hours home to Alaska to give birth? What woman does that? So dangerous for the baby!

I have no idea what forestlayne means about Palin "handling" the BP company, but I'm intrigued. Is that the same BP company that her husband works for? How did she handle it, exactly?

Here is the link to an article
Palin, drilling advocate, spars with oil companies - Yahoo! News

too long to copy..I will just post a few quotes

"Palin, who on Friday became the presumptive vice presidential candidate on the Republican ticket for the White House with Sen. John McCain, has sparred with oil giants Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N), ConocoPhillips (COP.N) and BP Plc (BP.L) since her election in 2006, but industry experts say she is strongly in favor of reaching into untapped deposits."

"But Palin also pushed through a tax increase on oil and gas producers last year that doubled the state's energy revenues to more than $10 billion.

That increase was blasted by BP and ConocoPhillips, who cited it a reason they postponed new projects in the state.

Palin has sought to carve out an image as a reformer, especially after her predecessor's administration was stung by a corruption scandal with one of the state's energy companies."

Kudos to her but I thought taxing businesses was against GOP policy. BTW, she was quite complimentary of Senator Obama's energy policy, but heard that that fact has been "scrubbed" from her state information site.

__________________
Ana
The Republicans have been putting lipstick on a pig for 8 years. Is a pitbull wearing lipstick an attempt to keep us from noticing the pig?

Apparently, like McCain, she doesn't know how the internet works. Nothing's ever gone.

Funny that the definition of her "sparring" includes her pushing to raise taxes. Isn't that a real boogeyman for the Republicans?

Didn't the Obama camp "scrub" some things from Obama's campaign website. Things that Obama's preacher was contected with on the Obama's "team".

Link, please.

Here's the link to what Governor Palin had to say about Senator Obama's energy plan.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin

Oh heck, I'll just copy it --

__________________
Ana
The Republicans have been putting lipstick on a pig for 8 years. Is a pitbull wearing lipstick an attempt to keep us from noticing the pig?

I assume you was asking me for a link

Political Punch

Thank you. I don't see how Obama rejecting Wright's endorsement is akin to Palin scrubbing her own statements from her site. Do you have any documentation that Obama "disappeared" his own statements as Palin did?

__________________

Reading is Fundamental.

Here is a link dealing with Obama's Iraq war/surge statements no longer on his website.
His campaign says they were just updating the site.
Seems again a "diiference" in use of words. Updating or scrubbing.

Obama website's opposition to successful surge gets deleted | Top of the Ticket | Los Angeles Times

The following compares Senator Obama's updated, or if you prefer scrubbed, opinion on the surge compared with what is on his site now. I don't see a significant difference, does anyone?

__________________
Ana
The Republicans have been putting lipstick on a pig for 8 years. Is a pitbull wearing lipstick an attempt to keep us from noticing the pig?

If updating means scrubbing, I sure wish someone would update my bathtub.

Getting back to McCain's choice of Palin, Poll: Obama/Biden Take Eight-Point Lead, Democratic Ticket Gets Boost After Convention, CBS News Poll Finds - CBS News It doesn't look like she's winning over those Hillarites.

Closed thread....post count at 50. Please feel free to open a new one on the same topic.

__________________