The Sarah Palin situation?

Question

I feel so terrible for this woman...she's obviously being used by John McCain to appeal to women and to older Republican men for the wrong reasons. McCain doesn't care about women's rights...thats why women are payed less in this country. She seems like such a smart woman and I wish she would realize what John McCain is doing...her name will be dragged through the mud absolutely embarrassing her. I'm a 24 year old Dem. with a couple Republican friends and family members. All are angry and confused about his selection...not because he picked a woman but because they know he picked Sarah for all of the wrong reasons. They say and I quote "I'm embarrassed to be a Republican what are we doing to deserve such terrible decisions from George B. and John Mc?" They won't be voting this year. What are peoples opinions on this topic? Anybody is welcome to respond.

Answer 1

Most republicans I know are extremely pleased with his decision. She has a lot more experience than Obama and that alone shows that shes a good choice. If you look some things up about her you'll see that she has done an excellent job as Mayor and has the executive experience that Obama lacks. She is also pretty tough on issues, something that some republicans don't like about McCain is that he isn't conservative enough, so Palin makes up for this. While I think a lot of people think that he only picked her because she's a woman, if you realize all of her qualifications then you would see that this is not the case. Of course it was smart to choose a woman though, think of all the people who were planning to vote for Hillary simply because she was a woman. There are a lot of people who plan to vote for Obama simply because he is black too, so there's really no difference there.

Answer 2

she's a grown woman, very educated, and she's in politics. No, i don't feel sorry for her, i would however like to know more about her stance on g*y rights, the war in iraq, american jobs moving overseas, and the health-care system here in the states.

But sorry for her...........not in the least.

Answer 3

Wasn't quite as inspiring as Cheney, I know...

He picked her for *some* good reasons, though. One of those is that the the Republican brand does not have a good trademark to it, Bush tarnished that... By him picking her, he's also saying "Mahaa! Washington insider NOT!". And for the last of his arguments, she's a great add-on for that crazy evangelical base, which Mr. McCain was slightly lacking in.

However, I see zero policy pick when it comes to Mrs. Palin. Democrats are going to drive that into the ground until November 4th. PUMA(Party Unity My ***)-voters are not going to go for her since she's pro-life. Basically, of all women, they see her as not as so much of a champion, persay, for women's rights.

Answer 4

This is a desperation ploy on the part of John McCain.  Pundits and talking heads talk about a close election, but elites and grass rooters in both parties know that it looks like a blow out.  While in deep south the numbers voting against Obama are astronomical -- all Democratic states look solid, and we are leading in most of the battleground states AND are competitive or leading in several states that are not normally battlegrounds, including McCain's home state.  THAT is what determines the election, not if 90% of people in some states vote for McCain and make the race close in absolute terms.  I believe McCain and his advisers totally understand that, and Ms. Palin was selected in the hope of scooping women off our totals in competitive states while solidifying his support in the hard right demographic.  He doesn't care squat about her - or women -- but he VERY definitely cares about winning.

Kind thoughts,

Hermes

Edit:  To Diane -- I must disagree -- I have a considerable number of Republican friends,  and come from a Republican family, though I am Democratic, I know not one Republican who is pleased.  Several Republican friends came to me at the office Friday to congratulate me in advance for Obama's win.  I'm not sure it will lead to that, but it eliminates McCain's primary advantage (experience) entirely and you are right, it is to please certain Republicans  BUT those are NOT all Republicans -- only certain ones.  I believe they will lose the northern states by a larger margin -- that's surely what it looks like to me, unless Obama makes a massive misstep -- which in absolute terms gives Obama a chance for a larger overall victory (raw votes) than he could otherwise have had.  

The fact that all the Republicans you know are pleased clearly shows that you know EXACTLY the type of Republicans that he hoped to appeal to with her.  I understand that there is a large group that she does appeal to - but ultimately they would have voted for John McCain anyway.  The ones I know, that the questioner knows -- that people our suburbs and the richer sections of our cities -- but who are MODERATE Republicans -- as my parents were --- those good folk are NOT pleased, and as has been increasingly evident for about 20 years now, the Republican party - which thought it could never lose hold of them, IS losing hold of them.  This choice just speeds the process.  Your own analysts discuss it openly.  If the hard right will not compromise to the center, and that very soon -- then the Republican party will, within another decade, become a long term or forever party of the opposition, never to enjoy the majority again.  The far Right simply has nothing to offer anyone else, and they are and always will be a true minority.  I offer myself and several of my friends as examples.  Raised as Republicans, one by one we migrated when we realized, as we progressed through our late 20s, that the Republicans offered nothing of interest to us, and opposed a great deal that we valued.  Here we are, raising money for the Dems.... but living in the same areas our parents did.  Think about it sometime.

Answer 5

not voting is an insult to the blood shed to defend and establish that right... you don't have to vote for a dem or a rep, but vote for sumone... i'm ashamed to call your non-voting friends fellow americans... they dishonor my service...

Answer 6

She's an adult and if she decided to go for it, that's her choice.  However, I think it's a poor choice.  I think that after the initial amazement at her selection, most people will realize that she doesn't add depth or dimension of any kind to the ticket.

Answer 7

I don't know where to stand on her. I like some of her policy's but she is uber Christian. Also, she thinks g*y couples should not be married, as if we were going to get these rights soon anyway.  

Answer 8

You're going to hate this answer.

A lot of the conservative base in the Republican party was less than greatly enthusiastic about Mr. McCain.  He's wrong on global warming, he sponsored an amnesty bill for illegal aliens, he's one of the authors of McCain-Feingold, and so on and so on and so on.  Picking Palin was, in my opinion, a wonderful thing to do.  She's more conservative than he is.  She reduced taxes in Alaska.  She had the balls to turn down Federal money for an absolutely useless public-works project.  She was willing to take on the Republican party in Alaska over the issue of corruption, and she's winning there.  I had intended to vote for McCain, but mostly because I don't think Mr. Obama will leave much of a country behind after any terms of office he serves.  Add to that his complete lack of foreign policy experience, his flailing on foreign policy issues over the last several months ("I'd meet with Iran without preconditions."  "Oh, wait, maybe some preconditions would be necessary."  "I'll withdraw the troops within sixteen months."  "Well, I'll withdraw them, but how fast will depend on conditions on the ground."  "But it'll still be sixteen months."  "Depending on what the generals say."  and so on ad nauseum.), his multiple "Present" votes, and the lack of anything substantive he's ever done in elected office, and he's pretty much a non-starter for me.  McCain was the lesser of two evils.  With Palin in place, I actually feel that I can support the ticket.  Instead of voting against Mr. Obama, I can actually vote for something.  Yes, she is inexperienced in foreign policy, too - but she's not running for President.  McCain has enough experience there for both of them.  If they win, by the time they finish out the four years, she'll have all the foreign policy experience she needs.

I'll grant you, I think at least some of the reasons he picked her were wrong.  Primarily, he picked her because she wasn't Joe Lieberman.  Don't get me wrong, I've little against Lieberman, but I'm not sure I could've voted for McCain if he were the VP choice.  There are quite a few of us who would probably have simply sat out the election in that case.

And, on a personal note, I am REALLY jazzed to be able to vote for a woman for vice-president.  I would never vote for someone just because of her gender, but I won't lie - it's a plus.  I think she'll do a great job.

If your Republican friends are "angry and confused", they're in the decided minority.  Regardless of what you've read or heard, pretty much every Republican and conservative (they aren't the same thing, by the way) I know is excited about this.

I don't support everything she stands for.  I don't support everything ANY candidate stands for.  She and McCain aren't going to be able to do much for or against abortion rights, nor about g*y rights in general.  I mean, we've had eight years of George Bush.  Has Roe v. Wade been overturned?  Not hardly.

So - I told you that you wouldn't like this.  Sorry.  At least it's honest.

Let the down-thumbing commence!