Read it and veep

[pjthompson]

Seriously? You want this woman one heartbeat away from the Presidency? This story from NPR links to a letter from Anne Kilkenny, a woman who lives in Wasilla and has known Sarah Palin for a very long time.

There are ethics issues with her, outright lies and misrepresentations, and if you want to judge her on pure fiscal-experience-management terms, Wasilla had zero debt when she became mayor and when she left, it was 25 million in debt. But wait, there's more...

I've been staying out of things because there's too much rhetoric and innuendo flying around. There's another letter supposedly from a resident of Wasilla that's making its way around via email. I haven't been able to verify that it's legit, but this one is. I can't verify, of course, that Anne Kilkenny hasn't got an ax to grind, but it seemed important that this get out.

Sarah Palin is more than a by-golly-by-gum "real" person. She's got a considerable dark side, and she's a slick politician—make no mistake.

Comments

[handworn.livejournal.com]

Yep. All this, and mediocrity too. The Economist's article about her was subtitled, "John McCain's choice of running-mate raises serious questions about his judgment."

It continued in part, "Mrs. Palin...is the most inexperienced candidate for a mainstream party in modern history.
"Inexperienced and Bush-level incurious. She has no record of interest in foreign policy, let alone expertise. She once told an Alaskan magazine: "I've been so focused on state government; I haven't really foucsed much on the war in Iraq." She obtained an American passport only last summer to visit Alaskan troops in Germany and Kuwait." (The entire article, one of the magazine's most-commented-on, online, is here.)

[hominysnark.livejournal.com]

McCain didn't want her--the GOP did. He wanted Lieberman, but all his closest advisors circled the wagons and told him flat out that if he picked a pro-choice candidate for VP, he would lose the election. Period.

So he caved and picked Palin. Caving isn't exactly one of the leadership qualities I want in a President.

[pjthompson]

Caving, bad judgment, and "I like to make up my mind in a hurry. Sometimes I make the wrong decision, but I live with it without whining."

Yeah John, and if you're the prez the entire fricking country has to live with it.

The end of life as we know it.

[handworn.livejournal.com]

Another word for caving is compromising, and that's something I do want in a President. We've had eight years of a President who wouldn't cave. McCain simply compromised stupidly. The stupid thing he did was to ignore the fact that there are more votes (and more necessary votes for him) from moderates and independents than from "the base." In one fell swoop, he ruined his image as a maverick, ruined his appeal to moderates and independents, and ruined his best argument against Obama, the no-experience argument. It's not often you make a hat trick that way.

[pjthompson]

And yet, it seems to be working. At least temporary. See my answer to krsj below.

[pjthompson]

She's frighteningly lightweight. And the way things are going, if McCain is allowed the current con of being the "candidate for change," she could be in the White House.

[krsj.livejournal.com]

The weird thing is Obama I believe was well on his way to winning. A poll out this weekend has McCain ahead.

If there are all these problems with Palin, how did the balance tip so drastically? Was McCain basically running neck-and-neck with Obama (or a little behind) without evangelical support, and now that he added Palin, he's suddenly got that support?

Any ideas? In my opinion, the election will come down to the debates. The committed Obama-ites will claim he won all three, the committed McCain-ites will claim he won all three, but what's important is what the undecideds believe. Both with the presidential and VP debates...

[handworn.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine, a freethinking, not-particularly-religious Independent and a gunowner, was in the Obama camp, but after the Democratic convention he isn't sure. He didn't like the number where Obama's tax-the-rich line lay, and hated Michele Obama's speech, though since I didn't catch it I couldn't discuss that with him in depth.

This is the problem with conventions-- they're a way of kicking off the main election campaign by acting as if it's the early primaries, which is foolish. All these appeals to the extremes of the parties just turn off swing voters, who are the ones who really decide the main elections. But I think this is a temporary thing; McCain's choice of VP looks worse with each passing day, and I think has torpedoed his chances, to use a metaphor from his Navy past.

[pjthompson]

I'm the opposite of your friend. I was a staunch supporter of Hillary and although I was going to "do my duty" and vote for Obama, I wasn't at all enthusiastic. The convention actually made me feel much better about my choice. I did not dislike Michelle's speech, and I wound up thinking that Obama was smart, adaptable, and savvy at working the system.

I do agree that sometimes conventions can be counterproductive. This time, in my case, it wasn't.

[pjthompson]

I'm hoping handworn is right, that as people get to know Palin better they'll become disenchanted--at least the swing voters. I think for some people who felt lukewarm about both candidates, they were looking for something and someone to make them feel good about the choice they had to make. Palin seemed to provide that with her projected folksy demeanor, her phony "realness," the truthiness of what she was saying. I'm really hoping this a a temporary bump and as the campaign grinds on people will see her for what she really is--shockingly unqualified to be heartbeat away from the presidency.

Then again, many people don't vote with their minds. They vote based on their fears, their gut, their willingness to buy into the shiny package without looking beneath the surface. We'll just have to see how this goes.

[kmkibble75.livejournal.com]

And let's not forget, in addition to Palin's non-fitness for this position, the fact that this choice was made shows how rash McCain can be. All of this stuff coming out really doesn't reflect well on either of them.

[pjthompson]

No, not to a rational person who uses their mind to analyze an election. But as I said to krsj above, people often don't use their brains to decide who to vote for. I'm hoping the disenchantment with Palin eventually turns to swing voters back to Obama.