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[LosingNow]

Bold choice? Going after Hillary's disgruntled voters?

Or will she be McCain's Ferrarro?

[LosingNow]

young, conservative

[Cover Point]

thats a shocker isnt it?

Alaska was a red state anyway. But it will get him Hillary voters

[LosingNow]

thats a shocker isnt it?

Alaska was a red state anyway. But it will get him Hillary voters

It is a shocker.. the more i am learning about her.. it appears to be a good political pick. conservative (to appeal to the rural evangelists) and women voters who are still hurting from Hillary let down.

The race got more interesting.

[RicePlateReddy]

Smart gamble, IMO.

- Makes a clear distinction from Cheney. Can't say McCain - Palin is Bush - Cheney version 2 as Palin does not fit.
- She is very very well liked in Alaska, and puts Alaksa off the map, converting it from light to dark red.
- Biden can't go at her that easily now in debates. An attack dog approach against her will back fire against him, given her charm and youth.
- A clear siginal from McCain to attract the disenchanted women from among Hillary supporters. Don't know if it will have the unintended effect of turning off some women who may sniff it out as pushing someone they deem unworthy when Hillary paved the way.

On the flip side

- I think she has diluted pro-life views putting the ticket in some jeopardy with the ultra evangelical crowd.
- The inexperience attack will get clouded by her experience - which is meager. Mayor of a 9000 person town and then  1 year as governor.

But very interesting move. One part of me feels happy that at least half the Republican ticket seems to be a good, generally well-liked person who is not a typical politician. Hope she remains that way.

[LosingNow]

gotta hand it to republicans.. they know how to play politics.

my first impression - BHO effed it up by not picking HRC!!

[LosingNow]

- I think she has pro-life views putting the ticket in some jeopardy with the ultra evangelical crowd.

She is pro-life!! Evangelists are pro-life!

- The inexperience attack will get clouded by her experience - which is meager. Mayor of a 5400 person town and then  1 year as governor.

I do not think this matters that much.. McCain is the experience, maverick, centrist on the ticket; she is the youth, stable, conservative.
Politically astute pick, imo

[RicePlateReddy]

- I think she has pro-life views putting the ticket in some jeopardy with the ultra evangelical crowd.

She is pro-life!! Evangelists are pro-life!

I am sorry, I meant she has weak pro-life views. I could be wrong though - this was my impression prior to this announcement and only just reading up on it.

(Edit: I was wrong - the stray reports of her pro choice stance early in life are not credible).

[LosingNow]

From ..
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/08/29/mccain-to-name-running-mate-on-friday/
--
Palin is considered a rising star in the Republican Party. She is the state’s first female governor, the mother of five — and at 44 is its youngest chief executive.

FOX News confirmed Thursday that McCain had made his selection and would appear with his pick at the Dayton rally.

Born in Idaho, Palin moved to Alaska with her parents, to Charles and Sally Heath, when she was 3 months old.

She grew up in Wasilla, just outside of Anchorage, and played on the Wasilla state championship girls’ basketball team. She was crowned Miss Wasilla in 1984 and was a runner-up in the Miss Alaska pageant.

Palin studied journalism and political science at the University of Idaho and graduated in 1987. She eloped with her high school boyfriend,  Todd Palin, in 1988 to save money on an expensive wedding. She helped out in her husband’s family commercial fishing business and appeared occasionally as a television sportscaster.

Palin won a seat on the Wasilla City Council in 1992 as a new face and a new voice, and by opposing tax increases. Four years later she was elected mayor at 32 by knocking off a three-term incumbent. At the end of her second term, party leaders encouraged her to enter the 2002 race for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. Against veteran legislators with far more experience, Palin finished second by fewer than 2,000 votes, making a name for herself in statewide politics. She was elected Alaska’s youngest and first woman governor in 2006.

Sarah and Todd Palin have five children: boys Track, 19, and Trig, 4 months, and daughters Bristol, 17, Willow, 13, and Piper, 7. Track Palin joined the Army last September and will deploy to Iraq on Sept. 11. Palin gave birth to Trig, who has Down syndrome, in April and returned to work three days later.

Palin will be the second female vice presidential candidate from a major political party. The first was New York Rep. Geraldine Ferrarro, who was Walter Mondale’s Democratic running mate in 1984.
--

[ramshorns]

gotta hand it to republicans.. they know how to play politics.

my first impression - BHO effed it up by not picking HRC!!

Looks like a great move.

Sports analogy "It's all over for Obama".

No way any women is voting for Obama that wanted to vote for Hillary despite her persuasions.

All the soccer mom's and women who want other women to be power will cross-vote for sure.

It is all over.

I am just voting Democrat and that's it.  I am not going to get nervous for this when the writing is all on the wall and ruin my 2 months.

[ruchir]

The move looks good, I would have preferred Romney though. I read somewhere that this lady returned her entire fleet of govt cars (after becoming Gov) to save money!! Wow... She looks hot, though.

[LosingNow]

gotta hand it to republicans.. they know how to play politics.

my first impression - BHO effed it up by not picking HRC!!

Looks like a great move.

Sports analogy "It's all over for Obama".

No way any women is voting for Obama that wanted to vote for Hillary despite her persuasions.

All the soccer mom's and women who want other women to be power will cross-vote for sure.

It is all over.

I am just voting Democrat and that's it.  I am not going to get nervous for this when the writing is all on the wall and ruin my 2 months.

So are we talking HRC vs Palin in 2012!!!

What will happen to Jindal?

[ramshorns]

gotta hand it to republicans.. they know how to play politics.

my first impression - BHO effed it up by not picking HRC!!

Looks like a great move.

Sports analogy "It's all over for Obama".

No way any women is voting for Obama that wanted to vote for Hillary despite her persuasions.

All the soccer mom's and women who want other women to be power will cross-vote for sure.

It is all over.

I am just voting Democrat and that's it.  I am not going to get nervous for this when the writing is all on the wall and ruin my 2 months.

So are we talking HRC vs Palin in 2012!!!

What will happen to Jindal?

Do not want to talk about it.  Let us first get through this next 4 years of McCain presidency.

[ramshorns]

The move looks good, I would have preferred Romney though. I read somewhere that this lady returned her entire fleet of govt cars (after becoming Gov) to save money!! Wow... She looks hot, though.

For nothing she is a mother of 5.

[Cover Point]

The move looks good, I would have preferred Romney though. I read somewhere that this lady returned her entire fleet of govt cars (after becoming Gov) to save money!! Wow... She looks hot, though.

For nothing she is a mother of 5.

She just has experience

[OldPal]

The move looks good, I would have preferred Romney though. I read somewhere that this lady returned her entire fleet of govt cars (after becoming Gov) to save money!! Wow... She looks hot, though.

For nothing she is a mother of 5.

She became mother of 5 becos she looks hot 

[LosingNow]

I am still digesting this..

what a brilliant move by McCain.

He may have gauranteed a women president (Palin or Hillary) in 2012 to the women voters- if they elect him now. (If they elect Obama, no women president for a while!!)

Of course, Palin needs to withstand the scrutiny this election.

[hastalavistababy]

Sexy Nagma

[LosingNow]

McCain just introduced her.. she looks smashing ..mother of 5..wow!!

[prfsr]

McCain just introduced her.. she looks smashing ..mother of 5..wow!!

Better than Mrs Obama ?

[ruchir]

I understand that her son is going to be deployed in Iraq soon, and Mac's son is already serving there.

[prfsr]

So is Biden's son.

[ruchir]

Cool 

[ramshorns]

McCain just introduced her.. she looks smashing ..mother of 5..wow!!

She is great.  Slam dunk pick!!!!! I do not think she would have been on this ticket but for her looks since there were many more compelling candidates with better political pedigree in the Republican party.

May be McCain saw something we all could not.   I mean competence wise.

[justforkix]

McCain just introduced her.. she looks smashing ..mother of 5..wow!!

She is great.  Slam dunk pick!!!!! I do not think she would have been on this ticket but for her looks since there were many more compelling candidates with better political pedigree in the Republican party.

May be McCain saw something we all could not.   I mean competence wise.

 

WOW - apparently she appeared on VOGUE cover page in 2007 !!!

[ramshorns]

Is is this just me or anyone else noticed too McCain standing besides her with that stout and stiff stance looks like her bodygaurd albiet a little old.

[dextrous]

can they have anymore redneck names?
Track, 19, and Trig, 4 months, and daughters Bristol, 17, Willow, 13, and Piper, 7.

"Her husband, Todd Palin, is part Yup'ik Eskimo, and is a blue-collar North Slope oil worker who competes in the Iron Dog, a 1,900-mile snowmobile race"

is he really?

[dextrous]

she has very strong pro-life creds:
Her decision to have the baby after prenatal genetic testing revealed he had the disorder resulted in admiration from the pro-life community

[RicePlateReddy]

she has very strong pro-life creds:
Her decision to have the baby after prenatal genetic testing revealed he had the disorder resulted in admiration from the pro-life community

Yes, though I recollect reading last week that she switched from pro-choice to pro-life and was ambiguous about it for a while, before this baby was born. I can't dig up that article now or may be I simply misread it, so please scratch my earlier comment.

[LosingNow]

So let's summarize..

1. Did not abort a baby even when genetic tests determined that it had Downs. Pro-life evangelicals will drink this up!! The base is energized.
2. Working class roots. Husband works as a fisherman, oilman and races snow mobiles. She is a hunter and basketball player. Rural working class values vs Obama's Harvard elite.
3. Woman .. the 20% who voted for Hillary and were going to vote for McCain...went up by at least 10% points.
4. Son going to Iraq .. patriotic ..

This story sells in RED states. The RED states just got REDDER and the PURPLE ones just turned RED.

Bye Bye Obama.

2012 - Hillary vs Palin : America will have its first Woman president in January, 2013.

Thank you to John McCain from my 2 daughters!!

[dextrous]

So let's summarize..

1. Did not abort a baby even when genetic tests determined that it had Downs. Pro-life evangelicals will drink this up!! The base is energized.
2. Working class roots. Husband works as a fisherman, oilman and races snow mobiles. She is a hunter and basketball player. Rural working class values vs Obama's Harvard elite.
3. Woman .. the 20% who voted for Hillary and were going to vote for McCain...went up by at least 10% points.
4. Son going to Iraq .. patriotic ..

This story sells in RED states. The RED states just got REDDER and the PURPLE ones just turned RED.

Bye Bye Obama.

2012 - Hillary vs Palin : America will have its first Woman president in January, 2013.

Thank you to John McCain from my 2 daughters!!

The husband angle is being very much overplayed by the media. My brief research shows that he's from a pretty well off family with fishing/oil interests of some variety and doesn't do much other than fish and race snowmobile...somehow that's being turned into a blue-collar story by the conservative media.

[LosingNow]

So let's summarize..

1. Did not abort a baby even when genetic tests determined that it had Downs. Pro-life evangelicals will drink this up!! The base is energized.
2. Working class roots. Husband works as a fisherman, oilman and races snow mobiles. She is a hunter and basketball player. Rural working class values vs Obama's Harvard elite.
3. Woman .. the 20% who voted for Hillary and were going to vote for McCain...went up by at least 10% points.
4. Son going to Iraq .. patriotic ..

This story sells in RED states. The RED states just got REDDER and the PURPLE ones just turned RED.

Bye Bye Obama.

2012 - Hillary vs Palin : America will have its first Woman president in January, 2013.

Thank you to John McCain from my 2 daughters!!

The husband angle is being very much overplayed by the media. My brief research shows that he's from a pretty well off family with fishing/oil interests of some variety and doesn't do much other than fish and race snowmobile...somehow that's being turned into a blue-collar story by the conservative media.

Spin works.. specially the conservative media spin. Also, you can be rich .. but must have working class, blue-collar roots/values

Watch out, she will be carrying her baby (with Downs) throughout the campaign.. and the Hannity/Limbaughs will go fawning crazy.

[LosingNow]

WSJ. Magazine
Gov. Sarah Palin: Midnight runs and caribou dinners
By JEN MURPHY
August 29, 2008 8:26 p.m.

Gov. Sarah Palin has always been a runner. Her parents were marathoners and high school track and cross-country coaches. "Running was a family affair," she says. "I didn't have much choice. Thankfully, I've never tired of it."

Gov. Palin, a mother of five kids, says exercise is still very much a "family thing." She and her husband, Todd, also an athlete, named their first son Track because he was born in that sport's season. Gov. Palin (above, near Mendenhall Glacier, outside of Juneau) and her family live in Wasilla, about 45 miles north of Anchorage.

Workout
"Conventional running is my sanity," Gov. Palin says. Having recently given birth to her fifth child, the governor is trying to get back to her old workout routine. She was running 7 to 10 miles almost every day but switched to aerobics classes at her gym when she became pregnant. She has worked her way back up to running three miles every other day.

In the summer, when it's always light, she'll sometimes run as late as midnight. In the dead of winter, when it's dark, she sneaks in an afternoon run, or else grudgingly runs on the treadmill at home or at the gym in the evening. Gov. Palin keeps dumbbells at home, but she says most of her upper body strength comes from snowmobiling with her family. "It's the best upper body workout you could ever have," she says. "You're maneuvering through hundreds of pounds of powder." (Todd is a four-time champion of the Tesoro Iron Dog, the world's longest snowmobile race.)

Diet pitfall
"My family and I eat a healthy diet heavy in wild Alaskan seafood, moose, caribou and fresh fruit," she says. "I guess my biggest pitfall is breakfast. I know it's the most important meal of the day but I still haven't bought into it. I hate to admit it, but a skinny white-chocolate mocha is my staple in the morning."

Workout gear

"My ideal fantasy is to be running on a hot dusty road just wearing running shorts and some kind of top that wicks away sweat. But in reality I'm running in 20-below temperatures, so I wear layers of fleece and always a good outdoor waterproof trail shoe. Right now I've been running in Nike Air Structure Triax. And I always wear sunglasses. My kids tell me to put them on so I don't freak people out when they see me with a goofy hairdo and no makeup."

While I'm working out
"I'm thinking about my next speech. I usually write my best speeches and letters [in my head] while out running. That is my inspired time."

Postworkout food

"Nothing. I just drink water."

Workout pitfall

"Being pregnant every few years. If I get lazy and go weeks or months without exercising it's not because of circumstances but because I'm being less disciplined. Shame on me."

[Cover Point]

I think this would be a historic election. Historic in the sense that a sitting president with a 25% approval rating will be able to keep a shadow of himself in the whitehouse.

Its a shame. One thing I dont understand is why did Obama have to go first in picking a Veep. And why did the Dems have to have a convention first.

Basically once Obama did not pick Hillary basically it was a smart choice by Bush McCain to pick a chick and get all the hillary voters on their side.

Either Obama should have picked hillary or he should have waited for McCain to go first in the Veep stakes.

Really Obama had nothing to gain from a VP.

McCain is 72!!! in 4 years he will be 76 before he even finishes his first term. Do we want a 76 year old making key decisions?

[achutank]

some how i always knew the pick was going to be a woman for the VP candidate except i thought it was gong to be Rice

[LosingNow]

As expected the right is going nuts over this pick!!
--
Evangelicals energized by McCain-Palin ticket By ERIC GORSKI, AP Religion Writer
2 hours, 4 minutes ago
 


Sarah Palin already has energized conservative religious leaders who had fretted that John McCain would pick an abortion rights supporter as his running mate. The Alaska governor was raised in a Pentecostal church and has called herself "as pro-life as any candidate can be."
 
To Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religion Liberties Commission, Palin is "straight out of veep central casting." Land said he had urged the McCain camp to consider the political unknown.

Gary Bauer, one of McCain's most enthusiastic evangelical supporters, said the Arizona senator had hit a "grand slam home run" and that adding Palin to the GOP ticket is "guaranteed to energize values voters."

The 44-year-old mother of five, who led her high school chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, was baptized as a teenager at the Wasilla Assembly of God Church, where she and her family were very active, according to her then-pastor, Paul Riley.

She now sometimes worships at the Juneau Christian Center, which is also part of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God, said Brad Kesler, business administrator of the denomination's Alaska District. But her home church is The Church on the Rock, an independent congregation, Riley said.

"The church was kind of a foundation for her," said Riley, who said he gave the invocation at Palin's inauguration and had her address students at the church last month.

Maria Comella, a spokeswoman for the McCain-Palin campaign, said Palin attends different churches and does not consider herself Pentecostal.

As a politician, Palin has sided with the majority evangelical view in opposing gay marriage and expressing a desire to see creationism discussed alongside evolution in schools.

During a 2006 debate, she said she was a proponent of teaching both evolution and creationism in schools. She later clarified her stance in an interview with the Anchorage Daily News, saying that she doesn't think creationism needed to be part of the curriculum and that she would not push the state Board of Education to add such alternatives to the state's required curriculum.

Not only does Palin oppose abortion as a matter of policy, but she chose to give birth to her youngest child, a son, after a prenatal exam indicated Down syndrome. Studies show that about nine in 10 pregnant women who are given a Down syndrome diagnosis have chosen to have an abortion.

"That will resonate in a big way," said Quin Monson, a Brigham Young University professor who studies religion and politics.
Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, who initially said he could not vote for McCain but has since opened the door to an endorsement, called Palin "an outstanding choice that should be extremely reassuring to the conservative base" of the GOP. Dobson added that the ticket "gives us confidence he will keep his pledges to voters regarding the kinds of justices he would nominate to the Supreme Court."

"It's an absolutely brilliant choice," said Mathew Staver, dean of Liberty University School of Law. "This will absolutely energize McCain's campaign and energize conservatives."

Staver called Palin a "a woman of faith who has a strong position on life, a consistent opinion on judges. ... She's the complete package."

A Pew poll last week showed McCain leading Democrat Barack Obama 68 percent to 24 percent among white evangelical Protestants. But there was little enthusiasm: Only 28 percent of white evangelicals call themselves "strong" supporters of McCain, far short of President Bush's numbers four years ago.

Many evangelical leaders said McCain helped himself with a solid performance at Pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Church, where McCain proclaimed, "I will be a pro-life president."

Mark Silk, who specializes in religion and politics at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., cautioned that while evangelical leaders are praising the Palin pick, it might not necessarily trickle down.

"The question is how this will be received by a lot of rank-and-file evangelicals who are just Americans struggling along, going to their megachurches, and care about values," Silk said.

Some question whether old-guard traditional leaders, like Dobson, hold as much influence as in the past. The evangelical establishment never warmed to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's candidacy, but grass-roots evangelicals contributed to his big win in the Iowa primaries.

Evangelical leaders got worried when McCain floated the possibility of a vice presidential candidate who supports abortion rights, including Sen. Joe Lieberman or former Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge.

By choosing Palin, "McCain is saying to social and religious conservatives, 'I'm taking your views incredibly seriously,'" said Michael Cromartie, director of the evangelical studies program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington.

[dhruvdeepak]

the question that now remains is how DUMB are republicans to still vote mccain...will they see through this or not?
God imagine this chick as President if big daddy Mac croaks.
she might be great at running, but not for president. her experience is a joke.

[LosingNow]

her experience is a joke.

..and Obama's?

[LosingNow]

From "meet the press"..

Bumper sticker in Alaska..

"Coldest state. Hottest governor"

Bumper sticker on her car ..
"VEGETARIAN - an Indian word for BAD HUNTER"

[broadbat]

The 17-year-old unmarried daughter of Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin is five months pregnant, Palin said in an announcement intended to knock down rumours by liberal bloggers that Palin faked her own pregnancy to cover up for her child.

Bristol Palin, one of the Alaska Governor's five children with her husband Todd, is going to keep the child and marry the father, according to aides of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

Bristol Palin made the decision on her own to keep the baby, the aides said.

The Palins, in a statement released by the McCain campaign, said Bristol "came to us with news that we as parents knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned" and that their daughter "has our unconditional love and support".

"We ask the media to respect our daughter and Levi's privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates," their statement said.

Senior McCain campaign officials said McCain knew of the daughter's pregnancy when he selected Palin last week as his vice-presidential running mate, deciding that it did not disqualify the 44-year-old governor in any way.

McCain officials said the news of the daughter's pregnancy was being released to rebut what one aide called "mud-slinging and lies" that have circulated on liberal blog sites.

According to these rumours, Sarah Palin had faked a pregnancy and pretended to have given birth in April to her fifth child, a son named Trig who has Down Syndrome. The rumour was that Trig was actually Bristol Palin's child and that Sarah Palin was the grandmother.

Palin is staunchly anti-abortion, and pro-life groups welcomed the decision to keep the child.

James Dobson, an influential Christian evangelical conservative, said his Focus on the Family group had always counselled young mothers to see their pregnancies through, "even though there will be of course challenges along the way".

"That is what the Palins are doing, and they should be commended once again for not just talking about their pro-life and pro-family values, but living them out even in the midst of trying circumstances," he said in a statement.

Charmaine Yoest, Head of Americans United for Life, said, "We join them in welcoming this new life."

The McCain campaign was outraged by the blog rumours.

"There's no doubt that liberal blogs such as one called www.barackoblogger.com and some in the mainstream media were pushing a false story about Governor Palin's most recent pregnancy with fervour," said senior McCain adviser Nicolle Wallace.

A senior McCain official said its camp had no evidence that the campaign of Democrat Barack Obama was pushing the story, but said the blog rumors circulating on websites that appeared to support Obama had the effect of being "a real anchor around the Democratic ticket".

Speaking to reporters in Monroe, Michigan, Obama said he was offended by the McCain aide's statement and that he considered people's families off-limits.

"We don't go after people's families. We don't get them involved in the politics. It's not appropriate and it's not relevant. Our people were not involved in any way in this and they will not be. And if I ever thought there was somebody in my campaign that was involved in something like that, they'd be fired," Obama said.

Obama also said: "This shouldn't be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Governor Palin's performance as a governor or potential performance as a vice-president. So I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories."

The news broke as Republicans gathered in St. Paul for their convention to formally nominate McCain and Palin as the party's candidates. Palin is only the second woman picked as a US vice-presidential nominee.

In the short period since she was announced last Friday, Palin has helped to energize the Republican Party's conservative base, giving McCain fresh energy going into the campaign for the November 4 election against Obama and his No. 2 Senator Joe Biden of Delaware.

Reuters