Well said! This is exactly the sentiment that needs to be put out there. This is an insult to Hillary supporters. It's exactly how McSame thinks of Hillary and her supporters --- a bunch of feminist dumbbells.

Never forget the video of McSame meeting with his supporters last year: "How do we beat the bitch"

I am in agreement. When I heard that she was to the RIGHT of McCain, I thought: How stupid do you think women are??

If she was to the left of McCain, I would give the ticket a better chance. But with this? If Obama doesn't blow it, I give it a snowball's chance...

Thank you for the provocative language. ;D Rec'd!

Palin doesn't present herself as a babe, but as a salt-of-the-earth working mom. That'll appeal to some independent women.

A lot of men are going to do a double-take as well, for slightly different reasons. Tina Fey with a hunting rifle is a picture that's going to appeal to a certain number of shallow independent men.

But in the long run, I think the Palin pick is a negative, because it comes with too many landmines. And after last week, I'm not even sure it matters.

Tonight on PBS one of the staff in Alaska government talked about what a huge learning curve it has been for Palin to act as governor. It has been very challenging apparently...
I think she will appeal to many republicans and maybe she will help rally their base although some will also be turned off. Maybe it will be a wash...

I can not imagine a more cynical choice he could have made. It is beyond rational and absolutely Orwellian.

She is a babe.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v225/caship/1903451448_635a36aed2_o.jpg

It's not just that she's a "babe." It's also that she has a babe. By which I mean, she has an extremely young child, an infant, and an infant with special needs at that. And as "cool" as part of me might think it is that we would have a nursing mother as our VP, this is counter-balanced by the part of me that is a mom to a special needs kid (who is eight, and extremely high functioning, and an only child, and, you know, not an infant).

I feel very strongly that work and mothering should not be mutually exclusive, and I know little about Palin's family life beyond what I've read and seen to date. They seem to be nice, loving, attractive, etc. But for all my extremely progressive, extremely feminist politics, I can't help feeling squeamish at the thought that she just gave birth to a baby - a baby who just happens to have Downs - and she's thrown herself and her family into the most glaring scrutiny and most grueling schedule, without any seeming concern for what that might mean for her kids.

The feminist and the (surprisingly traditional, I guess) mom in me are both kinda icked out by her.

There are many dangers for McCain in this, that he seems not to have reflected on (and he doesn't seem to be the reflective sort). The dangers are subtle.

One is that conservatives are notoriously daddy-state oriented. They fear the insecurities of this world, and seek reassurance in hierarchies of authority. The most fundamental of those authority hierarchies is gender. When conservatives look at John McCain, they see that reassuring authority because of all the masculine associations he brings up, as well as simply because of his appearance - grizzled, old, growly. What do they see when they look at Sarah Palin?

Another danger is that McCain dumped his disfigured first wife for a young, beautiful 'trophy wife'. Cindy McCain, now in her mid-fifties, no longer radiates that younger trophy-wife aura so openly. But Sarah Palin, 44, former Miss Alaska runner-up, does. She looks like a 'trophy running-mate' and will serve to remind people of McCain's preferences in choosing the women with whom he surrounds himself. That may particularly be the case with mature women, who may see in her the woman they worry about their husbands flirting with at the office. She may, in other words, raise deep insecurities for segments of the older female electorate to whom he seeks to appeal.

Closely related to that 'trophy running-mate' issue, and as many others have noticed, Sarah Palin raises the issue of McCain's age and health. If they win the election, she'll be one burst blood vessel away from being the Leader of the Free World. We must realize the importance of gut-level reactions here. Does she LOOK like the Leader of the Free World? It'll be the look of reassuring authority, or gravitas, that a chunk of the electorate will be after, seeking reassurance in the face of their anxieties. It's the look of authority on which Rove/McCain was attacking Obama, more than lack of experience. Among female politicians present and past, Hillary has gravitas, Margaret Thatcher had it; Golda Meir had it; Indira Gandhi had it. Does Sarah Palin have it?

McCain evidently knew little about her, and made this decision on his own, on his gut, without huddling with Rove's acolyte, Steve Schmidt. It shows.

The dems are doing this right, other than the initial reaction which was BAD. They barely have to talk about Palin. They can go off on McCain's judgement to choose someone who is less experienced than Barack Obama. They can keep at it all day long with that one.

@ Graduate Student

I guess you didn't read Joshua Green's extremely well-documented "The Front-Runner's Fall" (Atlantic Monthly September 2008).

Put bluntly, Hillary showed herself to be an arrogant, incompetent bitch (who surrounded herself with similar types), a terrible manager incapable of running a tight ship who was completely profligate with other peoples' money.

Despite the hype, this is a person who absolutely did not belong in the Presidency.

I don't even think they need to do that. McCain just undercut his own argument that Obama's not experienced enough, and someone in Obama's campaign should acknowledge that.

The other thing it does is show even more strongly that McCain would be a 3rd Bush term, as McCain has chosen to nominate someone to be a step from the Presidency who doesn't believe in science, other than as something to give lip service to.

The choice should sew up Alaska's 3 EV, though -

Oh Jesus Christ. THINK for a moment:

If we do "stay the fuck off that topic", you now have a ruthlessly ambitious far right winger, who writes off her "dud" baby after two days, and almost immediately starts exploiting the poor little thing as a prop for sympathy and the further pursuit of her right wing ambitions (see also: "POW").

Now you, good buddy, may be willing to let that slide. I, on the other hand, think it's strategically idiotic not to shout this shit from the rooftops.

For all the lip service we here have been paying to "women", it's a matter of record that they do get awfully predictable, as a stereotype, when they get into that voting booth and start identifying with their fellow breeders.

You want that to continue? You really want this bitch to WIN? You want McCain to find a reason to "resign" by 2009* (*=by which I mean his early onset dementia, of which neither media people nor the Democrats dare to speak)?

Because suddenly, you've got this phony-baloney Republican Party sockpuppet from Ass Pustule, AK, in the White House, who will "lead" the GOP for DECADES, while actually doing what she's told by the party elite (who, BTW... happen to like her, ideologically-speaking, ONE HELL OF A LOT MORE THAN THEY LIKE McCAIN!)?!?

And if that offends you (I am fully aware that it might, and FYI, I don't give a shit), then IMHO you are just not tough enough to go toe-to-toe with Karl Rove, who has gamed this bullshit six ways from Tuesday. And if that is the case, then you don't deserve to win.

Fuck her plumbing. Destroy her NOW, or accept quietly that you're gonna be destroyed.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/08/three-words.html

Think about what the Palin pick really says about how McCain views this campaign and how he views his potential responsibilities in national security.

Think about what it says about the sincerity of McCain's own central criticism of Obama these past two months in foreign affairs.

Think about how he picked a woman to be a heartbeat away from a war presidency who hadn't even thought much, by her own admission, about the Iraq war as late as 2007.

Think about how he made this decision barely knowing the woman.

Think about the fact that the most McCain could say about his potential war-time vice-president in foreign affairs and national security when selecting her is that she commanded Alaska's National Guard as governor and has a son in the military.

Think about the men and women serving this country who have every right to trust that their potential commander-in-chief, whatever their party, would have some record of even interest in foreign policy before assuming office.

Think about how the key factor in this decision was not who could defend this country were something dreadful happen to McCain in office but how to tread as much on Obama's convention bounce and use women's equality as a wedge issue among Democrats because it might secure a few points here or there. Oh, and everyone would be surprised. And even Rove would be annoyed.

This is his sense of honor and judgment. This is his sense of responsibility and service.

Oh Jesus Christ. THINK for a moment:

If we do "stay the fuck off that topic", you now have a ruthlessly ambitious far right winger, who writes off her "dud" baby after two days, and almost immediately starts exploiting the poor little thing as a prop for sympathy and the further pursuit of her right wing ambitions (see also: "POW").

Now you, good buddy, may be willing to let that slide. I, on the other hand, think it's strategically idiotic not to shout this shit from the rooftops.

For all the lip service we here have been paying to "women", it's a matter of record that they do get awfully predictable, as a stereotype, when they get into that voting booth and start identifying with their fellow breeders.

You want that to continue? You really want this bitch to WIN? You want McCain to find a reason to "resign" by 2009* (*=by which I mean his early onset dementia, of which neither media people nor the Democrats dare to speak)?

Because suddenly, you've got this phony-baloney Republican Party sockpuppet from Ass Pustule, AK, in the White House, who will "lead" the GOP for DECADES, while actually doing what she's told by the party elite (who, BTW... happen to like her, ideologically-speaking, ONE HELL OF A LOT MORE THAN THEY LIKE McCAIN!)?!?

And if that offends you (I am fully aware that it might, and FYI, I don't give a shit), then IMHO you are just not tough enough to go toe-to-toe with Karl Rove, who has gamed this bullshit six ways from Tuesday. And if that is the case, then you don't deserve to win.

Fuck her plumbing. Destroy her NOW, or accept quietly that you're gonna be destroyed.