Look Out, Baby, 'Cause Here She Comes!
Just when giddy Democrats and muddleheaded media magpies expected John McCain to pick the obvious—a Michigan-winning, cardboard-cutout former governor of Massachusetts—McCain picked the least-obvious—the current governor of Alaska. And what a pick! Sarah Palin is smart, fearless, tough, Christian, poised, charming, persistent, undauntable, young, principled, likable, accomplished, and beautiful. Did I mention she’s a woman and energetic mother of five?
Even without kids, she’s no slouch. In 2007, Palin went to Kuwait to visit Alaskan troops, cancelled the bridge to nowhere and cut her state’s 100 federal earmarks in half with a goal of whittling them down to a mere dozen:
“We really want to skinny it down,” said Karen Rehfeld, Gov. Sarah Palin’s budget chief.
Rehfeld recently wrote a memo to all state commissioners telling them that to “enhance the state’s credibility,” federal earmark requests for money should be only for the most compelling needs.
They should have a strong national purpose, Rehfeld told the commissioners, not just to fill funding gaps in the state budget.
Palin has leadership credentials not limited to her home state. She has firsthand experience with education and energy issues, which are transferable to the federal level. And unlike the Bush administration, she seems to believe in the concept of oversight.
But the kicker? Palin can shoot a gun.
Yesterday, CNN repeatedly showed a video clip of Palin at a shooting range and mingling with American troops. They played it over and over and over and over. And over and over. Wikipedia mentions her early morning moose hunting expeditions with her dad when she was a kid. Articles are already calling her a gun-toting beauty queen. So I started thinking about that image of Palin shooting a gun.
Because we all know gun-toting + beauty queen = sexy. Think about Angelina Jolie being a heartbeat away from the presidency.
Suddenly, it hit me: McCain is not pandering to disaffected female Hillary voters. If McCain is pandering to anyone, he is pandering to men. I say this because of the TPM posts already calling Sarah Palin a babe. I say this because of the subliminal effect of media images that bombard us. I say this because research shows that if you want to win the presidency, you need to win a majority of the white male vote more than any other demographic. How cunning of the Republicans, therefore, to rile up the distractible Democrats with PUMAs and Paris while secretly selecting a talented all-American female for the second-highest job in the land.
Watching the reaction here yesterday Gasket, I agree not many serious Clinton-backing women will find her appealing. But white guy evangelicals? Maybe even men in general? As many of Palin's (usually quite appalling) positions on issues are known, many women will walk away. But guys? Well, just look at what got triggered here yesterday, and it sure as shit wasn't brainpower.
And yes, I think she's a talented politician. Ready for prime time? I doubt it. Would she be taken seriously if she were a 54 year old male accountant who'd done what she did? Probably not. Are her issue positions crap? Oh yeah. But. Heck of a story, heck of a surprise. Me personally? Forget showing her with guns. Give her a pair of skates, a helmet & a stick and..... oooh baby! ;-)
August 30, 2008 3:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gasket - great post! Quinn, with all due respect at TPM you are getting mostly the progressive, liberal women who are against Palin's conservative, anti-choice agenda. What about those Reagan Democrat women who are also pro-life, pro-gun, rural and were only voting for Hill because she spoke to them on bread and butter issues? You know the ones who cling to guns and religion? Those gals (and guys).
Palin has not yet been introduced to America yet and I suspect that many are going to identify personally with a woman who's smart, assertive, pro-life & pro-contraception, pro-gun, anti-gay marriage, socially conservative, young, attractive, gregarious, raising 5 kids - one on the way to Iraq, a baby with special needs, trying to balance work and career, hockey mom who got started in politics in the PTA and who just celebrated her 20th year of marriage. She's relatable - and the video montage put together by the GOP is going to be worthy of an Oscar for sure.
Most women don't know her yet. They will and she will speak to some of them in a way that Obama and Biden can't because they know she "gets it." Obama & Biden had an excellent rally yesterday focusing on our economic populist message talking about health care, middle class tax cuts - things that McCain and Palin are against. And that's exactly what we need to be doing to compete for these voters. Let them see while Palin may be relatable, Obama/Biden have the policies that will have a positive impact on their lives. Personal attacks are going to backfire because by all accounts she's pretty kickass for a conservative. I admit even I admire her personally even though she is anti-pretty much every thing stand for. I would never vote for her. Neither would most Hill voters. But she's going to be a force to be reckoned with for non-liberal women once they realize that she is much more than just a pretty face.
August 31, 2008 9:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wow! Awesome comment, dij! You should consider blogging it.
August 31, 2008 11:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, Blow, I'm not touchin' this one w/ a 10 ft. pole...Have fun w/ it! :-)
August 30, 2008 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jeez, thanks for leaving me on my own! Thank God I got my helmet on..... ;-)
August 30, 2008 3:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
This has got no place to go but downhill...instead of accountant, substitute chubby and ugly! :-)
August 30, 2008 5:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry...make that read instead of "male accountant"
August 30, 2008 5:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, it appears you really are ready to blow a gasket, most probably in the cranial area, but possibly in your pants as well.
August 30, 2008 3:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's depressing to think that you are trying to reinforce the fallacy and actually present a new slogan for the McCain/Palin ticket: "Think With Your Dick!"
August 30, 2008 4:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOVE IT! BEST line of the day!
August 30, 2008 5:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm sincerely not sure why you think I'm "reinforcing the fallacy," tonalli, and I'm not even completely sure which fallacy I'm reinforcing.
My thinking was that CNN was reinforcing a fallacy by showing the image of Palin shooting a gun about forty thousand times. Why did CNN choose that image instead of one where Palin's speaking to a group of legislators? At the time, the pundits weren't talking about her position on gun ownership or the troops or anything remotely related to guns, yet the loop kept playing. The video was used like wallpaper.
It matters which images the media will choose to tell her story.
August 30, 2008 7:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
In the words of Marshall McLuhan, "The medium is the message."
August 30, 2008 7:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yep. ;-)
August 30, 2008 8:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
The massage, actually, which, in the present context, is even more revealing. The Republican strategy is just plain fun. All at once, we have three sexy people in the race: Barack, Michelle and Sarah. As my friend gasket has said elsewhere, Palin manages at the same time to make Biden look old and McCain to look young.
And this race is suddenly about reformers versus revolutionaries, which is right where McCain needed to be to have a chance.
That one of the reformers is a sexy, blue collar woman who visited her troops and fired a weapon without looking dumb -- which neither Obama or Biden is going to be able to do -- is just icing on the fun cake.
August 31, 2008 1:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't agree with her issues but look, you said, "Because we all know gun-toting + beauty queen = sexy." Well, I've always wanted to believe that it was a myth that every sexy woman stirred up a hard-on in a man and he couldn't think straight due to lack of blood circulating in the cerebral cortex. You're saying that's true and that John McCain's using that image to stir up the hard-ons and get votes. Most women don't appreciate being viewed strictly as a sex symbol and I always hoped that men didn't really think with their dicks.
August 30, 2008 8:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am saying "We all know X is sexy" with heavy sarcasm. Beautiful women with guns is a fetish.
Because I recognized it (granted, it took me awhile), I felt it was important to write about it. I seriously think that CNN is going to play up any sex-appeal angle for their ratings if nothing else, whether they go for a gun-toting babe, a rugged "frontier woman" (someone on CNN actually used that term and added, "She not only can shoot that caribou, but she can skin it and eat it too"), or a May-December "romance" insinuation. Maybe there are others I can't think of at the moment.
But now that I think about it, I also noticed CNN runs tons of Cialis ads, showing men of all ages. Coincidence?
August 30, 2008 9:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Coincidence? I think not!
August 30, 2008 10:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks! ;-)
August 30, 2008 10:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why is it that men can just take a pill but women have to read Laurel Hamilton?
August 30, 2008 10:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
[joke alert]
Answering that is above my pay grade.
August 31, 2008 11:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
tonalli, weren't you the first one to pick Palin out for me? Until you came up with her as a possibility, I didn't even know she existed. I was thinking Hutchinson, but compared to Palin she would have been completely boring. Good catch.
August 31, 2008 10:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let's not forget that tight election equals good story. Obama just went up 8 points. If he goes up double-digits and stays there then the race is pretty well over. Here's a better story: "People find Sarah Palin compelling and she's helped McCain close the gap." Not true? No big deal. Make it true. Brace yourself for the selling of Sarah Palin.
August 30, 2008 10:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's actually more complicated than that. This particular woman is going to have some appeal across the boards. Personally, she reminds me of my jock, super-mom daughter-in-law or my baby sister who we caught "putting some steel in the backbone" of a worried young Marine the day my son shipped out from Lejeune for Desert Storm.
For the wonks. With Michigan much less in play, McCain needs Colorado. How does McCain/Palin play there?
August 31, 2008 2:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, it's more complicated, although some responses to my post are very simplistic.
Anyway, according to the NYer article artappraiser linked to in another thread recently, The Code of the West, Palin might draw independents in Colorado. Independents are a third of the electorate there.
August 31, 2008 2:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, gasket. Empirical evidence suggests you're onto something, actually. Women have responded to the Palin pick less favorably than men, and men are much more likely to think she's ready to be President.
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/08/women-more-skeptical-of-palin-than-men.html
I'm ashamed to admit it, but frankly, gasket is right about the Angelina Jolie comparison. Sharp rimless glasses + reputation for shooting moose = complete paralysis of the male brain.
August 30, 2008 4:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for link Alex. Favourables with men 17% higher than with women. Ouch. That's gotta hurt. ;-)
August 30, 2008 4:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here's a post (flitted by earlier) that seems to indicate she's damn well aware of it (duh).
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/08/from-an-alaskan-blog-flirtatio.php
August 30, 2008 10:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Somebody got toasted here a few weeks back for suggesting that she enjoyed looking at the pictures of a bare-chested Obama in Hawaii...why the double standard?
August 31, 2008 12:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
Are you kidding? You can't throw a dead cat without hitting a sexually repressed prude at this site.
August 31, 2008 2:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dead cat? $10 bucks says Des shows up drooling here by 7.
August 31, 2008 5:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
No way I'm trading Michelle for Sarah.
August 30, 2008 4:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
How long until Sarah Palin becomes a "Lara Croft for VP"?
August 30, 2008 4:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Did anyone notice the look of disdain on Cindy McCain's face during the first press conference after the announcement ? Ouch!
August 30, 2008 4:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes. Made me wonder who really picked Palin - McCain or Fiorina.
August 30, 2008 5:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Its certainly got all the hallmarks of a Carly Fiorna decision.
August 30, 2008 8:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
You can tell when Cindy McCain has a facial expression?
August 30, 2008 5:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
She runs the gamut of expressions from A to B, doesn't she?
August 30, 2008 5:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Really? what does "B" look like?
August 30, 2008 6:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
"B" looks pissed.
August 30, 2008 7:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Sarah Palin is smart, fearless, tough, Christian, poised, charming, persistent, undauntable, young, principled, likable, accomplished, and beautiful. Did I mention she’s a woman and energetic mother of five?"
Why didn't you mention that she believes the barrels of oil under Alaska are our route to energy independence and that taking this route (and running counter to geological evidence) is senza problema because global warming is not man-made?
Or how about her roll as Big Oil's left ball up in Alaska? True, she got them to pony up for the populace, and I give her credit for that, but considering the population is about the quarter of the population of Brooklyn, it's a bargain.
Also, how do you feel about a creationist and card carrying fundamentalist as one half of our national face in front of the rest of the Western World? Apparently, you like the idea of America and Americans being looked on as a joke.
Nothing against Sara personally, I think she'd make a great neighbor, just like I thought about Huckabee, and that's worthy of some respect, and I mean that sincerely. But people like you, who'll say anything to thumb your nose at Obama and his suuporters, and just revel in any development that may impede him, even though you despise Bush and his policies, are just beneath contempt.
August 30, 2008 5:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not thumbing my nose at Obama and I'm not promoting Palin.
I'm not into gun-toting women myself, but I am beginning to see how the media will fetishize her.
August 30, 2008 7:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here's a query for you: Why can't we discuss the way the GOP and the MSM are going to message this without being accused of participating in it? I was accosted on my thread by some paltry poultry for similar reasons. I generally assume that the people here are at least somewhat savvy (hopefully) observers of political games and (more hopefully still) not so easily swayed by them. What gives?
August 30, 2008 7:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have no idea why, DF. I want to discuss the way the MSM handles Palin and other issues, like the Republican National Convention. I think it's extremely important to understand how we are manipulated by politicians and by the media. I also believe the only way we can understand it is by sharing observations and experiences of it, whether those observations are presented as essay or satire or joke or history lesson.
I was really bothered by the gun footage on CNN, which is why I noticed how they kept on playing it.
August 30, 2008 8:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ditto. You either see the play or you get played. Dems will keep losing elections until they get more media savvy. I like how Axelrod and co. have done so far, but we'll see how they handle this change-up.
August 30, 2008 10:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ha! Ha! Welcome to my world, DF!
August 31, 2008 1:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, I've been wearing a hat since before they were en vogue around here.
August 31, 2008 3:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Anna, on "beneath contempt." 90% of the shit thrown here yesterday ("Trophy Wife, VPILF, Unfit Mother, Monica, Bitch, McCain's New C*nt") came from Obama-backers, ok? Did you think Obama would respond that way? Or wonder if it might not "be a development that might impede" Obama if the Progressive Blogosphere continued down that track.
Today, Gasket lays out the idea that the MSM was basically PITCHING that whole gun-toting mama thing, which would APPEAL to - surprise! - men. And even after you saw the poll Alex linked to that showed men 17% MORE favorable to Palin than women, you wrote it off on your new post, saying "that is to be expected" because women are less conservative than men. My... doesn't that just take care of that. Do you REALLY think that we got an instant 17% gap based on Palin's conservative political views - or doncha just maybe think her image & those gun-totin' pictures had some slight impact?
So tell me, please. WHO is hurting Obama? And WHO came closer to identifying what Rove was actually after? And WHO was actually writing something that might help Obama? Answer those 3, and then maybe identify for me who the "all you people" are that are "beneath contempt."
P.S. I kinda like those "beneath contempt" and "welfare of the nation" phrases of yours. But then again, I dig haughty.
August 31, 2008 12:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think you're conflating me with a few different people. I've not made any comments about Sara Palin's appeal to men, though I've made plenty about her general appeal, and had plenty to say about how she's a threat and needs to be taken seriously.
If you're a fan of ghost who walks and ready to blow, that's your prerogative. But if you think this piece above read satirically or did anything other than make a chortling sound that can be roughly translated as saying woohoo and hot damn here comes trouble, maybe you better sign up for composition 101 somewhere.
Apparently to you, it's equivalent to inventing the lightbulb to say that little dick types who love rifles and love even better shots of broads who tote them (and seem to have a dick themselves) find a broad like Palin a turn on. Don't see it that way myself. Sorry. To me that seems a given. And, again, I don't see the big concern about Obama in this piece that you do.
And about Palin's appeal to men, have to say to me she looks so much like a PTA mom, I wonder if another aspect of the draw here isn't her potential to change your nappies. That's apparently a real turn on for lots of men too.
August 31, 2008 1:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
P.S. to quinnesq - I also think Rove's got a little more on his mind than adolescent-style tumescence in men. I'm sure it's true he sees this as a bonus, but I think he knows that these guys who have been stiffed (and I do mean to reference Faludi), have a bit more on their minds than jerking off to Nanook of the North sexual fantasies.
And if you think for one minute Rove wasn't principally thinking of shoring up the conservative Christian base first and foremost, I'd say think again. Bob Barr has been drawing five to seven percent off of the Republican vote.
Guys who would vote for McCain because Sara Palin's got a cute rack and she won't take away their guns weren't planning to vote for Obama anyway.
August 31, 2008 1:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, I like the "nappies" line. Nice shot. Me? Raised by wolves, doncha know... I crap all over.
Anna, you didn't like getting called for slapping the "contempt" thing on the wrong post, and - speaking of nappies - now you're ass-covering. Hundreds of posts, 000's of idiotic comments passed by... none of 'em beneath your contempt. Go read what they're saying now. People realize they screwed up & now they're all saying - "Oh NO! We MUSTN'T use sexist language on Palin etc." And some even fessin' up. I'm glad for 'em, but you? Well, you just kinda walked on by some stuff that was fairly obviously contemptible.
As for politics, you think Rove's got more on his mind than adolescent-style tumescence in men? (Oh yeah, I like that return to haughty line about "a little more on his mind" - nice.) So he's focussed on "shoring up the Christian base." Yessirree, that is SOME kinda penetratin' political insight, that thar un. Precisely the kinda genius that makes Rove, Rove, innit? Must. Do. One. Thing. With. The. VP. Pick. Funny thing is, weren't many other posts here pointing out that maybe Palin served multiple purposes, including - apparently - insignificant 17% gap in how men/women responded to Palin. But hey. To you, "that seems a given." Woulda thought it might be worth highlighting. But that's just me.
Overall, points for the nappie shot. Pretty good maintenance on the haughty approach. Composition 101? you nailed it. Faludi? Three demerits. But since this is political science, afraid it's overall a D. Hope you have a nice time with them Show Us Yer Tits types.
August 31, 2008 2:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh yeah. Just as a footnote on the nappies thing.
I know David Vitter. David Vitter was a friend of mine. And YOU, ma'am, are JUST his style.
August 31, 2008 2:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Glad you liked it. I did too.
But about Political Science. For sure Rove has more on his mind than the conservative Christian voters, but for every white male vote they get with Sara Palin, they lose two suburban women, and the Republicans really really wanted those votes, they wanted the suburban vote in general, especially in places like PA where Obama didn't do so well. But Sara with a gun won't play well in Haverhill. Word is the suburbs -- in PA and everywhere -- are just about lost to McCain now.
Any idea why a tradeoff like that would've been worth it to Republicans?
I'd guess that they're internal polls are showing really bad numbers in PA, and probably Ohio too, and they're counting them as a loss and shoring up where they can. Ie., their hard core base, which they've managed to fire up into a frenzy with Palin.
August 31, 2008 3:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for this, Anna. I'll stop being a jerk now. (At least intentionally.) I agree Rove/McCain saw they couldn't win - unless O screwed up, & he hasn't. And yep, Rove had more on his mind than just the Conservative Christians - though firing them up was certainly impt.
But what if Rove isn't actually playing a traditional, "targeted demographic" game at all? Because - as you said - it just doesn't make SENSE. These guys don't play politics normally. Look at that Britney ad. Who saw THAT configuration coming? So they've blown up the Experience ship, set sail for Change - but know they have to explode every existing attitude out there about who is Change. Make McCain look like a Renegade. Now we've got TWO Mavericks, two Pirates - and they may just come out shooting from the hip. Making it up as they go. Because Plan vs Plan, Obama had it won. But what if they throw a dozen wild card angles out? Look at how they're talking about handling the Convention now - seat of their pants. They're on the high seas, making shit up. And in that environment, Rove & McCain may do quite well - get their base & MAYBE tap into a lot of people who are pissed off & want to throw some punches. At somebody, anybody - the smartass media, the powerful, the smart guys, etc.
So if Palin is a joke (and, as a serious VP candidate, she is) then what is the JOKER up to? His joke's are never one-levelled, one-shot for one target. Misdirection, tapping & twisting underlying feelings, making black into white - that's his game. As for what Obama does, well... I think he needs to (and will) stay calm. But beyond that... how DO you beat a Pirate?
Anyway. Cheers. And sorry for the Vitter shot... now that WAS beneath contempt! ;-)
August 31, 2008 4:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is down below, quinnesq and I don't know why it got stuck there. So I'm posting it again and hoping it will go here where I meant it to be.
**************
Forgiven totally,. I was just diappointed you didn't see me more in the Sara way, except with stilettos and a whip (joking, please see that).
I can't figure them, for sure I can't figure them but I am beginning to get the feeling they're at wits end here and are really going for the Hail Mary pass.
I also think they're glad to be able to scrap their convention. I think they know their show is going to flop, that he's going to flop, she's going to flop. They couldn't even get 10,000 to his VP announcement even offering free bus tickets.
Which doesn't mean I think Obama has a clear shot. He's got to win by enormous margins to rise above voter fraud, and there's going to be fraud.
But then again, I read that what the republicans are trying to do is prevent a total disaster, that they know McCain's going to lose and they're only hoping to fire up the base to prevent their staying home and their loss of every seat in the House and Senate they're up for.
Posted by anna am
August 31, 2008 5:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
August 31, 2008 10:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Cheers, Anna.
September 1, 2008 1:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
anna am, you seem to think I am articulating my own reaction to Palin's sex appeal in this post. I'm not. Guns don't turn me on AT ALL.
I'm trying to highlight the fact that out of a long list of Palin's personal qualities and potential skill sets for the job of VP, CNN focused on how Palin handles a gun. And I started to think about why CNN would do that because it bothered me.
August 31, 2008 2:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have no opinion on whether guns turn you on and couldn't care less. That wasn't my point.
My point is that it's NOT a hoot that the Obama campaign is going to have to deal with this curve ball now, a woman who has potential to be spun by the press very positively, and even worse hamstrings a lot of the Obama campaign's potential to react.
Now if you didn't mean you think it'll be fun to watch, you could've fooled me. But I'll take you at your word.
August 31, 2008 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
My position is that Palin is a good VP choice for McCain for many reasons, which I list. Some people think her "inexperience" will sink the ticket. I don't. I think she's a stealth candidate.
August 31, 2008 4:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
P.S. And because I think she's a stealth candidate, I think Dems should wake up and pay attention to how the media is portraying her.
What I wrote has nothing to do with Obama. Or Biden. I don't mention either one of them, do I.
My post has to do with Democrats not paying attention. See how I mention distracted Dems in the first and last sentences?
August 31, 2008 4:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Whazzat yer sayin' Gasket? I got distracted for a minute there. Some librarian with guns. I donno. Anyway. Have the Democrats had their Convention yet?
August 31, 2008 5:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Palin -- by way of "Young Trig" (her infant Down's syndrome son's name) -- scrubbed and "enhanced" her Wikipedia entry. Either she's got a prodigy on her hands, or she types with one hand extremely proficiently.
Bridge to Nowhere? She was for it before she was against it. And it was not politically feasible to be against it until Ted Stevens -- the bridge's champion -- ended up under investigation and on his way to indictment. It's easy to be against something when the Justice Department is lurking nearby.
Education? She favors teaching creationism in schools and home schooling. Home schooling in Alaska is a given, because of the large number of "get away from it all" parents who have chosen to "camp" in the Alaskan bush rather than its sparsely to lowly populated "urban" areas. Remember that Alaska's population is just about 685,000 people -- smaller than the 17th largest city in the entire country.
Remember about that creationism...
She lives in a energy state, rich in fossil fuels, but doesn't believe in the science that allowed us to discover it, and lets us drill for it. I wonder, if when asked, how Palin would reconcile the science that proves the earth is older than 6,000 years (Oh, I don't know things like carbon dating) and her insistence that man and dinosaurs walked the earth at the same time.
Apparently she was opposed to drilling here and now in ANWR... will that change?
She can shoot a gun... so could Annie Oakley. Every governor is the head of his or her states national guard. As we saw with Governors like Ross Barnett (D-Mississippi, riots at Ole Miss), George Corley Wallace (D-Alabama, blocking enrollment of students at University of Alabama) or James Rhodes (R-Ohio, Kent State Massacre) cannot be presumed to use that resource wisely. From the National Guard's own website: "In peacetime, the Guard is commanded by the governors of the respective States and Territories (the District of Columbia National Guard is commanded directly by the President)." Given that according a source no less than the President himself, "We are a nation at war," and have been since (noun, verb...) NINE ELEVEN!!!! Ms. Palin's full control over the 1800 member Alaska National Guard as governor has been usurped by her President. And the Alaska State Defense Force is ...
Sarah Palin is a beauty queen, "hockey mom" governor with a mere 18 months of service, who hasn't got a clue as to what the duties of the Vice President of the United States are.
Americans -- regardless of party -- deserve better than this.
Enough!!!!
August 30, 2008 6:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wait, wait -- I didn't get all of that, because I'm having trouble focusing. But I think you said she not only packs a gun but commands a force of 1,800 armed men?
And camps in the Alaskan bush, and "types with one hand extremely proficiently"?
Damn! I wonder if it's too late to switch my party registration . . .
August 30, 2008 6:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Settle down. Think baseball statistics, polling trends, global warming (wait, forget that last one...stick with baseball stats).
August 31, 2008 7:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
The general public is never going to learn the details about Palin's positions on CNN, Jade.
CNN is just going to show people a Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman version of her.
August 30, 2008 7:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
You got the REST of that episode Gasket? (Sniff) That one made me kinda... teary. (Sniff.) DAMN, that Dr Quinn's one fine woman!
Not that I'd expect any less from a Quinn....
August 30, 2008 8:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
This thread is an homage to Quinns. ;-)
August 30, 2008 8:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd prefer fromage, but hey.... you know me.
Come to think of it... you got any doughnuts? I'd kill for a cruller right now. You know what they say.... Gotta be cruller to be kind.
Can't believe I just wrote that. Sad, really. To be reduced to this.
August 31, 2008 6:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Want to hear something funny? McCain's running an attack ad on my cable system here in central PA about how Obama doens't have enough experience to be president.
The man's a real comedian.
August 30, 2008 8:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, the "progressives" have another woman to hate that is more qualified than Obama.
The dirt is starting to fly and Ayers is rearing his ugly head.
Obama is fighting back hard because it stinks to high heaven.
Anyhoo, a crazy cycle just got crazier. I see the folks that think the joke the DNC called a primary was bullshit are going with McCain anyways with or without a woman VP who may be the first woman President if the old guy "keels over".
gop gives us the first woman President.
Wow, talk about crazy.
August 30, 2008 6:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree, gotalife, it's all totally crazy. ;-)
August 30, 2008 7:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
So how's the weather in that bizarroworld parallel universe of yours these days? Rain still falling up? Snow still piling up in August? And how about the stock market? Carly Fiorna still sending HP stock to new heights with her brilliant management decisions?
August 30, 2008 8:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
The dirt is starting to fly and Ayers is rearing his ugly head.
Obama is fighting back hard because it stinks to high heaven.
Don't be coy, getalife. Tell us exactly what stinks. Details. No dark insinuations.
Unless you can do that, you're a troll.
August 31, 2008 2:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
You are conditioning gotalife's trolldom? What an insult. gotalife has worked long and hard to earn his status. He doesn't need your stamp of approval.
August 31, 2008 1:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is it hard to live your life without a brain? You are obviously the troll we always thought you were and never really supported Hillary Clinton at all. Palin's resume is thinner than your rhetoric.
August 31, 2008 10:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
"you need to win a majority of the white male vote more than any other demographic. "
This is just not true.
Democrats almost always lose white males, even when they win. It's more a matter of keeping it close white white men, and then getting large margins among blacks and women.
August 30, 2008 6:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
From the NYT Magazine article I linked to in my OP, "16 Ways of Looking at a Female Voter":
According to this, the key to winning seems to be to offset the male vote.
About race and gender, the article says:
This year, we can expect more blacks will vote (and vote Democratic) than ever before. To offset this increase (Republicans won't even try for black votes), the Republicans will pursue the white male vote more than any other group. Choosing a woman like Palin will likely appeal to the white Republican base, both male and female, as well as to some moderates.
August 31, 2008 12:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dang, gasket and BG both noticed the gun footage, too. She sure knew how to work that AR.
August 30, 2008 7:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
I keep referring to it as an AR-15, but I found this YouTube video of the footage in question. It's apparently from a visit to Kuwait she made in '07, which means that it's probably an M-4 carbine. Small difference, it's real red meat stuff either way.
August 30, 2008 10:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gentlemen of TPM:
Last night someone posted a photo of Sarah Palin in hooker gear: black leather micro-skirt, black platform stilettos, full cleavage, etc.
Do us all a favor. Find the photo. Mesmerize yourselves. Indulge in every fantasy you've ever had that includes the aforementioned leather/stiletto combination. Knock yourselves out.
Then come back to us so we can focus on the issues her nomination presents and develop a winning strategy. Because Palin can always be your pin-up. But she cannot be our Vice President.
Fair enough?
August 30, 2008 7:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't even want her as my pin-up. As far as attractive women go, I think the Democratic ticket wins hands down. Michelle Obama is beautiful, and when Joe Biden says Jill is drop-dead gorgeous, he's not lying.
http://shesoghetto.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/20070215ebony.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/144/384750900_a801e783c1.jpg?v=0
August 30, 2008 8:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, sure. But can they fire an assault rifle? Or gut a moose?
August 31, 2008 8:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Because Palin can always be your pin-up. But she cannot be our Vice President."
Are these men you are talking about stuck in prison? I mean, she's a female and has a pulse. If that's the standard...
You must be confusing us with the enormous psychological hangups of the Limbaugh crowd.
I don't even want to think of what Palin with a gun symbolizes for these folks in a freudian sense.
August 30, 2008 8:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree - Sarah Palin shooting a gun will be a big turn-on for many men, and since the MSM is dominated by middle-aged white men, those pictures will get a lot of play.
August 30, 2008 8:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
"...Sarah Palin shooting a gun will be a big turn-on for many" REPUBLICAN "men."
August 30, 2008 8:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
"...Sarah Palin shooting a gun will be a big turn-on for many" REPUBLICAN "men."
August 30, 2008 8:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey gasket, nice to see a post up here from you.
I think this is a joke. I think it's ludicrous to take gun-toting, vogue cover Palin seriously. No doubt the GOP is in hysterics at the left's typical reaction.
What's next, McCain's gonna announce Ted Nugent for Secretary of State?
August 30, 2008 8:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
The GOP probably wasn't in hysterics when Palin got booed by a crowd for mentioning Hillary Clinton.
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/08/palin-booed-by-crowd-for-menti.php
August 30, 2008 8:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't think they expected her to appeal to Hillary supporters, nor were there many at the rally. Still, interesting, and thanks. I rec'd it.
August 30, 2008 9:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Public service announcement: Gasket is a GOP troll. Every post is agitprop.
August 30, 2008 8:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks. You've lived up to your moniker, observor. gasket, I told you your GOP trolling was much too obvious. You need to learn to troll the way I do. With consummate subtlety. Now you've been busted by not one, but two or the pom pom queens. I forget who the other genius was. They all sound alike to me.
Objective analysis = troll.
What you forgot, dear gasket, is that this is an official Obama campaign site now.
August 31, 2008 2:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
If TPM is an official Obama campaign site, some of the campaign volunteers seem not have gotten the scripted talking points on Sarah Palin yet. As Lalo says in another post, TPM is freaking out. Should we email David Plouffe or something?
August 31, 2008 3:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, but can she shoot *straight*? I wanna see some scores...dig? But hell, I guess that makes me an "egghead"...
August 30, 2008 9:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
I saw a pic of her in a tank, too, and she sure didn't look like Michael Dukakis.
August 30, 2008 10:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oooh, lets talk about her hair and shoes next.
Not.
August 31, 2008 3:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fortunately, that discussion won't happen on this thread because it's dead. But I won't be surprised if Palin's hair and shoes show up on other TPM threads and posts before the week is out.
August 31, 2008 4:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the arrests in Minnesota, Marquis de sea to shining sea put a post up on it, if you can find it through the Palin clutter.
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/08/sorry-to-not-freak-out-over-pa-1.php
and
=D
You're funny.
August 31, 2008 5:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, gasket. What do you think about those arrests in MN? My thought is if they had taken Obama's bus away he couldn't have thrown so many people under it. There's never a cop around when you need one.
August 31, 2008 6:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
That was a pretty intellectual joke.
August 31, 2008 7:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey gasket, what do you think about this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh-lW2opLyQ&feature=related
She shills for Alaska on this sexist pig's talk show. She did not call this guy out on his obvious drool in the days after either. No..she probably laughed while watching the broadcast with her family and friends "Look I'm on nationwide tv". There has been no documented objection to the commentary this jerk made after her statements.
Feminism has come a long way since women finally stood up and said "No! This is not right". It was the disgusting pigs who would tell them to relax, get a sense of humor, quit whining.
Ooooh wait. I think Palin had exactly that mindset when Hillary complained about sexism. Didn't she say she should quit whining?
But I guess when you are Sarah Palin, you get alot of men making those kind of comments. Better just to laugh them off right? Better she not fight back right????
Sorry gasket. Not gonna fly.
August 30, 2008 11:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry gasket...I did something my teenagers do...I just skimmed the beginning of your post and formed an opinion. Before I read the rest, I had already made my comment. My apologies.
That said...my link is relevant. She does nothing to dissuade these jokers - which in turn just encourages the sexist behavior.
August 31, 2008 12:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
Don't worry about it, mageduley, but thanks for rereading my post.
I don't know what to say about the "naughty librarian" video. I know nothing about Craig Ferguson, and very little about Palin. I can't even imagine what Palin thought about his commentary. But I believe that other governors (like Huckabee) sent vids to Ferguson's show, so they all would have shilled for their state on national TV. Maybe they expect to get razzed by him, I have no idea.
I'm not a fan of Palin. I'm more curious about what kind of media treatment she'll get. A lot, is my guess.
August 31, 2008 2:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
Governor Palin appears to be very well-spoken, an advocate of political reform and yes a self-described hockey mom. But she also a blatant liar who didn't think her plan to attempt to cover up her oldest daughters pregnancy would ever come back to haunt her.
August 31, 2008 9:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
PLUS....she has that jockette/lipstick thing going for Hillary's aging lesbians.
August 31, 2008 9:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
So where are the moose burger loving folks?
August 31, 2008 1:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Interesting that scanning down the comments I saw a pic to Teddy Roosevelt. That's where McCain needed to be, and that's where McCain is positioned to end up. I'm thinking the convention will nail that Teddy Roosevelt thing down for McCain. Maybe throw in a little Huey Long. They have really distanced themselves from Bush now. Suddenly, Obama/Biden is the Washington insider ticket. When the pharms and the oil companies dump money into the Obama campaign to make him look like their tool, when McCain starts hitting Biden's tie to the credit card industry and Obama's failure to vote to cap credit card interest because the "cap was too high, things are going to get confusing for the average voter like me.
August 31, 2008 2:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Teddy?
Surely you jest. TR was a great conservationalist, McCain and Palin want to kill polar bears.
I can't believe you are taking lil sarah seriously. All Obama and Biden have to do is point to the economy and the fact that there is, historically, better and faster growth under dems than reps:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/business/31view.html
They can also say what the country needs is sober, serious governance, not some unpredictable, out of control and untested gimmicks to get it back on track. Look at what McCain is up to now, exploiting the situation in the gulf. People will remember his "team" tied up resorces there at a time when local officials had better things to do then help him make a commercial. Palin is a gimmick that won't make it to Halloween.
I understand you are trying to stir the pot, but I think Dems should sit tight and let McCain/Palin implode on it's own.
It's well on it's way to doing that now.
August 31, 2008 2:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh? You think Rooselvelt didn't kill bears? How revisionist can you get? Teddy was a conservationist in the same way any NRA member is a "great conservationist." I'm not trying to stir the pot. I'm trying to give you a little perspective -- and, in this case, a clue to who Teddy Roosevelt, hunter, shooter, boxer, rough rider, builder of canals, projector of American power, liberator of Cuba, Morocco, buster of trusts, really was and how if you cram McCain and Palin together you can catch a glimpse of him. As for cramming Obama and McCain together, what do you get there? You tell me.
August 31, 2008 4:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
You forgot to mention he lied about ever having been involved in the charge up San Juan Hill.
August 31, 2008 4:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fits in pretty well. LOL
August 31, 2008 4:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Palin/McCain = Extremist warmongering unstable dickheads. Nothing like Teddy Roosevelt, sorry.
You REALLY think Teddy would be hunting Polar Bears? Right now? Ignored global warming? I think not, and I read a book of his essays on hunting, maybe you should. He wouldn't have found shooting wolves from airplanes terribly sporting, or using AK-anythings.
Obama/Biden? Sane sensible, progressive policies that will benefit the majority of Americans as EVERY Dem adminstration has done SINCE Teddy.
Hows that?
August 31, 2008 5:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Frankly, pretty lame. You don't get the drill. You're too intellectual. Try to grasp the gestalt. Let your right brain do the job. You're up against Teddy Roosevelt all right. Reading books isn't going to help you right now. You'll wake up one morning and McCain will know every book you read that week.
August 31, 2008 5:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, if we're speaking frankly, you're maybe a bit behind the curve there, Billy. If you think I'm an intellectual, you're not thinking too well.
I was actually hoping the book would help you, but maybe I outta suggest a copy of Penthouse instead, as your rhetoric is heated and, frankly, silly. Not like you.
Now, I understand that your political guru status has been tarnished since you didn't see this coming, but insanity is generally unpredictable. Calm down, Palin will implode and the GOP will eff it up.
Since when should I be afraid of the evangelicals? I've found them to have feet of clay, in general, and they've been having a bad year.
Cheer up. Their Billy Sunday moment is coming.
August 31, 2008 7:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can operators be gurus? I hope not. I see everything, but know very little. You're just the opposite. Being intellectual is not the same as being an intellectual. Give it a shot. Mash Obama and Biden together. First impression. Who do you get?
August 31, 2008 10:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
You.
August 31, 2008 10:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
OK. The first thing was:
The next thing was
=D
Hope you get better.
August 31, 2008 11:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, and BTW, I'm one of them hayseeds that thinks with their gut.
Your right brain ain't got nothin' mine don't have in quantity.
August 31, 2008 11:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yep. They blew up the USS Experience mid-crossing. Hoping the explosion will throw enough rubbish across the screen that they can leap onto The Pirate Ship Renegade. And IF (that's still an if) they manage to scramble aboard, I'd expect McCain & Palin to say all sorts of weird - usually completely counterfactual & contradictory - shit. But if they confuse the scene enough, there's a LOT of people out there in Republican-Indy-Undecided land who are pissed off, and may take them for friends.
Not entirely sure McCain & Palin can escape the remnants of the Experience thing though. But McCain's done it before, and I wouldn't bet against him doing it again. Never understimate a Pirate.
August 31, 2008 2:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Calm down. Enough drama already.
Good grief, Palin is a joke, what has gotten into people around here/
I want TPM Cafe back, if I wantd hysteria, I'd read DailyKos.
August 31, 2008 2:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Huh? Compared to this place, DKos is quite confident and assured, especially when it comes to the Palin pickle.
August 31, 2008 3:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, they think Palins daughter was abducted by space aliens, or had her mothers baby as a surrogate, or whatever.
What's next, a critique of Palins shoes? High heels too high?
This has become romper room. Where did all the adults go?
August 31, 2008 3:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
As long as Palin's daughter wasn't abducted by illegal aliens.
August 31, 2008 5:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
I read a little something about her having 3 inch heels...Nothing will surprise me.
August 31, 2008 11:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Forgiven totally,. I was just diappointed you didn't see me more in the Sara way, except with stilettos and a whip (joking, please see that).
I can't figure them, for sure I can't figure them but I am beginning to get the feeling they're at wits end here and are really going for the Hail Mary pass.
I also think they're glad to be able to scrap their convention. I think they know their show is going to flop, that he's going to flop, she's going to flop. They couldn't even get 10,000 to his VP announcement even offering free bus tickets.
Which doesn't mean I think Obama has a clear shot. He's got to win by enormous margins to rise above voter fraud, and there's going to be fraud.
But then again, I read that what the republicans are trying to do is prevent a total disaster, that they know McCain's going to lose and they're only hoping to fire up the base to prevent their staying home and their loss of every seat in the House and Senate they're up for.
August 31, 2008 5:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Cheers, Anna.
August 31, 2008 10:31 PM | Reply | Permalink