Palin causes undecided voters to flock to Obama

You pretend to know th inner workings of the McCain camp? Maybe you can impress your little circle.

How do you know how many interviews Govenor Sarah Palin had with Senator John Mc Cain?

Well, heck, IV, they didn't even check her home-town newspapers.

How was she chosen?

McSame: I want Joe Lieberman.

Rove: Are you crazy? He's going to alienate our core voters!

Far Right: You betcha. How about Sarah Palin? She'll help us land those Operation Chaos voters and appeal to all the values voters who don't know policy from a ham sandwich.

McSame: Do I have to?

Far Right: If you know what's good for you, yes.

McSame: Has she been vetted?

Rove: Ummm, sure, don't worry about it. I can make pigs fly, don't you know.

Okay, what I'm curious about is how many of the really conservative would throw away their vote by not voting or by writing in rather than voting for a Republican they're uncomfortable with? I mean, if they did either, Obama would be sure to win, so it would make more sense to vote for the Republican with the VP they didn't like. They definitely wouldn't be voting for Obama. I wish there were poll numbers on that.

It seems to me that by saying "By conservative, do you mean non-thinking" gives more credit to the conservative position than the author would give to Palin and her positions. The fact that she opposes abortion, and believes it should be positively illegal, in every single case makes her seem a bit unthinking. Then again, it is a position that has its own merit (and perhaps more than the remotely compromising one). In any case, it is an extreme shared, I imagine, by very few people.

Ratigan --

In any case, it is an extreme shared, I imagine, by very few people.

It's a significant minority, something like 15% last I read.

IV --

You pretend to know th inner workings of the McCain camp? Maybe you can impress your little circle.

I just know what they've told the press. And if I were them, I'd have told them that we vetted her extensively. They didn't.

After Mr. McCain contacted Ms. Palin, Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Salter met with her on Wednesday in Flagstaff, Ariz. It was not until the following morning that she traveled to Sedona to meet with Mr. McCain, who then sat down with her for his only interview of a potential running mate.

Within hours if not minutes after the interview was concluded, Ms. Palin had the job.

Prior to that he'd met her for 15 minutes back in February. She's a knee jerk pick based on McCain's desire to stop running as the wise man, and start running as a maverick again.

She's a knee jerk pick based on McCain's desire to stop running as the wise man, and start running as a maverick again.

That really is the problem. She was chosen for a message, not for a good reason. A lot of people said the Biden pick was "safe" politically--that seems to be the consensus. What was more ancillary, in my view, to the media was the fact that he was obviously great for the job. Perhaps this wasn't taken up by most pundits because it's bland or undisputed. I think that it says more than "Obama plugs holes in his resume with Biden," it says "Obama picks someone who can fill his role if something happens."

Can't say that about Palin. Cool lady, though she is. "Presidential" was not the reasoning behind the selection. I think that goes against McCain. You want Palin reforming? Don't stick her in the VP slot; put her at Energy or Interior or wherever you think she'd be reforming things. VPs don't reform anything. Want to reform Congress? Elect someone to congress. I just don't see any rationale beyond message politics. (and I'll be honest, my first response to the choice was "damn, that's an awesome pick"--then I read more about her).

McCain has no respect for the office. He's already sold off portions of it to his major backers. Standing on an Oil Platform yelling for more drilling is very telling. All the billions the oil companies received is being well spent on John "W" McCain. He's got a nice cozy spot next to W in the Oil Companies sport coat pocket.

How pathetic and pandering his Palin choice is. His logic or the Repub logic is this: Pick a woman and all those diehard 'Hillary for Prez cuz she's a woman' voters will flock to the Republican Party to vote for a woman. What a total lack of respect for the intelligence and judgement of women voters, a literal slap in the face.

I'm looking forward to the debate between this woman and Biden. Unless she's got a deck of aces up her sleeve she's in trouble. Look for the lil box underneath the dinner jacket with her receiving coaching via earpiece like W did in 2004.

Two interviews -- one with him and one with Cindy. How much more do you need for a good vet. He spent enough time in a table and chairless prison to know a vet when he sees one.

"He spent enough time in a table and chairless prison to know a vet when he sees one. "
Spending time in prison doesn't qualify one to be President. They weren't teaching Political Science at the Hanoi Hilton nor Business Management. We have to hear this enough from McCains camp, is it really necessary here? Let's discuss real issues not past service.
Palin has a Bachelors in Communications from U of Idaho? Communications is that field you go into when every other avenue, including Education is just too hard! Gimme a break, she's about as ready to lead this country as McCain is to run a marathon.

By conservative do you mean non-Thinking???

What do you mean "still only appeal to the left"? He has a lot of Republican and independent support already.

By conservative do you mean non-Thinking???

It's this sort of partisan bull@!$%# that keeps us distracted from the real issues. I haven't agreed with anything that I've seen Boogie123 say, but I'm not resorting to those kinds of childish attacks.

You're not helping anyone.

Well said, Maxwell.

Stick to the issues. And frankly, being "conservative" doesn't mean the same thing to the same people. People who vote Republican do so for different reasons/issues.

For me, I'm only conservative on SOME financial issues. I'm liberal on 99% of the social issues. So, in Presidential elections, I've always voted Democrat, though I've vote Republican on a few other positions (mostly local).

Just one observation -- my all democratic family is considering voting for McCain. And my married in step-dad is the only republican -- he's certain he's voting for Obama.

At least his VP nominee didn't shoot him in the face...yet. Sorry I couldn't resist. It was my thoughts exactly. Palin will secure the Republican base and otherwise sink McCain. The Evangelical Right can have the Republican Party, cause they certainly aren't gonna be the majority in the US anymore. McCain probably just established a 45% floor that he won't fall through for the popular vote. Beyond that he isn't getting to 49 or 50%, mark my words on that.

I can imagine Senator Clinton jumping for joy at the Palin selection. Clinton will make a series of incredibly effective commercials and personal appearances... and intelligent, free-thinking female voters will respond favorably to Obama as a result.

McCain's choice -- most likely forced upon him by Rove & Company -- will do more to alienate the middle than it would to draw in undecideds.

Palin's executive experience is woefully overestimated. She was selected as the ultimate pandering maneuver.

Actually, no... that's not correct. Selection of a vastly underqualified, inexperienced minority female would have been the ultimate pandering maneuver... but I guess the Far Right didn't want Louise Jefferson. *snort* *snicker*

Rudy in a dress would have been a better choice.

She might have a problem with the religious right, just heard her 17 year old daughter is pregnant.
Maybe if she believed in some preventive measures this would not have happened. The daughter is supposed to marry the father, which is good, but now what kind of future does the daughter have to look forward to.

This situation is exactly why preventive measures need to be taught. I have no doubt that the daughter was raised in a strict religious environment and knew that premartial sex was wrong. We are dealing with teenagers by not giving them all information available, this forces them to make decisions without all the knowledge.

Would she have still gotten pregnant, maybe, but odds are not.

I think the Obama camp needs to get a strong woman (preferably Hillary Clinton) to do a commercial about how conservative Palin is on women's issues (wants to overturn Roe v. Wade even in cases of rape and incest, opposes birth control and condoms even for married couples, doesn't support for equal pay for equal work). That should seal the deal once and for all.

Good idea. Bet there's a place to paste that idea on Obama's website. I think you should!

Yup; and don't you think the Obama team isn't planning on that. If Palin makes it to November.

Very good idea. It should also include comments on child care for working mothers since the teenage daughter now in charge of Palin's 4 mo. old is expecting a baby of her own. I suppose she can take care of both.

Why should Hillary lend her support any further to help Obama ? She did enough swallowing of her pride to support him and towed the party line (not commit political suicide).

But, she also knows that if Obama gets elected, he will be the Democrats choice for another 4 years after that. In short, she can just about kiss her chances of becoming President goodby. However, if Obama loses, she will not make the same mistakes next time around.

Jace: excellent idea. One vote from me! The problem with the Republican Party is that they truly believe that Mr. Obama is a rock star: someone with charisma that came out of nowhere and captivated the media. They are hoping that the same will happen with Ms. Palin. The problem with this viewpoint is that Mr. Obama is much deeper than that; he has true substance. The Republicans are trying to sell Ms. Palin as an image, rather than as a substance. Scary part is: she is either too politically naive to realize it...OR...she is so morally bankrupt so as not to care.

rgh234: oh, my god. Let it go. You're giving yourself -- and the rest of us -- an aneurysm. I do not care one iota that Ms. Clinton might be one of the most powerful women in history; however, I have a feeling that Ms. Clinton -- though powerful now -- will be one of the most powerful people in modern history. Do you have any idea of the amount of power Ms. Clinton would wield as a member on Obama's Cabinet...or on the Supreme Court?

I see Ms. Clinton as a person first, not a woman. That's the point, isn't it?

Anyway, Ms. Palin is the wrong choice for any person who supports social justice and equality among any disinfranchised group. Her brand of Christianity is paternal, elitist, and misogynistic. She is in bed with big business. However, it seems that the many Republicans who support Mr. McCain's decision share this mindset, so it's not really an issue. Mr. McCain will not listen to her ever. He does not respect women as equals; it is not in his nature.

Mr. McCain made a serious mistake by not vetting Ms. Palin more thoroughly. And, the Republicans are notorious about not admitting when they've made mistakes. I'm sure that there'll be more to come.

Can you imagine her at an evangelical church saying Hi my name is Sara and this is my Daughter who is pregnant out of wedlock!

Actually, at the moment I can't imagine her saying much more than her name. MSNBC is reporting that Bush aides are giving her a crash course in foreign policy.

And a hearty thanks to our performer tonight, a Rush Limbaugh talking-points script everybody, give 'im a hand!

Great dodge, Andy.

If the "liberal media" loved Obama so much, they'd talk about his policy more than his celebrity and the partisan hackery. Thing is, he won't do any interviews for them. He won't send representatives to the media. They're pissed because they think he thinks he's "too good" for them.

Boogie, if you still believe that hooey about the "liberal media," check out today's "Daily Howler."Sarah Palin bragged about how she told Congress "Thanks but no thanks" about the infamous "bridge to nowhere," but it's a demonstrable fact that she didn't and couldn't have done so. Why? Because she was elected governor in 2007, and Congress had already de-funded the bridge in 2006. She might have made a decision not to use Alaska's funds for the bridges, but she didn't tell Congress anything, because Congress was out of the discussion by then.

This was very easy to check up, but no one in the supposedly "liberal" mainstream media bothered to do so.

There is no liberal media. They are all owned by big business!

No bounce my arse. See "Angrywhiteman's" post below, #10 -- he was up 8 points after the convention. If his numbers have dropped 2 points since then, well, that's the nature of a "bounce." I think 8 was pretty impressive, however.

Yup, Gene. I'm thinking that Palin has so much recovery work to do that no one will hear anything positive she has to say for another couple of weeks. And, by then, she may have resigned from the ticket.

You mean this Guy who started ESPN and the polling company you just posted:

Scott Rasmussen is an Evangelical Christian and is president of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, a not-for-profit corporation with historic ties to the United Methodist Church and the Wesleyan tradition. The Camp Meeting founded the town of Ocean Grove, New Jersey in 1869 and maintains a Christian seaside resort community providing opportunities for spiritual birth, growth, and renewal. His slogan for the 2006 Annual Camp Meeting was 'In the Redemption Business.'

There has been some controversy over the Camp Meeting Association's policies towards the local gay community. In 2007 under Scott's leadership, the Camp Meeting denied three requests for the use of the Ocean Grove boardwalk pavilion (OGCMA property) for same-sex civil unions. [3]

HMMM can you say slanted

So even though undecideds are moving to Obama, most people made up their minds on the election a while ago.

Most of the undecideds prior to the convention were Hillary voters, and they have probably come home. In my own house, my wife is much more at peace with Obama and is back to her usual anti-Republican self. All is right with the world.

P.H.

Good to here that the homefront seems a bit more secure. ;-)

Wonder if the same can be said of the McCain household after Cindy looks at all those campaign photo ops of her husband holding hands with his VP choice...?

Yes, this article may be premature. Polls as of today show Obama slipping. Gallup daily which showed an 8 point bounce after the convention, now shows only a 6 point lead. If all these undecideds are flocking to Obama, why is his lead slipping?

uh...hello... check the headline of this thread.. And let's see how the pregnancy story bounces the McC-Oalin numbers. I'm betting the indies won't be flocking to the right -- and it's the indies who will decide the election.

The poll is + or - 3%

Partisan Hack,

Thank you for that info. It's definitely heartening to hear it. I don't have much contact with the demographic that were the angry do-or-die Clinton supporters, so all I get is media schlock. And the media hasn't done their jobs on accurately reporting the truth for decades.

Ladyinred,

You're right. It's not a joking matter. I'm sorry you went through that experience. Someone I care about was raped as well.

And in college, there was a rape awareness campaign, and they were drilling in the statistic that 1/6 women on campus would be the victim of sexual assault. They gave a flyer to every sixth person they saw. One of the guys I know who got one was joking that he got raped. I went off on him. He apologized and said he hadn't meant it that way, but well, hopefully he thought twice before making such jokes again.

Gene in Mass--
How about you? Quoting a Texas gubneratoral candidate.
Have you lived down here in the Promised Land?

1 out of 10 men are raped a year.

Two questions:

[1] Can you cite a verifiable source for that absurd statistic?

[2] How the hell is this pertinent?

What about [2]?

These caught my interest, and support the question which you have yet to answer:

An estimated 91% of victims of rape are female, 9% are male and 99% of offenders are male.

Around the world at least 1 women in 3 has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime.

22% of females raped are under the age of 12 years; 32% are 12-17 years old; 29% 18-24 years old; 17% over 25 years old. 83% of those raped are under the age of 25 years old.

In a study of 6,000 students at 32 colleges in the US, 1 in 4 women had been the victims of rape or attempted rape.

etc., etc., etc.

So, again, I ask: how is that relevant?

Ladyinred, I, too, am so very sorry for what you had to endure. Unfortunately, I have not was I raped as a young woman, but spent an entire childhood living one sexual abuse nightmare after another.

Palin's point of view on abortion makes me sick. As does the kind of insensitive comments about this one can find all over Newsvine.

My point is , men are raped aswell but it seems the women get all the hype about it and think it's just them.

While it's true and very sad that men are raped as well, men being attacked is not relevant to Palin's views on rape, aborion, birth control, and so on. The policies she would like to have in place do make it just about women since men can't get pregnant.

Maybe my perception is wrong, but it seems like you're trying to downplay a woman getting raped by saying "Oh, it happens to men, too". Let me tell you, when I was being raped I wasn't thinking about all of the men it had happened to. I was thinking about ending up pregnant because some jacka$$ forced himself on me. People like Palin would have just made me have a baby that I didn't want, you know, a little reminder of what had happened. Now, I don't support abortion in a case where some woman was out whoring around and got pregnant because she wasn't protecting herself, but I do support it in cases of rape, incest, and where it's medically necessary. Ultimately it should be the woman's choice. By the woman, I mean the woman in the situation, not the woman who may end up VP.

LadyinRed - my sympathy is with you. Hopefully, you have or will soon heal emotionally.

Jon Gooding - I checked your link to confirm what I suspected. Indeed your link states 99% of offenders are male and that 86% of the men raped were raped by other men. I don't quite understand why those figures don't match up, maybe many of the men that reported rape were too embarrassed to admit they were raped by other men.

missdynamite - ditto on your comment and my sympathy to you as well.

This was like McCain hanging an Anchor around his neck and then going swimming

So who's going to play lifeguard for McCain?

I feel sorry for her. For this reason: There are many people who think like her and are republican females with one heck of a lot more experience than her. These people have been in politics for a very long time and know how the game is played. To take a neophyte and throw her to the wolves is degrading to her women in general and the entire country. As people see this and it has not sunk in yet in this Hurricane repub convention labor day time this will be devastating.

I honestly think it just did, we just haven't heard it YET.

palin unfit to carry Hillarys bra