Sarah Palin calendar tops list

According to The Wall Street Journal, a Sarah Palin calendar tops Amazon's list of office supplies sales.

Good, this should come down

This from The Australian:

The controversial Halloween display of an effigy of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin hanging by a noose outside a home near Los Angeles has been taken down, local authorities said.

The people who hung the figure from the roof of their house "began to realise what they had done caused a little more of a reaction than they had hoped for", said spokesman for the sheriff of Los Angeles Steve Whitmore today.

For the Halloween holiday many Americans decorate their homes with ghoulish displays of monsters, witches and ghosts.

Iowa GOP activist sees Palin's view of rally

(This is crossposted at Iowa Independent.com)

The former Carroll County chairwoman of Rudy Giuliani’s campaign had a prime vantage point for a major Sarah Palin rally in Des Moines.

As Palin, the GOP vice presidential candidate, addressed a crowd estimated at 10,000 at Hy-Vee Hall just days ago, Keeley Sinnard was standing behind the Alaska governor — seeing the event in the same way Palin did.

What Sinnard saw was quite revealing, said the local GOP activist who is now working for U.S. Sen. John McCain’s presidential effort locally as former New York City Mayor Giuliani’s bid failed to take hold.

“Everybody was just enamored and excited, hanging on her words,” Sinnard said. “Since I was behind her, I could see the reaction of those who were watching her and, wow, is she good. She drew a huge crowd that was energized and ready to get out the vote.”

Sinnard said there is substance behind the media caricature of Palin as something of a Caribou Barbie.

“She got to where she was on her own,” Sinnard said. “She didn’t have a man to get there like Hillary (Clinton).”

What’s more, Sinnard said, Palin’s message will resonate with Iowans.

“I thought her speech was very good,” Sinnard said. “She referenced Joe the farmer and that drew a lot of applause. I catch a lot of everyone’s — Obama, (Sen. Joe) Biden, McCain — speeches via cable TV as I work from home. So, some of the aspects of her speech weren’t new to me, but to those who aren’t as obsessed as I can be with politics, it was very good. She attacked Obama on taxes, spreading the wealth.”

Most independent analysts say Obama’s economic plan would raise taxes on only the relatively small percentage of American families earning more than $250,000 per year.

Sinnard she said was thrilled that Arizonan McCain selected Palin as his running mate.
“I think she has a ton of experience and I think she deserves to be where she is,” Sinnard said, adding, “What has (Barack) Obama run?”

Sinnard, 41, a mother of three children who works for a New York information technology firm virtually from a computer in her Carroll home, said that in spite of recent polls showing Democrat Obama ahead, she senses a tightening race.

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” Sinnard said. “The polls are getting closer.”

That said, Sinnard is frustrated with the popular image that has been created of Palin. She thinks not-so-thinly veiled sexism is very much at work in the media and Democrats’ portrayal of Palin.

“I think a white female is at the bottom of the totem pole these days,” Sinnard said.

She added, “I don’t even think they would have treated Condoleezza Rice like that.”
Rice, the U.S. secretary of state, was mentioned as both a presidential and vice presidential candidate for the Republicans, but she expressed no interest in those positions this cycle.

If McCain should lose on Tuesday, Sinnard expects Palin to be the immediate front-runner for the Republicans in the 2012 Iowa caucuses.
See PALIN on Page

Harkin: How can Palin not talk about biofuels or ethanol?

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) released the following statement in response to Governor Palin’s remarks in Ohio earlier this week:


"It is unbelievable to me that Governor Palin spoke on energy today in Ohio and did not once mention biofuels or ethanol. These industries are an important component of Ohio’s economy and make up one of the fastest-growing sectors of Iowa’s economy. The renewable energy industry is creating jobs in Iowa, revitalizing our rural communities and making our nation more energy secure; yet the McCain-Palin ticket would like to turn back the clock on the progress we've made.


“In fact, the McCain-Palin plan of lifting tariffs on imported ethanol and ending subsidies for biofuels producers would be devastating to Iowa’s economy. Importing cheap foreign ethanol and letting Iowa’s farmers wither on the vine is a dramatic step in the wrong direction. Governor Palin’s visit to Ohio was another reminder of how a vote for the Republican ticket would be a vote for four more years of the same failed policies of President Bush.”

The million-dollar hockey mom

Doggone it, Joe Six Pack, this hockey mom and her near kin have assets worth over $1 million, according to tax reports.

She still just folks like y'all?

Sarah Palin flow chart

Palin's forced folksiness falls flat in debate

If both vice presidential candidates fell into comas or some other sensory deprivation situation for the next two months and emerged to meet again, facing the same questions as they faced at Thursday’s debate in St. Louis, it is very likely we would see the same Joe Biden. The Delaware senator’s facile discussion of issues and world players, economic numbers and history, rose from a deep well of experience and a public career marked by curiosity.

For her part, GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin – speaking with the programmed cadence of a GPS navigation system — used forced folksiness to deliver crammed material in the manner of a high schooler looking to score a good grade on a Spanish test. The kid may escape with a B-minus, but he wouldn’t be able to order a cup of coffee in Spain a week later.

The most revealing exchange of the debate came when moderator Gwen Ifill of PBS asked Palin, the Alaska governor, to respond to Biden’s contention that the Bush Administration’s policy in the Middle East has been ineffective.

So is it, governor?

“No, but I’m so encouraged we both love Israel,” Palin said.

This after Biden offered a thorough, fact-filled commentary on the recent history of the players in the region.

With weird winks and homespunisms, Palin worked in several “you betchas” and “darn rights” and even a “shout out” to family in an effort to appeal to just folks.

As a small-town Iowan I didn’t find it genuine at all. She actually talked down to us, figuring that references to hockey moms and the hacknayed phrase “Joe Six Pack” and her self-application of the word “maverick” would hold more sway than a discussion of the issues. Details do matter — something the last two weeks and the current two wars have shown Americans.

On energy policy, one of the more important issues in Iowa, Palin could not explain GOP presidential candidate John McCain’s repeated votes against wind power, ethanol, and the renewable energy that have been so vital to the economy around here. She didn’t even give it the old college try.

Instead, as her party’s chief cheerleader, Palin corrected Biden on the — err… — cheer. It’s not “drill, drill, drill” but “drill, baby, drill,” Palin noted gleefully.

If you’re in the mood to buy it, her argument was essentially this: I’m more like you, and you can trust John McCain more than the other guy. Just go with me on it, she suggests.

Another remarkable part of the debate focused on the genocide in Darfur:

Biden: I don’t have the stomach for genocide when it comes to Darfur. We can now impose a no-fly zone. It’s within our capacity. We can lead NATO if we’re willing to take a hard stand. We can, I’ve been in those camps in Chad. I’ve seen the suffering, thousands and tens of thousands have died and are dying. We should rally the world to act and demonstrate it by our own movement to provide the helicopters to get the 21,000 forces of the African Union in there now to stop this genocide.

Palin: But as for as Darfur, we can agree on that also, the supported of the no-fly zone, making sure that all options are on the table there also. America is in a position to help. What I’ve done in my position to help, as the governor of a state that’s pretty rich in natural resources, we have a $40 billion investment fund, a savings fund called the Alaska Permanent Fund.When I and others in the legislature found out we had some millions of dollars in Sudan, we called for divestment through legislation of those dollars to make sure we weren’t doing anything that would be seen as condoning the activities there in Darfur.

When asked to name a policy issues on which each candidate had to change course to deal with evolving circumstances, Biden presented a detailed explanation of how he began factoring in ideology with judicial appointments — serious business.

Palin’s best shot was to suggest that maybe, just maybe, she shouldn’t have “quasi-caved” on a budget for the City of Wasilla, Alaska, where she was mayor until just recently.

Both candidates knew their roles were largely as surrogates and went after the opposing party’s presidential candidate. Palin used cliched lines, arguing, for example, that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama would wave a white flag in Iraq. At one point, she said, “You walk the walk, you don’t just talk the talk,” but she lacked the requisite depth of knowledge to engage in the sort of exchange that would make such claims stick.

GOP handlers prepped Palin well enough for the initial questions of the night, but the Alaska governor was at a canyon-sized disadvantage when it came to follow-ups. She let Biden get in shot after shot in what was a strategy to line team McCain with the Bush dynasty.

Biden: Look, the maverick — let’s talk about the maverick John McCain is. And, again, I love him. He’s been a maverick on some issues, but he has been no maverick on the things that matter to people’s lives.

He voted four out of five times for George Bush’s budget, which put us a half a trillion dollars in debt this year and over $3 trillion in debt since he’s got there.

He has not been a maverick in providing health care for people. He has voted against — he voted including another 3.6 million children in coverage of the existing health care plan, when he voted in the United States Senate.

He’s not been a maverick when it comes to education. He has not supported tax cuts and significant changes for people being able to send their kids to college.

He’s not been a maverick on the war. He’s not been a maverick on virtually anything that genuinely affects the things that people really talk about around their kitchen table.

Can we send — can we get Mom’s MRI? Can we send Mary back to school next semester? We can’t — we can’t make it. How are we going to heat the — heat the house this winter?

He voted against even providing for what they call LIHEAP, for assistance to people, with oil prices going through the roof in the winter.

So maverick he is not on the important, critical issues that affect people at that kitchen table.

Palin let that go unanswered because she was obviously not fast enough on her feet. And you can’t blame Ifill for it, because Palin made a point of saying she was going to talk about what she wanted, not what Ifill or Biden were talking about.

While that media-bashing may work with the already-locked-in base, viewers with a fundamental sense of fairness saw the Alaska governor trying play outside of the rules in a debate in which Biden was civil — perhaps too much so. And which of Ifill’s questions in this debate were unfair “gotcha” questions, anyway?

Biden also seized on an opportunity to remind people of the power Dick Cheney has wielded as vice president. He said he thinks the VP’s office has had too much power, and he cast his would-be role in an Obama administration as largely advisory. Palin clearly wants Cheney-like powers. Something to think about.

Remarkably, Biden, thought to be the coldblooded product of two many years in the U.S. Senate, had the most genuine moment of humanity in the debate when he briefly choked up about car accident three decades ago that claimed his first wife and a daughter and left his sons injured.

“The notion that somehow, because I’m a man, I don’t know what it’s like to raise two kids alone, I don’t know what it’s like to have a child you’re not sure is going to — is going to make it — I understand,” Biden said.

Palin looks to make sale

Here is The Boston Herald on what Palin faces.

A poll released Wednesday found that just 25 percent of likely voters believe Palin has the right experience to be president. That’s down from 41 percent just after the Republican convention. McCain’s recent slide behind Democratic rival Barack Obama in the polls also has been partly attributed to voters’ doubts over Palin’s readiness.

Palin can't even tell us what she reads

I try to read many newspapers and magazines -- hard copy and online -- each day. But I would never respond "all of them" when asked which ones I read as GOP Vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin did on CBS News with Katie Couric.

Come on, she can't even answer this one! I'm guessing she doesn't read any papers other than staff memos that distill the day's news and boil her life down to talking points.

Couric deserves credit for the question but should have pressed further, asking Palin to talk about an article on any subject other than the presidential race which she has read in the last month. Prediction on that: strike out No. 2.

Here is Palin with Couric:

Couric: And when it comes to establishing your worldview, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this to stay informed and to understand the world?

Palin: I've read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media.

Couric: What, specifically?

Palin: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years.

Couric: Can you name a few?

Palin: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news, too. Alaska isn't a foreign country, where it's kind of suggested, "Wow, how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, D.C., may be thinking when you live up there in Alaska?" Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America.

Iowa's First Lady: Palin just not ready for job

By DOUGLAS BURNS

Iowa’s First Lady Mari Culver says flatly that GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is woefully unprepared to lead the nation.

What’s more, Culver said, the selection of the first-term Alaska governor, who has been largely cocooned from serious questioning, reveals Republican presidential candidate John McCain to be a risk-taker at a time when the nation needs reason.



“To me, its further evidence of the gambling nature of McCain’s decision-making and his judgment. You’ve got to exercise the type of leadership and good decision-making and sound judgment in the selection of your vice presidential running mate which gives American voters an idea of the decision-making and the judgment you would exercise as president,” Mari Culver said. “I think frankly Senator McCain failed miserably in that regard. I don’t think she’s ready to be vice president. I don’t think she’s ready to be president. That goes without saying.”

Read the rest of the story at Iowa Independent.com.

Photo: Mari Culver taken by Carroll Daily Times Herald's Jeff Storjohann

Thinking about a Palin presidency

By Robert G. Boatright

Ever since John McCain shook up the 2008 presidential election by choosing Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, there has been much talk about Palin’s qualifications to serve as Vice President. This sort of talk happens every election year, but given McCain’s age and medical history, the possibility of the president’s death has taken on greater significance in this campaign. Whether or not Sarah Palin is qualified to serve as Vice President or President, there has been little serious discussion of what a Palin presidency might look like. If we are to do this, the best place to start is by looking at previous vice presidents who acceded to the Presidency without having won it in their own right. Of this select group there is a wide variation in background, but there is less variation in their success as President; almost all of them failed.




Past “acceded vice presidents,” or AVPs, can conveniently be grouped into three overlapping categories. There are those who deviate from the elected president’s policies; these vice presidents tend to be ignored by Congress or to face an openly hostile Congress. Second, there are those who assume a “caretaker” role, content to preside until the end of the term without advancing a new agenda. And third, there are “the enthusiasts,” vice presidents who capitalize upon a temporary outpouring of public sympathy for the deceased president, and use this outpouring to advance legislation in line with what the deceased president would have wanted.

The first group includes John Tyler, who became president in 1841, following the death of William Henry Harrison, and Andrew Johnson, Abraham Lincoln’s Vice President. Both were put on the ticket to create a balance between North and South. Tyler, a southerner, was dubbed “his accidency” by Congress and was generally ignored. Johnson had little support within the Republican Party and was an opponent of reconstruction. Johnson also incurred the enmity of Congress, and was, until Bill Clinton, the only president to be impeached. Millard Fillmore, who became president in 1850 following the death of Zachary Taylor, also falls in this category. Fillmore was unable to bridge competing factions within the party or to advance a unified stance on the slavery question.

The second category, the “caretakers,” includes only Calvin Coolidge, who became president in 1923 following the death of Warren G. Harding. Because allegations of corruption swirled around Harding’s administration, Coolidge was greeted with some relief. Coolidge had little time to advance an agenda of his own during the year before the 1924 election, and his own elected presidency has been seen by many as being devoid of major accomplishments.

The remaining four AVPs were more successful, in part because they were able to frame their proposals as a continuation of their popular predecessor’s legacy. Chester Arthur, who became president upon the assassination of James A. Garfield in 1881, was able to pass the Pendleton Act as President. Lyndon Johnson arguably exerted more political muscle in guiding the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which he cast as an extension of John F. Kennedy’s goals, but the remainder of Johnson’s agenda foundered as the Vietnam War escalated. Harry S. Truman is remembered for ordering the integration of the military and for his role in the rebuilding of Europe, yet most of his actions in his first term were done by executive order.

There is only one indisputably successful AVP, Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt came into office in 1901 after the assassination of William McKinley. He deviated substantially from McKinley’s politics, pushing for a more progressive Republican party, greater regulation of monopolies and an increased emphasis on wilderness conservation. Many of Roosevelt’s major policy initiatives, however, came after 1904, during the term he had won on his own. Roosevelt’s best-known actions in his first term were his involvement in ending the anthracite coal strike and the enactment of the Panama Canal Treaty, both of which he could do with little involvement from Congress.

What does all of this suggest about the prospects for a Palin presidency?

It shows that she is less qualified than most of the prior AVPs (Coolidge may be the closest to her in experience; he served as a Massachusetts state legislator and for two years as Governor of Massachusetts). It also proves that this is not particularly important. Having a friendly Congress to work with matters far more, and vice presidential succession clearly inspires Congress to treat the new president with suspicion.

One must keep in mind that if elected, McCain will certainly face a Democratic Senate, and quite possibly a Democratic House. This does not mean that McCain would be powerless as president – unless he alienates Democrats in Congress through his campaign tactics. McCain is not, however, running on an issue-oriented platform.

Should he die, Palin would likely have a tough time claiming that anything she advocated for would honor his wishes, if only because McCain has not presented a clear policy platform. She would have an even tougher time pushing through her own ideas; she appears to be more conservative than McCain on several social issues, and she has no track record on major domestic or foreign policy issues.

The message here, then, is a mixed one. Palin wouldn’t necessarily be more of a disaster as president that other AVPs. This is hardly a reason why anyone should vote for McCain, however. Despite Palin’s dominant role in recent media coverage, this election is not about her. One has to go back to Lyndon Johnson to find a vice president who made even the slightest difference in the election outcome (LBJ was said to have helped Kennedy win Texas). Palin is likely to be no exception.

Already, favorability polls show a marked increase in the number of voters who view her unfavorably; she currently is only one percentage point more popular than McCain and Obama. Sure, the Republican base rallied after their convention, but we cannot necessarily attribute this to Palin. There is good reason for Democrats and Republicans to hope that Palin does not become president, but this has more to do with the dismal track record of other AVPs and the fact that she would preside over a divided government rather than to her experience, beliefs, or leadership qualities.

Robert G. Boatright is assistant professor of government at Clark University in Worcester, Mass.

Sarah Palin, Thomas Muthee and witchcraft

Sarah Palin can't even handle Katie Couric

Are Americans really going to buy that CBS News' Katie Couric is part of some non-existent evil media conspiracy against GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin?

In an interview Monday, Palin, out of her campaign cocoon, was pressed on a very legitimate point -- whether she differed with the head of her ticket, U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on how to handle Pakistan. Instead of answering the question the McCain camp attacked Couric.

Here is The Baltimore Sun:

With McCain and Palin sitting side by side, the first flareup came when Couric asked Palin about a statement the candidate made over the weekend that the U.S. should launch attacks from Afghanistan into Pakistan to "stop the terrorists from coming any further in."

In that comment, Palin seemed to voicing the same position McCain had attacked his opponent, Barack Obama, for stating in their debate on Friday.

"So, Gov. Palin, are you two (she and McCain) on the same page?" Couric asked.

"...We will do what we have to do to secure the United Sates and her allies," Palin said.

"Is that something you shouldn't say out loud, Sen. McCain?" Couric asked.

"Of course not," McCain snapped. "But look, I understand this day and age gotcha journalism... Grab a phrase. Gov. Palin and I agree that you don't announce that you're going to attack another country."

"Are you sorry you said it?" Couric asked returning to Palin.

"Wait a minute," McCain said interrupting. "Before you say is she sorry she said it, this was a gotcha sound bite that...

"It wasn't a gotcha," Couric insisted. "She was talking to a voter."

"No," McCain insisted back, "she was in a conversation with a group of people talking back and forth, and I'll let Gov. Palin speak for herself."

When Couric asked Palin what she learned "from that experience," the candidate replied, "That this is all about gotcha journalism...."

The best of Sarah Palin on YouTube

The Toronto Star has compiled some links to some of the best YouTube videos on GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Bar owner/artist's naked Palin painting drawing crowds

So not only are world leaders hitting on her but now GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is dealing with this.

This from Fox News:

A Chicago artist is drawing crowds to his bar after painting a portrait of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in the buff.

Bruce Elliott unveiled the 4-foot-tall portrait at the Old Town Ale House on Chicago's North Side last Thursday, the Windy Citizen reports. The governor is wearing her trademark hairdo, holding an automatic rifle and standing naked on a polar-bear skin rug.

"I don't see how she could be offended by this," Elliott told the Windy Citizen. "I made her into a sex figure."

The bar is well known locally for its portraits of bar regulars and Chicagoans, the Windy Citizen said. But the naked Palin portrait has been "very successful" for the bar owner, who admits to the Citizen that he's a supporter of Sen. Barack Obama.

Sarah Palin trading card

The Upper Deck company as created this trading card of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Romney: Let Sarah Palin loose

Former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney says it is high time that the McCain camp let Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin out of her cocoon.

Here is Romney in the Christian Science Monitor:

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who was on McCain’s running mate shortlist, faults the campaign for limiting her availability to the media. “Holding Sarah Palin to just three interviews and microscopically focusing on each interview I think has been a mistake,” Mr. Romney said Monday on MSNBC. “I think they’d be a lot wiser to let Sarah Palin be Sarah Palin. Let her talk to the media, let her talk to people.”

Romney still believes she brings positives to the ticket, calling her a “maverick” like McCain. “She’s a person identified with people in homes across America…,” he said. “She’s an executive and a governor, and that brings a lot to John McCain’s ticket.”

Palin now faces the political challenge of her career, going up against a seasoned Washington politician – Senator Biden – in front of millions of viewers on national television Thursday. On Monday, she and her family flew to Sedona, Ariz., for three days of debate pre

paration at McCain’s ranch with a team of veteran campaign aides and policy experts.

Tina Fey as Sarah Palin

"I can see Russia from my house."

'Palin is much closer to Bush'

Palin is running like a candidate's wife -- from the 50s

This is getting ridiculous.

Sarah Palin is running not as a vice presidential candidate but as the wife of a 1950s political candidate. She is seen but not heard. No questions?

Palin is the candidate of the photo opp -- and if she were not a she, this would never fly. If the American public allows Palin to get away with this under the rouse that the media is a giant liberal monolith, the nation is in trouble as power will be even more bunkered away from us than it already is. We'll see more $700 billion Wall Street bailouts popping out of nowhere.

Here is Andrew Sullivan in The Atlantic:

The press is beginning to resist the incredibly sexist handling of Palin by the McCain campaign. There is a simple point here: any candidate for president should be as available to press inquiries as humanly possible. Barring a press conference for three weeks, preventing any questions apart from two television interviews, one by manic partisan Sean Hannity, devising less onerous debate rules for a female candidate, and then trying to turn the press into an infomercial for the GOP is beyond disgraceful.

Hollywood and Sarah Palin

The Melbourne, Australia newspaper -- the Herald Sun -- has a thorough piece on how Hollywood is lining up to bash GOP Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Here is the Herald Sun:

Governor Palin may have the look of a mum in one of those cheesy US sitcoms, but everyone who's anyone in Tinseltown is barracking for Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

Sarah's secrets

GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin reads a good script from a teleprompter about openness in government but her staff in Alaska looked into using private email accounts so they could go about business in secret.

This is the sort of revelation that should be highly concerning as the nation has just had to endure fallout from 8 yesrs of cronyism.

Where are Palin's tax returns?

Other candidates release them so what is Sarah Palin hiding?

From ABC News:

As election day comes ever nearer, Democrats and open-government advocates are pressing for the GOP vice presidential candidate to release her tax filings, a campaign tradition that extends at least to the post-Watergate era.

Excessive decisiveness reveals weakness

The New York Times's David Brooks make a good point about Sarah Palin having a strikingly similar style to President George W. Bush.

Here is Brooks:

Sarah Palin has many virtues. If you wanted someone to destroy a corrupt establishment, she’d be your woman. But the constructive act of governance is another matter. She has not been engaged in national issues, does not have a repertoire of historic patterns and, like President Bush, she seems to compensate for her lack of experience with brashness and excessive decisiveness.

The idea that “the people” will take on and destroy “the establishment” is a utopian fantasy that corrupted the left before it corrupted the right. Surely the response to the current crisis of authority is not to throw away standards of experience and prudence, but to select leaders who have those qualities but not the smug condescension that has so marked the reaction to the Palin nomination in the first place.

Does Palin want women Jailed, executed for abortions?

(Editor's Note: This first appeared at Iowa Independent.com.)

BY DOUGLAS BURNS
Iowa Independent.com

If Gov. Sarah Palin’s now well-known views prevail and abortion is made illegal, what should the penalty be for a woman who has an abortion and a doctor who provides one?

Should they be fined — like we do with speeders on our highways — or should they be strapped into an electric chair?

Misdemeanor or felony?

It’s a question the GOP vice presidential candidate needs to answer — with the specifics that have so far escaped her American Idol-style debut. She is on record as saying in 2006 that the government should force her daughter to have a baby in the event she were raped.

Americans deserve to know: Would the Alaska governor have her own daughter jailed or executed for having an abortion after being raped (if that ever happened)?

Pro-lifers may say, “let the penalty fit the crime,” but on abortion they won’t say what the penalty should be.

All pro-life candidates believe abortion is wrong. Many believe abortion is “murder.”

And several of these candidates also believe in the death penalty for first-degree murder.

That considered, it would be logical for them to call for the executions of women who have abortions or their doctors, wouldn’t it? Palin is a darling with the anti-abortion movement for having a baby with Down syndrome. Would she pardon her own daughter in the aforementioned rape-abortion scenario, or let her get the needle to further galvanize the base?

This is a fair question.

If a candidate wilts in the face of it then he or she simply doesn’t have the stuff to be a bona fide abortion opponent.

If a candidate says he wants to cut taxes, we ask what programs will be slashed.

And if a candidate says he wants to lock up more drug dealers with mandatory minimums, we ask “For how long?”

But when candidates say abortion should be criminalized, they are seldom pressed on what that really means for violators in a world where abortion would be illegal.

Their answers are vital to a debate that, without honest responses, is intellectually incomplete.

People who say they are opposed to abortion might get a little skittish when politicians start talking about prison time and even raising the specter of the death penalty for the women and their providers.

This is a question to test stomachs and resolve. We need to start asking it.

Why ABC interview may have showed Palin to be unqualified

Over at the Atlantic Monthly James Fallows takes a look at why GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's interview yesterday on ABC may have shown her to be far from ready to do the job.

It is embarrassing to have to spell this out, but for the record let me explain why Gov. Palin's answer to the "Bush Doctrine" question -- the only part of the recent interview I have yet seen over here in China -- implies a disqualifying lack of preparation for the job.

Not the mundane job of vice president, of course, which many people could handle. Rather the job of potential Commander in Chief and most powerful individual on earth.

The spelling-out is lengthy, but I've hidden most of it below the jump.

Each of us has areas we care about, and areas we don't. If we are interested in a topic, we follow its development over the years. And because we have followed its development, we're able to talk and think about it in a "rounded" way. We can say: Most people think X, but I really think Y. Or: most people used to think P, but now they think Q. Or: the point most people miss is Z. Or: the question I'd really like to hear answered is A.

Here's the most obvious example in daily life: Sports Talk radio.

Mention a name or theme -- Brett Favre, the Patriots under Belichick, Lance Armstrong's comeback, Venus and Serena -- and anyone who cares about sports can have a very sophisticated discussion about the ins and outs and myth and realities and arguments and rebuttals.

People who don't like sports can't do that. It's not so much that they can't identify the names -- they've heard of Armstrong -- but they've never bothered to follow the flow of debate. I like sports -- and politics and tech and other topics -- so I like joining these debates. On a wide range of other topics -- fashion, antique furniture, the world of restaurants and fine dining, or (blush) opera -- I have not been interested enough to learn anything I can add to the discussion. So I embarrass myself if I have to express a view.

What Sarah Palin revealed is that she has not been interested enough in world affairs to become minimally conversant with the issues. Many people in our great land might have difficulty defining the "Bush Doctrine" exactly. But not to recognize the name, as obviously was the case for Palin, indicates not a failure of last-minute cramming but a lack of attention to any foreign-policy discussion whatsoever in the last seven years.

Palin says U.S. may have to go to war with Russia

Maybe GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin did pick up some insight in Alaska about Russia. She thinks the U.S. may have to go to war with that nation if Russia were to invade Georgia again, ABC News reports.

Here is ABC:

When asked by (Charles) Gibson if under the NATO treaty, the U.S. would have to go to war if Russia again invaded Georgia, Palin responded: "Perhaps so. I mean, that is the agreement when you are a NATO ally, is if another country is attacked, you're going to be expected to be called upon and help.

"And we've got to keep an eye on Russia. For Russia to have exerted such pressure in terms of invading a smaller democratic country, unprovoked, is unacceptable," she told ABC News' Charles Gibson in an exclusive interview.

Palin helps in Pennsylvania but Obama pulls away in Ohio

Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin apparently is attracting white women likely voters to Arizona Sen. John McCain, helping him pull away from Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in Florida and narrow the gap with the Democrat in Pennsylvania, even as he is slipping slightly in Ohio, according to simultaneous Quinnipiac University Swing State polls released today.

No one has been elected President since 1960 without taking two of these three largest swing states in the Electoral College. Results from the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University polls show:

* Florida: McCain leads 50 - 43 percent, compared to 47 - 43 percent August 26;
* Ohio: Obama is up 49 - 44 percent, compared to 44 - 43 percent last time;
* Pennsylvania: Obama leads 48 - 45 percent, compared to 49 - 42 percent.

Voters in all three states say Sen. McCain's selection of Gov. Palin is a good choice: 60 - 26 percent in Florida, 57 - 30 percent in Ohio and 55 - 33 percent in Pennsylvania.

Since August 26, McCain's support among white women is up four percentage points in Ohio and five points in Pennsylvania, and dropped two points in Florida, where it was high to start.

"White women, a key demographic group in any national election, appear to be in play, with some movement towards Sen. McCain in Pennsylvania and Ohio," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "Obviously Gov. Sarah Palin is having the impact that Sen. McCain hoped when he selected her."

"The size of Sen. McCain's margin with white voters overall tells the tale. In Florida, where McCain leads among whites by 24 points, that is a large enough cushion for him to survive Obama's almost total control of the black vote, and strong support among Hispanics."

"But in Pennsylvania and Ohio, where McCain leads by just six or seven points among whites, he's behind in the total count."

"Overall, even among many Democrats, Palin gets good grades. By almost a two-to-one margin, voters see McCain's choice of her as a good one, roughly the same who feel that way about Sen. Joe Biden."

President George W. Bush's approval ratings are:

* 33 - 63 percent in Florida;
* 30 - 65 percent in Ohio;
* 26 - 70 percent in Pennsylvania. Florida

Florida men likely voters back McCain 54 - 41 percent, while women go 47 percent for McCain and 45 percent for Obama, the first time he has trailed among women. White voters back McCain 59 - 35 percent. Obama leads 55 - 37 percent with voters 18 to 34 years old; McCain leads 52 - 41 percent among voters 35 to 54, and 54 - 39 percent with voters over 55.

Independent voters back McCain 50 - 43 percent, compared to 47 - 39 percent August 26 and 24 percent of those who backed Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary now support McCain, up from 14 percent August 26.

By a 58 - 29 percent margin, Florida voters have a favorable opinion of McCain, compared to 49 - 35 percent for Obama. Palin gets a 47 - 23 percent favorability, with 38 - 28 percent for Biden.

The economy is the most important issue in the election, 49 percent of Florida voters say, as 12 percent cite the war in Iraq; 11 percent list terrorism; 9 percent say health care and 8 percent say energy policy.

Florida likely voters say 58 - 38 percent that the vice presidential candidates picked by McCain and Obama will have little impact on which candidate they will pick on Election Day.

"Sen. McCain has opened up a sizable lead over Sen. Obama in Florida on his ability to capture most demographic groups," said Brown. "He wins voters over age 35 overwhelmingly; takes independents and keeps a larger share of Republicans than Obama captures of Democrats."

Ohio

Obama leads 52 - 42 percent among Ohio women, compared to 51 - 37 percent August 26. Men split 47 - 47 percent. Obama leads 64 - 33 percent among voters 18 to 34, while voters 35 to 54 split with 48 percent for McCain and 46 percent for Obama. Voters over 55 back McCain 48 - 44 percent.

Independent voters back McCain 47 - 43 percent, compared to a 42 - 38 percent Obama lead August 26, and 28 percent of former Clinton supporters now back McCain, compared to 23 percent last time.

McCain gets a 53 - 34 percent favorability in Ohio, identical to Obama's 53 - 33 percent. Palin's favorability is 41 - 22 percent, compared to 36 - 22 percent for Biden.

For 52 percent of Ohio voters, the economy is the biggest issue, while 11 percent cite health care; 10 percent say the war in Iraq; 9 percent list energy policy and 8 percent say terrorism.

Palin boost with women voters

Polling data show that GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin may be having the effect McCain intended with female voters.

Here is The Toronto Globe and Mail:

A new poll by The Washington Post and ABC News found the Republican candidate has garnered a large increase in support among white women since announcing Sarah Palin as his running mate, putting him ahead of Democratic rival Barack Obama among that demographic for the first time.

But it's unclear whether voters are simply reacting to the novelty of Ms. Palin's personal story and the historic nature of her selection with a fleeting expression of support or whether her choice as vice-presidential nominee has led women to see Mr. McCain in a new light.

Before the Democratic National Convention in late August, Mr. Obama held an 8 percentage point lead among white women voters - 50 per cent to 42 per cent - but after the Republican convention earlier this month, Mr. McCain was ahead by 12 points among white women, 53 per cent to 41 per cent, the poll found.

"Yes, it's about Sarah Palin, but not just putting her on the ticket," said Susan Carroll, a senior scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. "It's about what the choice of Sarah Palin did for McCain's image. It led women to take a second look at this candidate and this campaign and made it look more palatable."

Is anyone allowed to ask Palin a question?

For nearly two years I've covered numerous Barack Obama and Joe Biden events. They've been accessible to the media and voters -- and in Iowa answered hundreds if not thousands of questions in open formats in which questions on Iraq and the economy were common. But they also had to be quick on their feet as I heard members of the audiences ask about Net neutrality and past drug use issues.

In just minutes Obama and Biden would move from talking about what books they are reading to an assessment of Syria in the Middle East mix.

Why can't Palin do the same thing? Why does she need a spring-training or honeymoon before she deals with these questions?

Here is The Associated Press:

An aide told the journalists on board (Monday) that all Palin flights would be off the record unless the media were told otherwise. At least one reporter objected. Two people on the flight said the Palins greeted the media and they chatted about who had been to Alaska, but little else was said.

By comparison, her Democratic counterpart, Joe Biden, has been campaigning on his own, at times taking questions from audiences. He split off to campaign separately from Barack Obama the day after Obama announced his selection. They reunited at their party's convention and spent the following weekend campaigning together.

Biden's appearances have touched on a range of issues — in Florida he talked about U.S. support for Israel, in Pennsylvania it was economics and tax policy. He was interviewed on NBC's "Meet the Press" last Sunday

Fannie Who? Freddie What?

Oh come on now, what's the business of asking real question about things like, you know, the economy. As long as GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin appears with her family, maybe has another kid, and gets off one-liners with the aplomb of a former down-market TV station, who the hell cares that she doesn't understand Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

Here is Talking Points Memo:

Just more evidence. Over the weekend Gov. Palin said that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had "gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers."

Only they're not even taxpayer funded. It's only the government takeover, which Sen. McCain supports, that could change that.

I understand that the TV networks and the big papers feel like they're not allowed to criticize Gov. Palin. But we're in the middle of a housing and credit crisis and she doesn't even know what Fannie and Freddie are. It's an embarrassing level of ignorance that would sink a candidate for house or senate.

Under Palin, Alaska city wanted rape victims to pay for investigations

So ladies, you think Sarah is your gal, a fighter for women? That may be true -- if you have the money to pay for your own rape kit, something the city of Wasilla, Alaska, wanted women to do while she was mayor there.

This from The Minnesota Independent:

In 2000, Wasilla police chief Charlie Fallon, whom Sarah Palin hired, opposed then-governor Tony Knowles signing of a bill that would make it illegal for charging rape victims for gathering evidence of a sexual assault. “We would never bill the victim of a burglary for fingerprinting and photographing the crime scene, or for the cost of gathering other evidence,” Knowles told the Alaska Paper, The Frontiersman, in 2000.

Yet Fannon, Palin’s hire, opposed the legislation, saying it required the city and communities to come up the funds for the forensic exams.The total cost to the city? Approximately $5,000 to $14,000, according to the paper. “In the past, we’ve charged the cost of exams to the victims insurance company when possible,” he said. “I just dont want to see any more burden put on the taxpayer.”

Sarah Palin, who is supposedly gathering momentum with women voters, has gone on record saying hiring Fannon was “the best decision [she] ever made.”

Palin beats Biden in new poll

If the presidential race were decided by the second-slot candidates, Sarah Palin would carry the day for the GOP, according to a new poll.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll of 1,022 adults taken September 5-7 found that if voters were allowed to vote just for president in November, the result would be a statistical tie between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, at 49 and 48 percent respectively. The poll's margin of error was three percent.

In a hypothetical separate vote just for vice president, Alaska Governor Palin beat Senator Biden, the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, by 53 percent to 44 percent, the survey showed.

Palin is misleading on 'Bridge To Nowhere'

Sarah Palin's claims that she had some kind of a Jimmy Stewart good-government moment with the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere" is just flat false.

But it fits with the McCain campaign narrative so they aren't backing away.

Here is The Wall Street Journal:

Palin's claim comes with a serious caveat. She endorsed the multimillion dollar project during her gubernatorial race in 2006. And while she did take part in stopping the project after it became a national scandal, she did not return the federal money. She just allocated it elsewhere.

"We need to come to the defense of Southeast Alaska when proposals are on the table like the bridge," Gov. Palin said in August 2006, according to the local newspaper, "and not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project or any other into something that's so negative." The bridge would have linked Ketchikan to the airport on Gravina Island. Travelers from Ketchikan (pop. 7,500) now rely on ferries.

A year ago, the governor issued a press release that the money for the project was being "redirected."

"Ketchikan desires a better way to reach the airport, but the $398 million bridge is not the answer," she said. "Despite the work of our congressional delegation, we are about $329 million short of full funding for the bridge project, and it's clear that Congress has little interest in spending any more money on a bridge between Ketchikan and Gravina Island. Much of the public's attitude toward Alaska bridges is based on inaccurate portrayals of the projects here. But we need to focus on what we can do, rather than fight over what has happened."

Bush praises Palin pick

This from The Washington Post:

Count President Bush as yet another Republican who thinks John McCain made a great vice presidential pick with Sarah Palin. "I find her to be a very dynamic, capable, smart women who, you know, it really says that John McCain made an inspired pick, to me," Bush said in an interview to be aired Tuesday morning on "FOX & Friends."

"She's had executive experience, and that's what it takes to be a capable person here in Washington, D.C. in the executive branch," Bush said in excerpts released by Fox.

ABC gets first Palin interview

This from The Associated Press:

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has agreed to sit down with ABC's Charles Gibson later this week for her first television interview since John McCain chose her as his running mate more than a week ago.

Palin will sit down for multiple interviews with Gibson in Alaska over two days, most likely Thursday and Friday, said McCain adviser Mark Salter.

VETERANS OF IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN CALL FOR INVESTIGATION INTO LEAKS OF PALIN'S SON'S DEPLOYMENT

Combat Vets Say Palin's, Others' Lives Put At Risk

WASHINGTON - Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan of VoteVets.org today wrote to top Defense Department officials, calling for an investigation into leaks of classified details regarding the deployment of Track Palin, the son of Vice Presidential candidate, Governor Sarah Palin. Numerous outlets have reported the date and location of Palin's deployment, which compromises operational security. The source of the leaks would be acting in violation of the law, putting troops at unneccessary risk, and could be prosecuted.
The text of the letter is below:

September 8, 2008

Secretary Robert Gates
Secretary of Defense
1400 Defense Pentagon
Washington DC 20301-1400
Gordon S. Heddell
Acting Inspector General,
Department of Defense
1400 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301-1400

Daniel J. Dell'Orto
Acting General Counsel,
Department of Defense
1400 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301-1400


Gentlemen,

As veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, we are alarmed with recent leaks that have led to a multitude of stories in the media divulging details regarding the deployment and future movements of Track Palin, the son of Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Governor Sarah Palin. We are attaching such examples of these details appearing in the media.
As you know, leaking such details is a clear violation of Operational Security (OPSEC), as defined in DOD Directive (DODD) 5205.02, and Army Regulation 530-1.
After speaking with a number of Public Affairs Officers, we are confident that the Department of Defense has not leaked these details. However, as it is simply impossible for any reporter to figure out these details on their own if all they know is the name of a soldier and where he is based, someone has compromised security, not only for the son of a potential Vice President of the United States, but all those who serve with him.
It is simply unacceptable for any member of the military, or civilian, to discuss these kinds of classified details – especially with members of the media. We urge you to conduct an immediate investigation to find the source of these leaks, and prosecute, if necessary.
We are certain you are as disturbed with these developments as we are, and hope you find any compromising of security and safety of our troops to be of paramount concern.
Respectfully,
Jon Soltz
Veteran, OIF
Chairman, VoteVets.org

Brandon Friedman
Veteran, OIF, OEF
Vice Chairman, VoteVets.org
Peter Granato
Veteran, OIF
Vice Chairman, VoteVets.org
Brian McGough
Veteran, OIF, OEF
Senior Advisor, VoteVets.org

Obama's 'renewal' speech shows thinking Christian

By DOUGLAS BURNS
Carroll (Iowa) Daily Times Herald
U.S. Sen. and presidential aspirant Barack Obama in the summer of 2006 delivered one of the more groundbreaking, even magisterial speeches, you'll hear, a "Call to Renewal" address in which he frankly discusses his own religious beliefs.

Unlike the messianic proclamations from some on the right, and in the White House now, or the roll-your-eyes pandering of secular Democrats clumsily trying to go Chautauqua, Obama's stem-winder that day rings true with many conservatives and liberals at the same time because it is so eloquently honest.



It is an inspiring speech, one I didn't think a contemporary American politician could deliver.

"Faith doesn't mean that you don't have doubts," Obama said in that June 28 speech to religious progressives in Washington, D.C. "You need to come to church in the first place precisely because you are first of this world, not apart from it. You need to embrace Christ precisely because you have sins to wash away - because you are human and need an ally in this difficult journey."

Obama is a believable Christian because of his thoughtful journey with faith, one that involved those doubts. He writes his own books and speeches and stuffs them with religious imagery. It's not something that can be faked.

Unlike Bush, who runs the equivalent of old San Francisco 49er short slant routes with theological discussion, Obama can go deep.

For Obama, the God card isn't the way to beat Jack Daniels and Al Gore and John Kerry - and then find a "higher power" than daddy.

The themes in the "Call to Renewal" speech are echoed in Obama's best-selling book, "The Audacity of Hope," and in other speeches. His remarks have drawn standing ovations not only from liberals, but thousands of conservatives at venues like "The Purpose Driven Life" author Rick Warren's megachurch.

It's not because Obama's speaking out of both sides of his mouth. It's because he truly is speaking to us.

"The discomfort of some progressives with any hint of religion has often prevented us from effectively addressing issues in moral terms," Obama said. "Some of the problem here is rhetorical - if we scrub language of all religious content, we forfeit the imagery and terminology through which millions of Americans understand both their personal morality and social justice."

Obama goes on to say: "After all, the problems of poverty and racism, the uninsured and the unemployed, are not simply technical problems in search of the perfect 10-point plan. They are rooted in both societal indifference and individual callousness - in the imperfections of man."

In the speech Obama makes a remarkable admission: that he wasn't raised in a particularly religious home and that his mother, a skeptic of organized religion, raised one.

But as he worked with church leaders in community organizing, Obama said, he found something missing in his life.

"It was because of these newfound understandings that I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity United Church of Christ on 95th Street in the Southside of Chicago one day and affirm my Christian faith," Obama said. "It came about as a choice, and not an epiphany. I didn't fall out in church. The questions I had didn't magically disappear."

Obama, like Ronald Reagan, a fitting comparison in many ways, believes in using one's personal faith to promote public good, rather than the more common practice of using public faith to satiate private ambitions.

One can be both devout and a protector of the wall between church and state as well.

"Whose christianity would we teach in the schools?" Obama said. "Would we go with James Dobson's, or Al Sharpton's? Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is OK and that eating shellfish is abomination? How about Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount - a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application? So before we get carried away, let's read our Bibles. Folks haven't been reading their Bibles."

(Editor's Note: This first appeared in the Daily Times Herald.)

Joe Biden on fire

Governor Sarah Palin Biography

Former Iowa governors view Palin as winning spark

Former Iowa Gov. Robert Ray Thursday said GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has jolted the party from something of a political slumber.

The Alaska governor’s star-is-born speech at the Republican National Convention gives Republicans a winning spark, Ray said.

“I hope you realize that this campaign has turned a corner,” Ray said. “The Republicans are going to do far better than we thought a week ago.”

Ray, who served as governor for 14 years, joined another former Republican governor, Terry Branstad, who served 16 years, at a local fund-raiser for State Rep. Rod Roberts, R-Carroll.

“I think a lot of people that weren’t too enthusiastic about McCain are a lot more enthusiastic now with her on the ticket, so I think Governor Palin was a good choice,” Branstad said.

Roberts is seeking his fifth term in the Legislature. About 200 people, including Democrats and independents, attended the event at the Swan Lake State Park Conservation and Education Center. Roberts is running unopposed.

Billed as “30 Years of Wisdom” — based on the combined service of Ray and Branstad — the event functioned as a retrospective on the two leaders’ years at Terrace Hill.
But both Ray and Branstad, in remarks to the audience and in interviews with the Daily Times Herald, were quick to laud the top of their party’s ticket, presidential candidate John McCain and Palin.

As McCain was just hours from his acceptance speech Thursday during the Roberts event, the former governors focused primarily on Palin’s mercurial emergence as a force in the party.

“I’m very impressed,” Branstad said of Palin. “She’s a very intelligent, gutsy woman. She’s done some exciting things.”

Branstad said Palin deserves accolades for correcting political corruption in Alaska.

“She’s even had the guts to take on the oil companies to build this pipeline for natural gas,” Branstad said. “She’s for drilling, but she also wants the state, not the oil companies, to control the pipeline.”

For his part, Ray centered on her role as a catalyst for the party.

“She brings some experience the other candidates don’t have, and she does it delightfully,” Ray said. “But she does it firmly and she accomplishes what she sets out to do. So I think she’s going to be a real plus.”

(Photo is of former Iowa Gov. Robert Ray)

Is this how the choice was made?

Before clicking to watch it should be noted that the above is obviously satire and contains some profanity. In other words it is Not Safe For Work (NSFW).

Great comeback to Palin

"Mrs. Palin needs to be reminded that Jesus Christ was a community organizer and Pontius Pilate was a governor."
— Comments in The Politico

Thank you Sarah Palin

Palin blog editor gets shout out from Washington Post

The editor of this blog -- Douglas Burns, a Carroll, Iowa, journalist -- was featured in a Washington Post column written by Al Kamen. He noted that Burns was among the first journalists to predict Palin as McCain's running mate. More long-term readers of this blog know that -- and new readers can see the blog posts here date back to June when I predicted the Palin choice in a column devoted entirely to the subject at Iowa Independent.com.

Here is Kamen In The Washington Post:

Is He Clairvoyant, or What?

Speaking of the political pundits, it turns out that Douglas Burns, columnist for the Daily Times Herald of Carroll, Iowa, and IowaIndependent.com, predicted on July 29 that McCain would pick Palin and mentioned Biden as a likely Obama running mate.

Under a headline "Why McCain will pick Sarah Palin as running mate," Burns wrote that Palin, of all the possible picks, "brings the most to McCain" and "is a likely selection." Palin has "five children, a captivating TV-mom look and a brief but weighty background as a reformer governor," he wrote.

Republicans might worry she "would get knocked around in a vice-presidential debate" with Biden, Burns wrote, but the Dems would "have to be careful about bullying her, and she would be a vessel for disaffected Hillaryites, bulging with estrogen, looking for a reason to bolt the party."

The Reviews are in ...

The Boston Herald says that Palin rose above partisanship in her speech to the GOP convention last night.

The Los Angeles Times sees the speech as giving a major boost to the McCain candidacy.

Writing for CNN, Democratic stategist Hillary Rosen notes that a star is born in Palin.

Let's reflect. In her acceptance speech, we saw a woman who was compelling, charming and aggressively partisan. She succeeded in demonstrating that she is a regular mom who came to government to make a difference.

And she had that crowd in the convention hall eating out of her hands. Celebrity? It will be hard for the Republicans to attack Sen. Barack Obama for his celebrity now that they have one of their own.

A superstar of the radical right was made Wednesday night. And she may also have made some headway with those who buy her folksiness without knowing the extreme nature of her actual policy views.

GOP Vetting Emporium

Christian Right changes view on 'woman's place'

The Christian Science Monitor has some compelling reports on how the views of Christian conservatives about women in the workplace have changed.

Here is The Monitor:

Survey data bear out the shift in attitudes. In 1987, a Pew Research Center survey found that only 25 percent of Republicans and 20 percent of white evangelical Protestants completely disagreed with this statement: “Women should return to their traditional roles in society.”

In 2007, the numbers had shifted to 41 percent and 42 percent. Among Americans overall, the number rose from 29 percent to 51 percent.

James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family, an influential Christian conservative organization, has long asserted that mothers should be at home, but even he has embraced the selection of Palin and now says he’ll vote for the GOP ticket.

Would you have taken the job?

In the Detroit Free Press Barb Arrigo asks the following question?

If your 17-year-old daughter was 5 months pregnant and unmarried, would you accept a position that was going to put your family under a relentless national microscope? B

Blue collar vote?

The USA today has a piece about Palin potentially reaching not just blue collar females -- but men as well. This is something Chuck Todd has talked about on MSNBC as well.

Leave it to the British ...

To get off a great one-liner on the Palin pick and ensuing controversy.

Here is Jonathan Freedland in The Guardian:

A race that began as the West Wing now looks alarmingly like Desperate Housewives. Six months ago, you couldn't help but notice the striking similarity between Barack Obama and Matthew Santos, the fictional but charismatic ethnic minority candidate who promised to heal America's divide. Now, you can't help but feel you're watching an especially lurid episode from Wisteria Lane, as the real-life Sarah Palin fends off rumours of a fake pregnancy - and the accusation that her son is actually her grandson - by revealing that her unmarried 17-year-old daughter is expecting a baby and will soon marry the father, a young hockey player.

An in-depth look at McCain-Palin on abortion

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough Misrepresented Extreme McCain-Palin View On Abortion

September 2, 2008: Scarborough: "Nobody Associated With John McCain Is Suggesting To Outlaw Abortion." On the September 2, 2008 airing of Morning Joe on MSNBC, host Joe Scarborough said, "Nobody associated with John McCain is suggesting to outlaw abortion." The full exchange is below:

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Nobody. Nobody associated with John McCain is suggesting to outlaw abortion. That abortion should be outlawed. This is a fundamental misreading of Roe v. Wade.

CHRIS MATTHEWS: That's [Palin's position].

SCARBOROUGH: This is a fundamental misreading of Roe v. Wade that has been propagatedby the mainstream media . . .

MATTHEWS: You're propagating something totally wrong here.

[ . . . ]

SCARBOROUGH: What will happen if Roe v. Wade is overturned is states . . . will make the decision . . .

MATTHEWS: But that's not her position, her position is within the state of Alaska, outlaw it in all circumstances.





[MSNBC, Morning Joe, 9/2/08, emphasis added]


McCain: "I do not support Roe v. Wade. I think it should be overturned."


McCain Said Roe v. Wade Should Be Overturned. McCain said, "I do not support Roe v. Wade. I think it should be overturned." [New York Times, 2/24/07]

McCain Web Site Said Roe v. Wade was "Flawed Decision." Sen. McCain's 2008 presidential campaign website states that he "believes Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned." [John McCain for President 2008 campaign website, On the Issues: Human Dignity and the Sanctity of Life, accessed 3/24/08]



McCain Derided Roe Decision And Said He Would "Welcome" Its Reversal. Speaking on the Senate floor in 2006, McCain said, "Decisions such as Roe v. Wade continue to distort the democratic process in ways large and small to this very day." McCain continued, "Those of us who consider ourselves pro-life would welcome the Supreme Court's reversal of the Roe v. Wade decision that found a Constitutional right to an abortion. The result of that reversal would be to return the regulation of abortion to the states, where the values of local communities would be influential." [McCain Senate press release, 6/6/06]



McCain Supported Overturning Roe v. Wade; Said it Was "Very Likely." Speaking on ABC News, McCain said, "I do believe that it's very likely, or possible, that a Supreme Court should - could overturn Roe v. Wade which would then return these decisions to the states which I support." [ABC News, 11/19/06]



McCain Said He "Never Agreed With Roe v. Wade" and Claimed it's Reversal "Wouldn't Bother" Him. During an appearance on CBS's The Early Show John McCain, when asked about the possibility of abortion being banned, said, "I don't know the answer to that. I've never agreed with Roe v. Wade, so it wouldn't bother me any." [CBS, Early Show, 1/25/06]

McCain Said He Supports A Constitutional Amendment Banning "All Abortions."During an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" in 2000, McCain voiced his repeated support for a ban on all abortion. Here is the exchange:


MR. RUSSERT: A constitutional amendment to ban all abortions?


SEN. McCAIN: Yes, sir.


MR. RUSSERT: You're for that?


SEN. McCAIN: Yes, sir.


MR. RUSSERT: If, in fact, all abortions were banned in America...


SEN. McCAIN: I understand.


MR. RUSSERT: ...under President McCain...


SEN. McCAIN: Understand.


MR. RUSSERT: ...let's look at our country. What would happen to a woman who had an abortion?


SEN. McCAIN: Obviously, it would be illegal, but I would not prosecute a woman who did that. I would think that it would be such a terrible trauma that--but I would not make those abortions available or easy as they are today in America. And I think that, again, we're talking about a situation which is very unlikely at this time, and I would like to see us ban partial-birth abortion, pass parental notification, parental consent and move forward in the areas that we can move forward in, including working with pro-life, pro-choice Americans on trying to make adoption easier, which is very difficult in America, trying to improve foster care, trying to move together in areas that we can agree on, rather than polarizing us as both ends of the spectrum have done.

MR. RUSSERT: But, Senator, women across the country would say, "Senator McCain, prior to Roe vs. Wade, hundreds of thousands of women a year went to the back alleys to have abortions."


SEN. McCAIN: I understand that.


MR. RUSSERT: Many died.


SEN. McCAIN: I understand that. [NBC, Meet The Press, 1/30/00]





2007: McCain Supported Federal Abortion Ban. On the Federal Abortion Ban, Sen. McCain said, "Today's Supreme Court ruling is a victory for those who cherish the sanctity of life and integrity of the judiciary. The ruling ensures that an unacceptable and unjustifiable practice will not be carried out on our innocent children. It also clearly speaks to the importance of nominating and confirming strict constructionist judges who interpret the law as it is written, and do not usurp the authority of Congress and state legislatures. As we move forward, it is critically important that our party continues to stand on the side of life." [McCain for President Press Release, 4/18/07]


McCain Has "Unbroken Record Of Opposing Abortion Rights," Including In Cases of Rape and Incest. According to the Associated Press, McCain has an "unbroken record of opposing abortion rights for women. McCain has repeatedly voted against federal funding for abortion; he has opposed federal Medicaid funds for abortion even in cases of rape or incest." [Associated Press, 5/6/08]


McCain: "I Pledge to You to be Loyal and Unswerving Friend of the Right to Life Movement. "If I am fortunate enough to be elected as the next President of the United States, I pledge to you to be a loyal and unswerving friend of the right to life movement." [Statement by Sen. McCain read by Sen. Sam Brownback at the March for Life in Washington, DC, 1/22/08]


Washington Times: McCain Record Shows a "Striking Opposition" To Right To Choose. The Washington Times reported, "Though the Arizona senator and all-but-certain Republican presidential nominee doesn't detail his voting record on the campaign trail, an examination reveals a striking opposition to abortion in most of the major fights such as partial-birth abortion down to the smallest of skirmishes, even when he was in a distinct minority. Those votes include joining just 20 other senators in voting to delete family-planning grants from a spending bill in 1988 and joining 18 others in voting against spending Medicaid funds on abortions in cases of rape and incest." [Washington Times, 2/18/08]


Sarah Palin: Anti-Choice, Including In The Case Of Rape Or Incest


Palin: "I Am Pro-Life." During the 2006 Alaskan gubernatorial election, Eagle Forum Alaska sent each candidate a questionnaire. In response to a question on the legality of abortion, Sarah Palin answered: "I am pro-life. With the exception of a doctor's determination that the mother's life would end if the pregnancy continued. I believe that no matter what mistakes we make as a society, we cannot condone ending an innocent's life." [Eagle Forum Alaska, 7/31/06, emphasis added]


Palin Said She Would Want Her Daughter To Have The Child If She Were Raped. According to the Anchorage Daily News, during the final 2006 gubernatorial debate, "The candidates were pressed on their stances on abortion and were even asked what they would do if their own daughters were raped and became pregnant. Palin said she would supportabortion only if the mother's life was in danger. When it came to her daughter, she said, 'I would choose life.'" [Anchorage Daily News, 11/3/06, emphasis added]

Palin Described Herself As "Pro-Life As Any Candidate Can Be." As reported by theAnchorage Daily News, "In 2002, when she was running for lieutenant governor, Palin sent an e-mail to the anti-abortion Alaska Right to Life Board saying she was as 'pro-life as any candidate can be' and has 'adamantly supported our cause since I first understood, as a child, the atrocity of abortion.'" [Anchorage Daily News, 8/6/06]


· Palin Opposes Abortion "Even In The Cases Of Rape And Incest." According to the Los Angeles Times, "What's known about [Palin's] policy positions and public statements has been tremendously reassuring to conservatives, who issued numerous statements Friday praising the 44-year-old governor. But one person's solid conservatism -- opposing abortions, even in the cases of rape and incest; denying human contributions to global warming; supporting the teaching of creationism in public schools -- is another's extremism." [Los Angeles Times, 8/30/08]


Palin A Member Of Feminists For Life. In a release published on the Feminists for Life website, the group confirmed Sarah Palin's membership and detailed the aims of the organization: "Feminists for Life's policy is that all memberships are confidential. However, since Governor Palin has been public about her membership, we can confirm that Palin became a member in 2006… 'FFL members represent a broad political as well as religious spectrum, and we remain both nonpartisan and nonsectarian. There are many issues outside Feminists for Life's mission. Feminists for Life is dedicated to systematically eliminating the root causes that drive women to abortion - primarily lack of practical resources and support - through holistic, woman-centered solutions. We recognize that abortion is a reflection that our society has failed to meet the needs of women and that too often women have settled for less. Women deserve better than abortion,' said [FFL President Serrin] Foster." [WomenDeserveBetter.com, accessed 8/31/08, emphasis added]

Trippi says Palin's speech to be key

CBS News analyst and Democratic strategist Joe Trippi says Sarah Palin's speech could be decisive in the election.

Here is a post from Trippi:

Everywhere I go people are asking, if the revelations around Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s selection by John McCain to be his running mate have hurt the Arizona Senator’s chances of winning the Presidency.

The truth, no matter what the polls say today, is that we don’t know yet.

The massive amount of media focus on Palin over the past 48 hours, including her daughter’s out of wedlock pregnancy and the potentially incompetent vetting of her by the McCain campaign, is setting the stage for her speech at the GOP convention here in St. Paul.

McCain defends Palin selection process

Reuters is reporting that McCain today came to his new running mate's defense. Here is Reuters.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain defended picking Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Tuesday as his vice presidential running mate after she admitted that her teenage, unmarried daughter is pregnant.

Palin's disclosure, in addition to the news that she has a private lawyer in an ethics probe in Alaska, led some to raise questions about McCain's judgment and how thoroughly her background was examined in picking the relatively unknown Palin last week as his No. 2.

Iowa Republican women support Palin

Several Republican women are enthusiastically voicing their support for Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be the first woman nominated to the Presidential ticket by their party.

Ambassador Mary Kramer is no stranger to history. The former President of the Iowa Senate was the first woman to be elected to that position.

“Governor Palin has always answered the call to serve, and done so for the right reasons,” Kramer said. “She has demonstrated executive leadership in every office she’s held and actually has a record of getting results to back it up.”

State Representative Sandy Greiner of Keota was in Minnesota preparing for next week’s Republican National Convention when she heard the news.

“Women who have been in politics a lot longer than I were fixed to televisions and moved to tears upon seeing that Governor Palin had been chosen to be our Vice Presidential nominee,” Greiner said. “The excitement here is incredible and it is because her selection signifies real change for the Republican Party and for the United States.”

Indeed, the addition of Governor Palin to the McCain ticket has caused a new debate to begin swirling around this election’s buzzword: change. The Alaska governor is a fresh face in the Republican Party and that differs greatly from Barack Obama’s choice of long-time Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his running mate.

“Governor Palin is known as a maverick in her own right and is a perfect fit to help lead the real campaign for change in Washington,” said retiring State Representative Carmine Boal. “In her home state of Alaska, she has battled corruption, stood up to lobbyists, even turned away pork spending from Congress. Governor Palin is the best choice to help Senator McCain fight the same old politics that have divided our nation.”

Palin laughs in face of sexist attacks on rival

These are the kind of stories that make you wonder about the depth of vetting for Sarah Palin. Earlier this year on an Alaskan talk show, the governor and would-be vice president, giggled/laughed nervously as one of her political rivals was hit with a withering sexist attack based on her weight. The "B" word even was invoked -- not by Palin, but laughed when it was used.

And guess what, the audio of this lives.

Palin used to be sportscaster

This from back in 1988 ....

The Obama ad response

HBO's Maher satirizes Palin

This is admittedly hilarious but it is the sort of thing that could seriously backfire in terms of an attack ... Referring to her as a "M.I.L.F" and suggesting that if McCain dies in office Palin would be like a stewardess trying to fly an airplane in the event of a pilot problem?

Palin biography climbs in sales

Just a few weeks ago, when this site and a few others were lonely in trafficing in commentary and speculation about Sarah Palin, a book on her was one of those bargain bin products.

Now it is vaulting up the sales lists, The Lost Angeles Times reports.

Palin's announcement speech

The world watches as media, bloggers analyze choice

For months now, Sarah Palin For VP.com, a compendium of news and opinion, not an advocacy site, has followed the flow of stories on the Alaska governor -- widely considered a second- or third-tier candidate and a longshot selection as John McCain's running mate.

Today (as sarahpalinforvp.com is vindicated in the way few political Web sites are), most of the world is getting its first glimpse and impressions of the woman we've been following for months since the start up of this site.

Over at the Associated Press, Ron Fournier wonders quickly notes that Palin's solid conservative credentials will rev up the base, but like others, he questions whether her lack of foreign policy experience will diminish McCain strong suit.

Here is Greg Sargent at Talking Points Memo:

First thought: If McCain's entire campaign is premised on the idea that Obama lacks the commander-in-chief readiness for the presidency, how on earth can he possibly continue to make this argument when he's chosen Palin, who's been in high office only two years (half the time Obama has been a Senator) as a back-up commander in chief?

Beware the charges of light weight

Democrats are playing a dangerous game if they attempt to dismiss Palin. But we see that happening already as this post on the Chicago Tribune's Swamp shows.

When Obama was looking at Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia as a possible running mate, Karl Rove, the "architect'' of President Bush's election campaigns, dismissed his experience - a governor for three years and mayor of 103rd largest Richmond.

We're not sure where Wasila ranks.

Energy

Palin could be a major force in helping McCain flip the script on energy policy as well as the Financial Post points out.

Ms. Palin, 44, is a lifetime NRA member who is in charge of a conservative state. She's bullish on offshore drilling and opening up more of the contentious Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to exploration and production. "People are realizing, too, there's been some deception, I think, about from some on what ANWR is all about. Of the 20 million acres up there, we're looking at 2000 acres as a footprint," she said in the interview. "With new technology, with directional drilling, maybe that footprint [will] shrink even more."

Environmentalists are trying to keep the area protected, but Ms. Palin believes Americans are being fed faulty information.

"Allowing that to be explored and developed, as more Americans realize what we're talking about here, and not just relying on the visuals that have been provided them over the years on what ANWR supposedly is – with mountain ranges and green valleys and rivers flowing and all that," she said. "And you see those visuals sometimes, especially when the extreme environmentalists talk about the pristine environment that is surrounding ANWR."

Moose Stew and Snowmobiling

As the CBS horse-race blog points out, this choice is indeed colorful.

It’s not just her credentials as the youngest and only female governor in Alaska’s history that make Palin so intriguing. How many vice-presidential candidates in American history have been avid moose hunters, sports reporters or beauty queens? Palin is all three.

When Vogue Magazine asked her what her favorite meal was, she didn’t settle on pizza or Mexican. "Moose stew after a day of snowmachining,” she said. Does it get any more Alaska than that?

The Alaska governor might be just a “plain Sarah” herself, but her children’s names are far more dazzling: Track (18), Bristol (17), Willow (13), Piper (7) and Trig (4 months).

Here is The Detroit Free Press on Palin's pluses:

Here’s what Palin gives McCain and the GOP ticket: Youth, gender, a background entirely outside the Washington Beltway, and enormous energy as a campaigner. She’s a working mom with five chidren, has been in business and is a hunting and fishing enthusiast. She can claim a record as a government reformer and a tax cutter and someone who cares less about partisanship than about getting the job done. She beat an incumbent Republican governor in a GOP primary en route to winning the Alaska governor’s office.

So if you are a voter who was attracted to Hillary Clinton’s historic quest to become the first female president, maybe you’ll give the GOP ticket a look now. By picking her, McCain also reinforces his image as a maverick — someone who will take bold actions that surprise you.