Democrats Continue To Laugh At Palin Pick….Thankfully!

Loading

Dammit Joe, don’t let the cat out of the bag!

But what can you expect from a Democrat but to warn his fellow cohorts to stop underestimating Sarah. I would have liked it if they had continued to hang themselves, and they still might, but in the meantime Joe Trippi warns them to get their heads out of their asses:

I have seen a lot of commentary on why John McCain’s pick of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is a cynical and transparent ploy to bring disaffected women who supported Hillary Clinton to his cause – and why this ploy would fail.

But I don’t think John McCain and the people around him are that stupid.

~~~

McCain picked in Palin someone who has taken on the corruption in the GOP in Alaska, turned against her own party’s establishment, and fought for reform.

The McCain/Palin duo will challenge Barack Obama’s claim of “a new kind of politics” and chastise Obama and Democratic vice presidential Nominee, Joe Biden, for their “silence” in taking on corruption in their own party in Illinois, Delaware and Washington, DC.

The McCain campaign intends to claim that “more of the same” in Washington means Barack Obama and Joe Biden and will make the argument that if you want to “shake things up” then McCain and his reform minded running mate from Alaska will get the job done.

My initial reaction was that in picking Palin, McCain had taken away the argument that Barack Obama wasn’t ready to be president. I now think my initial assessment on that score was wrong. Over time, the McCain team will insinuate that if you think a first-term Governor isn’t ready for the number 2 slot, are your really sure that a first-term Senator is ready for the number 1 spot?

Joe is the man behind the Dean phenomenon, he’s worked on the campaign of Edward Kennedy, Mondale, Hart, and Gephardt. He is no political neophyte and one the Democrats should be listening to.

I hope they don’t…and don’t really believe they will. They are so entrenched into the messiah movement they see any stumbling block in the road as something to shrug off. “No way Obama loses” is a much uttered sentence from the mouths of liberals, and they believe it. So Sarah Palin? No big deal, she is going to being McCain down instead of up…

Sure thing bud.

In one fell swoop McCain took the winds out of Obama’s sails immediately following his “big” speech. He has unified the base, something I would never had thought I would see with a McCain candidacy, and raised tons of money. He answered the historic candidacy of Hillary Clinton with his own historic candidacy of the first female VP on the Republican ticket. He answered the “change” message of Obama with his own “change” message. He answered the Obama oratory prowess, or lack thereof when he is faced a crowd without a teleprompter, with a candidate who can deliver a powerful speech on the fly, without a teleprompter, and without a thousand uh’s.

So continue to do as James Carville just did on CNN this morning. Belittle the lady with four years of experience on a city council, six years of experience being a mayor, two years of experience being a governor, and instead defend a first term senator who has never accomplished anything during his time there.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
16 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

“Children are the most precious and promising ingredient in this mixed-up world you live in down there on Earth. Trig is no different, except he has one extra chromosome,” –Governor Palin, writing to her family about her new son.

“Look, I got two daughters — 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.” — Senator Obama, speaking without a teleprompter.

For a change, Many women who have been Dem supporters are having their eyes opened…they see/hear what is being said, and see/hear what is being done, and are judging for themselves who is sexist and who isn’t.

The libs will never get it. McCain has united his base and taken in some new voters with this choice. They think Palin will fold under the pressure. Let’s get to that VP debate and we’ll see who folds.
http://www.thenewconservatives.blogspot.com/

The experience stamp is off the table because it wasn’t working to begin with. We’ve seen Obama on the national seen for 4 years so people are not really focusing on his experience. The questions into Palin experience are legitimate, but it is an arguement that won’t get much play in the long run. The change campaign of Obama had its limitations and his acceptance speech illustrated that he had to define change and now he has to promote how the mantra of change will dictate policy.

McCain now has the same challenge because selecting Palin says he’s the reform candidate and now he has to define what reform will mean and what Palin brings to the table. Both tickets have risk – Obama’s is well documented but McCain now has to ensure that Palin is not seen as a gimmeck. Once the hoopla subside, the race will turn back to Obama and McCain until the vice president debate.

The Obama campaign just has to not underestimate Palin and not make her the central issue in this campaign. The Democrat Party still has the advantage and has to maintain their focus. In their campaign stop in Ohio, neither Obama or Biden mentioned Palin. They should continue that strategy and let the pundits debate the risk and benefit of Palin to McCain.

In reading the reaction from Conservatives, I have to say that politically, McCain made a good decision. We will see how it pans out over the months because America will have only 60 days to get to know this woman. The question is how will conservatives respond when McCain starts to move to the center. He’s given the far-right their pound of flesh and probably feels as though that has given him the freedom to return to the McCain of old.

She is a perfect choice. McCain didn’t choose her because he is trying to get disgruntled Hillary supporters. He is after a completely different and much larger demographic. He is trying to appeal to women that are married to men they don’t hate. Women who are relatively happy with their lives, relatively conservative on social issues, who aren’t lawyers and either didn’t go to college, or went to college and avoided Womens Studies courses. Women who are ambivalent about abortion. Women who have managed their lives successfully enough to pay taxes every year. That is a very different demographic than disgruntled Hillary supporters.

I’m part of the demographic he’s after, even though I’m a man. I’ve got a lot more in common with her than I do with the predatory law firm of Obama & Biden.

Nancy Pelosi has also weighed in as stating “Sarah Palin is not the right choice. She shares John McCain’s commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade and continuing George Bush’s failed economic policies.”

Let’s see, Nancy Pelosi won the speaker of the house position in 2006 with the promise to clean up GOP corruption.

Sarah Palin also won her position in 2006 with the promise to clean up GOP corruption in Alaska.

Nancy: 174 resolutions, 300 + earmarks, partial budget, minimum wage increase, and $50 – $100k personal investment in T. Boone Pickens plan that she intends to have voted on in the house after the election. 14% favorable rating.

Sarah: tax cut, $1200 rebate, killed earmarks, personally halted the bridge to nowhere, oil and gas pipeline agreement with Russia & Canada, been to Kuwait to visit her troops from AK and didn’t trash the US while there, 80% favorable rating.

Experience may now be off the table, but judgement and character just replaced it.

Im ‘befuddled,’ too:
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN2944356420080901

Plus, it’s not just the democrats that are calling it “wreckless”, a “gamble”. Listen, after the 5 minute mark, to Tucker Carlson:

the dems are scared of a strong woman who threatens their manhood because she is a far better hunter/gatherer that they are. she has made tough choices while in office and has stuck by those choices and has got awesome ratings in her state. they are scared for sure.

I think you’ve raised some excellent points james manning…

however.. I’m no McCain fan and I do like Palin even with her faults….
The leftards hate her so that is a big plus in my book… the more they squeal the more I like it…

I really believe in the long run she will be an asset…
The one conservative woman I know is very excited by Palin… and she is much more intelligent than I am..

James Manning,

McCain is at the top of the ticket, HE is running against Obama. Democrats re-elect Robert Byrd time and time again yet the party of Robert Byrd is trying to portray John McCain as having one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel. It’s McCain vs Obama, Palin vs Biden, that’s the way the debates will go. If elected, he goes to the WH, she goes to the Naval Conservatory. She is not up against Obama, McCain is.

Of course Obama’s handlers would rather play the Obama vs Palin game because they are trying to hide the obvious fact that Obama is a light weight compared to McCain. They know Palin has more executive experience and spunk than Obama will ever know but they want to put a negative spin on it. Would be fun watching her debate the messiah on energy though.

(WP) Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin employed a lobbying firm to secure almost $27 million in federal earmarks for a town of 6,700 residents while she was its mayor, according to an analysis by an independent government watchdog group.

There was $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, $900,000 for sewer repairs, and $15 million for a rail project — all intended to benefit Palin’s town, Wasilla, located about 45 miles north of Anchorage.

In introducing Palin as his running mate on Friday, Sen. John McCain cast her as a compatriot in his battle against wasteful federal spending. McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, hailed Palin as a politician “with an outstanding reputation for standing up to special interests and entrenched bureaucracies — someone who has fought against corruption and the failed policies of the past, someone who’s stopped government from wasting taxpayers’ money.”

McCain’s crusade against earmarks — federal spending sought by members of Congress to benefit specific projects — has been a hallmark of his campaign. He has said earmarks are wasteful and are often inserted into bills with little oversight, sometimes by a single powerful lawmaker.

Palin has also railed against earmarks, touting her opposition to a $223 million bridge in the state as a prime credential for the vice presidential nomination. “As governor, I’ve stood up to the old politics-as-usual, to the special interests, to the lobbyists, the big oil companies, and the good-ol’-boy network,” she said Friday.

As mayor of Wasilla, however, Palin oversaw the hiring of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh, an Anchorage-based law firm with close ties to Alaska’s most senior Republicans: Rep. Don Young and Sen. Ted Stevens, who was indicted in July on charges of accepting illegal gifts. The Wasilla account was handled by the former chief of staff to Stevens, Steven W. Silver, who is a partner in the firm.

Palin was elected mayor of Wasilla in 1996 on a campaign theme of “a time for change.” According to a review of congressional spending by Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog group in Washington, Wasilla did not receive any federal earmarks in the first few years of Palin’s tenure.

Senate records show that Silver’s firm began working for Palin in early 2000, just as federal money began flowing.

In fiscal 2000, Wasilla received a $1 million earmark, tucked into a transportation appropriations bill, for a rail and bus project in the town. And in the winter of 2000, Palin appeared before congressional appropriations committees to seek earmarks, according to a report in the Anchorage Daily News.

Palin and the Wasilla City Council increased Silver’s fee from $24,000 to $36,000 a year by 2001, Senate records show.

Soon after, the city benefited from additional earmarks: $500,000 for a mental health center, $500,000 for the purchase of federal land and $450,000 to rehabilitate an agricultural processing facility. Then there was the $15 million rail project, intended to connect Wasilla with the town of Girdwood, where Stevens has a house.

The Washington trip is now an annual event for Wasilla officials.

In fiscal year 2002, Wasilla took in $6.1 million in earmarks — about $1,000 in federal money for every resident. By contrast, Boise, Idaho — which has more than 190,000 residents — received $6.9 million in earmarks in fiscal 2008.

All told, Wasilla benefited from $26.9 million in earmarks in Palin’s final four years in office.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/01/AR2008090103148_pf.html

So much for ‘standing up against government waste’.

Also, TPM tells us Steven W. Silver is an Abramoff associate.

BTW the rail connecting to the town where Steven’s has a house is also used for tourism, that’s ski country.

Here’s a couple of interesting, old articles:

Editor’s note: Originally published 12/10/07)

The Palin administration, citing a need to improve the state’s credibility, plans to ask Alaska’s congressional delegation for far fewer earmarks in the coming year.

“We really want to skinny it down,” said Karen Rehfeld, Gov. Sarah Palin’s budget chief.

Rehfeld recently wrote a memo to all state commissioners telling them that to “enhance the state’s credibility,” federal earmark requests for money should be only for the most compelling needs.

They should have a strong national purpose, Rehfeld told the commissioners, not just to fill funding gaps in the state’s budget.
>snip<

A favorite target is the so-called “bridges to nowhere” for Ketchikan and Knik Arm, inserted by Alaska Rep. Don Young into the five-year transportation bill in 2005. Congress later stripped the earmarks directing that spending, but let Alaska keep the money to use on the bridges if it wanted. Palin, to the delight of budget watchdog groups, earlier this year abandoned the Ketchikan bridge and said the bridge money would be spent elsewhere.

Palin has said Alaska needs to change its national image, change that includes trying to become less dependent on the federal government.

http://www.adn.com/politics/story/210308.html

Palin: Setting the earmarks opinion straight

Published Friday, August 29, 2008

Newspaper column by Gov. Sarah Palin, published March 5, 2008

http://www.newsminer.com/news/2008/aug/29/palin-setting-earmarks-opinion-straight/

It never ceases to amaze me how Obama supporters focus on what they call Palin’s lack of credentials for the number two spot, when Obama’s lack of credentials for the number one spot are much, much more troublesome. Palin governed an entire state, fought corruption, and got a 9 billion dollar energy pipeline project in the works. Obama spent TWENTY YEARS … yes, that’s TWENTY YEARS, as a follower of Jeremiah Wright’s racist, anti-American, Black Liberation Theology church. As a community organizer, Obama registered thousands of new voters, then used technicalities to rob his political opponents of their place on the ticket and robbed those same voters he registered, of their chance to vote, when he ran for election. Then, as a U.S. Senator of Illinois, Obama spent the first two years voting present 160 times, and never calling a meeting of the Afghanistan committee he chaired. Obama spent the next year, once again on the campaign trail running for President. Obama’s foreign policy experience consists of a 9 day whirlwind photo op visiting 6 countries. Since Obama has such a thin resume to run on, he has spent most of his campaign apologizing for America, blaming everyone else for a litany of problems, and calling his opponents racists. If it wasn’t for Obama getting 96% of the black vote, the mainstream media, who is totally in the tank for him, plus support from a bunch of spoiled elitist celebrities, plus Obama’s ability to dramatically outspend both Hillary and McCain, he wouldn’t be able to get elected to dog catcher.