Friday, August 29, 2008

McCain's Choice: Sarah Palin

I am thrilled by John McCain's running mate choice.

It's a maverick choice and I love it. I absolutely love it.

His VP choice is strongly PRO-LIFE and a governor.

His choice provides tremendous balance to the ticket.

I'm watching right now as McCain announces his running mate to a euphoric crowd in Dayton, Ohio.

The crowd greeted McCain with a chorus of "Happy Birthday."

Happy Birthday, Sen. McCain!

McCain said: "I've spent the last few months looking for a running mate who can best help me shake up Washington and make it start running again."

"The person I'm about to introduce to you was a union member and is married to a union member and understands the problems, and hopes, and values of working people."


Hear that Joe Biden? Hear that Barack Obama?

"I am especially proud to say in the week we celebrate the anniversary of women's suffrage, a devoted wife and a mother of five..."

"She stands up for what's right and she doesn't let anyone tell her to sit down."

That is a great line. I'm sure it will appeal to those women who were slapped down by the Democrats.

McCain announced, "The next vice president of the United States -- SARAH PALIN."

Sarah Palin's bio.

Palin said, "Senator, I am honored to be chosen as your running mate."

"I will be honored to serve next to the next president of the United States."

Palin introduced her husband, Todd. They are celebrating their 20th anniversary today.

Only four of her five children were with her today. Her oldest son enlisted in the U.S. Army after 9/11. He will deploy to Iraq on September 11 to proudly serve his country.

She introduced her three daughters and her youngest son, a baby boy born in April. Yes, Palin had a baby less than 6 months ago.

Her speech wasn't like Joe Biden's "Barack America" speech. It truly was an introduction since most Americans are unfamiliar with her.

After telling her personal story, she talked about politics being a risky business and challenging the status quo.

"A ship in harbor is safe, but that's not why the ship is built."

Palin then turned to talking about John McCain and the issues.

"There is only one candidate who has truly fought for America and that is John McCain."

She talked of McCain's support for the troops.

She said as the mother of one of those troops and Commander-in-Chief of Alaska's National Guard, she wants McCain to be America's Commander-in-Chief.

Palin said it's a privilege to be McCain's running mate.

Palin said she had to honor Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton.

She spoke of the 18 million cracks in that highest glass ceiling.

"It turns out the women of America aren't finished yet and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all."

It was a great speech.

What a great choice!

Perfect!
Perfect!!

14 comments:

The Badgerland Conservative said...

The baby boy was born with Downs syndrome. Palin chose life. Wanna bet this will force the Chocolate Jesus to deal with and defend his vote and position in support of infanticide in the Illinois legislature over and over again?

Anonymous said...

"I am especially proud to say in the week that we celebrate the anniversary of women's suffrage, a devoted wife and a mother of five..." -- yeah, I'm not sure this is exactly what the suffrage movement was all about.

Mary said...

You're right, Peter.

Yes, Palin's actions, in regard to being pro-life, speak louder than any words.

No one can doubt her belief in the sanctity of life.

The difference between Palin and Barack "I don't want my daughters to be punished with a baby" Obama is so clear.

“Look, I got two daughters — 9 years old and 6 years old," Obama said. "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."

Mary said...

Holyprepuce--

WHAT?

Please elaborate.

I don't want to misinterpret your statement.

Mary said...

"That child won't have a life"?

What are you talking about?

Gov. Palin was not chosen for her looks. Good grief.

Are you suggesting that women should not have careers if they have young children?

Then you must have a problem with Michelle Obama.

And I, for one, am against abortion and against the death penalty.

Anonymous said...

Obviously it was a great choice. The Democrats are apoplectic. I'm betting she shreds Biden in the debates.

Anonymous said...

As an Obama supporter, I'm pretty happy with the Palin pick.

McCain spent a lot of time saying Obama doesn't have enough experience and then he selects someone with no foreign policy experience who has been a govenor of a small population for less than two years and a mayor of a really small town before that to potentially become President if something happens to McCain.

She was chosen partly to shore up the religious right vote and so it is no surprise that Mary is very happy with this pick. So on that goal, the pick was successful.

I think McCain lost some moderate voters with this pick. I don't think McCain can win by trying to please religious conservatives because the Republican base is now too small to win elections. I was worried he would pick a fellow centrist or even Lieberman which would have caused some problems with swing voters.

I like Palin and was impressed with her awhile back when I saw her on CSPAN during the Governor's convention, but she is not even close to being ready for the White House. She has said that she doesn't follow national and international issues very much. Combine this with John McCain saying he doesn't know much about economic policy and you get a very weak national ticket.

August Danowski said...

The main role of the VP is to stand ready to take over in case the President is incapacitated. Given his age and health, there is a statistically significant chance that John McCain could become incapacitated over the next 4-8 years. Regardless of how wonderful a mother Palin is, or how much you support her position on abortion, does a journalism major and former city council member and mayor of a town of only 5,500 people, who has not even two years experience as governor of a state with only 600,000 people really have the experience necessary to be President of the United States? Where is her foreign policy experience?

Mary pointed out earlier: "I think the selection of Biden illustrates that Obama is really running scared in terms of his stunning lack of experience." Well, now both tickets have one experienced person and one with a "stunning lack of experience." Although, Palin's lack of experience seems far more stunning than Obama's.

August Danowski said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mary said...

Palin has executive experience in elected office and the private sector.

And Palin is in the VP spot.

The Obama camp would be wise to lay off Palin when it comes to experience.

Anonymous said...

Better her than Biden if the Vice President has to take over. Biden is a disaster and a political hack among other things.

August Danowski said...

I really don't think being a sports reporter and running a family business count as executive experience.

On the other hand, it would be nice to see a fiscally responsible republican in office - Palin has raised or supported raising taxes (as Mayor and as Governor) in order to actually pay for the things she wanted to do in office.

Mary said...

I think McCain chose Palin because she's a reform candidate.

She's a social and fiscal conservative.

You aren't giving Palin the credit she deserves in terms of her accomplishments. Of course, it's not unusual for some people in our society to berate the accomplishments of women.

Anonymous said...

Mary--

My comment was meant to question why the first association McCain (or his speechwriter) had with women's suffrage was Palin being a "devoted wife and a mother."

Women were denied the vote for centuries because their capabilities and proper societal roles were seen as limited to the domestic sphere. The suffragists worked to convince society that women could participate in civic as well as domestic life, were thinking entities in their own rights, and could be judged by metrics other than how devoted they were to their husbands and how fertile they were.