I am clearly between a rock and a hard place. I like John McCain but I find Sarah Palin totally out of the question. I cannot imagine her taking the Oath of Office, not as VP and certainly not as Pres. Could you imagine her serving as Pres. and representing our country? The thought scares the heck out of me. It would embarrass me. She the figure of our country. She is the best we have. How sad.

President Palin!!!!!! Think about it. PICTURE IT IN YOU MIND:

There she is taking the Oath of Office.

Now she is delivering the State of the Union.

Now she is sending out Executive Orders.

Now she is talking to foreign dignitaries.

Now she is having to deal with the federal budget.

Now she is committing our troops to foreign wars.

HER??!! Think about it!!!!!!

No party loyalty is worth handing over the VP or Pres to someone like her. Loyalists need to wake up and realize our nation depends on facing reality and being responsible. I for one will not vote for her. No way!

And only to continue your point, McCain had to say NO to choosing her to be his VP. Yes, she is appealing to the base, yes she might bring independent women to his side, and yes she is great on the stump. But when he was contemplating the idea, he had to realize what the risk was, if she were to really become a president of USA. And he had to say No, if he were to put the country first.

A True Conservative:

There she is taking the Oath of Office.

Now she is delivering the State of the Union.

Now she is sending out Executive Orders.

Now she is talking to foreign dignitaries.

Now she is having to deal with the federal budget.

Now she is committing our troops to foreign wars.

HER??!! Think about it!!!!!!

I'm not seeing the problem? Is it because its a woman, or has she done something that's so much different that the other politicians?

Honestly, are we to assume that Barack would have done any better?

And for that matter, why hasn't he been given a real interview yet?

You mean like the one he just sat for with Bill O'Reilly?

I think this is the first "true conservative" I've seen who claims to like McCain but has been thrown in doubt by Palin. Every other conservative I've seen was unsure about McCain but Palin removes the doubts. Interesting.

It has zero to do with her being female and everything to do with the fact that she not competent to do any of the above things. The fact that she is a female mattered only to the GOP when they fast-tracked her and a few women who will decide to ignore everything Palin stands for and vote for her anyway because she has two X chromosomes.

For a second, Repubs should think not about comparing Palin to Obama but think about Palin on her own "merits." McCain allowed her to be chosen for him and that says plenty about his judgment.

There are some other Republican women who are much more qualified. Kay Bailey Hutchison comes to mind, for example. Seems like she was never even considered. I think good looking and evangelical were serious requirements as well. They were only looking at getting votes, not at running the country if they should win.

shortcut:

I'm not seeing the problem? Is it because its a woman, or has she done something that's so much different that the other politicians?

Her attitudes about fiscal responsibility seem to be informed by her experience as governor of Alaska, where money miraculously flows into the treasury from oil revenues and federal largesse, where low taxes and high government spending are entirely compatible. You can debate the appropriate level of taxation, but she seems to think that the country would work best without any taxes, without having a good idea of where to cut spending or how else to raise revenue.

Her attitudes about science, from environmental challenges to basic biology to basic math about oil production and consumption, are indifferent at best. By choosing someone with such disregard for the best facts available as the president-in-waiting, John McCain has shown a reckless disregard for, well, all future decisions that might be made in the Oval Office during his term.

Her lack of a record of even talking extensively about foreign policy makes her an almost completely unknown variable when it comes to war and peace and America's place in the world. Obama and Biden and McCain have been involved in foreign policy debates for years, and we know where they stand. Palin might be okay or she might be a disaster; she might have a well-developed sense of the world or she might be the product of her handlers. We just don't know.

She's for shooting puppies from airplanes. Okay, I guess her policies to support hunting over wolf conservation isn't exactly a threat to our nation's future. But it's one that I don't believe most Americans, myself included, would agree with.

It's not because she's a woman, and it's not because her political resume is even shorter than Obama's. It's because at the important level of how she would address the issues, she's somewhere between "unknown" and "bad."

A friend of mine (a Democrat) said that the far more qualified Republican women probably wouldn't have been willing to go along with McCain's policies so they picked someone who would be a willing instrument... I dunno - I think it makes sense, because surely there are women in the Republican party who are far more capable and knowlegeable than Mrs Palin. I mean, I actually cringe when I hear some of the things she says. And I feel for the thinking Republicans who(like "true conservative"), while wanting to vote for the party, will be appalled at having someone like that in such a powerful position. Is it too late to 'undo' a VP choice? :S

Elizabeth Dole, Condoleeza Rice

I don't like Rice, but she has dealt with the real world in the past three decades.

Dole is an executive in every sense of the word.

bearcat98:

She's for shooting puppies from airplanes.

I was actually taking your argument seriously till I read that.

You obviously don't know as much as you think you do if you think this.

shortcut:

bearcat98:

She's for shooting puppies from airplanes.

I was actually taking your argument seriously till I read that.

You obviously don't know as much as you think you do if you think this.

Okay, strictly speaking adult wolves aren't puppies, Governor Palin's hunt only shot the adults from a helicopter and hunted the puppies down on foot. It's unlikely they could hit a puppy from an airplane. But you don't seriously doubt that they would have if they could have, do you?

Like I said, not a threat to the republic, just a choice to favor hunting and a more interventionist approach to wildlife management over wolf conservation and natural ecology in an area where there is a sustainable wolf population. But not a choice I would make. And certainly the ugliest (literally) aspect of Palin's brief political career.

From a March 21, 2007 Alaska Department of Fish & Game press release:

Commissioner Lloyd has directed Division staff to test additional efforts to increase the numbers of wolves taken in the last six weeks of this winter’s program. ADF&G will immediately institute the following management actions:

1. Permit more pilots. The Department will grant permits to additional wolf control volunteers by contacting people who have applied, but haven’t yet been permitted, and solicit qualified pilots and shooters to help in areas where they are needed most.
2. State incentive program. To motivate permittees to redouble their efforts and to help offset the high cost of aviation fuel, ADF&G will offer cash payments to those who return biological specimens to the department. Permittees will be paid $150 when they bring in the left forelegs of wolves taken from any of several designated control areas. “We can learn more about the wolf population age structure from these specimens,” Director Robus said, “and that information will be useful in the years to come as we modify our program to fit changing circumstances.” He explained that these cash payments are additional incentives to aerial control permittees, and are not bounties. “This program is a directed management action applied in a limited fashion in specific areas, available to properly-permitted operators, and yielding useful scientific information. In contrast, the bounties of past years were broad-scale efforts to extirpate animals across large portions of their ranges.”
3. Help permittees find wolves. As conditions allow, the Department will charter flights for its biologists to spot wolves within wolf control areas. Agency spotters will then share that information with permitted volunteers, a technique proven effective in the past.
4. Consider direct state control activity. Finally, and only after these other techniques have been in place for at least two weeks, ADF&G will assess their success and consider using Department staff in helicopters to track and kill wolves in limited areas where conditions warrant. “Governor Palin has asked the Department to reserve state employees and private helicopters for use as a last resort,” Commissioner Lloyd said. “But, with less than a month to go, if we find low wolf take persists in a specific area, we may deploy this last resort.” Lloyd emphasized this method would be used only in areas where it has a reasonable likelihood of success and is not logistically prohibitive.

I don't know about you, but I read this press release from her own government as saying she's in favor of shooting puppies from airplanes.

bearcat98:

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Like I said, not a threat to the republic, just a choice to favor hunting and a more interventionist approach to wildlife management over wolf conservation and natural ecology in an area where there is a sustainable wolf population. But not a choice I would make. And certainly the ugliest (literally) aspect of Palin's brief political career.

Ugliest aspect of a political career? Wildlife management sometimes includes killing. At least she had the guts to do some of it herself.

I won't lecture you on the cons of an overpopulation of wolves, you can look it up yourself.

And her "brief" political career is leaps and bounds over that black guys useless senate career.