Since she’s going to be helping McCain cut taxes to the bone, I’d sure like to know how she’s going to pay for programs that assist families with special needs kids.

She got a huge boost from a national stage and a speech written by the best the RNC had to offer. 

I’ll wait to pass judgement until I hear her un-rehearsed remarks on a political show, press conference or something.  That is when I think she will start to alienate people with her down-the-line conservative nature.

The Dems were riding high after their convention, now it is the Reps turn.  Long way to go until Election Day.

Oh, and she claims to be against special interest groups, right?

Except she is a member of the NRA, an advocate for domestic energy and she stated that she will be a friend and advocate of special needs families when she gets to the White House.

Those are all special interest groups, I’m pretty sure.

I think as the mayor of the Meth Capitol of Alaska, she should have worked with community organizers to fix that problem instead of trying to fire the public librarian for refusing to ban books....

Also do you know how big the “community” that Barack Obama was in charge of organizing?  Well, it was bigger than Wasilla, AK.  That is for sure.

She did exactly what she was supposed to do-- wore a skirt to make it clear she’s a WOMAN, to sway the Hilary supporters. To get even more Hilary-ites to her side, she talked about family, talked about children, talked about what a good mom she is.  She was a good SPEAKER, to sway the Obama supporters.  She made up for McCain’s crappy speaking skills, thats for sure.

She’s a MOM, which is supposed to sway all of us mothers that are just as busy as she is.

Bottom line, I choose to look at the issues each candidate represents, now what color their skin is, whether they have a penis or not, or how well they can give a pre-written speech.  I’m voting for ISSUES and I’m voting for the person that I will think will be best to lead our country.

I can’t say I like her one bit, and I’m the mom of a special needs kid!

She’s a good speaker and very personable, I’ll give her that. She reminds me of Tina Fey.

That being said, I’ve read that she slashed funding (or tried to) for programs for kids with special needs. And you’re right, there are no federal programs for kids with special needs (my son has special needs) so she’d have to create one.

More importantly, there were severa; lies in her speech. She did not tell the congress “no thank you” on the bridge to nowhere until they told her Alaska would have to foot the bill. Obama has only written one memoir, and he has sponsored at least two pieces of major legislation. McCain has written two memoirs.

Also she hasn’t been a hockey mom or a PTA member for many years.

For my money? Typical politician. More of the same.

I guess American gets what it deserves when the devalue the work of community organizers in this country who bust their humps trying to bring together public and private organizations for the improvement of their community and city.  Losers like that receive low pay, and generally no benefits and have to work with the community as it is… They can’t demand resignations to show loyalty.  That is the job of petty oligarchs.

I’m surprised that you’re quoting her speech here without actually linking to anything verifying or disputing her facts.

You strike me as someone who does a little more digging than that.

I’d start with her record as “Mayor”.

I can’t help it, I like her shiny shirt and the part about the jet on eBay made me crack up.

I naturally, organically, hippie chickly, and humanly came to the realization myself that her (grand)son might be leveraged as her way of garnering votes for families with special needs children.  That’s a lot of families.  And that affects me directly.  Knowing she has actually done good in other important areas, it gives me hope she could do good in this one.

My vote has yet to be swayed for the 2008 election, though.

She doesn’t really impress me but none of them do to be honest. I do think you need to look at ALL the topics not just one like special needs children. You need to look at everything the person stands for, not just one topic or the other.

Dawg - most definitely.  In fact, I’m even more set in voting Obama now.

Poppy - exactly my thought!  It’s really easy to be for something that benefits you directly.  It seems to me that it’s easy to use that child for her own gain.  And that sickens me.  (But my dislike for her goes beyond that issue.)

I agree with looking at the big picture, the whole picture, and for me, every election is not so much voting FOR someone, but rather voting AGAINST someone.  The lesser of two evils, so to speak…

Politics sucks the big hairy one to begin with...especially for the low guys on the totem pole of life.

I stand corrected. Thank you.

Still can’t say they’ve convinced me of anything except that they’re as good at the double talk as any of them.

I honestly don’t see McCain/Palin as ushering in as much change as I think is necessary. And I really don’t get how they can say that the government shouldn’t make decisions for you, but they want to tell me what I can and cannot do with my body. Do they not get the hypocrasy there?

Caribou Barbie cracks me up ... no really she does. I listened to her Wed. night because I was genuinely interested in hearing what she had to say right up until I heard her first lie. She said she wanted people to be able to make the best choices for their own families and well, I guess that’s okay as long as none of us want to make a choice to terminate a pregnancy. Now don’t get me wrong, they all lie on their way to the White House but I am sick and tired of being treated like I am stupid.

Special needs is an issue near and dear to my heart but I don’t believe having the parents of a special needs child in the White House is going to do any more for the issue than having a woman in the White House would do for a woman’s right to choose. The Federal Gov’t is less important in the realm of special needs than local and state are unless they want to seriously fund the state programs. Here in NH programs have had to make massive cuts this year due to lack of funds.

I think what bothers me the most this election cycle is that it is being treated as a single issue race and the issue they are putting forward is the historical signifigance of the race and not the problems facing our country. Given there might be an opportunity to fill 3 seats on the Federal Bench during the next President’s term it’s more important to me that we place someone with gravitas in the big round room than someone who will make good copy for the history books.

The only thing that impresses me about her is that she’s a woman, but then McCain did that to try to sway voters, so altogether I find it insulting. She’s a Republican so “Blah-blah-blah...” it’s all lip service.

Republicans are about the old standard, “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer”, although they fool those in the middle (most of the rest of us) into paying towards both.
The current Republican administration has made HUGE cuts across the board of programs for the disabled, so anything that can be improved will barely be restoring it to where it was.

And I do wish people would quit Photoshopping her head onto racy photos. It’s sexist and immature.

i’m gonna change the subject a bit and asked why she posted a half nekkid thursday picture somewhere…

It was reported by CNN that as Governor, Palin cut the budget for Special Needs families by 62%, but that figure turned out to be wrong.  Her administration had a key budget item moved to its own separate line item which resulted in the 62% figure cited by CNN.  Turns out she only reduced the budget for Special Needs families by 1%.  But I’m still not sure that makes her an “advocate”.

And I’ll try to find you the link where she claims to be against special interest groups as much as John McCain is against them.  Because she certainly appears to be “Special Interest Sarah” from where I stand.

To quote one of my favortite shows ..."In a free society, you don’t need a reason to make something legal, you need a reason to make something illegal.” (It’s true, everything I need to know I learned from the West Wing. haha)

Dawg I agree with you but at the same time, as a woman, I have to say by and large they are trying to tell me what I can and cannot do with regard to my health care & trying to prevent my access to safe health care in a way I do not believe that they would ever dare do to a man. All of us should have the right to make our own health care decisions period end of it.

Being neither Democrat or Republican I really do listen to what everyone has to say and sometimes even more importantly what they do not say. Most, if not all of them talk about choice but I have watched are choices slowly being taken away. Sure today it’s the small stuff like food (trans fat bans, etc.) but all it takes is a few cracks in the wall to break the dam.

I hate to be all soapboxey but it’s hard not to be after the personal experiences I have had this particular political season. After what Hillary and her camp did to us I have come to believe that campaigns really are nothing more than live theater, it’s all about flash and not substance. I’m still looking for my candidate, I haven’t found them yet.

See how bad the economy is?  She can’t even afford a full skirt and shoes that fit properly.  Poor thing.  *Snerk*

I posted my initial impressions on Palin at my site right after the first announcement, but I gotta say, she knows how to deliver a speech.  I think it’s funny that people make a fuss over someone else writing her speech - as if Obama or Biden actually write their own. 

Being Pro-Life doesn’t bother me - I’m a Lifer, myself.  I’m not so rabid about it that I’m supporting legislation the counteract Roe v. Wade, but if it comes up, I’m not going to shed a tear.  As it stands, I think Christians, as a whole, have missed the boat.  Instead of protesting abortion clinics and picketing, they should have been offering support and counseling to the young girls who have just put themselves through a potentially traumatic experience, loving them instead of reviling them for having an abortion.

As a believer, it’s difficult to sit here and watch those who claim to follow Christ blather on about the sanctity of life while utterly disrespecting those who are alive.

Pro-Creationism bothers me, but not for the same reason it bothers some.  I find the current trend of teaching evolution as if it were established fact disturbing - we lack sufficient fossil record to make that claim.  But equally disturbing is the thought that we must try to establish Creationism as a science. 

Honesty, I think it removes from the wonder of a God who can do anything, inside or outside the realm of our understanding.

As for Sarah Palin… well, even for me, an established conservative, the jury is still out.

community activists by definition cannot be oligarchs.  They must work toward concensus.  It is a branch of urban planning.  The biggest problem that these groups run into is breaking down into so many factions that they accomplish nothing.  This used to drive me crazy when I was working as an urban planner....

So when I see a community organizer that was actual able to accomplish things in their community, I am aware of the political skill (both capital “P” and lowercase “p” versions) were necessary to accomplish that…

Governor Patterson admitting drug use while he was a community organizer Harlem doesn’t make him an oligarch but a flawed human.  But don’t paint Barack Obama with the same brush.  And remember one man’s special interest is another man’s community that has been allowed to fall between the cracks.  It is all a question of perspective.  Obama was working to bring economic development to neighborhoods that were devastated when the American steel industry collapsed.  Does that really sound like a bunch of whiners?

Just for persepctive, I’m a life long Alaskan and I LOVE Sarah, but my vote won’t go to her, that was decided the day my party chose McCain… Dammit all. I have also chosen to change my party affiliation because I don’t think I can say I believe in enough of what either camp believe’s to say I am one or the other.

PS forgive the mispellings and typos, this was all typed as the kids were coming in from school and I was looking over projects and papers while typing. I think I got most of them though!

Finn, she didnt say no thank you on the bridge because Washington told her to pay for it, she said, no thank you, if we want one WE will pay for it… (Alaska is loaded you see, we can pay for several of those bridges, so I don’t see why Murkowski even asked for the money.)

Chicka, why do we assume she is using her child as a pawn rather than being a parent who has been smacked into reality and chosing to do something for special needs kids too. I can only speak for me, but I never got involved with things until those things directly affected me…

Dawg, She really did put the plane on Ebay! There was a big write up in the paper, http://www.ADN.com Check it out! It was the funniest and the best idea she had to fix the Murkowski screwup. You wanna talk about a shity Gov? Go look up that idiot!

There is a reason Sarah has an 83% approval rating in Alaska, she really is a great leader. She has cliped a lot of the big/rediculous spending in Alaska, -to the toon of approx half a billion- and Alaskans are LOVING it! Finally someone who does what is right instead of figuring out ways to make themselves richer rather than make their state profits. Yes she is green in places, but seriously Regan was “just an actor turned Gov” right?  and he did just fine. (some might even say better than fine.) I think now that things are “level” people should really give her a chance. She is the straitest shooter I have ever seen in politics especially in Alaska. Look past the rumors and give her a chance. (even if I am not gonna vote for her, she still deserves and has earned, my respect) And just you wait til you see her in a debate…

For the public record: Dawg’s dad calls *ME* a breath of fresh air, not Ms. Palin. 

For the love of my life: I cannot believe you just took your dad’s term of affection for me and used it to describe Palin. *tsk* Next you’ll be telling everyone she is your “favorite” and “like having a daughter”! 

Re the naked photos: I thought they already leaked?  I must have dreamt it.

Lord have mercy. I am just going to take the cissy way out and just say I can’t stand the bitch. Nuff said. Frankly, she scares the bejeebus out of me. I would have accepted Mike Huckabee as a more suitable choice for VP...why he picked a pitbull who is all noise (to me, anyway) is beyond me.

Then again, as long as Giuliani is not in the race, i’ll be able to deal with whomever wins this thing - at the end of the day, my life won’t change that much...that is, unless the new administration decides to repeal every civil rights doctrine that has been in existence since the early 50’s....then I am escaping to Canada to live with family....

Sissy907, because it’s self-serving.  That’s why.  Perhaps my assumption is misplaced, but I doubt it.  Politics is a game, after all. 

No matter how you slice it, there’s something wrong about her and I just can’t put my finger on it yet. 

(And for the record, yes, I know the picture was photoshopped.  Thus the *snerk*.)

I watched her speech out of curiosity.  Last week at this time I had NO IDEA who she was.  IF there is a SLIGHT chance that she could possibly be vice president or God forbid president, then I wanted to find out who the hell she was about.

I thought she was a mediocre speech deliverer.  She did nothing to inspire or sway me...as a MOM, WOMAN, former Soccer Mom, or mother of a SPECIAL NEEDS CHILD. 

The bottom line is that there’s a possibility that if John McCain is elected as our next president and something happens to him...as our vice president elect...Sarah Palin is what we get.

Doesn’t that SCARE ANYONE????

I found Palin to be sarcastic, snarky and snide.

A lot of women HATE that in other women.

A woman’s right to choose will go away if McSame/Palin are elected.  Back to coat hanger abortions in many states.

And Palin put the plane up on eBay, but she did NOT successfully sell it on eBay.  And it was eventually sold at a loss, not a profit.

I think that picture is kinda hot. I could use some hotness in my politics

Let’s not forget who the Republican presidential candidate is, you know, that elephant in the room… John McCain. He sure seems content with her in the forefront; I wonder why.

I’ve got a few concerns with Ms. Palin & her blatant lies. Anyone who knows how to use Google can find out that Obama did write reforms.
Notice how everybody laughed when she bagged on Obama? Watch if he or Biden try to bag on her (which they won’t)… they’ll be called sexists. Women have fought for years to be equal; I believe equality should be the same for both sexes. In other words, if she can dish it out, she should be able to take it. And speaking of “taking it”, why won’t she speak candidly with reporters?? Perhaps she’s a princess & we just don’t know it yet.

As a mother, if my 17 year old daughter was pregnant, my mother’s instinct would kick in & I’d start reconsidering my priorities, ie: time spent with kids, supervision. She seems to be going in the exact opposite direction. Good judgment?

She may be an advocate for special needs children, but will she even be there for her own special needs child? Talk about multi-tasking! IMO, if she really cares about special needs kids, she’d sacrifice the limelight & take care of hers.

She is against abortions even in cases of rape & incest unless the mother’s life is in jeopardy ~ what a stand-up kinda gal.

Yes, she put the state’s jet on Ebay, but it didn’t sell on Ebay as McCain is claiming. When it did sell the state lost over $500K.

Why did she file an ethics complaint against herself, in regards to the accusation of misuse of power as Gov. of Alaska? Answer: So that it can’t be investigated until after the election.
If her hands are clean, then what is she trying to hide?

She’s definitely a hottie, good diversion from the ISSUES, but why? McCain & his spokesman have said this is about personalities, not issues. Huh? Perhaps they just don’t want to talk about the issues.

I’d bet big money that if she were ugly, she wouldn’t be the VP nominee. What an insult to more qualified Republican women that were overlooked for obvious reasons. And what an insult to the American men to think they’ll vote with their penis & not with their brain.

Nice T&A though.

People amaze me. I don’t know why I’m writing as those who want to attack will attack.

1. Obama was a community organizer, representative, senator. Palin was a councilman, mayor, governor. Each job can be scrutinized. Each candidate has a voting record. Many statistics quoted by your commenters (with regard to both of their voting records) are not true. Perhaps they need to get their facts from actual public records and not liberal or conservative sites.

2. There is no Baby Gate. It was started by liberal-leaning bloggers. The supposed mother of the down syndrome child is 5 months pregnant; she couldn’t have delivered a baby 4 months ago. Once that was obvious they started in on how Palin went back to work just days after the baby’s birth. These people will do anything. They are desperate. Did you see them act like idiots during McCain’s speech? There were no riots at the DNC. I’d be ashamed to be associated with them.

3. It is typical that Palin not grant interviews until she is up to speed on the party line. Had Obama chosen a similar candidate, he/she would be prepping also. Since he chose Biden (also for self-serving reasons) the need was not there (as Biden is one of the most vocal politicians on the block).

4. The Trooper Gate situation is thus: My sister is being harassed by her ex-husband, who once tasered her ten year old son. He has made death threats to my family. He’s got a record of bad judgment and anger issues in his police file. Maybe I call his boss as a SISTER and ask WTF is going on. Maybe I don’t call as a GOVERNOR.  What would you do if someone was threatening your family? When the time comes to decide if I want to keep this guy as the head of the state police, I look at his record and see that he’s not been so great. I’m torn. If I fire the guy, it will look like I did it for personal reasons, but as a new governor, it is typical to hire my own people. What would you do with a poor performing employee?

5. MY PERSONAL FAVORITE!!! People that say that Palin should be staying home to take care of her family (and especially if they use her oldest daughter, months away from being an adult, as an excuse), should be called sexist pigs! Those kids have one WORKING parent and they have one STAY-AT-HOME parent. That’s better than MOST kids who have TWO working parents! Their FATHER is on leave to co-parent while she manages this highly stressful point in her career. I stayed home while my husband was in flight training and no one ever asked him why he took such a difficult job and I stayed home!!!

@Tasses
Not sure who you are referring to, but the only folks I’ve heard that mention that she should stay home to take care of her family are Republicans who are making pre-emptive strikes against the Democrats and the “liberal” media for making these statements.  Which they haven’t.

Politics is so fucked up.

@B.E. Earl- Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization of Women had this to say in a press release:

“It would be best for everyone if Sarah Palin would just stay home and raise her kids...When you have one child with Down syndrome and another with an unwanted pregnancy who won’t even consider the ease and convenience of abortion, you need to be a better mother, not Vice President.”

So no, Republicans aren’t making this criticism up.

@Dawg- I think McCain made a brilliant choice in Palin and it may be what clinches the election for him.

The war in Iraq is “God’s work”! And the Alaska oil pipeline, because God WANTS us to sell our souls to the devil for oil. She may have a special needs child, and I respect all that she wants to do for other parents with other special needs children, but that doesn’t make her any less crazy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4LjsfWbZLA

BlondeBlogger:

That quote you attributed to Kim Gandy ... can you back that up?  I found the quote here, but it is a parody website, not real.

http://carbolicsmoke.com/2008/09/05/feminist-group-says-gov-palin-should-stay-home-and-raise-her-kids/

Kim Gandy’s actual quote is here, and it is not like the fake one.

http://www.now.org/press/08-08/08-29.html

Check your facts.

You’re absolutely right.  My bad.  It had been emailed to me and I had no idea it was from a parody.  I’m very sorry.

I will add, however, that in my own personal experience, I have witnessed this questioning of her not staying home with her children from the left.

Blondie, the woman gave birth to a child with Down Syndrome, and three days later went to work. There’s a question there about the thin line between dedication and questionable judgment on her side. You will find feminists who admire career women but think this sets a terrible example.

And just because you know a leftie who said there was a problem with her husband staying home with the kids doesn’t justify the preemptive strikes from the Right. Democrats didn’t invent the word Feminazi.

PITS- Those “feminists” are the very people that would’ve told us it was none of our business to judge if she’d chosen to end the life of that child through abortion. Where is the freedom to choose when it comes to career/family decisions?  Why is it okay to judge THIS decision? 

And I don’t just know A “leftie.” I’ve seen this discussed countless times on countless blogs, radio, tv. etc. by the left.  I totally disagree that this is a “preemptive attack” by Republicans.

Tasses - I have to tell you, as the wife of a cop and the employee of a police union, Palin was wrong in Troopergate. Troopers are contract employees. To summarily fire someone without a proper IA investigation violates the trooper’s rights and could bring an unfair labor practices complaint against the agency. No matter how much of an asshole the ex is, there is a process that must be adhered to—for the protection of innocent cops, many of whom are accused of criminal acts in the course of doing their jobs.

The head of the state police did right.

I like McCain’s pick for many reasons.  But what surprises me most is the ‘murderous rage’ that the idea of Palin in the white house invokes.

I just don’t understand the outright hatred and proactive vitriol.

I mean, if Michael Moore was on the democratic ticket with Bill Maher as VP, I would dislike it intently but I wouldn’t go into a “murderous rage” or want to kill someone or write such violent things as I’ve read recently on some blogs.

whall:  Speaking of murderous rage - I’ll bet this guy likes Palin: 

“Man Shot Churchgoers Over [Their] Liberal Views”

http://www.usatoday.com/news/topstories/2008-07-29-442570771_x.htm?loc=interstitialskip

@DeppFan how does that link and your weak attempt of association of him to Palin help any kind of dialogue?

Oh, I guess next you’ll say since he was in the military, all military people are crazy and will shoot and kill people at a kids performance.  Better watch out! I was in the military… Ooh, and so was McCain!!

Or that since he used a gun, all guns should be outlawed.

Or that because he was avidly against blacks, gays or anyone different than him, then anyone against gays is going to shoot at our kids any moment now.

Maybe I should put some links here about the two Texans arrested for molotov cocktails and intending to disrupt the RNC via violence?  Oooh, wait, I see a thread here -TEXANS!  Bush was a Texan! This guy who shot people was a Texan! Those two guys in MN were Texans!

Wait a sec - *I’m* a texan, and I was in the military, and I own a gun!  Somebody arrest me before I do any more harm!