Sarah Palin as McCain’s VP pick: time to buy some Obama election futures!

I can say that I was delighted when I heard who John McCain picked to be his Vice President.

What is not to like: she is a governor of a small state (680,000 people) who has held office since 2006; prior to that she was a small town mayor. Not too many people know too much about her, and her selection takes the “experience” argument completely off of the table.

To find out more about this former beauty queen, check out the Huffington Post’s feature.

This is Al Jazeera’s take on things:

You can also see today’s speech (first video gives highlights; the second one gives the speech in its entirety)

Of course, I think of her as basically a dunce who managed to become popular in a small, wide open state.

Yes, she thinks that creation science should be taught in science classrooms.

Just when I thought it was safe to go to Alaska I find this news via Evolution Research – General Evolution News:

The volatile issue of teaching creation science in public schools popped up in the Alaska governor’s race this week when Republican Sarah Palin said she thinks creationism should be taught alongside evolution in the state’s public classrooms.

Palin was answering a question from the moderator near the conclusion of Wednesday night’s televised debate on KAKM Channel 7 when she said, ‘Teach both. You know, don’t be afraid of information. Healthy debate is so important, and it’s so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both.’

“Teach both”???? Based on what? Newsflash: there isn’t one university science department (in a non-sectarian school) that “teaches both”.

She isn’t exactly a “friend of the environment” either:

She isn’t exactly, uh, free of “taint” either:

My thoughts
The Democrats will probably go after her on her record, or rather, lack of it. Sure, what about BHO? Well, BHO had 8 years in the State Senate.

What the Democrats probably won’t touch, but I will, is the huge IQ gap between the respective tickets. Think about it: Palin had a weak major at a mediocre school; Obama was in the Harvard Law Review and taught at the University of Chicago Law School. Biden too has a law degree.

Obama and Biden have demonstrated the ability to think deeply; McCain and Palin are about as intellectually shallow as they come.

True, I was a bit worried that McCain might select a credible female candidate, such as one of these.

But this one?

I seriously doubt that she’ll make any inroads with disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters.

Here is some Democratic reaction.

Barbara Boxer:

The vice president is a heartbeat away from becoming president, so to choose someone with not one hour’s worth of experience on national issues is a dangerous choice.

If John McCain thought that choosing Sarah Palin would attract Hillary Clinton voters, he is badly mistaken.

The only similarity between her and Hillary Clinton is that they are both women. On the issues, they could not be further apart.

Sen. McCain had so many other options if he wanted to put a woman on his ticket, such as Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison or Sen. Olympia Snowe — they would have been an appropriate choice compared to this dangerous choice.

[...]

Sen. Chuck Schumer says:

“After the great success of the Democratic convention, the choice of Sarah Palin is surely a Hail Mary pass. It is a real roll of the dice and shows how John McCain, Karl Rove et al realize what a strong position the Obama-Biden team and Democrats in general are in in this election. Certainly the choice of Palin puts to rest any argument about inexperience on the Democratic team and while Palin is a fine person, her lack of experience makes the thought of her assuming the presidency troubling. I particularly look forward to the Biden-Palin debate in Missouri.”

Me too.

Here are what some conservatives think of her:

Sarah Palin has emerged as John McCain’s vice-presidential running mate. Palin talked to Newsmax magazine for its upcoming September 2008 issue about Alaskan oil, global warming, and John McCain.)

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is a God-fearing, gun-toting former beauty queen who could just become America’s next vice president.

In Alaska, the right to bear arms means staying on top of the food chain. Palin, a lifelong member of the National Rifle Association, hunts, shoots, and fishes.

Husband Todd holds a commercial fishing license for salmon. In the mid-1990s, when Todd got a job working on Alaska’s North Slope, Palin decided to occupy herself by becoming mayor of Wasilla, the state’s fastest-growing community.

As mayor, she gradually grew frustrated with Alaska’s “good ol’ boy” style of governance — so she decided to do something about it. She ran for governor in 2006 and won, defeating popular former Democratic Gov. Tony Knowles.

Palin’s victory made her Alaska’s first female chief executive, and its youngest.

Now, many insiders believe this 44-year-old mother of five would add a strong conservative presence to the GOP ticket.

Palin tells Newsmax that it’s high time Congress allows the development of Alaska’s wealth of oil and gas. She doubts global warming stems from human activity, and she considers herself both a fiscal and social conservative.

What do you think of McCain’s chances, and what should he and the GOP do to win in November?

I believe John McCain will be our next president. To win, he needs to continue his message that America needs leadership devoted to the public interest — not the special interest. The GOP needs to live the planks of its platform, not just offer lip service. [...]

Hmmm, Palin is an intellectual flyweight with no grasp on reality. You know, she does sound like the perfect “average Republican”!!!!

McCain Campaign Fail Part II: VP is Sarah Palin.

So says CNN.

CNN’s report.

Ok, just who in the heck is Sarah Palin?

She became governor of Alaska in 2006.

From Wikipedia:

Palin was the point guard and captain for the Wasilla High School Warriors, in Wasilla, Alaska, when they won the Alaska small-school basketball championship in 1982; she earned the nickname “Sarah Barracuda” because of her intense play.[6] She played the championship game despite a stress fracture in her ankle, hitting a critical free throw in the last seconds.[6] Palin, who was also the head of the school Fellowship of Christian Athletes, would lead the team in prayer before games.[6]

In 1984, Palin was second-place in the Miss Alaska beauty pageant after winning the Miss Wasilla contest earlier that year, winning a scholarship to help pay her way through college.[6] In the Wasilla pageant, she played the flute and also won Miss Congeniality.

Details of Palin’s personal life have contributed to her political image. She hunts, eats moose burgers, ice fishes, rides snowmobiles, and owns a float plane.[7][8] Palin holds a lifetime membership with the National Rifle Association. She admits that she used marijuana when it was legal in Alaska, but says that she did not like it.[9]

Palin holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Idaho where she also minored in politics. She briefly worked as a sports reporter for local Anchorage television stations while also working as a commercial fisherman with her husband, Todd, her high school sweetheart.[6] One summer when she was working on Todd’s fishing boat, the boat collided with a tender while she was holding onto the railing; Palin broke several fingers.[6] Outside the fishing season, Todd works for BP at an oil field on the North Slope[10] and is a champion snowmobiler, winning the 2000-mile “Iron Dog” race four times.[6] The two eloped shortly after Palin graduated college; when they learned they needed witnesses for the civil ceremony, they recruited two residents from the old-age home down the street.[6] Todd is a Native Yup’ik Eskimo.[6] The Palin family lives in Wasilla, about 40 miles (64 km) north of Anchorage.[11]

Beauty queen, huh?

Frankly, I can’t see how the conservatives will be happy with this.

And I just know that disappointed Hillary Clinton supporters will rally around someone who made such a choice; Palin will probably remind them of the woman that their ex-husbands dumped them for.

For some reason, I am reminded of this previous Republican pick (for SCOTUS)

McCain Campaign Fail

A Kossack found this at the McCain campaign’s official store:

FAIL

PS: Look again if you don’t get the joke. If you still don’t get it, you are probably a McCain supporter anyway.

Workout notes: 3100 yards; 500 warm up, 500 drill/swim, 5 x 100 (SFS, 75 swim) on the 2, 5 x 100 fist on the 2, 5 x 100 (25 catch up, 75 free) on the 2, 5 x (25 fly, 75 free) on the 2. The SFS sets were 1:54-1:56, the others were 1:41-1:45. Then 100 easy.

Great Speech by Obama

Of course I’ll put up the speech on video when it comes out.

Update:

But tonight, well, this white truck driver from Tennessee summed up what I am feeling:

I am usually the very antithesis of a skinny black guy from Illinois. I’m a 6’1″, 220 pound white truck driver from Tennessee, would rather be in the woods or a swamp than in the swankiest restaurant in New York City, and have been, as some may have noticed, somewhat skeptical of Senator Obama.

I have listened, by radio, to Senator Clinton come fully in support of Obama, and President Clinton do likewise. I’ve heard the man I respect most in American politics, Al Gore, voice full-throated support for him. And I’ve listed to Obama himself.

I’m convinced. Tonight I’m a skinny black guy from Illinois.

Yes, BHO went after McCain. But you know what? He went after McCain for being wrong. He didn’t go after McCain for being lacking.

That is where I differ from some. Yes, I honor Senator McCain’s service and bravery.

In fact, I’ll confess. Basically, I like John McCain. I am proud to share an alma mater with him.

But the fact is that one needs to be able to digest large amounts of complicated information in order to be an effective President in this day and age, and frankly, McCain doesn’t have that. Obama does.

I’d be backing Obama even if his positions were identical to McCain’s (which they are not; not even close).

Oh, what about what Obama said? The whole text is here.

I’ll quote part of it…

[...]With profound gratitude and great humility, I accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States.
.
Let me express my thanks to the historic slate of candidates who accompanied me on this journey, and especially the one who traveled the farthest – a champion for working Americans and an inspiration to my daughters and to yours — Hillary Rodham Clinton. To President Clinton, who last night made the case for change as only he can make it; to Ted Kennedy, who embodies the spirit of service; and to the next Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, I thank you. I am grateful to finish this journey with one of the finest statesmen of our time, a man at ease with everyone from world leaders to the conductors on the Amtrak train he still takes home every night.

To the love of my life, our next First Lady, Michelle Obama, and to Sasha and Malia – I love you so much, and I’m so proud of all of you. [...]

Ok, he starts to talk about his opponent.

Now let there be no doubt. The Republican nominee, John McCain, has worn the uniform of our country with bravery and distinction, and for that we owe him our gratitude and respect. And next week, we’ll also hear about those occasions when he’s broken with his party as evidence that he can deliver the change that we need.

But the record’s clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of the time. Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than ninety percent of the time? I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to take a ten percent chance on change.

That is a Clintonesque line if I have ever heard one.

The truth is, on issue after issue that would make a difference in your lives – on health care and education and the economy – Senator McCain has been anything but independent. He said that our economy has made “great progress” under this President. He said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. And when one of his chief advisors – the man who wrote his economic plan – was talking about the anxiety Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a “mental recession,” and that we’ve become, and I quote, “a nation of whiners.”

The “nation of whiners” quote came from Phil Gramm. Yes, your traditional economic blue-blood country club Republican would agree with that.

But Obama has something to say about that; he gets down and dirty with some good old fashioned populism:

A nation of whiners? Tell that to the proud auto workers at a Michigan plant who, after they found out it was closing, kept showing up every day and working as hard as ever, because they knew there were people who counted on the brakes that they made. Tell that to the military families who shoulder their burdens silently as they watch their loved ones leave for their third or fourth or fifth tour of duty. These are not whiners. They work hard and give back and keep going without complaint. These are the Americans that I know. [...]

It’s not because John McCain doesn’t care. It’s because John McCain doesn’t get it.

[...]

You see, we Democrats have a very different measure of what constitutes progress in this country.

We measure progress by how many people can find a job that pays the mortgage; whether you can put a little extra money away at the end of each month so you can someday watch your child receive her college diploma. We measure progress in the 23 million new jobs that were created when Bill Clinton was President – when the average American family saw its income go up $7,500 instead of down $2,000 like it has under George Bush.

We measure the strength of our economy not by the number of billionaires we have or the profits of the Fortune 500, but by whether someone with a good idea can take a risk and start a new business, or whether the waitress who lives on tips can take a day off to look after a sick kid without losing her job – an economy that honors the dignity of work. [...]

That’s the promise of America – the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation; the fundamental belief that I am my brother’s keeper; I am my sister’s keeper.

Ok, Obama gets it. So, what would he actually do?

That’s the promise we need to keep. That’s the change we need right now. So let me spell out exactly what that change would mean if I am President. [...]

I will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow.

I will cut taxes – cut taxes – for 95% of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class.

This might surprise people. But there is a handy calculator that actually shows you how much you’d save by the Obama tax plan (or how much extra the wealthiest among us would pay):

It is at ObamaTaxCut.com and uses figures from the non-partisan Tax Policy Center.

Now Obama gets to energy, and points out that offshore drilling is, at best, a stopgap measure. Note that he would support limited offshore drilling on existing leases if put as part of a comprehensive energy plan). He talks about helping to build hybrid cars in the USA and he says that nuclear power has a place in the energy mix (a good thing, from my point of view)

And for the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as President: in ten years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East.

Washington’s been talking about our oil addiction for the last thirty years, and John McCain has been there for twenty-six of them. In that time, he’s said no to higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars, no to investments in renewable energy, no to renewable fuels. And today, we import triple the amount of oil as the day that Senator McCain took office.

Now is the time to end this addiction, and to understand that drilling is a stop-gap measure, not a long-term solution. Not even close.

As President, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power. I’ll help our auto companies re-tool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America. I’ll make it easier for the American people to afford these new cars. And I’ll invest 150 billion dollars over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy – wind power and solar power and the next generation of biofuels; an investment that will lead to new industries and five million new jobs that pay well and can’t ever be outsourced.

America, now is not the time for small plans.

He talks about his education plan and his “money for college after doing community service” plan.

Now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world-class education, because it will take nothing less to compete in the global economy. Michelle and I are only here tonight because we were given a chance at an education. And I will not settle for an America where some kids don’t have that chance. I’ll invest in early childhood education. I’ll recruit an army of new teachers, and pay them higher salaries and give them more support. And in exchange, I’ll ask for higher standards and more accountability. And we will keep our promise to every young American – if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford a college education. [...]

Yes, he talks about cost.

Now, many of these plans will cost money, which is why I’ve laid out how I’ll pay for every dime – by closing corporate loopholes and tax havens that don’t help America grow. But I will also go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less – because we cannot meet twenty-first century challenges with a twentieth century bureaucracy.

Now, he talks about, gasp, PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. All too often we Democrats concede this to the Republicans. We shouldn’t.

And Democrats, we must also admit that fulfilling America’s promise will require more than just money. It will require a renewed sense of responsibility from each of us to recover what John F. Kennedy called our “intellectual and moral strength.” Yes, government must lead on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and businesses more efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But we must also admit that programs alone can’t replace parents; that government can’t turn off the television and make a child do her homework; that fathers must take more responsibility for providing the love and guidance their children need.

Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility – that’s the essence of America’s promise.

And just as we keep our keep our promise to the next generation here at home, so must we keep America’s promise abroad. If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next Commander-in-Chief, that’s a debate I’m ready to have. [...]

But here is my favorite part….
National Security.

For while Senator McCain was turning his sights to Iraq just days after 9/11, I stood up and opposed this war, knowing that it would distract us from the real threats we face. When John McCain said we could just “muddle through” in Afghanistan, I argued for more resources and more troops to finish the fight against the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11, and made clear that we must take out Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights. John McCain likes to say that he’ll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell – but he won’t even go to the cave where he lives.

And today, as my call for a time frame to remove our troops from Iraq has been echoed by the Iraqi government and even the Bush Administration, even after we learned that Iraq has a $79 billion surplus while we’re wallowing in deficits, John McCain stands alone in his stubborn refusal to end a misguided war.

That’s not the judgment we need. That won’t keep America safe. We need a President who can face the threats of the future, not keep grasping at the ideas of the past.

He talks about needing to be smart as well as tough…

You don’t defeat a terrorist network that operates in eighty countries by occupying Iraq. You don’t protect Israel and deter Iran just by talking tough in Washington. You can’t truly stand up for Georgia when you’ve strained our oldest alliances. If John McCain wants to follow George Bush with more tough talk and bad strategy, that is his choice – but it is not the change we need.

We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don’t tell me that Democrats won’t defend this country. Don’t tell me that Democrats won’t keep us safe. The Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of Americans — Democrats and Republicans – have built, and we are here to restore that legacy.

But he isn’t through yet:

And in the weeks ahead, I look forward to debating them with John McCain.

But what I will not do is suggest that the Senator takes his positions for political purposes. Because one of the things that we have to change in our politics is the idea that people cannot disagree without challenging each other’s character and patriotism.

The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America – they have served the United States of America.

So I’ve got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first.

He talks about challenges and the need to work together, even with those who don’t see eye to eye with us:

America, our work will not be easy. The challenges we face require tough choices, and Democrats as well as Republicans will need to cast off the worn-out ideas and politics of the past. For part of what has been lost these past eight years can’t just be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits. What has also been lost is our sense of common purpose – our sense of higher purpose. And that’s what we have to restore.

We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country. The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang-violence in Cleveland, but don’t tell me we can’t uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals. I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination. Passions fly on immigration, but I don’t know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers. This too is part of America’s promise – the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort.

I know there are those who dismiss such beliefs as happy talk. They claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer and more honest in our public life is just a Trojan Horse for higher taxes and the abandonment of traditional values. And that’s to be expected. Because if you don’t have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters. If you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.

Now for a great line…

You make a big election about small things. [...]

Bravo, Senator Obama!

Convention Speeches: Bill Richardson and Al Gore

Al Gore:

Bill Richardson:

Political Humor: Redstate Update weighs in.

Gore is speaking at the moment; he seems so much more relaxed now than when he was running for President. He is knocking it out of the park.