Gov. Sarah Palin: A Surprise Breath of Fresh Air

Let's not fear the cries of the lemmings as they boldly march to the sea chanting thier mantra.......fear of oil, fear of the air you breathe....Obama will take us there.....on the positive feeling he brings.

Palin brings a track record of change which word the lemmings all feed upon. They just can't discern spam from ham. We need the oil. You don't jump off a sinking ship until the other boat has arrived to take you off. The Democrats will have us all floating in the North Sea waiting for the empty promises to come ten years later. Palin has the common sense needed to bring the necessary changes at the time they are needed. Independence from foreign oil is needed now. We do still remember how to build a nuclear reactor, don't we.

If you think governor of Alaska counts as significant 'executive experience' I've got a bridge to nowhere you might be interested in purchasing. It's brilliant and so historic to bring in a woman who has shown no interest in the rights of women. Just keep telling yourself what a great pick she is and how it demonstrates McCain's great judgment, the rest of America will hang out here in Realityland.

this is a better analysis than any of the professional pundits i have heard.

i would only add that she has a real track record as a reformer. this adds to the mccain brand.

i was going to vote for obama, but i don't like the fact that he selected such an insider (and proud papa of a lobbyist). and why don't his followers recognize this disconnect?

by the way why does obama get so much media praise for "community organizing" while palin is mocked for being the former mayor of a small town?

I agree welcome Sarah to the republican ticket you are a breath of fresh air.And good job mister McCaine great choice.

Lets look at some realities, too, though, shall we?

I'm an educated woman who has worked in education (secondary and collegiate) for nearly twenty years. I am the first to admit that it takes years to truly "learn" the job - and morphing through various levels of government without spending a great deal of time in any, likely leaves a few gaps that are at best risky. This is a concern for me as a voter.

Secondly and even more importantly, I think, I also know what it's like to be a working mother, especially of an infant. In Ms. Palin's case, her infant is also a special needs child. I've only had two children, and yet I can vividly recall the basic "fog" I felt for the first year, at least, of each of my children's lives. Oh, I was still fully fuctional and working, doing the very best I could do at my job and at home - but I wasn't evenly remotely as effective in those capacities as I had been prior to the birth. I've yet to know a working mother who felt their own ability to be as sharp, as focused, and as effective wasn't diminished in some way by the demands of caring for a newborn, not to mention a special needs newborn. Ms. Palin has FOUR other children to care for in addition to this very natural, commendable, and worthy drain on her energies.

Once the baby is a little older, things ease up a little (i.e. in terms of lost sleep, etc) - but the pressures only change, they don't go away, until the child nears self-sufficiency.

That leaves two possibilities for what's happening with this candidate: We're either placing a good deal of trust and the potential future of our country into the hands of a woman who (through no fault of her own) isn't operating at full capacity in her job area, or else she's selling us a bill of goods as a "working mother" who is actually only embodying the "mother" part through actually giving birth and then allowing family members and nannies etc, to take over the rest of what that responsibility naturally entails. To me, this would be to the deteriment of her own children's experience of HER as their mother. If Ms. Palin does not employ or require live in help, then her husband must be one of the first men I've heard of who works full time OUTSIDE the home and yet also works full time INSIDE the home as a Mr. Mom. And to me, this doesn't blend too well with Ms. Palin's professed conservative, evangelical values.

I, for one, am not thrilled with either prospect as to what's going on here. I think Mr. McCain made a canny choice in choosing a female running mate, but the limitations she represents to me, as a voter, have just ensured that I will not be able to vote for them. Which is truly a shame...

"If it isn't the media's candidate, boy, they get ugly". How right you are. I fear all the little self appointed media Gods will not except her because she is not black enough. I am a bigot you say ? Well this is not The United States of Obama just yet. As long as we can still think without government permission I think the media are the real bigots.

I am reistered as a independent voter. I don't care about color, race, or gender. What I find truly disturbing is the fact that John McCain picked a person cearly just to win this election. I shutter to think that she theoretically could lauch a nuclear weapon.To say, ( that's a candidate I'll take any day) is reckless and irresponsible. Even YOU Danielle Fish would probally be a better choice for vice president than Sara Palin!

This is a true great moment in the history of this great country. An african-American and a woman running for top positions in public services. Obama talks about change typically with contra-dictory statements and went for the establishment (Senator Biden). McCain delivered the biggest change, which even shocked Obama (his interview yesterday in Pennsylvania). To be objective, my dear one has to for the substance and not Bogama.

A breath of fresh air may be but executive experience ?

2 times Mayor of a city in Alaska with 6000 to 9000 people and 20 months
of Governorship in a small State with less than 700.000 no state tax and federally subsadized programs.

Within those 20 months of experience she was also pregnant for 9 months
It is not sexist to remind all of us that motherhood takes your focus off the jobs physically and mentally to some degree.

yet it is great that anyone has chance to make history in this greta countyy

Executive Experience? Almost as much as Bush. Let the spin begin.

I am not into politics but when i saw Sarah Palin's interview with CNBC last night, it changed me. She is one lady with excellent common sense and she deserves to be elected as Vice President of the United States of America. Good choice, Mr Mc.Cain. Hoping for a good reform in Washington when you two starts serving next year.

There are a lot of stunned insiders in the Washington ... and Chicago Machines this fine day. Good riddance. John McCain need not have gone to such great lengths to shock an already aimlessly adrift Obama campaign; he had this election in the bag before Obama's failed overseas trip. Regardless, Governor Sarah Palin will be a tremendous plus to the McCain Administration. In addition to being a progressive Teddy Roosevelt conservative who is obviously quicker than her Joe Biden counterpart, Governor Palin is pro-Second Amendment, pro-life, pro-fair business, the mother of five children, including a Downs syndrome child and a son serving in the U.S. Army, the daughter of educators, and the wife of a real man. She has my vote.

--Veterans For McCain-Palin '08--

My theory -- The selection of Palin was simply a cynical attempt to steer the news cycle away from the Dem Convention (which was going far too well for comfort). The Reps have no intention of keeping her as their VP. During the convention (which they will probably postpone conveniently due to hurricane, which allows Palin to generate another week of buzz), she will regretfully decline the nomination after due consideration because the demands of campaigning would be too great a conflict with the needs of her infant with Down Syndrome. Plus she will probably mention her commitment to continuing rooting out corruption in the State of Alaska. This will leave her smelling like a rose, and the Reps able to trot her out again if need be. It will also, of course, cause another blip in the news .cycle and give an unwarranted bump to whatever safe and lackluster pick they decide to go with

I find it just amazing how little people actually think about politics. We finally have a conservative ticket that will tend to get congress headed in the right direction
(fiscally and ethically I mean) and they ignore that and continue to make silly judgments. Look, we need to get congress honest and to spend less money.
The other choice is a damned communist !!! You can call him a socialist if that makes you feel any better. Oh yes, you can also call him a progressive if that helps any. Did any notice that Gov Kaine? of VA was quoted on the news the other day as saying Americans should be limited to one house? That's Obama. An election is always a choice of the best you can do for yourself .... not an answer to everything. Do you want free markets or more socialism/communism?

Let's see here: (1) "community organizer" vs mayor of small town, (2) 140 days in the senate vs 2 year governer of Alaska. What exactly is a "community organizer": think Al Sharpton, rev. Wright, and Jesse Jackson without the some of the vitriol. Governer: responsible for billions in budget and daily decision making. Why do we demean her real experience relative to a male "community organizer"? Has anybody taken a good look at Obama's district and how ineffective he has been? This stinks of sexism. I will take my chances with the better experienced of the two: Palin. Some pundits have claimed McCain was irresponsible for naming her while extolling the so called experience of the "community organizer". Now that is the height of irresponsibility. The Dems had their chance to pick a qualified candidate, they didn't.

good post

it is great choice . as for people who say she has no experience, i say look at her real accomplishment and executive experience . she leaves obama in the dust on those fronts

"I've got a bridge to nowhere you might be interested in purchasing. "
check facts before you write such nonsense . she is the one who said no thanks to bridge to nowhere.

5. Mags -

Would you ever ask the same questions if she were a man? Does/did
Obama or John or Joe ever get asked whether they could successfully juggle the demands of being a full-time working dad and an effective leader? I doubt it.

For all the talk from Hillary and Co. about the anniversary of women's right to vote and equal opprtunity and breaking the glass ceiling, it's a shame that some still apply a double standard.

From my understanding, it is her husband who's the primary caregiver. And i don't think there's anything wrong with that. It doesn't diminish her role as a working mother; if anything, it tells us just how far we've come.

I'M !!!!! ONE OR MANY OF THOSE 18M. VOTERS THAT VOTED & SUPPORTED
HILLARY CLINTON....

WASN'T PLANING TO VOTE FOR BARACK HUSSEIN ANYWAYS...

MCCAIN NEW VP. CHOICE SARAH PALIN, WILL BE A TREMENDOUS PLUS
TO THE MCCAIN ADMINISTRATION...& TO OUR COUNTRY...SHE WILL BE AN OUTSTANDING VP.....THEY BOTH HAVE MY VOTE COME NOV. 4TH !!!!!!!!!

*****PROUD TO BE AMERICAN******PROUD TO SEE AMERICA IN THE RIGHT TRACK ********

Sarah Palin is a proven can do Governor. Here is a list of former Governors you may have heard about. During their time many (if not all) of these people were considered too inexperienced for the job at hand.

Experience is like IQ, it all depends on how you use it.

Following governors from Virginia, other presidents were governors first from a variety of other states:
1. Martin Van Buren: Governor of New York in 1829
2. James Polk: Governor of Tennessee, serving from 1839-1841
3. Andrew Johnson: Governor of Tennessee from 1853-1857 and then appointed by Lincoln to serve as military governor of Tennessee from 1862-1864
4. Rutherford Hayes: Governor of Ohio from 1868-1872 and again from 1876-1877
5. Grover Cleveland: Governor of New York from 1883-1885
6. William McKinley: Governor of Ohio from 1892-1896
Numerous presidents were governors first in the 20th century. The list begins with

7. Theodore Roosevelt, first Governor of New York from 1899-1901.
8. Woodrow Wilson: Governor of New Jersey from 1911-1913
9. Calvin Coolidge: Governor of Massachusetts from 1919-1921
10. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Governor of New York from 1929-1933
11. Ronald Reagan: Governor of California from 1967-1975
12. Jimmy Carter: Governor of Georgia from 1971-1975, and the first elected governor from the South post Civil War
13. Bill Clinton: Governor of Arkansas for two separate terms, from 1979-1981, and from 1983-1992

Dear Tom Rostas:

Yes, her executive and governmental positions haven't been for decades.

But, she has MUCH more experience than Obama does... MUCH more, and somehow, I suspect you are supporting him.

Double standard? Hmmm...?

Obama talks about change, but he picked as a running mate someone so deeply entrenched in the foul stench that is Washington DC Business as Usual it's not even funny.

McCain's running mate successfully fought against the corruption entrenched in her own party.

Whereas, Obama is a product of the corrupt Chicago political machine that hoisted him up to where he is today. Palin defeated the very kind of corruption that Obama had to embrace to make it to where he is today.

Mags-you are a typical over educated Liberal wind bag. The Dimocrats got drop kicked in the groin yesterday and today they are mad and want to get even. This is going to be an electoral land slide by McCain. Sarah is going to lead him right up Pennsylvania Ave to the whit House and you won't be able to say the election was stolen. And they will appoint judges that you hate. And they will veto pork projects like the Big Dig and others which will drive you crazy. And people are going to fall in love with Gov Palin and she will be there for about he next 4-16 years to stoke your hatred of Conservatives. Most like myself were lukewarm at best on McCain. But with the addition of Mrs Sarah we are happy and ready to send lots of money and volunteer work to send the Alfred E Newman community organizer home.

"The story of how Obama assembled his top advisers — and how he got them to work together as a team — offers a glimpse into his approach as a chief executive who manages an organization of nearly 1,000 employees. Obama has built "an amazingly strong machine," says Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, president of the Chief Executive Leadership Institute at the Yale School of Management. "People expected a more ad hoc, impromptu, entrepreneurial feel to it. It has been more of a well-orchestrated symphony than the jazz combo we expected."

Indeed, in merging the talents of powerful Washington insiders and outside-the-Beltway insurgents, Obama has succeeded at a task that has traditionally eluded Democratic candidates: forging an experienced inner circle who set aside their differences and put the candidate first. "The whole point is that it's not about any of these guys," says longtime GOP strategist Frank Luntz. "They feel blessed. They see it as how lucky they are to be working for this man, at this time, in this election. This is the dream team for the dream candidate. I waited all my life for a Republican Barack Obama. Now he shows up, and he's a Democrat.""

Palin is a hack. All her executive experience comes from being a mayor of a very small town of 6500 people and being a governor for less than 2 years of Alaska population less than half of the city that I am in. She is not qualified to be VP whatsoever and I don't know why people are believing that she has a lot more experience than Obama.

Obama graduated in Harvard with high honors. Been president of the Harvard law review and did organizing work that didn't pay well after college. He was also a constitutional law professor. All this while Palin was a beauty queen and hunting moose since she her duties of major was ceremonial.

She is neither a reformer or maverick. Her town is about 20 million in debt and has raised taxes even though Alaska was good economically. She is ultra right wing, anti gay, pro gun and rumors have it she was part of some revolutionary party that was to succeed from the US. Although it may or not be true she definately has issues with her record.

OH yeah, if your a women McCain/Palin wants to take away your rights to an abortion. She will bring back the good old days where abortion will be illegal and force women to go into underground labs to perform illegal abortions. Illegal abortions are basically hangers that are inserted to kill the uterus. Do you want that to happen to your daughters? Think hard about who your going to vote for. McCain/Palin are an absolute danger to our country and won't change a thing.