Charlie is not a blogger, but was so moved by McCain's selection of Palin, he wrote down a few words to share with his friends. (Funny thing is my super conservative Republican mother probably shares the majority of Charlie's thoughts).
What follows is an alternative Republican view just so we can remain fair and balanced here on Ground Game.
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So Mccain has selected Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate. I have to admit my ignorance, because before today I had never really heard of her. Unfortunately, I have to agree with the Democrats that this takes the issue of Obama's "readiness" to be Commander in Chief off the table.
Like many Americans, I surfed the web to find out as much as I could about this self proclaimed "hockey mom". I respect her decision to have a disabled child, I just don't want her dictating that to other moms.
Republican pundits are calling her selection "brilliant", an opportunity to bring over the Hillary voters, and a fresh new face to the election. They argue that she has fought corruption (although they didn't mention she might be accused of it) even from within her own party, making her a maverick like John Mccain. The far right hails her lifetime membership in the NRA and her steadfast pro life position in all cases.
I can just see our "hockey mom" staring down Putin, Ahmadinejad, Kim, and Osama. I can just see her determining troop deployments, negotiating with the Saudi Royal Family over oil production and prices, and understanding the deep roots of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Mccain is 72 and wants to win an election and has proven he doesn't care about America's future because he has already lived his life and it won't affect him.
The Republicans have attacked Obama for not being ready, but then they choose this lady.
Obama has been selected to hold public office by more than 22 million people now, this person less than 150,000.
He has an Ivy League education, Columbia and a law degree from Harvard, she has a journalism degree from the University of Idaho.
He served in the state senate of the 5th largest state for 12 years, she served as mayor for six years in a town of about 5,000 people.
He has been in the US Senate representing the 5th largest state for four years, and sits on the Foreign Relations Committee, she has served as Governor of the 47th largest state for less than two years.
He spent years in Chicago, the nation's third largest city with all of the urban problems America faces (some even exagerated in that city), she hails from Wasilla.
The Republicans defended her record saying she has more executive experience than he, and while that's true (I give her the one and a half years as governor not her six years as mayor) I always remember Ross Perot's comment about Bill Clinton, "Just because you ran a corner 7 11 it doesn't qualify you to run Walmart."
Clinton claims they said he wasn't ready, and he proved them wrong, but he wasn't. Two years after he took office the Republicans swept control of Congress for the first time in 40 years, gaining 54 seats in the house, and eight in the Senate. The Speaker of the House lost his reelection bid, the first time that had happened since the Civil War, and the powerful Chairman of the House and Ways Committee was beaten as well. All in all, 34 incumbents were beaten as America revolted against the inexperienced Clinton, and installed Newt Gingrich as the first Republican Speaker since 1954. Republicans held congress until inexperienced Bush took over.
I have felt that this year, more than any other, the selection of Vice President was important. It gives the American public an inside look at Barack Obama's judgement, and on the Republican side, we needed someone to have confidence in, being that Mccain is the oldest person running for a first term.
I happen to like Biden. He has been one of the only democrats I would have willingly voted for. It goes back to the 1988 election when the Democrats were running Dukakis, and Gebhart (who I really hated) and Jesse Jackson that I resigned myself to vote for Bush unless Biden won. Then I thought he did an excellent job on the Clarence Thomas hearings, knowing he was chair of the judiciary committee and against his nomination, but realizing it was going to go through anyway. I was obviously pleased with Obama's selection, and Biden is still one of the few Democrats I like.
On the Republican side, what in the hell was Mccain thinking? How can we have confidence in this person I had never heard of before today? Obama has been running for president for 18 months and we've had a chance to get to know him, like him or not. He particpated in over 10 debates and campaigned all over the country. Biden, like Mccain, has been in the Senate forever. These people we know. We have eight weeks, and one debate to learn about this person who could be a heartbeat of a 72 year old man away from the White House.
If we have learned anything from the last eight years, we have learned that we need someone smart in the White House. We need someone with America's interest at heart, not Texas. I read one quote that this lady said she would accept the vice presidential nomination if she thought it would help Alaska.
Scary.
It makes every attack the Republicans have thrown against Obama as invalid. Yet they stand up and cheer. I've been disheartened by the way they have cheered Bush's idiotic moves for the last eight years, now I'm completely ashamed to be a registered Republican.
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