Who is Sarah Palin?

Hey check this out.

Dear MoveOn member,

Yesterday was John McCain's 72nd birthday. If elected, he'd be the oldest president ever inaugurated. And after months of slamming Barack Obama for "inexperience," here's who John McCain has chosen to be one heartbeat away from the presidency: a right-wing religious conservative with no foreign policy experience, who until recently was mayor of a town of 9,000 people.

Huh?

Who is Sarah Palin? Here's some basic background:

• She was elected Alaska's governor a little over a year and a half ago. Her previous office was mayor of Wasilla, a small town outside Anchorage. She has no foreign policy experience.¹
  
• Palin is strongly anti-choice, opposing abortion even in the case of rape or incest.²
  
• She supported right-wing extremist Pat Buchanan for president in 2000. ³
  
• Palin thinks creationism should be taught in public schools.⁴
  
• She's doesn't think humans are the cause of climate change.⁵
  
• She's solidly in line with John McCain's "Big Oil first" energy policy. She's pushed hard for more oil drilling and says renewables won't be ready for years. She also sued the Bush administration for listing polar bears as an endangered species—she was worried it would interfere with more oil drilling in Alaska.⁶
• How closely did John McCain vet this choice? He met Sarah Palin once at a meeting. They spoke a second time, last Sunday, when he called her about being vice-president. Then he offered her the position.⁷

This is information the American people need to see. Please take a moment to forward this email to your friends and family.

McCain-Palin Ticket

I'll give McCain one thing; I didn't see this pick coming AT ALL! I only heard of her last night on C-SPAN as they ran down a list of speakers at the RNC. I think he's really going out on a limb.

First thing I mentioned to Michelle when I heard the pick: They want to make Biden look like he's attacking women when they get in a debate.
Second: Does this really woo the unhappy Hillary supporters or women in general?
Third: The ol' "heartbeat away from the presidency" question. If the Reps think Obama is inexperienced, does Palin have the creds to backup a 72-year-old presidential nominee? Major stumbling block here, I think.
Fourth: I guess the evangelicals and conservatives like Palin's stance on issues, but anti-abortion isn't the way to get the women vote.

Forces some tactical adjustments for Obama-Biden in the short term (I bet they didn't see her coming, either), but in the long run VP picks end up being neutral. However, Biden backs up Obama much, much better than Palin does McCain. She seems hollow, token and purely a move in political campaign terms, not at all about how qualified she is to lead the second-in-command position. Too bad for Mitt Romney, but Hillary didn't get the VP nod, either.

Obama-Biden Ticket

The VP gauntlet has been dropped from the Dem side, so what do you all think? I think it is a good and perhaps safe pick. McCain camp has already started to spin on the lack of foreign policy experience and going against the change agent message of Obama, but I think Biden is a good bulldog against Rep attacks. McCain camp is also courting seriously the disaffected Hillary voters, but those (some say up to 25% of her supporters who would now vote for McCain), I would argue, were not really core Dems, mostly independents and maybe some Reps who are Bush-haters.

Anyway, let's chime in, as the Dem convention is now rolling...

Fwd: Continuing on Edwards et al.

From BRM via googlegroups...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Brian Menard" <brian_men...@hotmail.com>
Date: Aug 11 2008, 1:06 pm
Subject: Continuing on Edwards et al.
To: AMoMaI Group

Glad we agree, and that's with bipartisan culpability. (My beef with
Larry Craig is not the orientation of his activity, but the hypocrisy
factor. As for Gingrich, I respect the heck out of his great brain,
diagnostic ability, and strategizing, but he'll never be President
because he can't - or at least couldn't - keep his pants on. To his
credit though, he admitted things and resigned where others have not.)

As for Europe, I would argue that in fact, there IS a big difference
in moral expectations between the USA and Europe, not only with public
figures, but perhaps BECAUSE there is so much more toleration of such
things in many European cultures generally. Religion does figure in,
but not in the sense of right wing control of U.S. politics; I believe
it's more a matter of religion NOT playing so much an active part in
European culture.

As for damning politicians for sleeping around, I think John Edwards
said it best himself when he finally started to admit to a teeny-
weenie little part of what I suspect he will ultimately have to admit
to despite continuing to deny it (as he lied with a straight face just
a few months ago about the fact that any infidelity at all took
place). In his ABC interview, he said essentially that there is a
hubris that comes from a sense of invincibility and all-powerfulness
that seduces one into thinking that he can do anything that he wants
without culpability. THAT is very dangerous in public office,
especially the most powerful office in the world.

BRM

RE: Politics: Edwards Admits Affair to ABC News

Well, he's definitely a huge heel here, but I think we can also all agree that neither party has the upper hand in matters of virtue, morals or family values. :)

MLB

---

From: brian_menard@hotmail.com
To: b.adamson@comcast.net; misterb_46@hotmail.com; yhkpenguin@yahoo.com
CC: yhkpenguin.amomai@blogger.com
Subject: Re: Politics: Edwards Admits Affair to ABC News
Date: Sat, 9 Aug 2008 10:22:54 -0400

And, I would add, also a shame that Edwards took such advantage of his wife's health circumstances for political gain while he was otherwise involved with extracurricular activity. Any agree?

BRM

Re: Politics: Edwards Admits Affair to ABC News

And, I would add, also a shame that Edwards took such advantage of his wife's health circumstances for political gain while he was otherwise involved with extracurricular activity. Any agree?

BRM

----- Original Message -----

From: Young H. Kim

To: Brian Menard ; Brian Adamson ; Michael Busick

Cc: amomai blog

Sent: Friday, August 08, 2008 7:20 PM

Subject: Fw: Politics: Edwards Admits Affair to ABC News

Well, well, the other shoe drops...but no admission of fathering the child. Boy, he's learned a few things from Clinton, I suppose. What a shame that I have to admit that Fox and the Enquirer were right. Ugh! Young --- On Fri, 8/8/08, NYTimes.com <nytdirect@nytimes.com> wrote: ---------------------------------------- The Caucus Edwards Admits Affair to ABC News By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE In an interview, former Senator John Edwards said he had an extramarital affair but did not father a child out of wedlock. http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/abc-news-edwards-admits-to-extramarital-affair/index.html?nl=pol&emc=pol

Fw: Politics: Edwards Admits Affair to ABC News

Well, well, the other shoe drops...but no admission of fathering the child. Boy, he's learned a few things from Clinton, I suppose. What a shame that I have to admit that Fox and the Enquirer were right. Ugh! Young --- On Fri, 8/8/08, NYTimes.com <nytdirect@nytimes.com> wrote: ---------------------------------------- The Caucus Edwards Admits Affair to ABC News By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE In an interview, former Senator John Edwards said he had an extramarital affair but did not father a child out of wedlock. http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/abc-news-edwards-admits-to-extramarital-affair/index.html?nl=pol&emc=pol