what kind of experience?

[Rythos]

I guess I'm just not sure why McCain would pick her despite the fact that she's under investigation in an Ethics related probe? I would think with the generally negative opinion people have of the Bush way of handling things I would look for the most squeeky clean canidate I could find for VP.

 

I understand politically why he made the choice, but I just think that it has the apperance (perhaps not the reality) of someone who did not recieve a large amount of consideration and examination before hand

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/us/politics/02vetting.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

 

You would think that someone that McCain was counting on to help him reach a large base of voters would have been examined fairly closely. In the interest of full disclosure I have voted for McCain in the past, but I will most likely not do so this time around.

[BadenP]

Well here is the latest comment on Palin that appeared in a well known talk show.

 

"With the selection of Sarah Palin as the Republican VP candidate McCain has all but guaranteed his losing the race to be President."

 

There you go all you red neck conservatives chew on that, lol. Oh by the way this comment was made by a prominent McCain supporter, can you guess who? Let's all say it together now, President Obama.

[BrentAllen]

I'm guessing it wasn't Pat Buchanan.

 

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=74137

Johnny's got a new girl

 

Posted: September 02, 2008

5:55 pm Eastern

Patrick J. Buchanan

 

The risk John McCain took last Friday is comparable to the 72-year-old ex-fighter pilot knocking back two shots and flying his F-16 under the Golden Gate Bridge.

 

McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his co-pilot was the biggest gamble in presidential history. As of now, it is paying off, big-time.

 

The sensational selection in Dayton, Ohio, stepped all over the big story from Denver Barack Obama's powerful address to 85,000 cheering folks in Mile High Stadium, and 35 million nationally, a speech that vaulted him from a 2-point deficit early in the week to an 8-point margin. Barack had never before reached 49 percent against McCain.

 

As the Democrats were being rudely stepped on, however, Palin ignited an explosion of enthusiasm among conservatives, evangelicals, traditional Catholics, gun owners and right to lifers not seen in decades.

 

By passing over his friends Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge, and picking Palin, McCain has given himself a fighting chance of winning the White House that, before Friday morning, seemed to be slipping away. Indeed, the bristling reaction on the left testifies to Democratic fears that the choice of Palin could indeed be a game-changer in 2008.

 

Liberals howl that Palin has no experience, no qualifications to be president of the United States. But the lady has more executive experience than McCain, Joe Biden and Obama put together.

 

None of them has ever started or run a business as Palin did. None of them has run a giant state like Alaska, which is larger than California and Texas put together. And though Alaska is not populous, Gov. Palin has as many constituents as Nancy Pelosi or Biden.

 

She has no foreign policy experience, we are told. And though Alaska's neighbors are Canada and Russia, the point is valid. But from the day she takes office, Palin will get daily briefings and sit on the National Security Council with the president and secretaries of state, treasury and defense.

 

She will be up to speed in her first year.

 

And her experience as governor of Alaska, dealing with the oil industry and pipeline agreements with Canada, certainly compares favorably with that of Barack Obama, a community organizer who dealt in the mommy issues of food stamps and rent subsidies.

 

Where Obama has poodled along with the Daley Machine, Palin routed the Republican establishment, challenging and ousting a sitting GOP governor before defeating a former Democratic governor to become the first female and youngest governor in state history.

 

For his boldness in choosing Palin, McCain deserves enormous credit. He has made an extraordinary gesture to conservatives and the party base, offering his old antagonists a partner's share in his presidency. And his decision is likely to be rewarded with a massive and enthusiastic turnout for the McCain-Palin ticket. Rarely has this writer encountered such an outburst of enthusiasm on the right.

 

In choosing Palin, McCain may also have changed the course of history as much as Ike did with his choice of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan did with his choice of George H.W. Bush. For should this ticket win, Palin will eclipse every other Republican as heir apparent to the presidency and will have her own power base among lifers, evangelicals, gun folks and conservatives wholly independent of President McCain.

 

A traditional conservative on social issues, Palin has become, overnight, the most priceless political asset the movement has. Look for the neocons to move with all deliberate speed to take her into their camp by pressing upon her advisers and staff, and steering her into the AEI-Weekly Standard-War Party orbit.

 

Indeed, if McCain defeats Barack, 2012 could see women on both national tickets, and given McCain's age and the possibility he intends to serve a single term, women at the top of both Sarah vs. Hillary.

 

The arrival of Palin on the national scene, with her youth, charisma and vitality, probably also portends a changing of the guard in Washington.

 

With Republicans having zero chance of capturing either House, and but a slim chance of avoiding losses in both, a Vice President Palin, with her reputation as a rebel and reformer, would surely inspire similar revolts in the Republican caucuses.

 

As Thomas Jefferson said, from time to time, a little rebellion in the political world is as necessary as storms in the physical.

 

The Palin nomination could backfire, but it is hard to see how. She has passed her first test, her introduction to the nation, with wit and grace. And the Obama-Biden ticket, having already alienated millions of women with the disrespecting of Hillary, is unlikely to start attacking another woman whose sole offense is that she had just been given the chance to break the glass ceiling at the national level.

 

Her nomination, which will bring the Republican right home, also frees up McCain to appeal to moderates and liberals, which has long been his stock in trade.

 

With his selection of Sarah Palin, John McCain has not only shaken up this election, he may have helped shape the future of the United States and much for the better.

 

 

[kraut-60]

Experience? I would only be retracing the steps of many others on the trail that is become the subject known as Sarah Palin if I were to offer why I feel she is the right person for the position she aspires to...I simply feel she shares a common vision for the America we can be with the American people she came from...the middle class, blue collar, union member, firearms owner, family centered...God fearing.

 

When we came to be Scouters, were we experienced? Maybe a little, but probably not as much as we needed to be...so we sought training and mentoring, we attended the training we needed for the positions we found ourselves serving in...we persevered because we believe in why we're here and what we're doing...Sarah will do just fine so long as she has the fire in her eye of patiotism and remembers she serves the people who elect her.

 

The pundits and pontificators can say what they want...but I do believe Sarah has 'em running a wee bit scared...GOOD!

[Lisabob]

kraut, your point about training and mentoring is a good one. On the other hand, we don't generally see people go from knowing practically nothing about scouting or the outdoors, to being Scoutmaster of a big troop with an active outdoor program and some knotty problems to work out, overnight.

 

If I have things right, what I believe I'm hearing from Palin supporters is that experience and professional background are far less important than character and mindset. Is that about right? I'm not criticizing and certainly am not taking shots at Palin's character or mindset. (Like practically everybody else, I can't say I know enough about her to make those judgments at this point in time.) I'm just trying to sum up what I'm hearing.

 

 

[packsaddle]

Lisa, I would tend to agree with your assessment. For me, I have many interests in many issues. However, because I am so involved with science and science education, a single issue, while perhaps not enough to persuade my support - nevertheless may be capable of losing my support. In this case Republican support of teaching creationism in science classes is a disqualifier. Otherwise I might be open to other avenues of persuasion.

[gwd-scouter]

Her executive experience is being used to show she is qualified. Don't remember who, but a republican supporter was saying on the news last night that she has more executive experience than Obama and Biden put together. Of course, the fella didn't bother to mention that she also has more executive experience than McCain.

 

Interesting how during the republican primaries some of the candidates were touting their executive experience (governors, mayors) making them more qualified to be Pres than senate experience. Then when McCain became the nominee we didn't hear about it until Palin got on board.

 

Fred Thompson was giving a speech last night and one of the loudest applause moments was when he said that Palin can field dress a moose. Now, THAT's experience.

[Mr. Boyce]

Lisabob: I remember the '92 election, feeling that Bill Clinton was underqualified for the job. Arkansas' a pretty small state, after all. So's Alaska.

 

In the end, I feel we're picking an administration. We all pretty much knew the crowd Bush hung around with, and this made his selection palatable to some. Bush, too, didn't have much real experience, since the powers of the Texas governor are small, modest in scale.

 

So the question is this: what "crowd" of people will Obama take in with him? what "crowd" of people will McCain bring in, if elected?

 

I'm in Illinois, and I follow politics, and while I admire Obama, I can't point to anything practical that he's done here, although I keep looking for evidence of substantive accomplishment. On the other side of the coin, I'm not at all sure what "crowd" McCain can rely on, since he's been "independent" and "bi-partisan" for so long. . . and being from Arizona, it's anyone's guess.

[oldsm]

Experience?

As a candidate for VICE-President, Sarah Palin has more executive experience than Obama does running for the top position.

 

"Change you can believe in": Mr. Establishment Biden?

[TheScout]

I still want to know what a community organizer is.

[NJCubScouter]

TheScout:

 

Here you go:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_organizer

 

Now that you know, maybe you want to pass the information along to the Fox News Channel, over the weekend I heard several of their "commentators" asking the same question or making fun of Obama for having once been a "community organizer." But I'm sure that isn't where you got the idea from, to keep asking.

[OldGreyEagle]

NJ, you, I think, were the only one to respond to my repeated questions about Biden being a plagerist. And you said because he didnt atribute a quote. Was that it? He forgets to say who said a sentence or a paragraph and he was so disgraced he had to drop out of the race? I dont remember much about the situation, but was it that simple? Why was it deemed such a charactor flaw at the time? it doesnt sound like it was such a big deal, I mean it wasn't Muskie crying on camera or anything like that

[NJCubScouter]

OGE, there is information about the subject here:

 

http://tinyurl.com/5hbpfl

 

(Edited: The first link didn't work, try it this way.)

 

As I recall, Biden's campaign was not doing very well with fund-raising, and this incident was probably the last straw. It may have just been a graceful way of getting out of a primary campaign that he had concluded he could not win anyway. (Which is sort of ironic, because he would have been a better candidate than the eventual nominee, Michael Dukakis.)

 

The point is, he had given the same speech a number of times, quoting the British politician for the statement he was making. He forgot one time, and that is what created a controversy. But, as I said, I think he really got out because he wasn't getting the large amounts of contributions that are needed to win.(This message has been edited by njcubscouter)

[TheScout]

From the wikipedia article cited on community organizing:

 

"Community organizing is a process by which people are brought together to act in common self-interest. While organizing describes any activity involving people interacting with one another in a formal manner, much community organizing is in the pursuit of a common agenda. Many groups seek populist goals and the ideal of participatory democracy. Community organizers create social movements by building a base of concerned people, mobilizing these community members to act, and developing leadership from and relationships among the people involved."

 

I still don't really know what that means. If I was a community organizer, what would I do? Do I have an office and a telephone? Who pays me? What do I do all day?

 

I realy don't get it.

[NJCubScouter]

The Scout, you quote the first paragraph of the article and say you don't get it. Did you read the last 23 paragraphs of the article? (By my count.) Maybe then you'll get it. If not, I guess you'll have to ask the question somewhere else, because it's unlikely anyone here can help you.