Guy Molinari For Veep!

Same executive experience! Both oversaw ~500k district! One presided over diverse district that had to actually consider terrorism, the other, well, was a PTA mom!

Oh wait, Guy Molanari has Congressional experience. Too qualified. Nevermind. I guess we’re stuck with Palin.

I only take this much pleasure out of such criticism because the McCain campaign has made such a hullabaloo about “experience.” They opened the door, I intend on bursting through it.

Sarah Palin Pt. II

So apparently Ms. Palin was a fan of Obama’s energy plan when he released it in early August. Naturally, this portion of the Governor’s website was taken down immediately after her selection for VEEP. Thankfully, the all-knowing Google has a snapshot of the website before it was taken down, in its cache:

Governor Sarah Palin today responded to the energy plan put forward by the presumptive Democratic nominee for President, Illinois Senator Barack Obama.

“I am pleased to see Senator Obama acknowledge the huge potential Alaska’s natural gas reserves represent in terms of clean energy and sound jobs,” Governor Palin said. “The steps taken by the Alaska State Legislature this past week demonstrate that we are ready, willing and able to supply the energy our nation needs.”

In a speech given in Lansing, Michigan, Senator Obama called for the completion of the Alaska natural gas pipeline, stating, “Over the next five years, we should also lease more of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska for oil and gas production. And we should also tap more of our substantial natural gas reserves and work with the Canadian government to finally build the Alaska natural gas pipeline, delivering clean natural gas and creating good jobs in the process.”

Sarah Palin

Mike Scott, one of the contributors at Volokh Conspiracy has some words about Sarah and her fitness for the VEEP slot:

Why It’s Bad. It’s a bad choice because John McCain is 71 years old, and his vice president will have a non-trivial chance of becoming president, and absolutely nothing suggests that Sarah Palin would be credible as President of the United States. I do NOT think this is just a matter of adding up the number of years spent doing this or doing that. Sarah Palin has been in public life, basically, for two years. to my knowledge, she has never articulated (because she was never called upon to articulate) any views whatsoever on:

military strategy in the Persian Gulf
the proper response to Iranian nuclear weapons
the Russian invasion of Georgia
the United Nations
US immigration policy
the Federal Reserve Bank
the effectiveness of international aid programs
Israeli-Palestinian relations
AIDS policy
federal support for basic research
European Union integration
the US Constitution
the optimal means of protecting US borders from terrorists
Guantanamo, and the proper scope of interrogation techniques
Deficit financing and Keynesian economics
the Supreme Court

McCain supporters first notified by Morse Code

Bloomington, IN-  John Daschund was sitting in his kitchen on Friday morning when he heard his telegraph start going off.

“I was like this had to be it, McCain had to be announcing his Vice Presidential choice!” the excited Daschund said.  John McCain notified loyal supporters of his choice  of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential nominee by morse code. 

One unnamed McCain official said “We tried to convince the Senator to do a mass text message or email, but he just wasn’t having it.  He just kept saying, morse code reaches more people than any other form of communication.”  After trying to plead with the Senator about uses of the internet the officials finally said he was the boss and let him have his way.

In a related story, McCain’s message reached a record number of ships on the Eastern seaboard with his use of morse code.  The unnamed official said, “The outreach received by McCain is still yet to be known, but we are cautiously optimistic that it reached a couple of hundred people, which the Senator felt was incredible.”

Dems say Palin is ‘risky’

Dems say Palin is ‘risky,’ could be a disaster

Posted: 12:15 PM ET

From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

Clyburn said the choice of Palin is risky.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

(CNN) – A leading House Democrat said Thursday John McCain’s choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is a “risky” move that could ultimately prove disastrous to the Republican prospects in November.

Meanwhile, a top Senate Democrat said the pick is a “Hail Mary pass” and a “roll of the dice,” in what is the initial reactions from McCain’s rival party.

Speaking on a South Carolina radio station, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn likened the choice of Palin to Walter Mondale’s choice of Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and George H.W. Bush’s pick of Dan Quayle in 1988. Both picks — relatively unknown political figures at the time — generated initial excitement but were ultimately deemed poor choices by many political observers.

“I think (her selection) would be something similar to Dan Quayle — Dan Quayle proved to be sort of an embarrassment as a campaigner, being thrust on a national stage like that could be very tough,” Clyburn said. “Now Mondale tried to shake things up by going with Geraldine Ferraro, she proved to be a disaster as a running mate. And as a campaigner, she was absolutely awful.”

Two Things:

1 ) McCain’s veep choice “doesn’t know if people choose to be gay.”

2) McCain turned 72 today (something the campaign has probably downplayed)- what happens if the septuagenarian President falls ill and we are forced to give the office of the Presidency to Palin. Palin, who was Governor of Alaska for two years after being a small-town mayor, would be taking the helm of the largest and most powerful government on earth. Now, I don’t really buy into the whole experience argument, but since McCain has been so keen on bringing it up, I guess it’s fair game. Obama has at least, well, worked for the National Government.

Summarizing: Palin is an idiot; If McCain is elected we have to hope he stays healthy.

McCain throws a curveball with choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as VP.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

McCain names Sarah Palin as surprise VP choice

Posted: 10:40 AM ET

From CNN’s Dana Bash and John King 

(CNN) – Sen. John McCain has chosen Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice-presidential candidate on the Republican ticket for the White House in November, a senior McCain campaign official has told CNN.

Palin, 44, is a first-term governor who unseated incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary in 2006 and went on to defeat former Gov. Tony Knowles, a Democrat, in the general election.

An advocate of drilling for oil in her state’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, she is little known outside of Alaska.

———————–

 

This is a radical move, and it takes away the experience argument from McCain against Obama.

CNN Says Palin

CNN is “confirming” it, but I am still waiting on other networks to back them up to believe it. So, a woman!…. I’ve never heard of! I think I’ll have to do a rewrite/revisiting of the McCain/Hillary supporters. Debra, this changes nothing.

My Bet is Pawlenty

Trying to go two for two on veep bets placed on the eve of the announcement:

Tim Pawlenty has cancelled his media appearances for the weekend, suggesting that he may be McCain’s VP pick, to be announced either tonight or tomorrow. It’s possible that McCain has asked this of all his potential vice presidential candidates and that we’ve only heard about Pawlenty at this point.