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McCain must be senile

(79 posts)
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  1. spatny
    Member

    He's as looney as Judy Barr Topinka was to pick Alan Keyes... I guess he has a thing for ex-beauty queens...

    Dear MoveOn member,
    Yesterday was John McCain's 72nd birthday. If elected, he'd be the oldest president ever inaugurated. And after months of slamming20Barack 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 A merican people need to see. Please take a moment to forward this email to your friends and family.
    We also asked Alaska MoveOn members what the rest of us should know about their governor. The response was striking. Here's a sample:
    She is really just a mayor from a small town outside Anchorage who has been a governor for only 1.5 years, and has ZERO national and international experience. I shudder to think that she could be the person taking that 3AM call on the White House hotline, and the one who could potentially be charged with leading the US in the volatile international scene that exists today. —”Rose M., Fairbanks, AK
    She is VERY, VERY conservative, and far from perfect. She's a hunter and fisherwoman, but votes against the environment again and again. She ran on ethics reform, but is currently under investigation for several charges involving hiring and firing of state officials. She has NO experience beyond Alaska. —”Christine B., Denali Park, AK
    As an Alaskan and a feminist, I am beyond words at this announcement. Palin is not a feminist, and she is not the reformer she claims to be. —”Karen L., Anchorage, AK
    Alaskans, collectively, are just as stunned as the rest of the nati on. She is doing well running our State, but is totally inexperienced on the national level, and very much unequipped to run the nation, if it came to that. She is as far right as one can get, which has already been communicated on the news. In our office of thirty employees (dems, republicans, and nonpartisans), not one person feels she is ready for the V.P. position.—”Sherry C., Anchorage, AK
    She's vehemently anti-choice and doesn't care about protecting our natural resources, even though she has worked as a fisherman. McCain chose her to pick up the Hillary voters, but Palin is no Hillary. —”Marina L., Juneau, AK
    I think she's far too inexperienced to be in this position. I'm all for a woman in the White House, but not one who hasn't done anything to deserve it. There are far many other women who have worked their way up and have much more experience that would have been better choices. This is a patronizing decision on John McCain's part- and insulting to females everywhere that he would assume he'll get our vote by putting "A Woman" in that position.—”Jennifer M., Anchorage, AK
    So Governor Palin is a staunch anti-choice religious conservative. She's a global warming denier who shares John McCain's commitment to Big Oil. And she's dramatically inexperienced.
    In picking Sarah Palin, John McCain has made the religious right very happy. And he's made a very dangerous decision for our country.
    In the next few days, many Americans will be wondering what McCain's vice-presidential choice means. Please pass this information along to your friends and family.
    Thanks for all you do.
    —“Ilyse, Noah, Justin, Karin and the rest of the team
    Sources:
    1. "Sarah Palin," Wikipedia, Accessed August 29, 2008
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin
    2. "McCain Selects Anti-Choice Sarah Palin as Running Mate," NARAL Pro-Choice America, August 29, 2008
    http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17515&id=13661-9720484-iKw_jux&t=1
    3. "Sarah Palin, Buchananite," The Nation, August 29, 2008
    http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17736&id=13661-9720484-iKw_jux&t=2
    4. "'Creation science' enters the race," Anchorage Daily News, October 27, 2006
    http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17737&id=13661-9720484-iKw_jux&t=3
    5. "Palin buys climate denial PR spin—”ignores science," Huffington Post, August 29, 2008
    http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17517&id=13661-9720484-iKw_jux&t=4
    6. "McCain VP Pick Completes Shift to Bush Energy Policy," Sierra Club, August 29, 2008
    http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17518&id=13661-9720484-iKw_jux&t=5
    "Choice of Palin Promises Failed Energy Policies of the Past," League of Conservation Voters, August 29, 2008
    http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17519&id=13661-9720484-iKw_jux&t=6
    "Protecting polar bears gets in way of drilling for oil, says governor," The Times of London, May 23, 2008
    http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17520&id=13661-9720484-iKw_jux&t=7
    7 "McCain met Palin once before yesterday," MSNBC, August 29, 2008
    http://www.moveon.org/r?r=21119&id=13661-9720484-iKw_jux&t=8
    Want to support our work? We're entirely funded by our 3.2 million members—”no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.
    PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. This email was sent to Mimi Williams on August 30, 2008. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

    Posted Saturday Aug 30, 2008 23:34 #

  2. spatny
    Member

    Here's a bit more about her "green" agends...

    I am sad to inform you that the governor of Alaska is pushing the aerial slaughter
    of wolves (and since this email went out, she is now running for VP with McCain).
    Gov. Palin not only wants the wolves of Alaska to be shot from helicopters & planes,
    but she want the POLAR BEAR taken off the Endangered Species List, because
    she wants to drill ANWR (and the polar bears den/hibernate in ANWR)... please
    ask your congressman to pass this legislation... wolves are apex predators & we
    NEED them to stop deer & other grazers from overpopulating... the notion that
    anyone would want to slaughter wolves from the air is beyond my comprehension...
    Gov. Palin denies that polar bears are drowning & starving & that their population
    has declined & she denies that global warming was created by greenhouse gases...
    These are truly barbaric views....

    Posted Sunday Aug 31, 2008 17:54 #

  3. spatny
    Member

    It now appears that "Mature judgement McCain" only met Ms. Palin once, talked with her for less than an hour and gave her the nod. I spend more time reading the labels on the food I buy for my dog. I think he goes for beauty queens, or ex-beauty queens to be precise. Maybe he will come to Cicero for the Houby Day festival to scout out a replacement. I urge everyone to ok through some of the things that are available on her. The only possible reason he could have picked her was the pro-life stance so he could keep getting money from the Conservative base. This is guy is past it. If you want to read something sinister Google McCain Donald Diamond. It ain't illegal but it should be.

    Posted Monday Sep 1, 2008 23:26 #

  4. Catherine
    Member

    I'm not sure whether bringing home the bacon is right or wrong, but I do know Mayor Palin hired a federal lobbyist and got $24 million return on investment.

    If we were getting that kind of return from our consultants and lawyers (and did not spend it on awfulness), I'm sure everyone would agree that is a good thing. Perhaps we have, so why doesn't the administration explain it to us?

    PS, senile: ageism.

    Posted Wednesday Sep 3, 2008 09:54 #

  5. spatny
    Member

    Is Spiro Agnew back? In drag? How interesting that they were able to come up with an attack on the "biased" media at the RNC convention. Spiro took a frozen turkey for a bribe, remember? Maybe we will learn more shortly.....

    Posted Thursday Sep 4, 2008 08:33 #

  6. spatny
    Member

    Best shot of ANY convention: Little Piper Palin holding her brother and slicking down his hair with spit. She is really a pecocious little girl and was so well behaved and so kind to her little brother. The guys that got that shot and used it should get a Pulitzer. A unique moment. I was sorry to discover that Cindy McCain is obviously color-blind, or else the Queen of England's designer was having a trunk sale. I think my plasma is permanently burnt.

    Posted Thursday Sep 4, 2008 09:27 #

  7. spatny
    Member

    FYI - From the XX Factor:

    "Mainstreaming the Mean Girl
    Posted Thursday, September 04, 2008 9:16 AM By Dahlia Lithwick

    Rosa, I couldn't agree more about the nastiness. What we saw last night was the mainstreaming of Ann Coulter, the normalization of the principle that it isn't bile when it's spoken by a pretty woman. Coulter has gloated, "I am emboldened by my looks to say things Republican men wouldn't." And even though the Post reports today that Palin's was a "masculine" speech—”written before the final candidate was selected—”it bore so very many hallmarks of a vintage Coulter/Ingraham performance. Susan Estrich describes the Coulter approach as a play "to the lowest common denominator of derision, labeling the hero a coward, her opponent a traitor ... she is about suspicion and exclusion," and anyone who pushes back is a member of the "liberal media elite" and a sexist.
    Filed under: Palin's convention speech, Sarah Palin
    I'm Depressed Now
    Posted Thursday, September 04, 2008 8:38 AM By Rosa Brooks

    I'm not surprised that Sarah Palin can deliver a good speech. In my opinion, anyone capable of handling five kids and ANY job and not ending up in the loony bin presumptively has at least the raw smarts and managerial skills to run the Oval Office. So take a smart, tough, capable, ambitious woman, put her together for a week with the smartest, toughest, most capable and ambitious Republican political consultants, and it's a pretty good bet you're gonna come out with a woman who delivers a powerful speech.
    But what an unbelievably vicious speech! The nastiness level was just sky-high (or gutter low). And though Palin certainly didn't write the words she spoke, she sure looked like she enjoyed every second of delivering those zingers. That speech wasn't meant to inspire—”it wasn't about our better selves or what we might be able to accomplish, as a nation—”it was all about rage, sarcasm, resentment, mockery. And the crowd just lapped it up.
    Should I be surprised by this? Probably not; it's the meat and potatoes of the conservative culture wars and standard fare at Republican powwows of the past couple of decades. But all the same, I expected better of John McCain, a man I've often liked and admired over the years precisely for his resistance to using that Us-vs.-Them playbook. This year, with Obama's message of inclusion and hope, and McCain at the top of the Republican ticket, I thought we might at last break free of that kind of nastiness—”that politics of smallness, of diminishment and suspicion and resentment.
    Silly me."

    Posted Thursday Sep 4, 2008 11:41 #

  8. MikeT
    Member

    I am uncomfortable adding to a national politics thread in a forum that is supposed to be devoted to local issues -plus the 'senile' tag is unnecessarily harsh (maybe the moderator can delete the senile word and just call it McCain) - but I saw the following incongruity (and you will see that there is a small relation to Riverside):

    Palin was a mayor of a small town about the size of Riverside. Now, our forum here has made everyone a little more aware of the political dynamics, the budget of a town this size, and the difficulty to acquire an adequate amount of money. Realize that Riverside is not a small town with the socio economics of Ford Heights either.

    Anyway I was surprised to see this in today's headline

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080904/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_fact_check

    THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million.

    $27 m i l l i o n? That has to be a typo. But even 2.7 million for our town, a town the size of Wasilla, AK, would be a windfall. If true, it is unbelievable amt of money for such a small town. The tax increase thread is quibbling over $29,000 for our parks. Also, we know painfully how hard even that $29k is to come by. We had the long drawn out TIF histrionics, painful tax referenda, and this tough talkin', lipstick wearin' gal -probably packing, btw - delivers $27 million for her town.

    Posted Thursday Sep 4, 2008 12:20 #

  9. Catherine
    Member

    You need not be surprised, I have already cited this fact. Apparently you did not read the entire thread, as nearly any political topic can be turned to good use.

    $29000 is not a quibble when it is coming out of our pockets, while hundreds of thousands are available from same source for "consultants" whose yield is considerably less than zero.

    A lobbyist who could lasso 27 million for us would be worth their wages (provided s/he did not cost 28 million). After all, we do have national historic landmarks here. I guess the problem with pork is disproportion, but I see no prob if it is fair.

    Posted Thursday Sep 4, 2008 12:35 #

  10. MikeT
    Member

    catherine, 'Quibble' was probably the wrong word. Absolutely agree that is it not a trivial amt. To me right now, $29,000 is like $2.7 million. I meant that we as a town are spending an extraordinary amt of time on an amount of money that is a fraction of what that mayor brought in. But that fractional amount definitely warrants the time.

    I saw your $24 million post, and I did not know that it was the same money as the AP article's $27 million.

    While she was (probably) using the system legally to get her pork, the problem, the incongruity, is that she is running on an anti-lobbyist, anti special interest, anti disproportionate-pork platform.

    Posted Thursday Sep 4, 2008 12:42 #

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