OT: McCain Running Mate: Ringer or Not? - Page 17

I listened to all of Palin's RNC speech last night, even more excited about her as VP now than before. Sure, the media had to keep repeating that the speech was written FOR HER (aren't all speeches written by speech writers?) but it seemed clear to me that a lot of "her", who she IS, was in that speech, so I"m thinking she had a lot of input as to the content, which would also say a lot about her character. A lot of good points were made. I can't vote in some narcissitic  who has more time to write about themself than to write good bills for our country.

I do not believe a vote for McCain/Palin is a vote for 8 more years of the same BS we've been enduring. Most republicans are just as sick of most of it as anyone else, including me, but "Change" for changes sake doesn't get it for me either. the most depressing thing I note in recent elections, especially as compared to elections in the prior millenium, is that candidates promise whatever the people want to hear during their campaigns, (as ever) but no longer present any feasible PLAN for how they intend to accomplish those ends... NOTHING! In the old days, the public demanded to know HOW they intended to change whatever. We voted on the PLAN more than the personality and the PROMISES. We used to be given some solid meat to review and consider BEFORE we headed to the polls. Nowadays candidates employ hoards of "advisors" to primp their images, and pathetically few to draft serious programs intended for if/when they are elected in advance of the fact. Its a shame all we have to go on is rhetoric.

Canada has looked good to me for a long time. I tried to move there in '99. Too bad they don't want anymore typical middle-class Americans, drawn by free health care and an attractive lifestyle. Small wonder.

SS

As I see it, the big problem with Palin is that she comes with a very frightening and deadly package - McCain and the Republican party. Free country, vote for whoever you want, but better ask yourself the question that is quickly becoming a national cliche - can we really stand 4 more years of the same - a declining economy, foreclosures, losing more Americans to a trumped-up war in a country we have no business being in in the first place, continuing loss of stature in the world, some of the worst healthy care programs anywhere, the real threat of SSA running out of money leaving millions of retirees without any income, insurance companies deciding who lives and who dies based only on profits and recommendations by convicted felons,  record profits by the oil companies achieved with the blessing and encouragement of the government, more of our jobs going to Asia, more imported poisoned food,  more government corruption, yadda, yadda?  Isn't 8 years of Bush enough to make you all at least consider that we just might need a change for the better? McCain isn't going to be that change, everyone knows that. 4 years ago we re-elected Dubya, a white god fearing man with family values. See where that got us? Way to go, America.

If you think that McCain is the best man for the job, then vote them back in and hunker down getting ready for more of the same old. I just hope the decision to vote for McCain/Palin is based on something more substantial than a person's race or religion. We Americans do tend to be a bunch of closet racists you know.

Yes, it'll be the same.  Exactly the same.  McCain supported Bush 95% of the time.   How is that not the same?

And Palin.  What a disaster.  Way to bring class to the White House.  

I support hunting, but not from helicopters - totally unsporting and disgusting.

As mayor, she tried to ban books from the library.  Disgusting.

She can take Trick and Track and Trig and Trug and the whole lot of them back to Alaska.

Do NOT ban books. Do NOT run down helpless animals in a helicopter and shoot them dead; not a shred of sportsmanship in that.   Totally classless and clueless.

And, as has been said elsewhere, "If Sarah Palin wants us to respect the privacy of HER family life, she and her right-wing conservative cronies should stop interfering with the personal and family lives of other Americans."  They want to choose which books we can read, they want to take away women's rights, they oppose full civil rights for gay Americans, and on and on.   Suddenly when it's their family, oh, this is all private.  Hypocritical bs-ers, the lot of them.  I'm ashamed of the Republican Party.  They lost my vote.

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1837918,00.html

Nothing will change with these Bozos in office:Obama or McCain. Palin is simply window dressing.  She will not make policy. McCains Handlers will.

More War, More Illegals, More defecit spending, More Corruption, More economic hardship.

Canada, anyone?

I do not believe a vote for McCain is a vote for mostly more of same. I think once in office he will make some serious changes. I also don't believe Bush, much as I don't like him these days, is responsible for everything that we don't like that has happened in the last 8 years.

Can't wait to see Obama vs. O'Reilly tonight!

SS

You guys can,t take Ugly to seriously this from a guy whose all around scapegoat is "the jews did it" I stubbed my toe on the door  "the jews did it" I,ve got a leg cramp "the jews did it" I missed the shot on that Elk "the jews did it" I,ve missed placed my tin foil hat "the jews did it" I,m constipated "the jews did it".... you know the routine.

 I,m sure he has a hand signed copy of Mein Kampf under his pillow.

The truth is the goverment is what we allow it to be and the more people stand up and take notice and work to better it the quicker the problems will get solved.

I vote McCain& Palin.

Bob...I just knew you'd have something insightful & poignant to share with us.  Heres a little Mid East IQ test for you, Bobbie,  to exercise your noggin.

Question: Which country alone in the Middle East has nuclear weapons?

Answer: Israel.

Q: Which country in the Middle East refuses to sign the nuclear Non-proliferation treaty and bars international inspections?

A: Israel.

Q: Which country in the Middle East seized the sovereign territory of other nations by military force and continues to occupy it in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions?

A: Israel.

Q: Which country in the Middle East routinely violates the international borders of another sovereign state with warplanes and artillery and naval gunfire?

A: Israel.

Q: What American ally in the Middle East has for years sent assassins into other countries to kill its political enemies (a practice sometimes called exporting terrorism)?

A: Israel.

Q: In which country in the Middle East have high-ranking military officers admitted publicly that unarmed prisoners of war were executed?

A: Israel.

Q: What country in the Middle East refuses to prosecute its soldiers who have acknowledged executing prisoners of war?

A: Israel.

Q: What country in the Middle East created 762,000 refugees and refuses to allow them to return to
their homes, farms and businesses?

A: Israel.

Q: What country in the Middle East refuses to pay compensation to people whose land, bank accounts and businesses it confiscated?

A: Israel.

Q: In what country in the Middle East was a high-ranking United Nations diplomat Assassinated?

A: Israel.

Q: In what country in the Middle East did the man who ordered the assassination of a high-ranking U.N. diplomat become prime minister?

A: Israel.

Q: What country in the Middle East blew up an American diplomatic facility in Egypt and attacked a U.S. ship in international waters, killing 33 and wounding 177 American sailors?

A: Israel.

Q: What country in the Middle East employed a spy, Jonathan Pollard, to steal classified documents and then gave some of them to the Soviet Union?

A: Israel.

Q: What country at first denied any official connection to Pollard, then voted to make him a citizen and has continuously demanded that the American president grant Pollard a full pardon?

A: Israel.

Q: What country on Planet Earth has the second most powerful lobby in the United States, according to a recent Fortune magazine survey of Washington insiders?

A: Israel.

Q: Which country in the Middle East is in defiance of 69 United Nations Security Council resolutions and has been protected from 29 more by U.S. vetoes?

A: Israel.

Q: What country is the United States bombing for years because “U.N. Security Council resolutions must be obeyed?”

A: Iraq.
(By Charley Reese of the Sentinel Staff, The Orlando Sentinel, Feb 8 1998)

If there is justice in this world, Israel would have been held to the same standards as every other nation and US administration would have bombed Tel Aviv a long time ago. But what do you know…

And the 14 Characteristics of Fascism-Apply to us?

http://www.bushflash.com/14.html

I watched Palin's entire speech and let me try and be as objective as possible.

On the positive side, she came across as a spunky, sassy person and her speech was very well delivered. She was clearly a hit with the audience that she was addressing. I think that she more than met expectations.

On the negative side her speech had very little substance. She had nothing to say about what needed to be done to turn things around in the country whether in terms of economy or foreign policy. The parts relating to her personal life and family represented what she is and sounded genuine. The parts which related to the non-personal aspects were not her and though she delivered them well it came across as canned.

I agree with those who say that if McCain wins we would essentially see another four years of Bush policies. Simply put, anyone who doubts this needs to ask what McCain has said that he would differently than Bush has done. There is very little that he has acknowledged that he will do differently. I don't know if others noticed but no one mentions Bush's name - it is almost as if his name is an expletive which would need to be bleeped out!

But at a basic level, the issue is if something happened to McCain - who is 72 years old - is she qualified to move into the job. IMO, the answer is "no" and that is why I don't feel able to vote for her. But there is no question that the base who was ambivalent about McCain is in a state of rapture over her.

I fully expect that the McCain campaign will keep her under wraps and only allow her to appear before friendly audiences because they know perfectly well that she is not ready to respond to the bigger issues facing this country and could commit a gaffe. We will not see her respond to questions in any kind of challenging environment until the VP debate.

Of course Bush is responsible. He served 2 terms as the elected President of the US, he was the Commander and Chief. That means he was in charge of the whole ball of wax and is soley responsible for the current state of the union. Don't let him off the hook so easily. He surely didn't have any  problems getting his small brain into gear and finding loopholes for his buds in the oil business that allowed them to enjoy record profits at the expense of us underlinings.  He took it upon himself to figure out a way to get into a war with Iraq to try to accomplish what his father could not even if it meant telling a little white lie to the trusting American public. He sent and continues to send over young people to be killed and maimed without even adequate training or body armor. What does it say to you when you hear that parents were buying body armor for their sons and daughters because the feds didn't provide it?  What about Walter Reed and the horrendous conditions those soldiers endured there? Soldiers being electrocuted while taking showers? Do you think the Bush family brushes their teeth with Chinese toothpaste or eats food imported from Asia?

Please, it's Bush fault all the way; the buck starts and stop with him. He was the President and was supposed to know what was going on 24/7 ergo that reponsibility fell directly on his shoulders, his staff were his support, not the decision makers. Didn't he represent himself as  "I am the decision maker"? George's ne're do well son George W has made a mockery of this country. Sure let's put another Republican into office, let's give McCain a bite at the apple even though his record clearly indicates he has voted with Dubya over 95%  of the time. Now there's a reason to think he will be differnt. Hiding away Bush and not mentioning his name at the RNC doesn't make him go away softy into the dark night.  It's not a Harry Potter novel - and Bush is not he whose name we can't speak. He was McCain's pal and mentor over 8 years; it's a little too late to deny that relationship, don't you think? It might have been more prudent to disagree with him then rather than now.