It's lengthy and may cause people to think, so I fear Victoria will delete it.
If abortion is the big issue here, as it seems to be, I think the Republicans need to start asking themselves some hard questions. Number one: just how committed to the "pro-life" position is their presidential nominee, John McCain?
The obvious answer is not very committed at all. By all accounts, Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge were atop his short list of VP choices. They're both pro-choice. What does it say about Senator McCain when he's willing to have a vice president who's pro-choice? It says this: McCain is against abortion only because he's in the Republican party and he can't get elected if he's pro-choice. If it's some sort of strong moral or religious conviction on his part, he would never have considered Lieberman or Ridge for his VP.
The selection of Sarah Palin looked like a cheap stunt to me when it was announced. Now it looks like a panic stricken last second decision cheap stunt. McCain had the Republican nomination locked up five months ago. He's had five months to work on this. And this is what we get?
McCain's staff claims that McCain knew about the pregnancy before the decision was made. This is total BS. McCain's staff knew about it, but the Baby Daddy still describes himself as a F***ing Redneck on his Myspace page? The McCain staff didn't think the words F***ing Redneck might look a little bad? The couldn't persuade the Baby Daddy to take his Myspace Page down before his mother-in-law to be ran for vice president? Sarah didn't point her gun at him and tell him get the F word off of there right now, you F***ing Redneck?
So when, exactly, did Sarah have that little conversation with Senator McCain? Um, ah, excuse me Senator, there's something we need to discuss. Not, I guarantee you, until after her selection had been announced.
The news media has not been able to locate one single man, woman, child, bear, or moose who will state that McCain's staff asked them one single question about Sarah Palin before her selection was announced. A twelve man team from the McCain staff arrived in Alaska to start the "vetting" process and the background investigation. They arrived two days after he'd made the announcement. Better late than never. Maybe their flight was delayed.
Beyond the pregnant high school daughter, Palin has now hired her own attorney for the "Troopergate" investigation, a strong indication there's something amiss there. She was nearly recalled as the mayor of her little town after firing the police chief for political reasons. Her husband has a drunken driving conviction. She spoke in favor the the bridge to nowhere before she dishonestly claimed to have rejected it. She pretends to be a reformer but she hired a Washington lobbyist to bring home the bacon to her own little town.
None of these things, by themselves, would disqualify her as a VP nominee. Taken together, though, they're a perfect portrait of a disastrous last minute decision by a pathetically disorganized and incompetent campaign staff. McCain and his staff just barely knew who Sarah Palin was.
There were far better choices out there. If McCain wanted a female running mate, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Elizabeth Dole, and Susan Collins are sitting right there in the United States Senate with him, with far superior qualifications and long careers in the public spotlight and very likely no embarrassing secrets to be revealed. If he wanted a strong abortion opponent, there was Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Tim Pawlenty.
My hunch at what happened is this: McCain stuck to his guns and said he wanted Lieberman no matter what, with Ridge as his second choice. The campaign staff and the powers that be in the Republican party said no way no how. McCain said no way no how to every possible VP they suggested, like Pawlenty and Romney. Stalemate until the week of the Democratic Convention and Obama's big night in Denver. We've got to have a nominee to announce, fast. McCain shouts at his staff expletive expletive expletive I want another candidate and I want it right now. Poof. Sarah Palin.
His first big decision and he blows it completely. You want this man to be Commander in Chief?
I have little doubt that McCain cares very little one way or the other on the question of abortion. It's obvious to me he really wanted Joe Lieberman on the ticket with him. He needs Joe around to remind him which country is Iran and which is Iraq and who the Sunnis and the Shiites are and who's on which side. Which brings us to the final question. Let's say McCain managed to get elected president in spite of all this. There's a vacancy on the Supreme Court. Will he appoint a justice who will uphold Roe vs Wade, or will he appoint one who will vote to overturn it?
Before you answer, check the record of our recent Republican presidents. Ronald Reagan was the shining star of the conservative movement and the darling of the Christian right wing. Of course he was against abortion. He said so over and over again. He was so against it he appointed not one but two justices to the Supreme Court, Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day O'Connor, who voted to uphold Roe vs Wade. The religious right never caught on that Ronnie was just using them for votes and campaign workers and money. They still worship the man, even after learning the Nancy consulted astrologists and cancelled summit meetings the world leaders based on their rather non-Christian hocus pocus predictions.
If McCain is a strong opponent of abortion, Lieberman and Ridge would not have been his top choices for the VP job. If McCain is a strong abortion opponent, he would have picked a strong abortion opponent from the beginning, instead of settling for an anti-abortion VP at the last possible minute without having much of an idea who she really was. Don't get Ronnie Reaganed again, Christian Right. McCain could not care less about your values. He only wants your votes and your money. If you're taking his choice of Sarah Palin as a positive sign that he's on your side, you'd better take a good hard close look at it. Panic stricken last second cheap stunts are not the same thing as deeply held moral and religious values.
If abortion is the big issue here, as it seems to be, I think the Republicans need to start asking themselves some hard questions. Number one: just how committed to the "pro-life" position is their presidential nominee, John McCain?
The obvious answer is not very committed at all. By all accounts, Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge were atop his short list of VP choices. They're both pro-choice. What does it say about Senator McCain when he's willing to have a vice president who's pro-choice? It says this: McCain is against abortion only because he's in the Republican party and he can't get elected if he's pro-choice. If it's some sort of strong moral or religious conviction on his part, he would never have considered Lieberman or Ridge for his VP.
The selection of Sarah Palin looked like a cheap stunt to me when it was announced. Now it looks like a panic stricken last second decision cheap stunt. McCain had the Republican nomination locked up five months ago. He's had five months to work on this. And this is what we get?
McCain's staff claims that McCain knew about the pregnancy before the decision was made. This is total BS. McCain's staff knew about it, but the Baby Daddy still describes himself as a F***ing Redneck on his Myspace page? The McCain staff didn't think the words F***ing Redneck might look a little bad? The couldn't persuade the Baby Daddy to take his Myspace Page down before his mother-in-law to be ran for vice president? Sarah didn't point her gun at him and tell him get the F word off of there right now, you F***ing Redneck?
So when, exactly, did Sarah have that little conversation with Senator McCain? Um, ah, excuse me Senator, there's something we need to discuss. Not, I guarantee you, until after her selection had been announced.
The news media has not been able to locate one single man, woman, child, bear, or moose who will state that McCain's staff asked them one single question about Sarah Palin before her selection was announced. A twelve man team from the McCain staff arrived in Alaska to start the "vetting" process and the background investigation. They arrived two days after he'd made the announcement. Better late than never. Maybe their flight was delayed.
Beyond the pregnant high school daughter, Palin has now hired her own attorney for the "Troopergate" investigation, a strong indication there's something amiss there. She was nearly recalled as the mayor of her little town after firing the police chief for political reasons. Her husband has a drunken driving conviction. She spoke in favor the the bridge to nowhere before she dishonestly claimed to have rejected it. She pretends to be a reformer but she hired a Washington lobbyist to bring home the bacon to her own little town.
None of these things, by themselves, would disqualify her as a VP nominee. Taken together, though, they're a perfect portrait of a disastrous last minute decision by a pathetically disorganized and incompetent campaign staff. McCain and his staff just barely knew who Sarah Palin was.
There were far better choices out there. If McCain wanted a female running mate, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Elizabeth Dole, and Susan Collins are sitting right there in the United States Senate with him, with far superior qualifications and long careers in the public spotlight and very likely no embarrassing secrets to be revealed. If he wanted a strong abortion opponent, there was Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Tim Pawlenty.
My hunch at what happened is this: McCain stuck to his guns and said he wanted Lieberman no matter what, with Ridge as his second choice. The campaign staff and the powers that be in the Republican party said no way no how. McCain said no way no how to every possible VP they suggested, like Pawlenty and Romney. Stalemate until the week of the Democratic Convention and Obama's big night in Denver. We've got to have a nominee to announce, fast. McCain shouts at his staff expletive expletive expletive I want another candidate and I want it right now. Poof. Sarah Palin.
His first big decision and he blows it completely. You want this man to be Commander in Chief?
I have little doubt that McCain cares very little one way or the other on the question of abortion. It's obvious to me he really wanted Joe Lieberman on the ticket with him. He needs Joe around to remind him which country is Iran and which is Iraq and who the Sunnis and the Shiites are and who's on which side. Which brings us to the final question. Let's say McCain managed to get elected president in spite of all this. There's a vacancy on the Supreme Court. Will he appoint a justice who will uphold Roe vs Wade, or will he appoint one who will vote to overturn it?
Before you answer, check the record of our recent Republican presidents. Ronald Reagan was the shining star of the conservative movement and the darling of the Christian right wing. Of course he was against abortion. He said so over and over again. He was so against it he appointed not one but two justices to the Supreme Court, Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day O'Connor, who voted to uphold Roe vs Wade. The religious right never caught on that Ronnie was just using them for votes and campaign workers and money. They still worship the man, even after learning the Nancy consulted astrologists and cancelled summit meetings the world leaders based on their rather non-Christian hocus pocus predictions.
If McCain is a strong opponent of abortion, Lieberman and Ridge would not have been his top choices for the VP job. If McCain is a strong abortion opponent, he would have picked a strong abortion opponent from the beginning, instead of settling for an anti-abortion VP at the last possible minute without having much of an idea who she really was. Don't get Ronnie Reaganed again, Christian Right. McCain could not care less about your values. He only wants your votes and your money. If you're taking his choice of Sarah Palin as a positive sign that he's on your side, you'd better take a good hard close look at it. Panic stricken last second cheap stunts are not the same thing as deeply held moral and religious values.
