Sarah Palin, Republican Vice Presidential Candidate

[Kuya]

I've got groundbraking news, it's hypocritical for a democrat to call a republican a hypocrite. Actually, it's more of a sweeping generalization that neither and both deserve.

Oh, they deserve it all right, more so the Republicans. Thankfully, i'm not a hypocrite because i'm not a Democrat.

[Tyche]

It does't matter what you are, you can't vote bitch.

[pohibaba]

If Obama wanted to make a political decision, he had a clear candidate. He hurt his chances at winning the election to chose someone who benefited his cabinet.

If you think the Biden choice wasn't political, you have blinders on. In fact, it was a BETTER political choice than choosing Hillary. He was almost certainly going to get the majority of Clinton voters (and still will), and choosing Biden will get him enough votes to out weigh any Clinton voters who won't vote (very few will actually go across the aisle and vote for McCain).

He didn't pick Biden because he was the very best Democrat to become President if he were to die, I think very few people would make that argument. He picked Biden because it will help cover up Obama's weaknesses: pretty much zero executive experience, pretty much zero foreign policy experience, he's black, and he's young. Plus it really helps him in a couple of battleground states.

[Kuya]

It does't matter what you are, you can't vote bitch.

So much dirty laundry.

[Tyche]

Just for you Kuya, I'll forfeit my vote and submit yours. But you cannot vote for Obama or McCain. It has to be a write in!

[Rhinox]

If you think the Biden choice wasn't political, you have blinders on. In fact, it was a BETTER political choice than choosing Hillary. He was almost certainly going to get the majority of Clinton voters (and still will), and choosing Biden will get him enough votes to out weigh any Clinton voters who won't vote (very few will actually go across the aisle and vote for McCain).

He didn't pick Biden because he was the very best Democrat to become President if he were to die, I think very few people would make that argument. He picked Biden because it will help cover up Obama's weaknesses: pretty much zero executive experience, pretty much zero foreign policy experience, he's black, and he's young. Plus it really helps him in a couple of battleground states.

What would have been a more Political move? Choosing Biden who has the most Foriegn Policy experience of all of them? Or choosing a women in Hilary so he would get the Women vote along with the 18 million other voters?

[pohibaba]

It's almost like you didn't read what I wrote at all: in my opinion choosing Biden was the better political move to make, and was the primary reason behind it.

[Vixy]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8...137/486/580223

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-69834

Conspiracy Theories GO!

[Tyche]

GMILF?

On the topic of stomach size, it's not odd for a woman not to appear to be pregnant. Especially when wearing the proper clothing. My [future]sister in law had a slamming body throughout pregnancy and right after.

[Kuya]

Just for you Kuya, I'll forfeit my vote and submit yours. But you cannot vote for Obama or McCain. It has to be a write in!

All right, find me the most socially liberal person you can find, a somewhat classical liberal (economically conservative) but not completely against using socialist ideas if need be, make it so he doesn't give a shit about the most inane thing the voters think and constantly tells them to go fuck themselves for being retarded, and understands the need for him to stay out of the private lives of people and the economy most of the time, not to mention foreign affairs when not direly necessary. Essentially what i'm asking for is an intelligent human being not retarded by the capricious nature of the voters and lobbyist and immune to the pitfalls of adhering faithfully to a political philosophy.

Oh, and make that vote somehow count as 1 billion votes.

[Tyche]

I'd need your name before I could write you in

[kareface]

If you think the Biden choice wasn't political, you have blinders on. In fact, it was a BETTER political choice than choosing Hillary. He was almost certainly going to get the majority of Clinton voters (and still will), and choosing Biden will get him enough votes to out weigh any Clinton voters who won't vote (very few will actually go across the aisle and vote for McCain).

He didn't pick Biden because he was the very best Democrat to become President if he were to die, I think very few people would make that argument. He picked Biden because it will help cover up Obama's weaknesses: pretty much zero executive experience, pretty much zero foreign policy experience, he's black, and he's young. Plus it really helps him in a couple of battleground states.

Choosing a running mate that has foreign policy experience that you lack isn't political, its common sense... Saying that he chose him because he was old and white is like saying I picked up a dollar because it was green and had a face on it. Just about anyone he would of picked would of been an older white male, so no matter who he picked you could of pulled out that criticism. You're grasping at straws.

[pohibaba]

Choosing a running mate that has foreign policy experience that you lack isn't political, its common sense... Saying that he chose him because he was old and white is like saying I picked up a dollar because it was green and had a face on it. Just about anyone he would of picked would of been an older white male, so no matter who he picked you could of pulled out that criticism. You're grasping at straws.

Why are you getting defensive? I'm not saying that Obama made a horrible choice; I'm not saying that Obama chose Biden completely because of political reasons. I'm just saying that Obama did the exact same thing that pretty much everyone would and has done in his situation: choose the candidate that would best help him win the election. Why must you continue to portray Obama as some sort of messiah that can't make a mistake?

[kareface]

Why are you getting defensive? I'm not saying that Obama made a horrible choice; I'm not saying that Obama chose Biden completely because of political reasons. I'm just saying that Obama did the exact same thing that pretty much everyone would and has done in his situation: choose the candidate that would best help him win the election. Why must you continue to portray Obama as some sort of messiah that can't make a mistake?

Before replying to anything else I've said, please point out where I "portray Obama as some sort of messiah that can't make a mistake".

I'm pointing out the fact that your argument is specious. I'm not some obsessive Obama lover, it just angers me when people make unfounded justification.

[Zosi]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8...137/486/580223

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-69834

Conspiracy Theories GO!

Suspicious, but hard to prove. Would a DNA test even suffice? Either way, it's bad news for the McCain camp. No matter how baseless the rumors may or may not be, they'll get repeated over and over again by a certain percentage of the people who hear them, just like the chain emails you get about Obama being a radical gay Muslim terrorist.

Some things to consider... all of this supposedly happened before she was even on the radar for vice president. It's crazy to think that a vice presidential candidate would risk something like this, but less crazy to think that a first-term governor in a politically insignificant state would. I'm not sure that the McCain campaign's vetting process was deep enough to find something like this out, but I'd imagine they're investigating now to know how they'll have to handle it later, should it turn out to be true. Definitely something to keep an eye on.

[pohibaba]

Before replying to anything else I've said, please point out where I "portray Obama as some sort of messiah that can't make a mistake".

I was obviously exaggerating to make the point that your fondness for Obama might be blinding you to the ulterior motives he may have had.

Let's go back to your previous argument, though:

Choosing a running mate that has foreign policy experience that you lack isn't political, its common sense...

I don't think I ever even implied that it was a bad thing to pick him for this reason. Can't both motives have motivated him, though? Couldn't he have picked him for that reason because it was a smart political move AND a smart move intellectually?

Saying that he chose him because he was old and white is like saying I picked up a dollar because it was green and had a face on it. Just about anyone he would of picked would of been an older white male, so no matter who he picked you could of pulled out that criticism. You're grasping at straws.

I thought it was clear that I was talking about him picking between Biden and Clinton; I must not have made that point clear enough, so I apologize. My point was, Obama is as different a Presidential candidate as we have ever had. Clinton, because she is a woman and would also be a very different candidate, would not have done nearly as much to make him more palpable to voters who were uncomfortable about him being a young black man as Biden will.

[Olo401]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8...137/486/580223

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-69834

Conspiracy Theories GO!

Ya know.. I've been a contributor (semi-regular) to Dailykos for 5 years now, and that kind of tinfoil hat diary is one of the only things a user could get banned for posting.

That said.. the photo evidence is pretty fuckin' convincing, to the average non-wingnut. Base Republicans will eat this up as a mother troubled by the misdeeds of her children and who sought a reasonable solution that didn't include "murder".

[Vixy]

EARLY ARRIVAL

Palin was in Texas last week for an energy conference of the National Governors Association when she experienced signs of early labor. She wasn't due for another month.

Early Thursday -- she thinks it was around 4 a.m. Texas time -- she consulted with her doctor, family physician Cathy Baldwin-Johnson, who is based in the Valley and has delivered lots of babies, including Piper, Palin's 7-year-old.

Palin said she felt fine but had leaked amniotic fluid and also felt some contractions that seemed different from the false labor she had been having for months.

"I said I am going to stay for the day. I have a speech I was determined to give," Palin said. She gave the luncheon keynote address for the energy conference.

Palin kept in close contact with Baldwin-Johnson. The contractions slowed to one or two an hour, "which is not active labor," the doctor said.

"Things were already settling down when she talked to me," Baldwin-Johnson said. Palin did not ask for a medical OK to fly, the doctor said.

"I don't think it was unreasonable for her to continue to travel back," Baldwin-Johnson said.

So the Palins flew on Alaska Airlines from Dallas to Anchorage, stopping in Seattle and checking with the doctor along the way.

"I am not a glutton for pain and punishment. I would have never wanted to travel had I been fully engaged in labor," Palin said. After four kids, the governor said, she knew what labor felt like, and she wasn't in labor.

Still, a Sacramento, Calif., obstetrician who is active in the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said when a pregnant woman's water breaks, she should go right to the hospital because of the risk of infection. That's true even if the amniotic fluid simply leaks out, said Dr. Laurie Gregg.

"To us, leaking and broken, we are talking the same thing. We are talking doctor-speak," Gregg said.

Some airlines have policies against pregnant women onboard during the last four weeks of pregnancy, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists advises against flying after 36 weeks.

This was going to be Palin's last flight anyway, her doctor said.

Alaska Airlines has no such rule and leaves the decision to the woman and her doctor, said spokeswoman Caroline Boren. Palin was very pleasant to the gate agents and flight attendants, as always, Boren said.

"The stage of her pregnancy was not apparent by observation. She did not show any signs of distress," Boren said.

Palin never got big with this pregnancy. She said she didn't try to hide it but didn't feel a need to alert the airline, either.

They landed in Anchorage around 10:30 p.m. Thursday and an hour later were at the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center in Wasilla.

Baldwin-Johnson said she had to induce labor, and the baby didn't come until 6:30 a.m. Friday.

"It was smooth. It was relatively easy," Palin said. "In fact it was the easiest of all," probably because Trig was small, at 6 pounds, 2 ounces.

Palin said she wanted him born in Alaska but wouldn't have risked anyone's health to make that happen.

"You can't have a fish picker from Texas," said Todd.

http://www.adn.com/626/story/382864.html

[kareface]

I don't think I ever even implied that it was a bad thing to pick him for this reason. Can't both motives have motivated him, though? Couldn't he have picked him for that reason because it was a smart political move AND a smart move intellectually?

You haven't offered any evidence to support your claim of it being a "political move". A political move would fly in the face of common sense, otherwise it wouldn't be worth noting as being political, because it would be... common sense. It's possible to be both, but then one could make the case that any "smart move intellectually" would be a "smart political move". Pointing out that it can be both, doesn't clarify why you would cite it as a political move. Your statements still need proper justifications to support them.

What I'm saying... you claim his choice was political, but you could make a case for any VP selection being political. What I'm saying is, this decision was not an obvious political choice. We didn't hear the pundants and analysts declare on mass Biden as VP. Your justification of him picking Biden could be used for 95% of the people in congress. So why is picking Biden specifically... a political decision over picking someone like John Edwards. Because if Hillary would of been a clear political move, and any older white male, according to your criteria, would of been a political move, who would you deem to clearly not be a political choice that was even a candidate.

[Suiram]

This amused me:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=94118849