I hate to say it...but I was sort of worried about the Palin choice last Friday.

[terrya]

Just the sheer WTF of it. The total surprise.

Boy, was I stupid.

[Bicoastal]

1. The total Maverick-ness of it, you mean?

Well, it WAS a game-changer--no doubt about that.

[dkf]

2. It had potential...but the kookyness soon emerged.

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

5. The timing and sheer chutzpah of it were impressive...What a difference 72 hrs makes.

[classof56]

3. Yeah, I was worried too. And got quite depressed.

The more I heard, the better I felt and hope has replaced depression. (I was on pretty much of a "high" following the DNC. Sorry if I sound manic-depressive--never been diagnosed as such!) But the point is, you were not stupid as I am not. We just got caught up in the moment and all the "ain't this grand" rhetoric that followed McSame's announcement.

I am SO thankful for DU and the path of reality it keeps me on.

Blessings!

[Raine]

7. Yeah so was I and I was also very depressed

actually for a couple of days because I thought some people might actually be stupid enough to fall for this stunt. I now see that only the very very dumbest (like the wingnuts who we never had in the first place) are the only ones sucking this ridiculous pick in.

[NotThisTime]

4. I was giddy watching it from my Husbands hospital bed - it really cheered me up....

I saw this coming the minute I saw the announcement, I never imagined it would get THIS deep THIS fast however :) I hope Palin sticks around!

[renate]

16. I hope your husband is okay now

:hug:

[dailykoff]

6. I'm still a little worried.

I'm guessing they'll have to keep her, and she's good at rattling off talking points. She could be a problem.

[Mz Pip]

8. Me too

I never underestimate the ability of the american people to rally around someone, no matter how wrong they are for the job. I see that happening here.

"She's choosing to have her baby and keep it and marry the father!":loveya: :loveya: :loveya:

[dailykoff]

9. Yep. Attractive young family, nice girl in trouble

they're gonna run with this if they can.

[seabeyond]

10. when it was announced i ma asking, who is she. within half hour enough dirt i was lmao

and saying wtf. now it is just gggggeeeeeeezus

[verges]

11. Me too.

On paper, at first glance, she looked like a RW Fundie dream! But as more comes out, I'm not so worried. I do think it was nice of Sen McCain(R-Ariz) to hand Soon to be President Obama the Presidency like this.

At least Guiliani no longer has the biggest blunder/miscalculation of the whole campaign season '08.

[D23MIURG23]

12. I looked for the best arguments I could find that she could actually be dangerous.

I found one that wasn't superficially laughable, posted it here, and people debunked it pretty well.

So now I'm pretty much void of fear. All the evangelicals in the country showing up at the polls won't make up for the people alienated by the sheer stupidity and bad judgement evidenced by this situation. Thats not even accounting for for the problems of the woman herself.

McCain sure upstaged Obama's convention alright. Mission Accomplished.

[rasputin1952]

15. Many Evangelicals don't think a woman should have any power

at all, this may keep them away in droves...:D

[many a good man]

13. It knocked Obama's 40 million strong Acceptance speech out of the headlines

and shored up the right wing fundy base. The question now is will the press do it job in vetting her as McCain certainly has not. Recent history leaves me little room for optimism.

[Arugula Latte]

19. But look at the cost to them...

His campaign is imploding. Duck and cover!

[rasputin1952]

14. The first thing that I thought of immediately upon on hearing this was...

"Holy Shit! McCain just lost any chance he had!"...and then I literally laughed out loud.

I Googled her, and was assured that this was probably the worst possible candidate for VP, (others include, Charlie Manson, Cheney or bush), and McCain just tied the anchor of the Titanic around his neck.

After talking to a few R's I know, I realized that McCain really did make the worst mistake possible. Some were willing to hold their noses and vote GOP, before this "event", but immediately following the announcement, virtually all of them said they would sit this one out. the GOP rationale around here, McCain will ot survive one full term in office, and there is NO WAY, Palin is qualified to take the helm of the presidency.

Just about the only ones who think this is a good idea are those GOP'ers on media feeds, and when you watch/listen to them, you realize there is NO true emotion other than, "damn, but I've got to make it look like this was brilliant".

I figure that all of those McCain called or hoped for, just told him to go away, they know McCain is going to lose, and they don't want to be a part of the burnout. Palin said OK, because she figures it was her "destiny"...instead, it will be her Waterloo, (nasty destiny if you ask me).

We've got work to do, that's a given and we all better work hard to bring down these clods, but one thing's for sure...McCain had a lot of qualified women in the GOP to choose from, he made just about the worst possible choice...:D

[terrya]

17. I think out of all this, we have an opportunity here.

If we win the White House, if we increase our majorities in Congress, if Proposition 2 is defeated in California, then it will be a huge setback to the religious right. If Obama can appeal to the people of faith who are NOT supporters of Sarah Palin and that part of the political base, then this can be a tremendous win. :-)

[johnnycap]

18. Let's not be too confident about Governor Palin...

I'm not sure we should be so confident at this point. Think about this. Senator Obama himself admitted that he cannot win without Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is the state that he said the quote about "clinging to guns and religion...etc. etc." Pennsylvania voted solidly for Hillary Clinton despite Obama's campaign spending three times as much. Along comes John McCain who names Sarah Palin. Palin is a woman as are 54% of Pennsylvania voters. Governor Palin certainly clings to her guns and religion. It's not a big leap for all those Pennsylvanians with "antipathy for those who are not like them." to identify with Governor Palin...that could end up being game, set and match in the world of electoral college combinations. If I were Senator Obama tonight, I think I would be more than a little concerned. The way the media is tearing apart the Palin family, it appears average Americans could become pretty outraged pretty quick...it's like what they did to Hillary all over again.

[Odogg]

20. Please.

PA is off the table for McLame, especially with the Rendell/Nutter machine and Biden from Scranton. Bristol will be off the pages soon especially with troopergate just starting to ramp up. McCain is f%*ked.

[skooooo]

21. Welcome to DU!!

:hi:

ENjoy your stay!

[rasputin1952]

22. Not so...the good people of PA are practical if nothing else...

they will see this for what it is, a baltant move to try to pander to them and draw them in under false pretenses.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

23. I am much more worried now than I was then.

Palin isn't just some redneck woman with a gun, a Bible and a passel of kids. As detailed in articles in NYT and Time Magazine, she's a highly ambitious, cutthroat politician who turned on those who first got her into politics when it suited her agenda. She has an innate ability to understand when and where the voter tide is turning before others realize it, labeled "Sarah-dipity" by a journalist who now works on her campaign.

More than that, her suspected links to Dominionists, as revealed by dailykos and other bloggers over the weekend, have culminated in digby's revelation that she was vetted by the Council for National Policy, a highly secretive organization founded by Tim LaHaye and currently led by James Dobson. These Christian extremists are tied to a network of GOTV activism and possible voting fraud. For example, the GOTV go-to man in Ohio is Rod Parsley, who worked closely with Ken Blackwell in 2004.

Digby reports that McCain was informed that an explosive fight would break out among convention delegates if he chose either of his top two picks, Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge, and that both men would be rejected for their pro-choice policies.

Unwilling to go with Pawlenty or Romney because of their conventionality, McCain accepted Palin. And now, whether he realizes it or not, McCain is nothing more to the evangelicals but the old Trojan horse who will smuggle their candidate into the White House to establish a Christian theocracy in this nation.

They don't care if McCain lasts four years. They want Sarah. The only question in my mind is, will they wait for him to go to Jesus, or will they arrange the meeting?

This is the story as I understand it now. Maybe it will not pan out. But it fits in with what I understand of rightwing Christian extremists. I had really thought Gingrich would try to run this year, and was surprised and pleased when he didn't. (Believe me, Newt is totally part of this effort.) Now I see a more indirect but multi-faceted strategy emerging, and it chills me.

Edit to add links:

NYT article by Elisabeth Bumiller published 9-1-08 - reviews vetting process and McCain's decision to go with Palin but without mentioning the CNP
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/us/politics/02vetting.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Digby's blog about the CNP's involvement in Palin's vetting:
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/yes-sarah-palin-was-vetted-by-dday-it.html

Time article by Nathan Thornburgh published 9-2-08 - describes Palin's early political career:
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1837918,00.html

Daily Kos entry by dogemperor detailing Palin's links to Dominionists:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/29/163234/559/495/579213

Harper's Magazine online - quotes from Palin's pastors, mentions Gingrich:
http://harpers.org/archive/2008/08/hbc-90003486

Daily Kos entry by Public Servant - Some good background on Rod Parsley:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/3/15/1845/54948/459/477541

Extra-credit reading: Harper's Magazine - reprint of excellent 2006 article by Jeff Sharlet that details the revisionist efforts of the Christian right:
http://harpers.org/archive/2006/12/0081322

[Proud Liberal Dem]

24. I was initially surprised

but the more I read about her the better I felt about our prospects in November. My only real concern right now is that McSame will dump her or she will quit leaving McSame to choose a more fearsome candidate. However, given the enthusiasm generated among the fundies, I have my doubts that they will dump her because if he does the fundies, whose support of McSame has been pretty shaky to this point, will likely be apoplectic and if they do end up dumping her (or getting her to bow out) they would need to do so ASAP because the election is not very far away and they would, of course, need plenty of time to vet and prop up a new candidate (not to mention repair the political fallout from his selection and subsequent change of course). Either way it goes the road ahead looks really rough for McSame and he could not have done more to help ruin his chances against Obama. In fact, my mother and mother-in-law, normally reliable Republicans are either leaning towards Obama or are going to definitely vote for him. As such, McSame's selection of Palin is clearly having an effect on the race, albeit a bad one for him so far.

[Meshuga]

25. If he dumps her it will be the end of McCain

because it reveals his incompetence. So he is in DEEP trouble even if he brings a more "fearsome" person to the ticket.