Why do you guys think Sarah Palin is more popular among Democrats

[Bandit]

in her state than she is among Republicans. If she is so bat shit crazy as everyone seems to think I wouldn't believe she could be so very damn popular. Granted alaska is a small population state but it does have normal Democrats and the very great Majority of them Like Palin and are very happy with how she is governing. She is considered the most popular Governor in the Nation. There is a reason for that you know...This was the Smartest decision McCain has ever made and it may just pay off "Big Time" for the Republicans..

[patrice]

1. Democrats LOVE wacko Republicans.

[hisownpetard]

2. mainly because half the people I was with believed it until I explained the situation to them

[Toucano]

3. Compared to her predecessors, she's doing a great job.

She's been governor for less than two years.

Being a great governor of Alaska does not translate into being qualified to be president of the United States.

[Bandit]

5. I am not saying it does but I am saying people better wake up

This was an outstanding pick by McCain and will cement his base like no other pick could have done..

[patrice]

8. That IS the basic purpose. They need something for the re-cross-overs to come back to later.

That is, IF they can stomache it.

On edit: And, oh yeah, they're offering the Libertarians a foothold.

[Toucano]

15. Cementing his base doesn't win the election. Attracting independents and undecideds wins.

1. Palin will not fool the PUMAs. It's an insult to think someone with so little experience is equivalent to Clinton.

2. Palin neutralizes the experience argument against Obama.

3. She has very little campaigning experience. A whopping 114,000 people voted for her for governor in 2006. The states total population is 670,000. That's a cakewalk compared to a national campaign and the media scrutiny she'll face.

The evangelicals are energized? Big deal. They were voting for McCain in the first place.

They've thrown in the towel with this choice.

McCain doesn't want to be Bob Dole, so he made a choice that will ensure him a place in the history books.

[Bandit]

16. While I agree mostly with what people have said here I feel I should

Play the "Devil's Advocate" She actually has more governing experience that Bush* did when he was elected, so Republicans do have a way of rationalizing the experience issue. Bush* told everyone he would surround himself with "very smart people" which was just one more of the multitude of LIES told the people from this Administration.

[Toucano]

19. Bush was elected twice as governor.

I disagree that he had less experience than Palin. Texas has a huge economy, a tax base, and a large and diverse population. He lacked foreign policy experience, but American's didn't care much about that in 2000.

Bush also had enormous name recognition, which Palin does not.

Plus, he wasn't elected president by the people. He didn't win the national election.

I accept your premise that Republicans rationalize the experience argument, but again, the election isn't about Republicans and Democrats. It's about independents and undecideds.


Another point is the over-valued fundie vote. A lot of fundies don't like the idea of a woman with small children working outside the home, much less outside the country.


Look for this position on Palin to take hold in the coming weeks:

In an editorial dated August 30, 2008, the Fairbanks Daily News-Minor wrote “Most people would acknowledge that, regardless of her charm and good intentions, Palin is not ready for the top job. McCain seems to have put his political interests ahead of the nation’s when he created the possibility that she might fill it.”


She is a disastrous choice. They don't want to win because they'll have to clean up Bush's mess. That's why McCain was chosen over someone with a political future in the first place.

[patrice]

4. P.S. The woman belonged to a secessionist group . . . !

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/1/84544/50180/809/581942

This from the state, Alaska, 3rd highest in the country for receiving Federal $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

[yardwork]

6. I heard the price of gas is real high right now...

[EFerrari]

7. How do we know she's popular? I thought her opponent was

a corrupt bastard and that her ratings are going in the wrong direction?

[roesch]

10. Not 80%

I have read that she does not have a 80% percent approval rating-- that is another 'misinformation" passed along. I think we have to point out that like other Alaskans, dems admire her, but consider her consider her not yet ready. Although she lives next to Russia, as far as I know, she has never traveled there, and as I have I guess that makes me more of a foreign policy expert than her?

[Bandit]

18. Alaska is a very large state.

If you twist the state just right and overlay it on the Continental USA a part will touch New York City and another part San Diego. When you say live next to Russia I think what you really mean is Alaska's border is only three miles from Russia. Where Sarah Palin actually lives is well over a thousand miles away.

[Warpy]

13. She was fortunate in the choice of predecessor and opponent

both of whom were so corrupt they gave corruption a bad name in a state that runs completely on corruption.

She's still somewhat popular because she tells people what a fine Christian woman she is while she's using the office for personal vendettas and allowing corrupt business as usual. Her ratings are heading south as people realize that she's little better than her opposition and in some ways far worse.

(I have cousins in Fairbanks and Sitka and I'm afraid their comments are unprintable even with the lax language standards on DU)

[EFerrari]

14. Amy reported this morning that someone on her own staff

thought it was a joke and that her MIL said she didn't know what Palin brought to the ticket besides being a Christian woman.

I don't think her MIL likes her very well. :)

[Lucinda]

9. More than half the state is INDY. And she apparently rolls both left and right

depending on the issue. They, at first glance anyway, seem to be more issue oriented than strict party hardliners.

[OHdem10]

11. Palin is a populist and a pragmatist. --means she wants to get

things passed, accomplished. It does not matter to her whose votes
she gets, just so she gets her legislation passed.

McCain says he picked a maverick to run with a maverick.

[MadHound]

12. Her popularity in her state is in direction proportion to how little people know about her

That famous 90% approval rating came out the beginning of her tenure in office. Since then, it has gone steadily downhill, dropping through the sixties.

Stop looking at this as some sort of death knell for Obama. Sure, there's lots of hoopla on the Republican side due to this pick because it has reenergized the RW fundie base. But that hoopla is going to be fleeting, already she is coming under close scrutiny, and many moderate 'Pugs are disgusted with the pick of such an inexperienced and unqualified person, and will be voting for Obama this fall. The same is true among independents, who outnumber the RW fundie base in a big way. These people realize that Palin could very well be president, what with McCain's age and health, and that prospect is scaring them badly. They too will be voting Obama.

Stop acting like McCain sewed up the election with this pick. Far from that, this veep pick is going to cost him the election. Most sane, sensible people, when looking at an aged presidential candidate, want a veep pick who has the experience and sanity to do a good job if they have to take over. Palin has neither, and more and more people realize that, and thus will be voting for Obama this fall.

[lonestarnot]

17. Alaskan's can't be a cohesive political group. Sparse population density, reliance on

word of mouth must be difficult in many situations. In the wilderness, politics takes on a low priority. People go to the wilderness to get away from politics, the world and it's bullshit. Yeah bridges to nowhere, those happen in places like Alaska because people have other things are taking their attention. Macho is the theme of the day and bushitler did a job on that macho cowboy shit for identification purposes. As for the smartest decision, doesn't take much to get the bus onto a bridge to nowhere. I'm waiting for it to try to try to turn around and back off when it can only go STRAIGHT! bwwwwwwwww ah ha ha ha ha :rofl: