Latest ABC Palin interview -- not mo' better

Charlie had her at hello.

Why is it that the low-information voters can't understand that they are being fooled yet again!

Attention voters: Ask why Palin hides from real questions. Ask why she does not discuss economics. Ask why she does not engage in foreign affairs discussions. Ask why she only throws out pithy bumper-sticker zingers instead of discussing serious & complex topics. Ask why she only attacks the candidates who are discussing the REAL problems.

Folks, we are on the brink of economic failure, failure that was brought to you by these very same people who have moved their corporations & money out of the U.S.

The media, owned by multi-national corporations that no longer have any allegiance to the American people, will not allow the low-information voters to see what's really going on, that Palin is just a dolt who will answer to nobody but these multi-nationals. They need four more years to loot what little is left in the Treasury (your tax dollars).

Ask yourself why you would consider Palin as qualified. She is bowing to her corporate owners. Four more years will ensure the complete & final gutting of America, leaving it an empty, pathetic shell, while the corporates reap huge rewards off-shore. As the now infamous Enron slogan goes, Ask Why.

tickerforum.org

"She was good on abortion and guns" - which is all some people need to know.

She sounded fine to me; i don't want the federal government fixing schools or monkeying with the economy any more than is absolutely necessary, and i surely don't want the globally corrosive effect of taking money from me and my folk to pay for killing nascent life in order to make some other lives simpler or on a chimeric search for healing miracles that are often accessible through the use of science, not a blind faith in "embryonic stem cells."

Yep, i'm one of them "some people", still clinging.

And didja know the Bible says "There is no God"? Psalm 14:1 . . .

Exact quote!

It's not about bring a nut, it's about being a credible world leader.

She is not.

I didn't see the interview, so I have no reflections on it. But I what I would love to see would be Charlie Rose doing a real interview with Palin. He has a real gift for bringing out the real character of people. Charlie Gibson - I've never seen him do a good job at interviewing anyone.

Judging from the phone calls from women on talk radio, Sarah Palin did just fine.

As for the other party....

What Obama just did with his ad criticizing McCain for not using email reminds me of Joseph Welch's remark to Senator Joseph McCarthy:

The most famous incident in the hearings was an exchange between McCarthy and the army's chief legal representative, Joseph Nye Welch. On June 9, the 30th day of the hearings, Welch challenged Roy Cohn to provide U.S. Attorney General Herbert Brownell, Jr. with McCarthy's list of 130 Communists or subversives in defense plants "before the sun goes down." McCarthy stepped in and said that if Welch was so concerned about persons aiding the Communist Party, he should check on a man in his Boston law office named Fred Fisher, who had once belonged to the National Lawyers Guild, which Attorney General Brownell had called "the legal mouthpiece of the Communist Party." In an impassioned defense of Fisher that some have suggested he had prepared in advance and had hoped not to have to make, Welch responded, "Until this moment, Senator, I think I never gauged your cruelty or your recklessness[...]" When McCarthy resumed his attack, Welch interrupted him: "Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" When McCarthy once again persisted, Welch cut him off and demanded the chairman "call the next witness." At that point, the gallery erupted in applause and a recess was called.

McCain can't tie his shoes, comb his hair, or easily (if at all) use a keyboard because of the injuries he suffered as a POW (per a 2000 Boston Globe story). Between mocking Palin's Down Syndrome baby and her pregnant daughter, and now mocking McCain's disability - and then today questioning John McCain's patriotism:

"Just ask the machinists in Pennsylvania who build Harley-Davidsons," Obama said of McCain's record. "Because John McCain didn’t just oppose the requirement that the government buy American-made motorcycles, he called Buy American provisions 'disgraceful.' Just ask the workers across this country who have seen their jobs outsourced. The very companies that shipped their jobs overseas have been rewarded with billions of dollars in tax breaks that John McCain supports and plans to continue. So, when American workers hear John McCain talking about putting 'Country First,'" Obama said, "it’s fair to ask –- which country?"

it's time to say to Barack Obama and the Democrats: "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"

Regarding the allegation that Obama hasn't laid out specifics...to the contrary, he has laid out a major tax cut for most taxpayers, and shown how he would pay for it -- by raising taxes on the very wealthy. (Families earning more than $250,000 a year -- which is about 1% of the population).

McCain by contrast would enact Bush's tax cuts for the super-wealthy, and tell us that he is "cutting taxes" -- which for 99% of the population is simply not true.

Palin is a charismatic figure, no doubt. So was Bush. That's why Rove liked him (according to Rove). Plenty of leaders, good and bad, are charismatic. The question is: How will they govern?

The McCain-Palin ticket, which promises an extremely aggressive foreign policy, huge tax cuts for the rich, and vague promises of reform, looks if anything more divisive and less productive than the Bush administration. I'm sorry to say this: once I vote for John McCain, but that was back in 2000, when he seemed to be a completely different man.

I am terrified at the prospect of this inexperienced undereducated woman sitting across the table from Nouri Maliki. He would eat her for lunch. She is fine as the governor of the huntin and fishin capital but she is way over her head on the national let alone the international level..

Scarrrrrrry

I will take generic "cut gov't waste" over "create massive new entitlements" every time.

Turmarion:

Huffington Post? There are other articles that, contrariwise, refute McCain's supposed computer illiteracy.

Also, I included Democrats, not just Obama, in my comments. The attacks and jokes about Sarah Palin's family have come from Obama supporters in the media - celebrities, comedians, columnists, etc.

What's interesting is I have a book from 8 years ago (2000 hardcover edition) by Arianna Huffington called How to Overthrow the Government, and the book is basically an endorsement of John McCain for President and an argument for why he was the best candidate running in 2000. How times have changed!

amazon.com/How-Overthrow-Government-Arianna-Huffington/dp/0060988312/

That Obama commercial making fun of McCain for not knowing how to use the Internet is ridiculous. The liberal Mark Shields (whom I like very much) was trashing it tonight on the NewsHour, saying that Obama needs to be reaching rural and older voters, the kinds of people who don't Google all day long to find out what's going on on the Drudge Report and elsewhere.

Palin did fine. "Charlie" was after her scalp and she knew it. Palin did a commendable job in eluding being scalped by this unfair and partial "journalist."

Were her answers cautious and rehearsed? Can you blame her if they were? After all, did "Charlie" Gibson behave in an entirely fair and impartial way?

Compare "Charlie's" recent interview of Obama with his interview this week of Palin. Nerf-ball questions tossed at Obama. Schoolmaster condescension towards Palin.

Were there any gaffes? Yes, there were two gaffes ... and both were committed by "Charlie." He grossly misquoted the prayer which Palin had spoken regarding the troops in Iraq, and when he was gently challenged by Palin on the accuracy of his version, he insisted that his version was the correct one. Wrong, "Charlie!" What a doofus!

When it came to the "Bush Doctrine," "Charlie" tried to pretend that he was the sole authority on the interpretation of this. However, as Charles Krauthammer (who first coined the phrase, "Bush Doctrine" back in the summer of 2001) pointed out today, the version which Gibson stated in his interview was incorrect and misleading.

It's been years since I've watched a broadcast of "ABC World News Tonight." After what I saw Thursday night, I realize that I haven't missed a thing. Thumbs down to "Charlie" Gibson.

I'm watching her now on 20/20, and the cumulative impression from her manner is much better than the edited clips -- I mean, much more natural. I still like her very much as a person, I love her attitude, and I want her to do better than she's doing. But I am disappointed by how little she seems to know about some pretty basic stuff.

But I do think that if the 20/20 interview is all you've seen of her this week, she's coming off much better than she did on World News yesterday, and this evening.

I also think that if she makes it to Washington, she's going to be a very, very effective politician. Very effective. I think when she decides what she believes in and wants to achieve, she's not going to stop till she gets it. Put another way, I think she makes Hillary Clinton look like a softie.

Daniel,

The "victim" in this matter is not Sarah Palin. She's shown that she can handle this nonsense and will be the better for it when she serves as Vice President.

No, the real victim is the American public, which deserves an impartial class of journalists. Chronic and habitually biased reporting damages public trust in the Fourth Estate. It is the primary reason for the growth of talk radio, cable news and other alternatives to what was once a strangehold by three networks and a handful of Eastern big city newspapers.

I'm still hoping for full transcripts from the McCain-Palin team on the Gibson auto da fe -- did you see how many of her statements were awkwardly clipped in mid-thought, especially on abortion and stem cells, let alone foreign policy?

Gibson, of whom i had no opinion at all before yesterday, strikes me as a pompous weenie in these "interviews." Not a sign of desperation, fella, but my honest reaction to this 20/20 travesty.

You do not however want her to be a heartbeat away from an elderly president of the United States of America at a time of economic global collapse, wars on two fronts and shifting global power during oil depletion politics, etc.

Uh, yes, I do want her in the Oval Office. In fact, I vastly prefer her to John McCain, whom I would not have voted for if he hadn't picked her.

Additionally, if the choice is between Sarah Palin in the Oval Office and Barack Obama -- that only makes the choice that much easier. I DAMN SURE would prefer her to the lightweight Obama any day of the week.

Additionally, if the choice is between Sarah Palin in the Oval Office and Barack Obama -- that only makes the choice that much easier. I DAMN SURE would prefer her to the lightweight Obama any day of the week.

You're not alone, fbc: According to the AP poll released tonight, 36% of the public thinks Palin lacks the right experience to be President. But 47% believe Obama is not experienced enough. More than 80% believe John McCain has the right experience.

From the AP: "This is his fourth year in the Senate, and two of those four years he spent campaigning for president," said Arthur Koch, 63, an undecided voter from Wallington, N.J. "I'm not too comfortable with that."

McCain also has a 23 point lead among seniors, who vote in much larger numbers than college kids wearing Che Guevarra shirts. But I see the Obama/Dukakis Campaign has a brilliant new strategy to win back the seniors -- making fun of McCain for not being able to use email because of his war wounds.

And as other polls this week have noted, Obama/Dukakis is dragging down the rest of the Democratic ticket. Generic congressional preferences are moving sharply away from the Democrats.

Rod wrote: I'm watching her now on 20/20, and the cumulative impression from her manner is much better than the edited clips -- I mean, she come across as much more natural and confident.

Rod, if you expected any MSM outlet to portray Palin honestly, I have some oceanfront property in Nepal you might be interested in. Of course she looked better in the less-edited version of the interview. When the editing is being done by the AnyBody Communist network, screwing republicans is par for the course.

Those who think she was "scripted" obviously never heard her before.

She is saying the same things that she always said, just with more emphasis on national issues.

Charles Gibson didn't do himself and the public perception of "The Media" any good with his facial expressions and body language, even though his questions were fair.

I'm with fbc above except : if the choice is between Sarah Palin in the Oval Office and Barack Obama -- that only makes the choice that much easier. I DAMN SURE would prefer her to the lightweight Obama any day of the week.

She has made read decisions that affected people's lives, and stood by them, which a LOT more than you can say about either Obama or Biden, who only talk a lot and cast a vote occasionally.

"Of course, the real comparison being made is between Palin and Obama, and I can't for the life of me understand why people who are terrified of Palin in the vice-presidency (where presumably she'll have time to learn and grow) don't bat an eye over Obama's qualifications to be President: six years as an Illinois State Senator and fewer than four as the junior U.S. Senator from Illinois."

Of course it's been pointed out that Abraham Lincoln had similar experience to Obama's before assuming the Presidency. And of course, Obama is not the first person who comes to mind when one thinks of Abraham Lincoln, but then neither is John McCain, is he?

The real comparison is between Obama and John McCain, who after all, will be the
President if the Republican ticket is elected. Certainly I have doubts about Obama, but I have no doubts about John McCain - no doubts about his bellicosity, no doubts about his hot and hair-trigger temper, no doubts about his willingness to compromise everything he once claimed to believe in in order to win the Presidency in this his last chance to do so, to the extent that he hired the person behind the smear campaign against McCain in 2000 SC, and to the extent that hey - torture is okay sometimes.

Doubts I have a plenty, but I have no doubts about John McCain.

Rod: "I completely dig her, and wish she were my governor. But my vice president? Hmm."

Thanks for sharing, Rod, your concerns and doubts. Of course, you're always free to consider voting for Joe Biden ... if you think you can :-)

Medicare is set to become the largest portion of the budget in coming years, and it has a fraud rate of 30%. Just for next year, that's $150 billion in spending cuts.

Rod, you are depressing me. Good that you "dig" Sarah Palin, but I don't understand how you can allow yourself so easily to lie down and be played, as you admit to being in the post directly above this one, when you should really be offended. Look, I agree, she has lots of appealing qualities, and she's pro-life and pro-gun-owners'-rights (which means absolutely nothing because those are not positions over which the VPOTUS has any legislative authority). But none of that makes her the least bit qualified for the job. The fact that she's being touted as the savior of the ticket and the GOP (not to mention the nation) is downright frightening in such dangerous times. I fear for our country.

Daniel, your thoughts are on the money and thoughtfully drawn. And Erin, as much as I admire your mind and heart, you are being lead by emotion here, since this very talented woman is someone you relate to on multiple levels, not the least of which is social issues. All understandable. But if you watch these interviews...which you have not...it is clear to anyone interested in willing objectivity that no matter how much this person has an ability to learn and grasp information and rise to a challenge, this is by any fair appraisal simply too much of a leap of faith to entrust someone as backup to a 72 year old president...anytime, but most certanly now when the issues are far larger than faith-based.

And after 18 months and 26 debates, judging by the Bill O'Reilly interviews, Barack Obama has not become less of a mystery or become more trustworthy or Presidential.

YMMV.

Kevin D.:Instead I make direct appeal to Our Royal Blogmeister Rod: Will ya make up your mind, already? Either you're gonna vote or not, McCain or nothing, and we know you aren't supporting Barack Obama. A non-vote is a tie vote. If you really disdain an Obama presidency, you at the very least have to vote against him. Heck, for that matter, if you vote for R. Nader, at the very least you can be seen as disaffected from Obama's side, not McCain's. That's gotta be worth something.

Hey, I'm trying to make up my mind. I don't have enough information to do so yet. These blog writings are part of the process.

Steve S: So, let me get this straight. Not only do you not know what Sarah Palin believes, but she doesn't know. And so you support her because you "dig her"? I also not that you refer to her now not just as "Sarah", but as "Our Sarah". With those caps and familiarity I expect to check in on your blog tomorrow and see you referring to her as, "Our Lord and Savior, Sarah Palin".

How closely are you reading my posts, Steve? I've made it perfectly clear that I really like Sarah Palin, but I have reservations about her readiness for the job. The "Our Sarah" stuff is gentle snark, Steve. Don't be so literal-minded.

for many, Obama no matter what will never be qualified. he's black. it's simple. most won't admit the bias to themselves but it's there and it's real. it doesn't matter if he can be a better president. the status quo is more important to maintain than any concern for the country.

I don't know why she has to take interviews. After all McCain will be the president.

I won't vote for either party, but in order of Presidential readiness (let's use political, military and executive accomplishments and experience as our gauge) among the four candidates, here's how I rate them, most ready to least ready:

1.) John McCain 2.) Joe Biden 3.) Sarah Palin 4.) Barack Obama

Obama is at the TOP of the Democrat ticket. Sarah Palin isn't. And she's more ready (not at all), than he is (totally not at all).

To poster Marcus:

With all due respect, what a silly comment. We're so racist as a country that Barack Obama is in a relative tie for the presidency? Not to mention, he's NOT black. He's of mixed race. How is it that a white woman who makes a child with a black man automatically has a black child? He could just as easily be called white by this standard. What garbage.

If you want to talk about racism, let's hypothetically replace Barack Obama with Michael Steele. Would Steele even get 50% of the black vote? 40%? Would he be looked at with the same sense of pride? Or would he just be another Tom on Master Bush's plantation?

I feel SO BAD for what my country has turned into.

Good point, DBO. I have similar thoughts, though I don't think I'll pass on voting for one of the two parties.

Sarah Palin's a nice person, and i am sure a good mom/etc, but iam sorry, I would not want her to run my PTA, much less be president of the US. She has no curiousity, knows less about Iraq, Afghanistan, and in fact the lower 48 than I do, and does not seem to have the intellectual capacity to look at two sides of a story, much less the many that make up to big problems in the world today.

"I know about Russia because you can see it from an island off the coast of Alaska...."
"I didn't blink when McCain offered me the Vicepresidency..."

those are the words of hubris and intellectual inability.

Thanks, i've had 8 years of that with Bush.
Sarah-- drop by some time next week for some coffee-- After you drop off the Republican ticket

John McCain/ Olympia Snowe or Kay Bailey Hutchinson or... anyone competent in 2008

daveinboca,
Not sure exactly what you mean by "Christian trope" since Palin being 1st mate on her husban's boat is not a literary or rhetorical device, but I'm guessing you mean that makes her some kind of authentic Christian. And I'm assuming, too, that you're claiming her authenticity as a Christian over against the supposed inauthenticity of Obama and perhaps Biden. Maybe so, but Martin Luther once observed that he would prefer to be ruled by a smart Turk than a dumb Christian, and from what I've seen of Gibson's interview (who was, by the way, handpicked by the McCain campaign), Palin is no smart Turk.

Steve Sylvester: That is a great post. You said succintly what I have tried to say various ways various places regarding the 'She's (he's) one of us!' endorsements pre and certainly post Palin. Thank you.

Per you comments, in 2000 I had not one but two friends vote fore Bush over McCain because, "He's the kind of guy I'd wanta have a beer with... a regular guy." Well, as Dr. Phil would say, "How's that working for ya."

PS: per your sense of Obama, I concur that is far less liberal than he is currently appearing to appease the Left of his party, just as I believe John McCain will (again) outrage his party's Right once he is inaugerated. Both are Trojan horses per the extreme base of either party. Mark my words. As I have said, Obama knows he was the unplanned pregnancy of a bi-racial student couple. An 18 yr. old mother and black Kenyan student father. In 1961. I repeat-47 years ago in the USA. Do that math. Why is his mother Ann not the poster girl of pro-lifers? Her son who could so easily been a statistic is running for president, What werre THOSE odds even more so than Pailn's down syndrome child being carried to term..

Women are sympathetic to Sarah because she is also a mother. But once they figure out they know more about her on foreign policy, they will not entrust their children's lives in her hands.

Women were not excited by Hillary's candidacy simply because she was a woman. It was because she was the smartest candidate around with a deep understanding of the issues. They knew she would work hard.
Palin is just Bush like in her lack of intellectual curiosity.

"I think she makes Hillary Clinton look like a softie."

If she is so tough, why is she hiding from the press?

I just don't understand her appeal. I was looking here to get some insight, but I still don't get it? She can deliver a line, but when she repeats it nine times in exactly the same way and it also turns out to be stretching the truth, and then can't really respond to a few serious questions as if she's thought about it for more than a week . . . Also, the hunting thing. That's cool, but when she's shooting moose from the air with big military-style rifles, there's something gruesome about it.

I just wonder. I don't feel it in the gut. What is it that everyone else feels? Or is this something demographic specific?

Hmmmm, you say. Is that all. The possibility of her being president scares me to death, mostly because she is so shallow. Everything coming out of her mouth is scripted; she certainly is no intellectual. (I still believe the presidency or the position next to it should be reserved for our best and brightest.) As governor of Alaska, she's in over her head and I'm waiting for her approval rating in that state to plummet. She does well with people who don't know her. But those she works with find her petty and vindictive. Even her mother-in-law leans toward voting for Obama. This is nothing but another beauty pageant contest for Palin. She doesn't care two licks about the American people. And Socrates is right. If she is so tough, why does she hide from the press, content to trot behind McCain and his handlers on a short leash. A pit bull? She's more like a chihuahua. Arf. Arf.

Sarah Palin will make an excellent tool of the people who have been running our country for the past 8 years, once they finish destroying McCain by stressing him to death for any remaining independence that he shows.

This choice of Palin was the thing that finally pushed me to vote for Obama rather than writing in "Hillary." I believe Palin lacks the elementary knowledge to run our country, and would likely get us into new wars with Russia, Iran and Pakistan.

You want to have a vindictive person who has not mastered state policies, spends enormous amounts of time away from the capital city (at home, on the state's tab), and who places unqualified cronies and childhood friends in positions of authority as your governor?

Why???

Palin is ok on guns, but that's about it. Palin is a slightly more articulate George Bush. And her apparent masters at AEI and AIPAC scare the hell out of me.

McCain made a huge mistake not picking someone with economic credibility, like Mitt Romney.

Sorry, I will be voting for Obama. He is clearly a sane person, and my taxes are going to go up anyway, so better write the checks and not have to worry about World War III.

"I think when she decides what she believes in and wants to achieve, she's not going to stop till she gets it."

Let me echo Socrates that the above comment really gets to the heart of the matter. Rod Dreher and others went hog wild over Sarah Palin without knowing a damn thing about her or having the slightest idea if she could handle the job of Vice-President, let alone President.

For someone to suggest that a 44 year old politician still has to decide "what she believes in and wants to achieve", and yet still consider putting that person a 72 year old cancer survivor's heartbeat away from the Presidency is irrational to an almost clinical extent.

Mike

Kirk said:

"If anyone had asked Obama specific questions like they asked Palin, we might not have a close race right now. I have yet to hear Obama lay out a specific plan for anything. Hope is not a strategy."

I think the problem is you don't want to hear the answers.

I think Torie Clarke got it exactly right. The endless repetition of canned answers is not helping Palin. One of the endearing things about hockey (and soccer) moms is that they don't sound scripted. For good or bad, they're authentic. She sounded like a robot! Or, even worse, a puppet! While watching the interview, I actually starting to feel sorry for her because I'm afraid that McCain will end up destroying what looked to be a very promising political career. What a shame.

The only way America can fix itself now is by steering with reason as opposed to emotion. We already had 8 years of someone we "liked" and "wanted to have a beer with." It may be time for the electorate to wake up to the reality that good governing and backyard bar-b-ques call on slightly different skill sets.

A few months ago I searched the Library of Congress website for all bills Obama sponsored in 2007. This is what I came up with. I should add that these are only the bills he passed. I also noted how they were passed. There were no roll call votes.
The fact that all of his co-sponsored bills passed with unanimous consent is a powerful testament to his principled positions and persuasive oratory.

S.CON.RES.25: A concurrent resolution condemning the recent violent actions of the Government of Zimbabwe against peaceful opposition party activists and members of civil society. ? Unanimous Consent

S.RES.133: A resolution celebrating the life of Bishop Gilbert Earl Patterson. - UC

S.RES.268: A resolution designating July 12, 2007, as "National Summer Learning Day". - UC

S.AMDT.41 to S.1 "Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007" - AMENDMENT PURPOSE: To require lobbyists to disclose the candidates, leadership PACs, or political parties for whom they collect or arrange contributions, and the aggregate amount of the contributions collected or arranged. ? Unanimous Consent

S.AMDT.524 to S.CON.RES.21 - AMENDMENT PURPOSE: To provide $100 million for the Summer Term Education Program supporting summer learning opportunities for low-income students in the early grades to lessen summer learning losses that contribute to the achievement gaps separating low-income students from their middle-class peers. ? Unanimous Consent

S.AMDT.599 to S.CON.RES.21 - AMENDMENT PURPOSE: To add $200 million for Function 270 (Energy) for the demonstration and monitoring of carbon capture and sequestration technology by the Department of Energy - Unanimous Consent.

S.AMDT.905 to S.761 - AMENDMENT PURPOSE: To require the Director of Mathematics, Science, and Engineering Education to establish a program to recruit and provide mentors for women and underrepresented minorities who are interested in careers in mathematics, science, and engineering -? Unanimous Consent.

S.AMDT.923 to S.761 - AMENDMENT PURPOSE: To expand the pipeline of individuals entering the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields to support United States innovation and competitiveness - Unanimous Consent.

S.AMDT.924 to S.761 - AMENDMENT PURPOSE: To establish summer term education programs - Unanimous Consent.

S.AMDT.1041 to S.1082 - AMENDMENT PURPOSE: To improve the safety and efficacy of genetic tests - Unanimous Consent.

S.AMDT.2519 to H.R.2638, S.AMDT.2383 - AMENDMENT PURPOSE: To provide that one of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used to enter into a contract in an amount greater than $5 million or to award a grant in excess of such amount unless the prospective contractor or grantee certifies in writing to the agency awarding the contract or grant that the contractor or grantee owes no past due Federal tax liability. - Unanimous Consent.

S.AMDT.2588 to H.R.976, S.AMDT.2530 - AMENDMENT PURPOSE: To provide certain employment protections for family members who are caring for members of the Armed Forces recovering from illnesses and injuries incurred on active duty - Unanimous Consent.

S.AMDT.2658 to H.R.2642 - AMENDMENT PURPOSE: To provide that none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used to enter into a contract in an amount greater than $5,000,000 or to award a grant in excess of such amount unless the prospective contractor or grantee makes certain certifications regarding Federal tax liability - Voice Vote.

S.AMDT.2692 to H.R.2764 - AMENDMENT PURPOSE: To require a comprehensive nuclear threat reduction and security plan - Unanimous Consent.

S.AMDT.2799 to H.R.3074 - AMENDMENT PURPOSE: To provide that none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used to enter into a contract in an amount greater than $5,000,000 or to award a grant in excess of such amount unless the prospective contractor or grantee makes certain certifications regarding Federal tax liability - Voice Vote.

S.AMDT.3073 to H.R.1585, S.AMDT.2011 - AMENDMENT PURPOSE: To provide for transparency and accountability in military and security contracting - Unanimous Consent.

S.AMDT.3078 to H.R.1585, S.AMDT.2011 - AMENDMENT PURPOSE: Relating to administrative separations of members of the Armed Forces for personality disorder -Unanimous Consent.

S.AMDT.3137 to H.R.3222 - AMENDMENT PURPOSE: To provide that none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used to enter into a contract in an amount greater than $5,000,000 or to award a grant in excess of such amount unless the prospective contractor or grantee makes certain certifications regarding Federal tax liability. - Unanimous Consent.

S.AMDT.3234 to H.R.3093 - AMENDMENT PURPOSE: To provide that none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used to enter into a contract in an amount greater than $5,000,000 or to award a grant in excess of such amount unless the prospective contractor or grantee makes certain certifications regarding Federal tax liability - Voice Vote.

S.AMDT.3331 to H.R.3043, S.AMDT.3325 - AMENDMENT PURPOSE: To provide that none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used to enter into a contract in an amount greater than $5,000,000 or to award a grant in excess of such amount unless the prospective contractor or grantee makes certain certifications regarding Federal tax liability - Unanimous Consent.

Oh come on. What ridiculous charge about Obama's record. It is valid for us to disagree with what he wants to accomplish with those changes, but can anyone with a straight face claim that the guy is anything but energetic, intelligent, well intent? What is this, intellectual kindergarten?

Keep picking with your heart and well be second class to China in no time at all.

It amazes me that a large section of us Americans can continually blind ourselves to the shallow nature of those who we pick to govern our country...all in the name of some personal values that they apparently feel are worth throwing the greater greatness of America away (or maybe they just are so focused on their values they cant see the forest from the saplings).

People have to realize that there will never be an America that fits all of your personal values exactly. There is a ton of grey out in the world. So tool up for the reality of the new world and start doing whats best for the greater America (instead of just you and your values) or keep electing these obvious incapable politicians and keep watching America's slow global slide.

One more thing about her answer on abortion. Personally, I oppose recriminalizing abortion but what does it mean to people who want to do "something" (at this point I'm not sure what) when she says "I choose life" and that she "respects" other views? 35 years of hearing about abortion as an election issue, I don't know what it means after hearing "Pro Life Princess" Sarah Palin.

If Roe v Wade is overturned and it "gets sent back to the states," abortion will be legal in most states and anyone who wants to have an abortion can drive to a legal state or take a bus. Is that OK with McCain/Palin? Is that the end of it?

I'm sick at heart. It isn't the lack of knowledge -- that, alone, could be remedied. (Ignorance is not stupidity.) But the lack of curiosity or concern; the lack of an instinct to actually think before she talks or makes decisions; the lack of any sense of the 'big picture' so that at least her best guesses are informed ones so they land in the area of concern if not on target; the tendency to bluff and stick with that bluff tenaciously.) I wouldn't hire her for a job in my office, at least not one that carries any power or responsibility --- I very much don't want my children and grandchildren's future in the hands of someone so unfitted for real power. ----------- Even those who quibble with Obama's much, much more substantive background (and much more suitable mind), there is some certainty about the people he would be working with, both Dem and Rep. Who is 'behind' Sarah Palin? I doubt it's John McCain alone, based on just one conversation with her. Someone has to be telling him she's a maverick and a reformer, which it's becoming clear the is NOT. His reckless, irresponsible choice of a running-made has lost my vote.

Really? I don't think God is an idiot.

Colm from Canada said:

"There's certainly a lot Palin still needs to do in regards to her PR, but she hasn't misspelled potato just yet. Her answers may have been more laconic than striking, however this is just her first interview. Let's hold our swords until we see more."

The very fact that she has not made herself available to answer questions on this country's behalf is exactly the problem. It's insulting. We don't know this woman. We have less than two months.

She said she didn't even blink when McCain offered the VP slot. Ok, well then get out there and speak directly to us proving your worthy of our trust. The other three candidates have been interviewed ad nauseum throughout the years. We need to hear specifics on how and what she and Mr. McCain will do to get this country back on track. Her past record in Alaska is irrelevant at this point. She has only given us one embarrassingly unprepared interview littered with awkward generalizations. You can put a positive spin around her one performance but let's be realistic here. She seems like a lovely woman but even Helen Keller would have been frantically finger-spelling, "Dear God, this person is in way over her head!"

With less than two months, she needs to be in front of us every single day answering tough questions and articulating clearly the McCain/Palin solutions for our struggling nation. She needs to prove she is worthy to be second in command. Isn't that just common sense? To suggest otherwise is outrageous and self-defeating. We deserve so much better. Wake up.

Her attitude is great and I'd love for her to be the coach of my daughter's softball team, but her lack of policy knowledge (which was brought to light most dramatically by the Bush Doctrine question) is truly alarming. Actually, it's worse than a lack of knowledge - it's an apparent lack of interest. If she isn't able to be conversant with a news anchor about a critical element of America's foreign policy, how would she handle it if she became President and a crisis arose? Would she even understand what had caused the crisis in the first place?

"If Fascism Comes to America, It Will Be Wrapped in the Flag, Carrying the Cross." "That McCain was so easily "resurrected", is purely a function of adding the cross to the flag. It's that base, not Obama's lithe grace that conservatives at their own peril mistake for lack of substance and qualification. His change is more detailed than anyone since Clinton, but people who complain don't look. On the other hand McCain and Palin have--what details exactly? Tell me whose heads in the Republican Party will roll? The Delay crowd who partied all weekenc in St. Paul before the convention? Will there be a change in the Justice Department overseen by Governor Palin who insofar as anyone can tell doesn't just think hiring and firing should be based on electoral politics rather than competence, but personal vendettas rather than politics. Obama is not perfect, to be sure, and like Palin, he actually did take on the orthodoxy of his party in Chicago, only before it was popular to do so. His Rezco mistake can't be overlooked, but compared to the Keating 5 at the beginning of McCain's career, well, just how many banking deregulation scandals are you willing to put up with? And insofar as influence peddling, McCain has one of his chief campaign advisors a man who was recently a lobbyist for a foreign nation, whose influence comes right out of the mouth of Sarah Palin when she makes the astounding speculation that we may go to war with Russia. If you want to bring up Ayers and Wright, then we'll have to rehash the whole Viet Nam thing--do you really? because before Iraq it has been adjudicated by history as America's biggest foreigh policy debacle, which can be placed at the feet of both Democrats and Republicans; Ayers and the weathermen were widely renounced by members of the anti war movement, but his existence is contextualized by Goldwater's claim that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice on the right and Malcolm X's by any means necessary on the left. What's more it's been decades since the Viet Nam war; folks change. And Wright--at leaste his anger and bitterness may be better understood by the context of the plight of his pastorage, but my goodness, a serious investigation of the scarier aspects of Sarah Palin's ministry should fright the bejeebers out of any clearthinking independent. These people welcome a speaker who on religious grounds says that Palestinian terrorist attacks are God's way of punishing the Jews for failing to convert to Christianity.

palin is appealing but she has lied through her teeth. unlike bill clinton she hasn't created enough fog for plausible deniability.
anyway can someone please explain this nonsense of only being comfortable with a pol if we can drink with them. admittedly obama is a bit on the dry side(like bill clinton) but should a person be forced to play down their stellar academic achievements as he is?

I agree with one poster here that Sarah Palin is charming, affable and definitely a woman you would enjoy sitting down and having a good girl talk with. That said, I don't believe she's VP material.

As for the fact that Obama's support seems weak in light of the gains made by the McCain campaign, it is a miracle that Obama was in the lead. Remember, Democrats nominated a black guy named Barack Hussein Obama.

I believe the McCain/Palin ticket has peaked and will slowly begin to deflate. As Palin's troopergate comes to the fore, the debates begin and we all realize, sadly, that however much we may like Sarah Palin, electing her VP is not the appropriate way to show it. This is not American Idol.

You "dig" her? What puerile nonsense. Do you have values, ideas? Or you'll just vote for any skirt out there, as long as its not Hilary Clinton. This is the problem with being a right-wing tool; the marching orders are so quickly and drastically countermanded, it's hard to know what the slogan of the day is.

Talk about patronizing. Since when is the criteria for judging a candidate for office whether she is "enjoyable" and "appealing"? It's great that you "want her to do better," kind of like a nice girl trying out for the soccer team. But come on. Why are you "enthusiastic" about a candidate you know nothing about? Just because she's on your team?

The bizarre and slavish reaction to Palin from the far right shows what happens when you inject the faith that should be reserved for matters of -- well, faith -- into the political arena. That nagging feeling you are sensing is your judgment. Use it before it is too late.

hmmm, the cult of personality as election tool. "I like her, so I wish she was my leader." I guess that's the "low information" voting bloc speaking. infantile.

and BTW, anyone who still believes in the Mr. Smith Goes To Washington myth, that sarah palin will charge into washington and change things from the ground up, is a fool. her vast experience, executive or otherwise, does not support this delusion. she has made friends with the thousands of alaskans who receive
annual payouts, $33oo.oo this year!, enemies of almost everyone else.