blzrul

I'll give you two points for that one. Gee I remember George Bush saying he was going to elevate the Presidency (after the sleazy Bubba years). Looks like McCain has other ideas.

Republican Family Values. Gotta LOVE it. Hey where did all our resident wingnuts go?

"If it ain't Dutch, it ain't much." (family motto)

Since when do people who run governments suddenly know what they're doing? And how are you defining "executive"? "Operations" experience is a LOT more important than executive. Executives can give the orders but its the operational groups who either make it work, or push back on the executive to get a grip. Governors don't have absolute power. They have responsibility to work with the various operational groups to meet certain requirements. Most governorships these days are quite weak. There are a few things, like executin and ribbon cuttin, that are theirs alone, but more often the power is distributed throughout the staff and the various other functional agencies.

Sooo. She sent herself a letter ostracizing herself for running a business without paying the requisite governmental fees etc? Well, I was wrong about her! Even though it's only ONE failed business - instead of a string of them - with a failed car wash that she couldn't bail herself out of, she's right up there with Dumbya, whose dad and all his oil buddy friends ultimately couldn't save all Junior's businesses from going under. Attagirl Sarah! You do the women of America proud.

I never believed anything that appeared in the Enquirer...but on the other hand they were right about John Edwards. I guess illicit sex is their forte. So who knows? I will admit to being surprised that the girl was so far along and no wedding, because wingnuts are so big on the idea that a baby born out of wedlock is ... a bastard. Technically true, but I can't see blaming the baby.

Mayors have city councils.

Poor guy...his Veep's daughter is a scarlet woman and his Veep is even more of a wingnut than Cheney, with unsavory associations and pending investigation... Adding insult to injury, his choice for theme music is becoming so limited that pretty soon he's going to be stuck with bagpipes or perhaps those dogs that bark "Jingle Bells": In February John Mellencamp asked the McCain camp to stop using his songs at rallies and Jackson Browne recently initiated legal proceedings against the McCain campaign for the unauthorised use of his 1970s hit Running on Empty. Since the lawsuit, McCain has been using Tina Turner’s Simply the Best and Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline, originally written about Caroline Kennedy, the only surviving child of John F Kennedy. (Mr. McCain, you are NO John F Kennedy). I noted that Obama also got permission to use a Brooks & Dunn song. I was surprised as I thought they were big Bushistas ... either they've seen the error of their ways or they are true Repigs and happy to sacrifice their principles for the almighty dollar. In any event, if things get any worse for McCain...say an outbreak of salmonella, an errant tornado or whatnot ...I'll almost have to vote for him out of sympathy. Which is, perhaps, what he's looking for.

Did you mention she is a Pat Buchanan supporter? I can hear Pat Robertson and the neocon(stipated) wingnuts praising the Lord as we speak....

That will vary state to state and even city to city. Sometimes there's a County Executive who has more responsibility than a mayor. There are "strong city" models and more county-centric models. In literal terms, the mayor of has power over its residents and is responsible to deliver services, manage budgets etc . The Mayor can only ask for National Guard, the Gov can order them up. You could argue that the Mayor would make the call as to whether they were needed ... and ask the governor. In terms of complexity and ability to impact people's lives, I'd say that a mayor of a city of 600,000 people has to have more creativity, negotiation and management skills because cities all compete for resources which, by the time the state gets them, are already very scarce. Winguts denigrate small sovereign nations...such as Cuba (pop 11m+), Haiti (pop 6m), Costa Rica (3.5m)...etc, as being too small to be worthy of notice. Alaska's a beautiful place, no doubt about it, but in the grand scheme of things running a city of 9,000 people (2/3 smaller than the town in which I now live) and a state smaller than many smallish cities in America is not particularly impressive. Of course the bar for Repigs is quite low ... I guess only when you compare her with Bush she's almost mildly "qualified".

Big fish in a VERY small pond. Running a city and running a state have clear differences in terms of geography, but as long as there are people living there the challenges are comparable. Crime, poverty, transportation, infrastructure, etc...

Let's talk about "experience". The McSame camp asserts that Palin's executive experience running Alaska (population around 683k) for a bit makes her better qualified than Obama/Biden. Using that yardstick: why didn't McCain tap: Mayor of Washington DC (pop 588k) Mayor of Baltimore (637k) Mayor of Boston (599k) Mayor of Charlotte (671k) Mayor of Denver (588k) Mayor of El Paso (606k) Mayor of Ft. Worth (681k) Mayor of Memphis (674k) Mayor of Seattle (594k) Etc. Not making it up How about a little perspective?

I hate to break it to you dumbass, but those baby mamas are usually too young to vote...for anyone.

In the Northwest they start all their sentences with "So....". Drives me nuts.

What happened to The Wall? Surely those short little Mexicans couldn't climb over the wall carrying those big guns could they? If addicts could get prescriptions for their drugs and procure them cheaply at Rite Aid, this problem would go away.

He's 18 and his MySpace page is plastered all over the place. He'd better change his profile because while it does say he's in a relationship, it also clearly stated this morniing that he doesn't want kids. Oops.

And he eschewed the opportunity to join a private practice and make big bucks, instead taking his Ivy League degree and using it to help the community he lived in. What a novel idea. But, don't waste your breath here. These people don't care if soldiers die...if children starve...or anything else as long as their taxes don't go up.

Also don't forget to add Canada to her international experience. Even though I went to public schools, I know that Canada is next to Alaska.

I thought it was pathetic when the "best" the Repigs had to offer was Bush and Cheney. But THIS...oy. Given McCain's bad judgement (are we SURE he's not experiencing early Alzheimer's?) and his running mate's extremism, it looks like what we've got here folks is DEFINITELY Bush/Cheney, the Sequel. Only, probably, worse because neither one of these people seem stable. Bush is clueless, but consistent. Cheney is evil and slimy, but definitely predictable. These two? Talk about extremists. Of course that's the hallmark of this party now...real, mature and definitely all about the issues. Kind of like Karl Rove's saying Biden is a "blowhard doofuss". Nothing like leadership. And then, there's Grover Norquist. Now THERE is a man. Why is it that the misfits with no social skills who were probably bullied their whole lives join the GOP? Oh, that's not fair I guess, the ones who don't join the GOP get their guns and shoot up shopping malls and stuff. All you wingnuts must be very, very proud.

Naw, we're sitting on our butts and he's handing it to us? Why don't you go read some old threads on John Kerry etc. You'll feel better.

HA! Well you know, having illicit sex sometimes is cause for comment. Let's go to the John Edwards thread shall we? Here's a consenting adult who had sex outside marriage, his wife was aware of it, and he was pilloried for it. As a parent myself, I cannot imagine subjecting a child to the ridicule if it could be avoided. Unless this girl is a real loser, she's got to be embarrassed and wish the spotlight was not on her. And to know it's her own mother who put it there? Come on. That's not natural. Parents sacrifice for their child - I guess Palin figured if she passed up this opportunity she'd not get it again, and she decided her "career" is worth more than her child's. Wingnuts really have a problem with sex. I guess either they don't get it, or they're just plain bad at it.

This stuff does happen. But don't you wonder what kind of parents would LET their daughter be made a spectacle of, world wide? Surely Palin and McCain (if he really knew, which I doubt) realized that a 17-year old girl doesn't necessarily WANT her mistakes to be public knowledge. Unless of course they're really into that Scarlet Letter sh--. The latest story now is that the father's baby is the guy Palin wanted fired...and instead fired the guy who wouldn't fire him...so now she's under investigation for that. In fact, she's hired an attorney now...

Funny thing even the Washington State wingnuts are staying home. THEY in fact have been doing EVERYTHING they can to pretend they're not Republican. You have to read the teeny tiny fine print to determine which party they're from. Now they are calling it the "GOP Party". (sorta redundant) Again, the arrogance of the Repigs shines through. Although most Americans are slow-tops, they DO know that "Republican" and "GOP" are the same party. IF they don't, that explains a LOT.

No you think? So why the surprise? I still recall the day in Rochester when the Blizzard of the Millenium was on the way...they started releasing people from work at school at 10 am, in waves, to keep the highways clear. No bread on the shelves, a run on candles, etc. As I recall, about 3 flakes fell. Unfortunately they melted before the cameras could capture the full impact.

So here it is and we can stop speculating. Sooooo ... who's going to be honest and admit that if this was one of Joe Biden's kids (or Obama's, although they're too young) you'd be giving it all a pass? We'd be hearing about "bad parenting" etc. Hey the poor woman is too busy worrying about keeping Alaskan shores safe from Russia and wiping out polar bears to make room for oil derricks...when she's not consulting Wikipedia on the sly to find out (no kidding: she asked) what the VP's job entails.