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Saturday, September 06, 2008
The McCain-Palin Ticket Part 7: Democrats
Or California Democrats and Sarah Palin  I live in the bay area and I have a lot of friends who are democrats. I know a handful of republicans, but most of them know better than to speak up in political conversations. We all know it is not going to get us anywhere. I found the best way to go is ask democrats questions and make them explain the way they think. I have been hearing them talk a lot about Sarah Palin. I find myself often explaining that the democratic party here in California is not the same as the democratic party in other states. I have to remind people that when I was in high school Pennsylvania elected a pro-life democratic governor in Robert Casey. Pennsylvania currently has a pro-life democratic senator in Bob Casey Jr. In the last week I have heard and read a lot of those California Democrats react to Sarah Palin. When I hear the reaction there is an extra level furor and anger about Sarah Palin. After the convention speech, I feel that there was a much bigger reaction that their would have been if a man would have made this speech. I think there is something going on here. I want to know what other people think. I want to know if there is more anger because she is a woman. A few people I have asked have admitted that they are angry about that. They feel both that there is a level of pandering on John McCain's part. Will Democrats be upset if the Republicans beat them to the punch putting a woman in the White House or at least a heartbeat away from the White House? It appears that Sarah Palin has energized both the Republicans and the Democrats. She has upped the fund raising of both parties. After the speech at the convention this race got more interesting. Labels: Bob Casey JR, California, democrats, election, politics, Robert Casey, Sarah Palin, tag overload
- Rich,
8:03 AM
Friday, September 05, 2008
The Speeches and the Facts
 Now that both conventions are over, we can look at the speeches and the facts. I have seen a lot of twitter posts and blog posts about the facts around the Sarah Palin convention speech. It should not be surprising that she is the only person who has stretched the truth. You should also check out the fact checks on the Obama, McCain and Biden speeches. I think it is really cool that this information is on the web. Every voter should check it out. Labels: Barack Obama, election, Joe Biden, John McCain, Sarah Palin
- Rich,
3:06 PM
Thursday, September 04, 2008
The McCain-Palin Ticket Part 5: Small Town
 Was I the only person who woke up this morning humming John Melloncamp's "Smalltown" after seeing Sarah Palin's speech last night. You might not agree with the content of the speech, but the speech did make it clear why John McCain picked her. After the speech picking Sarah Palin seems like a much smarter pick than it did a week ago Sarah Palin did a lot to cash in on the idea of being from a small town. Her speech went a long way to say "I am more like you than I am like them." The them being the inside Washington types and the costal media. She went a far way to define who she is. She went very far to say that is who she is and who she will fight for. Many people I know who live in small towns feel very alienated from the major American cities. I can see Sarah Palin playing well in these small towns. I hear lots of people in the Bay Area use the term "fly over states" and that is exactly who she is trying to appeal to. She went as far as name checking the states that might be in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Minnesota. These are the places where she can make a difference. She is not meant to pick up New York or California Hillary Supporters. She is meant to pick up some of the places where Hillary did well and Obama did poorly. According to the CNN Electoral Map, these are places where Why did John McCain pick her, because he has a gender gap problem. More women are democrats and John McCain is not going to win without closing that gap. He does not need to close the gap everywhere. The CNN political map points out some of the places Palin can make the difference. Yes John McCain knew what he was doing when he picked Sarah Palin. I do not think she was his first pick. I do not think he thinks she is the best choose to be President if something happens to him. The VP is not about the best person to be president because they cannot be president if they cannot help win the election. Labels: Barack Obama, convention, election, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, politics, republican, Sarah Palin, speech, tag overload
- Rich,
3:20 PM
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
The McCain-Palin Ticket Part 4: The Media
 Photo by buddhakiwi There is part of me that things that John McCain picking Sarah Palin is a comment about how the media covers the election. In the four days since she was selected I have hard the media say a lot of things about Sarah Palin. I have not heard anything about the job she is doing as governor. I have not heard what kind of bills she is signed into law. I have not heard and analysis about which campaign promises she kept. I have not heard anything about how the state agencies are running under her administration. So far from the media I have got four stories over and over again, Her Bio, The scandal with the Public Safety Commissioner, her daughter is pregnant, and she lacks experence. The problem with the 24 hour media culture is that they end up covering less and not more. CNN only runs about 22 minutes worth of stories all day long. MSNBC does a little bit better with about 42 minutes of stories all day long. it is still not much. Since Barack Obama picked Joe Biden I have not seen one story on the television news looking at his record in the Senate. I get high level overviews about who is his and what he stands for. For this reason alone I can see what McCain picked Sarah Palin. The media is not going to check what she really did as governor McCain gets to write that story. People can say she is inexperienced, but they do not have the job experence information to back it up. I think that the media is a big reason John McCain picked Sarah Palin. Labels: election, John McCain, politics, Sarah Palin
- Rich,
3:21 PM
Monday, September 01, 2008
The McCain-Palin Ticket Part 3: The Blank Slate
I think that Sarah Palin has a very interesting quality. She is almost a blank slate on most issues. Salon did a piece where she has no record on Iraq. It is hard to see where she stands on any international issue. She has very little of a record. People will be searching all over for clips of her saying anything. I wonder if this will allow her to write her own ticket when it comes to her stances on different subjects. Labels: election, Iraq, Sarah Palin, war
- Rich,
3:20 PM
Sunday, August 31, 2008
The McCain-Palin Ticket Part 2: Qualifications
I have been reading a lot about people hitting McCain for picking Sarah Palin because she is not qualified. I have seen lists of republicans more qualifed than Sarah Palin. When I read these lists again after they remove everyone over 60 off this list. When I saw her on the news her age stood out to me. I think age is playing a big part in this election. This pick to me said something clear. John McCain is worried about having two white guys running against the Obama-Biden ticket. It would look bad for the idea that John McCain represents the status quo. I think McCain see that he will not win that way. I think that an old white woman might still give that feeling of the status quo. I also want to see this list without centrist Republican candidates. If McCain picked Christie Todd Whitman he would get killed by the conservative wing of the party. That might be enough to get those voters to stay home. I know that this leave Condoleezza Rice on the list. While I like Condoleezza Rice. She might be the Smartest person in the current White House. Nothing would say "Third Bush Term" more that Condoleezza Rice for Vice President. John McCain is More of the Same was a major part of the Democratic Primary. I think that message is currently making head way with the voters. If you look at the Democratic Primary there was the message that experence is not important. People what change more than they want experence. If they do this might be the right pick. To be honest, I am holding my opinion on Sarah Palin until the Convention and her speech. The left has really gone after her for this pick. I think there was no good pick for VP for McCain. Every door had a tiger behind it for him. There is a good post about 6 things picking Sarah Palin says about John McCain. I think this Labels: Condoleezza Rice, election, John McCain, politics, Sarah Palin, tag overload
- Rich,
3:27 PM
Saturday, August 30, 2008
The McCain-Palin Ticket Part 1: The strategy
 I was thinking about John McCain picking Sarah Palin for his vice president. Everyone's first reaction is that he is just doing this to pick up some of the Hillary Clinton supporters. Her first speech even mention the 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling. The press has called this move everything from pandering to brilliant. Many of the hard core Hillary supporters will not go for this. I do not expect them to. There are still a group of PUMA's out there that are not happy after the convention. Bill Clinton became president by appealing to Centrist democrats. It is those democrats that McCain is going after with Sarah Palin. Yes, some former Hillary supporters who will go for this. The key is that not that many have to go for McCain for this to be effective. You just need to swing some in the battle ground states. This pick is not for the San Francisco-Feminist Hillary Supporters. This pick is for the Rural Ohio and PA democrats that are members of the NRA. I am surprised that more democrats do not realize this. Labels: Bill Clinton, democrats, election, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, politics, Sarah Palin
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