Wow. McCain's campaign now confirms that it's Palin. This is a really interestin campaign.

I much prefer an experienced president and a vice-president learning on the job - to the other way round!

Excellent post, Dafydd.

I also believe that Governor Palin would be the antidote to Barack Scoop-a-handful-off-the-top Obama's (I'm told now defunct) fifty-state strategy. Her mere presence will keep the red states red and maintain the loyalty of the base.

For example, if he demands, "When have you ever dealt with a foreign leader, voted on going to war, or held committee hearings on a proposed treaty?" then she can respond, "When have you ever met a payroll, balanced a budget, or authorize a new oil pipeline?" She'll get the cheer -- not he.

Great post...you 'nailed it' throughout, and I especially like that above quote!

I had a gut-feeling that McCain would select a woman...because it was time, if he could find the right one. He did, and I am thrilled about it!

Talk about "Change"...THIS woman sounds like she could OWN the issue of C-h-a-n-g-e.

Anyway, I had just found out, and came here to see if you had anything on it - great job!

I watched her acceptance speech. Best speech of the campaign so far. The "Barracuda" is in the lagoon.

Jindal is busy right now. He's got to nail his performance on Gustav.

Palin seems to me to be a good pick. Perhaps even sublime.

Speaking of firsts has a Union Member ever been even nominated to this high and office

I am thinking of getting together with some musician friends and doing some editing on the Song

Look For the Union Label ;-)

Look for the union label
When you are buying a coat, dress or blouse.
Remember somewhere our union's sewing
our wages going to feed the kids and run the house,
We work hard but who's complaining.
Thanks to the I.L.G. we're paying our way.
So, always look for the union label,
it says we're able
to make it in the U.S.A

Look For
The Union Label
When you go to Vote
This Year

Look For
The Union Label
Vote for someone
Who might hear

She's been
Working Hard
Raising 5 Kids
Just like You

So Look for
The Union Label
When you go to Vote
This Year

SISTER PALIN!
SISTER PALIN!!
SISTER PALIN!!!

Hmm I am wonder if I should repalce
the ending

When you go to Vote
This Year

with

Do What's Best
For the USA!

?

any feedback ;-)

Very good post. I am watching the attacks go out across the air waves and the net. Some are quite interesting. Rahm Emanuel is trying to paint this as act of paniced desperation. I see it as the precise opposite. The safe pick would have been Romney or Pawlenty.

McCain is doing incredibly well up to this point - and in consideration of the Bradley effect, he might be doing very well. I think that freed him up to do what he really wants to do - shake up the establishment and the Republican party. McCain is a true fiscal convservative and a truly ethical person.

This womans story is so compelling, she might have just walked out of the pages of a book. She's alread united the base - the social cons are in a state of bliss - and she will draw in some of the Hillary crowd. Moreover, she frees McCain from fighting a rearguard action with the base and allows him to concentrate on getting the indepenents and the Reagan Democrats.

Lastly, your retorts to the experience charge are dead on point. Indeed, when you sit down and look at it, she has more relevant experience than the top of the Democratic ticket. I just heard a superb line from Mike Huckabee. She is more prepared to be President if something were to happen to John McCain on Day 1 than Obama is if something happens to McCain before then.

I think the maverick just hit a home run. Obama is off the news cycle. The next one to two weeks will be all Palin all the time as the left is trying to paint her as the second coming of Dan Quayle. There is zero chance of that succeeding - but the real danger for the left is going overboard and really, really, really pissing off the Hillobots. And given the amount of rabid froth already coming out of the left, that is a real possibility.

Oh, and forgot to add the comparison. Obama buddied up to Rezko. Palin got people like that kicked out of office. I haven't heard the talking heads make that comparison yet, but I expect it will make a really good McCain ad in a month or so.

I believe Palin is an excellent pick. Her resume is 5 pages whilst Obama's isn't even a page. Obama talks about 'change', while Palin has actually implemented it. I've not really been in McCain's camp because I don't believe he is conservative enough, but his ad campaigns are short, sweet, 100% facutal and correct while also entertaining! Now with this pick, I can change my vote from 'against Obama/Biden' to 'for McCain/Palin'. McCain made an excellent choice IMHO.

Palin is not known and is a risk. But that would have been true of any maverick pick. The Powerline guys are just revealing themselves to be country club Republicans. Reagan Republicans are returning.

McCain/Palin is what we have to go with.The alternative is unthinkable.All of this was said about Reagan in the 80's. He was called Hollywood and other names I forget at the moment.If I remember he did a hell of a job.

Well, there was this one guy nominated some years back who was not only a union member, but he had even been the national president of his entire union.

He worked hard to rid his union of communists who were trying to assert ideological control over the organization and the industry in which he worked.

His name was Ronald Reagan.

Dafydd, I hope you don't mind: I posted this at Powerline forum:

With all due respect, the Powerliners are entirely missing the point here. (Pretty much everyone else is, too.)

1) Of course, it did improve Gov. Palin's attractiveness (as a candidate!) that she is a woman. That does not make her an affirmative action choice. It's no different from choosing Mitt Romney because he might bring in Massachusetts - an attempt to target a particular demographic. Perhaps McCain decided that women are more important then Massachusetts.

2) Here's the puzzle: Why are religious conservatives so excited? By choosing Palin, McCain has managed to make Romney supporters very happy, [i]and [/i]make Huckabee supporters very happy. They are happier than if their own candidate was the one chosen! How is that possible?

3) The answer: [i]McCain has given the exciting part of his campaign over to a religious conservative.[/i] It's true that he will be president later, and Palin will be only the vice-president. But right now, the fascination of the campaign is wrapped around her, not him.
That would never have happened if Romney or Huckabee had signed up to carry McCain's water. It wouldn't even have happened if they had been the candidate!

This soccer/hockey mom is showing conservative values in a way that no man could possibly have done. We are awfully proud of her. And we're not too afraid of the "vetting" that the media is doing, though it's sad that it must be so hard on them. We know that she and her family are human. We just think that they're really good.

Look at what happened when her daughter turned up pregnant. The clueless liberals' reaction: Ah, now the evangelicals will turn on her! And if they don't - what hypocrites!! Grr.
The religious conservatives' reaction: How difficult for them. But good - let clueless liberals will see how decent people deal with difficult personal issues. [i]We [/i]all knew that there would be a unanimity of response from religious conservative leaders, loving and supportive.

"Conservatives don't respect women." Oh yes, we do, a lot more than you-all seem to! We have no problem with a female VP, if she's qualified. (Personally, I'd rather see her as president than McCain, but that's just me.)

It seems to me that the Palin choice has the potential of doing more than solidify the base, though it certainly has done that - except for the guys from Powerline! It has the potential to remind the American moderate where his roots and sympathies lie.

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