“I gotta ask - if Obama had selected Palin, wouldn't it be hailed as a bold, extraordinary choice?”
Zach Scott, Mike L, Jay Tannenbaum and 9 other people liked this
Nice one Ontario - Kyle Lacy
No it would have been shredded worse than this one is. The media bias against Republicans is a myth. It is far to the right rather than the left. - Brad Nickel
not by this lil lady. - Anna Haro
I'd still be saying WTF was he thinking - Michael W. May
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Are you kidding? Bill O'Reilly would had done something inappropriate in his pants adding up the experience numbers and the who baby fiasco (fiascos?) would have wound up on the Inquirer with questions on whether Barack was the father. - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)
No, it would be seen as it is now - a confusing, overly manipulative one. - Steve Isaacs
I think there would be a lot of Obama fanboys defending him if he had. - Lindsey
Obama hired himself someone more experienced than himself. McCain hired someone with far less experience than himself. I know what I think of bosses who hire that way. I usually try to get away, and fast. - Robert Scoble
no. - Sam Harrelson
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Robert: well said! - Sally Church
Elections are rarely about fanboys, the hard base (though with this pick, it is becoming so). It's about the grey area voters. - Michael W. May
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Uh, no. Because on the issues that matter they differ almost 100%. - AJ Kohn
I agree Michael, I was just agreeing with the OP. I do think ultimately though he would have went down in flames the way McCain is. - Lindsey
Sorry to disappoint, Ontario, but I wouldn't be happy if Obama had selected Palin. I agree with Robert. - Nathaniel Payne
Following Robert's logic though McCain would have to pick Methuselah - Brian Sullivan
*nod* I understood, Lindsey, I just had to put the coherent thought down whilst I had it ;) - Michael W. May
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yes it would have been hailed as bold new choice, a new directoion outside of typical washington especially by the same people who are posting such negative posts about palin now. - Jonathan Jesse
I think a better analogy would be if he had selected Deval Patrick, first term governor of MA. Patrick had no prior political experience when he was elected. And they are philosophical soul mates after all. That choice would have had the Obamatrons shouting 'forward thinking, original, fresh' yadda yadda yadda. - Peter Simard
Jonathan: can you pass me the bong? Thanks. - Robert Scoble
++Robert... hahaha - Anna Haro
wow.. low blow by Scoble..haha - Kyle Lacy
ooohhhhh . . . Obamatrons. I'll have to remember that :) And yes . . . i'm a democrat. - Lindsey
The same problem with Palin would still exist and the issues that picking Biden were meant to solve would still exist. Besides there are plenty of women in the Republican Party that were far more qualified. Came with far better credentials. - Paul
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If Obama had picked a VP who was a Christian fundamentalist, a creationist, a book banner, a secessionist, someone with an unmarried pregnant teenage daughter, and someone who thought the Iraq War was a holy mission ordained by God, everyone would have thought he had lost his mind. Is everyone here fully aware of just how crazy Sarah Palin's beliefs are? - Sean McBride
+1 Sean - Lindsey
I love the smell of Republican desperation in the morning.... All these terrified posters and politicians are freaking. Gigs up boys and girls. Bye bye bye... - Brad Nickel
Sean: you seem to think that Sarah's beliefs are out of touch with much of America. I guarantee you they are NOT. To lots of people in America she is just like them. We aren't going to win this one by calling them all crazy. That'll just encourage them. - Robert Scoble
No, it wouldn't. - steplow = Steve Lowe
Robert, the war is joined. The Republicans' only chance is a religious war and that began with the Palin pick and last night. It will get bloody. They are cornered. Also, a majority of Americans support progressive values, we just have to make sure they get off their asses and vote. - Brad Nickel
What I can't figure out: why would anyone who supports religious censorship, book banning, oppressive theocracy and similar policies advocated by Sarah Palin and her fellow fundy cult members be attracted to Friendfeed and the Internet? - Sean McBride
Sean, I would assume that Ontario's question assume that Obama would pick the liberal/progressive equivilent to Palin. Which is why I think basic criticism that is beng applied to Palin would still be their as well as the criticisms that are already there of Obama. - Paul
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Sean: there are plenty of fundamentalist Christians here. They might not self identify, but they are here. Back to my Berlin experience, many of those who did the same thing in Germany were educated. Who burned the books in Berlin? College students. - Robert Scoble
Robert -- to pick just one issue: a large majority of Americans think the Iraq War was a huge mistake. They don't believe it was a holy mission ordained by God. Once they realize what Sarah Palin has really said, and what she really thinks about a host of issues, they are going to be appalled. Most Americans don't share the beliefs of religious fundamentalists and extremists who hate basic American values as defined in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. - Sean McBride
Also, it says something of Obama's judgment that he *didn't* select a leftist mirror-image of Palin. - steplow = Steve Lowe
+1 Sean. I am really trying not to engage in political kerfuffle on the social webs but Palin is nuts. - Marci Maleski
Robert: if there are religious fundamentalists here on Friendfeed, apparently they don't have the guts to defend their beliefs in fair and open debate. They must be stealth fundies. In any case, my bet is that most Americans will back away from Sarah Palin once they realize just how extreme her beliefs are. - Sean McBride
If he had passed over Hillary Clinton (the way McCain passed over Kay Bailey Hutchison, Condi Rice, Olympia Snow, and more) to pick a woman so vastly inferior as a candidate, there is NO WAY either side would have seen it as a bold choice. They would have thought he'd lost his marbles. - Cheryl Rice
Cheryl Rice you hit the nail right on the head! - Paul
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I'm probably what you would call a religious fundamentalist, or at least a social conservative, and I do have the guts to defend my beliefs in fair and open debate, but I don't really feel like wasting my time. I'm not likely to change many minds, or my own, and I just don't feel like its worth saying much about this election. It's all a lot of hot air anyway. I doubt much is going to change because no one has sufficient majority in congress or enough of a mandate from the general populace. - Justin Long
I will say that while I appreciate many of her views I do wish McCain had picked someone with a bit more experience. On the other hand, doesn't she have more executive experience than Biden, McCain OR Obama? - Justin Long
no - guy
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Justin, She was the mayor of a town of about 9000, Alaska if were a county in the U.S. would be the 86th largest. Shes been governor for about a year and a half. If your were looking for executive experience Condi Rice or Christine Todd Whitman would have have filled that bill far better. - Paul
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Left leaning people are going to say no to this. Right leaning people are going to say yes to this. Nice litmus test! - Mike L
Justin Long: You are a creationist? You believe in censoring books that disagree with your religious views? You believe that the Iraq War was a holy mission ordained by God? You want to throw out the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights? - Sean McBride
selecting somebody under investigation for corruption is always bold. but it's a poor choice, no matter who picked her. - eric mortensen
And if he wanted to make a bold choice with executive experience he could gone Carly Fiorina. - Paul
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@Paul: You're missing one bit of experience that Palin has that Fiorina lacks: Palin has won elections. Palin has won elections BIG. The attacks on Palin demonstrate that the Obama campaign is scared of her. - Rob Sterling
@Brian Sullivan - Was Methuselah an option? - leigh himel
@Sean: Can you point me to material that shows Palin's book banning and Iraq War is a holy mission ordained by God? Both are truly frightening and if this is her viewpoint I'll be even more disappointed than I already am. - AJ Kohn
AJ -- if you do a search on my feed for "palin," pointers to the Iraq War and book banning material should turn up near the top of the results. Let me know if you have trouble finding the links, and I will repost them in this thread. - Sean McBride
Seeing them both. I want to know more about the specific books she wanted banned. Though pressuring the librarian to quit if she didn't fully support shows further evidence of her abuse of power. There's a good chance it's from this list: http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/ban... - AJ Kohn
AJ - I would love to see the specific books too. What's not in dispute: she has a proven history of abusing power for questionable reasons. The "God" rhetoric with regard to the Iraq War fits the George W. Bush template to a tee. - Sean McBride
Better question: did Obama consider anyone who only had less than 2 years of holding a major office? - Dan Ciruli
To all - impressive response! - Ontario Emperor
Peter Simard - I agree that Deval Patrick would have been a better comparison. - Ontario Emperor
Sean, Robert, et al - don't assume that censorship is confined to the far right. There are many people who are not of the far right that would prefer that certain words be removed from the public conversation. Agreed? - Ontario Emperor
Similarly with book banning. Movements to ban books are free of political limitations. This point was made forcefully to me in a graduation address (not mine) given by a Samuel Clemens professor of literature. - Ontario Emperor
Ontario -- Sarah Palin threatened to fire a librarian as part of a campaign to ban books that she found offensive to her religious sensibilities. Perhaps some Democrats have engaged in similar activities, and who have reached the level of being a VP nominee. Can you name any? I can't. Face it: religious fundamentalists and extremists have taken over the Republican Party and destroyed it. - Sean McBride
Sean, I was going to note Al Gore's ties to the PMRC, but that was a bipartisan effort, not just confined to the Democrats. Also, this was private censorship rather than government-imposed censorship, which is pretty much the same thing, but still different. I explore this in my recent post at the http://mrontemp.blogspot.com/2... URL, which also looks at this thread, the Risley thingie, Jesse Jackson, and Michael Scanlon. I'm allowed to observe; I went to Mulhouse. - Ontario Emperor
Ontario - The PMRC called not for censorship of books at libraries (especially odious), but for putting warning labels on albums with adult language (not a policy I support). http://tinyurl.com/gt9hk Not censorship - big difference. There really is no equivalent to Sarah Palin on the left. - Sean McBride
Ontario -- interesting essay on your blog, which I just read. Generally I am a free speech absolutist. But I certainly respect those who speak out and condemn hate speech, especially genocidal hate speech. Should private groups have a right to organize boycotts against practitioners of hate speech? Probably. But answering hate speech with reasonable speech is much more effective than any kind of censorship, in my opinion. Robert Scoble is certainly free to block anyone he chooses for whatever reason -- that doesn't remotely approach censorship. - Sean McBride
http://www.snopes.com/politics... Sarah Palin never banned books! - ⓃⓄⒶⒽ ⒹⒶⓋⒾⒹ ⓈⒾⓂⓄⓃ
some more info from those right wing guys at CNN http://xrl.us/PalinOpEdonCNN - ⓃⓄⒶⒽ ⒹⒶⓋⒾⒹ ⓈⒾⓂⓄⓃ
