EDITORIAL: McCain-Palin and the women's vote

It is a testament to Sarah Palin's gravitas and experience that in the press she, the bottom of her ticket, seems to be running against the top of the Democrat ticket, and coming out ahead. I just saw Obama getting interviewed by Bill O' Reilly. Oh my God. He seemed like a recent High School graduate in his immaturity, lack of confidence in his own anwsers, vague, lacking in experience, or knowledge, you name it. This is not someone who any preparation whatever in how to run a government or a country.

Please. She had a good speechwriter. None of you know her. The first time 99 percent of you saw her was when she read that speech from teleprompters. And that speech was written way before the speechwriter knew McCain was going to pick a woman. My vote for McCain's VP is his speechwriter. Speechwriter for Vice President! Speechwriter for Vice President!

I think Rush Limbaugh is right about the polls when he said they are conducted by liberals and they just want to scare people as he mentioned on the air on Thursday 9/4/08. If the pollsters are really liberals then we can understand why they have been so wrong on election days. As for the teleprompter, reports have shown the teleprompter was not working properly for most of the convention including Gov. Palin's speech.

mcleangirl: Palin's speech mentioned her personal accomplishments as well as her family, so how could it have been written before she was chosen by McCain? And how would you know anyway? Besides, it wasn't just the speech itself but the way in which it was delivered. And that teleprompter wasn't working properly, but you couldn't tell because she never faltered. She hit a home run with that speech. And FYI, ALL politicians have speechwriters, including Obama. I suppose you thought his speech was wonderful. Your ridiculous comment belies your political naivete.

WELL...this sums it all...Women, Independent former Obama supporter who would rather vote with someone who I do not agree with on social issues, just because at least he is pretty straight forward and honest. McCain does get the whole picture and at his age, is not in it for his career. Obama made one too many flip-flops and betrayed the very people who supported him in the first place. Who will be betray next..for his own sake and not we the people. Plus honestly, his wife makes me angry. Egomaniact. EWWWWW. Followed by the idiot of the VP, just shows a HUGE lack of wisdom. All combined..he lost me and McCain won..plus his VP, I like her, even if I disagree with her. This demoncratic nonsence that she is not experienced enough..PLEASE>>>> we are smarter than that. Just look at the facts. If you are going to throw up those editorial, then we have to return to reviewing Obama whose responsbible track record is not favorable. He has "managed" nothing where money counts. Choosing instead to "just get along". That is a reciepe for nothing to happen. When he was given responsbility as a senator, seems he decided not to vote most of the time...that is in the record. Good speaker...but his lack of substance is really showing through as of late. So the former support has come back down to earth, and realized he was too good to be true. Indepedent women voter from Los Angeles

OH..and mcleangirl. I you trying to tell me that Obama does NOT have a speech writer???? What has that got to do with anything. Just look at the facts and the record: 1) What position did he manage money? 2) Did he run any companies and make profitable 3) What positions, other than Senator, has he held were he put any laws into place? 4)Why does he change his mind on major issues so often? 5)Why is he constantly associated with individuals who are questionable? 6)Who paid for his education at Harvard??...Scholarship, who did he have to work for it? 7)What position has he ever been responsible for managing other to deliever on a product or service? 8)Why does he think taxes are the solution to everything?

Did the author interview anyone besides Hillarycrats? It's interesting that when the author talked about Palin it was sterile statistics but when the author talked about the opposition the author conducted personal interviews. This is similar to Lanny Davis's lull them with patronization and undermine them with false objectivity articles.

"This is the lowest vote of confidence in a vice presidential selection since Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle joined George H.W. Bush in 1988." And who won that election? Oh, that's right, Bush and Quayle won that election! So much for the polls.

Mcleangirl: As you must know, Obama's speechwriters have been working with Ted Sorensen. It is no mistake that Obama's message sounds reminiscent of Kennedy. Kennedy's speechwriter is helping write his speeches. Google "Obama speech writers kennedy" and see what comes up. It also explains why, without the teleprompter, Obama becomes a hesitant, babbling idiot. He is an empty suit! You also must know by now that Palin made much of her speech by memory since the teleprompter got way out in front due to all the uproarous applause. She knows well where she stands so a written speech is merely for reminders. Finally, It was not written by Schmidt. It was written partially by Matthew Scully and some by Palin herself. That is more than Obama ever did. That twit Biden, on the other hand, simply plagiarized from Neil Kinnock (or maybe his speechwriter did, but does that relieve Biden of the responsibility for it?).

It is obvious- Palin shores up the base and McCain should make promises to somewhat-uninformed, low-income and minority voters that are in the middle. It's the most sensible path to victory. So WHY, someone tell me, is the campaign meeting with the Log Cabin Republicans? Are they trying to splinter the base? We get so much mileage out of the simple word "San Francisco", and this guy is trying to dilute the power of that strong talking point. it doesn't make sense- this campaign needs focus now that the base is secure with Palin!

There are wide spread doubts that Obama is ready for the job too. That's why he picked Biden. mccleangirlt - That puts two Democrats that have both been proved to plagiarize speeches on the same ticket. Speeches are "just words". Sometimes they are "just words" that have been lifted from somebody else. dskurth - The answer to a number of your questions can be traced to Obama's cocaine days. Lots of money to manage in the delivery of that "product".

I'm really struggling to understand what John McCain stands for. I've admired his courage in the past, but he is filled with so many contradictions, I'm confused by him. He spent the first year of his campaign arguing passionately about the virtues of experience and why in "dangerous world" a President must have experience. Yet, he selected an inexperienced womam to be his VP? He has advertised himself throughout two presidential campaigns as the straight talker, yet he says Sarah Palin has "executuve experience," has been "commander in Chief" of her home state's national guard, has foreign policy experience based on her "proximity to Russia." This is the most rediculous spin I have ever heard from any politician since I've followed politics. He has said that his campaign is about "country first", yet how is picking an inexperienced governor, who was a mayor of a town of 6,100 only 18 months ago, putting country first when it is clearly "such a dangerous world? He has said that he will change the tone in Washington but he allocated nearly all of his second, third an fourth days of his convention to some of the harshest and most sarcastic attacks we have heard in the last eight years from either party. He says he is going to change Washington and throw the bums out, yet it is the Republicans, of which he is a member, who have been in power throughout recent memory. He says that he loves America and learned from his darkest experience how special it is, yet he mocks its most fundamental virtue: freedom. In other countries people who organize get beaten with a stick if not shot. America is what it is because we tolerate freedom to improve one's own lot. Community Organizing is an expression of freedom. How does mocking community organizing demonstrate your love of freedom? He has always been the optimist that says we can do this because we are America. Yet, the cynicism coming from his campaign today is stunning. I honestly can't understand his campaign. It is run by complete morons. I mean the guy has spent over thirty years slowly building a unique reputation for independence, straight talk and courage, and he is just giving up on it in front of everybody. It is so sad to see. It really is.

As I have said all along, picking Palin was done to shore up the conservative base, and it worked. Will she convince women voters of all stripes that she is their champion? I have to tell you, I find that insulting. It's identity politics. Would you ask a man if he would vote for a man because he is a man, a sort of champion? Not me. I would hope people look deeper than gender, or race etc, as a prerequisite for political support. If people vote on such characteristics, then they are indeed very shallow. Jim http://www.the-right-guy.com

To Dempsey: It sounds like you are struggling to understand a lot of things. To say that 18 months of experience as a govenor is not executive experience suggests that you do not know what the word 'executive' means. To state that McCain's assessment of Palin's experience is the most ridiculous spin you've ever heard suggests that you have not heard Obama's counter argument viz. that his executive experience derives from 19 months of "running his own presidential campaign". As for community organizing, there were twice as many Americans killed in South Chicago (the community Obama "organized") in Aug. 2008 as Americans killed in Iraq during the same time period. If you Move On/Kos folks are going to fill blogs, you should stick to talking points you do understand.

To Riroll2- I'm an independent who supported Reagan. I confess I didn't vote for W in 2004. He didn't convince me. The idea that I'm a Move on/Kos "type" would be laughed at by my conservative friends, especially after hearing my pro business views. I'm criticizing the campaign that McCain is running, not him as a person. His campaign is betting that a fired up base plus women wins, but he sold himself out in the process, which offends independents like me. We see the contradictions, we see the Palin pick as flimsy, and what we really want to hear about is issues, not character or narrative politics. McCain can't run a credible campaign on change as a Republican. And when he tries to adjust his message back to "experience in dangerous times," the Palin choice just simply undermines him. This has nothing to do with Obama, it is simply a critique of how he is presenting himself. Bush won in 2004 because voters knew where he stood. Kerry lost because he was too inconsistent. McCain can't afford to make the same mistake and I'm affraid that is what he is doing. Now, having said that, the wild card is Palin. She is not a good pick for the country but politically, you never know. She could catch fire with women. My guess is that the previous commenter is right, she doesn't carry over beyond the base of conservative women. In any event, you would be wise to open your eyes and look at this objectively instead of just dismissing any criticism of the Republican campaign as crazy liberals.