GovCentral

I was on the fence about voting for McCain this time around (hes one of the few republicans I could vote for an not hate myself).  Adding Palin made it a really easy choice to get off the fence and vote Obama.

Nonetheless, for many of the same reasons you mentioned, her selection pleased me as well, as it will certianly make the race more interesting to watch.  There's nothing worse than a boring race where the two sides can't find enough negative ammunition about the other side to keep things interesting.

yes it always seems like the pot calling the kettle black back and forth.  i think palin was a great choice for mccain.  i think she is gonna be a tough cookie! 

Anyone else heard the theory that McCain has been planning to drop Palin since even before she was picked?  That the very short vetting process was deliberate in order to give him the excuse to drop her later, while still getting him to get a large increase from women and hardcore evangelicals which she would bring to the campaign and then allowing him to choose someone closer to his own views as his VP?

It would be great to have another civil debate again.  This time it would be between the VP candidates.  It would also be fantastic for McCain and Obama to state how they are going to do some of the things that they are promising.  This year's presidential race is promising to be interesting to watch.  Hopefully, it will show that there is someone running out there where people can definitely know who to vote for.

That is what I understand and especially now after Palin's speech the other night.  I'm surprised the Biden said he will only discuss the topics and will not go after her and her personal life.

....something caught in your throat there dude!? lol

...sounds like you need a Halls!

Tell it like it is sister....

I think it was on Chris Mathews, though it might not have been, but one of the guests said one of the best explanations I've heard in a long time.  She said that voters respond best when a politician talks about problems, because everyone can usually agree on the big problems.  What politicians desperately want to avoid is solutions to those problems, because no matter what solution you put forward you won't please everyone or even a majority.  Thus, what you end up with is politicians who constantly point out everything that is wrong with the world and what is wrong with their oponent's plan, but will virtually never actually specifiy what they themselves plan to do, or if they do they put it in the vaguest possible terms. 

The worst part is that for the most part even if they did specify what they planned on doing as President, very rarely will they actually be willing or able to implement those plans once they get into office.

Can't wait for Palin vs. Biden debate.

May God be praised that she changed his mind!  Palin makes a lot of people nervous.  Did you ever notice how she dresses?  She's dresses in feminine clothes -- skirts and suits, but she comes across as very confidant and assertive in her view points.  Very strong.  Very versatile.  My husband and I were talking last night how she knows how to dress.  Don't let the skirt fool you.

A woman in a skirt looks soft, feminine.  When Sarah Palin opens her mouth, she shows that she's much more than what she's wearing.  A woman wearing pants is treated differently.  It's saying that I can take on any person because I have been in a man's world and I can match you step for step.  Look at the difference between Audrey Hepburn and Katherine Hepburn.

I'm glad that we can agree to disagree.  What would you say if Hillary Clinton would have been chosen instead of Biden?  I have just as much respect for her as I do for Sarah Palin.  I'm just amazed about someone who came so quickly, from head of PTA to a governor to Alaska to possible VP.  She knows who she is just like Hillary Clinton. 

There are some men who wouldn't have any woman in White House because she's a woman.  Still, who we are still voting for is a presidential candidate.  Let's not assume that something might happen to either one of them.  No what if ...

By the way, didn't care for Carter's VP, either and he was a man.  Would he have been able to take over the office of President if needed? I'm glad we didn't find out.

peacebe says ...

A woman in a skirt looks soft, feminine.  When Sarah Palin opens her mouth, she shows that she's much more than what she's wearing.  A woman wearing pants is treated differently.  It's saying that I can take on any person because I have been in a man's world and I can match you step for step.  Look at the difference between Audrey Hepburn and Katherine Hepburn.

I'm glad that we can agree to disagree.  What would you say if Hillary Clinton would have been chosen instead of Biden?  I have just as much respect for her as I do for Sarah Palin.  I'm just amazed about someone who came so quickly, from head of PTA to a governor to Alaska to possible VP.  She knows who she is just like Hillary Clinton. 

There are some men who wouldn't have any woman in White House because she's a woman.  Still, who we are still voting for is a presidential candidate.  Let's not assume that something might happen to either one of them.  No what if ...

By the way, didn't care for Carter's VP, either and he was a man.  Would he have been able to take over the office of President if needed? I'm glad we didn't find out.

I'm glad you asked about Hillary, since I wanted her to be president rather than Obama.  Not that I really wanted either of them, but I had the same problem with Obama's experience that I have with Palin's (albeit to a lesser extent), and ended up voting for her.

As for Palin being like Hillary, other than both being women, I just don't see it.  The people who switched from supporting Hillary to supporting Palin greatly dissapoint me...voting based on gender rather than issues and experience is (in my opinion) flat out retarded.

Now, I'm not saying Palin and Obama don't have the experience needed to lead, regardless of what I think of their policies.  Maybe they do.  However, they certainly haven't PROVED it like McCain, Hillary, and Biden have, and they don't have an established history with which to judge them, and hence I can't really trust them.

Lacking a way to keep this on the front page long enough for people to see it, I'm putting this here, where it is fairly (though not completely) on topic: www.govcentral.com/videos/218-palin-vs-clinton

Dammit, Peacebe is right, they took it down.

It is clear from the recent news coverage of the elections that neither Obama or McCain really want to dig into the causes of the current meltdown on Wall Street.

Under Clinton policies on lending were liberalized and many that should never have qualified for a home loan got one.  Then under the Republicans oversite of Wall Street was reduced in the name of de-regulation.   The Clinton administration created a vast pool of financially marginal home buyers, whose morgages were bought and traded as investment vehicles by Republican deregulated Investment firms. 

Upon this quick sand of realestate were built homes, from which a few made huge profits by either trading in these risky morgage securities or in building homes for these same buyers .   From these profits contributions flowed to Democrats and Rebulicans via Washington lobbyists. 

During the boom years of real estate I invested in it, however, I noted early signs of the problems with the whole system.   I recall warning signs of an impending disaster from news reports of young homebuyers in Florida that were living on a couple of hundreds of dollars after paying the mortgage, buying food and necessities for them and their children.  I then began to look into the nature of this boom market and became greatly concerned about what I was seeing.

I made a decision at that point to divest myself, while the market was inflated, of most of my realestate holdings and moved them into other investment vehicles. 

Many of my friends called me a fool for dumping my property.  They told me to hold onto it and that I was selling it too low.  I decided what I felt was a fair profit for the property and sold it.  Many of those that told me I was a fool and gave into the exuberance of realestate boom are now homeless.  

During the course of my life I studied the Japanese realestate boom and collapse and the pozi scheme that almost destroyed a nation in Balken region.  I lived in Hawaii during the collapse of the Japanese realestate market and watched a retiring Colonel buy a condo at a what he called a steal one day at inflated prices and then watched him cry the next when its value fell by 40 percent.  I also recall in Florida one of my neighbors, a young mid-rank NCO and his wife, who took home loan after home loan to do things things like build a pool and put in expensive landscapping to keep up with their neighbors.  Based on my previous military service I knew what he made and was shocked by his view that his home equity would keep increasing forever.   

In my opinion, both McCain and Palin are too close to this issue to demand accountability from Wall Street.  Obama runs on a populist platform that seeks to capitalize on those voters who were let into the home buying market, and now find themselves in bankrupcy.  McCain, runs a campaign intended, to a large degreee, to energize those who make six digit salaries and have large stock portfolios.  Many of these voters are now hurt by the exuberance of their dip into the realestate pool.  

As to Obama or McCain.  This current economic mess has entangled both of them and neither, as a result, can truly take on Wall Street or ask accountability for the people of this nation. 

Are both of them good men?  I truly believe so.  Each with a different message.  However, they are good men, playing on a field of tar and both have become well and truly stuck.