Republican women that are better qualified than Sarah Palin.
1. Christie Todd Whitman (R-New Jersey)- Worked in the Nixon administration. Served as President of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities in the cabinet of Gov. Thomas Kean. Former governor of New Jersey. Former Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
2. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas)- Served in the Texas House of Representatives. Served as vice-chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. Served as Texas State Treasurer. Currently serving as Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. She also serves on the Appropriations Committee, the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, and the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
3. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine)- Served as an aide to Senator William Cohen. Served in the Maine House of Representatives and Senate and as a U.S. Representative. Currently serves as Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. She also serves on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, the Senate Committee on Finance, and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
4. Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-North Carolina)- Worked in LBJ’s administration. Served as Deputy Assistant to President Nixon for Consumer Affairs before being appointed to the Federal Trade Commission. Served as United States Secretary of Transportation in the Reagan administration. Served as United States Secretary of Labor in the Poppy Bush administration. Then served as President of the Red Cross. Ran for president in 2000, and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002. She currently serves on the Senate Special Committee on Aging, the Senate Committee on Armed Services, Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. She is the Ranking Member on the Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities.
5. Sen. Susan Collins (R- Maine)- Served as an aide to Sen. William Cohen. Served as chair of the Maine commission on financial regulation. Served as New England regional director of the National Small Business Administration. Formerly the chair and currently the Ranking Member on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs. Also serves on the Senate Special Committee on Aging, and the Senate Committee on Armed Services.
6. Gov. Jodi Rell (R-Connecticut)- Served as a Connecticut State Representative. Served as Lieutenant Governor. Has been serving as Governor since 2004.
7. Gov. Linda Lingle (R-Hawaii)- Served in Hawaii House of Representatives. Has been serving as Governor since 2002.
8. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Washington)- Served as a State Representative. Currently serves on the House Committee on Armed Services and the House Committee on Education and Labor, and the House Committee on Natural Resources. She is Ranking Member of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power.
People hounded Obama for months and months regarding his inexperience and he answered his critics in grand style last night. Are they going to do the same for Mrs. Palin?
It’s almost like McCain doesn’t fucking care about anything anymore. If I were a Republican and reeling after Obama’s hammer blow in Denver, I’d be outraged at this pick. This is serious business, man!
Sheer calculated to pick a woman but this is a weird choice, Palin! Even GOP are head scratching. Sure agree with your observation. This pick undercuts the inexperience argument. Most likely McCain got no buyers.
Palin came out swinging in the negative for HRC supporters which confirms her limits on the national scene. Her voice is a turn off. It’s not as if the Dems have never had a women VP on the ticket.
Reported days ago, Snow and Collins are among the 8 who have taken a pass on the Convention.
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is approved by the NRA
Gov. Sarah Palin on ecology and environment"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."believe in government, they only believe in business, this choice is just about business as usual. Put lipstick on it and folks won’t notice the porcine quality of the pick.
So? They’re not beauty queens. McCain only does beauty queens. The “third beauty queen” story will be very powerful, I think, and the sexual innuendo will keep comedians in material for several months. Nothing the Dems should touch of course, but they won’t have to. I think there’s going to be a real “ick” factor going on underneath the surface for a lot of people, kind of like Condi’s husband Bush stuff. My prediction is that there will be a tendency to not want to get too close, which will bleed off some campaign energy. We’ll see.
PS — Couldn’t stop myself from wondering what would happen if McCain calls Palin the C word? Which may not be quite as unlikely as it sounds.
She’s a beauty queen trojan horse for drilling.
CNBC had an interview with her on Closing Bell today. No video up yet.
Palin is charming, direct, appealling, makes drilling in ANWR seem like nothing. Easy. Because Alaskans would never hurt the environment. Gosh, gee, we’ve got it, it’s American, there’s no problems, why aren’t we drilling now….
She’s bold. Very. Says stuff like “We’ll be in a world of hurt” if Joe Biden hasn’t changed his 30 year old position on the Alaskan pipeline.
“Drill, Drill, Drill,” she espouses. She’s going to have NASCAR thrilled.
This is the promo for it. But it’s the seeing her that matters. She makes the same ole seem different somehow.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/26458144?__source=RSS*blog*&par=RSS
Agreed. The only line of attack McCain took that actually seemed to move the numbers was the asinine Offshore Drilling Will Give You Free Gas And A Pony gambit. So he’s doubling, tripling, and quadrupling down on it.
It’s a brilliant pick because, at one and the same time, it steals the news cycles until the Republican convention; it enthuses the Religious Right base; it furthers the only message that has worked so far.
Best of all, as to gender – remember the Charles Atlas ads supposedly addressed to “ninety pound weaklings”? Leonard Cohen once did a brilliant riff explaining that the real target audience was the two hundred pound fatties.
Same deal here. The pretense is that she was picked to appeal to “the Hillary vote”. As noted above, there were plenty of more serious R-female picks. If anything, most women are going to understand they’ve been subtly dissed by this pick. No, McCain elevated someone type-cast for his next trophy wife in order to appeal to the Neanderthal male vote, get them excited enough to leave their couches behind and come pull the lever for him.
“Drill, drill, drill” gains a special resonance when it’s being urged on the guys by someone who lovingly fondles rifle barrels in public, and who knows her way around a swimsuit competition.
When Hillary debated Rick whateverhisnamewas in 2001, she was able to win the debate due to his obvious disdane. The debate will need to be handled with great care. Biden, who is a very good guy and has an excellent record on issues involving women, will certainly know this.
I trust Biden and know that he is very aware of this. The old “expectations game” will work in her favor in this case in particular.
His name was Rick Lazio.
And although Biden is gaffe-prone, I’m pretty sure that he’s not going to do anything stupid out on the campaign trail. All he needs to focus on is flaunting his 36 years of Senate experience on virtually every major national issue, particularly foreign policy. Palin’s going to come off looking like a complete lightweight.
and let her do the falling on her face herself
But Biden is smarter than I am, and knows this already.
so he knows how to handle himself. His main job will be to attack McCain and defend Obama. If Palin shows her foolishness, he can set her straight.
The debate will be moderated by a woman, Gwen Ifill, so it won’t be “the boys” ganging up on the girl. Instead, it will be two women and Biden.
If Palin brings up Hillary Clinton, Biden should say “I know Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton is a friend of mine. Governor, you are no Hillary Clinton.”
Best line of day!!!
I ordered a truckload of popcorn for the VP debate.
Someone should remind Palin that she said Hillary was whining.
I’m watching her on TV now. She’s pathetic. She just said she was a hockey mom and PTA member.
The uninformed crowd of 400 (I’m guessing because there is no wide shot) in Washington County PA applauded.
Meanwhile 8,000 showed up to see Obama and Biden in Beaver PA last night.
A bit off topic, but this video-clip should be known to us all and is ‘instructive’ on Gov. Palin’s qualifications for the office.
A bit of real investigative reporting in Alaska about her pressuring of the police commissioner.
Starts at ca. 35 seconds. H/T ksh01
Link
(Sorry for not embedding, I get this error message and don’t know how to fix:
Attribute ALLOWFULLSCREEN for tag EMBED is not allowed )
You just go into the html and remove the words “allow full screen” where it appears. Sometimes it’s there twice IIRC
I had the same trouble once before and tried – unsuccessfully – to edit the code. Must be deleting a few characters too many/few, I guess.
Headline right now in Norway’s paper of record (presently top of web page):
Desperat McCain skyter seg selv i foten
Desperate McCain shoots himself in the foot
Article continues: A clear attempt to compensate for high age and tough image, opines professor [on transatlantic studies] Ole Moen on McCain’s choice of VP candidate.
that’s awesome.
Not one. Not a single one.
We start from 0 today, and the expectations game is very important. She is the most qualified woman available, the best on foreign policy, and is ready today to take over should McCain get an ice cream headache or whatever.
Remember, every time we indicate how crappy a pick this is, we help her.
I understand the point of not lowering expectations too much, but this woman has ZERO foreign policy experience and almost no domestic policy experience. She’s about ten years away from being qualified for this job. It’s a joke.
Qualifications, schmalifications! None of them are VPILF material!!!
Sheer brilliance!
Aren’t most of the women listed …. pro-choice?
qualifications?! this has nothing to do with qualifications. hell, mcstain isn’t qualified to be president.
this is, pure and simple, narcissistic politics…pandering to and for the lowest common denominator, as in fundie voter.
or perhaps he’s just trying to relive his bygone glory days by becoming a roue and a wastrel by usurping bob doles’ role as the RATpublican
viagra spokesmanalpha male.gov. palin is a mind-numbingly poor choice. michael palin would’ve been a better choice in his quest for the
holy grailpresidency, imnsho..
“As the head of Alaska’s National Guard and as the mother of a soldier herself, Governor Palin understands what it takes to lead our nation and she understands the importance of supporting our troops.”
John McCain’s risky choice of Gov. Sarah Palin gives him a running mate who doubles down on his maverick image, may appeal to “hockey moms” and other women, and counters Barack Obama’s aura of new-generation change. But he may have undercut his best attack on the Democrat.
If Obama is an empty suit, as McCain has suggested, is Palin suited for the Oval Office herself?
She is younger and less experienced than the first-term Illinois senator, and brings an ethical shadow to the ticket. Just 20 months ago, she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, a town of 6,500 where the biggest issue is controlling growth and the biggest annual worry is whether there will be enough snow for the Iditarod dog-mushing race.
McCain earned praise from evangelicals and other social conservatives who have been skeptical of him. Palin is a vocal opponent of abortion.
“Conservatives will be thrilled with this pick,” said Greg Mueller, a conservative GOP strategist.
The price for that support could be high. Palin’s lack of experience flies in the face of GOP charges that Obama is not ready to be commander in chief. McCain himself has said he was determined to avoid a pick like Dan Quayle, the little-known Indiana senator George H.W. Bush put on his ticket in 1988 in a choice that proved embarrassing.
Gov. Sarah Palin addresses AIP :: Alaska First!
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."But it gets one thing right. Those “ready to lead?” ads look ridiculous now. How will McCain be able to attack Obama on experience? Is it all going to be about women’s right and 18 million cracks now?
Give me a break.
Or is it all about change now that McCain has thrown away experience? Does anyone think McCain will bring more change than Obama?
This pick makes a big splash today but will burn out over time.
..have been pondering since you posted about Midlantic Irish warriors (okay that’s not what you said), but anyhow, when your opponent (BHO) brings one of the best political brawlers in the country on board, what do you do?
pick a girl. (NOTE I AM A GIRL okay? and 1/4 Irish from NE PA.)
“can’t hit a girl” etc.
HOWEVAH, one of the many things I love about Joe Biden is that imnsho, he’s done more than Sen. Clinton has to truly protect and advance women, and while Gov. Palin’s kids probably rival Sen. Biden’s grandkids in adorableness (this prob’ly sways more people than you might think), the Obama-Biden ticket has TWO real humans on it to the Republicans’ one.
We’ve gotta win this. And that will be better for the Palins, bc it sounds like she and her husband would HATE living at the Naval Observatory.
Joe Biden should just lead off with “Hey, Mrs. Palin, who is in charge of Japan, Australia, or India?”
Even as a progressive, it is hilarious that out of all the Republicans in the country to pick to be possibly president someday, McCain picks a person he has met 2 times!!! This is a joke to put this person in a position to run our Federal government. McCain could legitimately kick it at any moment and he picks a hockey mom. Unbelievable.
My mom told me today, “I am insulted that McCain would think that women would now vote for him now because he picked a woman.” Exactly.
If I were any of the women on that list, I would on the phone with the McSame camp right now saying “John, fuck you. No, really. Fuck you.”
John McCain doesn’t like women. He only likes those he can view as sex objects. He couldn’t deal with any of the women you’ve listed above.
This is totally to get his God-given office.
If this was meant to appeal to Clinton supporters, it may just backfire. McCain passes over many older and more qualified women for the beauty queen? The whole issue for many of these women seems to have been that they perceived the Democratic primaries as the older and more qualified woman (i.e. Clinton) being passed over for the more “glamorous” Obama.
Trophy wife as VP?
Booman-
Post this on Orange, if you haven’t already.
These women are better qualified, if you think that McCain was looking primarily to pick a woman as his running mate.
I don’t think that was the calculus here. I think what McCain’s campaign wanted (not what McCain wanted, but what the people running the campaign wanted) was to pick a wingnut. A raging wingnut. And, most importantly, a raging stealth wingnut. Someone who can do the dogwhistle stuff to the base, but that the low information voters are going to shrug off as someone to the right, but not to the crazy-right.
And that’s what he’s got in Palin – a raging stealth wingnut. People have been quoting Monty Python all day, but perhaps the most apt quote is one from Michael Palin after all – “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!”
Do they have better behind?
McCain Checks Out Palin’s Ass During Speech
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6737