Month: August 2008

From a commenter:

Are you retarded?

Palin’s first veto was used to block legislation that would have barred the state from granting benefits to the partners of gay state employees. In effect, her veto granted State of Alaska benefits to same-sex couples. The veto occurred after Palin consulted with Alaska’s attorney general on the constitutionality of the legislation.

Well, if the gay bashing wing of the GOP is pissed that Palin supports same sex couples, I’m even more tickled pink about McCain’s choice.  The gay issue is going to kill the Republican party in a generation if they don’t mellow in the issue.  There’s a significant generational gap, and younger Republicans tend to be supportive of gay’s being equal members of society.  I think gay marriage is probably a bit too far out there for most people, even though I personally have no problem with the idea, but the GOP needs to jettison the gay cooties wing of the party before they kill it.

Countertop on Sarah Palin:

Like Bobby Jindal, in her short period in office, she has rocked the boat and brought real concern to the entrenched powers that be. Whats most surprising about this though, is unlike Jindal who is going after Democrats – Palin went after Republicans. Heck, she even went after family members – and has drawn the scorn of the state party who were unable to stop her as she took down their most powerful member – Frank Murkowski who famously appointed his daughter to fill his Senate seat.

And in that respect, in an election where the Republican’s biggest liability isn’t Iraq but Ted Stevens and the Alaskan Bridge To Nowhere, McCain took his maverick mantle by the reigns and just signed up the Anti Stevens to help him root out the corruption endemic in DC.

Compare that to Barack “Corrupt Chicago Democratic Political Machine Champion” Obama.

I think McCain hit this one out of the park.  She will be a powerful addition to his ticket, whereas I think Obama is going to increasingly find that Joe Biden is an albatross who doesn’t know when to shut his pie hole.  If McCain is looking to reshape the Republican Party with the likes of Palin, Pawlenty, and Jindal, the GOP could have a bright future.

The GOP has suffered greatly under George W. Bush and his merry band.  I’ve watched the Philadelphia Suburbs go from leaning pretty Republican, to tilting Democrat, largely because Philadelphia area GOP types don’t like Bush’s brand of conservatism.  McCain is someone people around here can get behind, and if the future beyond McCain is made up by his VP short list, that might be a reversable trend.  Whether it will be enough to overcome the Lightworker’s momentum remains to be seen.  Obama’s success around here will depend on the extent to which he can lash McCain to the deck of the sinking USS George W. Bush.

It’s Palin! She’s an excellent choice.  Excellent.  Her politics are exactly where McCain needs his VP choice to be, and the fact that she’s a woman will help with jilted Hillary supporters.  And she’s a hell of a lot better looking than Joe Biden.

UPDATE: Well, that didn’t take long.

This time it’s John Tester, who should know better.  Blue dogs need to start growing a pair and, rather than cowtowing to their party’s anti-gun leadership, stand up for their constituents.  It’s one thing to be all rah rah Dems on other issues that are important to Montanans, where Barack Obama might be their man, but it’s another to try to downplay the gun issue when there’s just no doubting his record.

The last time pro-gun Democrats allowed party to trump principle, back during the vote on Clinton’s Assault Weapons Ban, it helped usher in the 1994 Republican Revolution (which the Republicans promptly squandered, but that’s nother rant).  Blue dogs should want the gun issue to die, but the way to kill it isn’t to get the Lightworker elected to the White House.  Blue dogs should follow in the footsteps of Oklahoma Representative Dan Boren, who has refused to shill for Obama.

As I mentioned before we went to Blackwater, Bitter had to bail out at the last minute to attend the launch of Sportsmen for McCain, which was held at a club near Scranton.  She ended up shooting the breeze with Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty for quite a bit, and was impressed with his depth of knowledge of our issue.  As a possible VP pick for McCain, he would certainly be OK with me, but speculation is currently leaning toward Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.  Palin would also be an excellent choice.