It’s pretty clear that conservatives are enamored by her and liberals think she is totally unfit for VP, but it’s not so clear what independents here think.
So, if you are independent (e.g. have voted for both parties in the past and/or are undecided in this election), can you share your opinion of McCains’ VP pick?
Is she fit to be VP?
If McCain dies, is she fit to be President?
Has McCain’s choice of her affected your choice of whom to vote this year?
Please, no inputs of the sort “Well, I’m Republican, and I think she’s great” or “I’m a Democrat and I think she sucks”.
Well, I am an Independent (leaning conservative) and have voted for and against Republicans. I thought McCain was crazy for not picking Romney, but now that I’ve seen her speak twice and learned a little about her, I like her.
I like having two people who have demonstrated they want to and will change things. I like having McCain as Pres. for national security reasons. Other stuff I’m not so wild about, particularly his attempt at amnesty-light.
I was actually thinking of sitting the election out, depending on who he picked. Huckabee, for instance. But I am now excited.
Is she fit to be VP? Yes.
Is she fit to be Pres.? Not right this second.
And yes, she has caused me to make sure I vote, and possibly, help the campaign effort.
I think the imagery of Teddy R. is fitting. TR was a governor, NYC Police Commissioner, and ASST. Sec. of the Navy for less than a year when he was put on the ticket by McKinley. No one saw him as the President he would become. But he had high ideals, was a true maverick, and loved to shake things up. I don’t think there’s any job that perfectly prepares you to be President, but I like those qualities in any candidate running for office.
I voted for McCain in the 2000 primaries and would have definitely voted for him in the general had he made it and Kerry (extremely reluctantly) in '04. Palin solved the problem of re-igniting the Republican base’s enthusiasm for his campaign at the cost of alienating a lot of the middle grounders.
In general, it seems like the ultra-pious atmosphere of '04 has broken and more of the non-overtly-partisan folk are a little more leery of the “God is my unofficial running mate” vibe that Palin seems to particularly exude. Maybe the Obama camp’s oft-repeated McCain=Bush slogans are melting my brain, but I definitely get the impression that Palin would have a very similar mindset and approach in a presidential/vice-presidential administration as Bush. Like Bush, she seems well meaning but not very well thought out. Unsophisticated and proud of it. She’d still make a better veep than Cheney, however.
From his approach so far, particularly when he was getting hit hard from Hillary, Obama has had my vote to lose.
Full disclosure. I have never been affiliated with any party. My tax bracket has been firmly in the Republican camp for 15 years but grew up poor. I have voted for both Republican and democratic presidential candidates in the past.
Is she fit to be VP?
Absolutely not. To be VP means one has to be fit to be President on day 1. She’s small time big fish. I see someone with a mediocre education, no post secondary eduction, no real career experience (eg, she’s got no business cred), small town mayor is about as relevant to President as coaching peewee football to a pro team coach (slightly but not much), and quite a few warning lights going on about her integrity and style. Obviously, she’s got something on the ball to get this far in life. But I’m just not seeing anything in her background beyond a small time politician catching a big break. Heck, even Bush could *claim *an education and business background before being governor.
Governorship is a plus, but she’s governor of a state with population of less than half a million. A state who’s revenue coffers are fed by oil profits and US Federal Taxpayer subsidies. And her tenure isn’t long enough to reasonably be able to highlight what she herself has accomplished or not.
Fit to be president? No, hell no. I’m not thinking anyone out there can say with a straight face that she could be president on day 1, yet that is what a VP has to be prepared for. Especially given McCain’s age. Can she handle the Middle East or Russia or a non accomodating congress?
Yes, I have 2 simple guiding principles for selecting the president: fiscal responsibility (hint: cutting taxes and increasing spending is not fiscally responsible) and rat fuck the moral majority. That and the apparent rushed manner of her selection doesn’t exactly give me confidence in how McCain would react to crisis, much less something like 9-11.
Never been affiliated with any party. In fact, in Hawaii I had to register officially as an independent. I’ve always supported the Democrats, though.
The bottom line for me is a I cannot abide a creationist. Whether she’s a full-fledged creationist or not, I’m not 100% sure, but she does advocate teaching creationism in the classroom, and that’s all I need to know. That alone makes her unfit in my eyes, regardless of anything else that can be dug up on her.
If so, it seems to me that a negative answer to your second question should imply a negative answer to the first, as one of the key qualities of a VP should be that they can take over at a moment’s notice - it’s part of the job description.
The media coverage of this in the UK, while obviously much less than that in the US, has been less than flattering so far, which has probably coloured my perception somewhat, but my answer to 2 (and hence 1) is probably “no”. I think China Guy has summed it up pretty well. However, I do think that far too much has been made of what seem to me to be relatively insignificant facts (“daughter pregnant at 19!!!11!! and unmarried!!!1!” - get a grip, this isn’t the 19th century).
The fact that the baby she had at 44 has Downs earned a bit of a rolleyes from me - it’s well-known that this is much more likely in pregnancies at that age, you’ve already got some lovely kids, why bring another one into the world? But maybe I’m off-base and will get flamed for that one.
Anyway, since I can’t vote I can’t really answer 3, but if I were a voter I was going to vote Obama anyway - this doesn’t change much. Maybe that means I’m not “independent” after all.
Is she fit to be VP? No. There’s just not enough experience there.
Is she fit to be president on day one? Again, no. I’m not thrilled about Obama’s experience. Palin’s experience (despite the claims of executive experience from her boosters) is even less thrilling.
3)Has McCain’s choice affected my vote? No. I voted for McCain in 2000, but McCain v2.0 won’t get my vote. I can say that Palin makes me less likely to vote for McCain than I already was.
In the interests of full disclosure - I’m an independent, but my choice for the presidential vote is already about 95% set. No one’s choice for VP is going to sway that. If we get a monkey-flying-out-of-someone’s-ass moment during the rest of the campaign, it is possible that my choice will change, but it’s going to take something truly drastic.
Is she fit to be VP? Questionable. She may have the talent and/or ability to do the job, but it’s not been proven at this point.
No, I don’t think she is ready to be president on day one. It is possible she may be able to do the job, if it is thrust upon her. But there’s nothing in her record, at this time, to assure anyone that she has that ability.
As an aside - this is independent of my assessment of her positions. I disagree with many of her positions, esp. teaching Creationism. That makes me view her negatively, but fitness for an office is, alas, a different thing than whether I’d be comfortable with her in said office. I would not be comfortable with her in office. Of course, I’m not comfortable with 90% of the politicians on the national scene. (Local numbers are usually worse.)
Nope. My assessment of McCain hasn’t changed. It has been, and remains, generally negative towards him for the office of president. Palin does bring some strengths to the ticket, but her weaknesses seem a lot more polarizing.
In the final analysis: Not-a-monkey-out-of-McCain’s-butt moment, just another “can’t this shit be over, already?” one.
I’ve looked at her record, I listened to her speech last night.
I don’t like her, her record or her talking points.
Just for balance, I don’t like Biden much either, but at least his talking points did not infuriate me.
I don’t feel either are fit to be President are a weak, placating choices for VP.
I am a recently ex-Republican and now independent. I like Obama and McCain. I feel both would make much better Presidents than this Bush or even Pappa Bush.
I am voting for Obama as I think we need someone to rebuild are ties in the world, someone really serious about the environment and someone that is running on more than Drilling as the first option on energy independence.
I also have a problem with the fact that Palin might be a creationist. I am still trying to verify this. If true, she is 100% unfit to serve.
Bottomline, I don’t vote for people who have no understanding of science (creationism? Jesus fuck, how did things get this bad?) and I’m not turned on by folksy throwbacks to Roughing It as anything more than local politicians.
I won’t change my affiliation to Republican from Independent (and neither will the rest of my family) till the party divorces itself from these trogolodytes. I really was hoping McCain would be the guy to wrench them back to normalcy. I’m pro-choice but flexible about candidates who are pro-life. But messing around with science in schools? NO NO NO NO.
I actually voted in the democratic primaries for the first time this year - but only because I don’t like Hillary. In the past I’ve voted for Democrats and Republicans. I’m socially liberal and fiscally conservative - which seems to be making me more a Democrat every year.
My biggest problem with Palin is the same as my problem with Hillary. I’m not a sexist - I’m a feminist - and I don’t think I have any obligation to vote for anyone because they share my equipment and not my ideas. You loose me the moment you start to imply that I’m too stupid to think for myself - that I should be excited by someone’s candidacy because of their gender (or the color of their skin).
(I’d have been more excited at this point in time by Hillary’s ideas than Sarah’s - since Sarah is heavy on the social conservatism I find repugnant)
I seem to dislike pretty much everything about her, but I seem to like her. I seem to be falling in with the crowd that hated Bush but would have a beer with him.
I think she is as qualified to be VP as much as Obama is to be P. The day 1 crap take over argument is not based on reality as it hasn’t happened in my recent memory.
All that said, I won’t be voting Republican this year. Still trying to decide whether to vote Democrat or just throw my vote away this year.
Political PAC dedicated to getting women elected. Specifically pro-choice women. So there are two qualifications for getting on the list - not being a man (which I find to be sexist) and being pro-choice. I don’t have a problem with an issues PAC - there are plenty of those. I have issues when there is a gender or race criteria. (I am a pro-choice woman).
Is she fit to be VP? - If she wasn’t second in line to be president she’d fine for ceremonial duties.
If McCain dies, is she fit to be President? - I don’t believe so. Way too many character issues have surfaced with hours of her name being raised. A pit bull with lipstick implies nothing to me but vicious self centered single mindedness.
Has McCain’s choice of her affected your choice of whom to vote this year? - No.
Including her on the ticket is an act of desperation that should backfire. Saturday Night live should be good this week. I haven’t watched it in years but I might this week.
Registered Independent, will probably vote Libertarian (again). What do I think of her? I think she gave a pretty good speech last night at the RNC and she has loads of personality. ‘Dumb ass’? Based on what? She seems pretty intelligent to me. I’m not overly fond of some of her positions (especially the psudo-religious ones), but I think she definitely has the intelligence and personality to do well.
As for experience, I think she is kind of light…but then, I think Obama is pretty light on real world experience to. Like Palin, I think Obama has personality and charisma coming out his ears, and that he is probably THE most intelligent candidate running for office in a long, long time. But neither of those traits translate into experience either.
At any rate despite the fact that I actually like Palin I’m still not planning to vote for McCain (or Obama at this point). Too many crucial differences in my own politics and McCain…lots more with Palin.
I’ve never registered for any party, and have voted for candidates of both parties in about equal numbers. I’m pro-2nd-amendment, prefer smaller government, and am pro-free-trade. I lean left on most social issues (abortion, gay marriage, creationism-as-science, etc.).
I think Sarah Palin delivered her pre-written speech extremely well, that she’s charismatic, and not an intellectual lightweight. Her populist appeal is undeniable. And it speaks well of her that she was willing to fight corruption in her own party. But that’s about all the good I can say about her. Having tried to filter out fact from fiction regarding her various positions in Alaska, I find myself with these opinions:
Her stated desire to have creationism taught alongside evolution in the classroom is extremely troubling, and I’m surprised more of the enlightened right-leaning folks on this board don’t even acknowledge it when talking about her. I think it’s likely that she would continue in the same anti-science traditions as the current administration.
We don’t know what books she was thinking about censoring from the Wasilla library, but the fact that the thought would even enter her mind fills me with loathing. (No, I don’t believe she was concerned about NAMBLA-recruiting guides somehow having ended up in the library of a small conservative Alaskan town. Occam’s Razor tells me that, as a Christian fundamentalist, she truly feels that it’s okay to consider censoring literature that has profanity or homosexual themes.)
The facts indicate that she supported the so-called “bridge to nowhere” for quite a while before letting the winds of expediency tilt the weather vane. I know that someone else wrote her speech, but it doesn’t speak well of her that she was willing to lie with a straight face about something so easily verified.
I find her extreme anti-choice views personally distasteful.
I think there’s sufficient evidence to believe that, as Mayor and Governor, she was not averse to inappropriate use of political power to further her personal goals. I think she would be in favor of continuing the current administration’s consolidation of power in the executive branch.
Though it’s obviously an unlikely event, I don’t think she would make a good day-one president. By her own admission, she has never given significant thought to many important national issues. That’s understandable given her career until two weeks ago, but I think comparing her inexperience to Obama’s inexperience is laughable. (Though for the record, I think experience isn’t that important a criterion. I put much more stock in positions on issues and on intellectual rigor. My sense from watching Palin’s speech last night is that she’s a female George W. Bush – fun to have a beer with, but willing to go with her fundamentalist gut instead of applying intellect and reason to the world’s problems.)
I think she is fit for VP. I don’t know enough about her views to make the call on the Presidency. I’ve seen previous interviews with her and she only seems to know about Alaskan energy policy and not much else. I would need to see her interviewed or debated on national issues.
Her choice doesn’t matter. I wasn’t going to vote for McCain anyway.