# McCain Supporters -- a question about Palin **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 29, 2008, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697 "2008-09-29T13:01:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/41 "2008-09-29T19:16:20Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > What possible difference does it make where she does this? This makes absolutely no sense at all. This goes way beyond a rant. You might as well talk about her shoes. Rant? Shoes? 😕 What on earth are you talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/42 "2008-09-29T19:23:03Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > Second of all, (I’m flashing back to _The Breakfast Club_ – “just answer the question Clair”) how do the Republican/Conservatives on the board feel about the fact that Palin has been relatively unaccessible? And does that affect your support for the Republican ticket? Or more to the point, is your confidence in Palin affected at all by either her interview performances so far, or her lack of being interviewed? If not, why not? You’re whining about 4 days of prep work for a debate? How do you justify this? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/43 "2008-09-29T19:25:36Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > Rant? Shoes? 😕 What on earth are you talking about? What are you talking about. I’ve addressed the questions posed by the creator of this rant. Sara Palin was portrayed as a wallflower hiding from the campaign who was also campaigning to crowds of 50. I pointed out it was complete bullshit and she is outdrawing all the other candidates. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/44 "2008-09-29T19:27:03Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > You’re whining about 4 days of prep work for a debate? How do you justify this? I’m not whining about anything. I’m asking a question. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/45 "2008-09-29T19:29:01Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Palin is probably keeping a low profile in Philadelphia because when she raises her profile, she draws protestors, and even when she meets with small groups in public, people scream obscenities at her. I take this as a sign that Democrats don’t like her. Aw, man! Why do the Democrats get all the credit? Think of the Independents! And the Undecideds! And the Republicans who don’t care much for her, either! Gee, come to think of it, every candidate must, to a certain extent, suffer through being disliked and protested against, no? Sounds like someone needs to get a thicker skin and get out there and stump like there’s no tomorrow – lest there be no tomorrow for McCain-Palin train. Sound off, Sarah, and take your lumps with the rest of the candidates. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/46 "2008-09-29T19:36:38Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I’m not whining about anything. I’m asking a question. Your premise that she’s not accessible is simply wrong. She’s at a political rally in Columbus Ohio TODAY. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/47 "2008-09-29T19:44:22Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > Thanks to the McCain administration’s enforced seclusion, nobody even KNOWS her guts. How can we hate someone we don’t even know? She has an R after her name. For some of y’all, that’s all that is needed. > [@Green Bean](#): > > It’s not logical to say that it makes sense for Palin not to campaign where she’s “not popular,” when that place is in a key battleground state. Every vote she wins in Pennsylvania, every fraction of a percentage point that she might be able to gain, has a chance of tipping the balance in Pennsylvania. And if McCain beats Obama in PA, he gets all the electors, regardless of how narrow the victory. Okay, so you understand perfectly well why Palin is in Philadelphia. She is campaigning. So all the nonsense about how she is not doing anything is wrong. What this all amounts to is, she is doing exactly what all the other politicians are doing. She just isn’t doing it in a way that gives Democrats a way to scream obscenities at her, and conduct other kinds of attacks on her. I understand you don’t like that. In much the same way, it would be great if Obama or Biden taped a big sign saying “Kick Me Hard” on his backside. But it is generally considered a mistake to let your opponents set your strategy for you. > [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Palin is probably keeping a low profile in Philadelphia because when she raises her profile, she draws protestors, and even when she meets with small groups in public, people scream obscenities at her. I take this as a sign that Democrats don’t like her. > > Again, that makes no sense. Actually, it makes perfect sense. > [@](#): > > If staunch Democrats (and rude Democrats at that) don’t like her, so what? They’re lost causes to the McCain camp. Her job is to try to persuade the people who can still be persuaded to vote for McCain and to inspire those people to actually turn out and vote. So, you campaign in ways that don’t offer your opponents a chance to grab attention for themselves, at the expense of your message. Again, the question seems to be "why don’t you hate Sarah Palin? She won’t do what Democrats want!’ Well, no shit, Sherlock, but that doesn’t make me hate her. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/48 "2008-09-29T19:48:38Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Okay, so you understand perfectly well why Palin is in Philadelphia. She is campaigning. So all the nonsense about how she is not doing anything is wrong. Well, no, she isn’t. Over the course of four days, there were three public sightings: one when she went running (0 potential voters involved); one when she had dinner with supporters (50-100 potential voters involved, all presumably already planning to vote for McCain-Palin since it was invitation-only); and one when she had coffee with four other women (4 potential voters involved; statistical significance non-existent). Which of these would you consider to be “campaigning”? ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/49 "2008-09-29T19:49:35Z")
I didn’t catch the whole show, but Talk of the Nation today asked Palin supporters to call and answer the same question: What do you like about her and is she qualified. One caller opined that Bill Clinton was also the governor of a small state and turned out to be a good president, so Palin should be fine as VP. Other comments included these words as qualifications: character, reformer, honest, backbone, woman, took on the bad guys in her home state, and beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/50 "2008-09-29T19:51:38Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Your premise that she’s not accessible is simply wrong. She’s at a political rally in Columbus Ohio TODAY. I’m sure that will be a hard-hitting session on the issues. Get real. Three interviews. One of them with Hannity. Twenty seconds of photo ops at the UN, with no questions allowed. She hasn’t been accessible even by the most liberal standards. Not to mention the other portion of the question dealing with her abysmal performance when she has been interviewed. If you don’t want to answer the questions then just say so. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/51 "2008-09-29T19:57:45Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Well, no, she isn’t. Over the course of four days, there were three public sightings: one when she went running (0 potential voters involved); one when she had dinner with supporters (50-100 potential voters involved, all presumably already planning to vote for McCain-Palin since it was invitation-only); and one when she had coffee with four other women (4 potential voters involved; statistical significance non-existent). > > Which of these would you consider to be “campaigning”? All of it for the same reason politicians kiss babies. Babies don’t vote but it is all about the photo op and news story then spin it such as, “Palin is humble and not above having coffee with regular folk…Obama only eats arugula in his ivory tower with his effete intellectuals”. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/52 "2008-09-29T20:04:27Z")
> [@jack batty](#): > > if you don’t want to answer the questions then just say so. Heh. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/53 "2008-09-29T20:12:15Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > She has an R after her name. For some of y’all, that’s all that is needed. Don’t see many people saying McCain is unqualified. Maybe it has something to do with the person, not the party. > [@](#): > > What this all amounts to is, she is doing exactly what all the other politicians are doing. She just isn’t doing it in a way that gives Democrats a way to scream obscenities at her, and conduct other kinds of attacks on her. You don’t think that footage of Democrats yelling at her wouldn’t help with the independents? Or is Ms. MooseSkinner too delicate for such stuff? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/54 "2008-09-29T20:14:47Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I love how “How do you feel about Palin’s inaccessiblity to the press” automatically turns into “Hey, she’s studying!” I won’t even go into the “MSM are meanies” defense. > > First of all, has she been studying for this debate since she was tapped? Is that why she has only had the time to do three interviews since then? Probably she has been. She hasn’t hit her “Rain in Spain Falls Mainly on the Plain” moment yet. And people study for important tests and still flunk, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/55 "2008-09-29T20:15:23Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > What are you talking about. I’ve addressed the questions posed by the creator of this rant. Sara Palin was portrayed as a wallflower hiding from the campaign who was also campaigning to crowds of 50. I pointed out it was complete bullshit and she is outdrawing all the other candidates. No she isn’t. About a week ago Palin made an appearance in suburban Denver, a metro area of over 2.5 million people, and she drew 3,000. At the same time Obama drew 6,000 in Grand Junction, a town of 45,000 surrounded by a whole lot of nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/56 "2008-09-29T20:24:01Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Well, no, she isn’t. Over the course of four days, there were three public sightings: one when she went running (0 potential voters involved); one when she had dinner with supporters (50-100 potential voters involved, all presumably already planning to vote for McCain-Palin since it was invitation-only); and one when she had coffee with four other women (4 potential voters involved; statistical significance non-existent). > > Which of these would you consider to be “campaigning”? She’s at a rally in Columbus today. She’s drawn crowds of 60,000. Why do you persist with this strawwoman thread? Where are Biden’s crowds?. Seriously, where are they? SEP 23 [Woodbridge Virginia](http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/sep/19/biden-end-cowboy-mentality-bush-mccain-era/) - crowd of 200 (invited) Sep 19 [STERLING, Va](http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/sep/19/biden-end-cowboy-mentality-bush-mccain-era/) - crowd of 1,000 SEP 25 JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind - crowd of several hundred ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/57 "2008-09-29T20:26:37Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > No she isn’t. About a week ago Palin made an appearance in suburban Denver, a metro area of over 2.5 million people, and she drew 3,000. At the same time Obama drew 6,000 in Grand Junction, a town of 45,000 surrounded by a whole lot of nothing. Palin pulled 60,000 from a Florida community of 70,000. What’s your point? ---
**Author:** ![Auntbeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Auntbeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Auntbeast)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/58 "2008-09-29T20:38:32Z")
Don’t underestimate that as much flack as she got for those hard-hitting interviews with folks like Katie Couric, she is getting massively more press for being hard to reach. People are left to dig and speculate because they don’t have the kind of access to her that they have had in her position historically. For the love of god, we are digging up old pageant footage just to try to figure out who the heck she is. Or, in other words, it is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and prove you are a fool. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/59 "2008-09-29T20:39:53Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Don’t see many people saying McCain is unqualified. Maybe it has something to do with the person, not the party. Not with some people, it doesn’t. Knee-jerkers react automatically. That’s why there’s a name for it. > [@](#): > > You don’t think that footage of Democrats yelling at her wouldn’t help with the independents? Or is Ms. MooseSkinner too delicate for such stuff? Maybe it would help Obama to get footage of someone calling him a nigger in his campaign ads. Why doesn’t he go out and try to provoke that? Is he too delicate? > [@](#): > > Well, no, she isn’t. Well, yes she is. See **Magiver** ’s cites for evidence of this. > [@](#): > > Over the course of four days, there were three public sightings: one when she went running (0 potential voters involved); one when she had dinner with supporters (50-100 potential voters involved, all presumably already planning to vote for McCain-Palin since it was invitation-only); and one when she had coffee with four other women (4 potential voters involved; statistical significance non-existent). > > Which of these would you consider to be “campaigning”? All of them, obviously. Unless you have never heard of a politician pressing the flesh, attending fundraisers, photo ops, or anything except public rallies. My cousin attended a rally with McCain, his wife, and Sarah Palin, in Cedarburg, WI. There were 17,500 people there. That slacker Biden never showed his face. Doesn’t that worry you? 😃 Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/60 "2008-09-29T20:52:58Z")
Yay. She can attract a partisan crowd. Who does she think she is, some sort of celebrity? But that notwithstanding, I’m just curious about something: How do the Republican/Conservatives on the board feel about the fact that Palin has been relatively unaccessible\*? And does that affect your support for the Republican ticket? Or more to the point, is your confidence in Palin affected at all by either her interview performances so far, or her lack of being interviewed? If not, why not? \*Relatively unaccessible being defined as not granting interviews to the media anywhere near the rate of any other Prez/Veep candidates in the running. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697.md?page=4)