Y'know ...

[unixronin]

... I still say that both of our Presidential candidates suck.  (And that's in the "wet farts out of dead pigeons" way, not the good way.)

But I gotta admit, after today's perhaps-surprising news, I think our Vice-Presidential choices — or the Republican one, at least — just got a whole lot better.  Sarah Palin appears to be sane, honest, and fiscally responsible, and she's not afraid to out corrupt members of her own party.  She cleaned house in the Alaska state legislature.  Further, it looks as though she stands by her principles, but is willing to calmly accept being overruled or proven wrong, and she's not afraid to publicly change her mind.¹  Her approval ratings in Alaska are frequently in the 90s.  When she ran for Mayor of Wasilla in 1996, she made a campaign promise to cut her own salary — and kept it.  Then when she ran for Governor of Alaska in 2006, she made a campaign promise to sell the IAI Westwind II executive jet purchased (on state government credit) by the Murkowski administration ... and kept that promise, too.

I mean, DAMN!  Can't we, you know, swap the ticket around and make McCain VP?  C'mon, folks, our first female President doesn't HAVE to be a Democrat.

[1]  "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.  With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.  He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall.  Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day." — Self-Reliance, Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841

Comments

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

If moose could vote, maybe--the state's population is about 20% more than the city of Seattle. And I've heard that the Canadian border is very troublesome. After running a successful Democratic Presidential bid, I don't think we can say that Obama lacks executive experience any more, either.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Uhhh .... I'm sorry, but I just can't let that one go. Running a Presidential nomination campaign, even a successful one, does not, in any way, shape or form, constitute executive experience, any more than applying for a job with UBS Warburg and getting an interview constitutes experience in international finance.

Remember, too, Alaska is a lot closer to Siberia than to any part of the continental United States.

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

And most of Minnesota is under water. You can pick nits with almost any state. Simple fact: She has been governor for two years. No other candidate or VP choice can make a claim of executive experience on that level.

Running a campaign, where most of the people like and support you, is far different from leading a government, where there are vocal people who oppose you and want you to change. I am not saying Obama can't cut it as president. But, the simple fact is, he does not have government executive experience. (Neither does McCain.)

(I was actually leaning toward Obama until he picked Biden for a running mate. Biden is poison to the issues I care about in government. If you thought King George was bad...)

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

... they refueled that nit before they realized it wasn't an airplane.

I'm sure that Obama was really feeling the love from Hilary Clinton's supporters--not!