All the Palin Rumors

Alaska's Republican State Senate President: Palin Not Prepared, Thought Pick Was A Joke.  "State Senate President Lyda Green said she thought it was a joke when someone called her at 6 a.m. to give her the news.  'She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president?' said Green, a Republican from Palin's hometown of Wasilla. 'Look at what she's done to this state. What would she do to the nation?'"  [Anchorage Daily News, 8/29/08]

Alaska's Republican House Speaker Has Nothing Positive To Say About Palin's Qualifications.  "State House Speaker John Harris, a Republican from Valdez, was astonished at the news. He didn't want to get into the issue of her qualifications.  'She's old enough,' Harris said. 'She's a U.S. citizen.'"  [Anchorage Daily News, 8/29/08]

Conservative Rick Rydell: Questionable Vetting.  "Conservative host Rick Rydell said there are some benefits to the state, but it's a gamble for McCain to pick an unknown with what he considered 'questionable vetting.' 'It seems almost like a Hail Mary pass at the end of a football game,' Rydell said in an interview after his show Friday.  Rydell said McCain has destroyed his argument about Barack Obama's lack of experience."  [Anchorage Daily News, 8/29/08]

California Republican Delegates Worried About Palin Pick.   California Republican delegates Karen and Robert Bonadio (father and daughter) said they are worried about McCain's pick for VP.  "They like her story a lot . . .  But the Bonadios heard that Palin and her family are hunters, actually going out into the countryside to shoot wild creatures that weren't doing anything to her. That offends the L.A. delegates greatly, and they really don't want to hear that different parts of the country may have different cultures and views of such things.  The Bonadios don't know that they want such a smalltown person as vice president. And they intend to make that point clear this week if they get another chance to talk with the senator."  [LA Times, 8/31/08]

St. Louis Republican Delegate Deeply Concerned With Palin Selection.  "Several Republican delegates said they too were shocked by the selection of Ms. Palin and, while they wished her well, were deeply concerned that she did not have the experience in foreign policy or national security to be commander in chief. 'We've been told for the last few months that experience is what matters most in the next White House,' said John Scates, a delegate from St. Louis. 'But McCain is picking someone whose experience is little to nothing or, at best, unknown.'" [New York Times, 8/31/08]

Conservative Columnist: Palin Pick Near Suicidal.  "'The Palin selection completely undercuts the argument about Obama's inexperience and readiness to lead' wrote syndicated conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer. 'To gratuitously undercut the remarkably successful 'Is he ready to lead' line of attack seems near suicidal.'" [Ottawa Citizen, 8/31/08]

Alabama Republican Delegate: Palin Not Qualified.  "As they began gathering in Minneapolis-St. Paul for the start of their convention on Monday, some Republican delegates said they were concerned that Ms. Palin did not have the experience in foreign policy or national security to be commander in chief.  'We're in a global war, we're in a global economy, so it's less than honest if someone says that this woman is qualified to lead America right now,' said Todd Burkhalter, a Republican delegate from Mobile, Ala."  [New York Times, 8/30/08]

Republican Operatives Worry About Palin Pick.  "'I want to believe this is a game-changer, but when I close my eyes I see New Orleans in 1988,' said a dumbstruck Republican operative, recalling the convention where Vice President George H.W. Bush tapped Dan Quayle" . .  . 'Hell, I don't know anything about her,' a top Republican fund-raiser sputtered. 'She may attract some independent women, but I can't think of a state where she can make a difference.'" [New York Daily News, 8/29/08]

Republicans Describe Palin Pick As "Desperate" And Contrary to McCain's "Country First" Slogan.  "Shannen Coffin, a former White House counsel to Dick Cheney, the vice-president, said choosing Palin seemed 'desperate' and that it would be difficult to attack Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, on the grounds of inexperience. 'It is hard to imagine Palin playing the same sort of role that modern vice-presidents like Gore, Bush, Cheney or Mondale played,' he said.  Anti-abortion conservative Republicans applauded the choice as daring and modern, but others criticised her lack of foreign policy expertise and inexperience in a national election.  David Frum, President George W. Bush's former speech-writer, warned: 'The McCain campaign's slogan is 'country first'. If it were your decision, and you were putting your country first, would you put an untested small-town mayor a heartbeat from the presidency?'"  [TimesOnline, 8/31/08]

Alaskan Republicans Have Reservations About Palin.  "[A] growing chorus of Alaskans expressed reservations. 'She's not qualified, she doesn't have the judgment, to be next in line to the president of the United States,' Larry Persily, who until June worked in the governor's Washington office as a congressional liaison, said in a phone interview.  A supporter of Palin's campaign for governor, Jim Whitaker, the Republican mayor of Fairbanks, also questioned Palin's readiness to serve as vice president.  Whitaker said that while he is 'still an avid supporter' of Palin as governor, he will continue to back Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama."  [Bloomberg, 9/1/08]

Republican Strategist: I'm Perplexed.  David Marin, a principal at the Podesta Group and a Republican congressional strategist said, "I'm perplexed. Maybe the choice is pure genius. Maybe McCain has energized the base, re-established his maverick credentials, re-emphasized his reform agenda, and added historic new cracks to the odious glass ceiling, all with a single decision. Maybe Palin will amaze us all and be able to stand toe-to-toe with Biden. Maybe she'll add some much-needed sizzle.  But I thought the McCain campaign was about experience at a time of national crisis. And I thought he understood the outcome will ultimately rest with independents, with 'post partisans.' I guess it's a good thing most people vote for president, not VP, because, right now at least, this has Bentsen-Quayle written all over it."  [Politico, 9/1/08]

Former McCain Advisor: Palin Pick Suggests Lack of Confidence. "'It was certainly a surprising pick,' says Dan Schnur, who served as McCain's communications director during the Arizona senator's 2000 presidential campaign. It's the sort of pick, he says, that you would expect when a candidate is 'behind 10 or 15 points in the polls.'  But with McCain and Obama running neck and neck, most analysts would anticipate a safer choice. 'So it seems the senator and his advisers aren't as confident' as they might be, Schnur says."  [NPR.org, 8/29/08]

Local Conservative Blogger: McCain's Worst Mistake.  "Sherry Whitstine, a local [Alaska] conservative blogger, was dumbfounded by Palin's selection, and not in a good way. Palin is 'small potatoes,' said Whitstine, who is still struggling to come to grips with McCain's decision. '[Trying to make Palin] the VP of our country is probably the worst mistake of [McCain's] entire life,' Whitstine said."  [Chicago Tribune, 9/1/08]

Pat Buchanan Mocks Palin With Joe Scarborough.  On MSNBC on August 29, 2008 (before the announcement), Pat Buchanan had this to say about Sarah Palin:  "You mentioned the word commander in chief. And it is -- it is hard to see Sarah Palin as commander in chief within the next year or something like that. I think that's the real risk that just -- this woman, she might be outstanding. She might get women, get conservatives, energize the base. But I think the argument made against her would be that she just is not ready to be commander in chief, and she could be eaten alive in a debate with Joe Biden."  Buchanan went on to acknowledge that Obama has done more to validate himself, saying "No, you are right. He validated himself, Barack Obama, by beating everybody all the -- over 18 months."  [MSNBC, 8/29/08; YouTube]

Karl Rove: Palin "Risky" Pick.  Before the news of her daughter's pregnancy broke, Karl Rove told the Maine Republican delegation that Sarah Palin is a "risky" choice for vice president.  [TheAtlantic.com, 9/1/08; PolitickerME.com, 9/1/08]

Washington Post: Republicans Nervous.  "[S]ome Republicans remained nervous about the party's ticket, worrying about the potential for more surprises in the days ahead. 'Palin's daughter's pregnancy is probably much ado about nothing -- I think,' one GOP strategist said. 'If there's more, it will raise questions about the whole vetting process because she's such an unknown.' Another McCain loyalist said he doubts the controversy will last. 'It came out in the vetting, and if that's true, then the vetting worked,' he said. 'If that's not true, then I would have concerns.'" [Washington Post, 9/2/08]

Prominent Republican Writer Says Palin Pick Neither Wise Nor Responsible.  Former Bush speechwriter, David Frum, said this about Sarah Palin: "Ms. Palin's experience in government makes Barack Obama look like George C. Marshall. She served two terms on the city council of Wasilla, Alaska, population 9,000. She served two terms as mayor. In November, 2006, she was elected governor of the state, a job she has held for a little more than 18 months. She has zero foreign policy experience, and no record on national security issues.  All this would matter less, but for this fact: The day that John McCain announced his selection of Sarah Palin was his birthday. His 72nd birthday. . . If anything were to happen to a President McCain, the destiny of the free world would be placed in the hands of a woman who until recently was a small-town mayor."  He concluded by saying, "Ms. Palin is a bold pick, and probably a shrewd one. It's not nearly so clear that she is a responsible pick, or a wise one." [AEI.org, 9/2/08]

Veteran Republican: Palin Pick Reckless.  "Each new fact we learn about Sarah Palin--her reversal on the bridge to nowhere, her disagreements with McCain on issues from windfall profits to global warming, emerging facts about troopergate--contribute to the feeling that this whole Palin thing is being made up as we go along. It may be fun to read about, and it sure is fun to cover, but it also supports the judgment of the Palin pick that I first heard from a Republican veteran shortly after the announcement: 'Reckless.'"  [Slate, 9/1/08]

This choice of a Republican VP candidate has confirmed for the world that American politics is now completely irrelevant and meaningless - that it has nothing whatsoever to do with representing anybody other than big corporate interests ...

It is painfully obvious to everyone that the 2008 American presidential election is nothing more than a slimey Madison Avenue media blitz aimed at winning the votes of an obviously very befuddled American electorate ...

The world has thought for some time now that Americans are quite stupid - nothing could confirm this opinion more strongly than an electorate which judges McCain's choice of Palin for VP as a good one ...