9 posts tagged “palin”

With speculation that McCain is going to make his pick this week... my vote still goes to Sarah Palin -- "could be a home run."

All of the others seem like the same old song and dance.

Hmm...

Looks like Palin's pregnancy might have sidelined a potential VP bid.  But by the sound of it, she may have had some meetings with McCain -- and it looked like she was definitely on the short list.

Hopefully, we will see more of her in the future.

Drudge had that headline on his page earlier tonight as he linked to an AP article that showed Romney and McCain campaigning together in Utah.

A tanned and rested Romney said it was fun to be campaigning again and nice not to feel any pressure.  "I don't have to worry about goofing up," he said.  He brushed aside questions about a No. 2 spot on the GOP ticket.

Wishful thinking Matt?  Does the rumor have legs or is it just a headline to drum up speculation?

Part of me thinks that McCain has got to give his selection for the VP slot a lot of thought and reflection.  I think it is too easy to pick Romney.  And really why should he?  Name recognition?  Uniting the party?

McCain won the nomination.  And he won by pretty good margins.  It wasn't a knock down, drag out fight like the current Democratic nomination.  So would it really be about "uniting" the party?

In my opinion, I think McCain should do what he has always done and that is buck the status quo.  This election is going to be won or lost in the middle.  Romney would be an average choice in my opinion.  I think he needs to go with a VP candidate that is both a straight shooter and politically attractive.

I still think Palin is at the top of my list for the post.  Human Events had this article on Palin (thanks Zak for the link) however unlikely the possibility.

“I’ll tell you, I think that the possibility of this ever happening is so far out there, that it’s tough to get my arms around and even contemplate,” Palin told us, so I don’t have an answer.” But, she quickly added, “I would like to see a governor on that ticket. I do think a governor understands, being on the front lines there, serving the constituents, how to administer. I think that’s very important for a team that would be serving in the White House.”

The one trap McCain cannot fall into is his potential administration looking like Bush's, especially with the likes of Obama harping on the failings of Bush all of the time.  I think a McCain/Romney ticket would make it too easy.  I say make it hard.

Palin is attractive, ethical, and almost maverickesque in her political style.  That is what will bring in the independents and solidify a win.

While the Democrats continue to battle it out for the nomination, the Republicans have all but put their eggs in McCain's basket -- even to the chagrin of some conservatives.

Going out on a limb.  But McCain has a shot at beating Obama.  In fact it is more than a shot.

It will be interesting who he will pick to be his running mate.  I have for one always thought that Sarah Palin would be a running mate that conservatives and independents would be interested in seeing on a national ticket.  And for the same reasons that people are attracted to Obama.

Looking at Obama, people want "fresh blood" and are tired of the Clinton and Bush dynasties.  This is fine.  But personally, I think Obama is the not the right person.  He may show the world that there is hope and a new future.  Show me a politician that hasn't said those things.  His manner and style are what is attracting people, but in the way of substance -- I am sorry -- it is still the same left liberal talk that will push this country even farther toward big government.

McCain gets a bad rap for being angry.  For getting spirited.  To me I see a silver lining.  People get fired up for their beliefs in politics.  I want to see somebody take on Congress (one that has the lowest approval ratings in history).  Congress isn't doing what the American people want them to do.  McCain understands the system and he is willing to take on the system.  His rhetoric of taking on pork barrel spending is the message that he is going to take on Washington's dirty little secret.

But dox^2, were supposed to work together to make the country a better place!  Yeah.  Tell that to Bush.  He rode into Washington on that "I will reach across the aisle" horse.  Too bad Washington politics doesn't have a stable for those sorts of steeds.

Obama seems to spout the same rhetoric -- of bipartisanship, of compromise.  I say it is all a myth.  For today's Democrats and Republicans, politics doesn't end at the water's edge -- and it doesn't end 20,000 leagues under the sea.  Politicians will say what you want to hear.  And that doesn't necessarily translate when in office.  I want to hear a candidate tell me like it is -- that is why I like McCain.

And that is why I also like Palin.  She is a rising star in the Republican party and most people haven't heard of her.  She isn't a Clinton.  She isn't a Bush.  She has taken on *Republican* corruption in her state of Alaska.  She is a governor.  She can be the ace in the hole for the Republican party if she is on the ticket as a VP with McCain.

McCain and Palin both have *records* of taking on the system and I think that will translate well to the masses.  And I don't think Obama's message that he is going to bring a new hope/credibility to Washington has to only be a Democratic message -- I think it can be a Republican message as well.  If this election is going to be won/lost with the independents, the Republicans better start showing that their nominees will not be like Bush.

To me having McCain on the ticket is a start, but his VP candidate could buoy/sink his national hopes.  People like Obama because before he went to the Senate he was a relative newcomer to national politics and people like that.  I think it is time the Republicans called up somebody from the minors to become a big league MVP.

And that home run pinch hitter is Sarah Palin.

Ruffini talks about Sarah Palin.

When Larry Craig brought disrepute onto the Republican house, conservatives did not circle the wagons. They immediately demanded his ouster. Even the party's leadership, normally slow to respond, did the right thing by setting aside Senatorial collegiality and demanding an explanation and eventually his resignation. With the case now a month removed from the headlines, Craig has snuck back in under the wire by delaying his resignation (that's right, after he initially retracted the initial trial balloon earlier this month).

Regardless of its ultimate outcome, the Craig case demonstrates that there is a growing grassroots movement within the Republican Party to clean house before a hostile media and an impatient electorate do it for us. To date, the movement's impact is mostly theoretical. Only 16 House Republicans consistently reject the backscratching earmark gravy train, scoring 100% on the Club for Growth's RePORK Card. And Republicans may be powerless to stop Larry Craig's embarassing flip-flop-flip on resignation.

But there is at least one Republican for whom ethical governance is more than just a theory. Meet Sarah Palin, Alaska's rockstar governor.

She stopped the pork project that has made Alaska a talking point for the last year or so.

On Friday Alaska's Gov. Sarah Palin ordered the state to prepare a "fiscally responsible" alternative to the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere," which made the state a national laughingstock and shone an unwelcome spotlight on the pork-barrel greed of its all-Republican congressional delegation. The $398 million bridge would have connected Ketchikan (population 7,400) to its airport on a nearby island inhabited by 50 people.

The same day, the Associated Press reported that the FBI has recorded two phone calls between Sen. Ted Stevens, who sponsored the bridge, and Bill Allen, a Stevens patron who dominated state politics as the head of the oil-services firm VECO until he pleaded guilty to bribing state legislators this year. Mr. Allen has also testified in open court that he paid some of the bills incurred in the expensive remodeling of Mr. Stevens's Alaska home. Last month, FBI agents raided the senator's home to secure evidence about the remodeling work. Few expect Mr. Stevens, who has served since 1968 and rose to become chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee, to survive politically.

I think Palin is the fresh wind that Republican voters desperately want in their politicians.  The good old boy mentality that exists in government has got to go and her record shows that she is willing to put it all on the line in the name of being moral and ethical.  She could be an ace in the hole come the 2008 election if she is selected and wants to run as a presidential running mate.

Now this is making my day.

I would not mind seeing somebody like this come on to the national political scene.

The wipeout in the 2006 election left Republicans in such a state of dejection that they've overlooked the one shining victory in which a Republican star was born. The triumph came in Alaska where Sarah Palin, a politician of eye-popping integrity, was elected governor. She is now the most popular governor in America, with an approval rating in the 90s, and probably the most popular public official in any state.

Her rise is a great (and rare) story of how adherence to principle--especially to transparency and accountability in government--can produce political success. And by the way, Palin is a conservative who only last month vetoed 13 percent of the state's proposed budget for capital projects. The cuts, the Anchorage Daily News said, "may be the biggest single-year line-item veto total in state history."

As recently as last year, Palin (pronounced pale-in) was a political outcast. She resigned in January 2004 as head of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission after complaining to the office of Governor Frank Murkowski and to state Attorney General Gregg Renkes about ethical violations by another commissioner, Randy Ruedrich, who was also Republican state chairman.

State law barred Palin from speaking out publicly about ethical violations and corruption. But she was vindicated later in 2004 when Ruedrich, who'd been reconfirmed as state chairman, agreed to pay a $12,000 fine for breaking state ethics laws. She became a hero in the eyes of the public and the press, and the bane of Republican leaders.

Govenor Palin looks like she can take on the "good old boy" system.  And judging by her current approval ratings, that is what people want to see in their politicians.