Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[jay-ell]

Well, I guess it's about time that people started getting jobs just because they DON'T have a c*ck, for a change.

QFMFT. 

Also, somebody needs to point out that the previous two presidents were former governors, not former senators.  Nobody made a Thing of it then, IIRC. 

[AlohaDawg]

QFMFT. 

Also, somebody needs to point out that the previous two presidents were former governors, not former senators.  Nobody made a Thing of it then, IIRC. 

Well, yeah, isn't that the point of executive experience vs legislative experience.

Also, Ms Palin killed the Bridge to Nowhere project as governor of Alaska. That was a 300 million dollar bridge between Ketchikan (pop 8,000) and an airport on another island (pop 50). For some ungodly reason Federal funding for this project actually passed Congress.

Senator Obama voted for the bridge appropriation bill. Governor Palin said, quote "If Alaska needs a bridge, we'll build it ourselves".

[jay-ell]

That was a 300 million dollar bridge between Ketchikan (pop 8,000) and an airport on another island (pop 50).

The problem here is that ferries are too unreliable.  They're sort of, catch-as-Ketchican.

[Arachno-capitalist]

Just as an aside I found interesting-
Palin holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Idaho. (2 years executive experience)
John McCain graduated from Annapolis ranked 894 out of 899 in his class. (25 years legislative experience)
- 27 years combined experience

Joe Biden double-majored in History and Political Science from U of Deleware. Then received his Juris Doctorate from Syracuse U College of Law. (25 years legislative experience)
Barack Obama studied Political Science and International Relations at Columbia. Then received his Juris Doctorate magna cum laude from Harvard. (10 years legislative experience)
- 35 years combined experience

While not the only criteria anyone would use to decide their vote, one team is clearly better educated and more experienced than the other. One team might have an easier time convincing me to trust them with the most important and complicated job in the country.

Considering the Vice President basically waits for the President to die so that he/she can then become president - I have a hard time convincing myself that the small-town mayor, one year governor of Alaska with a BA in Journalism is going to be able to jump in and run the country after the untimely death of a president.

[wombat]

Come on, you can't deny that time means something. Yes, sitting on your butt for 25 years means nothing. But assuming that people are not just sitting on their butts, 2 years of doing something is just not as good as 25 years of doing it. It's 23 more years worth of chances to learn stuff, test ideas, see how things work, react to different situations. It matters.

I'm actually kind of flabbergasted by this choice. Given the age issue and the need for a VP that was clearly qualified to be president, anyone could have predicted that the charge of lack of experience would be made. It is beside the point whether you think those attacks are legitimate - the point is, it was inevitable that they'd happen. What where they thinking?  Why leave yourself so wide open to that criticism? It just doesn't make sense. It's not like she's the only woman Republican they could have picked.

[AlohaDawg]

Cynically, it may depend on whether you want the white guy who has run for nomination and been squashed multiple times or the energetic lady who may well be a true Washington outsider in the White House.

[Doc]

Just going back to something A-Dawg said on the front page: How is Obama picking an old guard character a bad thing but McCain picking the (relatively) untried young gun a good thing? Seems like more or less the same thing. It sounds like they are both trying to pick someone that compliments their own abilities/personality.

I'll reiterate what I said ages ago in the Hillary/Obama thread: With McCain vs. Obama I think either way you guys are alright, my personal politics makes me prefer Obama but they both seem like relatively sane guys.

[KeithHernandez]

Well, a HUGE difference is that McCain is 72 and has had cancer twice.  So that means he will have to live to 76 to avoid having a person who no one has ever heard of and who until two years ago was mayor of a town with less than 9,000 people becoming president.

Also, Biden isn't off his fuck*ng rocker.

[theinevitable]

Today I went on a (double date?) outing where the president of the college democrats was present, and he was a mega-dick. I almost got in a big argument with him in the middle of a pleasant walk in the Botanical Gardens.

[Doc]

I'm just going to get this out there, and sorry if I offend any of you good people but:
People involved in student politics == dicks.
And loud annoying opinionated dicks at that.

If any of you were involved in student politics then I am glad to see you grew out of it and became fully functioning members of society.

[theinevitable]

see, it wasn't even that. It was just that he did that thing where...

"I work at KWUR, I'm the music director"
"oh, man, the people at KWUR are douches"
"um... I work at KWUR, I'm the music director."
"god, everyone at KWUR can't do anything, they're so lazy, they're idiots."
"Um. I work at KWUR. I'm the music director."
&c.

also my friend asked about Palin, and he didn't answer. So then I started answering, and he felt the need to correct every dang fact I brought out. But never got to the point where he started contributing other than
"she's been the governer for like a year"
"no, 18 months."
"she was like, Ms Alaska..."
"No, she was the runner-up."

[wombat]

Doc is correct. A-cap's contribution is interesting.

In other vp observations: Doesn't Biden have a weird forehead?

[jay-ell]

Growing up, my dad taught me that when it came time to choose a VP, you should always "balance the ticket."  That's why Kennedy chose Johnson -- he needed a southerner on the ticket.  They certainly were not buddies or anything.  And Johnson was unusual in that he was a southerner with a pro-Civil Rights stance. 

I think McCain wanted a woman.  I think she had to be everything Hilary was not.  From what little I've seen of her, she has a blue-collar, get-your-hands-dirty feeling.  She's the anti-Hilary, meant to draw in those women who said, as I did, "I'd love to see a woman president, as long as it's not her." 

I also think that voting for someone (or not) based on his VP pick and assuming he's going to die in office is quite possibly the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. 

[CortJstr]

I also think that voting for someone (or not) based on his VP pick and assuming he's going to die in office is quite possibly the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. 

But in this election it's all anybody can talk about.

McCain is old and has cancer several times. IIRC, even Bonzo was younger when he first took office. It might be nothing to worry about, Cheney last 8 years, but given the stress of the job and how much common knowledge says it ages a person it's definitely something to at least consider.

Since Obama starting running I can't count the number of people who have said they just assume there will be attempts at assassination because he's black. To me and the people I know that's a non-issue but supposedly there are still people in this country who froth at the mouth at the thought of a black president. Are there? I have no idea. Maybe people just watch too much 24.

[AugustWest]

see, it wasn't even that. It was just that he did that thing where...

"I work at KWUR, I'm the music director"
"oh, man, the people at KWUR are douches"
"um... I work at KWUR, I'm the music director."
"god, everyone at KWUR can't do anything, they're so lazy, they're idiots."
"Um. I work at KWUR. I'm the music director."
&c.

That's just being an unmitigated asshole.  You would have been perfectly justified if you'd punched him in the throat.