I'd be really interested to hear what others think about Sarah Paulin for John McCain's VP pick.

I was milling around in a clients' office today when they announced it, the client has a big screen TV in the lobby, and the general feeling from the women there was that McCain was trying to get the 20%-ish of the 18m primary vote that would have gone for HRC,  but now say they will vote for McCain .

Personally, with regard to Sarah Paulin,  i applaud her but  I cannot vote for someone who is "pro-life" but is a card carrying member of the NRA and thinks hunting is OK. Regardless of his or her sex. Pro life and pro guns are not something I can reconcile in my brain.

As a  small business owner, I guess I should be voting for McCain/Paulin, as they are supposed to represent me, but as a human being I can't condone a black and white pro-life policy or anything resembling a pro gun policy..

But would be interested in hearing ideas from others!

Sian

PS    In the spirit of honesty - I have been an Obama supporter since his speech at the Dem Convention in 2004, so I am officially biased........

I haven't looked into her background probably as much as I should have by now. Honestly, I have been busy with other things. But, I can't help having the feeling that she was only chosen because she was a woman. As in, they may have been looking at a few candidates and she won out because she was a woman and that fact alone would help the McCain campaign.

This bothers me, hopefully for obvious reasons. Not saying that it is what happened, but I am left with the lingering question in my mind. I hope they chose her because she was the most qualified and complimented McCain's platform and policies. (Again, defaulting to my lack of investigation into Palin as of yet.)

I think that choosing Sarah Palin may hurt McCain's chances. Although I agree that choosing a female running mate was a respectable move, McCain and his people should've chosen someone else. It's pretty ironic -- and borderline hypocritical -- that they chose someone like Palin after criticizing Obama for his lack of experience.

I have to say I watched all of her speech tonight. Someone wrote a great speech for her and she hit the ball out of the park on delivering it. I was surprised and impressed. Good for her, even though I consider her to be deluded.

I do have a lingering question about whether the Repubs thought that by choosing her, "we with ovaries" willl vote for others with ovaries, despite their actual political positions/ experience/value. I have heard a lot of this discussion from the talking heads, and find it quite interesting.........

We with ovaries vote on issues, just like our brethren who sadly are missing those excellent organs.

Stilll voting Obama/ Biden - can't stomach another 4 yrs.

I actually do not think she gave a great speech last night.  I heard a lot of words but not a lot of content.  McCain choosing her was purely a political move when he had other better candidates to choose from.  In the end, Palin will hurt McCain getting elected.  Which is good for the candidate of my choice.

I did a little research on her speech writer and was surprised to discover that it was written by Matthew Scully. He was a speech writer for Bush, but is also a vegetarian who is pasionate about animal rights and they way we mis-treat them, particularly "food animals".

He wrote a book, which I haven't read but I gather is very well written from friends who have read it, called "Dominion : The Power of Men, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy". Apparently it argues that animals are not equal to humans (unlike many "animal activists"), but that because they are not our equals, we should treat them with more mercy. Here is a quote from it on Amazon.com:

"We are called to treat them with kindness, not because they have rights or power or some claim to equality, but in a sense because they don't; because they all stand unequal and powerless before us. Animals are so easily overlooked, their interests so easily brushed aside. Whenever we humans enter the world, from our farms, to the local animal shelter to the African savanna, we enter as lords of the earth bearing strange powers of terror and mercy alike."

I'm surprised that someone who wrote speeches for Bush could be so passionate about sharing our planet with other species. I don't remember anything about this in the agenda of the government of the USA since I have lived here.

Reading the reviews on Amazon.com, I think I will buy it.

This post is appropos of nothing, really.  It is a definite diversion from my original post, but I'm enjoying the discussion!

 And to bring it back to the orignal subject - I gather Sarah likes Moose Huntng???

What does Sarah's husband do for a living?  All I heard in her speech was that he was a professional snow machine something-or-other.

I get so frustrated by our entire political process. There is SO much spin and marketing and propaganda that it is nauseating. People are so busy taking pot shots at the other opponent and bending and twisting the truth as much to their favor as possible. This does nothing to benefit the voters. Skewing people's perception, phrasing things just right so they are not outright lies but unless fully understood are intended to confuse.

It really puts me on the border of wanting to say forget the whole thing, but I can't because I do feel an obligation to at least do my part and vote. Perhaps I have been jaded or lead astray by all of the fluff facts that have been flowing out of the mouths of many of the potential 'could be' leaders of this country, but at the end of the day I am very disappointed in the Republican party and the choices they have made thus far.

I do not claim to be a mainstream supporter of either party, I tend to approach each candidate with consideration of their platform and what they stand for as opposed to voting a straight party ticket. It seems to me that the Republican party was already at a disadvantage for this upcoming election given the disaster that has been the last 8 years and their actions to date, in my opinion, have not improved their chances of staying in the Prez spot for the next 4 years.

Jen,  I thought I read that her husband worked for BP but gave up his job to be a "house-husband" (or whatever you call it) when she got the Governor of Alaska job.