I will post on this at more length later

[fpb]

All I wanted to say now is this: everyone says that Sarah Palin was unknown to 99% of Americans until a few days ago. Well, I'm not even American and I had heard of her weeks ago, and looked her up. And I liked what I saw. Which is why I was so pleased when John McCain dropped the bombshell. I was, if you remember, terrified that he would be strong-armed into adopting Mitt Romney as running mate.

Comments

[cjmr.livejournal.com]

As far as I can tell, if only 1% of Americans had heard of her, everyone who had heard of her were either Alaskan, or pro-life, homeschooling SAHMs. The HS-ing community has been abuzz about her since Trig was born.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

Dare I ask what SAHM stands for?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I imagine... Stay At Home Mums?

[cjmr.livejournal.com]

Yep.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

Ah. My mother is a stay-at-home pro-life homeschooler...but in Oregon. No idea if her circle knew anything about Palin. I should ask, just out of curiosity.

[ani-bester.livejournal.com]

99% of *any* political candidate is unknown to Americans until they are running for some huge office on more than a state level. I don't understand why not knowing of her is a some big deal to people -_-

Personally I am actually ok with her. I don't agree 100% no, but it's not like I've ever in my life agreed 100% with a canidate. I do think though there might have been stronger choices, but I don't think she's the kiss of death people act like she is (and I notice the people acting like she's the kiss of death tend to be people who were staunchly against McCain anyway!)

[lametiger.livejournal.com]

The buzz at my workplace is pretty strongly in her favor. Of course, that was somewhat to be expected, since it is a small business, Christian publishing house, and the owners are strongly involved in the local Life Choices crisis pregnancy center. By making the pick he did, McCain has solidified support amongst the segment of the Republican base that was potentially going to sit this election out (a reaction I don't personally agree with, but there were some serious rumblings from some quarters). And it is certainly true that the biggest Palin-naysayers are people who were firmly in Obama's corner long ago and wouldn't have switched whoever he picked. The people most likely to be swayed one way or another by McCain's VP pick have been swayed toward him rather than away from him.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Exactly. He has delivered the kiss of life to the sleeping voting bloc that had swept Bush II to victory four years ago and then gone back to sleep two years later because of the huge disappointment of actual Republican government.

[cerebresque.livejournal.com]

Based on her actions, and that she's willing to hold strong views without being inclined to force them on people, based on her record so far, she's made a good-sized chunk of the libertarian-inclined block happy, too.

[becomethesea.livejournal.com]

Not me! I am the past president of a student Libertarians organization, which is why I raise my voice. But I'll stop right there on the Palin talk out of respect for fpb.

BTW I am not an Obama fan, either, but this VP pick has left a bitter taste in my mouth. I was certain McCain would pick Lieberman (which would have sealed my vote for McCain 100%), but alas. Now I have to decide who I'm going to vote for based on who I dislike less, rather than who I like more. :/

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Liebermann has a 100% positive voting record from NARAL. Picking him would have been even worse than picking Romney; McCain might as well have gone straight home.