Speaking of Maggie Brooks and Sarah Palin…
Earlier, we mentioned Maggie Brooks’s comments in support of Sarah Palin. It’s hard not to make the obvious comparison between their qualifications to be vice-president.
Currently, Maggie Brooks is the County Executive of Monroe County, a position she has held for a little over four and a half years. Palin is governor of Alaska, a position she has held for a year and a half. So Brooks has about three times as much “executive experience” (as Republicans like to say). Let’s compare the populations:
- Alaska: 670,053
Monroe County: 730,807
That’s right — Monroe County’s population is larger than that of Alaska, about ten percent larger.
Prior to becoming governor, Palin was a city councilperson and later mayor of the the town of Wasilla, AK, which has a population of a little under nine thousand. Before becoming county executive, Brooks represented a county legislative seat of about twenty-five thousand people.
Maggie Brooks is just as qualified as Sarah Palin to be vice-president. Why didn’t McCain pick Maggie Brooks?
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Well, that hits the nail right about on the head, now, doesn’t it?
I think that if the Obama campaign is smart, they’ll have surrogates in every battleground county comparing that county’s population to that of Alaska, just to prove the point you’re making right there.
Very simple reason… while both are journalists by trade, Sarah Palin is a former model. Next question?
Because Maggie doesn’t look like a Barbie doll?
What town/city/state has been run by McCain, Obama or Biden?
None, but don’t bother making the “experience” argument again, that’s all.
The top of the ticket is Obama vs McCain, not Palin vs Biden.
So you’re saying that you would be comfortable with Maggie Brooks as VP?
Seriously, I’m not trying to make so much of a partisan point here as to point out that I’m genuinely appalled by this choice. Do you really think Sarah Palin is ready to be president? That’s the question one should *always* ask about a VP, especially as old as McCain would be.
I seriously doubt that if you read more about Palin that you’ll really like the idea of her as president.
As a conservative I am fine with her. She believes enough of what I believe so that I find her a good pick. If you are a liberal you probably will not be happy with her. That is one thing I like about this election, there is a clear choice. If you support a liberal agenda you have Obama to vote for.
No doubt its a gamble, but the democrats need to tread careful. Biden has been known to make serious gaffes and Obama has said a few notables himself. There is a fair amount of Hillary supporters that were woman supporters and not specifically Hillary supporters, even if that number is 10% its a lot.
Bill Clinton, George W Bush, Ronald Reagan and many others had no Washington experience prior to be elected. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t.
This move was a reach out to Reagan Democrats who are not comfortable with Obama, the ones who voted for Hillary in PA and Ohio and so many other states. In the last 11 elections, only once (Bush and Quayle) has a ticket won without a governor or ex-governor on it.
BTW - I have asked this before and never gotten an answer. Why doesn’t a progressive site likes yours recognize Obama in the spell check?
It’s not our progressive site’s spell-checker, it’s your conservative browser’s spell-checker! (Okay, mine doesn’t recognize it either and I’m using Firefox on an Apple, which should be as progressive as it gets.)
And regardless of who it’s supposed to reach out for, I just don’t find myself at all impressed by her experience or by her knowledge of issues. I just can’t see her being an effective president.
I use Firefox too, but on an IBM clone
- I am surprised that Firefox hasn’t added him.:)
Some people, like me, feel that we are electing Supreme Court Justices, not just a president.
I have much to learn about Mrs. Palin. but I have read that she wasn’t afraid of big oil and was successful in taking them on.
Try to read something that wasn’t written by right-wing partisans about her before you make up your mind.
Actually, there is a pretty reasonable take on her at Powerline, which is a right-wing blog.
Am planning to research her in the near future. The beauty of our free press system is that all her warts will be made public, just like Obama’s, McCain’s and Biden’s. I will check out Powerline.
Powerline is a little nutty in general, but their discussion of Palin is the best I’ve seen so far from the conservative side.
They’re all senators.
So the answer is, the United States…
At least according to that document this administration has tried so hard to destroy, the Constitution.
Get yourself a copy, it’s in Article I.
The VP may become President. If you look at age and health record, which do you think has more possibility of vacating the oval office?
Are you serious?
She’s an unabashed supporter of more drilling and oil company profits.
I think we should start a PUMA of our own and call for McCain to nominate Maggie. It would make a great point about Palin’s lack of experience. I wonder what the national version of a FAIR plan would be?
” But Palin also pushed through a tax increase on oil and gas producers last year that doubled the state’s energy revenues to more than $10 billion.
That increase was blasted by BP and ConocoPhillips, who cited it a reason they postponed new projects in the state.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080829/bs_nm/palin_energy_dc
Everyone on the left says that. What exactly has the Administration tired to destroy? Are they trying to destroy the whole thing or just parts?
What’s interesting is that it’s so similar to the windfall profits tax that Democrats are pushing.
I like that idea too.
I think readiness of the VP is a big deal. Again, I don’t mean this to be partisan. If I were a Republican I would have been much happier with Romney, Pawlenty, or Portman. And although part of me is happy that McCain hurt himself politically with this pick, if McCain were to win in November, I’d be much happier with one of those three guys as VP (especially Portman).
The Fourth Amendment — right to privacy.
That’s the most clear cut example. But there are others.
So, why do great leaders in congress such as Nancy Pelosi, Louise Slaughter, Harry Reid, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Pat Leahy and others sit by and watch the constitution be trashed? Maybe they don’t feel the same way?
It’s not like we’ve never criticized them for that. I think they screwed up on that issue.
But just as I don’t hold Republicans I know responsible for Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina, I don’t hold Dems in Congress responsible for Bush’s illegal use of wiretapping. I condemn them for letting it slide, just as I condemn Republicans for voting for Bush. But I’m not ready to lump either group in with Bush just yet.
1. The right to habeas corpus is another.
2. The 14th Amendment right to due porcess.
3. The use of signing statements which is in violation of the constitution,…need more?
This is why true conservatives, such as Congressman Mickey Edwards wrote his recent book, “Reclaiming Conservativism.”
If you think you’re a conservative you should give it a read.
PS: Oh, the Democrats also to blame for letting it happen.
Hillary Clinton for one abdicated her responsiblity when she voted to give war making power to Bush.
But that is why you can’t include Obama, he was one of the few who rerfused to do so even when it was unpopular.
Has it ever dawned on you that the politicians love to bitch about the other party, but never seem to do anything about it? I’m talking about both parties here. And when you do get someone to act (like Bush) he doesn’t seem to have the proper brainpower to do the smart things?
I applaud her for that, but to buy the party line that she’s some kind of “maverick” or “stood up” to big oil is misleading.
The bottom line, is this the most qualified woman the right wing has?
That in itself is telling.
She carved out her own career, with no help from a President she married. She did it herself.
Hmmmm…
thank you, I had never heard that before.
That’s what makes it imparative to stop McCain. Obama understands we need a fundamental change in attitude.
When he spoke out against giving Bush the right to make war he was rebuked not only by republicans but also democrats. He understood it was about more than just this particular military adventure but a break down of the checks and balances we used to have.
That’s why guys like you should vote for him.
No argument there.
She had five kids and became a “hockey mom” [her words]all by herself.
Opps, wait, didn’t she need someone’s help there too?
Elmer,
Dude, put the pipe down and let your head clear out.
The party put out her bio yesterday.
At 44 years old sher’s had quite a career.
She worked a couple of part-time jobs after she went to go-away college in Idaho.
She then used the degree she earned to better the world.
She entered and won a beauty contest.
Exhausted but not a quitter, she embarked on a pursuit of self sacrifice in a one man-one woman crusade to birth five more mouths in an already overpopulated world. (It’s only a guess so forgive me, the effects of overpopulation may not have reached Alaska. But then again neither has science, as Sarah the VP-to-be has said she doesn’t believe man came from monkeys. You see, she’s a self avowed creationist.)
By her own account she quite working and became a “hockey mom.”
Some twenty years later she was a part-time city council person then part-time mayor of a “city” with fewer people in it than our very own Village of Honeyoe Falls.
Eighteen months ago she re-entered the full-time work force to become the governor of Alaska. (Where she immediately used her influence to try and get her brother-in-law fired. That is not in dispute, the question is whether it was illegal or just plain catty.)
So, Elmer let me ask you this way, use your imagination, you have been selected to find a new chief executive officer for a enterprise that represents 350 million stakeholders, the company is in big trouble, has many competitors and what this person does or does not do will effect the outcome.
Whether the enterprise survives or is relagated to the dust heap of history rests on this decision. (After all the job of VP is to be ready when the P can’t pee no more.)
You meet this woman one time, and you’re OK hiring her over all the well-qualified people available?
If yes, then dude pass the bowl, I want a toke of what you’re smokin’
I drink, not smoke - but your favorite female would never, never been elected Senator from New York if she hadn’t married well - she owes it all to Bill.
The “Barracuda” vs. the “Carp”…how quaint.
Wrong again Elmer, I’m no fan of Hillary’s.
But let’s see…
Maybe you’re right, if after graduating from Yale Law school HRC hadn’t given up a lucrative career as an attorney and married Bill Clinton, who was teaching school at the time, (obviously foreseeing that he would become president) she would have possibly ended up as a corporate attorney making a six-figure salary, or possibly as a hockey mom in Alaska helping her husband run a snow mobile shop, learning about all the nuances and intricies of domestic affairs, federal legislative processes and international politics…
Typical right wing tactic, when you have no argument of merit, divert attention and attack someone else.
News Flash: hot off the ticker…Dateline Phoenix…Reports are flowing in that Barry Goldwater is spinning in his grave so fast from this pick that they may harness the energy to light up Tucson.
Publius, I don’t think it’s fair to accuse Elmer of “typical right-wing” tactics. His comments are generally pretty original, whether we agree with them or not.
It is what it is.
The question is whether Sarah Palin is qualified to take over as president of the United States should she need to, and Elmer attacks Hillary Clinton.
That is a classic Rovian-Republican tactic.
Fair enough, in this case.
Obama says we need a fundamental change. Key word is “says”.
You may be happy with a war with no end in sight, [and by the Republicans own words, no definition of victory], an economy that is crushing the middle class while it favors the wealthy [perhaps you fit into that category of middle class defined by McCain as "anyone making $5 million dollars or more"], an education system crippled by NCLB gimmickery, an ever increasing dependence on an exhaustable energy resource with no incentives to do otherwise, a crumbling law enforcement effort the result of cutting federal funding of local police agencies, unequalled government fraud and waste by the ruling executive and an unconstitutionally overreaching “unitary executive’ that has been whittling away at our core liberties as Americans…
But I’m not.
Eight years is enough, its time to again focus on the promise of America that made us better than where we came from, to those ideals and fundamental values that defined us as Americans, change it is.
Publius -
Typical right wing tactics?
Fact One: Sarah Palin has more executive experience than Obama, McCain and Biden.
Fact Two: HRC would never ever in a million years been elected to the Senate from the State of New York without having been married to Bill Clinton.
So, if using facts is typical for right wingers I agree with you.
The first job of the VP is to be ready and qualified to take over as president.
Elmer, face it Dan Quale was better qualified.
You’re starting to sound silly.