Republican National Convention discussion thread!

The Republican National Convention is underway in full force in St. Paul. If you can't make it to Minnesota, then share your thoughts about John McCain and Sarah Palin right here!

Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and his vice presidential running mate, Alaska Gov., Sarah Palin, acknowledge the cheers of supporters during a campaign rally in O'Fallon, Mo., Sunday Aug. 31, 2008. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

Comments

[Jazz]

I find it hilarious how quickly the religious right wing/Rublican conservative crowd have embraced Sarah Palin and her daughter's pregnancy. What would Rush Limbaugh et al have said about Hillary Clinton or Obama if it had been their 17 year old unwed daughter that was pregnant? What do you think he/they would have to say if it was Hillary that had a developmentally disabled infant at home while she was running for national office? I agree the family is off limits, but they darn sure wouldn't be if these issues affected a Democratic candidate.

What is relevant is that McCain's poorly qualified and vetted VP candidate reflect instability in the his decision making process. Palin's actions as Governor - supporting abstineance only programs, cutting funding to help equip at risk teen moms to handle their parenting responsibilities, potential misuse of authority and misrepresentation of her background as a "reformer," as well a level of experience less than that of the average urban county commissioner, all point to someone not appropriate to step into the Presidency on a moment's notice.

There's no question that there are far more qualified Repulican women, even among the religious, Pro-Life rightwing. What can we say was McCain's criteria? He picked cute. Thank God we never had to find out what kind of President Dan Quayle would have made, but we've had 8 years of someone whose primary qualification was a nice public personality. What a nightmare we do not need to repeat.

[AngryMcCainFan]

I've got no problems with a mother running the country, even one with a baby that has Downs Syndrome. As VP, she would have a crack medical team at her beck and call, and household staff to help with everything from answering correspondence to arranging transportation to school. Being VP would actually make things *easier*.

My concern isn't because she's a woman, but because she's nuts.

In the church video, she claims to have the gift of prophecy, and that she is starting to "see" things changing...

She pulled a Hillary Clinton and started firing people she didn't like...

She pulled a George Bush and slammed her hometown 20 million dollars in the hole...

She believes in creationism - how can she discuss diplomacy with people who've been claiming to be fighting over land longer than the Earth has been in existence?

She's absolutely right-wing anti-abortion. I'm not wildly pro-choice, but no way in hell would I force a rape victim to have a baby...you can reduce abortions without resorting to cruelty.

and then it comes out that she was flirting with some tinfoil-hat secessionist party that her husband belonged to.

But worse, it's caused grave doubts about McCain's ability to lead in my mind. The only consolation I'm trying to cling to is that this is his revenge on a party that wouldn't let him take the moderate role - that he's setting the republicans up to failure, and then he and Lieberman will run off and start an independent party.

They have to come right out and tell me that after the election - otherwise I'll never look at McCain again.

Out of all the choices they could have picked...

[Southoc]

Hey, sounds like sauce for the goose. She is fair game.

[Southoc]

Hey, I guess all the abstinence training didn't work.

[Maria]

The first thing that came to mind when I saw McCain's running mate was "he's trying to get the women voters who wanted Hilary in office." Of course I'm not the only one who thinks that way. Why else would he pick such an unqualified and inexperienced candidate as Palin? While I believe her personal life is just that "personal", you can't help discuss it when she is running for one of the highest seats in the nation. Like many have said, if this were in the Democrat's camp, you know the Republicans would be having a field day with it. Sorry, this lady is just not qualified to step up and be Commander in Chief if need be. OBAMA/BIDEN 2008!!!!!!

[ar]

If you vote the McCain/Palin ticket, you get exactly what you deserve, just like the last 8 years of Bush. There's a small part of me that hopes they win, because I do not think you people deserve better.

As for me, I decided not to have children (thank GOD) so I don't have that constant worry about the future and unlike most Americans, I have a comfortable amount of savings and will be fine unless our economy gets so bad that the US Dollar has no value whatsoever...and if that happens, then you all will go down with me!

[Southoc]

I can't stand either party right now.

We need to do something about the economy, Iraq, and unprotected borders. We have the Iranians flirting with the South Americans. Our foreign policy has made us look like idiots. Where are the real leaders of this country?

[Inquirer]

The elderly John McCain and his faltering Campaign hoped to somehow energize its base and pick up votes from women and independents in the appointment of Sarah Palin. The opposite has happened: The Democratic base was energized, many prospective women voters felt insulted and independents came streaming off the fence for Barack Obama.

[George]

So the same group who questioned the paternity of John McCain s adopted child takes the moral high road over Palin's pregnant daughter?

The Repubs made "Family values" the topic and now find themselves on their own playing field. What a shame.

[Anne W.]

I am tired of being called a sexist for supporting Obama. My issue is the war. I supported him over Clinton because she voted for it and never apologized or explained. Obama opposed it. I am horrified by Palin because she isn't qualified. Her record of personal power abuse in Alaska is far from encouraging. And I don't like religious fundamentalists, any religion--especially those that don't respect the US Bill of Rights.

I have voted for many female candidates for various elective offices, including Washington's current governor, Christine Gregoire. As far as I'm concerned, the sexists are the people who expect women to vote on the basis of gender.

[jamie]

The one sided liberal bashing machine, also known as the mainstream media, has crossed the line with the Palin family. These angry leftest nutjobs make Rush look fair and balanced.

[Sabrina]

Ok, so Bristol Palin is 17 and pregnant. So how EXACTLY does that effect national security or impact the environment? People need to be paying attention to the real issues in this election and not all the gossippy stuff. Sarah Palin as far as I'm concerned is NOT a good candidate because of her horrible stance on the environment. She is for oil drilling in Alaska, and she went so far as to try to not have the polar bear listed as an endangered species so that they can drill up there. She's also a rabid gun enthusiast who doesn't think it's wrong to hunt. Those should be your primary worries, not all that other stuff.

[dave]

it is obvious that the traditional republican core majority represented by the legitimate candidate, RON PAUL, would never support the neocon faction headed by mccain, that has hijacked the party and is attempting once more to hijack the government.
but when the delegates declare RON PAUL, who has suspended his campaign, the legitimate winner of the nomination, he can be expected not to decline but to accept the offer, for love of humanity and liberty, for the people, and for his country.

many people who support the legitimate republican candidate's constitutional message, have been following the events at RON PAUL's 'rally for the republic' attended by over 10,000 enthusiastic people.
obviously, the convention is not widely covered by the corporate media, but can be viewed on c-span and alternative media. and while the delegates are still deliberating at the near-empty excel center across the river where RON PAUL has been prohibited to address the dissident neocon faction and the delegates, by the 'heroic' mccain (and the neocons that have not yet deserted him), it seems there can only be one conclusion - which is for them to do as one of yesterday's speakers, dean wead put it, 'come home. come back.'

'today they want you to believe a patriot supports what the government wants - a true patriot supports liberty and the people,' said RON PAUL.

[Puciret]

This farce can't continue much longer. The thousands that marched, whether peacefully or destructively, at the RNC have gotten little if any coverage by the media. This only goes to show how much of MSM is controlled by Big Brother. The separation of Good protesters VS Bad protesters is inane. The fact that these people were UNNECESSARILY pepper sprayed and shot with rubber bullets along with being tear gassed is not only unethical but constitutionally wrong. Peaceful demonstrations took place at the DNC in Denver as expected. In the Twin Cities it seemed it was almost an unforgivable sin for Media coverage to be present and photograph what was obviously an attempt by the local, state and federal agencies to "preempt " any "unauthorized" photos of the demonstrations.
McCain and the RNC are nothing more than an attempt to continue 4 more years of the present administration. Palin is nothing more than an inroad to the Christian right and is obviously not Presidential material but will garner about 3.5 million more McCain votes. If Obama had picked Clinton as his running mate this would have never happened. People beware, if McCain wins this election you'll know that something is amiss and the EC along with Diebold( now Premier) have conspired to ignore the populist and further the aims of the Corporate deities.

[BTN]

Look what the New York Times editorial page said in 1984 about women candidates:

“Where is it written that only senators are qualified to become President?… Or where is it written that mere representatives aren’t qualified, like Geraldine Ferraro of Queens?… Where is it written that governors and mayors, like Dianne Feinstein of San Francisco, are too local, too provincial?… Presidential candidates have always chosen their running mates for reasons of practical demography, not idealized democracy…. What a splendid system, we say to ourselves, that takes little-known men, tests them in high office and permits them to grow into statesmen…. Why shouldn’t a little-known woman have the same opportunity to grow?… [T]he indispensable credential for a Woman Who [sic] is the same as for a Man Who [sic] – one who helps the ticket.”

Wow!!

[Freedom Eagle]

For the "Bridge to Nowhere" before she was against it:
http://www.andrewhalcro.com/the_bridge_to_somewhere

An image worth 1000 words:
http://www.andrewhalcro.com/files/FH000020.jpg

Reformer? Hardly.

Hypocrite? Definitely.

[mmga]

Allesandro hits it squarely and a foreign perspective. Thank you Allesandro for being so clear. We need to protect against the unqualified suddenly being in a position beyond their abilities, someone that needs to be coached to give a speech at the convention at least half as well as Michelle Obama delivered in Denver.

to MB: I am suggesting we revert back to an electoral process for both the VP and Prez but within the parties since the original process under Jefferson failed to recognize the dynamics of a Prez and VP of differing parties....

History of VP Selection Process:
The 1940 election is considered the beginning of the modern era of vice presidential selection, as before the 1940's precedent set by Franklin Delano Roosevelt the vice president was chosen by the party leaders and the presidential nominee was not involved in the decisions.

Under the original terms of the Constitution, the members of the U.S. Electoral College voted only for office of president rather than for both president and vice president. Each elector was allowed to vote for two people for the top office. The person receiving the greatest number of votes (provided that such a number was a majority of electors) would be president, while the individual who received the next largest number of votes became vice president. If no one received a majority of votes, then the U.S. House of Representatives would choose among the five highest vote-getters, with each state getting one vote. In such a case, the person who received the highest number of votes but was not chosen president would become vice president. If there were a tie for second, then the U.S. Senate would choose the vice president.

The original plan, however, did not foresee the development of political parties and their adversarial role in the government. In the election of 1796, for instance, Federalist John Adams came in first, and Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson came second. Thus, the president and vice president were from opposing parties. Predictably, Adams and Jefferson clashed over issues such as states' rights and foreign policy.

A greater problem occurred in the election of 1800, in which the two participating parties each had a secondary candidate they intended to elect as vice president, but the more popular Democratic-Republican party failed to execute that plan with their electoral votes. Under the system in place at the time (Article Two, Section 1, Clause 3), the electors could not differentiate between their two candidates, so the plan had been for one elector to vote for Thomas Jefferson but not for Aaron Burr, thus putting Burr in second place. This plan broke down for reasons that are disputed, and both candidates received the same number of votes. After 35 deadlocked ballots in the U.S. House of Representatives, Jefferson finally won on the 36th ballot and Burr became vice president.

This tumultuous affair led to the adoption of the Twelfth Amendment in 1804, which directed the electors to use separate ballots to vote for the president and vice president. While this solved the problem at hand, it ultimately had the effect of lowering the prestige of the vice presidency, as the office was no longer for the leading challenger for the presidency.

The separate ballots for President and Vice President became something of a moot issue later in the 19th century when it became the norm for popular elections to determine a state's Electoral College delegation. Electors chosen this way are pledged to vote for a particular presidential and vice-presidential candidate (offered by the same political party). So, while the Constitution says that the president and vice president are chosen separately, in practice they are chosen together.

If no vice presidential candidate receives an Electoral College majority, then the Senate selects the Vice President, in accordance with the United States Constitution. This is a curious anomaly since the sitting Vice President is also President of the Senate and would be called upon to break a tie vote, possibly for himself or his successor. The election of 1836 is the only election so far where the office of the Vice President has been decided by the Senate. During the campaign, President Martin Van Buren's running mate Richard Mentor Johnson was accused of having lived with a black woman. Virginia's 23 electors, who were pledged to Van Buren and Johnson, refused to vote for Johnson (but still voted for Van Buren). The election went to the Senate, where Johnson was elected, 33-17.

Residency limitations
The Constitution also prohibits electors from voting for both a presidential and vice presidential candidate from the same state as themselves. In theory, this might deny a vice presidential candidate with the most electoral votes the absolute majority required to secure election, even if the presidential candidate is elected, and place the vice presidential election in the hands of the Senate. In practice, this is rarely an issue, as parties avoid nominating tickets containing two candidates from the same state. In one notable case, former Wyoming congressman Dick Cheney had moved to Texas to serve as CEO of Halliburton Company, but reclaimed residency at his Wyoming home before accepting the 2000 GOP nomination for vice president, alongside presidential nominee and Texas governor George W. Bush.

Nominating process
The vice presidential candidates of the major national political parties are formally selected by each party's quadrennial nominating convention, following the selection of their presidential candidates. The official process is identical to the one by which the presidential candidates are chosen, with delegates placing the names of candidates into nomination, followed by a ballot in which candidates must receive a majority to secure the party's nomination. In practice, the presidential nominee has considerable influence on the decision, and in 20th century it became customary for that person to select a preferred running mate, who is then nominated and accepted by the convention. In recent years, with the presidential nomination usually being a foregone conclusion as the result of the primary process, the selection of a vice presidential candidate is often announced prior to the actual balloting for the presidential candidate, and sometimes before the beginning of the convention itself. Often, the presidential nominee will name a vice presidential candidate who will bring geographic or ideological balance to the ticket or appeal to a particular constituency. The vice presidential candidate might also be chosen on the basis of traits the presidential candidate is perceived to lack, or on the basis of name recognition. Popular runners-up in the presidential nomination process are commonly considered, to foster party unity.

The ultimate goal of vice presidential candidate selection is to help and not hurt the party's chances of getting elected. An overly dynamic selection can backfire by outshining the presidential candidate. A classic example of this came in 1988, when Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis chose experienced Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen as his running mate.

The last presidential candidate to not name a vice presidential choice, leaving the matter up to the convention, was Democrat Adlai Stevenson in 1956. The convention chose Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver over Massachusetts Senator (and later president) John F. Kennedy. At the tumultuous 1972 Democratic convention, presidential nominee George McGovern selected Senator Thomas Eagleton as his running mate, but numerous other candidates were either nominated from the floor or received votes during the balloting. Eagleton nevertheless received a majority of the votes and the nomination.

In cases where the presidential nomination is still in doubt as the convention approaches, the campaigns for the two positions may become intertwined. In 1976, Ronald Reagan, who was trailing President Gerald R. Ford in the presidential delegate count, announced prior to the Republican National Convention that, if nominated, he would select Senator Richard Schweiker as his running mate. This move backfired to a degree, as Schweiker's relatively liberal voting record alienated many of the more conservative delegates who were considering a challenge to party delegate selection rules to improve Reagan's chances.[citation needed] In the end, Ford narrowly won the presidential nomination and Reagan's selection of Schweiker became moot.

Just a little history, the conventions today seem to have lost the backbone to challenge the choice of the Presidential nominee

[tang]

So, the Republicans are going to have a bunch of well read, successful, businesswomen and politicians introduce an unqualified beauty queen for the 2nd highest office in the country?
I guess the irony escapes them ...
Unreal!

[rob]

I just listened to Romney's speeh. Republicans speeches are so hateful. And the chants of "USA" after every hate message is so Nazi like. What a turn off.

[Ian Home]

I just heard Mitt Romney say that John McCain will crush the evil islamic radicals. How barbaric and childish can a person get. How about we actually take a look at the US policies that cause people to hate us and want to fly planes into our buildings in the first place. As long as we elect warmongers things are only going to get worse.

[PNW Trojan]

The PARADE of the party FINGER PUPPETS! You 'got' my finger, fool!

[AngryMcCainFan]

Tell you what. I don't agree with Huckabee's policies either - but seriously, he does give good speeches, and he opened it with something approaching a nod to Barack Obama. And my god a republican telling a barely clapping audience that racism was a horrible thing made me happy.

[El Grande]

Check this out. Comments from a fellow Naval Academy Graduate and Vietnam POW. Good stuff:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KjsEs46C70&eurl=http://mudflats.wordpress.com/

Also, MySpace photos of Trigs grandma http://grrl.wordpress.com/

And Alaska's newspaper attempt to cover up. Notice Palin's youngest daughter ages dramatically during 2006

http://www.daylife.com/photo/0e3e6f09xJ0PN
http://www.adn.com/photos/v-gallery/story/509850.html?/1521/gallery/509852-a509987-t3.html

[rj]

Trailer trash like Sarah Palin are a living insult to any person with moral integrity, intelligence and polite common sense...I fear for what her thinking and actions can do to the young minds of American youth...I can see (and hear) her rehashed, redneck BS coming a mile away - she speaks just like a card dealer at a Vegas casino reeling in the unsuspecting (and ignorant) customer - I only hope the young of America also see her for what she really is - a total scam in the guise of "tough woman"...she's nothing more than a semi street smart hustler who'll pick you're pocket while selling you everything you think you really "need".......its a frightening time for this country....

[lagirl]

Id like to think that the bigger war is the one we are facing here, in our country. economy, gas prices, food prices, everything going up in cost and yet we have to foot the bill.
as much as Id like to say that the war is important and we can't leave that behind, we got serious problems at home as well.