Sarah Palin says she and John McCain are practically strangers

John McCain and his new running mate, Sarah Palin, are spending some quality time together today. After this morning's rally in Dayton, Ohio, they boarded McCain's bus for the six-hour ride to Pittsburgh.

That's a good thing. Because McCain and Palin are practically strangers.

At least that's what she told a reporter two weeks ago. In an interview with the Washington, D.C., newspaper Roll Call, Palin said she had met McCain only once or twice.

She said she was introduced to McCain at the 2006 Republican Governors Assn. meeting.

The pair met again this week, according to McCain campaign spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker. In a news release, Hazelbaker said Palin arrived with an aide in Flagstaff, Ariz., on Wednesday evening to meet with McCain advisors Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter.

On Thursday morning, Palin met with Cindy McCain and John McCain at their home in Sedona, Ariz. That, according to Hazelbaker, is where McCain made his big revelation: "At approximately 11:00 a.m. Thursday August 28, 2008, John McCain formally invited Governor Sarah Palin to join the Republican ticket as the vice presidential nominee on the deck of the McCain family home."

For more Palin-related news, check out Michael Finnegan's assessment of what a McCain-Palin ticket might mean in November.

-- Kate Linthicum

Photo: Meagan McCain is a regular fixture on her father's tour bus. Soon Sarah Palin will be too. Credit: Mary Altaffer / Associated Press

Comments

[FAQ correspondant]

Stranger to McCain, even stranger to American Public. Why would the GOP select a greenhorn from South Park on their ticket?

McCain/Pale in comparison to Obama/Biden powerhouse.
http://faqnews.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/gop-selects-mayor-of-southpark-to-lead-nation/

[BJ]

Obama is toast!

[Ex-Obama Supporter]

As an female Obama Supporter, I find the selection of Sarah Palin one of the most open minded decisions the GOP has had. It couldn't have came at a better time for them.

I wanted Hillary for President, but after her defeat from obama, (which he has now changed his positions to hers in the primaries), So I am now supporting Mccain/Palin because of his selection for VP.

Not only does Mccain have women in higher paying positions in his campaign, but now he has proven to America, that us women should be equal in the everyday work force, no matter what.

Bye Obama, I'm changing my position just like you have sooo many other times.

[Pamela]

When America falls in love with her and her beautiful family, Obama will be toast. Her husband is also part Eskimo, Wow! We have a black man, a woman, an Eskimo, and Biden(big mouth)

[grizzle]

God, she's gorgeous.

[O.P. Neon]

The aburd candidacy of McCain is getting more weird by the hour.
- Gov. Palin should be caring more fo rthe child born in April, eas part of true family values, and not to use that child as sympathy vote, Just take care of the immediat eneedy and worry not about the fluffy affairs in the name of service. She shoul dhave had sufficient self-respect to decline invitation.
- Inthe first sentence she uttered on stage in Ohio, she thanked Mrs. McCain for the honor and opportunity of this nomination. Imagine Joe Biden thanking Michelle fo rhis new role and responsibilities now on.
- McCain does not have good judgment or even guts to tackle the immediate challenges his campaign faces; forget about the national level.
- The RNC is a bunch of self-centric yes-men and yes-women, who hate Hillary, but wish to use her name in hopeless attempt to lure women voters.
- These folks have no clue to the level of problem this nation faces, most of these have happened while they abused power relentlessly over a decade and beyond.
- The cheer leading and enthusiastic support by other VP contenders will be interesting to see along the next 2 months or so.
- Gov. Palin's appearance in Ohio already looked like the dear in the headlights. Scrutiny has yet to begin.

[anon]

"but now he has proven to America, that us women should be equal in the everyday work force, no matter what."

Hrm, I'm pretty sure that Obama was the one who supported equal pay for equal measures for women.

[Wendy (used to be Republican, now Ind)]

To all those women who are changing from Obama to McCain ONLY because he chose a female running mate, should hold on...learn more about her before you blindly go following just due to anatomy.

[Barbara J Struble]

I am a democrat for McCain / Palin.

[rypo]

As an female Obama Supporter, I find the selection of Sarah Palin one of the most open minded decisions the GOP has had. It couldn't have came at a better time for them.

I wanted Hillary for President, but after her defeat from obama, (which he has now changed his positions to hers in the primaries), So I am now supporting Mccain/Palin because of his selection for VP.

Not only does Mccain have women in higher paying positions in his campaign, but now he has proven to America, that us women should be equal in the everyday work force, no matter what.

Bye Obama, I'm changing my position just like you have sooo many other times.

Posted by: Ex-Obama Supporter | August 29, 2008 at 03:03 PM

Really? I feel like you're faking. I find it interesting that you don't see this as a truly misogynistic move on McCain's part. The motivation for this is clearly "the Democrats didn't give you a woman, so here's a replacement woman." Her lack of experience (and lack of interaction with McCain, for that matter) makes no difference – she was chosen because she's a woman. Pretty offensive, in my opinion.

[adelle]

The relationship between the President and the VP has to be one of not only respect but the upmost trust. McCain and Palin know nothing about how they'll work together or even if they'll like one another. I am disappointed that he didn't pick Romney, Huckabee, or Pawlenty. The Commander in Chief question will come up and I am afraid Palin will not pass it. She recently said in an interview on FOX News that she doesn't even know what the VP does.

[Lrez]

I'm an independent and a woman--I like this ticket. Palin has as much experience as Obama--and is intelligent enough to learn on the job--like they all do. I imagine McCain will take her under his foreign-policy-wing and she'll get all she needs from being VP.

Another IMPORTANT side-note. With Bush-Cheney we elected a weak president/strong VP which was BAD! Why? Because the VP made many behind the scenes decisions that he didn't really have to be accountable for--much like what will happen with an Obama/Biden ticket. Have we not learned our lesson with this scenario?? A weak president DOES NOT need a strong VP--they need more time to get prepared.

The McCain/Palin ticket is as it should be--strong president/weaker VP--but VP gets ready for the big job. If, lord forbid, something happens prematurely to McCain and she moves up to the top spot--the way she has conducted her life here-to-for can inform us about what kind of president she'll be--apparently a tough one.

[J Rose]

These responses are unbelievably shallow - you've got to be kidding. God help us....

[Charles L. Freeman]

Prediction - When all the smoke clears after the RNC next week, the GOP powers-that-be will bring McCain to his senses and explain to him that this is a totally unqualified person to possibly be a heartbeat away from the Presidency. Her official reason (excuse) for withdrawing from the campaign will be that "I underestimated how much time and effort this campaign would entail and I need to be with my infant son who was born with Down Syndrome. I appreciate the opportunity and honr provided to me by Senator McCain but for the sake of my family (and party), I must withdraw at this time."

[Jerome]

I really have to wonder about a woman who would go on an 11-hour plane trip while giving birth just so her baby would be born an Alaskan. She put her own life, and her baby's life, at risk. That doesn't give me much comfort regarding her judgment, especially considering she has no foreign policy resume.

[anonymous]

Another example of McCain's poor judgement. A veep he doesn't even know. Bet he let a staff member make that pick for him. Just how he'd run the presidency, too.

[J Rose]

To the "female Obama supporter" who has switched, I don't buy it - more likely a McCain supporter posing as someone who has changed their mind. Transparent Rush Limbaugh tactics.

[John]

Why do people still support Obama?

Where's his record of change? I can't support this waffling unprincipled man that liked to vote present alot.

Two party-defying mavericks. Landslide election :D

McCain-Palin 2008

[Hired GOP Plant]

Poor interns working for the GOP, having to post all these B.S. comments.

[Michael]

Love all the BS posts from supposed Democrats who are switching to McCain. I don't believe any of you.

This woman is about as far right as you can get, so there is no way a real Democrat is going to vote for her.

Oh BTW, I'm a hardcore right-wing nut-job who is now voting for Obama.

[aaron johnson]

Horrible Pick..one heartbeat away from...Sarah Palin?

[felix gonzales]

C'mon who is McCain kidding? little known! She's from Alaska! (off shore oil ) Duh!. Remember Condi and her Oil tanker name sake. Maybe they will name an off shore rig and a tanker after Sarah! Mccain is just trying to get the womens vote, as if women were so stupid not to see this. Who in their right mind would vote republican just to vote for a woman as VP? You vote for someone who can handle the job. sure Hillary was able to, but the people chose Obama instead. personally I wouldn't vote for a republican for another 8 terms hopfully by then the corrupted will have died off, gotten arrested or finally come out out of the closet. Most of the ones in washington are so corrupt look at how many of them are either being investigated or outed or left office because they were on the verg of getting busted on something.Even George Bush, Mr. Mafia himself is going to be heading to the Hague just you watch. And who are these supposed idiots who vote for a cadidate because of their looks? what kind of sense is that ? those kind of voters nobody needs.

[William]

McCain has made the most sexist decision. After he uses her to win the election, and if he suceeds, Palin will surely be relagated to be the trophy vp and co-first lady.

Sad to say, but this seems to be his trajectory.

[Steve Babylon]

I believe McCain may have just won himself an election. She is great and the more I learn the more i like. I think her lack of exposure to that nut hunt call DC is an asset not a problem.
Go McCain Go!

[Suzie]

When I first heard the news, I checked my calendar to see make sure it wasn't April 1st...

[Jennifer]

What a joke! You can't call me a devoted Hillary Clinton democrat by supporting Sarah Palin. This pandering is outragious, especially since Sarah Palin called Hillary Clinton a whiner. Not only does Sarah Palin have a weak resume, but how you can be a democrat and support her baffles me. Is your pride and ego that stupid?! Sarah Palin is against pro choice, even if a girl was raped or suffered incest she still is against abortion. She is part of NRA, and is against gay rights. I just don't understand how ANY Hillary Clinton democrats could support a woman who's policies are on the other side, and who INSULTED Hillary Clinton. At least my friends who are die hard Clinton supporters will not fall to this idiotic pandering. Thank god for those intelligent Democratic Women!!
Here is the video of Sarah Palin calling Hillary Clinton a whiner!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEUG0XZ9OpY

[G From The A]

Ok so this is the political version of "Blind Date"

Wow she only met Mccain once or twice???

Cindy you had better watch out , Johnny Be bad is on the prowl

Honestly I think this was a poor choice. A 72 year old man is handing the Presidency to someone with no more experiance than Obama. ( Less in terms or foreighn affairs) He just threw away his biggest argument againt Obama. This only leaves the issues and policy to deal with. It has been apparent over the past few months issues will cost him the election as only ridicule, and distractive wedge issues were his only real weapons.

[Jennifer]

What a joke! You can't call me a devoted Hillary Clinton democrat by supporting Sarah Palin. This pandering is outragious, especially since Sarah Palin called Hillary Clinton a whiner. Not only does Sarah Palin have a weak resume, but how you can be a democrat and support her baffles me. Is your pride and ego that stupid?! Sarah Palin is against pro choice, even if a girl was raped or suffered incest she still is against abortion. She is part of NRA, and is against gay rights. I just don't understand how ANY Hillary Clinton democrats could support a woman who's policies are on the other side, and who INSULTED Hillary Clinton. At least my friends who are die hard Clinton supporters will not fall to this idiotic pandering. Thank god for those intelligent Democratic Women!!
Here is the video of Sarah Palin calling Hillary Clinton a whiner!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEUG0XZ9OpY

[Sammy]

Vote for McSame and finish America off.
All who vote McSame please don't cry when America
loses everything it was built on. Bush and Cheney
have made a mess so go ahead and finish the job.
One look at McSame and you can see the evil.
Besides take a real good look at McSame and his
wife nothing but low class and no morals.
They are a disgrace to America like the Bush's.

[KP]

What a Joke! How could he pick someone from middle of no where and think that he is going to win in November? This is a sign of loosing. If you would like to push this country 20 years back then vote for McCain otherwise vote for Obama. No brainer!

[Vincent]

It's incredible that people take this decision seriously. It's laughable. Yet it's sad to see just how stupid Americans are, actually falling for this transparent, hypocritical and insulting choice. How foolish and ignorant and idiotic can you be to accept this as anything but madness? A hockey mom is not a president; life is not a TV movie from the 1980s. God help us.

[Sammy]

McSame hasn't won himself anything but a disgrace
to America. Lie, Lies, Lies, and More Lies,
Yep, the Same as McBush!!!!

GO Obama Go!!!!!!!
Go Biden Go!!!!
Bring Class and Dignity back to America!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Case]

All those posts about democrats changing to Palin just because she is a woman are obviously Republican propoganda posters. That is the only hope they have in this election and they know it, trying to draw on Hillary supporters and making it seem like they are all jumping ship, it is why they picked her in the first place. It is not going to work. An anti-abortion, pro-Bush candidate is not an option for any true Democrat, just because she doesn't have a wang doesn't make her any different from the rest of the republican wangs.

[Cindy]

I think it is quite disturbing to find out that McCain only is just gettting to know this person. As a woman I am excited to see a woman selected as a VP running mate, but I want to know that she is qualified. If he only met her once and chose her to be a heartbeat away from the presidency what does that say about his judgement? This seems so impulsive. I sincerely hope she turns out to be impressive and smart. But, it says more to me about McCain that he sees women as simple minded and willing to just vote for another woman no matter what.

[Christine]

I am a woman who is a Hilary Clinton supporter and really struggle to be able to accept Barack Obama as the nominee. After watching the convention, I realize that I should really be thinking about the issues that are plaguing our country and not use my vote in spite of Obama.

John McCain choosing Palin as his VP really feels like a slap in the face to all Hilary supporters. As said in this article, Palin and McCain barely know each other and she has had very little experience. In my gut I feel like this was just a choice to win over the Hilary supporters. I rather their be a woman with experience in the white house instead of some publicity stunt just to win over the women vote.

[LB]

Are all these Republicans who say they are happy about Palin deluded or stupid?

Actually they are most likely lying. Just like those supposed Obama or Hilliary supporters who say they are supporting McCain. We see through you so stop wasting everyone's time with your bogus posts.

As an Obama supporter, I am absolutley thrilled with McCain's choice of such a featherweight. She'll make the conservatives at the convention happy, but she has completely doomed him in the general election.

How can a McCain expect us to overlook the fact that he is 72 and has had cancer 4 times? What was he thinking?????

[victor knopp]

iam sure obama is hearing that old beach song in his head "WIPEOUT'

[victor knopp]

so ask not what you can do for your country but what you country needs to do for you,forget personal independence,,by the way when obama talks about universial health care does he mean we will insure the aliens,,extraterestials,you guys really are in space,hello spell checkers

[WhatWeHaveSeen]

While it is refreshing to see a woman on the ticket. My genitals will not decide my pick. It just seems odd for McCain to pick someone he barely knows. Oh well.

I'm still voting for Obama/Biden. I just believe it is the best choice.

[racheltech]

Wow. Initially I thought that this choice might give McCain some momentum. However I can see this is really just a laughable attempt to win over Hillary Supporters. If Hillary supporters were that blind, they would never have wanted her in the White House in the first place. As stated above, this COMPLETELY takes away McCain's angle that Barack Obama lacked the experience to be in the White House, a woman who governs one of the most sparsley populated states in the Union which also supposedly has HUGE oil reserves and who has had an unremarkable political career. Wake up McCain. As history has proven, time and time again, women are not nearly as weak-minded as you imagine us to be.

http://xedaspuc.wordpress.com/

[germanguy]

WOW!!!!! Are they really picking Gov. Palin?

This is going to turn out to be the greatest political story of all times.

Gov. Palin's 16 y/o daughter gets pregnant by some guy she goes to school with, Mom finds out and realizes what this news will do if it hits the media, so she anounces to the press that she (mom) is 7 months pregnant.

Talk about a kicker, it was even a shock to her staff. One of them said that they didn't know she was pregnant, and that there is no indication (tummy bulge) that she is.

Top it off, her daughter is not (or was not) attending school and was home with an case of 'mono'.

I guess McInsane didn't think it was necessay to vet her first. But then again, she doesn't even know him, and they'll be no vetting on the first date.

[John Quimby]

Wow.
I'm guessing Paris and Britney didn't return his calls.

[Victor]

President Palin? Please. What was McCain thinking when picking someone he only met once before offering her the job? I've hired janitors with more vetting than this.

[Moderate woman]

We have so little choices. Hillary Clinton was by far the best and most experienced candidate. I am still not sold on Obama, but I do like Biden.

[John Brown]

What is her experience? What are her credentials?
At least she is running for VP and not President.
Look at Obama's great tenure and experience and
service record.....and just look at who is endorsing
Obama.....all the great world leaders that I admire
from Chavez to Ahmadinejad. You're voting for someone
who changed his name from Barry to Barack (but is a Christian not a Muslim), who flew
to AFrica and campaigned for a relative who is a murderer and despised in Africa, and who wants to help us even further down the socialist road....People, my heck, all the countries that were communist and socialist want to be democracies, and we are turning our democracy into what didn't work for them. Our government is not here to pay for our living. Our government is here to provide a stable, free, environment for us to flourish.
This is the scariest thing I have ever seen. You are voting for an orator, with no experience, and the most liberal senator of all times. He voted to kill any baby that was aborted and still alive, and so many other atrocities that I can't even go on.
Bless your hearts....no, bless our hearts that so many Americans are so damn liberal that they can't even see the issues.

[victor knopp]

iam having extremly difficult time figuring out if you kooks are being serious or just bad jokes,what about pres obama,are you kidding me,you guys might need to see a neurologist,no kidding,president obama bin laden,and runninig for president makes you qualified,like signing a mortage makes you qualfied,quit looking for handhouts its starting to embarrass us all with your endless whining,the government can not give you a life you have to make it yourself,didt your parents teach you guys anything,oohh i forgot the latchkey genaration,now you want to turn uncle sam our protector into a babbysitter, go cry somewhere else i dont want my kidds to here it

[Johan]

I am shocked. I hope to somehow understand how it ended up this way. Did others decline?

[Paul Jackson]

Though I would love to see a woman as vice president, the way McCain picked her makes it seem as though he's USING her to be praised for allowing a historic moment (competing with Obama's moment) and he's USING her to get hillary supporters.

He's not using her for her experience which he continues to stress is the foundation of a president. Considering he has only met her once its seems as though this last minute decision was based more on a political ploy than the result of in-depth investigation of how she is presidential.

McCain 2000-2008, Obama 2008-2016

[Paul Stewart]

Lrez posted in part the following on August 29, 2008 at 03:17 PM:

"The McCain/Palin ticket is as it should be--strong president/weaker VP--but VP gets ready for the big job. If, lord forbid, something happens prematurely to McCain and she moves up to the top spot--the way she has conducted her life here-to-for can inform us about what kind of president she'll be--apparently a tough one."

I disagree. The VP needs to be ready day one. McCain is 72 years old. And, we live in a dangerous world. Who is going to train her then? Obama?

[Paul Stewart]

Posted by: victor knopp | August 29, 2008 at 04:05 PM "iam sure obama is hearing that old beach song in his head "WIPEOUT'"

Exactly, McCain has really wiped out. I am hearing it too.