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Sarah Palin 'Electrifies' Republican Base After 'Leak Free' Deliberation Process Posted: 31 Aug 2008 12:46 PM CDT Reports of the reactions from people in St. Paul preparing for the convention at the time John McCain announced his VP running mate say that the base was "electrified." Reports also show Palin instantly impressed McCain in February after they met. One adviser tells the Post that McCain spoke well of her after the meeting saying she was impressive and he liked her, but that no one outside his inner circle knew how strong of an impression she made on John McCain. The Deliberative Process and the Press. McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis who played point with Washington lawyer A.B. Culvahouse overseeing the vetting process, says Palin went through the same vetting procedures everyone else did with a FBI background check and reviews of financial and other personal data. Then deliberations and discussions ensued with a handful of advisers, where it is said McCain asked a lot of questions but did not tip his hand even to those closest to him about which direction he was leaning. According to the adviser that spoke to the Post, the campaign basically allowed rampant speculation by the media to go unanswered and allowed them to play themselves against each other with the adviser saying, "It's a little naive on the part of the media to assume because they weren't reporting this [Palin's consideration] for the last few months, there's something up on this. We didn't spend any time saying yes or no to any of the speculation -- just because everyone thought it was going to be Mitt Romney for a month, and then it was going to be Joe Lieberman for a month." The media played into this by reporting that Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney were sent to the Democratic National Convention as Republican surrogates as "final auditions" for the vice presidential spot on the ticket. McCain aides scoffed at that characterization, calling it pure coincidence. "These guys are all good surrogates. They've done a thousand hours of surrogate work," one McCain adviser said. "I don't think we needed to audition anybody at the Democratic National Convention a week before ours. It's wonderful to fill cable time with it, but it's just nonsense." Unknown to reporters that were busy following Romney and Pawlenty at the Democratic Convention and speculating on Ridge and Lieberman as well, McCain called Palin last Sunday, the day before the Democratic Convention, spoke to her at length and invited her to Arizona to meet. Day Three of the Democratic Convention, Wednesday, while attention was focused elsewhere, Sarah Palin was flown to Flagstaff, Arizona where she met with top McCain officials, Schmidt and Salter. The next morning she was taken to McCain's retreat in Sedona. When they arrived, McCain offered Palin some coffee before taking her to a bend in a creek on the property where there are places to sit and a hawk's nest looming above. It is one of McCain's favorite places, and the two talked alone there until they were joined by McCain's wife, Cindy, who is described as having played a key role throughout the selection process. After about an hour, Palin joined her aide on the deck of McCain's cabin, while the candidate and his wife went for a walk along the creek. When they returned, McCain held one last session with aides Schmidt and Salter. Then he offered Palin the job. The deal was sealed "with a handshake, a pat on the back," one adviser said. All that was left was one more secretive trip, from Arizona to Dayton, where the announcement was going to be made at a rally at Wright State University. Salter and Schmidt accompanied Palin on that final leg, and her family in Alaska was alerted only at the last minute that a plane was being sent to bring them to Ohio. McCain aides were forbidden to leak anything on the night of Barack Obama's acceptance speech, but by Friday morning speculation was again running rampant and it wasn't until a couple of hours before the official announcement in Dayton, Ohio, that word started filtering through that it might just be Sarah Palin that would be named as John McCain's vice presidential running mate. Reaction To The Announcement. The reaction from the conservative base was immediate and The Politico reports the announcement of Sarah Palin as the chosen VP, "electrified" them. After listening to her speech it is report many became emotional. The former New Hampshire GOP chairman and top McCain backer, Steve Duprey, was in St. Paul at the time ad he describes the scene, saying, "I was in the Rules Committee with about 150 people in the room. They had TVs set up and we took a break to watch the announcement. For a second after she came out, it was silent. Then there was a gasp and everybody stood up and started cheering and clapping. We stayed standing the whole speech." He goes on to state, "There were 10 or 12 women, party stalwarts, in tears, using napkins and handkerchiefs." Conservative activists, never gung-ho, for McCain and waiting to see if he would disappoint them with his VP choice before solidly uniting behind him, instantly became galvanized after learning that he chose a strict conservative as his running mate. The Politico reports that McCain hasn't just won their approval but has "ignited a wave of elation and emotion that has led some grass-roots activists to weep with joy." Charmaine Yoest, head of the legislative arm of Americans United for Life, says when she woke up the morning of the announcement as speculation about Palin was filtering through the press, her email was "just going crazy" and that after the announcement was made "it was like you couldn't breathe." Yoest also says that in St. Paul, after hearing the announcement, her and other conservative women were jumping up and down and hugging each other, continuing on to say, "She's lived it! It's so satisfying as a conservative woman. When she walked out on that stage there was just this moment. It was really emotional for a lot of us." Not only emotional reactions were kicked into high gear, but money started pouring in from online donations, with $7 million online donations within the first 24 hours. Most importantly for McCain, the two constituencies who are most energized by Palin just happen to be the twin grassroots pillars of the GOP: anti-abortion activists and pro-Second Amendment enthusiasts and sportsmen. Without these two camps making phone calls, stuffing envelopes and knocking on doors, Republican presidential candidates would severely lack for volunteers. They are critical to the health of the conservative coalition that has dominated Republican politics for a generation. Reactions from Christian conservatives were not the only reactions that were positive. Gun enthusiasts, such as Michael Bane, declares, "She's one of us. "FINALLY, we can get 100 percent behind the Republican ticket ... change we can believe in!" "You know I've had my problems with McCain, but he has reached out a hand to us both at the NRA Annual Meeting [earlier this year] and with the amazing selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate." The Politico notes many more reactions in their article from a variety of people, showing a base that is finally "electrified" and excited about this election season. The most satisfying portion of the reactions are those from the left where they have shown they were caught as flatfooted as the media in regards to McCain's VP pick and have let their desperation shine through by attacking not only Palin, but have pathetically gone after Palin's children with nothing more than rumors without any evidence, proof, records or documents. If they thought women were angry over perceived sexism, just wait until the negative reactions and outrage hit them from woman that find anyone that will deliberately try to destroy a child's life and reputation even more repugnant than those which show evidence of sexism. They haven't seen women angry yet..... that type of disgusting behavior is guaranteed to rally women and mothers behind Palin at a rapid rate. . | |||
Fmr DNC Chair Thinks Hurricane Proves God is on the Side of the Dems Posted: 31 Aug 2008 11:30 AM CDT Cross-posted by Maggie at Maggie's Notebook RedState.com's absentee's Diary videos former Nat. Chair of the DNC, Don Fowler, as he chuckles about a hurricane hitting New Orleans just at the time President Bush is to speak Monday at the RNC. ..."that just demonstrates God's on our side," he says. Congressman John Spratt of South Carolina allegedly was the other side of the conversation. There's more than just the video. Read it at RedState. Thanks to YouTube.com | |||
Hurricane Gustav Forces Mandatory Evacuation From New Orleans Posted: 31 Aug 2008 09:57 AM CDT The Mayor of New Orleans, C. Ray Nagin, has ordered a mandatory evacuation as what he calls "The Storm of the Century" bears down and threatens the U.S. Gulf States. The mayor, C. Ray Nagin, said Hurricane Gustav was larger and more dangerous than Hurricane Katrina, and he pleaded with residents to get out or face flooding and life-threatening winds. Buses were brought in to help get everyone out and brought to shelters as hundreds of thousands of people started pouring out of the city. Forecasters said the hurricane was most likely to strike the Gulf Coast on Monday. New Orleans could get winds of up to 73 m.p.h. and possibly greater. After watching what happened to their state after Hurricane Katrina blasted through three years ago, anyone staying must know they are taking their lives and that of their family into their hands because once the storm hits and water floods in, help relies on the kindness of Mather Nature and she is not kind. John McCain, his wife Cindy and Sarah Palin are traveling through Mississippi to see how preparations are going. Likely GOP presidential nominee John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, are traveling to Mississippi to check on people getting prepared for Hurricane Gustav. The Republican Convention which starts tomorrow is being scaled down and contingency plans are being made to alter the event and perhaps use it to help storm victims as I reported yesterday. Michelle Malkin receives word from a reader who is a member of the Louisiana Army National Guard and her words are comforting. I'm a new member to the site and a big fan, and right now I'm experiencing a brief (and rare) moment of downtime. I am a member of the Louisiana Army National Guard, and we are up to our nostrils in preparations for Hurricane Gustav. There is a lot going on right now in south Louisiana, but mostly we are watching this monster bear down on us and hoping for the best. I wanted you to know, as a soldier who also had to suffer through the cluster that was Katrina, that we are 1000% better prepared (God Bless Bobby Jindal!!), and that while hoping for the best, we are completely prepared for the worst and ready to do what needs to be done to ensure the safety of the people of this state. See what you can do to help and keep track of the preparation measures at the state's website. Keep these people in your thoughts as they once again prepare to suffer an incredible loss as this monster of a storm bears down on them. . | |||
Republican Convention Might Turn Into 'Giant Hurricane Relief Telethon' Posted: 30 Aug 2008 08:27 PM CDT In an interview with Fox News Sunday's Chris Wallace, John McCain said Hurricane Gustav may alter the plans for the Republican Convention due to start on Monday. According to Washington Wire, Wallace asked John McCain whether there were circumstances in which he would consider suspending the Republican Convention and McCain's reply was, "The reality is we're likely going to have a national disaster going on. We don't know exactly what this thing is going to do or when." McCain said he had been in touch with the Governors from Louisiana, Alabama, Texas, Florida and continued on to say, "I've been talking to all of them, but you know it just wouldn't be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster, so we're monitoring it from day to day and I'm saying a few prayers too." The Republican Convention planners are preparing to alter the scheduled events and may simply stick to the minimal ceremony required by law to officially nominate John McCain as the Republican's Presidential candidate and Sarah Palin as the vice presidential candidate for the GOP. One contingency plan in the event of a worse case scenario where Gustav reaps massive destruction along the U.S. Gulf Coast is to turn a portion of the convention into a "giant hurricane relief telethon", where attending Republicans would be transformed into "Red Cross-type volunteers" as the New York Post phrases it in their report. Those Republicans would help collect donations, not for the Republican Party or John McCain but instead for storm victims as well as collecting food and goods to help them as well. McCain - whose campaign motto is "Country First" – said helping people during an emergency will take precedence over accepting his GOP nomination for president. They are preparing for any possibility and as the McCain campaign notes, in 2000 John McCain postponed the announcement of his presidential campaign because of genocide in the Balkans, so he is expected to continue monitoring the situation and suspend and alter activities at the Convention as he sees fit in order to do whatever can be done to help the victims. The Republican National Convention President & CEO Maria Cinoissued a statement today which said, "We continue to closely monitor the movement of the storm and are considering necessary contingencies.The safety of our affected delegations is our first priority and preparing for Gustav comes before anything else." The Post reports that McCain is not due to make his speech until Thursday of next week and that sources have told them he may visit the Gulf Coast earlier in the week. . | |||
Palin Liked More Than Biden, Donations Rising and Grassroots On Fire Posted: 30 Aug 2008 04:52 PM CDT No wonder the left is going into desperate panic attack mode!! Since John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his VP choice, there has been $7 million in contributions to the campaign, Rasmussen shows that Palin holds a higher favorability rating than Joe Biden does for Barack Obama, and Jonathan Martin from The Politico says the GOP grassroots are "on fire." Politico: And outside the arena, far from Dayton, the response I've gotten from Republican activists coast-to-coast has been one of almost joy. My e-mail in-box is bursting with enthusiasm from loyal GOPers who've been either glum, cynical or downright unhappy for the past two years. The Trail: (linked above) Sen. John McCain has taken in $7 million in contributions since announcing Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, a top campaign aide said today. The money bounce may owe to Palin's appeal with conservative donors, many of whom said privately they had planned on sitting out the campaign this year. The money comes in just under the wire -- after McCain accepts the GOP nomination Thursday, he will accept public funds and no longer be permitted to raise private money for the campaign. Rasmussen: After her debut in Dayton and a rush of media coverage, a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 53% now have a favorable opinion of Palin while just 26% offer a less flattering assessment. Palin has generated some good energy, has revved up the GOP base like I haven't seen in a while and it she appears likable, all-American, troop-loving and smart. Hey Obama!!!! Starting to regret snubbing Hillary Clinton now and not choosing her as your VP pick? If not, you are stupider than we thought. . | |||
Clinton Supporters, Sarah Palin, Shaking Things Up, Abortion And Sexism Posted: 30 Aug 2008 03:47 PM CDT Deciding on Sarah Palin as McCain's running mate, was done with goals in mind. Making history, shaking up the ticket, appealing to conservatives, choosing a maverick, and appealing to females. Clinton supporters now discuss abortion and sexism. Making History. Official history will not be made until the Republican Convention next week when the vote comes down and makes John McCain the official Republican candidate for President of the United States of America and Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska the official Vice Presidential candidate to join McCain on the ticket. History will be made the day of the vote and was made yesterday when McCain announced the first female vice presidential running mate on the Republican presidential ticket. Shaking up the Ticket. Until the Democratic Convention started, the polling from multiple organizations showed a neck and neck race between John McCain and Barack Obama, with neither of the candidates able to take a significant lead on the other. The convention "bounce", which is an uptick in polling due to a significant campaign event, as the convention was, gave Barack Obama an eight point lead after the three day rolling figures came in. It is expected as is traditional, that next week by the last day of the Republican Convention, the same "bounce" will be seen, which would then again put the race back to the neck and neck status. This is where shaking up a ticket becomes necessary as part of a bigger plan to take a lead in the polls. No candidate for any election wants to go into an election neck and neck. The whole goal during the campaigning season is to take a significant lead in the polls and in public perception so that a candidate has relative confidence they will win the election when the day comes. With that goal in mind, a presidential candidate chooses his running mate with the thought in mind of shoring up support in demographical areas where the support lags or is not what that candidate believes it should be. For Barack Obama the choice was Joe Biden who has much more foreign policy experience than the presidential candidate himself has which has been a criticism from conservative Democrats, some Independents and what is called swing voters, which are voters that can swing from one side of the political spectrum to the other, depending on their preference in any given campaign season. For John McCain, that choice was Sarah Palin, the only person to be a Governor on either ticket now, which is a person elected by the people of a state to be the top leader in that state. They have many of the same powers that a president have, but only on a state level. They can pardon criminals prosecuted by the state, they can sign and veto bills passed by the congress of the state. They can appoint people to certain positions, and they speak for the state on matters regarding the state. Appeal to Conservatives. The core base for Republicans are conservatives and conservative leaning voters and it was made clear to John McCain, being known as a moderate conservative himself, to strengthen his ticket and unite the conservative base, he needed a traditionally conservative vice presidential running mate. Did the choice of Palin fire up the conservative base? Early indications show that the choice of Palin did fire up certain members of the conservative base, as evidenced by Dr. James Dobson, who is an evangelical leader and the head of Focus On The Family. Dobson once stated, as reported by TIME, that he would never vote for John McCain because of McCain's moderate stances in areas that concerned Dobson, yet within hours of the announcement of Palin as the VP choice, Dobson walked into a conservative outreach meeting in Minneapolis thrown by the McCain campaign and announced he would be voting for John McCain. Other evidence showing that McCain did shake up his ticket effectively and to his benefit is brought to us via a report from The Politico saying that online alone, John McCain received $4.9 million dollars immediately after he introduce Palin as his VP. Palin's appeal to the conservative base is echoed by Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, who had not yet united behind McCain and is now "raving" over the choice of Palin as well as David Keene of the American Conservative Union stating, via The Spec.com, "I predict any conservatives who have been lukewarm thus far in their support of the McCain candidacy will work their hearts out between now and November for the McCain-Palin ticket." The examples go on and on in the media of the conservative base hailing McCain's decision and becoming more enthused about McCain's candidacy. That is shaking things up.
Choosing a Maverick. John McCain has long held the nickname and reputation of being a maverick, of working in a bipartisan manner when necessary, reaching across the political aisle to get things accomplished. Many times he has done so even with the risk of angering his conservative base. He has openly criticized Republicans when he has disagreed with as well as publicly criticizing President Bush when he took a stance different from his own. His goal with choosing Palin is that she too has a reputation of being a maverick. Fighting against Republicans when she disagreed with them, placing Independents and Democrats in her administration and working towards accomplishing what she sets out to do, giving her the highest popularity rating of a Governor in her own state of Alaska, which is over 80 percent as reported by Daily Dayton News. Palin is fairly new to the gubernatorial job — she took office Dec. 4, 2006 — but has already seen political success, pushing and getting momentum on the creation of a natural gas pipeline that Alaskans have sought for three decades. Appealing to Females. Polling shows McCain has done better shoring up the male vote than he has with the female vote within his own party, with Independents and with swing voters. Having Palin on the ticket, a woman who already made her own history as being the youngest and first female to be elected as Governor of Alaska, now making history again as being the first female on a Republican ticket, has energized many conservative woman as is seen on multiple blogs, forums and comment sections across the web. Clinton supporters, abortion and sexism. A large majority of female Democrats are 100 percent pro-choice and Palin is 100 percent pro-life and against abortions. One would assume that if the abortion issue was a deal breaker for female Clinton supporters, they would never in a million years vote for the McCain/Palin ticket. Some Clinton supporters hold abortion rights high in their list of priorities but they do not see it as a deal breaker if they agree with other aspects of a candidates policy issues. That is a personal choice that only they can make because their vote is theirs....period. No one can tell them they are making choices for the right or wrong reasons, because how a person votes and for what reason they make their choice is no ones business but the person who owns their vote. With that said, I am seeing an anger on Clinton supporting sites, which first stemmed from their perception that the media as well as the DNC and Obama campaign, were overly sexist in their reports and statements about Hillary Clinton during the primaries and now is being pointed out within a day of Palin's being announced as McCain's running mate with Clinton supporting sites showing their perception of the media doing the same thing to Palin already. Using one of the more popular Clinton supporting sites as an example of what is seen on many of them, Tennessee Guerilla Women, shows the theme of what I am seeing. Yesterday, they were quoting Palin's tribute to Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton, where Palin stated, "I can't begin this great effort without honoring the achievement of Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and of course, Hillary Clinton, who showed determination in her presidential campaign," Palin said. "It was rightly noted in Denver this week that Hillary left 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America. But it turns out the women of America aren't finished yet, and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all." The writer of that piece, Egalia writes: Wow. Just wow. You should have picked Hillary, Barack! Here's to breaking this country's shameful male monopoly on power. It's just too effing bad that the job has fallen to the Republicans because the Democratic Party threw women under the bus! The comment section of that posts shows incredible tension still felt by female voters over Hillary's loss and what they perceived as unfairness shown to her during the primaries, with some commentators arguing having a woman on the ticket isn't enough of a reason to vote for a McCain/Palin ticket, others arguing about Obama's inexperience and pointing out Palin's executive experience and still others asking about how a Democratic woman can vote for a pro-life ticket. 373 comments on that piece. Tennessee Guerilla Women is not the only site with this mindset, as pointed out by Washington Post's The Trail. The common refrain: "Obama will regret not choosing Hillary now!" No Quarter USA, an online hub for anti-Obama Hillary supporters, had this comment from Danny in Alaska, a disaffected Hillary Democrat who had pledged not to vote for Obama, on a news post. He called Palin an independent and said a "vote for MCCAIN IS NO LONGER A PROTEST VOTE! I want bumper stickers." Contrary to critics assertions, it is not only John McCain's choice of Palin that is drawing some diehard Clinton supporters that have refused to get behind Barack Obama, but for many of them it is their choice of priorities as arguments ensue in comment sections about how the media is already being perceived as showing sexism against Palin. Today, the same "I am woman hear me roar" attitude is being seen, but thanks to some media outlets, those same Clinton supporting sites are giving more reasons to why they may just want to stand up and support the McCain/Palin ticket because to them there is an issue that is as much if not more of a priority to them than abortion is. Sexism. Media Matters announces in their headline "With morning announcement of Palin pick comes morning sexism on cable news." Summary: With reports that Sen. John McCain had picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate, sexist commentary on cable news followed. On CNN, John Roberts raised the question of whether as vice president, Palin would be able to devote the time necessary to care for her baby with Down syndrome, and on MSNBC, Andrea Mitchell and Chuck Todd suggested that Sen. Joe Biden bears the burden of having to adjust his behavior in a vice-presidential debate because of Palin's sex. The reaction to the Media Matters piece as well as other examples that are being cited, is once again shown by Tennessee Guerilla Women, which is representative of what is seen on quite a few diehard Clinton supporting sites. Egalia against writes, "Bonus MSNBC Sexism: Also in the video clip, Andrea Mitchell and Chuck Todd argue that Joe Biden will have to be gentle when he debates Sarah Palin because she's a girl!!! The MSNBC pundits do not explain why the men were so free to gang up on Hillary Rodham Clinton on the primary debate stage." Not to focus on one specific blogger and comment section of one place, a search on Google shows sexism trumping other issues, in a variety of places. For example, CBS News has an opinion piece written by a man named Joseph Bui for Youth Vote '08, who explains why women that perceived sexism and those that supported Hillary for more reasons that just her policy stances, but instead because of the chance to move women forward and rewriting the history books, he reminds people that "constituents don't always vote just on the issues." Unfortunately for the Obama camp and his adoring fans: they aren't the only ones that can define change. The legions of female Hillary Clinton supporters that identified with her candidacy are now given another shot at shattering the glass ceiling. And as a Democrat who does plan on supporting Obama this November, I'm worried they'll take it. Other examples include MyDD writer, Nikkid, who says "Now - the Republicans will have the opportunity to be the party to make history with the FIRST WOMAN VICE PRESIDENT in history." She then goes on to ask, "The Democrats will ask themselves WHY did we select the unqualified, inexperienced male candidate. I mean really - WHICH PARTY IS SEXIST?" Even more amazing are the forums, websites and blogs from women that will not vote for McCain/palin, but are still getting angry of the sexism issue already being shown against Palin. Examples there include Shakesville, (language alert if you click and replace letters with ** in her quotes), where writer Melissa McEwan points out that she has already heard that Palin was called a "bimbo" and McEwan asserts she will not vote for McCain/Palin, but, "And I'll go ahead and put it right in the f**king inaugural post in this series: I will defend Sarah Palin against misogynist smears not because I like or support her, but because that's how feminism works." Reclusive Leftist points out that even those right-center Hillary supporters that won't vote for McCain/Palin will become alienated from the Obama camp and she blames "Obamabots" preemptively for that.
The examples do not end there, but since this article is too long as it is, that is enough to see what is representative of what is being seen on Clinton supporting sites as well as just woman bloggers, one day after Palin was announced as McCain's VP choice. For many women, the issues of sexism, women moving forward, misogynist attitudes and making history are more of a priority than abortion. It wasn't John McCain's choice of Palin that are driving online donations and woman voters towards him, it is the reaction from the media and Obama supporting sites that is doing it for McCain. As someone who writes about politics, day in and day out, seven days a week, I can say with full assuredness, this campaign season needed some "shaking up" and it has gotten it, in spades. GOOD NEWS: Rasmussen shows Palin viewed more favorably than Biden. . |
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