Friday, August 29, 2008

John McCain taps Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as VP

Less than 24 hours after Barack Obama became the first black person to accept a leading party's presidential nomination, Republican rival John McCain stunned observers--and arguably political insiders--by tapping Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.

McCain made the announcement in Dayton, Ohio, moments ago, and Palin introduced herself and her family to those inside the auditorium and the country. The McCain clearly wanted to tap into the potentially lucrative women's vote this November--and perhaps wanted to court Hillary Clinton supporters who may remain disenchanted with Obama's nomination. The question remains, however, who is Palin and what is in her closet. She has denied any wrongdoing, but state lawmakers launched an investigation into the matter.

Palin's conservative credentials have also come under close scrutiny. Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese was quick to criticize her support of a state constitutional amendment to ban marriage for same-sex couples that passed in 1998 and her opposition to an Alaska Supreme Court decision that mandated the state to extend benefits to the partners of its gay and lesbian employees--even though her veto essentially provided these benefits.

"America may not know much about Sarah Palin, but based on what our community has seen of her, we know enough," Solmonese said.

NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan further criticized Palin for her stance against abortion.

"John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate proves just how rigid and extreme his administration would be when it comes to a woman's right to choose," she said.

McCain's decision to choose Palin is certainly historic, but a number of serious questions, including whether she has enough experience for the job, remain. She has a lot to prove in the next two months.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Reminder: TCOOO Productions Straight Pride march this Sunday, Brooklyn, starting at 10:00 a.m. Hope activists are ready for counter-protests.

Anonymous said...

John McCain has nominated as VP one of the most extremist right wing psychos in the country-- which tells us a lot about him. We might as well have Phyllis Schlafly as the VP. Palin has asked her librarian if she would be OK with censoring books, Palin has pressured officials to illegally fire her former brother-in-law because he was in a custody battle with her sister, Palin is a COMPLETE homophobe to the extreme, Palin advocates abstinence-only sex education even though it has been scientically demonstrated to dramatically increase unwanted pregnancies AND her 17 year old daughter is pregnant out of wedlock, Palin has vetoed wind and solar energy legislation and wants oil drilling in the artic wildlife preserves, and Palin is against abortion even in cases of rape and incest. She is an extreme right wing idealogue on both economic issues and social issues, and this tells us all we need to know about the direction that JOhn McCAin has for our country. Aside from the fact that he is the most extreme warmonger in the entire senate (him and Lieberman, that is), all but promising us more wars and even making up musical jingles about killing people in Iran. How could anyone vote for this nut-case Republican ticket-- McCain and Palin are the two single worst candidates I have seen in 36 years of observing US politics, and that includes Bush-Cheney. McCain has promised to continue the neocon agenda or endless war and poverty for the masses, while Palin will will lead the charge to turn our government into a vehicle for a religious theocracy. This ticket is the worst of both worlds of American conservatism. --- Nick Kokoshis

Anonymous said...

John McCain has nominated as VP one of the most extremist right wing psychos in the country-- which tells us a lot about him. We might as well have Phyllis Schlafly as the VP. Palin has asked her librarian if she would be OK with censoring books, Palin has pressured officials to illegally fire her former brother-in-law because he was in a custody battle with her sister, Palin is a COMPLETE homophobe to the extreme, Palin advocates abstinence-only sex education even though it has been scientically demonstrated to dramatically increase unwanted pregnancies AND her 17 year old daughter is pregnant out of wedlock, Palin has vetoed wind and solar energy legislation and wants oil drilling in the artic wildlife preserves, and Palin is against abortion even in cases of rape and incest. She is an extreme right wing idealogue on both economic issues and social issues, and this tells us all we need to know about the direction that JOhn McCAin has for our country. Aside from the fact that he is the most extreme warmonger in the entire senate (him and Lieberman, that is), all but promising us more wars and even making up musical jingles about killing people in Iran. How could anyone vote for this nut-case Republican ticket-- McCain and Palin are the two single worst candidates I have seen in 36 years of observing US politics, and that includes Bush-Cheney. McCain has promised to continue the neocon agenda or endless war and poverty for the masses, while Palin will will lead the charge to turn our government into a vehicle for a religious theocracy. This ticket is the worst of both worlds of American conservatism. --- Nick Kokoshis