By Tana Ganeva and Isaac Fitzgerald, AlterNet. Posted September 4, 2008.

AlterNet readers weigh in on McCain’s pick of Gov. Sarah Palin, the many skeletons in her closet, and what it all means for the country.

So far, Republicans have toed the party line on Sarah Palin, obediently parroting the McCain campaign’s tenuous claims about her “experience” and “qualifications” to be vice president. At least publicly. A microphone mishap today during an MSNBC news segment revealed what some conservatives really think about the latest addition to the Republican ticket. At the end of the segment the cameras stopped running, but the pundits’ microphones stayed on and caught former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan and former McCain adviser Mike Murphy excoriating the McCain campaign for picking Palin. When asked if Palin is the most qualified for the job, Noonan stated in no uncertain terms “No. I think they went for this, excuse me, political bullshit about narratives.” Murphy went on to label the pick “gimmicky” and “cynical.”

“It’s over,” concluded Noonan.

Noonan’s prognosis is not surprising considering the alarming information about Palin that has surfaced since her nomination — not just the soap opera stuff about her family life, but serious issues that call into question her skills, judgment and preparedness for national office.

The past day has brought even more bad news for Palin. Consortium News reports that Palin ran her campaign for lieutenant governor from her mayoral office – a clear violation of campaign ethics laws.

Over the past two days AlterNet has compiled two lists of revelations about Palin, and our readers, much like Noonan and Murphy, have some pretty strong opinions. Many readers have weighed in on our comment boards, touching on everything from sexism to religion. From those who questioned her preparedness to those who think her nomination is an impressive Rovian tactic, here’s what our readers had to say about the GOP’s VP pick.

Many point out that Palin makes sense on the Republican ticket, since she shares her party’s penchant for inconsistency and hypocrisy on matters of morality and religion.

Taxi-driver points to the strange disconnect between Palin’s religion and her policies:

How can anyone pray to God for a gas pipeline? How can Palin and others of her ilk call themselves Christian? How can so many Christians go along with this? What Obama needs to do is to talk about true Christian values — charity, humility, service, even (I daresay) love, and expose Palin and her crowd for what they are: impostors and charlatans who think God should work for gas pipelines in Alaska.

Ydothehatus takes on the absurdity of Palin’s abstinence-only stance, especially in light of her daughter’s pregnancy. They also point out that for all of Palin’s talk about the importance of family, she is exploiting her daughter for political gain: Read the rest of this entry »

By Jim Hightower, Hightower Lowdown. Posted September 1, 2008.

McCain has already assembled his clique of advisors, and they don’t have our best interests in mind.

The political media establishment is enraptured by John McCain. Mainline media sparklies, as well as the blatherers on the Fox channel, routinely buff up his image as a straight-talking, maverick foe of Washington’s special interests. “The press loves McCain. We’re his base,” gushes MSNBC’s Chris Matthews. But if the senator really is the feared reformer of business-as-usual government, why does his presidential campaign look like the back alley of K Street?

Many a president has had certain supporters behind him whom he should have moved out in front in order to keep an eye on them. McCain, however, isn’t even bothering to keep his self-interested backers in the shadows–he has literally put them in charge of his campaign. “Tell me with whom you walk,” goes the old adage, “and I’ll tell you who you are.” Candidate McCain is walking cozily with a coterie of corporate lobbyists, executives, and fund-raisers who are shaping his policies… and expecting to walk right into the White House with him.

There was a hilarious dustup in May when two of the campaign’s key operatives were publicly fingered as lobbyists for the totalitarian military thugs who rule Burma. Bad image. To patch over this embarrassing exposure, the campaign dumped the duo and loudly proclaimed a new internal ethics rule barring lobbyists from paid positions on the “Straight Talk Express.” Bold! Decisive! Laudable!

Except that it was a crock. Here’s the hilarious part: the announcement was made by the top campaign staffer, Rick Davis. Guess what he is. A lobbyist! His clients range from such telecom giants as Verizon to undies-maker Fruit of the Loom, and most have had business before McCain’s Senate committees.

The trick is that the new rule bars “active” lobbyists from being “paid” to work “full time” on the staff. These highlighted terms are carefully contrived loopholes. Lobbyists can simply go on leave from their active influence peddling for a few months to work on the campaign (as Davis is doing); they can work part-time for McCain’s election while still lobbying up a storm; or they can take no pay from the campaign, working pro bono while being retained by their corporate clients. No matter their guise, they are lobbyists, and SourceWatch counts more than 100 of them working in McCain’s camp (only five had to step aside under the ballyhooed new rule). Read the rest of this entry »

By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet. Posted September 4, 2008.

Palin went on attack Wednesday night, deriding Democrats, mischaracterizing Obama and insulting Americans, who she must think won’t know any better.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin accepted the 2008 Republican vice-presidential nomination Wednesday night in a confident and insistent address that attacked members of the media and Washington “elites” who questioned her experience to be vice president and mocked Barack Obama for his qualifications, stances on issues and even his inspiring words.

After several days of silence, Palin introduced herself to America as the newest GOP attack dog. She alternately wrapped herself in what she described as all-American small-town values and engaged in nasty smear tactics — belittling Democrats, mischaracterizing Obama and insulting Americans, who she and her campaign speechwriters must think will not have enough sense to see past such a thin veil.

Palin established the confrontation tone early in her speech by deriding “pollsters and pundits” who “wrote off” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the Republican nominee, early in his presidential campaign for supporting a troop surge in Iraq. She then introduced her family, praised her rural upbringing and experience in local and state government, and concluded — in a departure from reality — that her brief political resume qualified her to serve as vice president.

“And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves,” Palin said, comparing herself to Obama’s community work after law school. “I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities.”

Then, as was typical of her speech, she broadened her political attack. Read the rest of this entry »

By Matthew Yglesias

Tuesday, September 2, 2008; 5:02 PM

The Washington Post

The idea that John McCain’s problems stem from some paradoxical downside to his “maverick” style and record of post-partisanship (Matthew Continetti, “Sounds Nice, But Will It Get Votes?”) is the sort of clever conceit on which the punditry business is founded. But a much simpler explanation is at hand — having spent the first four years of the Bush administration remaking himself as an independent-minded maverick, McCain has spent the past four years remaking himself as an orthodox Republican and now finds himself running for president at a time when his party is deeply unpopular.

As Continetti points out, it’s true that McCain worked with Ted Kennedy to reform America’s dysfunctional immigration policy. But during the primaries McCain disavowed the bill they coauthored, caving in to the GOP’s anti-immigration base. Continetti also notes that McCain worked with Tom Daschle on anti-tobacco legislation in the 1990s. But now McCain opposes cigarette tax increases (which he once favored) and won’t commit to supporting a bill giving the FDA the regulatory authority that he and Daschle sought years ago. Another example of McCain’s supposed post-partisanship is his vote with John Kerry against the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, but he now favors extending them and adding huge new regressive tax cuts to the mix. The idea that the Democrats McCain once worked with will remain loyal to him even as he abandons the positions that were the basis of their collaboration is bizarre.

Another supposed example of McCain’s independent streak is his decision to anoint the obscure and obviously unqualified Gov. Sarah Palin as his party’s vice presidential nominee. But his choice only underscores the extent to which the maverick shtick has been denuded of any real content. Serious consideration was given to much more experienced individuals, including Tom Ridge, Joe Lieberman and Kay Bailey Hutchison, any of whom would have been a more credible governing partner. None were chosen, however, out of fealty to Republican orthodoxy on abortion rights issues. Well-qualified conservative Republicans such as Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney were also rejected, however, because the McCain campaign recognizes that the maverick image is integral to his political appeal. Thus they settled on Palin, who’s both a maverick and a hard-right conservative with down-the-line orthodox views on every issue under the sun. Never mind that she’s been governor for just 18 months of a state with a smaller population than Austin, Texas, or Jefferson County, Ky., and whose own anti-establishment credentials are thin — she is the subject of an active abuse of power investigation and used to head a 527 called “Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.”, the type of rule-bending fundraising group McCain has fought to corral. Read the rest of this entry »