September 03, 2008 News+Opinion » Chris Haire

McCain's pick raises red flags 

Questionable Judgment

by Chris Haire
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Leave it to that ole straight-talkin', shoot-from-the-artificial-hip senator from Arizona to surprise us when it came time to select his running mate.

Joe Lieberman, Mitt Romney, Bobby Jindal, even South Carolina's own Mark Sanford — yeah, we expected it might be one of those guys, or any of the others the media had talked about over the weeks.

But Sarah Polley? The actress/activist who starred in the Tarantino-esque flick Go and the Dawn of the Dead remake? The one who got two of her teeth knocked out by a police officer during an unruly political protest?

Seriously, I'm just blown away. I mean, she's Canadian. Isn't there a law against that?

Oh. My bad. It's not Polley. It's Palin.

Wait. Wait. Wait. You mean the guy who sang "The Lumberjack Song," the dude that tortured the bloody hell out of Jonathan Pryce in Brazil, the bloke who stuttered sweet nothings to a fish called Wanda? Now that's something completely different.

What's that you say? It ain't him either? You say it's some gal from Alaska named Sarah Palin? And she's the governor? Who? What?

I need to check into this. Let's pull up Wikipedia.

"Sarah Louise Heath Palin ... [mumble mumble mumble] ... chaired the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission ... [mumble mumble mumble] ... mooseburger ... [mumble mumble mumble] ... hockey mom ... [mumble mumble mumble] ... abstinence-only ... intelligent design ... anti-abortion ... independent investigator ... potential abuses of power ... Palin's youngest child, Trig, has Down syndrome ..."

Excuse me. I'm not a mother or anything, nor do I ever plan on being one for reasons that are largely biological, so pardon me for asking this question: What kind of mom mocks her own child like this, particularly one who is mentally challenged? Who gives birth to a boy with Down Syndrome and names him Trig?

Seriously, how do you explain that to your child? Do you set him down one day and say, "Hey kid, you have this condition called trisomy 21. See, where most folks only have two chromosomes in their 21st pairing of chromosomes, you've got an extra one. You've got three. And well, that means you're going to be a little slower than the other kids and you'll probably be made fun of on the playground. And, you know, dad and I just wanted to make sure that you — and everyone you ever meet — are aware of that, so we're calling you Trig. Have fun at school."?

Cripes. Palin would have done better naming her son Sue.

I don't know about you, folks, but I can give McCain a pass for selecting a VP whose only other political experience was serving a few years as a city council member and then as mayor of a town of less than 7,000. America loves humble beginnings.

I can understand his need to add a little fundamentalist flavor to his ticket — the southern evangelicals who make up the Republican base have never been huge fans of McCain. After all, he's a life-long Episcopalian. That is until he announced that he was a Baptist somewhere back at the start of the campaign season.

I can accept the attempt at picking up a few votes from the "Party Unity My Ass" Hillary supporters out there, those gals who are so pissed off that Clinton didn't win the Democratic Party nomination that they'd rather elect an anti-choice, anti-birth control advocate just to stick it to all those mean old men in the DNC. As Annie Wilkes once said, "You just better start showing us a little appreciation around here, Mr. Man."

I get why McCain thought it was OK to pick a candidate who he only met once; his campaign needed a real game-changer to offset the Biden buzz and Obama love. And fumbling questions about how many houses he owned wasn't going to do it.

But a lady who is so heartlessly cruel to her own child? That's bad judgment.

Comments (5) RSS

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Don't worry. Next week, the lefist, who wrote this article, will be back on track, with several sentences bemoaning right-wing "hate speech." With no examples, I might add.














































Pssst... he doesn't need examples, because everyone knows conservatives are full of "hate."

Posted by hellhound4hire on September 11, 2008 at 11:41 PM | Report this comment

This is simple. Almost everything this very lovely lady is being attacked for Senator Obama was attacked for. Why is it that when it was happening to the other side things were o.k. and now that it is happening to you it is considered unfair. Bottom line, when you decide to run for office especially the President and V.P. spot you are open to all questions period. If we did this in the past Presidents Clinton, and Bush (junior that is) may not have been elected. I say dig deep and find out as much information as one can about all four of the candidates. As American Citizens we need to know who is going to be running our country. As Americans it is our right and responsibility to know who will be representing us. All of the folks who just want the right to say my side won, shut-up, GROW UP! I know of a man named Kevin he is a hard core Republican. He has blamed every Dem. for every problem this country has. He is anti-union, anti-Democrat, anti everything except Bush. He has been laid off from his job for weeks. Who is to blame? This country is in trouble, we need a change. Politicians don't care about us they care about themselves. They will say and do anything to get elected. Open your eyes and minds people. If you don't you may be the next person laid off of your job. Pray about it and ask God for the help in making your decision. Grow up People.

Posted by work it out on September 7, 2008 at 5:57 PM | Report this comment

Wow... If this is the best you lefties can do then the election is in the bag for the GOP.

You managed to attack her family, her husband, her choice of names, her name, etc etc.
But thats the way it is with you lefties isn't it?
Nothing substantive to say about a strong, self made Woman and her stand on the issues? No? Ah... The answer must be to engage in personal attacks on her children.


Experience v Change
Sarah Palin has 6 years of executive experience as a Mayor of a small town and 2 years a small State Governor. (Small in population anyway)
This is small town and small state executive experience to be sure, but it just so happens that the 8 years she has is something that Senators Obama, Biden, or McCain do not have.
(Just in case you were wondering how much executive experience they have the number is ZERO!
Biden and McCain are at least experienced Senators, where as Obama has almost no experience even as a US Senator.
Of the two years he has been a Senator he has spent virtually every single day of it running for President.
(If I were from Illinois I would be pretty upset that my Senator was AWOL)

All I can say is that if Sarah Palin were running as a Democrat and a right wing writer attacked the name of her children or raised issues about other familiy members that lefties like you would be calling for that person to be hung by their entrails.... And you know it.

You do your party a dis-service by engaging in these kinds of attacks. Attacks that the leader of your party has told you not to engage in by the way.
Don't get me wrong here. I do not agree with Senator Obama on the issues but I have to say that he has class by the truckload... Class that you do not seem to posess.

Posted by thor_61 on September 7, 2008 at 2:23 PM | Report this comment

Chris, tis better to be thought a fool than to speak up and remove all doubt. Your article seems to have been written by a fool.

Captdodi

Posted by Captdodi on September 7, 2008 at 12:03 PM | Report this comment

you forgot to mention her strong-arm tactics, hypocrisy on family values, hubbie's DUI conviction, 'Iraq is a mission from God' nonsense.

the scary thing is people will actually vote for this scum and her sugar daddy.

Posted by zigzag on September 4, 2008 at 10:37 AM | Report this comment

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