McCain picks Sarah Palin

Remember, the McCain that didn't play the game (in 2000) lost the elections.

And are you saying that you would have voted for McCain if he continued being a maverick? I know a lot of Democrats that criticize McCain for this and that, but to be honest, they would all vote for Obama no matter what McCain did.

I will say this: After it was clear that McCain and Obama were going to be the two nominees, I was happy because I felt I would be fine with either of them in office. Obama was clearly the more exciting candidate, but I was also ready to vote for McCain if necessary because I was worried that if we got out of Iraq too quickly it would become a mess and that there was a possibility of fixing it if we stayed in longer. I am now completely certain that I am voting for Obama, both because McCain has completely abandoned his principles (the Sarah Palin choice being the most recent example of this) and because I think the surge has worked well enough that it is reasonable to withdraw fairly quickly from Iraq.

Also, I understand why McCain is doing all the things he's doing. I suppose that in the end, it is our collective fault, because nobody would vote for him if he didn't sacrifice his principles. He is certainly in a better position to win the presidency now that he has done so, but I just can't respect him anymore.

Yeah, but my point is that no one batted an eye when Obama picked Biden. They're both playing a game, but McCain is the only one getting bitched at over it. And irony of ironies is that Obama himself matches up similarly to Palin in the experience department, except that Palin's chief experience is actually in the executive branch. I just don't see how it is ok for the Democrats to pick Obama as Presidential nominee, yet it is not ok for Republicans to pick Palin as VP nominee.

Obama is in the position he is in because he's a very talented politician. He has qualities that more than make up for his inexperience. Sarah Palin is...a woman. That is her sole redeeming quality (oh wait, and she's pretty so the newspapers like to show pictures of her). I hardly think that qualifies her to be president. Heck, *I* could be McCain's running mate if that's all it takes.

I also think that being in the Senate gives you more relevant experience than being mayor of a town of 9000 people in Alaska and being the governor of Alaska, if we're really going to match up the experiences. Alaska is basically a welfare state, and Palin hasn't had to deal with *any* major domestic or foreign policy issues. The issues she's had to deal with are completely different from the issues a US president has to deal with. (Except maybe oil.)

I also don't think that McCain's pick of Palin and Obama's pick of Biden are very analogous. Obama picked Biden to make up for a (perceived) weakness - that he doesn't have enough experience. McCain picked Palin because he thought he could get Hillary's supporters to vote for him if he picked a woman. Of course, they're both trying to get more votes, but the way McCain did it makes him look like a sleazeball, while Obama looks like he's evaluating his weaknesses and trying to fix them. It looks like all McCain cares about is winning the election. Obama seems more interested in being a good president once he has won the election.