Voting for/against Palin

nick1977nick1977 Posts: 327
edited September 2008 in A Moving Train
It seems to me the Republican ticket is focussing on the VP selection of Palin. McCain does not seem to be grabbing the Republican's interest. He never has, and I noticed that during his speech, the on time the crowd was very energetic was when he mentioned Palin. That seemed to electrify the Republicans.

I think his strategy is to let her go after right wing voters, and he will try to secure the independents. However, I think this strategy will backfire because indepedents will not like Palin due to her extremely conservative tendencies, so independents who may have otherwise voted McCain may lean towards Obama now....voting against Palin, not necessarily against McCain.

I've never seen this much focus on a VP pick before. This is highly unusual. The VP does not have much power and does not do much. I find it odd that it seems that many are voting for/against McCain not because of him, but because of Palin.

As a side note, his speech was good when he was talking about his personal war experience. Other than that, it was very shallow on substance while being deep in rhetoric. I honestly could not tell you what his goals as Pres. would be if elected.

Obama has his supporters and independents fired up. Palin has the conservatives fired up, but McCain does not. I think his VP choice was a bad move as far as an election strategy. I think Palin will alienate voters from McCain who may have been considering voting for him.
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • catch22catch22 Posts: 1,081
    yeah, palin has generated a buzz right now, and mccain needed that. but i wonder how this will work for him in the long term. once you get past the novelty of palin and her aggressive coming out party, she's got some views that are pretty scary to most americans. and if she's overshadowing mccain... this might be a problem. this isnt 2004. the republicans cant win just by turning out the hard right wing and counting on general dem apathy. the dems have a real candidate for once that can challenge mccain.
    and like that... he's gone.
  • Here is the latest Gallop Poll pre Palin's speech:

    http://www.gallup.com/poll/110032/Gallup-Daily-Dent-Obama-Lead-Far.aspx

    I am interested to see the polling post convention.

    I really do think that Palin will alienate those valuable independent voters McCain needs to win.

    If it were not for Palin, I might still be undecided. I love Obama, and I like McCain because I believe he is sincere. But he has run far right since the election cycle has begun. That has had a chilling effect on the independent undecided voters. I have always thought I'd vote Obama, but I have no second thoughts after the Palin selection.

    I just wonder how many independent voters think the same way.
  • nfanelnfanel Posts: 2,558
    your point is a very good one. i was undecided in my vote, but palin and her far right views make my decision easy. i was leaning towards obama but now with palin on the ticket, it's a definite.

    p.s. i'm an independent, too.
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    not quite, I think she's generating coverage because most people don't know whot he hell she is and she's photogenic so that in itself is part of a story but most conservatives anyway are trying to figure her out.

    McCain's Speech last night was one of the best speeches by a member of that party in a long long time. He ripped people in that room including himself and it's well deserved. He also spoke on why he was running for president which I think is quite important for many potential republican voters especially the ones who never liked Bush. Mainly those not in the crowd that wants to dictate religion to everyone. I think he's not casting them out, but he certainly did not cater to them as much as Bush did and has.

    Most of the people voting for McCain are probably pretty happy with him today. He hasn't been that sharp and pointed since 2000. He didn't seem like a viable canidate to me until last night.

    Granted, I'm not voting for either of the two major parties in this election on principle (and I'm not voting LIbertarian either because thier choice sucks too), but McCain did a good job if you bought his speech as genuine and you think he can come through on the execution of those ideals.... to give the republicans a canidate to vote for. In the conservative group. I think he made a lot of in roads to address the good criticism of that party and it's people over the last 15 years.


    I know people say they vote on policy and principles etc the majority of that is just because it seems right to say that when asked.... I think ultimately that's around 5% of people. I'd say another segment votes on single issues (abortion, immigration, race, guns etc) and then the rest make up their mind depending on image and or how they feel about things on the spot or simple amalgamations of the above.

    Just like anything else. It's mostly marketing and what can you do for me. Which is what makes JFK's inaugural speech that much more poiginant today.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • Palin has without a doubt stolen McCain's thunder. Her speech did two things.. it got the republican base riled up, but is also got the opposition equally riled up.. I heard that yesterday Obama's campaign received substancially more donations than they have for quite sometime.. in one day. Leads me to believe it is due to her speech.

    Her speech basically left you thinking "hell yeah" or "oh, hell no"!
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    As individual fingers we can easily be broken, but together we make a mighty fist ~ Sitting Bull
  • saveuplifesaveuplife Posts: 1,173
    nick1977 wrote:
    It seems to me the Republican ticket is focussing on the VP selection of Palin. McCain does not seem to be grabbing the Republican's interest. He never has, and I noticed that during his speech, the on time the crowd was very energetic was when he mentioned Palin. That seemed to electrify the Republicans.

    I think his strategy is to let her go after right wing voters, and he will try to secure the independents. However, I think this strategy will backfire because indepedents will not like Palin due to her extremely conservative tendencies, so independents who may have otherwise voted McCain may lean towards Obama now....voting against Palin, not necessarily against McCain.

    I've never seen this much focus on a VP pick before. This is highly unusual. The VP does not have much power and does not do much. I find it odd that it seems that many are voting for/against McCain not because of him, but because of Palin.

    As a side note, his speech was good when he was talking about his personal war experience. Other than that, it was very shallow on substance while being deep in rhetoric. I honestly could not tell you what his goals as Pres. would be if elected.

    Obama has his supporters and independents fired up. Palin has the conservatives fired up, but McCain does not. I think his VP choice was a bad move as far as an election strategy. I think Palin will alienate voters from McCain who may have been considering voting for him.


    My opinion:

    She was an amazing choice. I actually don't think he could've chosen any better.

    That said, I think McCain will still lose. I think he would've lost by a much greater amount, however, if she was not on the ticket.
  • I think the key to thwarting the Palin excitement is to let her ride the wave for a little while. Then when some of the shine wears off, the Obama campaign needs to start dissecting her extreme views. Her fundamentalist views won't play well to moderates...or sane people in general. ;)
  • EnkiduEnkidu So Cal Posts: 2,996
    Whoops, should have vetted this. It's not true. She did ask about banning books when she was mayor, but I guess she wasn't specific about which books.

    Sorry for the misinformation.

    Someone just sent me a list of books Sarah Palin tried to have banned from the Wasilla public library. I haven't vetted this yet, he said he got it from Time.

    The books include works by Shakespeare, Kurt Vonnegut, Mark Twain, "Our Bodies, Ourselves" (well, duh), "To Kill a Mockingbird," "A Clockwork Orange," "Carrie," all the Harry Potter books, "Of Mice and Men," "The Shining..."

    You get the idea.

    (I thought McCain's speech was tepid last night, except when he talked about his POW experience - I thought that was very moving. And I think he genuinely loves this country. That being said... banning books in libraries? I don't think so.)
  • puremagicpuremagic Posts: 1,907
    Now that the shock is over, white male voters see Palin like this pushy new boss, who knows nothing about the job and starts issuing orders. Some see her as being forced on them by the Party with McCain seemingly no longer in control. Voters who have stood by McCain throughout the primaries are beginning to wonder about this one-term statement and whether there is an unknown health issue. Palin could be President.
    SIN EATERS--We take the moral excrement we find in this equation and we bury it down deep inside of us so that the rest of our case can stay pure. That is the job. We are morally indefensible and absolutely necessary.
  • yeah, but she has nice boobs!
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