I was born on a day, but it wasn't yesterday;)

Your assumption about the likely response from the right to a non-existent scenario.

SL, I don't disagree with you... but I think that to have a productive argument here, these kind of remarks are unnecessary. On Wednesday, I had a problem with scaeagles repeating a Biden gaffe and then saying "Something tells me if Palin did this...".

There are so many substantial things to argue about here - I think that generalizations about potential ethical comments don't play well for either side.

For me, I'd like to talk about things like this quote from McCain (Oct 2007 - pre-Rove), where he said: "I am prepared. I am prepared. I need no on-the-job training. I wasn't a mayor for a short period of time. I wasn't governor for a short period of time."

Granted, he was trying to beat Giuliani and Romney at the time, but it seems a little... what's the word? ... hypocritical.

I'm not trying to be unproductive (except, it appears, at my day job). However, I view these threads as discussions not just about the candidates and their merits in a vacuum, but about the larger phenomenon of the election, i.e., how the candidates manipulate the people, the people manipulate the candidates and how the media manages to remain neutral through it all.

McCain was on The View this morning apparently. Poor guy, these shows with like 5 hosts must be hard to handle. But a lot of great questions were asked. When there's a link on YouTube, I'll post it. ABC has the interview, but it's all chopped up.

Can't be too hard with Elizabeth Hasslebeck drooling all over him. ;)

I'm sure Whoppi and Joy Behar gave him some hell, though.

Well at least Obama is sticking with his message.

Does it bother you that McCain had to drop his entire campaign motto ("Experience you can count on") and adopt HIS OPPONENT'S CAMPAIGN MOTTO ("We need a change in Washington") after he selected his VP pick?

Here's the thing. Obama's said publically that the reason he picked Biden was because he wanted someone to discuss things with, to provide him with opinions, to be a voice, even if it doesn't always agree. In that way by picking Biden he chose someone with a lot of experience to help Obama get a second opinion... instead of picking someone just like him, who would agree with him on everything. I mean, that's what Bush did, and now he's got an entire Cabinet full of yes-men.

That is, Obama chose Biden for the purposes of helping him with his presidency.

McCain chosen Palin because she is a fresh face, charismatic, and a fundamentalist Christianist. She brings excitement to the campaign by galvanizing the conservative core of the party, a group he was having real trouble connecting with (he's changed his views over the years but conservatives still remember him as being quite liberal on abortion, etc.).

That is, McCain chose Palin for the purposes of helping him with his election.

By the way if anyone hasn't read it yet, Eve Ensler of the Vagina Monologues has an editorial up on Huffington Post giving her view on the Palin nomination.

Personally, I think we should treat Palin like Democrats treat Karl Rove; with derision, but without elevating Rove to anything more important than an adviser.

The bottom line is it was McCain's decision to choose her. The election boils down to do we want a 72-year-old man, who has had skin cancer numerous times, and whose body was broken many times (NOT NOT NOT "tortured" mind you---just used advanced interrogation techniques on, just like in GITMO)? I am just dumbfounded that people think this is even a serious question.

Well, some of us think the issues are more important than how old the candidate is or how many times he beat cancer.

:)

Yeah... Like the fact he wants to continue Bush's policies....

And I am dumbfounded that you seem to believe there were no political calculations in selecting Biden.

Oh I'll admit I'm sure he took into consideration those voters who questioned his resume.

I guess what I wasn't clear on is that I think the choice was made to ensure people during the campaign, that the presidency would benefit from teh VP nom.

I don't think I can say the same for the McCain/Palin ticket.