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Thursday, September 04, 2008

Plain Speech

ST. PAUL — Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska introduced herself to America before a roaring crowd at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night as “just your average hockey mom” who was as qualified as the Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama, to be president of the United States.

An hour later Senator John McCain, a scrappy, rebellious former prisoner of war in Vietnam whose campaign was resurrected from near-death a year ago, was nominated by the Republican Party to be the 44th president of the United States after asking the cheering delegates, “Do you think we made the right choice” in picking Ms. Palin as the vice-presidential nominee?
The roll-call vote made Mr. McCain, 72, the first Republican presidential candidate to share the ticket with a woman and only the second presidential candidate from a major party to do so, after Walter F. Mondale selected Geraldine A. Ferraro as his running mate for the Democratic ticket in 1984.

But the nomination was a sideshow to the evening’s main event, the speech by the little-known Ms. Palin, who was seeking to wrest back the narrative of her life and redefine herself to the American public after a rocky start that has put Mr. McCain’s closest aides on edge. Ms. Palin’s appearance electrified a convention that has been consumed by questions of whether she was up to the job, as she launched slashing attacks on Mr. Obama’s claims of experience.

“Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown,” Ms. Palin told the delegates in a speech that sought to eviscerate Mr. Obama, as delegates waved signs that said “I love hockey moms.” “And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities.”
As the crowd cheered its approval, Ms. Palin went on: “I might add that in small towns we don’t quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren’t listening.”

Ms. Palin was referring to Mr. Obama’s experience as a community organizer in Chicago before he served in the Illinois legislature and was elected to the United States Senate in 2004 as well as comments he made at a fundraiser in California about bitter rural voters who “cling” to guns and religion.

The address by Ms. Palin, 44, who stunned the political world last week as Mr. McCain’s pick for a running mate, took place before a convention transformed from an orderly coronation into a messy, days-long drama since the McCain campaign’s disclosure on Monday that Ms. Palin’s 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, was pregnant. Since then there have been a host of other distractions, including Hurricane Gustav, questions about how thoroughly Mr. McCain vetted what people close to his campaign have called the last-minute pick of Ms. Palin, and charges from Mr. McCain’s top aides that the news media has launched a sexist smear campaign against his running mate.

“I’m not a member of the permanent political establishment,” Ms. Palin said in her remarks. which took aim at the news media as the crowd began lustily booing the press. “And I’ve learned quickly, these past few days, that if you’re not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone. But here’s a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I’m not going to Washington to seek their good opinion; I’m going to Washington to serve the people of this country.”

Ms. Palin spent the first part of her speech introducing her family one by one to the crowd, including her husband, Todd. “We met in high school, and two decades and five children later he’s still my guy,” Ms. Palin said.

Ms. Palin also displayed humor in one of her biggest lines of the night when she said that “the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull” was “lipstick.”

Ms. Palin’s speech was the big draw of a convention night notable for not a single mention from the stage of the unpopular president, George W. Bush, who addressed the delegates Tuesday via satellite from the White House after the hurricane forced him to cancel his appearance.

Ms. Palin’s speech came after Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York launched a withering attack on Mr. Obama as part of a relentless assault by Republicans arguing that Ms. Palin, the former mayor of a town of less than 7,000 people who has been governor of Alaska for 20 months, had a more impressive résumé than Mr. Obama.

“She already has more executive experience than the entire Democratic ticket,” said Mr. Giuliani, one of three former rivals of Mr. McCain for the nomination, including former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, who took on Mr. Obama in speeches Wednesday evening.

“Barack Obama has never led anything, nothing, nada,” Mr. Giuliani said, then launched an attack on people who have questioned whether Ms. Palin will have enough energy to focus on the vice presidency as the mother of five. “How dare they question whether Sarah Palin has enough time to spend with her children and be vice president,” Mr. Giuliani said. “How dare they do that? When do they ever ask a man that question?”

The criticism of Mr. Obama reinforced new television commercials by the McCain campaign that similarly belittled the Democratic nominee’s experience. The campaign and its surrogates also took on what they called biased and sexist coverage of Ms. Palin.

In her address, Ms. Palin criticized Mr. Obama on foreign policy and national security issues as she tried to display comfort on those areas. She also embraced one of Mr. McCain’s favorite mantras this summer, “drill now,” a call for more offshore oil exploration as a solution to record-high gasoline prices.

“Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America’s energy problems, as if we all didn’t know that already,” Ms. Palin said. “But the fact that drilling won’t solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all. Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we’re going to lay more pipelines, build more nuclear plants, create jobs with clean coal and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal and other alternative sources.”

The speech was the first public emergence for Ms. Palin since arriving here Sunday, two days after Mr. McCain named her as his running mate. Ms. Palin has spent her time in a hotel suite with her husband, Todd, and their five children preparing for her speech and the questions on foreign policy, national security and family matters that she will face from the news media when the McCain campaign makes her available to reporters. Their son Track, 19, deploys overseas for the Army next month.

Democrats, who have held much of their fire this week as the Republican melodrama has played out in Minnesota, criticized the convention as failing so far to address the concerns of ordinary Americans.

“You did not hear a single world about the economy,” Mr. Obama told an audience on in New Philadelphia, Ohio, before Ms. Palin’s speech. “Not once did they mention the hardships that people are going through.”

Mr. McCain landed in Minneapolis on Wednesday afternoon and was greeted on the tarmac by Ms. Palin, her family and his family in a striking multigenerational tableau, 16 strong, with the youngest member Trig Palin, Sarah Palin’s 4-month-old, who has Down syndrome. Later, in Mr. McCain’s appearance at the convention, he praised the Palins as “a beautiful family.”

Delegates said they were enthralled by Ms. Palin. "I think she’s great; she’s giving it back to the Democrats for all the sorry things they’ve said about her and about America," said Anita Bargas, a delegate from Angleton, Tex. "She’s a conservative, and she has a great sense of humor."

With Ms. Palin facing a torrent of inquiries from reporters, Mr. McCain joined other Republicans in assailing news outlets when he told ABC News in an interview on Wednesday that “Sarah Palin has 24,000 employees in the state government” and was “responsible for 20 percent of the nation’s energy supply.” He added that he was entertained by the comparison of her experience to that of Mr. Obama and that “I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America.”

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

today's article was about the speech between obama and sarah.l totally agree with ashley because this country is not ready to have a women as vice president.There are lots of issues going on.Also if she become vice president it will affect america because her younger daughter got pregnant at age of 17.if she can't handle her own kids how she will become a vice president."republican officals said ms.palin would focus
on her experiences in government and challenging entrenched interest in alaska as well as waht even democrate acknowledge is an intriguing life story".

Anonymous said...

Today's discussion was very intense. This was a topic that everyone has an opinion on. I think that the article that we read in class was in favor of Sarah Palin. Almost all the quotes are positive in this article. I also think if the author wanted to he could have been broader about the fact that Governor Palin's daughter is pregnant. Today in class Alex said that because the governor’s Palin's daughter is pregnant it affects the campaign. I disagree. Yes children do represent their parents but I think if a child does something wrong its how the parent reacts to it. Also there is no affect on the campaign; this is about serving your country not how you take care of your kids.

-A Vora

R. Kaur said...

Today's conversation was really good, debate able but once again it’s politics so it isn’t as surprising.
I agree with apeksha, yes its true that a child is a parents responsibility but if a child were to make a mistake it’s clearly not their fault. Sarah Palin has tried her best to raise 5 of her kids. She has a strong united family. If she was a bad mother the rest of her kids were to follow the same path as their sister who is pregnant at age 17. One of her son’s is enlisting in the army next month, which shows that just because one of her children has made the mistake it’s not entirely her nor her husband’s fault. As sanaa had said in class “ if she cant keep her believes in her own house how can she as a president”. I totally disagree with this because every religion, every family every culture has different believes but running a country is a different thing. Our country is very diverse we have all sorts of cultures which form different believes. As long as we respect everyone’s believes and focus on what our country needs. Our financial, and political needs are just some of the few that need to sorted out, and I think there is no need to involve someone’s believes in politics as long as we have the main factors of protecting our country we don’t’ really need to point fingers at someone and their family after all every family in the U.S. has some dirty secrets hidden under the rug.

Anonymous said...

After hearing everybody in class, and everyone sharing their thoughts and comments on the article, I personally thought that Carl Hulse set out positive and negative comments for John McCain, Sarah Palin and Barack Obama.The writter wrote about both sides. I had agreed to what Omar had said "that whatever candidates say is a bunch of BS". In reality it is true, for example when Hillary Clinton was in the spotlight she had said she would take care of "Free Health Insurance", which never actually happaned. Also, Carl Hulse mentioning to us readers that Sarah Palin's daughter who is 17 years old is pregnant. Almost more than 85% of the people living in the U.S are religious, and after hearing this they would change their thoughts on Sarah Palin. By Carl Hulse putting out Palin's daughter would deacrease the vote percentage for Sarah Palin. Which makes me go back to what Matt f. had said that "religion sould not be in politics". Which means to me is that if religion would not take a role in politics, the politics would be alot different. The whole system of politics would focus more on electing the president, vice president from what they are setting to do rather than what is their previous family history.

A.Pervaiz

Anonymous said...

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24291632-5012748,00.html

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jrhFOsVwX9jtDyUhy3zKCBVms8tgD92VAGQG4

The links above are proof of the claim I made earlier in class. Every aspect of Sarah Palin's past & decisions are scrutinized and the same applies for her family. I feel that it does affect the campaign but in a minor way.

I do believe that this country is ready to have a woman as a vice president. Much of America were ready to have Hillary Clinton as president, why not Governor Palin as a Vice Principal?

-N. Budhu

Anonymous said...

Today in goverment class we had a very good discussion about the speech that ms.Sarah Palin made at the convention last night. I agreed with some and disagreed with most.Somethings that I agreed with was when Alex said that she cant handle her own daughter.i mean if you cant handle your own daughter from getting pregnant what makes you think that you can handle or run america.I disagree with apeksha when she wrote that "Also there is no affect on the campaign; this is about serving your country not how you take care of your kids." She might think that nothing happen to the campaign it probably may not be big but some people views and ideas may have changed about her.This is because she represents america and her doing this shows that america is slacking.Also that is how she is going to pertray america as slack.Apeksha futher ons say how "this is about serving your country not how you take care of your kids".But then again your kids are the future so what you teach your kids it influences your country.WERD was guud MR.Brown

crystal marie said...

Todays article was interesting. It was pointing out both good and bad qualities in gov. Palin. I disagree with Alex's statement "if she can't handle her own kids how will she become vice president." Every parent gives rules she can not sit and watch her daughters every move , mistakes will be made. She doesn't have a perfect situation but in my opinion it makes her seem more like a real person . Yes we should know some background information on her life but her child's mistake shouldn't be one of them.

- C Martinez

Anonymous said...

I really liked todays article about Palin being vice-president because there was a few students who said that Palin being vice-president would be good and then there were a lot of students who said that she will make America be even lower than it is now. For example, Alex said," Palin daughter being pregnant and smoking pot makes her look bad, so how can she take care of America when she is taking care of two new born babies (Palin has a 4 months old baby)". I one hundred percent agree with alex because I don't think she can take care of America while takin care of her new born baby. I'm not a sexist but most women can't stay away from their own child, so how can she help the president take care of America. I believe that America should come first for our president and not second.

Anonymous said...

Matt Frank said that "Religion should not be in politics". I agree. It made me think that her daughter having a baby so young is her own personal business. Her running a country as vice president really has nothing to do with that. I want to see what she wants to improve about this country, not teaching her kids. I also liked Mr. Browns comment on how one of the democrats from Illinois, Rahm Emanuel said "John McCain has made the first decision of his would-be presidency, and he did it based on one meeting and one phone call". As Mr. Brown said, you can't really believe something like this because you just don't know.

L. molina said...

Today in class we had a good discussion about politics. We all had our different point of views and were able to explain how we felt about what was said in the article. In my opinion I belive that Sarah Palin should be able to get the chance to become vice president. Yes maybe there were some mistakes that she probably made in raising her kids, but is not entirely her fault. I belive that our parents try their best to help us make the right decisions but at the end is us who choose which path to take. Just because her daughter is pregnant at age 17 doesn't mean that is her fault and only because of this she wont be able to help run the country. As I said before our parents are the ones who help us make our decisions and try to make us be the best we can but at the end it's us who decide what we want to do with our lives. One mistake that actually isn't completely her's shouldn't be something that can put her down. She is a person that goes through everyday things and she should be given the chance to prove herself as someone that can help run this country.

Anonymous said...

Well as i said before in class i have to disagree with what a lot was said. A lot of people in class stated that if she cant protect the values at home how is she suppose to run a whole country. I disagree 100 percent because when did she ever disagree with what her daughter has done. In present America you see on the streets people who have kids at 17, and what does that mean. America is represented as a country of freedom where there is endless possibilities if you put your mind to it and where you can choose what you want to do as long as you abide by the rules. No where does it state in the constitution that kids must be conceived at a certain age. Governor Palin is just like any person in the United states, just cause you have a kid doesn't mean that you wont be able to do stuff other people can. That is one big issue that a lot of the blogger's seem to state. So as i close out on this issue there is no where stated that she went against her daughters pregnancy, her daughter made a decision where it was her choice, this is the United States of America and the fact that people would bring people down just because of what they believe in is there choice but just isn't right. She has like any person a right to run for office along with McCain and she is put up to the standards that i know she can put up with.
It seems as if a lot of this campaign to become president is all about negative aspects of each party. A lot of the press puts a negative perspective on each person, like how Obama is black and calling his wife a baby mama. Or like how we explained in class how Palin cant run a country with kids, or how people think McCain is crazy. All these accusations are ludicrous and are only there to bring down people. We should be focused on what there plans for the government. As Nalisa said in her blog she smoked weed and that has nothing to do with what she is going to do. A blunt she smoked when she was younger or in the past wont impair her judgment now. As i said the world cant be filled with people that are suppose to be good 24/7. Palin may have done stuff in the past but we as a country must be worrying about the war or on the economy rather then what they did 20 years ago. If we as a country focus on how we run the country and how we can improve it rather then focus on babies and drugs, then imagine how we would be now. People will be more focused on strategies on fixing our country rather then finding ways to get back at one another.
In my closing i believe that nobody should be held accountable for others reactions. We should be focusing on what we need to do as a country to make us better. Peoples beliefs are widespread and as most people complain about Palin's kids we should be focusing on what she would do to improve our country. Just because her kids have kids doesn't mean she doesn't know how to run a family. Just because shes a grandmother at the age of 44 doesn't mean she cant handle a country. I believe that the world we live in is beautiful but ugly souls push the buttons. Ff we focus on what we could do to improve the world, maybe ugly souls wont push the buttons but we will. Due to this maybe our world will be a more beautiful place to live in. This is the main issue we should be focusing on, our future is more important then any story about kids or drugs.

Anonymous said...

I do not think that the article we read today was on Ms. Palin's side.

On the second page of the article it is stated that Mr. McCain made his selection for vice president through one meeting and one phone call. This implies that he made a hasty decision. Then, just below, the author says that Mr. Huckabee was trying to paint Mr. Obama, as weak on national security.

On the 5th page, the author brings up the fact that at the Republican National Convention, “Not once did they mention the hardships that people are going through.” referring to the American economy. This shows that he was not on any one side.

I questioned in class today Ms. Palin's ability to keep her beliefs a priority. If Ms. Palin is promising to do things for America in her campaign how can we be sure they will be done if she cannot control her own household.

In class, Alex said something along the lines of, how can the Republican Party say they are going to do these things when their party is already in the White House and are doing nothing. I completely agree with him. They have the power now and cannot change anything how they can do it if we elect them. They need to prove themselves to America not just promise to change it.

Also, gender should not be a criterion that we use to select our presidential candidates or any public officials by. It’s either you are capable of running a country or you aren’t. Everyone is granted their own opinion and that’s why we vote. Being a woman doesn’t mean you are any less capable of doing a man’s job. What happened to equality in America?

Alex D. said...

today in gov class we had a lot different kinds of opinions on the issue of ms. Palin sadly my classmates don’t understand exactly what I’m stating .At the moment and time I’m extremely excited to see a female vice president but Ms. palin isn't the right person for this job because she's just not ready .You must remember the vice-president is there for a lot of reason but the most important reason is because if the president dies that she could take over and run this country .so my question is do u think that she could run the country under that pressure and handle her children. honestly crystal i understand most thing don’t go prefect in life but do you really want to risk you future .At this time and era we are risking almost everything on this war .Which we haven’t gained anything from this war well what’s see gas no, money nope ,and o yeah we lost over a thousand soldier sadly those poor family lost there love ones from the same republican party that support this war and yes Ms. Palin supports this war . Just on these couple facts I can’t support Mr. McCain and Ms. Palin its just crazy .The second issue that I wouldn’t like Ms. palin and john McCain to be elected would have to be her idea on fuel sources. Just yesterday I was watching mr. Giuliani on BBC
Which is a new channel for those who don’t watch news and he stated that if john McCain was elected that there would be more underwater drilling for gas please excuse my language but this idea is retarded because one of the biggest issues in our world is global warming .something that mr. Al Gore has been speaking for so many years sadly George Bush and the republican party have been ignore Mr. gore and the million scientist who have been proving it . Ms. Palin and john McCain are just like bush there not like me and you there lost there blind they cant notice the people who suffer everyday .I really believe that Senator Barack Obama see a little better then john McCain and Ms. Palin combined .

A. Deonarine

Anonymous said...

Our discussion in class today was very verbal and aggresive. I have an few quotes that I would like to make an comment on. John Ray said " The author Carl Hulse is bringing up how Governor Sarah Plalin 's daughter, Bristol is pregent at the age of 17 and how that doesn't effect the campaign." I would like to say that it does effect the campaign because it shows how the much stress how she has to go through based cause she going to be having an grandaughter and at the same time she is going to be running America.

Another quote that John Ray said was "Focus more on the economy and not focusing on how they raise their kids" I agree with that quote because the press shouldn't be worrying about how the vice president taking care of the childern. Instaed they should be worrying about how Governor Sarah Plalin is going to be running the country.

Another quote that really caught my attention is when Omar said that "Poltics are a bunch of bullshit" I agree with that statement because to me I think it really pointless and it creates more drama. In my opinion
~Rochelle

Anonymous said...

After reading today's article in class many points in this particular passage struck me. Obama said" You did not hear a single word about the economy. This is a real problem because taxes are high and people all across the U.S are having bad issues financially.
Mr. Giuliani pointed out that we (the U.S) should give Ms.Palin a chance to have two or three weeks of questions.I strongly disagree after hearing about Ms.Palins federal experiences. If you think about it She comes from Alaska, its pretty much a small place. Which brings me to think that shes does not have that much experience as she claims.
Obama has a really big advantage to become the next president. Alot of people are saying, since he is an "African American" he will make history by being the first person of his kind to take such leadership. Since, Obama has this advantage, McCain thought it would be smart of him to have a women run as vice president.

P.S- By the way i consider myself a proud democrat =)

Anonymous said...

I find it amazing that the republicans can try to attack Obama, by saying that he's not fit to run the country. From the way I see it it looks like the republicans might fear that they can actually loose this election to Obama, because why else would they pull a crazy stunt, like naming Palin as Macain's runing mate at the last minute. Then on top of that their runing mate had juss been elected as governor of a state with a lil over 20,000 residents. Then thay have the nerve to say that Obama has never led anything (mean while he's a United States senator), as I keep thinking on this they really think that someone who runs a state of 20,000 is more qualified to run a country of nearly a billion citizens.(>=[ I think not....) I don't know about everyone else but I don't think that Palin's any anymore qualified to run a country than Obama. (You can tell I'm a democrate =])

K Singh said...

Today's article was very debatable. Many people had different opionions about the article had many positive and negative feedback. But alot of people find the subject about Palin's daughter very interesting. Some people say that she can't control her own child how can she take control of the United States of America, and others say that it is not importnant about what her daughter does. I think that it is important because a child represents their parents. Right now Palin's daughter is not making her look good because the media loves to hear about these things and they make people look bad. But is she does her job everything will be just fine.

Anonymous said...

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/homeland

Perhaps my least favorite part of today's article was this quote from Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee: "Maybe the most dangerous threat of an Obama presidency is that he would conntinue to give madmen the benefit of the doubt. If he's wrong just once, we will pay a heavy price."
What Huckabee is referring to is that Obama has made improving the strength of our economy his main objective if elected. This in no way means that he is weak in the area of homeland security. In the link I inserted above into this post, you are welcome to see parts of Barack Obama's plan for protecting our country. Ever since the 9/11 commision warned the Department of Homeland Security of the dangers of leaving America's nuclear power plants improperly secured, Obama has proposed increased security at these locations. A simple attack on one of these plants could cause a catastrophic event, similar to those you may see on the show 24. Obama also has extensive plans for disaster relief efforts by organizing evacuations and reuniting families quicker to prevent chaos like that caused from Hurricane Katrina.
I think what this comment shows most is that the Republicans are spending more time criticizing Obama than actually speaking about their own plans for our country. Also, the current Republican administration has certainly failed us economically and McCain has yet to address that.
I would also like to say that the issue with Governor Palin isn't her expected grandaughter or her gender, but it's her political inexperience that the article and the media are being critical of. She has been the mayor of a town of 7,000 and a has yet to finish her first term as governor of a vastly unpopulated state. There isn't much that qualifies her for a position of such stature as Vice President.

crystal marie said...

I'm not saying I want them to win , I'm just saying that there taking this personal business issue to the next level. Listen to what she has to offer && worry a little less on how her home is.

- C Martinez

Anonymous said...

Families are off-limits in any political battle. John McCain and many Republicans labeled her as a person with conservative values and when conservatives and the religious voters probably heard about her daughter their views on Mrs. Palin shifted.

The most important thing is content of Mrs. Palin's character in this race to the White House not any of her children or any family member.

To what A.Pervaiz said about Hillary Clinton that when she had the spotlight she did nothing about health care.

Well in 1993 when Bill Clinton became President he appointed her wife to be the head and chairwoman of the Task Force on National Health Care Reform she led an effort for "Free Health Insurance".

It never actually happened because the plan did not receive enough support for a floor vote in either the House or the Senate. And People opposed it and protested against her comprehensive health care propsal for everyone strongly. There were even commercialsagainst her back then in 93 and she lost that battle when her plan was rejected by Congress in September 1994.

crystal marie said...

I'm not saying I want them to win , I'm just saying that there taking this personal business issue to the next level. Listen to what she has to offer && worry a little less on how her home is.

- C Martinez

Anonymous said...

With the discussion today in class i was left with many different responses. The last response that i wanted to speak about was what was said by Sana. She stated How can Governor Palin allow things to happen that goes against her beliefs. My response to that is that parents can preach all they want to their kids, that doesn't mean that their kids will follow all the rules. As an example using myself, if i mess up my mom is affected, but the job she does isn't.

Anonymous said...

A lot of people were saying that they don't agree with Sarah Palin being VP while Bristol is pregnant. This may have something to do with the fact that they think Bristol is underage. In fact, she is not. The legal age of consent in Alaska is 16.

I believe that Sarah Palin can be a good VP if only she is willing to get with the times and doesn't repeat any mistakes of the Bush administration.

Anonymous said...

Today’s article was very interesting. The article was about how Sarah Palin is not ready to be in office for the vice president spot. I agree with Ashley when she said that Ms. Palin is not ready to be in office because of the fact that she is a woman. In today’s society we are not ready for a woman vice president because of the fact that there are many issues going on in the world that a woman may not be able to handle. For example the war that is taken place in the Middle East. On top of that, her 17 year old daughter is having a child. Like Sanna said “if you can’t control your beliefs in your household how can you do it as vice president”. This statement is so true. In some way, by her saying it’s okay for her child to have a baby at a young age with out finishing high school she is promoting teen pregnancy. This in itself tells a lot about her character. Your child represents who you are, so what does that say about her?
-K.WESTON

Anonymous said...

The article we discussed in class is a hot topic. Everyone got there own view on it. For example when Alex said "children represent you." I agree with what he said ; your children are the future and they are definitely being judged on what they do. Like in the article it talks about how Ms. Palin has a daughter who is pregnant at the age of 17, which really got nothing to do with the electing for vice president. Also Omar was like "politics are a bunch of BS." i agree with it because it starts drama and its just creates issues. Also there a different idea gender roles. Woman aren’t usually take a leadership role so that’s another big step that the people are taking as giving her the position of vice president.

Anonymous said...

The article we discussed in class about sarah palin was very interesting. I agree with sanna when she said how is she goin to run america if she cant run her own household. Sarah Palins daughter being pregnent at 17 gives alot of people the idea that she does know whats going on in her house so what makes people think she knows how to run america

Sanaa A said...

A. Rao -

Bristol's pregancy is not just an issue because of her age, but more on the fact that she is unmarried.

Anonymous said...

today's discussion was about college students voting. l think anybody can vote if they 18 or older. l prefer 21 or older because they have more sense and experiences. voting is more about knowledge of the person.

Anonymous said...

Some points coming out of the issues being raised against Palin on this forum, have to be raised and addressed.
1. How many readers/commenters know or have known a single mother? Would you berate their parents and talk about how lousy a parenting job they did?

2. How many of you have ever ignored or disobeyed the wishes or moral standards set upon you by your parents? Does that make them less fit to go to work and continue their job?

3. When you grow up and apply for an executive opening at "Schmucks, Inc.", do you want the HR interviewer to question your ability to lead a company division based solely on the presence of children in your life or the pregnancy of your teenage daughter?

4. The job of Vice-President needs to be put into perspective. VPs have only 2 responsibilities, they break Senate ties and they stand ready to step in if the President is unable to continue for one reason or another. That's about it. They can make all the speeches they want, give advice Senator Joe Bloe or Chief of Dept 'X', or head up whatever "independent government projects" they want, but their actual job doesn't consist of much more than the above responsibilities.

5. Expect someone to blowback on this one by recycling "well, this is different" lines. This is no different. When a person is hired to do a job, they're hired to perform a set of duties according to standards set by the employer. Ladies and Gentlemen, you all collectively make up the employer. In Nov, you will be signing a 4-year employment contract with either McCain/Palin or Obama/Biden. Each of your votes is a signature on that contract. You are not voting for a "Van Wilder" type to host parties and organize fun activities You are voting for the CEO of the US Government.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Ashely. I don't think Plain is ready to be Vice president and then President. She is a good speaker and impressed a lot of people. I think she is saving McCain in this campaign. Shes good but Ombama id better. I also think she is unable to run the country when she has a daughter who is pregnant. She could barely run her home and keep it under control. If shes going to run the country, America should be her 1st priority.