Better than smoke signals.
McCain calls up a freshman for the tournament
Back in the 1990s when Neil McCarthy (neighbor of mom & dad) was coaching the BK boys basketball team to their nine successive appearances in the state tournament, he had a knack for identifying a freshman that he would call up for the tournament to give the kid a little exposure to tournament pressure and to stir things up a little. Sometimes this worked (John Hild in 1992; Tommy Steiner in 2001) as the youngster would respond to the opportunity, would play hard, and be something of an impact on the floor for a quarter or two during a game. The idea also flopped at least one, with Steve Tracey in 2002, who incidently went on to be one of the best guards in school history.
Coach McCarthy's maneuvers came to mind today when I learned that John McCain has tapped Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as the Republican Vice President nominee. Palin's experience of 18 months as Alaska Governor and a few years as mayor of a town of 9,000 puts her at the equivelant of a freshman getting called up for a state tournament. Only in this case it's a two-on-two match and she's going to be on the court all the time. This is not a limited playing time deal where she can come in to stir things up for a quarter and then sit on the bench. We'll see how she handles it; and it's clearly a larger gamble on McCain's part than the times McCarthy would elevate a player.
I think on the straight politics of it, this choice was a result of McCain being boxed in by 1- not being able to pick his first choice (Lieberman); 2- wanting to avoid the fellow he does not like at all (Romney), who was also disqualified because he too is a multiple home owner; 3- Gov. Ridge, like Lieberman is pro-choice so he was out due to a need to placate the Republican base; 4 - For whatever reason Gov. Pawlenty of Minnesota did not measure up, probably because he would not match up well against Senator Biden.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John Brunelle on
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The lucky freshman call-up at BK had likely distinguished himself with an outstanding season at the sub-varsity level. He had shown early promise and brought a high scoring average he'd earned against indifferent 14 year olds from rural schools. It's like kicking ass as mayor of Wasilla.
WHAT I LIKE ABOUT SARAH P: Born in Idaho...Pisces (like Jeffy)...played hoop and was in state championship (like JoJo and Cass) in high school...nickname was "barracuda"...Journalism Major...TV Sports Reporter...has 5 kids (like my mom)...was in her early 40s when she ran for Governor (like Cal)...looks like Tina Fey...
And what I really like is that she is NOT a 'gamechanger' in this election.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Brunelle on
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Actually, in the photo with McCain she looks more like Elaine from "Seinfeld".
I wonder if she can dance like Elaine.
Anyway, I like that she's a Communications major (from the U of I according to Bea), because Jone's friends at school have been giving her a hard time, telling her that Communications is an easy, fallback for those who don't know what to major in. Of course these are chemistry and physics students who are developing pretty narrow world views. Sarah seems a well-rounded liberal arts type, gun toting girl, lots of activities, etc. Yet I suspect she must have a pretty narrow world view too, if she appeals to the GOP. The Soup Nazi might even go for this one.
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I see the resemblance, but I found some others who share my view re Sarah/Tina:
http://www.stylelist.com/blog/2008/08/29/john-mccains-crush-on-tina...
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Permalink Reply by Andy Brunelle on
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Check out this blog with a YouTube edit of McCain checking out Palin during their rally on Friday: http://www.jedreport.com/2008/08/getting-to-know-you.html#disqus_th...
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Permalink Reply by Patti Brunelle on
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OMG-That was so funny!!!!. My nearly 80 year old mother told me that is the reason she thinks McCain picked her. It had no even occurred to me but yet I think she is on to something. I listened to talk radio tonight for several hours while painting the kitchen ... McCain may be reconsidering his choice....Palin believes in Creationism!?! etc. etc. This election is better than any soap opera.
P.S. I love Tina Fey! This is going to show up in 30 Rock.
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Okay, never mind Tina Fey and Elaine. I saw Palin speak last night. She's sarcastic, condescending, self-rightous, mean, and scary. She's Dick Cheney in a dress. Add her to your list of vice-presidents you would never go hunting with.
That poor kid that got her daughter pregnant is literally going to have a shotgun wedding. His mom and dad probably wish he had found a girlfriend whose parents are not pro-life. I hope that they are Republicans too, because the party pretty much grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and dragged him onstage at the convention for the happy wholesome family photo op. The French Foreign Legion is probably looking better and better to him.
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A woman from Wasilla who has know Palin for years wrote an e-mail to some friends about the veep candidate. It quickly became viral and has been posted on several blogs. Here is a link to
Anne Kilkenny's viral e-mail
followed by many comments pro and con, including a list of books she wanted removed from the Wasilla Public Library.
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Good letter-has actual content and facts to refute the mirage that has been and will continue to be painted. Free press and transparent information is our only hope. Librarians are my heroes. They draw the line and stick with it.
Yet tonight Obama is only up 1%. Why? My thought is that many Americans believe that the government will steal all their money through taxes if they elect a Democrat. The Republic Party has co-opted language and the meaning of words, like "fiscal conservative". Palin's 33 million dollar debt she created in Alaska---conservative? Ugh.
Oh, and the look on the husband-to-be's face at the big speech night was, yes, screaming "get me out of here".
The sarcasm in her speech was just juvenile.
I just do not get how this is even close-
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Ouch! Through Sunday in the Gallup tracking poll McCain-Palin are putting on a rally. This is the normal convention "bounce" that happens following these big events. I hope. It has to be. People's fascination with Sarah Palin will wear off. (I visited Moscow a few times when she was a student there, but I doubt I ever saw her unless she was in the Corner Club).
I follow http://www.fivethirtyeight.com on a daily basis where they break down the national and state polls.
Apparently Princeton University also has a website where they are employing various mathematical formulae to project the election. Here's an interesting graph on Obama electoral vote projection (it lags the daily tracking because there have been few state-level polls in the past couple weeks):
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That's more like it!
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Tina just blew me away with this! And now I can watch it anytime I want to on our site here. Hopefully, Tina's portrayal will not be needed in a few months. This was a great comedic moment. The Hillary part was not so hot. Obama is pulling in so much money-could that do it? I wonder? His Chicago machine is coming in very handy here. They are experts at grassroots everything, which is why I think he won the caucus states. Even as a Hillary fan, I have to respect Obama's organization and hope it gets him in.
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Palin's accent caught my attention from the beginning. She sounds more Midwestern than Idahoan. Do Alaskans talk like Minnesotans? Does cold weather affect the way you pronounce certain words? Since I had a lot of work to do last night I goofed off instead and found an interesting blog. The linguistic stuff gets a bit technical at times, but I enjoyed the observations and the reader's comments about Palin, Alaska, and various regional accents. There are entries on more than one day so I'll include more than one link:
Palin's Accent
More on Palin's Accent
Slednecks and Snowbillies
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