American 2008 Election

[balkair 6]

Yes, I know that, and yes, Macedon, from the Greek word for length, Mikos (Makos). And Alexander was the leader of the HELLENIC LEAGUE, (Greek League), and the Kingdom of Macedonia.

[ford-prefect 5]

Originally posted by: belfastuniguy McCains selection was a shameless ploy to get the disenfranchised female vote.

He may get some, but I still think Obama will get the majority. I was never a fan of Obama, but have warmed to him recently and think he could really re-invigorate America. That will remain to be seen. Though my support is now fully with the Democrats. Also love that McCain shot himself in the shot by practically taking a hammer to his 'experience' rant.

quote>

This is a good pick for Obama. It eliminates the "inexperienced" argument, she's someone very easy to get a whole good list on ties with people and things that won't be popular if they get into the mainstream media, and the polls are showing that it seems like disgruntled Clinton supporters aren't being swayed, most are now less likely to vote for McCain because of the pick, some feel he's patronizing them.

[Duke87 1,070]

Worth pointing out that Palin actually has more years of political experience than Obama does.

And on top of that, there's executive experience there, not just legislative.

McCain could use that to his advantage. "My VP candidate has more experience than your presidential candidate."

Interesting how people seem to not be looking at it from that angle, though (blame the liberal media bias, perhaps).

[Odainsaker 2,137]

Some are trying already, but if they really want to push the argument that any brief local or state executive office experience trumps state and national senatorial experience, then it could also be offered that Palin has more experience than McCain himself, who has also never held an executive office position. Obviously, that is a nonsensical result, so the premise must be false.

On the other hand, it can be argued that the very process of successfully running a national presidential campaign from start to Election Day is in itself a condensed shakedown trial in leadership and organizational capability. We've seen quite a few candidates rise and fall or even implode and recover, be it from poor strategy, funding problems, staffing issues and infighting, media mismanagement, the orchestration of the foot soldiers, factional disputes, personality problems, the taking or leaving of opportunities, simple poor politicking, etc. Though hardly a full predictor of how someone will perform in office, the process still offers some insight, particularly in those moments most contentious or bewildering.

[Zelgadis 638]

Originally posted by: Duke87 Worth pointing out that Palin actually has more years of political experience than Obama does.

And on top of that, there's executive experience there, not just legislative.

quote>

I'm sure they'll try to spin it that way.

Fact remains though that being mayor of an itty bitty town is a part-time job, literally.  Technically then, you'd have to take her mayoral experience and cut the years in half to reflect the nature of the job.  Frankly, I don't think any time at all spend doing that counts as "experience" when we're talking about it in relation to running a country.

ISF

[confused04 14]

Originally posted by: Duke87 Worth pointing out that Palin actually has more years of political experience than Obama does.

And on top of that, there's executive experience there, not just legislative.

McCain could use that to his advantage. "My VP candidate has more experience than your presidential candidate."

Interesting how people seem to not be looking at it from that angle, though (blame the liberal media bias, perhaps).quote>

She doesn't have "more experience" really...

Palin has been on the Wasilla city council from 1992 to 1996... then mayor from '96 to 2002, failed to earn the L. Governor position and became governor in 2006. Thats 4 + 6 +2 (and that 2 is rounded up) to 12. I'll be nice an add the UNELECTED position she held for 1 year as the Chairman of the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. A total of 13 years (with rounding up and adding that one year).

Now... Obama...

Set up tons of community outreach programs, chaired a bunch of committees (its only fair if I gave it to Palin). Which he was a big part of starting in 1992, and for the sake of simplifying things, he "ended" this stuff when he was inaugurated in 1997-2004 to the IL State Senate. Finally, we all know about his US Senate stuff from 2005 to present... 11 years NOT counting the chairman stuff... 16 if you do.

Basically, they have the same amount and I dare say Obama definitely takes the "experience cake" as his chairman duties affected more people on the south side of Chicago than 10 Wasillas. You can always argue that Palin has NO experience in the federal government at ALL so her "executive experience" is just mincing words. Palin is NOT more experienced than Obama and to suggest that is just silly.

Again... not that I personally care, she's not right for me due to her Pro-life and mining/drilling stances, not because of her experience. I think she could lead this nation like Obama, I just think it'd be a terrible administration.

BUT onto other things...

The Republican National Convention starts today in St. Paul, Minnesota. Hundreds of thousands of people are running around the city with their heads chopped off and we're all excited, nervous and very bummed out due to the unfortunate circumstances of Gustav.

I'm not sure how many of you have been paying attention to the latest developments coming out of St. Paul, but Day 1 will be only official business that is necessary by law to nominate John McCain. However, tensions in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area are very high as we have seen more action and hints of violence already than Denver experienced throughout the entire convention. 1 Arrest occurred last week, 6 this morning at 3 separate raids and 9 at a protest the morning. The protesters have said that they will not call off the massive march planned to occur on Monday with anywhere between 50k and 100k protesters. Experts are not sure exactly what the turn out will be but the cops are on full alert after wrist rockets (fancy sling shots), molotov cocktails, buckets of urine, gas masks and planning materials were found this morning in several homes. The hint violence is already put the city on edge...

I live just a mile (as the crow flies) from where the raids took place across the river. I'm pretty much in the thick of things, especially as I'm just blocks from the 35 E bridge that connects Bloomington to downtown St. Paul. Many of the delegates will be taking my street to get to the Xcel Energy Center as two of the 4 exits downtown are completely blocked. I would go take pics but even the hint of violence has deterred me. I will take protest pics of they go by my neighborhood or if something were to go down at the bridge site (which the anarchists had promised). I'm in the thick of things. Some people are bringing up the familiar "Battle of Seattle" scary scenario and if that happens, my neighborhood will be where many protesters could scatter. Yay for tear gas. Well, the cops have been preparing for 2 years, lets hope they do a good job.

But we are excited for the attention.

Btw, its in St. Paul, NOT Minneapolis folks X(

[Simfan34 11]

Anyways, I personally do think Palin was a good pick for VP. Biden (yes Biden) said that being president is not an "on-the-job" learning experience. Being the Vice-President, however, can be. She is, however, experienced, even arguably more so than Barack Obama himself, being in government since 1992 (compared to Obama's entry in 1997). She has strong conservative positions, perhaps even more conservative that McCain's. She might not help with Hillary supporters, but she certainly will help the conservatives considering staying home.

A good pick overall. I would've preferred Bloomberg myself. BTW, does anyone know what the typeface McCain uses is called?

[confused04 14]

I love how the right will say Palin is more experienced in podunk Wasilla versus than Obama's CHICAGO and ILLINOIS and THE US SENATE... yes... far more experienced... I wonder how bad crime is in Wasilla, ya know, I heard those gang problems and poverty rival that of the east side of Philly. Like, this defies ALL logic to say she has more experience. Legislative and executive experiences aren't all created equal. Wasilla does NOT equal federal experience. Additionally, she was governor of a state that as a population smaller than Denver proper. Yes, population size DOES matter. Governing 500,000 people is not the same as governing 300,000,000. Governor does not equal president.

If I cared about experience at all, on the job training is not something that should be acceptable for the VP. Presidents can die at any moment, like.... a month after their inaugural speech. The right is setting up a double standard for experience against Obama. He's somehow LESS experienced and ya know, being "inexperienced" as Vice Manager for possible the oldest President ever is "okay". As I said before, experience is NOT something that has ever predicted the success of a presidency, (in fact, some bloggers have suggested a negative correlation). And its not like Obama has to learn how to use the espresso machine all by himself....

Simply.... if Obama's inexperienced, Palin is...

Now to attack the left.....

Everyone by now has heard of the down syndrome baby that Palin refused to abort and how she's family values and blah blah blah.... Apparently, some liberals are claiming that Palin is in fact NOT the mother of that child which really belongs to her eldest daughter. According to verifiable new sources, Palin did not announce her pregnancy til the 7th month and didn't look pregnant. But liberal bloggers have taken it upon her self to analyze the muffin top of the eldest daughter and said "hey, she looks more pregnant than the size 2 Sarah Palin, it must be hers". I do find it odd that Sara said nothing about the baby til the 7th month and pictures of her at around 8 months showed not even the slightest hint of a bulge... but I do find this rather outlandish. If this were true, her entire conservative image would be destroyed. I would laugh if this turned out to be true. But I really hope McCain wouldn't have been THAT stupid....

[displacementzero 2]

Most of my friends are conservative, and have been beating the "Palin has more experience than Obama" drum for the past few days. I think it's absolutely ridiculous...having executive experience is not a qualification for anything, much less vice-president. Kwame Kilpatrick of Detroit has "executive experience" but I don't think anyone is going to say he's more qualified than Obama. I negated the entire argument right there, if I must say :-). However, she has serious conservative credentials, which will help the Republicans who weren't all that sold on McCain

[belfastuniguy 18]

Republican convention set to open

John McCain said it was time to move beyond party politics

The US Republican Party is preparing to open a national convention that has been scaled back because of the threat of Hurricane Gustav to the Gulf Coast.

Senator John McCain, due to accept his party's nomination for president at the event in St Paul, Minnesota, said it was no time for party politics.

The party will conduct only official business on the first day and review other events as the week goes on.

President George W Bush cancelled his planned opening night speech.

Meanwhile Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, nominated as Mr McCain's running mate, said in a statement on Monday that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter was pregnant.

The mother-of-five, who is opposed to abortion, said her teenage daughter would marry the father of the child and would "have the love and support of our entire family".

'America first'

Vice-President Dick Cheney has also dropped plans to address the convention on Monday because he is going ahead with a trip to Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Italy, the White House said.

First Lady Laura Bush, also due to speak on the first night, will now introduce a series of video interviews with governors of the states affected by Gustav.

Mr McCain helped volunteers pack boxes of supplies for hurricane victims

Mr McCain's wife, Cindy, will then appeal to delegates to give donations and support for hurricane relief efforts after the storm has passed, campaign aides said.

After returning from a tour of relief preparations in Mississippi on Sunday, Mr McCain said convention delegates had to put partisan politics aside and think of their country.

"This is an overwhelming thing. Let's hope and pray that it's not going to be so severe," he told NBC television on Monday.

"This is just one of those moments in history where you have to put America first."

Damage limitation

McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said the Republicans would work out how to proceed with the four-day convention on a day-to-day basis depending on the situation on the Gulf Coast.

Gustav has been downgraded to a Category Two hurricane, but "extremely dangerous" storm surges are expected along the southern US coast.

It comes three years after Hurricane Katrina struck as a Category Three storm, killing more than 1,800 people and resulting in huge damage to New Orleans and elsewhere.

I incurred great loss in Katrina, but my view is that the show must go on Convention diary: Show goes on

Instead of the planned gala night opening, Monday's convention business is expected to be low-key and last only a couple of hours.

Mrs Bush told US television network CBS that those Republicans in St Paul for the convention were disappointed but understood the need to focus on the hurricane threat.

Speaking to US network CNN, she said the government's response would be "a lot better" than it had been for Hurricane Katrina.

"Lessons learned from Katrina have served the United States very well," she said.

The BBC's Adam Brookes, in Minnesota for the convention, says the Republicans are keen to avoid the kind of political damage incurred by the Bush administration's clumsy response to Hurricane Katrina three years ago.

The party clearly cannot afford to be seen hosting glamorous political events while the people of New Orleans are once again fleeing their city, he says.

On Monday, Mr McCain helped volunteers in Waterville, Ohio, pack boxes of emergency relief supplies to be sent to people affected by Gustav.

Some 80,000 "comfort packages" including items such as soap and toothpaste are also to be assembled on the floor of the convention centre in St Paul from Wednesday, Republican officials said.

Donor list

The business of the Republican convention includes, on Wednesday, the formal nomination of Mr McCain for president and Mrs Palin as his running mate.

Plainly the backdrop of images of destruction reminding Americans of Katrina will be horrible for the Republicans BBC North America editor Justin Webb Read Justin's thoughts in full

Mr McCain's acceptance speech, scheduled for prime time on Thursday evening, is deemed to be among the most important events of the campaign for his chances of winning the White House in November.

The head of the Republican National Committee said the convention would on Monday meet to establish a quorum, adopt convention rules, elect officers and approve the party platform.

Over the weekend, Mr McCain's campaign chartered a jet to fly worried delegates back to their home states threatened by the hurricane.

Meanwhile, Democratic nominee Barack Obama said that, if needed, he would open up his vast donor list to channel money or volunteers to help recovery efforts following Gustav.quote>

[Boggy1 45]

Well, some breaking news, Palin has just said that her 16 year old daughter is actually pregnant (http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/09/01/1318541.aspx)

The whole possible scandal about Palin not being pregnant, and simply covering up her daughers pregnancy actually looked quite convincing. It was my Mum who showed me these pictures, exclaiming that there was no way she could be pregnant;

Here she is...seven months pregnant. After four kids, my Mother was adamant that you simply can't be this thin.

Not only that, but you have the entire ordeal about her amniotic fluids breaking during the middle of a conference, and then went on an eight hour airflight to Alaska, and then drove to a small town clinic to give birth. Now, if your child is a month premature and has downs syndrome, you simply do not do that. Now either she wasn't pregnant, but her daughter was, and her daughter's water had broke is a possibility. But even if Palin herself were pregnant, no sane mother would ever weight so long before going to a hospital. It's akin to neglect.

Anyway, now she has stated that her daugher is NOW pregnant with a child. Which is very suspisious as the accusations of the cover up only came out a few days ago. The entire thing is really bizzare, and doesn't make much sense.

[Boggy1 45]

Edit: Double post.

[hym 358]

Originally posted by: Boggy1

Here she is...seven months pregnant. After four kids, my Mother was adamant that you simply can't be this thin.

quote>

No offense to any women on this site (or your mom for that matter), but you can indeed be that thin at 7 months pregnant.  During my summer job, I worked with a woman who was over 6 months pregnant when I left the job early this August.  About a month later, you still can't tell she's pregnant.

[confused04 14]

Small bursts of violence have punctuated the relatively peaceful protest. My guess I've heard around 20 arrests so far today, we'll see what happens when the crowd is told to go home.

here

Some of the things I'm gathering from the broadcasts...

Windows have been smashed with newspaper bins and bus benches in several locations in downtown St. Paul.

Pepper spray has been used and SWAT has been deployed to corral a errant groups of protesters who deviated from the authorized path.

5 have been arrested for lighting a dumpster on fire and smashing it into a police car.

Bottles have been flung at coach buses and traffic stopped at several intersections (which normally wouldn't be that bad except that 1/3 of downtown is already closed off to vehicles and parking).

Here are some videos...

Here

Here

Edit: National Guard got called in. 150 members of the National Guard have been called in to bring order to St. Paul

[TV-VCR 15]

Yep, the republicans are screwed. And probably by their own making! If McCain wins I will be very, very bewildered.

[IDS2 3,429]

Yeah, I was on 62 Crosstown in South Minneapolis earlier today and there were tons of police cars going east...no doubt to Xcel Energy Center and friends.

And you know the Republicans are only "putting party politics to the side" because Father George made them look so bad already that they can't afford any more slip ups. I mean, if they were to be holding a big boozy party here in St. Paul while New Orleans was getting pounded by a hurricane, would YOU want these guys running the country? Of course, the hype surrounding Gustav was only a false "oh crap what will we do" report, but even so, there was some minimal damage...

[hamsterTK 93]

I swear political scandals are only getting weirder.

By 2012 we'll have at least one evil half brother sabotaging the election

[confused04 14]

I took this pic just a few blocks north of where I live. The Republicans are meeting in the Xcel Center at what appears to be the end of the street in this pic (7th). I dare not to get any closer cause I had heard downtown was pretty chaotic. I did catch some 10 delegate buses taking the back road onto Shepard because I believe one of the exists was blockaded by people lying down in the street. I saw cops trumping the street lights whenever a bus came to the intersection. About 6 blocks further along this street I would not have been able to continue without a delegate pass.  Go past the Xcel and there is where 10,000 people peacefully protested (FAR short of the 50k to 100k expected). Go a bit further and thats where the chaos occured).

Another Video

Some more

The Connecticut Delegation was attacked by protesters with "toxic substances"

What turned out to be a relatively active day was not expected to be violent. Protest organizers had said this was a family day but couldn't guarantee anything for Wednesday and Thursday for more "radical action".  78 people have been arrested so far according to CNN. Rubber bullets, gas canisters etc were also used.

I was wondering why only 3 buses came by while I walked and took pics. Turns out that all routes going through downtown have been suspended due to the chaos. I live off the 54 line.

EDIT: UGH... I can't keep up with the news... apparently over 100 arrests according to KSTP with reports of bricks being used as a primary weapon against buses.

EDIT: 130 163  250 and climbing.... Cops are concerned that the protests will not stop during the overnight hours. Macy's, banks, and numerous store fronts have been trashed and roads are blockaded. Even at sunset, they expect more chaos.

[Zelgadis 638]

If I hadn't been reading here about confused04's more personal accounts, I would never know about these protests. Either there's too much Gustav going around to be able to focus on that, the convention, and the protests all at once, or the media is keeping this quiet...

Gustav is dying down now, so I guess the coming days will have the answer to my question.

ISF

[IDS2 3,429]

Yeah, as if things aren't messed up enough already with all the Crosstown construction just to get there...so far 167 people arrested, including 4 journalists. But why host the Republican Convention in a blue state. Yes, we have Republicans too, but we have some...extremist liberals. There's nothing wrong with hosting RepCon here except for the fact that unless Tim Pawlenty were to be involved, most people in Minnesota ain't voting for McCain. I don't know, the economic benefits will outweigh the protests and anti-McCain violence, but you'd think they'd choose a red state like Texas and host the DemCon here.

But, who knows, a convention is a convention and more often than not is a big success for the party and host city.

Just my thoughts...

[confused04 14]

Pretty comprehensive collection of videos in one clip

Arrests are at 283 with over 100 felonies and tons of "inciting riot" arrests. We're told that the city might not be secure til early tomorrow morning. This is already greater than more than double the entire total number of arrests during the six days around Denver's Democratic National Convention .

EDIT: Guess the cops were right, sunset and the anarchists are still out...

Another:- the anarchists said that they would target the bridges and they did.

Two REALLY good summaries of the Day 1 of the RNC and its protests

and a interesting look at what happens to those arrested and the cops involved.

Around 10 o'clock, the sirens did become few and far between, but it was to the point that between around 2 PM and 7 PM it was nearly constant sirens with news of transit shutdown around 6 PM due to protesters blocking bridges and "mass loitering" on a number of roads. Everyone's wondering how Thursdays gonna go when McCain accepts the nomination (which is looking like its gonna be in person).

[Zelgadis 638]

Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter is pregnant.

I have two problems with this, neither of which have to do with the actual pregnancy. That sort of thing happens to even the best of people.

First, if it had been a Democrat's daughter, the right-wing slime machine would have been all over it. When it's Sarah Palin's daughter, it's a matter of family privacy.

Second, what mother in her right mind would accept an invitation to be on the ticket for VP when she knows that her daughter is going to be the center of a media circus? Good lord, I would never do that to any of my children. It's just... cruel.

ISF

Edit:

Good gravy, is McCain off his chump or what?  There is tons of dirt on this woman!

See article:  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/us/politics/02vetting.html?hp

Relevant parts:

On Monday morning, Ms. Palin and her husband, Todd, issued a statement saying that their 17-year-old unmarried daughter, Bristol, was five months pregnant and that she intended to marry the father.

Among other less attention-grabbing news of the day: it was learned that Ms. Palin now has a private lawyer in a legislative ethics investigation in Alaska into whether she abused her power in dismissing the state’s public safety commissioner; that she was a member for two years in the 1990s of the Alaska Independence Party, which has at times sought a vote on whether the state should secede; and that Mr. Palin was arrested 22 years ago on a drunken-driving charge.

Aides to Mr. McCain said they had a team on the ground in Alaska now to look more thoroughly into Ms. Palin’s background. A Republican with ties to the campaign said the team assigned to vet Ms. Palin in Alaska had not arrived there until Thursday, a day before Mr. McCain stunned the political world with his vice-presidential choice.quote>

You'd have to be a complete idiot to ask anyone with this kind of background to be your running mate!  I mean... really!  I like the last part where it basically says that McCain barely vetted her before selecting her.  Slipshod operation McCain has.  Is this the kind of organization he will bring to the presidency?  I sure hope not...

ISF

[Odainsaker 2,137]

Though it should be a matter of privacy, and indeed every family does have such personal issues, the Republican conservative platform has been to advocate the use of the majesty and power of law and government to publicly dictate how people in such circumstances should be treated or prosecuted and to decide those people's options for them.  This is all well and good so long as it is those people who are the targets of enforcement...of course, "those people" are the ones who are not as morally virtuous, faithful in their family values, come from that lower economic class, have more colorful skin or accented language, have unfamiliar last names, are not a part of our local community, etc.  Anyone who is not as upstanding as we are needs to be officially restricted through public policy and government legislation.  Naturally, should the failings of our own conservative advocates be uncovered...well, those are private matters.  Time to say that what is good for the goose is good for the gander.

Perhaps the vetting process after Hillary was passed over went like this:

WOMAN -- check (sorry Mitt, but I need the disaffected Hillary votes)
YOUNG -- check (sorry Kay, but I need to appeal more to the youth vote)
ANTI-ABORTIONIST -- check (that'll silence the Limbaugh crowd)
GOD-FEARING -- check (that'll placate the militant Evangelicals)
EXECUTIVE EXPERIENCE -- little bitty check (hey, she even has more than I do!)
NRA -- check (she can get insider shooting pointers from Cheney!)
REFORMER -- check (err, make that pointers from Cheney on shooting insiders)
DOWN HOME AMERICAN -- check (c'mon, Barack *HUSSEIN* Obama bin Laden!)
PRETTY -- check (sorry Lieberman, but I don't want to picture that mug in four more years)

Ahhhh, forget it, let's just reach into this hat of names and surprise them all.  See...I can shake up the system and bring Change too, hehehe.

[hamsterTK 93]

yep, it sounds like seattle again.

Anarchists causing trouble, innocent people caught in the middle, mass arrests, yay. I guess the Denver was just extremely lucky. Why would any city ever want to host any kind of political event?

[confused04 14]

Originally posted by: hamsterTK yep, it sounds like seattle again.

Anarchists causing trouble, innocent people caught in the middle, mass arrests, yay. I guess the Denver was just extremely lucky. Why would any city ever want to host any kind of political event?quote>

 There are several reasons why cities would want to host the convention.

Free Advertising (nothing like getting 100k people to spread how awesome your city is for free. Security is paid for by other agencies and the party).

 Economic windfall.... $150 million is hard to turn down National Attention (part of free advertising). Also helps bring your city into the political forefront. Many of our politicians have been speaking and getting name recognition. Obama came to this city when he anticipated his win over Hillary Clinton.

Day 2: The RNC was on a full schedule. I haven't read much on it. Ron Paul held his competing convention in Minneapolis at the Target Center with 10,000 supporters and a bunch of volunteers. Basically saying that the War was unjust and illegal and that there's too much government intervention.

Bush spoke today... but whatever

Battle for St. Paul continues...

Protesters were thought to have subsided but several developments have occurred. First, the Rage Against the Machine wasn't allowed to play on the streets of the capital but they still got the crowd riled up by playing over a megaphone.

St. Joseph's hospital went on lockdown as protests threatened to throw the city in chaos.

Clashes continued today...

Here

Here

Here

This one is crazy. In front of one of the most famous landmarks in downtown St. Paul, Mickey's Diner (Another vantage point with no news interference)

EDIT: To set up what looks like police oppression as some people have suggested, the last link was in response to not one, not two, but THREE homemade explosive devices being detonated. This is where I have a HUGE problem with protesters. Don't bomb my street!!!

[Easy Bakes 253]

looks like its a mess up there.

How did rage against the machine get schedueled for the same week as political convention.?

[MrWacko 0]

Well, there's bound to be something going on. I just don't know what, since Gustav practically canceled the convention. And of course you've got all the political shows talking endlessly about McCain's VP's daughter.

[Micah 16]

Originally posted by: Easy Bakes looks like its a mess up there.

How did rage against the machine get schedueled for the same week as political convention.?

quote>

 

Haha... I was so confused when I heard about that on the radio. Perhaps they are there for a political reason. Besides that, idk.

[confused04 14]

Only the first day was canceled, every day after is exactly the same (in fact they are more full cause of rescheduling). Only thing is that there's such a huge enthusiasm gap that there's not that much public attention to the RNC.

The Democrats "story" has been more compelling, which was only strengthened by Republicans trying to emphasize the division within the party. The grueling race between two major candidates who were not white men captured the nations attention. People watched to see if the Democrats could come together. The Republicans don't have a compelling story and they are far more hush about the true division in their party. When Democrats were asked if they preferred another candidate over Obama, 37% said yes.... The same question was asked about the Republicans and 38% said they preferred another candidate. The Republican Party has been good about keeping the image of a unified party, and it isn't. Did Palin successfully close this division gap? Probably not, and in some cases increased it as the Republican Party lost a good chunk of woman voters.

[hym 358]

I read an article on Politico a few days ago where the author was arguing exactly the opposite--Palin had given the Republican faith in McCain.