McCain's VP is...

[Asher]

Seems to me like she wasn't clear what the job entailed...

[Darius871]

Originally posted by Impaler[WrG] My problem is that the conclusion of a "birth gap" (first quotation) dose not necessarily follow from the knowledge that A - Conservatives have more children, B - 80% of people retain their parents Ideology/ Party affiliation and I've already explained why.

If what you meant is that the birth gap in favor of the right might be "offset" by defection being higher from right-wing families and socialization continuity being higher from left-wing families (e.g. 90% for the right and 50% for the left averaging to a misleading 70%), I don't see any valid reason to suppose such a huge discrepancy, aside from anecdote.

In any event I personally read every one of the articles cited in that literature review, and their data tables & graphs were in fact broken down by party, with no significant discrepancy between their distinct rates, let alone one so wide as to match or exceed the birth gap. The aggregation flaw you seem to be referring to can be very easily avoided by proper methodology and in each instance was.

I admit it would have been wiser for the review to mention that the 60-80% aggregate numbers were roughly consistent for either party and not just a misleading mean between two vastly disparate figures, but I'd just figured any reader halfway familiar with polling methodology would assume such a gaping error would've been precluded in the first place. A classic case of not considering the audience I guess.

Since the sources were all from academic journals I can't give you links, but if you have any uni database access I invite you to see for yourself. If you you meant something other than an offset by disparate figures being averaged, please clarify.

[Impaler[WrG]]

I can infer what she means, though her wording is terrible (in the sense that when quoted it makes her sound totally uninformed). I think she 'meant' to say...

"What would a Vice Presidency under McCain entail, what would he ask of me on a daily basis, would it be a an active position or an advisory role. I'm used to being active etc etc..."

Thats a rather legitimate concern seeing as of how the VP position can be extremely powerful *cough Power behind the throne cough* or totally lame if you do only the tie-breaking thing. Theirs nothing that forces the president to delegate any kind of task to the VP or make them their 'right hand man' and chief adviser. For most of history they were in fact very very weak, but beginning with Gore and continuing under Cheny the VP position has increased almost exponentially in power but that could be easily reversed (it practically has too). Its more then likely that McCain would do what ever he wants and largely ignore the advise of his VP (even assuming he'd chose a VP of his own experience and stature like Lieberman, its all about his own personality)

[FrostyBoy]

****, times like these i'm glad i'm not North American.

Unless Obama gets elected, then it should be good times.

[MarkG]

For those keeping score at home, the number of conservatives who've publicly argued that Alaska's proximity to Russia counts as foreign policy experience for Sarah Palin is three.

First, Fox News' Steve Doocy on Friday that Palin "does know about international relations because she is right up there in Alaska right next door to Russia."

Second, Cindy McCain, asked about Palin's national security experience, said yesterday, "[R]emember, Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia."

And third, we have U.S. News' Michael Barone, defending Palin's credentials.

Foreign policy experience? Well, Alaska is the only state with a border with Russia. And it is the only state with territory, in the Aleutian Islands, occupied by the enemy in World War II.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/01/politics/animal/main4403368.shtml

[Kidlicious]

TEh party of Reagan.

[RGBVideo]

Originally posted by MarkG

For those keeping score at home, the number of conservatives who've publicly argued that Alaska's proximity to Russia counts as foreign policy experience for Sarah Palin is three.

First, Fox News' Steve Doocy on Friday that Palin "does know about international relations because she is right up there in Alaska right next door to Russia."

Second, Cindy McCain, asked about Palin's national security experience, said yesterday, "[R]emember, Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia."

And third, we have U.S. News' Michael Barone, defending Palin's credentials.

Foreign policy experience? Well, Alaska is the only state with a border with Russia. And it is the only state with territory, in the Aleutian Islands, occupied by the enemy in World War II.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/01/politics/animal/main4403368.shtml

Welcome to talking point politics.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Impaler[WrG]
I can infer what she means, though her wording is terrible (in the sense that when quoted it makes her sound totally uninformed). I think she 'meant' to say...

"What would a Vice Presidency under McCain entail, what would he ask of me on a daily basis, would it be a an active position or an advisory role. I'm used to being active etc etc..."

Thats a rather legitimate concern seeing as of how the VP position can be extremely powerful *cough Power behind the throne cough* or totally lame if you do only the tie-breaking thing. Theirs nothing that forces the president to delegate any kind of task to the VP or make them their 'right hand man' and chief adviser. For most of history they were in fact very very weak, but beginning with Gore and continuing under Cheny the VP position has increased almost exponentially in power but that could be easily reversed (it practically has too). Its more then likely that McCain would do what ever he wants and largely ignore the advise of his VP (even assuming he'd chose a VP of his own experience and stature like Lieberman, its all about his own personality)

Quite right. The Veep is one of those positions that is completely undefined because it depends on how much power the President is willing to delegate. It could just be a tie breaker and attending state funerals, which has led more than one Veep to comment on how its the worst job in Washington, or it could be a position of great power as Cheney is (the most powerful VP in history).

[Theben]

Originally posted by MarkG
[q]For those keeping score at home, the number of conservatives who've publicly argued that Alaska's proximity to Russia counts as foreign policy experience for Sarah Palin is three.

First, Fox News' Steve Doocy on Friday that Palin "does know about international relations because she is right up there in Alaska right next door to Russia."

Second, Cindy McCain, asked about Palin's national security experience, said yesterday, "[R]emember, Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia."

Hey, if you go all the way up the Great Lakes from Chicago, you'll reach Canada! So Obama has furrin policy experience too!!

[Zkribbler]

For those keeping score at home, the number of conservatives who've publicly argued that Alaska's proximity to Russia counts as foreign policy experience for Sarah Palin is three.

First, Fox News' Steve Doocy on Friday that Palin "does know about international relations because she is right up there in Alaska right next door to Russia."

Second, Cindy McCain, asked about Palin's national security experience, said yesterday, "[R]emember, Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia."

And third, we have U.S. News' Michael Barone, defending Palin's credentials.

Foreign policy experience? Well, Alaska is the only state with a border with Russia. And it is the only state with territory, in the Aleutian Islands, occupied by the enemy in World War II.

And Canada! Don't forget she's next to Canada too! And she spent a semester in a college in Hawaii. This woman's practically a walking United Nations!

[DanS]

Yeh, it's pretty lame. But not the most lame point available. I'm sure that Alaska has some business with Russia. It has a lot of complex business with Canada, and Palin was active in that regard (the pipeline).

Bush's dealings with Mexico as Texas governor were viewed positively when he first ran and would have, absent 9/11, been a big asset for him.

The bottom line is that governors aren't going to have foreign policy experience. Given that almost all of our presidents lately have come from the governor's mansion, the general electorate must not view this as a big hinderance. I suggest that Biden's foreign policy experience will have about zero positive impact. None of his foreign policy achievements (whatever they are) come to mind.

[Whoha]

Originally posted by Darius871


Funny, I'd read a depressing article showing the exact opposite with actual statistics to prove it:

that ignores immigration.

[Impaler[WrG]]

Latest developments in the Cluster F*** that this is rapidly turning into.

She's confirmed that her 17 year old unwed daughter is pregnant. The father's identity is still secret and he might technically be a child rapist depending on his age, how long she's been pregnant and complex Alaskan age of consent laws.

MSM has confirmed she was a member of an Alaskan 3rd party which is formed around the goal of having Alaska succeed from the US by referendum, needless to say the rest of the parties platform is ultra right wing as well.

I'm going to put my money on her bowing out in the next 2 weeks "for family reasons" of course.

[DanS]

Can you give a link on the Alaskan third party?

Apparently, he's 18, she's 17. So no way that it would be rape.

[Guynemer]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/members-of-frin.html

Take it for what it is worth; with all these other rumors floating around, I'm not going to believe anything I see on the Internets until there is hard documentary proof in front of my eyes.