A Reform Ticket

If any doubt remained that former fighter pilot John McCain loves to take unconventional risks, he put them to bed Friday by picking Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. Introduced in Dayton by Mr. McCain, Governor Palin swung the bat pretty well. We'll now see if she can hit curve balls.

It's a daring pick because Mrs. Palin has never faced national scrutiny and hasn't had to deal with foreign policy. Most VP choices are designed to do no harm, and we tend to agree with the maxim. Democrats are already saying they can't wait for Mrs. Palin's debate against "statesman" Joe Biden. On the other hand, the record shows that Sarah Palin's political career is a case study in taking on the big boys. We suspect her record of fighting the status quo was uppermost in John McCain's decision.

Barack Obama aside, Senator McCain's biggest problem is a Republican brand that has suffered -- both among independents and the GOP base -- from the party's business-as-usual mentality in Washington. The public wants change. This pick could prove Mr. McCain is serious about changing his party.

For starters, we'd say Governor Palin's credentials as an agent of reform exceed Barack Obama's.

If it were my decision as to how to handle the Left/MSM charge that Palin has no foreign police experience I would simply point out that from an experience standpoint she is much more qualified to run for President than Obama. True, foreign policy is a large part of what the President does, but it's certainly the only thing. And IMHO President Reagan proved beyond a doubt that it's your values, not your experience or time in grade, that equips you to handle a situation. He certainly had no foreign policy experience when he was elected, but you certainly can't deny what he accomplished, not because of his experience but rather by sticking to his conservative principles. He had no experience in dealing with foreign powers, but his conservative approach told him to treat enemies as just that, enemies. Not misunderstood would-be allies just waiting to be won over. The thing a conservative knows for absolutely certain is that you judge a situation on actions and outcome, not on words and intentions.

Remember the frenzy that erupted when he called the USSR evil? And when he walked out of the negotiations? And the panic when he announced that we would be building the Star Wars system? Or when he ‘kidded’ that the bombing of the Soviets would start in 5 minutes.

Ms. Palin is perfectly capable of calling evil evil when she sees it, and making it quite clear that we will not shy away from making those who harm us pay a price for that harm. Even if we lack the ability to prevent an enemy from doing something bad to us we certainly don't gain anything by letting them do it without a price. The rule should be, mess with us and you pay a price. Then let our enemies figure out how much of the fun of messing with us then can afford at any given time.

This is a pretty objective article.

However, they did not point out that rather that being in the pocket of big oil,she hit Alaska’s oil players hard, extracting $1200 a year and more money for the state Treasury. She also cut spending and waived the state gas tax.

Talk about “executive experience”!! She is certainly a more promising a leader and executive, with real results to show, than Obama could ever even hope to be.

Her new oil taxes, higher than Hugo Chavez tried, bring in 1 Billion a month to the State of Alaska. From all of us here to all of you buying that oil - thanks for your money.

Sara has caused a bit of a stir by growing the state govt by 38% in just two years, but to be fair, she did cut all of the pet projects for legislators who opposed her budgets....

Dunno about Binden, he strikes me as a blowhard.
Sara Barracuda is in town, and she has pls for lunch...

Democrats are already saying they can't wait for Mrs. Palin's debate against "statesman" Joe Biden.

I would think that the two VP cndidates agree on going into Iraq but disagree on the surge. "Mr. Biden why didn't you vote for winning a war that you voted to start"?

Of course Biden will lose (maybe literally blow his top) on cultural, moral and "kitchen table" issues.

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