U.S. Presidential Election 2008

The linked article's picture is of the mother when she is 6 months pregnant?! There is an interesting photo of her daughter here. Her daughter was remove from school for the 4-5 months that coincided with the end of her mother's pregnancy, due to "mono"

There could be calls below [in the comments section] to delete this information. Calls that this type of information is muckraking and 'below us'. The truth is not below any progressive, nor any citizen of the world that is one heartbeat away from having Palin as leader of the free world. We simply ask that she be forthright, honest, and not waste our time with such juvenile games that anyone with eyes can see as fabrication.

As the police attacks on protesters in Minnesota continue -- see this video of the police swarming a bus transporting members of Earth Justice, seizing the bus and leaving the group members stranded on the side of the highway -- it appears increasingly clear that it is the Federal Government that is directing this intimidation campaign. Minnesota Public Radio reported yesterday that "the searches were led by the Ramsey County Sheriff's office. Deputies coordinated searches with the Minneapolis and St. Paul police departments and the Federal Bureau of Investigation."

Today's Star Tribune [the local Twin Cities newspaper] added that the raids were specifically "aided by informants planted in protest groups." Back in May, Marcy Wheeler presciently noted that the Minneapolis Joint Terrorist Task Force -- an inter-agency group of federal, state and local law enforcement led by the FBI -- was actively recruiting Minneapolis residents to serve as plants, to infiltrate "vegan groups" and other left-wing activist groups and report back to the Task Force about what they were doing. There seems to be little doubt that it was this domestic spying by the Federal Government that led to the excessive and truly despicable home assaults by the police yesterday.

So here we have a massive assault led by Federal Government law enforcement agencies on left-wing dissidents and protesters who have committed no acts of violence or illegality whatsoever, preceded by months-long espionage efforts to track what they do. And as extraordinary as that conduct is, more extraordinary is the fact that they have received virtually no attention from the national media and little outcry from anyone.

. . .

Just review what happened yesterday and today. Homes of college-age protesters were raided by rifle-wielding police forces. Journalists were forcibly detained at gun point. Lawyers on the scene to represent the detainees were handcuffed. Computers, laptops, journals, diaries, and political pamphlets were seized from people's homes. And all of this occurred against U.S. citizens, without a single act of violence having taken place, and nothing more serious than traffic blockage even alleged by authorities to have been planned.

. . .

Any rational person planning to protest the GOP Convention would, in light of this Government spying and these police raids, think twice -- at least -- about whether to do so. That is the point of the raids -- to announce to citizens that they best stay in their homes and be good, quiet, meek, compliant people unless they want their homes to be invaded, their property seized, and have rifles pointed at them, too. The fact that this behavior is producing so little outcry only ensures, for obvious reasons, that it will continue in the future.

Today's Star Tribune [the local Twin Cities newspaper] added that the raids were specifically "aided by informants planted in protest groups." Back in May, Marcy Wheeler presciently noted that the Minneapolis Joint Terrorist Task Force -- an inter-agency group of federal, state and local law enforcement led by the FBI -- was actively recruiting Minneapolis residents to serve as plants, to infiltrate "vegan groups" and other left-wing activist groups and report back to the Task Force about what they were doing. There seems to be little doubt that it was this domestic spying by the Federal Government that led to the excessive and truly despicable home assaults by the police yesterday.

"The one bucket of urine they got was from some guy out in the back garage," Nestor said. "The guy's been living there eight or nine years. He's got nothing to do with the people in the house. It's a fabrication."

Beyond that, there is a widespread sense that the targets of these raids deserve what they get, even if nothing they've done is remotely illegal. We love to proclaim how much we cherish our "freedoms" in the abstract, but we despise those who actually exercise them. The Constitution, right in the very First Amendment, protects free speech and free assembly precisely because those liberties are central to a healthy republic -- but we've decided that anyone who would actually express truly dissident views or do anything other than sit meekly and quietly in their homes are dirty trouble-makers up to no good, and it's therefore probably for the best if our Government keeps them in check, spies on them, even gets a little rough with them.

After all, if you don't want the FBI spying on you, or the Police surrounding and then invading your home with rifles and seizing your computers, there's a very simple solution: don't protest the Government. Just sit quietly in your house and mind your own business. That way, the Government will have no reason to monitor what you say and feel the need to intimidate you by invading your home. Anyone who decides to protest -- especially with something as unruly and disrespectful as an unauthorized street march -- gets what they deserve.

For weeks, advisers close to the campaign said, Mr. McCain had wanted to name as his running mate his good friend Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, the Democrat turned independent. But by the end of last weekend, the outrage from Christian conservatives over the possibility that Mr. McCain would fill out the Republican ticket with Mr. Lieberman, a supporter of abortion rights, had become too intense to be ignored.

With time running out, and after a long meeting with his inner circle in Phoenix, Mr. McCain finally picked up the phone last Sunday and reached Ms. Palin at the Alaska State Fair. Although the campaign’s polling on Mr. McCain’s potential running mates was inconclusive on the selection of Ms. Palin — virtually no one had heard of her, a McCain adviser said — the governor, who opposes abortion, had glowing reviews from influential social conservatives.

Typical slippery response. In all my time on TT, you have never once said "I was wrong." A flat out apology is unimaginable. Doesn't that tell you something about yourself? I admit when I'm wrong, and I think that eurovol is often wacked out, KK isn't always there with the whole "backup" thing, but at least she inspires thought. I don't take issue with those sorts because they don't go around like the biggest know-it-alls. Even if they did, their tone is not nearly so patronising and self-righteous.

Of course I'm trying to give you a hard time. I find your style of posting highly annoying. You're not bulletproof, nobody is, so stop expecting yourself and others to be, then perhaps conversations in this thread won't always dissolve into pettiness.

What trouble?

As a Hillary supporter, you should be doing what Hillary told you to do. Why aren't you? Or are you a PUMA too?

and confirming what we all thought, this was a last minute desperation pick...

As much as you blindly criticize Hillary Clinton for everything - which in its nature is very similar to obsessive Bush bashing - you will not admit that snubbing her is what is costing him dearly now! You will learn your lesson in November...

John McCain's VP Governor Sarah Palin lost the 1984 Miss Alaska pageant to Maryline Blackburn .

You know as well as anyone that no response would have pleased you. Better to stop deceiving yourself- it's not about "tone" or any other excuse- you simply hate the US, and more specifically, US citizens who don't share your views of the US and/or your political views.

... You defend her because you are a leftist just like her and you like her negative comments about the US ... Yet you have nothing to say to her. Why? Almost certainly because you have similar political views.

. . . Mr. McCain hated running as the wizened old hand of experience. Despite his embrace this year of President Bush and many of the administration’s policies, Mr. McCain, a campaign adviser said, still saw himself as the maverick who delighted in occasionally throwing political grenades at his own Party.

Ms. Palin, and not Mr. Pawlenty or Mr. Romney, would reinforce Mr. McCain’s self-image, an adviser said. She had a reputation as a reformer in Alaska, she hunted and fished, and she had once belonged to a union. Just as crucial, Ms. Palin, 44, was beloved by the party’s religious base but did not come off as shrill. “She’s conservative,” Mr. Black said, “but she’s not an ideologue.”

After Mr. McCain contacted Ms. Palin, Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Salter met with her on Wednesday in Flagstaff, Ariz. It was not until the following morning that she traveled to Sedona to meet with Mr. McCain, who then sat down with her for his only interview of a potential running mate.

Within hours if not minutes after the interview was concluded, Ms. Palin had the job.

The selection [of Governor Palin] was the culmination of a five-month process, described by Mr. McCain’s inner circle and outside advisers in interviews this past weekend, and offers a glimpse into how Mr. McCain might make high-stakes decisions as president.

At the very least, the process reflects Mr. McCain’s history of making fast, instinctive and sometimes risky decisions. “I make them as quickly as I can, quicker than the other fellow, if I can,” Mr. McCain wrote, with his top adviser Mark Salter, in his 2002 book, “Worth the Fighting For.” “Often my haste is a mistake, but I live with the consequences without complaint.”

So, you're still not admitting to being wrong at times. Why can't you just answer a direct question? Why must it always be deflected onto other people?

Why? As originally stated, it has to do with your tone. She has never attacked my opinion before so I have no real reason to be that upset with her expressing her viewpoint. Anyway, those "leftists" aren't even close to being as patronising as you (despite them having some wild views, some good some ridiculous. You on the other hand don't have opinions - you cut out your role here to be the guy that has to tell everyone why they're wrong.) Why is any critic of the US demonized for their opinion? Why do you attempt to label "Leftists" and "Obama Supporters" as bad? I certainly get that impression that that's what you're doing.

You've yet to answer a direct question you know, and you've yet to ignore a single criticism about yourself from anyone. That tells me something about your character.

11. Are you offended by the phrase “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance? Why or why not?

SP: Not on your life. If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its good enough for me and I’ll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance

Palin On Abortion: I'd Oppose Even If My Own Daughter Was Raped

Palin On Abortion: I'd Oppose Even If My Own Daughter Was Raped

The Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has announced that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, in an announcement intended to knock down rumors by liberal bloggers that Palin faked her own pregnancy to cover up for her child.

"The despicable rumors that have been spread by liberal blogs, some even with Barack Obama's name in them, is a real anchor around the Democratic ticket, pulling them down in the mud in a way that certainly juxtaposes themselves against their 'campaign of change,'" a senior aide said.

Obama to ask his donors to help storm victims
Associated Press - August 31, 2008 1:33 PM ET
LIMA, Ohio (AP)

GOP convention turns to plea for hurricane aid
AP 49 minutes ago
ST. PAUL, Minn

Palin will become a 44-year-old grandmother right after the election. Guess they'll really have the trailer trash vote completely sewn up.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, newly picked as Republican John McCain's running mate, has revealed that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant.

Mrs Palin, a social conservative who is opposed to abortion, said in a statement her daughter Bristol would keep the child and marry its father. (...)

Mrs Palin and her husband Todd said in a statement: "Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realise very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family."

Bristol is reportedly five months pregnant and is due to give birth in late December.

Advisers to the McCain campaign said they had known about the pregnancy before offering Mrs Palin the vice-presidential nomination.

Remind me, was it "Bristol" or "Brandine"?

So, the Democrats are fielding a presidential candidate with an Ivy-league-educated wife and two cute kids, and a VP candidate who lost a wife and child in a car wreck but who bounced back.

The Republicans are fielding a presidential candidate who was a documented philanderer who abandandoned the car wreck-damaged wife who waited for him whilst he was in a prison camp for years, and a VP candidate who's married to a snowmobile-racing no-college roughneck with whom she's had a litter of strangely-named kids, one of whom is now knocked up at 17.

Someone remind us which one is the "family values" party again.

It's like that Chris Rock joke about the world turned upside down where "... the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest basketball player is Chinese and the Germans don't want to go to war."

People, people. Bristol is said to be pregnant. This may be true. She is said to be 5 months pregnant, which may or may not be accurate.

But if Bristol is, indeed, 5 months pregnant, she can't be Trig's mother. If she is less than 5 months pregnant, it's still possible.

Mrs Palin and her husband Todd said in a statement: "Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realise very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family."

What are HIS plans, I wonder?

If this woman had any shame at all, she would pull out of the race and take care of her disabled infant and pregnant daughter. This is the only argument a pro-family conservative-values person can reasonably hold at this point.

There are enough photos showing Sarah pregnant, and there's a super-low Downs probability for a 16-year-old. End of conspiracy theory.

if he's >20, that's a felony.