Throughout my voting life of 38 years, I was an independent, or more appropriately, an unaffiliated voter. However, I was reliably a Democratic voter. A few years ago, relentless Republican nastiness made me decide to register as a Democrat to make my loyalties clear. So, as the earlier post alleged, I'll bet that the overwhelming majority of independents polled for approval of the speech were in fact Republicans in all but title. Will Palin pull independents into the McCain column? In the strictest sense, probably, but only those who were already Republicans in all but name. I can't see any independent who tended to vote Democratic, deciding that McCain is the one for him because of his Veep choice.

Posted at September 4, 2008 10:17 PM in response to Poll: Palin's Speech Reassured Independents About Her

Subpoena her under penalty of contempt for failure to comply. Do they have the power?

Posted at September 4, 2008 4:57 PM in response to Ex Alaska AG: Palin's Legal Strategy is Bogus

The perfect example of what's wrong with the Republican party. You can say she delivered her speech well, but it wasn't the greatest speech ever. She isn't the best possible choice McCain could have made. The Rs propensity to promote themselves by ridiculing the opposition rather than pointing out their positive attributes is not a quality to admire.

Posted at September 4, 2008 2:10 PM in response to Polls Show No Convention Bounce Yet For McCain

Speaking of being a small town mayor, they hired a town manager to run things in her town because she had too many problems doing it on her own. In my experience, most smaller towns don't have powerful mayor type of governments. What they have is a board of selectmen, and a mayor, who is sometimes elected by the people, and sometimes chose by the board to be first selectman, acting as mayor. In these towns, most of them now have a Town Manager who acts as the CEO of the town, handling the nuts and bolts of running the town & making plans, and answering to his 'board of directors, the Town Board of Selectmen. How did she ever get elected Governor?

Posted at September 3, 2008 11:21 PM in response to Palin To Suggest Her Dem Opponents "Look Down" On Small Town America

I've had similar problems from the very first conversion. I never did get my old account name back. That's just a lost cause. As for posting. I often find that even though I'm logged in and greeted at the top of the page with my name, I have to log in a couple of more times before I can post. Inviting, huh? Anyhow, when the log in box pops up at a post attempt, I fill it in and hit {enter}. Inevitibly, the system quickly returns that the Account & Password are incorrect. I resubmit, hitting {Enter} only once, and after a seemingly interminable wait, feedback that I'm accessing something like Talkingpointsmemo.comments.... appears in the info box at the bottom of my browser (FireFox 3.0. If I see that, I know I'm getting in and just have to wait. I hope this helps. It's kludgy, at best.

Posted at September 3, 2008 4:00 PM in response to McCain Campaign Sheds Crocodile Tears About Media To Build Up Palin's Speech Tonight

Is this stuff SOP for Alaskan politics? Maybe Alaska is the last bastion of the wild west, and this is the way everyone, politicians especially, behaves. That's why Palin is the way she is, Ted Stevens & whoever else you can come up with. That isn't an excuse. It doesn't condone anything. It just explains it.

Posted at September 1, 2008 11:44 PM in response to Sarah Palin And The Alaska Independence Party

Is this stuff SOP for Alaskan politics? Maybe Alaska is the last bastion of the wild west, and this is the way everyone, politicians especially, behaves. That's why Palin is the way she is, Ted Stevens & whoever else you can come up with. That isn't an excuse. It doesn't condone anything. It just explains it.

Posted at September 1, 2008 11:33 PM in response to Sarah Palin And The Alaska Independence Party

I'm not convinced that Palin was anything more than a spectacular stunt designed to suck the air out of any post convention coverage of Obama. I would be less than stunned if she went away and a more mainstream Veep didn't appear.

Posted at September 1, 2008 10:57 AM in response to Poll: Race Remains Dead Even; Only A Third Of Women View Palin Favorably

Don't waste a lot of energy discussing Palin's lack of fitness for the Veep slot, or McCain's judgment for naming her. The important thing to notice is that this outrageous choice and its announcement stepped on Obama's post convention bump. Where did it go, and how can we reciprocate with McCain, now?

Posted at September 1, 2008 10:52 AM in response to Poll: Race Remains Dead Even; Only A Third Of Women View Palin Favorably

Let's have a show of hands. How many people think that the McCain team intends to teach her anything beyond what it takes to get beyond interviews and the debate? If they were to get elected, she would be in the back kitchen making biscuits for her husband, not touching any of the levers of the government, or even knowing what, never mind, where they are. Let me see, one, two, that's not many hands.

Posted at August 30, 2008 4:28 PM in response to Top McCain Adviser: Palin Will Learn National Security From McCain Before He Keels Over