[Michelle]

Late to this, but I got seven.

[Roger Kaputnik]

It is interesting to follow the elections from a different perspective. This is from the BBC (the only reliable news source besides NPR):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7474558.stm





US candidates practise their U-turns


By Max Deveson
BBC News, Washington
In order to pass their political driving test, successful politicians need to be masters of one tricky manoeuvre in particular - the U-turn.



The candidates have shifted their positions on a number of policies The contenders in this year's US presidential election are no exceptions - both John McCain and Barack Obama have engaged in some nifty repositioning.

Mr McCain's U-turns have mostly increased his appeal to the Republican Party's base, placing him on a rightward trajectory.

Barack Obama has been performing a more traditional manoeuvre: running to the left during the primaries, when party activists need to be wooed, then shifting to the centre once the nomination is clinched.

Flip-flopping politicians will always attract charges of hypocrisy and opportunism: it may be worth it if it helps them win over undecided voters in the middle, but when the goal is to shore up their political base, the benefits are much less clear.

Here are some examples.



JOHN MCCAIN

Having long been a member of his party's more moderate wing on a number of issues, Mr McCain began adopting more right-wing positions during the primary campaign.

Immigration

Last year, Mr McCain was one of the key backers of President Bush's plan for "comprehensive immigration reform", which would have created "paths to citizenship" for illegal immigrants, while investing more money in border security.

The plan was very unpopular with the Republican rank-and-file, and Senate Republicans succeeded in blocking the scheme.

During the primaries, Mr McCain announced that his immigration focus would be on securing America's borders, rather than on giving illegal immigrants the chance to become US citizens.

"I understand why you would call it a, quote, shift," McCain told reporters in November 2007.

"I say it is a lesson learned about what the American people's priorities are. And their priority is to secure the borders."

Christian right

Another McCain, quote, shift was in his relationship with the religious right of his party.

During his 2000 bid for the Republican nomination, relations between Mr McCain and Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell were notoriously fractious.

The Arizona senator memorably described Mr Falwell and fellow members of the religious right as "agents of intolerance".

But in 2006, ahead of his second presidential run, Mr McCain delivered the commencement address at Mr Falwell's Liberty University, after which he attended a small private party hosted by his former political adversary.

Interrogation rules

More recently, Mr McCain angered his former allies in the political centre by supporting a bill exempting the CIA from following the same rules on interrogation as the US Army.

Guantanamo

Mr McCain was one of the most prominent Republican voices opposed to the Bush administration's detention policy in Guantanamo Bay.

But when the Supreme Court recently ruled that Guantanamo detainees should have access to US courts, Mr McCain described it as "one of the worst decisions in the history of the country".

Oil drilling

Since sewing up the Republican nomination in March, Mr McCain - one of only a few prominent Republicans to accept the argument that human activity is causing climate change - has dropped his previous objection to lifting the ban on oil exploration off the coast of the US.






BARACK OBAMA

Since clinching the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama has also been making headlines for his policy shifts.

Campaign finance

Last month he announced that he would be rejecting public financing for his campaign, and would instead rely on private donations.

The McCain camp accused Mr Obama of "going back on his word", although Mr Obama insisted that he had never made a promise to stay in the public finance system.

Surveillance programme

Mr Obama also raised eyebrows when he announced that he would not be opposing a bill going through Congress giving immunity to telephone companies involved in the Bush administration's controversial warrantless wiretap programme.

His decision angered many of his supporters on the left, who accused him of going back on his 2007 pledge "to support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies".

Gun control

When the Supreme Court decided to overturn Washington DC's handgun ban, Mr Obama declared that the ruling "provide[d] much-needed guidance", despite having previously argued (in a written answer that he says was drafted by an aide and which he had not approved) that the ban was constitutional.

Iraq

Withdrawing troops from Iraq has long been one of the central planks of Mr Obama's campaign, and was something that set him apart from other Democratic candidates running for the party's presidential nomination.

Since his campaign began, however, conditions in Iraq have changed, violence has reduced, and some commentators have suggested that Mr Obama's position is out of date.

Mr Obama himself has announced that he plans to visit Iraq, where he will make "a thorough assessment" which could lead him to "refine" his policy.

Some critics have seized on this as an indication that Mr Obama is laying the groundwork for a change in position.

Free trade

Mr Obama recently hinted to Fortune magazine that his strong anti-free trade rhetoric during the primaries may not be reflected in his actual trade policy should he become president.

His remarks are a neat summation of the pressures and temptations that lead politicians to shift their positions during the process of running for office.

"Sometimes during campaigns the rhetoric gets overheated and amplified," he said.

"Politicians are always guilty of that, and I don't exempt myself."




















My own feeling is that nitpicking on each sentence of every speech is keeping attention from where it ought to be, viz., on issues. I do not expect a candidate to have an answer for every little thing. I want to see that they have intelligence to bear on a subject, and they must not be bound by ideology.

[Roger Kaputnik]

It is JOE BIDEN for Veep (Dem.).

[Roger Kaputnik]

Barack Obama Chooses Sen. Joseph Biden For VP
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Charles Rex ArbogastSen. Barack Obama, left, laughs with Sen. Joseph Biden before the start of a presidential forum in Chicago in August 2007. AP

Read a profile of Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden.


NPR.org, August 23, 2008 · Democrat Barack Obama has selected Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware to be his vice presidential running mate.

After much speculation, the Obama campaign confirmed reports on its Web site early Saturday morning.

"Joe Biden brings extensive foreign policy experience, an impressive record of collaborating across party lines, and a direct approach to getting the job done," the site says. "We have our team, but we also have our work cut out for us. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are the leaders who will bring the change our country needs."

Biden, 65, has run for president twice and has experience with foreign and defense issues. The veteran congressman is Catholic, has blue-collar roots, a generally liberal voting record and a reputation as a long-winded orator.

During his more than 30 years in the Senate, Biden has served at various times as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, a role he currently holds, and as head of the Judiciary Committee, with its jurisdiction over anti-crime legislation and constitutional issues.

News reports said Biden emerged as the likely choice after three other contenders, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton reportedly were told they had not been chosen.

Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, says Obama's pick would have made it through an extensive vetting process.

The Illinois senator and his running mate are scheduled to appear together at a noontime event Saturday in Springfield, Ill.

From staff and wire reports.

<a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/topics/topic.php?topicId=1102">Election 2008
Biden Strong On Foreign Policy, National Security
by Jennifer Ludden

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Mark WilsonSen. Joseph Biden (D-DE) speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on July 9. Biden has served several terms as chairman of the committee. Getty Images



Cynthia JohnsonBiden talks to a supporter on a train after announcing his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1987. Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

During more than three decades in the U.S. Senate, Joseph Biden, 65, has honed a reputation as a heavyweight on foreign policy and national security, and as a strong debater, if one sometimes prone to verbal gaffes.

Biden was born in Scranton, Pa., to a working-class family — his father was a car salesman — and was raised in the suburbs of Wilmington, Del. He attended Syracuse Law School.

In 1972, at age 29, he became one of the youngest people elected to the Senate. A month later, he faced personal tragedy when an automobile accident with a drunk driver killed his wife and daughter, leaving him a single father of two young sons. Biden remarried five years later.

Biden is unarguably a Washington insider, yet he's never actually moved to the city, instead commuting home to Delaware by train every night. He is Roman Catholic, yet favors abortion rights.

Biden has twice run for president himself, first in 1988, when he dropped out after being accused of plagiarizing British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock. Soon after he suffered an aneurysm, but fully recovered.

Early in his 2007 bid for the presidency, Biden found himself apologizing to rival Barack Obama after a remark some found racially insensitive. He had called Obama "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." During the primaries, Biden also claimed Obama was "not yet ready" to serve as president, a line that will no doubt be rehashed now by Republican rivals. Biden never went far with his candidacy, coming in fifth in Iowa.

Biden's legislative career is long and varied. He helped write landmark legislation that set up shelters and a national hotline for abused women, and another law that put 100,000 police on the streets in the mid-1990s. He served as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1987 to 1995, leading opposition to the controversial Supreme Court nominations of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas.

Biden has served several terms as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which he heads now, and has substantial contacts with world leaders. Just last weekend, he accepted an invitation from Georgian leader Mikhail Saakashvili to visit the former Soviet republic during its tense standoff with Russia. Biden originally voted for the Iraq war, but has since come to be a fierce critic of President Bush's policies in Iraq.

Biden complements a Democratic ticket in areas that polls show Obama is weak — he has gravitas, foreign policy experience, knowledge of the inner workings of Washington, and an appeal to working-class voters. While he's clearly harbored presidential ambitions, Biden would presumably be too old to run again if Obama were elected and served two terms.

Where Obama is nuanced, Biden may also have a greater ability to talk tough against rivals in public debate. But the senator is also known to get carried away with the sound of his own voice, digressing into irrelevant personal anecdotes. Referring to this during the recent series of Democratic debates, moderator Brian Williams asked Biden if he had the "discipline" to be president, to which Biden delivered perhaps the best-received line of his candidacy: "Yes."

Biden is up for re-election to his Senate seat this year, but could run for this spot while also campaigning on the Democratic ticket.


Related NPR Stories

• Oct. 8, 2007Biden's Road to Senate Took Tragic Turn
• Aug. 1, 2007On Becoming Joe Biden
• Aug. 2, 2007Sen. Joseph Biden (DE)

[Southsider2k12]

OK so maybe Barack Obama isn't that bad after all...

Scott: If the Cubs and the White Sox both make it to the World Series?
Obama: I would be going.
Scott: Who would you root for?
Obama: Oh, that's easy. White Sox. I'm not one of these fair weather fans. You go to Wrigley Field, you have a beer, beautiful people up there. People aren't watching the game. It's not serious. White Sox, that's baseball. Southside.

[Roger Kaputnik]

It is funny that both Sox fans and Cub fans feel that there is a core of True Baseball Fans and a bunch of bandwagon/beautiful ppl there to be seen. Seems to be true all over baseball, all pro sports.

True story: The first time my wife saw Spike Lee at the Knicks game, she thought he was the mascot!

[Roger Kaputnik]

McCain Picks Alaska's Palin for VP Spot, Reports Say
NPR.org, August 29, 2008 · Republican Sen. John McCain is set to announce that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be his vice presidential running mate, a move that brings youth and a staunch anti-abortion advocate to the GOP ticket, his campaign announced Friday.

McCain and Palin are expected to appear together for the announcement at a noon rally in Dayton, Ohio.

"This is a bold choice of a strong conservative who is a reformer and will be greeted by the delegates in St. Paul with enthusiasm," said Republican strategist Scott Reed.

Palin, 44, was elected Alaska's first woman governor in 2006 on a platform of ethics reform. She has extensive influence in Alaska politics, having served as mayor of Wasilla and ethics commissioner on the state's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

In announcing that she was McCain's choice, the campaign's statement said she has challenged the influence of big oil and used her veto power to cut budgetary spending.

"Governor Palin has the record of reform and bipartisanship that others can only speak of. Her experience in shaking up the status quo is exactly what is needed in Washington today," the campaign's news release said.

Palin has steadfastly opposed abortion and earlier this year gave birth to a child who she knew would have Down syndrome. She and her husband, Todd, have five children, who range in age from 18 years to 4 months. Todd Palin is of native Alaskan Yup'ik ancestry. Her addition to the ticket could bolster McCain support among the Republican Party's Christian base.

McCain's announcement comes a day after Illinois Sen. Barack Obama accepted the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. McCain and Palin will face Obama and Delaware Sen. Joe Biden in the Nov. 4 election.

From NPR and wire reports

<a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93739362">The Republican Convention
Sarah Palin, A Fresh Face For The GOP
by Pam Fessler

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Al GrilloSarah Palin, 44, is the governor of Alaska. AP


In Focus

• Aug. 29, 2008McCain Picks Alaska's Palin for VP Spot, Reports Say
• Conventions 2008

<h5 class="edTag">From The NPR.org Archives</h5>"The recently elected governor of Alaska is 44, the mother of five, and a former state champ in high school basketball. She is truly mediagenic, strongly pro-life and full of spunk. But can McCain say Obama lacks experience but that Sarah Palin is ready to be a heartbeat away? Can he turn over Dick Cheney's office to someone whose only previous office was mayor of Wasilla?"

—NPR Senior Washington Editor Ron Elving, 'Watching Washington' (June 12, 2008)



Web Resources

• Palin's Positions On Issues As Gubernatorial Candidate
• Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin, reportedly John McCain's vice-presidential selection, is no stranger to the "maverick" label often assigned to her Republican running mate. Alaska's youngest and first female governor has pushed for ethics investigations of fellow Republicans in her state, and bucked the powerful oil industry on a major natural gas pipeline project. When she ran for governor in 2006, she ran as an outsider and an agent for change.

The 44-year-old Palin is a fresh face on the national political scene. But she has participated in local and state politics for much of her adult life. She was elected to the Wasilla City Council in 1992, running against tax increases. Four years later, she was elected mayor, a job she held until 2002. In 2003, Palin was named chairwoman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

She graduated from the University of Idaho in 1987 and worked for two years as a television sports reporter before becoming co-owner of a commercial fishing operation in Alaska.

Like the wife of the Democratic nominee, Michele Obama, Palin also played basketball in school. She was on the Wasilla, Alaska, state championship girls basketball team in 1982.

Palin has five children with her husband Todd.


Related NPR Stories

• Aug. 8, 2008Alaskan Incumbents Face Tough Re-Election Battles
• Dec. 27, 2006Alaska's Governor Is Tough, Young -- and a Woman

[JHeath]

Palin has steadfastly opposed abortion and earlier this year gave birth to a child who she knew would have Down syndrome. She and her husband, Todd, have five children, who range in age from 18 years to 4 months. Todd Palin is of native Alaskan Yup'ik ancestry. Her addition to the ticket could bolster McCain support among the Republican Party's Christian base.

Religion aside, because I'm not a Christian, I want to know how she can maintain a commitment as a mother to 5 children, the youngest of which is a 4-month old (let alone one born with Down's Syndrome) and run for VP. I know lots of people use nannies, but, speaking from experience, it's no easy feat to raise a child with special needs.

Also, wasn't she under investigation for something involving a firing earlier this summer?

[Roger Kaputnik]

function removeDebate(obj){ document.getElementById(obj).value = ''; } News Americas
Palin picked as McCain running-mate
Sarah Palin has been described as a reformer [AP] John McCain, the US Republican presidential candidate, has introduced Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, as his running-mate to take on Barack Obama in November's poll.

Palin, a mother of five, is the first woman to lead Alaska and is best known for pushing for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a key part of McCain's energy policy.

McCain introduced Palin to cheering crowds at a rally in Denver, Ohio on Friday.

The Arizona senator said he made his pick after looking for a political partner "who can best help me shake up Washington and make it start working again for the people who are counting on us".

The move could appeal to women voters who might have been disillusioned by Barack Obama's decision to pick Joe Biden as his Democratic running-mate instead of Hillary Clinton, who won 18 million votes in her Democratic primary battle with Obama.

At 44, Palin is three years younger than Obama and, like McCain, she calls herself a "maverick".

In focus
In-depth coverage of the US election

Lucia Newman, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Dayton, Ohio, said Palin was an interesting choice for McCain.

"One of the perceived weaknesses of John McCain is that he is too old and he is also seen as being too close to the Republican establishment.

"Palin balances out the ticket - she is young and a maverick and brings across some voters who would have supported Hillary Cinton [as the Democratic presidential candidate] and who are not yet convinced by [Barack] Obama." 'Risky choice'



Sean Aday, a political scientist at George Washington University, told Al Jazeera McCain had made a risky choice.

"She's actually pro-life, which helps McCain with his base. She has not been on the national stage. She comes from a very small state. She has never been in this situation."

Barack Obama's campaign issued a statement condemning Palin as too inexperienced for the vice-presidency. "Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency," said Bill Burton, Obama's campaign spokesman.

Historic nomination McCain is preparing to accept his party's nomination for president at the Republican convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, next week.

Mitt Romney, McCain's former rival for the Republican nomination, and independent senator Joe Lieberman, had been top contenders for the vice-presidential candidate position. Tom Ridge, the former governor of Pennsylvania, had also been linked to the post.

Early on Friday, Tim Pawlenty, the conservative Minnesota governor, said it was "a fair assumption" he would not be joining McCain on the Republican ticket.

Barack Obama, the Illinois senator, accepted the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday, becoming the first African-American of a major US party to win it.

By announcing his vice-presidential pick on Friday, observers say McCain was hoping to to divert attention from Obama, who attacked McCain in Thursday's acceptance speech, accusing him of following the policies of George Bush, the incumbent president.

[Southsider2k12]

You are getting your reports on the US election from Al Jazeera? Interesting.

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=50119.41

Poll: State in play for Obama
McCain barely leads; Daniels ahead in governor’s race.

Brian Howey

INDIANAPOLIS - Hoosiers will find themselves at the American political epicenter as Republican presidential nominee John McCain holds a narrow 45-43 percent lead over Democrat Barack Obama in Indiana, according to a Howey-Gauge Poll of registered voters. The race falls within the poll's 4.1 percent +/- margin of error.

In the Indiana gubernatorial race, Gov. Mitch Daniels holds a commanding 53-35 percent lead over Democrat Jill Long Thompson. Daniels is attracting 24 percent of Democratic vote, while 27 percent of Obama's support is coming from Daniels' supporters. The Republican governor is also attracting 27 percent of the African-American vote with 22 percent of that traditionally Democratic demographic undecided.

The Howey-Gauge Poll was conducted with 600 registered likely voters on Aug. 29-30. The survey began 20 hours after Obama's Democratic National Convention acceptance speech, and five hours after McCain announced the selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. Poll respondents were universally aware of both events.

In the presidential race, McCain slightly underperformed the GOP base. Both McCain and Obama have near universal name recognition at 99 percent. McCain's 55 percent favorable recognition was up 8 percent and his unfavorables stood at a relatively low 27 percent.

Obama's favorables have been on a steady increase from 41 percent in the April Howey Gauge Poll to 56 percent in this survey. His negatives fell from 34 percent in April to 27 percent in August. Hoosiers having a hard opinion of McCain increased from 72 percent in April to 82 percent.

"The positive movement for Obama is significant," Gauge Market Research pollster Holly Davis said. "At the end of the day, we'll have to wait and see if Obama's impact is larger than that of Palin's. We will see if the new voters that were registered before and after the May Democratic primary outweigh the renewed excitement social conservatives have for Sarah Palin."

In the gubernatorial race, Democrat Jill Long Thompson faces a similar dilemma to what she faced in the primary. Her total awareness stood at 77 percent, up from 41 percent in February and 59 percent in April. While that number increased, her favorables and unfavorables both increased 10 percentage points from 22 and 9 in April to 32 and 19 in August.

On the re-elect question, Daniels has improved from a 41 percent in February to 47 percent in April a month after HB 1001 passed the Indiana General Assembly and 48 percent in August. Forty percent responded by saying "elect someone new" and 12 percent were undecided.

"In this environment, 48 percent is OK," said Davis. "If that number was still in the low 40s, the governor would be in trouble. On the right track/wrong track question, 47 percent said right track (compared to 37 percent in February, 39 percent in April). The wrong track numbers have declined from 40 percent in February, 41 percent in April and 35 percent in August."

The poll was the third conducted since February by Indianapolis-based Gauge Market Research for Howey Politics Indiana, a nonpartisan, online publication and Web site covering national and Indiana politics. The complete survey can be viewed at www.howeypolitics.com and www.gaugemarketresearch.com.

The final Howey-Gauge Poll will be conducted in late October and released Thursday, Oct. 23.

[Roger Kaputnik]

http://www.electoral-vote.com

[Roger Kaputnik]

Palin press may boycott UN conference
Kenneth P. Vogel1 hour, 15 minutes ago

NEW YORK – Journalists, displeased with Sarah Palin’s efforts to restrict their access to her, are threatening not to cover her events surrounding the United Nations conference here unless they're allowed more access.

The unfolding boycott is the latest development in a rocky relationship between Palin’s handlers and the press, in which the campaign has sought to tightly control her interactions with the media.

The campaign had originally indicated that the print reporters following her campaign would be among the small group of journalists allowed to attend the so-called “pool sprays” before Palin’s meetings with dignitaries on the sidelines of the U.N. meetings.

The sprays are basically glorified photo opportunities during which journalists can snap photos and film footage and – if they’re lucky – shout a question or two at Palin and her company before she adjourns for private meetings. On Tuesday, those meetings were to include Afghan President Karzai and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

But the imbroglio began developing Tuesday morning when Palin’s handlers informed the small print press contingent covering her campaign that the print reporter designated to cover the events, Elizabeth Holmes of the Wall Street Journal, would not be allowed to cover the sprays.

The campaign’s reasoning was that there were not going to be questions or statements at the sprays, so they were only appropriate for photographers and cameramen.

The campaign also at first moved to bar CNN, the television network designated for pool duty, from sending its editorial producer – basically a hybrid print/video journalist – though the campaign budged when the network threatened to withhold its cameras as well.

With Palin’s first meeting set to begin at noon, that leaves the print reporters on the outs.

UPDATE: After shutting the print pooler, Holmes, out of the spray before Palin’s meeting with Afghan President Karzai—“rudely,” according to Holmes—the campaign relented and agreed to let her cover the sprays before Palin’s next two meetings, with Colombian President Uribe and Kissinger. Updated story forthcoming.

Copyright © 2008 Capitol News Company, LLC.


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[Dave]

Palin bars, then admits reporters to UN meetings

By SARA KUGLER – 2 hours ago

NEW YORK (AP) — Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who has not held a press conference in nearly four weeks of campaigning, initially barred reporters from her first meetings with world leaders Tuesday, but reversed course after they protested.

At first, campaign aides told the TV producer, print and news agency reporters in the press pool that followed the Alaska governor that they would not be admitted along with still photographers and a video camera crew taken in to photograph her meetings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who are here for the United Nations General Assembly this week. She also was to meet later with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

These sessions and meetings scheduled for Wednesday are part of the Republican campaign's effort to give Palin experience in foreign affairs. She has never met a foreign head of state and first traveled outside North America just last year.

At least two news organizations, including The Associated Press, objected to the exclusion of reporters and were told that the decision was not subject to discussion. Presidents and members of Congress routinely allow reporters to attend photo opportunities along with photographers and the reporters sometimes are able to ask questions during the brief photo sessions, usually held at the beginning of private meetings.

CNN, which was providing the television coverage for news organizations, decided to pull its TV crew from the first meeting, with Karzai, effectively denying Palin the high visibility she had sought. But after the campaign agreed to let CNN's producer in as well, the CNN camera crew joined the session.

According to the CNN producer who was let into Karzai's hotel suite with the photographers just before noon, Karzai was talking about his son. Palin was nodding, and asked what his name is. Karzai replied his name was Mirwais and explained that it means light of the house.

The media were escorted out after about 40 seconds.

Campaign aides subsequently announced that reporters would be allowed to accompany photographers into the later sessions with Uribe and Kissinger.

At that point, campaign spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt said it was all just a "miscommunication." Earlier, she had said, "The decision was made for this to be a photo spray with still cameras and video cameras only."

Palin has been criticized for avoiding taking questions from reporters or submitting to one-on-one interviews. She has had just two major interviews since Republican presidential candidate John McCain chose her as his running mate on Aug. 29.

On Wednesday, McCain and Palin were expected to meet jointly with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko. Palin was then to meet separately with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

40 seconds???? I guess that's long enough to take some pictures but short enough to avoid any questions. Seeing as Palin was talking about family matters with the President of Afghanistan rather than anything of substance, getting the reporters out of the room ASAP must have been a real priority.

Anyone want to take bets that the fact that Karzai's son's name is Mirwais comes up in the VP debates somehow?

[Southsider2k12]

You have this, and on the other side you have Biden contradicting his own campaign and saying GWB-esque dumb stuff. Its pretty disheartening.

[Roger Kaputnik]

"Photo spray" makes me think of "cat spray" somehow.

[krk]

You know they were afraid she would try to "lay hands" on the man.

"So, Hamid, have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior? Let's speak in tongues."

[JHeath]

"Photo spray" makes me think of "cat spray" somehow.

I was thinking more along the lines of "skunk."

This post has been edited by JHeath: Sep 24 2008, 09:09 AM

[Roger Kaputnik]

If you have ever had to deal with cat spray, you are not far off the mark. Let's just say it is best to just throw out the carpet or sofa.

[Dave]

If you have ever had to deal with cat spray, you are not far off the mark. Let's just say it is best to just throw out the carpet or sofa.

Not to mention the cat.