Member Questions

It seems to me that there are a lot of contradictions with McCain and Palin's "conservative" ways. it seems that their conservativeness (if that's a word) only applies to others. She believes in only teaching abstinence in school and then look at her daughter!! I could care less that a 17 year old is pregnant, that is her business, but when the mother is claiming that her ways are right and yet we can clearly see that her ways do not work, why should we listen to her? My husbands parents taught only abstinance and his brother had a child at 16 as well! It took that to teach the other kids to be careful - and I mean be careful, it still did not teach them abstinence. Now, if she is anti-abortion, than she damn well should make sure that she is pro-birthcontrol. Teaching birthcontrol and STD's is the only surefire way to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies, therefore decreasing the number of abortions.

Now, what does pro-life mean? Well, to most it means anti-abortion. However, why is abortion the only issue where these people think pro-life is appropraite. I don't remember learning "Thou Shall Not Kill - but this only applies to fetuses". it is simply Thou Shall Not Kill. How can people that have sent thousands off to kill and be killed call themselves pro-life? We have sent our citizens to someone else's territory killing and dying to line their pockets with money! That certainly is not "pro-life". Palin is a hunter. How is this Pro-life? Again, this is going on someone else's territory and killing them, even if that someone else is an animal. How is this okay? Now, if you like war and hunting, great, but don't stand up here and tell me that abortion should be banned because it is killing. That is called hypocrisy and I do not trust hypocrites.

I find it kind of humorous that most of the answers are coming from liberal voters. Of course you are not going to support Palin, she is CONSERVATIVE. Especially if you were a Hillary supporter, they couldn't be more different. Republicans needed a conservative VP candidate to balance out McCain. I am excited about this pick. My impression of Palin is a very no-nonsense, ethical, conservative, mother and politician.

I think that he picked a woman very strategically because he is floundering and hoping to pick up the voters that would have gone with Hillary. I would have never voted for McCain in the first place and I certainly wouldn't vote for him now. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of a woman as a VP, but the issues are more important and I feel taht Obama is the only one who is addressing the issues with clear cut ideas. On top of this, Palin is pro-gun and an avid hunter and has many views that go completely against my beliefs. I really, really hope that her gender doesn't sway voters, that they look at the issues at hand and what McCain and Palin stand for and vote the other way. We need to save our own country this time!

Regarding the 17-year-old daughter: Wow! If it's true that McCain knew about this before making his choice, I am 10x more proud of him for doing so. It makes it a more risky choice, for sure. But that's all the more proof to me that McCain chose Palin largely for her political record and abilities.

I think it's a poor choice, for reasons that Lylah pointed out below. I was a bit saddened when I heard Mccain's pick, because this choice really just amounts to Palin being a pawn in a larger political game. I am one of those undecided Hillary supporters, but this move doesn't impress me.

What I find interesting is that people are not talking about her links to Big Oil.

Yes, she is a woman, yes she has 5 kids. Yes she is younger than Obama and a beauty queen. And, yes, she probably has no business being back up to a 72 year old president with a history of cancer. But, Obama is young and has had a short life on the political stage. The only thing Palin has to Hilary is that she is a woman. And, by the way, she is a card carrying NRA member and hunts (but this is Alaska afterall).

All I can think of is - McCain is heavy on Washington inner workings and the inner circle, international policy, and has a bit of a principle streak in him. He takes Palin, who causes more of a stir about the points listed above and no one is talking about the fact that she might have enough potential and power to redefine our energy policy, and maybe not for the better.

Man, woman, black, white, I don't know about anyone else, but I'm ready to hear about the details. Good for Palin if she can balance family and a highly political career - we should highly support that. But, for our sake, I hope we can move beyond the conservative and liberal commentary.

Just my 2 cents, and probably a bit more passionate than most want to hear. Guess I'm a frustrated voter having difficulty being comfortable with any of the candidates. The soundbites are beginning to sound hollow.