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Wednesday, October 15, 2008 - 9:54amSanction this postReply
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The man has a fixation with parrots, and here is being just like one.

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Wednesday, October 15, 2008 - 11:50amSanction this postReply
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So, Rodney, do you disagree with Cleese's main point: do you think that Sarah Palin would make a good president?

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Post 2

Wednesday, October 15, 2008 - 12:06pmSanction this postReply
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John Cleese is right.  Much as I would like to see a candidate who looked and acted like Sarah Palin but had the depth of knowledge necessary for the position of Vice President, she just doesn't have it.  Just watch some of her worst moments from the recent interviews she's done.  And her best moments aren't much better!

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Wednesday, October 15, 2008 - 12:42pmSanction this postReply
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"Now that's what I call a dead parrot!"

I'm getting dangerously close to voting Libertarian this year.

(Edited by Luke Setzer on 10/15, 12:42pm)


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Post 4

Wednesday, October 15, 2008 - 12:43pmSanction this postReply
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I think Cleese is half-right. Intelligence and knowledge are only half of what is needed for running the country. The other half are made of character and intention.

Obama has intelligence, but he is like a car with a powerful engine and a slipping transmission - his faulty principles keep his intellectual horsepower from getting to the ground. So it gets used mostly just to be slick and cunning in pursuit of his ambitions. And his character disqualifies him because he lies and misleads. His intentions are dishonorable as well.

I would prefer to have Palin in office rather than McCain, Obama or Biden - despite her lack of intelligence and knowledge. Those deficits can be partially made up with good advisors and a willingness to listen and learn. Common sense, honesty and determination from a person willing to seek good advice would get us a long ways in the right direction. Also, her rudimentary grasp of the value of small government is better than a Columbia-Harvard education and law degree that favors big government - who is stupid in that sense?

McCain has a lot of bad principles and is deplorably ignorant of economics and gives his fuzzy, altruistic sense of duty and sacrifice greater importance than freedom and he doesn't seem to understand that he needs to listen and learn.

p.s., I'm still voting Libertarian.



(Edited by Steve Wolfer on 10/15, 12:45pm)


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Post 5

Wednesday, October 15, 2008 - 2:51pmSanction this postReply
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Palin does appear to be an intellectual light-weight and has been a disappointment from what appeared to be the initial promise, but I agree with Steve's analysis and would easily prefer her as president over the other three. She couldn't do more damage than what the others are proposing, and if I have to put my trust in some aspect of the character of the person running the country, then I would place it with Palin's non-cynical naivete and her authentic experience as a typical American rather than with some power-hungry entrenched politician.

Regards,
--
Jeff

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Post 6

Thursday, October 16, 2008 - 5:35pmSanction this postReply
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Jeff,

I agree completely. An honest person with the guts to make an attempt to fix things, even without much intellectual weight, who was willing to go straight to the people and ask for help in kicking the rascals out of office could do more in a few months then the typical Foggy-Bottomer is even lying about trying to do.

Most of the mess back there is at the 'stable' level - and it only takes common sense to pick up a shovel and start cleaning the turds out of the stable.

(Really fixing the problem, for good, will require someone who understands capitalism and the moral base it stands on - and the economic principles needed to make interest, banking and money private market entities, and to put the government on a mandatory budget with very limited borrowing powers - that is task that looks well beyond what Palin could do without an awful lot of learning and she just might not have the weight to succeed there.)

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Post 7

Thursday, October 16, 2008 - 9:48pmSanction this postReply
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Steve, Jeff,

I disagree completely. It is clear that Palin is a light-weight, but to say that she could not do more damage is dangerously inaccurate. We cannot say what decisions will be forced upon the president of these next four years. While it is easy to say she will have qualified advisors, it is still she who would pick most of her closest advisors, and she who will choose which advisors to listen to.

I've commented on gut instinct before, and believe it is most often the truest course a person can make. However, gut instincts are manifestations of a person's experience and ethic. Palin's extremely weak experience, and perhaps uncertain ethic, suggest that she will not have that extra insight, that gut instinct, to recognize which among the many courses of actions that might be recommended to her, will be the best.

But this campaign has dwindled down to John McCain and Barrack Obama. Obama is the better candidate - that is to say that he is the better speaker, shows intelligence and poise, and is better able to connect with the viewers. However, while he is the better candidate, McCain would make the better president. Certainly, McCain's economic sense far outweighs Obama's. He is far more experienced in congress. He has a proven grit, an ability, to make hard and urgent decisions. Plus (except for campaigning) has a better class of advisors to help guide him. Obama can surround himself with advisors, but he is still the one who must sift through their recommendations and make the final decisions. As president, he counts upon his ability to just figure out whatever he needs from the input his many advisors give him, but he'll be coming into each urgent decision-making process without the reserve of gut instincts necessary to make those decisions that sometimes cannot wait for long study and analysis.

I'll vote McCain for his guts and conviction (even if I don't agree with many of them), instead of Obama, who thinks he can just figure it all out when he needs to.

jt

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Monday, October 20, 2008 - 5:08pmSanction this postReply
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then there's this --------

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DIc8jdra0o


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