Politics
Out of context: Reply #642
- Started
- Last post
- 33,769 Responses
- hallelujah0
"When the Times convened the focus group of 11 undecided Florida voters five weeks ago--four Republicans, five Democrats, and two registered to no party--it noted that their "strong distrust" of Barack Obama suggested it was a group ripe for John McCain to win over.
Not anymore. The group has swung dramatically, if unenthusiastically, toward Democrat Obama. Most of them this week cited the same reason: Sarah Palin.
"The one thing that frightens me more than anything else are the ideologues. We've seen too many," said 80-year-old Air Force veteran Donn Spegal, a lifelong Republican from St. Petersburg, who sees McCain's new running mate as the kind of "wedge issue" social conservative that has made him disenchanted with his party.
Hmmm. OK, so Palin's far-right social views turn off more moderate Republicans. Who would've thunk it? But what about women? Surely undecided women are flocking to her, aren't they?
"I'm truly offended by Palin,'' said 37-year-old Republican Philinia Lehr of Largo, a full-time mother with a nursing degree who voted for George Bush in 2004. Like Palin, she has five children and she doesn't buy that the Alaska governor can adequately balance her family and the vice presidency.
"You're somebody's mom and what are you going to do, say, 'Excuse me, country, hold on?' ... She's preaching that she's this mom of the year and taking that poor little baby all over everywhere. And, you know, what she's doing to her 17-year-old daughter is just appalling.'' Lehr said she's bothered by the way Palin's pregnant daughter has been brought into the national spotlight.
Hmmm. So all those hockey moms and soccer moms and just plain old moms don't like how Palin parades around her newborn baby and celebrates her teenage daughters out-of-wedlock pregnancy? Who would've thunk it?
But what about all those upset Hillary supporters? Surely they're all going to vote for McCain now, so that they can have a chance to put a woman, any woman, in the White House. Won't they?
"(Deciding to vote for Obama) ticks me off because I do not want Obama,'' said Democrat Annette Kocsis, 68, a former Hillary Rodham Clinton supporter from Clearwater, scoffing at "the pit bull in lipstick," as Palin has called herself...
"That was almost insulting," Democrat Rhonda Laris of Temple Terrace, another strong Clinton backer skeptical of Obama, said of the Palin pick. "Do they think we're really stupid? ... I'm definitely leaning toward the Democratic side now. Sarah Palin scares the crap out of me."
Hmmm. But what about Palin being so ethical and such a big reformer who will shake up Washington? That will surely appeal to the independent voters, won't it??
Independent voter Bill Chever, 56, another Air Force veteran from St. Petersburg, said he has voted Republican four times and Democrat three times in the last seven presidential races. He likes and trusts Obama but not Obama's party. Democrats have done nothing of consequence while controlling Congress, Chever said, but he's particularly bothered that the Palins are not cooperating in the "Troopergate" investigation into whether she fired the state police chief for not firing her former brother-in-law from the Alaska state police.
"Here we go with Dick Cheney and his group that's not going to talk to anybody," Chever said. "She is Dick Cheney with a dress on."
Hmmm. Maybe McCain's and Palin's stonewalling on and blocking of the Troopergate investigation wasn't the smartest move after all.
The Times reports that nobody in the focus group has finalized a choice, but seven of the panelists said that McCain's running mate selection had made them more likely to vote for Obama, and in several cases much more likely, and only two Republican men "applauded" McCain's selection of Palin. Most people in the group are looking for the debates to help them make up their minds.
Still, the Times conludes that Palin appears to be a "serious obstacle" to McCain's winning over disillusioned Democrats or moderates. Who would've thunk it?"