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Posted Monday, September 01, 2008 8:10 PM

The Buck Stops Where?

Andrew Romano
Harry S. Truman

As we noted earlier today, several prominent Republicans--including Fred Thompson--have taken to mentioning Harry Truman when asked about Sarah Palin's skimpy resume. Turns out that the references to 33rd president are part of the GOP's latest talking points--as NEWSWEEK's Jonathan Alter reports. "Look at Harry Truman, where he stood, how much experience he had before he was chosen as vice president," said Thompson this afternoon. Alter did--and what he found doesn't exactly flatter Palin. Here's Jon:

The GOP talking points on Monday instructed all surrogates to compare the selection of Sarah Palin to FDR's choice of Harry Truman in 1944. The idea is that a plain spoken candidate who isn't an expert can become a great president. In some iterations, the surrogates mention that FDR and Truman met only briefly before Roosevelt died, and that he never told Truman about the atom bomb.

The Truman-Palin comparison is a bad one. By the time of the 1944 Democratic convention Truman was an experienced U.S. Senator from Missouri who had reached national prominence by chairing an important committee that examined profiteering and other contractor abuses during World War II. Not only was Truman no rookie, he had studied history and government for many years on his own and was thus extremely well-versed on the issues of the day and their historical context. Time and again, Truman impressed friends and colleagues with how much he knew.

Perhaps Palin has been reading history for years and boning up Truman-style on public issues. If so, we don't know it yet.
 

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Member Comments

Posted By: orion12 (September 2, 2008 at 5:54 AM)

I agree with the arguments of Spicegirl. They are thoughtful and involve honest points that should be looked at.

Obama has performed extraordinarily. He has shown very high intellect, he is a good organizer, good manager, good listener, cool and poised, diplomatic, level-headed, understanding, patient, humane, etc.  He is admired by even older politicians because he has what it takes to be president. Despite all of that, he is being beaten down by McCain and called INEXPERIENCED incessantly.

Now what does McCain come up with? A real political baggage. He feels he is smart and will steal some of the women voters from Obama. But what is annoying is the sloppiness of the whole vetting process. Any fool will not compare his process to that of Obama. Again who is the better manager and listener?  He surely was rushed to gain some perceived advantage and that may hunt him.

I agree with Obama that family if off limits. Again I point to this man's noble behavior. McCain on the other hand would have hammered hin on how bad a mother Palin is if she was the running mate of Obama. McCain, because of poor judgement has exposed Palin to some real embarassment. He is naive if he thought nobody would make a comment. Unfortunately the public is the public and the press is the press. People are bound to talk and analyze the situation.

I refer again to Spicegirl's comments. We should look closely at Palin. Having family first is not putting family and babies on display, holding them in your arms during press conferences, etc. That is putting on a show. Babies should be at home sleeping. The legitimate question to be asked is "does Palin put her politics above her family?" I do not know. But if it appears to people that she does, she deserves a second look. Some people will quickly shout "sexist" to cover up a legitimate question. Where do we draw a line? Did she do enough mothering to prevent her daughter from being pregnant? Is it bad judgement to be so busy and have so many children? Does one have time to be a good mother and hold such a busy position with so many children? People are going to ask these questions in one form or another in an attempt to either show she is not the right choice or to show she is a strong person who can manage all aspects of her life adequately.

I think that McCain took a gamble and in doing so there is an assumption, in my view, that people do not think deeply or forget quickly. If this is the case it will be risky to have McCain as POTUS. He does not seem to do his homework well.

Maybe now the issue of experience will be swept under the carpet and Obama will have some respite. But maybe not. McCain appears to feel that attacking is the way to go all of the time. It would be OK if he would attack based on a good strategy and plan. We hope that if he makes it as POTUS he will plan before attacking. Otherwise, that will be another four years of uncertainty.


Posted By: spicegirl (September 2, 2008 at 2:39 AM)

The Palin pick might prove to be the greatest blunder of McCain’s career. No matter what he has achieved as a war hero, or how maverick he may or may not be, he will be judged on the ‘now’ and not the ‘then’. Republicans are rallying around this lady in support of McCain’s decision as they have to, but she is turning out to be political baggage and embarrassment and living prove that McCain’s judgment is lacking.

Palin herself has displayed degrees of recklessness and insensitivity as a mother and a clear demonstration that she would sacrifice her children for politics. She did this with the controversial pregnancy that people are whispering about when her water broke in Texas and she proceeded several hours later to still give her speech and then board a plane with a second connection to Alaska while supposedly in labor. All this fiasco took over a twelve-hour period subsequent to her water breaking and knowing she had a high-risk pregnancy as the baby she was carrying, or so we have been told, has Downs Syndrome. She then accepts the VP position as McCain’s running mate with a four moths son with Downs Syndrome, and if this is not enough, expose her daughter to the public by coming out about her pregnancy. Irrespective of how well she may have performed as a governor I WOULD NOT WANT HER AS MY MOTHER. Charity begins at home and if she can display so little caring for her own family in the interest of politics, what reliance can we place on her when it comes to the country? Will it be politics first and country after?

John McCain has been stressing foreign policy experience and having someone that could take over the job as POTUS from day one. This lady only got her passport last year! Has she traveled outside of the country? What countries has she visited and in what capacity? This is the platform McCain has been running on with Obama and we should hold him accountable to it. This is clearly hypocracy and double standards. At least Obama had some experience; coupled with the fact 18million people thinks he is ready for commander in chef post.  He also made the country aware how important he thought the VP post was by appointing a vetting committee. John McCain met this lady once and was bowled over! We need some answers John McCain and you will not get a free ride this time.


Posted By: Reporter Guy (September 1, 2008 at 10:52 PM)

Palin is way hotter than Truman.

And she has a machine gun.

Just imagine a clip of The Commodores' 'Machine Gun' blasting while Palin shreds an M-16.

Oh yeah.


 
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