Can you imagine if Palin had become VP? Palin clan goes on drunken hillbilly slugfest

[SunsN07BookIt]

The Oval Office has been boring since grabby hands Bubba left. Who cares if we would have been the laughing stock of the world, we would have been entertained every day with her stupidity.

The info comes from a blogger so I'm not sure how factual the whole story is.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/p...rawl/15502215/

Blogger Amanda Coyne says it started when Palin's son, Track, "stumbles out of a stretch Hummer, and immediately spots an ex-boyfriend of Willow's. Track isn't happy with this guy, the story goes. There's words, and more."
Coyne writes that it escalates:

"At this point, he's up against nearly the whole Palin tribe: Palin women screaming. Palin men thumping their chests. Word is that Bristol has a particularly strong right hook, which she employed repeatedly."

As people were leaving, Coyne says, "Track was seen on the street, shirtless, flipping people off, with Sarah right behind him, and Todd somewhere in the foreground, tending to his bloody nose."

Eric Thompson, who was at the party, told Good Morning America on Friday, "It was just like we were on a Jerry Springer episode."

[KevinNYC]

The Oval Office has been boring since grabby hands Bubba left. Who cares if we would have been the laughing stock of the world, we would have been entertained every day with her stupidity.

The info comes from a blogger so I'm not sure how factual the whole story is.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/p...rawl/15502215/

Blogger Amanda Coyne says it started when Palin's son, Track, "stumbles out of a stretch Hummer, and immediately spots an ex-boyfriend of Willow's. Track isn't happy with this guy, the story goes. There's words, and more."
Coyne writes that it escalates:

"At this point, he's up against nearly the whole Palin tribe: Palin women screaming. Palin men thumping their chests. Word is that Bristol has a particularly strong right hook, which she employed repeatedly."

As people were leaving, Coyne says, "Track was seen on the street, shirtless, flipping people off, with Sarah right behind him, and Todd somewhere in the foreground, tending to his bloody nose."

Eric Thompson, who was at the party, told Good Morning America on Friday, "It was just like we were on a Jerry Springer episode."

If it was just coming from a blogger, I don't think the major news orgs would have picked this up. The blogger's story is backed up by a police report that was written up even though no charges were filed. I'm sure somebody will spill the details to TMZ soon

[KevinNYC]

http://www.newsweek.com/party-turns-...-hummer-270083

The Anchorage Police Department responded to reports of a “verbal and physical altercation” around 11 p.m. in Anchorage’s Oceanview neighborhood. About 20 people were involved in the fight, according to police spokeswoman Jennifer Castro, and it was broken up with no arrests. Eyewitnesses said that “as people were leaving in a cab, Track was seen on the street, shirtless, flipping people off, with Sarah right behind him, and Todd somewhere in the foreground, tending to his bloody nose.”

“At the time of the incident, none of the involved parties wanted to press charges,” Castro confirmed in a statement to Alaska Dispatch News. “However, the case is still an active investigation and is being reviewed by APD and the Municipal Prosecutors Office. Alcohol was believed to have been a factor in the incident. Some of the Palin family members were in attendance at the party.”

http://www.adn.com/article/20140911/...turned-violent

On her Facebook page, Sarah Palin posted that she was traveling on Saturday.

One commenter, Kimberley Vranckaert-Trujillo, claimed to be a witness to the incident, writing in the post thread: “Interesting. ... pretty sure you were not traveling and you and family were on the Southside causing chaos. Saw it happen. Don't fib.” The comment has since been removed.

This Kimberley Vranckaert-Trujillo sounds like she will be quite happy to talk to TMZ

[MavsSuperFan]

the vice presidency is somewhat of an empty position (dick cheney was an exception as Bush 2 was a dumdum that needed to be lead). McCain is still alive. She would have almost zero power.

McCain would have been very similar to Obama, but we probably would have bombed iran, syria and not withdrawn from Iraq. ISIS is largely a sunni movement that feels america has been too pro shia (removing saddam and giving power to the shia). Bombing Iran and assad's government would have prevented the sunnis from feeling wronged or at least not giving the impression that we are pro shia. But overall it would be worse as Iran is far more formidable than ISIS (basically the Iraq war all over again). Iran is about the same military strength as Saddam's Iraq was. We all know how disastrous the Iraq occupation was for us.

I think obamacare (which is very similar to romneycare) would have happened with McCain (to be specific a very similar bill that mandates all americans without insurance to buy private insurance under penalty of fines). The GOP just opposes it because its obama's idea, the actually policies of the ACA is very similar to the original heritage foundation's proposal to counter universal healthcare.

[Godzuki]

video of this would be so entertaining, really hope someone recorded it.

i can see her blaming liberal media as usual tho.

[KevinNYC]

McCain would have been very similar to Obama, but we probably would have bombed iran, syria and not withdrawn from Iraq.

I think obamacare (which is very similar to romneycare) would have happened with McCain (to be specific a very similar bill that mandates all americans without insurance to buy private insurance under penalty of fines). The GOP just opposes it because its obama's idea, the actually policies of the ACA is very similar to the original heritage foundation's proposal to counter universal healthcare.

You seem like a fairly engaged and informed guy, but this post leaves me gobsmacked. Do you really believe a McCain Presidency would be similar to Obama's?

For one thing you're forgetting the response to the financial crisis. Which is a mighty big thing to forget. McCain probably would have followed similiar policies to the Conservative Party in the UK, choosing austerity over stimulus



This policy failed and the UK is still not back the the GDP it had in 2008.
So this is gigantic.

Second. This sentence
McCain would have been very similar to Obama, but we probably would have bombed iran, syria and not withdrawn from Iraq.
Really? That is very similar? Gobsmacked, I am. Those seem like very large differences.

Third once the GOP won the election, they would have either done nothing on Healthcare or put forward a plan that was nothing like Obamacare and wouldn't have gotten Democratic Support in the Senate they would be happy to let die. The GOP is only pushing health reform alternatives because otherwise, they would get killed in elections. Would McCain have kept pushing this in 2009 or 2010, during the depths of the recession?

Also on foreign policy McCain was just as big a neocon as Bush or Cheney. In fact, for his campaign he hired some of the guys who gave Bush his most terrible ideas. So we could have expected many more terrible ideas beyond the terrible ones you listed under small differences.

The McCain campaign's foreign policy coordinator was Randy Scheunemann. If the name doesn't ring a bell, he was a director for the Project for the New American Century, the guys who somewhat quietly pushed for War with Iraq before 9/11 and then after 9/11 he became the head of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, the guys who quite loudly pushed for War with Iraq.

McCain literally picked some of the most discredited, most dishonest, most delusional people to work on his foreign policy staff. This isn't a Democrat/Republican thing for me. As a Republican you could have found advisers that didn't push our biggest foreign policy mistake, Republican advisers like this exist. One of those advisers convinced McCain to pick Palin.

Also, yes McCain is still alive, but being president is a much, much more stressful job than the one he has now. And have you seen who is the head of the Heritage Foundation these days?

[Inactive]

the vice presidency is somewhat of an empty position (dick cheney was an exception as Bush 2 was a dumdum that needed to be lead). McCain is still alive. She would have almost zero power.

McCain would have been very similar to Obama, but we probably would have bombed iran, syria and not withdrawn from Iraq. ISIS is largely a sunni movement that feels america has been too pro shia (removing saddam and giving power to the shia). Bombing Iran and assad's government would have prevented the sunnis from feeling wronged or at least not giving the impression that we are pro shia. But overall it would be worse as Iran is far more formidable than ISIS (basically the Iraq war all over again). Iran is about the same military strength as Saddam's Iraq was. We all know how disastrous the Iraq occupation was for us.

I think obamacare (which is very similar to romneycare) would have happened with McCain (to be specific a very similar bill that mandates all americans without insurance to buy private insurance under penalty of fines). The GOP just opposes it because its obama's idea, the actually policies of the ACA is very similar to the original heritage foundation's proposal to counter universal healthcare.

If we attacked Iran, I'm pretty sure we would just bomb strategic locations.

An occupation of Iran would be far more costly than Iraq. For one thing, it's a much larger country, with more than double Iraq's population. They would probably get more outside support from countries like Russia. They have a much more nationalistic population. In Iraq, the Shia Arabs (the majority of the country) had no reason to fight us. The Kurds were already fighting against Saddam. The Iranian people would likely be unified against us, and ready to die fighting.

[MavsSuperFan]

You seem like a fairly engaged and informed guy, but this post leaves me gobsmacked. Do you really believe a McCain Presidency would be similar to Obama's?

For one thing you're forgetting the response to the financial crisis. Which is a mighty big thing to forget. McCain probably would have followed similiar policies to the Conservative Party in the UK, choosing austerity over stimulus



This policy failed and the UK is still not back the the GDP it had in 2008.
So this is gigantic.

Second. This sentence
McCain would have been very similar to Obama, but we probably would have bombed iran, syria and not withdrawn from Iraq.
Really? That is very similar? Gobsmacked, I am. Those seem like very large differences.

Third once the GOP won the election, they would have either done nothing on Healthcare or put forward a plan that was nothing like Obamacare and wouldn't have gotten Democratic Support in the Senate they would be happy to let die. The GOP is only pushing health reform alternatives because otherwise, they would get killed in elections. Would McCain have kept pushing this in 2009 or 2010, during the depths of the recession?

Also on foreign policy McCain was just as big a neocon as Bush or Cheney. In fact, for his campaign he hired some of the guys who gave Bush his most terrible ideas. So we could have expected many more terrible ideas beyond the terrible ones you listed under small differences.

The McCain campaign's foreign policy coordinator was Randy Scheunemann. If the name doesn't ring a bell, he was a director for the Project for the New American Century, the guys who somewhat quietly pushed for War with Iraq before 9/11 and then after 9/11 he became the head of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, the guys who quite loudly pushed for War with Iraq.

McCain literally picked some of the most discredited, most dishonest, most delusional people to work on his foreign policy staff. This isn't a Democrat/Republican thing for me. As a Republican you could have found advisers that didn't push our biggest foreign policy mistake, Republican advisers like this exist. One of those advisers convinced McCain to pick Palin.

Also, yes McCain is still alive, but being president is a much, much more stressful job than the one he has now. And have you seen who is the head of the Heritage Foundation these days?

Obama wanted to cut Social Security. he was stopped by the GOP refusing to make a deal with him and liberal dems not supporting it.

I dont think McCain would have found the votes for it either.

The GOP is full of shit on the cutting spending angle. Bush increased government spending greatly. Bush was already bailing out the banks.

The GOP would have bailed out the banks just as Obama did because its what big business would have wanted. They just like critiquing Obama even when he does exactly what they would have done.

The GOP is not conservative, they are corporate, they do whats best for big business. The corporate bailouts were what wall street needed.

The stimulus package was 3/4ths tax cuts.

Really? That is very similar? Gobsmacked, I am. Those seem like very large differences.

We will eventually go back into Iraq and we will attack syria.

American foreign policy varies very little in the long term whether democratic or republican imo. Obama doesnt represent a huge change.

Obamacare is hated because its associated with obama. Policy wise nothing about it fundamentally challenges the GOP view of big corporations controlling health insurance.

McCain literally picked some of the most discredited, most dishonest, most delusional people to work on his foreign policy staff. This isn't a Democrat/Republican thing for me. As a Republican you could have found advisers that didn't push our biggest foreign policy mistake, Republican advisers like this exist. One of those advisers convinced McCain to pick Palin.

and obama's head of the CIA pick is a bush era torturer

[KevinNYC]

If we attacked Iran, I'm pretty sure we would just bomb strategic locations.

An occupation of Iran would be far more costly than Iraq. For one thing, it's a much larger country, with more than double Iraq's population. They would probably get more outside support from countries like Russia. They have a much more nationalistic population. In Iraq, the Shia Arabs (the majority of the country) had no reason to fight us. The Kurds were already fighting against Saddam. The Iranian people would likely be unified against us, and ready to die fighting.

A war with Iran is basically a nightmare even if we would win. They are right next to and could easily close the most strategic chokepoint on Earth.

The Strait of Hormuz is the busiest passageway for oil tankers in the world, with over 17 million barrels (or 20% of the total world supply) moving through the narrow stretch of water each day. Disruption to this flow could severely damage global oil markets and so protecting the straits is an important job; and one of the most critical that the US Navy carries out.

[MavsSuperFan]

If we attacked Iran, I'm pretty sure we would just bomb strategic locations.

An occupation of Iran would be far more costly than Iraq. For one thing, it's a much larger country, with more than double Iraq's population. They would probably get more outside support from countries like Russia. They have a much more nationalistic population. In Iraq, the Shia Arabs (the majority of the country) had no reason to fight us. The Kurds were already fighting against Saddam. The Iranian people would likely be unified against us, and ready to die fighting.

Iran and Saddam's iraq were roughly equivalent militarily.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_War
8 year brutal war that ended basically in a stalemate.

They would probably get more outside support from countries like Russia.

Saddam's relations with russia and china were decent

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991 the newly independent Russian Federation and the Republic of Iraq established diplomatic relations and maintained military and economic ties. Russia had strongly opposed the UN sanctions maintained on Iraq after the Persian Gulf War and called on the UN to lift it. But the United States had strongly refused to support any lifting of the sanctions. Russia had strongly opposed the Iraq War and had refused to support military action against Iraq. President Vladimir Putin called it a serious mistake and said that only the United Nations can solve this dispute. He also said that the U.S.-U.K. military action ran counter to international opinion.[9] Nevertheless Russia still refused to meet with CPA administrator Paul Bremer and only met with members of the Iraqi Governing Council instead.[10] But Russia only came to assist Iraq after the Coalition Provisional Authority was disbanded and a new Iraqi government took power. On 7 December 2004 Russian president Vladimir Putin met with Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and both countries pledged to cooperate on terrorism and to strengthen ties.[11] On 14 September 2005, Vladimir Putin met with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. Mr Talabani called on Russia to assist Iraq and he maintained the strong ties that existed between Russia and Iraq since the Soviet Union.[12]

Former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for International Technology Security John A. Shaw who was responsible for tracking Saddam Hussein's weapons programs before and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, stated in October 2004, March 2005, and again in February 2006 that it was the Russians who helped Saddam Hussein to "clean up" his weapons of mass destruction stockpiles "to prevent the United States from discovering them." [13] In particular, on 18 February 2006, Shaw told a conference at The Intelligence Summit in Alexandria, Virginia, that "The short answer to the question of where the WMD Saddam bought from the Russians went was that they went" to Syria and the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon, Kenneth R. Timmerman reported 19 February 2006, in NewsMax. "They were moved by Russian Spetsnaz (special forces) units out of uniform, that were specifically sent to Iraq to move the weaponry and eradicate any evidence of its existence," Shaw said. After accusing Russian GRU of helping Saddam to remove his WMD, Shaw was asked to resign for "exceeding his authority" in disclosing the information, a charge he called "specious." Shaw was forced out of office when his position was eliminated on 10 December 2004.[8], [9]. Shaw stated that he went public with his comments regarding Russia moving Iraq's WMD when he did to help George W. Bush who he felt was being "crucified" by the revelations that over 350 tons of explosives had gone missing in Iraq as a result of the U.S. invasion [10]. He said "If I had not had the openly hostile environment in [Pentagon public affairs], I would have moved the story differently. Getting the truth out instantly was more important than process." American Neoconservative commentators have also accused Russia of suppling weapons to the Iraqi insurgents.

Occupying Iran would not be that much harder than the occupation of Iraq (which already was terrible)

In Iraq, the Shia Arabs (the majority of the country) had no reason to fight us.

read up on the iraq war.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahdi_Army

The Mahdi Army, also known as the Mahdi Militia or Jaish al-Mahdi (JAM; Arabic جيش المهدي Jaysh al-Mahdī), was an Iraqi paramilitary force created by the Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in June 2003.

The group rose to international prominence on April 18, 2004, when it spearheaded the first major armed confrontation against the U.S.-led forces in Iraq from the Shia community. This concerned an uprising that followed the ban of al-Sadr's newspaper and his subsequent attempted arrest, lasting until a truce on June 6. This truce was followed by moves to disband the group and transform al-Sadr's movement into a political party to take part in the 2005 elections; Muqtada al-Sadr ordered fighters of the Mahdi army to cease fire unless attacked first. The truce broke down in August 2004 after provocative actions by the Mahdi Army, with new hostilities erupting. In 2008, following a crackdown by Iraqi security forces, the group was disbanded.

At its height, the Mahdi Army's popularity was strong enough to influence local government, the police, and cooperation with Sunni Iraqis and their supporters. The group was popular among Iraqi police forces. National Independent Cadres and Elites party that ran in the 2005 Iraqi election was closely linked with the army

.
the shia were probably the biggest force against us overall

[MavsSuperFan]

A war with Iran is basically a nightmare even if we would win. They are right next to and could easily close the most strategic chokepoint on Earth.

A US Naval carrier battle group would be able to open the straits of Hormuz relatively easily.

We would crush their government relatively quickly, as we crushed Saddam's its the occupation that would bleed us.

There is not a single militarily strong nation in the entire middle east. (eg. no top 10 military)

[Inactive]

Iran and Saddam's iraq were roughly equivalent militarily.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_War
8 year brutal war that ended basically in a stalemate.

We would crush their military. It's occupying the country that would be a problem.

Occupying Iran would not be that much harder than the occupation of Iraq (which already was terrible)


read up on the iraq war.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahdi_Army
.


the shia were probably the biggest force against us overall

The Iraqi population was never unified in (armed) opposition to the U.S.

Since August 2006, the Mahdi Army rarely challenged coalition troops on a wide scale. Neither the coalition nor the Iraqi government made any move to arrest al-Sadr. The Mahdi Army participated in battles against Sunni insurgents and operated its own justice system in the areas it controlled

They were 60,000 strong at their peak.

In Iran, one would expect virtually the entire population to resist the U.S.

[MavsSuperFan]

We would crush their military. It's occupying the country that would be a problem.

The Iraqi population was never unified in (armed) opposition to the U.S. They were 60,000 strong at their peak.

In Iran, one would expect virtually the entire population to resist the U.S.

We would crush their military. It's occupying the country that would be a problem.

100% what i am saying. Look if I though we couldnt take a nation militarily I would admit it. people that say we couldnt take iran's military are ignorant.

Eg. I often admit the cowboys/mavs are going to lose games

Iran's military would not last much longer than Saddam's. Neither would Iran's government.

The occupation would be a waste of american life and american money. We never should have occupied Iraq or we should have insured one of his generals would take over.

In Iran, one would expect virtually the entire population to resist the U.S.

I doubt this, there are many Iranians who consider their government dictators. In iraq a very small minority of the population actually took up arms against us. I think iran would be similar.

The CIA World Factbook (which is based on 2013 statistics) gives the following numbers for the languages spoken in Iran today: Persian, Luri, Gilaki and Mazandarani 66%; Azeri and other Turkic languages 18%; Kurdish 10%; Arabic 2%; Baloch 2%; others 1%.[20]

Other sources, such as the Library of Congress, and the Encyclopedia of Islam (Leiden)[21] give Iran's ethnic groups as following: Persians 65%, Azeris 16%, Kurds 7%, Lurs 6%, Arabs 2%, Baloch 2%, Turkmens 1%, Turkic tribal groups (e.g. Qashqai) 1%, and non-Persian, non-Turkic groups (e.g. Armenians, Georgians, Assyrians, Pashtuns,) less than 1%.[22] For sources prior to 2000, see Languages and ethnicities in Iran.

So they do have minority groups and arent a homogeneous society.

However, some human rights groups have accused the Iranian government of violating the constitutional guarantees of equality, and the UN General Assembly has voiced its concern over "increasing discrimination and other human rights violations against ethnic and religious minorities."[17] In a related report, Amnesty International says:

“ Despite constitutional guarantees of equality, individuals belonging to minorities in Iran, who are believed to number about half of the population of about 70 millions, are subject to an array of discriminatory laws and practices. These include land and property confiscations, denial of state and para-statal employment under the gozinesh criteria and restrictions on social, cultural, linguistic and religious freedoms which often result in other human rights violations such as the imprisonment of prisoners of conscience, grossly unfair trials of political prisoners before Revolutionary Courts, corporal punishment and use of the death penalty, as well as restrictions on movement and denial of other civil rights.[18] ”
Some Western journalists and commentators have expressed similar views. John Bradley is of the opinion that:[19]

“ Iran’s ethnic minorities share a widespread sense of discrimination and deprivation toward the central Tehran government. Tehran’s highly centralized development strategy has resulted in a wide socioeconomic gap between the center and the peripheries, where there is also an uneven distribution of power, socioeconomic resources, and sociocultural status. Fueled by these long-standing economic and cultural grievances against Tehran, unrest among the country’s large groups of ethnic minorities is increasing.' The violence in remote regions such as Khuzestan and Baluchistan clearly has ethnic components, but the far greater causes of the poverty and unemployment that vexes members of those ethnic groups are government corruption, inefficiency, and a general sense of lawlessness, which all Iranians, including Persians, must confront.

Islam is the religion of 98% of Iranians. 89% of Iranians are Shi'a and 9% are Sunni, most Sunnis in Iran are Larestani people (from Larestan), Turkomen, Baluchs, and Kurds living in the south, southeast, northeast and northwest.

As in almost any country we would be able to find people within it that hate the government

[KevinNYC]

Obama wanted to cut Social Security. he was stopped by the GOP refusing to make a deal with him and liberal dems not supporting it.

That's a pretty tendentious way of saying it. Considering it was only offered as part of a debt reduction deal that would raise taxes on the rich and corporations by cutting corporate loophole and create jobs by giving tax breaks for companies investing in infrastructure in the US. The Republicans didn't block the deal because of chained CPI (which are not cuts but smaller raises to Social Security) and the concern for Social Security. They refused to raise tax revenue. So he offered "to cut" Social Security in exchange for a whole lot of stuff."

The stimulus package was 3/4ths tax cuts.
Nope. 28%
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-me...hird-tax-cuts/


Obama's head of the CIA pick is a bush era torturer

You're a throw the Baby out with the Bathwater kind of guy, huh?
Brennan testified that he was not involved with creating or managing that program and he was not in its chain-of-command and that he voiced his dissent internally. Do you have evidence he perjured himself at his confirmation hearing? Jane Mayer wrote a whole book on the torture issue and she doesn't say that in her report on Brennan's confirmation hearings. She certainly implies that his information on that program was not first-hand, but second-hand.
[QUOTE]During his Senate confirmation hearings last month, Brennan acknowledged that the report

[KevinNYC]

A US Naval carrier battle group would be able to open the straits of Hormuz relatively easily.

Not according the every War Game the Pentagon has run, we wouldn't.

If you sink of couple of empty tankers and mine the harbor, it becomes a nightmare. And that oil is headed for China, not us which becomes another issue.