Did the Democrats do the same thing with their choice of Obama that the Republicans have done in choosing Palin? Are both parties opting for style over substance?

I'd rather they did it for the bottom of the ticket than the top of the ticket.

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I'd rather they didn't do it at all! Since Palin is being hailed as the future of the Republican party, is this what we have to look forward to?

I never went to fortune-teller school, so I can't tell you.

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Seems that way. But who's to blame, the candidates who are mostly style and little substance, or the sheeple who are more impressed with style than they are with substance? I think Carl Bernstein sums it up perfectly,

"We are in the process of creating what deserves to be called the idiot culture. Not an idiot subculture, which every society has bubbling beneath the surface and which can provide harmless fun; but the culture itself. For the first time, the weird and the stupid and the coarse are becoming our cultural norm, even our cultural ideal." Carl Bernstein, The Guardian, June 3 1992.

No.

McCain picked Palin.

18 million or so democrats picked Obama. BIG difference.

That's only a difference in the way they were picked. That doesn't address "why" they were picked. Obama didn't become the Democratic nominee because people looked at his policies and said, "OMG! That's brilliant!" I think it was his speaking ability that motivated people and made them believe again. That's not a small thing, IMO, because a leader HAS to make people buy into his vision if he's going to get them to move in the direction he wants them to go. Otherwise, he's just talking to himself. Likewise, Palin wasn't picked on the basis of her accomplishments or ideas, IMO.

The question of what qualifies a candidate is interesting.

If we always picked on basis of experience in government, we would rarely pick the people we pick.

Charisma and vision are really important persuaders for voting and governing and should not be discounted a qualifiers.

Whether or not they are used for the greater good is sometimes debatable--FDR & Ronald Reagan for example--and sometimes not--the guy who shall not be named because of Mr. Godwin's rule.

No. The presidential nominee is selected by the people and the vice president
by the presidential nominee. Early in our history the vice president was the
candidate the came in second in the presidential race, regardless of party.

As far as style over substance we can look at the two conventions. One was
right out of Hollywood and the other wasn't.

I think it's hilarious that the leftist are acting like it's Palin against Obama.

I'm still undecided about who I'll vote for but if we are going to compare Obama and Palin it has to be said that Barack is a self-made man that was magna cum laude at Harvard Law School and president of their law review. Palin took 6 years and 6 schools to get a journalism degree from the U. of Idaho.

Then she went on to be in beauty pageants and be a TV broadcaster before running for public office.

You can argue all day long about their political qualifications but it can certainly be said that Obama is a very intelligent and motivated guy and I can't see anything Palin has done that hasn't been centered around her looks.

Magna Cum Laude means nothing and everybody knows it. Remember, we had
8 years of President Clinton and the Republicans saved us from hell-liary care.

B.O. is a leftist. Palin isn't. That should make your decision easy. Just look at
both sides of the issues and make a reasonable decision. That's all there is
to it. Don't rely on your feelings. They'll lie to you every time. Use your brain.

As of yesterday, 2 democrats, that I know, changed over to the Republican
party. By the way, I told them that it's not about Republican or democrat but
about right and wrong. Neither of them had voted democrat for 25+ years. My
wife simply asked them, "what's right and what's wrong?". They added it up
and went to the place at Fair, Modern Living building, where they were
changing or signing up for parties. The Republicans were so far ahead that the
guy at the booth couldn't remember when the last person to register democrat
was. It was overwhelmingly Republican.

By the way, I was walking around the Fair with my McCain / Palin sign and had
a BUNCH of people ask me where I got the sign. I told them, "at the award
winning Republican Boutique in the Modern Living building." They were out
of signs by noon and they told me that they had ordered twice as many signs
as the Republicans had ever ordered. Everybody was asking where I got the
sign. I got the last one. The democrat place had plenty of BO signs. Nobody
wanted one, but I saw a few. Our neighborhood has 2 BO sings. They may
change after thinking about the facts. They're very nice people.

The BO people, at the Fair, were so hateful. Why would a party be so hateful?
One guy was wanting to pick a fight with me. I thought the leftists were
supposed to be peaceful. They were honestly anything but peaceful. In fact
they were very bitter, I mean bitter, and hateful. They were cursing and
exhibiting a dogma of intolerance and hate. Vile hate.

Our neighborhood is full of Palin - McCain signs.

That's a GOOD thing!

Well, that endorsement ought to help make up your mind for you.

Only because you've already made up your mind and aren't looking at objective facts.

That's your prerogative but for those of us trying to keep an open mind, such things as proving yourself one of the most intelligent people at the best law school in the country does mean something, just as it would if you were interviewing a couple of different people for a job.

I like McCain and may end up voting for him but anyone that doesn't at least admit that Obama is a very sharp guy is so biased that it's hard for me to consider their opinions.

The answer to that is a little subjective don't you think?

What is your answer?

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Exactly how I feel.

I think there will be a critical mass, perhaps not this election but in the near future a third party will become more appealing than the deception and power hungry economic idiots running both parties.

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Let's hope so!

But first we need to get our own state to come into the 21st century and actually accept 3rd party candidates, as well as write-in candidates, for that matter. That would be a start.

We really need an election overhaul altogether. In a Federal election, all states need to conduct the election in the same manner, with all electorate votes counting the same way. But that's a discussion for another thread.

I was misunderstood. Magna Cum Laude is not the issue. These bestowals
only prove that one has highly succeeded in academics. That isn't to say that
it's bad, quite the contrary. However, being learned in academics doesn't mean
that one has wisdom. There are many highly educated and well meaning
economic academicians who still think raising taxes increases revenue. History
has proven that raising taxes only increases tax revenues if there are no taxes
to begin with.

Smart people, such as Obama and Clinton, can have not so smart ideas, viz
nationalized hell-ary care, meeting with terrorist leaders (but not McCain)
without preconditions, raising taxes, not cutting taxes etc...

It's true, saying BO isn't a very sharp guy would amount to nothing but bias.
He's very sharp (smart, intelligent).

What's right and what's wrong? Yes, it's subjective as are all decisions. It's a
matter of thinking about what you know to be true and juxtaposing it with what
you know to be false. The answer, of course, will be subjective as well.

The answer is to look at history. What's worked and what hasn't? What's in
the best interest of the USA as a whole? What issues do you believe to be of
importance.

Each candidate has a platform. Each party has a platform.

I don't agree with either in toto. I align closest with the Constitution Party,
however, registering as such doesn't allow for voting during the primaries.

A friend tried to vote during the presidential primaries and returned frustrated
because he couldn't vote. He was registered Independent. He thought he
could vote for whoever he wanted because he was "Independent".

Yes history can tell us much. However, a nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse.

You're absolutely right. How somebody can't understand why tax cuts always
works is beyond me.