Sarah Palin (1964- ) is the governor of the state of Alaska and John McCain’s pick for Republican vice president for 2008. She is part of the Christian right and once supported Pat Buchanan on the far right.
McCain’s choice was so surprising that some wonder about his judgement. It seems like a cheap, desperate move. It is either that or a bold and brave master stroke. Only time will tell.
The choice is not quite as desperate as it might seem at first sight. Of all the Republican governors she is the most beloved by her citizens: she cuts taxes and cleans up government. She stands up to the bad apples even in her own party and gets them kicked out.
She has courage and faith in God. Instead of working all the angles and playing the game, like a Hillary Clinton, she looks at it this way:
I believe everything happens for a purpose. In my own personal life, if I dedicated back to my Creator what I’m trying to create for the good . . . everything will turn out fine.
Like most Republican voters she is a regular church-going Christian who believs in old-time Christian morals. She is a Pentecostal Christian (Assemblies of God) who is against same-sex marriage and abortion. She has said creationism should be taught in schools.
If the 2008 election comes down to voter turn-out, as it looks like it will, then McCain needs a vice president that the Christian right can go wild for.
Palin’s main drawback is her lack of experience. She has even less of it than Obama. Which seems to destroy McCain’s main argument against him.
She grew up in Alaska hunting moose with her father and used to work with her husband in his fishing boat. As a hunter she is a strong supporter of gun rights.
Her husband has worked for BP, one of the three big oil companies in Alaska. She is for pumping all the oil out of ANWR, the Artic National Wildlife Refuge, a vast untouched piece of wilderness in Alaska.
She has five children:
- 1989: Track, joined the army on September 11th 2007. He will soon be in Iraq.
- 1990: Bristol, pregnant but intends to marry the father.
- 1995: Willow, a girl
- 2001: Piper Indy, a girl
- 2008: Trig, a boy. When Palin was four-months pregnant she knew he would be born with Down syndrome.
The daughter of schoolteachers, she is from Wasilla, a town north of Anchorage:
- In high school she led its basketball team to state-wide victory, getting the name Sarah Barracuda.
- In 1984 she was crowned the town’s beauty queen, and almost became Miss Alaska (she came in second).
- In 1996 she became its mayor.
After her two terms as mayor, ending in 2002, she went on to become the state’s regulator of the oil and gas industry and then, in December 2006, the governor, defeating men with bigger names and bigger money.
Of past presidents she seems most like Harry Truman.
See also:
‘McCain’s choice was so surprising that some wonder about his judgement. It seems like a cheap, desperate move. It is either that or a bold and brave master stroke. Only time will tell.’
Im opting for cheap, desperate move
LikeLike
Me too. It reminds me of when Bush, Sr picked Dan Quayle.
LikeLike
Of course we know by now that this champion of religous mores has failed to instill these notions into her 17 year old daughter, who is pregnant out of wedlock and about to be forced into a shotgun wedding with the presumptive biological father to maintain the Republican charade. If Palin can’t even lead her nuclear family in these matters, how can she lead a nation?
Hubby’s no stranger to the bottle, either, it would seem.
A gun totin’, beer swilling, promiscuous cutie can go very, very far in Alaska. Stand up to some of the nutjobs populating the state’s political offices and one can seem downright messianic. Though has she really done this? She supported Ted Steven’s bridge to nowhere, and we haven’t heard her speak out against the gifts bestowed upon Stevens by powerful oil interests intent on drilling ANWR.
LikeLike
She supported the Bridge to Nowhere when she ran for governor but then later, as governor, stopped work on it because Alaska could not afford it. Some say this is what brought her to McCain’s attention.
LikeLike
That’s exactly my point. She supported pork in its most unvarnished form, only withdrawing support when it became clear that Alaska would not be able to raise the necessary funds. Thus, Repub propoganda suggesting that she “opposed” the bridge — thereby suggesting that she is an opponent of pork — are is dishonest.
LikeLike
Oh, that makes sense.
LikeLike
” Of course we know by now that this champion of religous mores has failed to instill these notions into her 17 year old daughter, who is pregnant out of wedlock and about to be forced into a shotgun wedding with the presumptive biological father to maintain the Republican charade. ”
and if the daughter had sought an abortion would you have applauded that decision.
how do you know the daughter is being forced into anything.
how do you see the pregnancy: moral failing, hypocrisy, feminist independence, choice, successful reproduction, egocentrism.
why would you pin all of this on a 17 year old child.
how is any of this relevant to whether sarah palin is qualified to be hired as the vice president.
http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2008/09/sarah-palins-ch.html
LikeLike
Oh yeah, and she wants to teach creationism in schools…
LikeLike
When she ran for governor in 2006 she pushed the idea that creationism should get equal time in schools with evolution, but after she won she did nothing about it. Her father, by the way, was a science teacher.
LikeLike
I do not see why her pregnant 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, should be held against her either – especially since she is getting married instead of getting an abortion. If that is the worst you can say about Sarah Palin, then that is pretty good.
LikeLike
http://www.burrardstreetjournal.com/sarah-palin-strings-multiple-words-together-form-coherent-sentence/
LikeLike