Sarah Palin

[duckduck]

Forgive me, I am in a very cranky mood today, but thinking about Sarah Palin has made me even crankier. When she was nominated for VP, I went and did my research to find out more about her. I has assumed she must be at least a member of the house of representatives, and was very disappointed to see she has only served as a governor, and for less than 2 years. On top of that, she seems to have made some very shaky decisions in that time, and was a part (or the cause) of multiple expensive and failed endeavors. Her voting record often seems inconsistent with her statements, and she has made at least 2 serious political moves which seemed to me to be conflicts of interest (one of which she is still under investigation for). I know every candidate has some questionable decisions in their record, but what worries me is the number of them that Governor Palin has racked up in her short time as a politician. So, feeling rather disappointed with all of that, I moved on to read about some of her political opinions.

I was somewhat excited because in her interview with TIME last week, she said "it is individual Americans and American families who can make better decisions for ourselves than government can ever make for us." She also said "individual freedom and independence is extremely important to me." These are beautiful statements to me - what is right for one person may not be good for another, and (in my opinion) it is not the government's job to step in and make that decision for us. So, you can imagine my confusion about why she would be a member of a group called "Feminists For Life" and a proponent of overturning Roe versus Wade. I guess some people see abortion as infringing on the rights of the unborn baby, but for me it is the absolute definition of a decision that should be left to Americans and American Families. So fine, I see legitimate debate there, but she also strongly opposes gay marriage, and is against allowing gay couples access to health care. Now who on earth does gay marriage hurt? Why on earth isn't that considered an individual decision?

Anyways, feeling quite disappointed at her lack of experience, unimpressive track record, and seeming inability to make logically consistent statements, I began to wonder why McCain had chosen her in the first place. I mean, this is the person who he hand-picked to take over one of the (if not the) largest superpowers in the world should he be unable to preform his duties or die, right? Well, since they had met for all of 3 hours before she received the nomination, clearly not. So why on earth did the Republican Party then choose Sarah Palin? Well it's been said by everyone - it's because she's a woman. Wow guys. Just wow.

This is an issue which is very close to heart and personal for me. I am a woman in a field in which women are underrepresented. I am hard-working and smart, and if anyone ever gave me a job based on my gender and not my qualifications, I would immediately turn it down. I would NEVER want anyone to think that I have gotten where I have gotten because of my gender, and one day I hope to be respected and well known in my field for my work, not because I was born with a vagina. I want more women to be interested in my field for the same reason as I would want anyone to be - the more brilliant minds we have focusing on solving our problems, the better. Likewise with the presidency - I want the absolute most intelligent, hard working, qualified person in this country to be leading it, and I don't give a flying f*uk if they are black, white, male, female, straight, gay, skinny, or fat. America's problems will not be solved by gender, they will be solved by intelligent, qualified people.

So needless to say, I am feeling deeply disappointed with this nomination. Of course, I would never bother to open a thread on something unless I also still had my mind open to change. I absolutely want to hear other people's thoughts and opinions on this, and whether you agree or disagree.

 

[blueagave]

Really, thank you for writing this. I agree with everything you have written.

Sarah Palin = DNW

 

[MACLovin]

I totally agree. I've been trying to get as much unbiased information as I can as well..

This article told me a LOT about who we are dealing with here: (just quoting part of it, link is below)

Quote:

I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Gov. Sarah Palin since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first-name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99 percent of the residents of the city. She is enormously popular; in every way she's like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice for vice president and won't vote for her can't quit smiling when talking about her because she is a "babe." It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months. She is "pro-life." She recently gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved here; Trig is her baby. She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym. She is savvy. She doesn't take positions; she just "puts things out there" and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit. Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin's kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her lifestyle ever been anything like that of native Alaskans. Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters. She's smart. Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time) and less than two years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents. During her mayoral administration, most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings, which had given rise to a recall campaign. Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a "fiscal conservative." During her six years as mayor, she increased general government expenditures by more than 33 percent. During those same six years, the amount of taxes collected by the city increased by 38 percent. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax, which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefitted large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents. The huge increases in tax revenue during her mayoral administration weren't enough to fund everything on her wish list, though — borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt but left it with indebtedness of more than $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? Or a new library? No. $1 million for a park. $15 million-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex, which she rushed through, on a piece of property that the city didn't even have clear title to. That was still in litigation seven years later — to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5 million for road projects that could have been done in five to seven years without any borrowing. While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once. These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city. As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as governor Sarah proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state. In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenue: Spend today's surplus, borrow for needs. She's not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As mayor, she fought ideas that weren't generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren't evaluated on their merits but on the basis of who proposed them. While Sarah was mayor of Wasilla, she tried to fire our highly respected city librarian because the librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the city librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the librarian are on her enemies list to this day. Sarah complained about the "old boy's club" when she first ran for mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys." Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the city and as governor, she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal — loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the state's top cop. As mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla's police chief because he "intimidated" her, she told the press. As governor, her recent firing of Alaska's top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn't fire her sister's ex-husband, a state trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than two dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support. She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town, introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal city administrator; even people who didn't like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness. Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her. When then-Gov. Frank Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best, chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission — one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil and gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job, which paid $122,400 a year, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this commission (who was also the state chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the "old boys' club," when she dramatically quit, exposing this man's ethics violations (for which he was fined). As mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Sen. Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the "bridge to nowhere" after it became clear that it would be unwise not to. As governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects — which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance — but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as "anti-pork." She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The state party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative. Around Wasilla, there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call her "Sarah Barracuda" because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah's mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.

Crosscut Seattle - About Sarah Palin: an e-mail from Wasilla

And it's not like it's written by some political pundit or someone from the Obama campaign.. this is someone who knows her and obviously knows first-hand what this lady is all about.. and the thought of her being in the 2nd most powerful seat in the country actually terrifies me.

I think it's funny how she's trashing Obama's [supposed lack of] experience, when she doesn't necessarily have the greatest track record to say the least..

I don't know.. I just don't like her from what I've seen/read so far. Yuck.



edit: this part of the article bothers me too -
Quote:

She is savvy. She doesn't take positions; she just "puts things out there" and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.

Wow.. even worse than "waffling" or "flip-flopping" or whatever they want to call it. Sometimes people change their minds and views on certain issues. We are human, and it is to be expected. But that's pretty bad.

 

[bellaconnie80]

I'm really really really worried girls... I mean this crazy bitch wanted to have rape victims pay for their examinations(to prove they were raped) she wanted them to pay $500 and force them to give birth(no abortion option) and then she tried to fire a librarian for not banning certain books.. seriously this bitch is NUTS!!! I love the interview they did with a group of her friends... they all said they wouldnt vote for her or 'have to think about it'.. shit, if your own friends wouldnt vote or support you, to me that says ALOT!! Ladies PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE lets keep this nutbag away from power!!!

 

[NicksWifey]

Wow, if she can keep a pregnancy at bay from her family for seven months, imagine what she can keep from the American people?

 

[PuterChick]

I am TERRIFIED!! She wanted to censor books that were in the local libraries that she felt were not appropriate, and fired the Sr. Librarian when she wouldn't do it.....

This woman would be putting us ladies back in time not forward!

Thanks for this post and I am thankful that we all are able to voice our own opinions in a country that is free to do so.

 

[Lapis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PuterChick I am TERRIFIED!! She wanted to censor books that were in the local libraries that she felt were not appropriate, and fired the Sr. Librarian when she wouldn't do it..... This woman would be putting us ladies back in time not forward! Thanks for this post and I am thankful that we all are able to voice our own opinions in a country that is free to do so.

she didn't fire the librarian just to be clear here, but I do not want to see her as VP, I don't agree with her stance on anything, gay marriage, sex education, abortion, anything.
Hell I found out she was part owner of a car wash that failed, clearly this is not someone who I think would handle the finances of this country wisely, since she didn't pay the taxes on the business

right now the conservatives love her, not because she's the best choice but because she had a baby with Downs syndrome and her 17 year old chose not to have an abortion

Whopeeeeeeeeee I mean no one congratulated me when I choose to go forward with my pregnancy at 17, why are her daughter's bad choices being celebrated?

 

[Kayteuk]

YouTube - Mock The Week on Sarah Palin 2008Sep12

This is my exact view...Love that show.

"A pitbull with Lipstick"

 

[xsnowwhite]

I'm not defending Palin or trying to start anything huge, but I really do not think Obama is 'qualified' either. He has been senator, correct? for what, 2 years and part of that time he has been campaigning for president. I am honestly scared about all of our options at this moment in time.
I do agree Palin is not necessarilly qualified to be VP or president but on the other hand Obama does not have experience either.

 

[MACLovin]

^ That was funny kayteuk! lol

 

[Kayteuk]

Lol I love that show. They always share my point of view.
There was another one where they were criticising Palin for saying she wanted to teach "Abstinence" in schools instead of sex ed. And she has a daughter who has had a child out of wed-lock. LOL! But apparently she said its "Okay for my daughter, because shes GETTING married". So apparently its okay to do it as long as your getting married.....She needs to sort herself out.

I think personally shes lost the election for the republicans. To many spiders in her closet are now coming out.

 

[MzzRach]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kayteuk There was another one where they were criticising Palin for saying she wanted to teach "Abstinence" in schools instead of sex ed. And she has a daughter who has had a child out of wed-lock. LOL! But apparently she said its "Okay for my daughter, because shes GETTING married". So apparently its okay to do it as long as your getting married.....She needs to sort herself out.

 

[purrtykitty]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bellaconnie80 I'm really really really worried girls... I mean this crazy bitch wanted to have rape victims pay for their examinations(to prove they were raped) she wanted them to pay $500 and force them to give birth(no abortion option) and then she tried to fire a librarian for not banning certain books.. seriously this bitch is NUTS!!! I love the interview they did with a group of her friends... they all said they wouldnt vote for her or 'have to think about it'.. shit, if your own friends wouldnt vote or support you, to me that says ALOT!! Ladies PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE lets keep this nutbag away from power!!!

OK, so you may not agree with her views, but that doesn't make her a "bitch" or even a "crazy bitch". Name calling is not exactly a productive way to supplement your view.

I can't say that I agree with her views, particularly regarding abortion for rape victims. And sure, she's made questionable decisions, but what politician hasn't? I can't say that I'm very pleased with McCain's choice of VP, but I understand why he did it. She's the ultra-conservative pick that McCain needed to get his core base back, and plus she's a woman.

 

[duckduck]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MACLovin Crosscut Seattle - About Sarah Palin: an e-mail from Wasilla

Well, I wouldn't call the article "unbiased", but I can say that a lot of the facts stated in it are true. She definitely claims to be fiscally conservative, but during her terms as mayor and governor she increased spending very dramatically. The article also mentioned one of the conflicts of interest that had bothered me some - the one in which Wasilla's police chief supposedly "intimidated" her and she fired him. Thing was, she repeatedly requested he fire her sister's ex-husband (something definitely NOT in her jurisdiction), and after his complete refusal, proceeded to fire him on shaky and unprovable grounds. It was either a very unlikely confluence of events, or just an obvious abuse of power. Either way, requesting the firing ex-brother-in-law was definitely not an acceptable thing to do.

The situation with the librarian scares me a bit - she's talked several times about the importance of free speech, so why try to remove books you find offensive from the library? It seems to be yet another inconsistency in between her words and her actions done with no justification or explanation.


Quote:

Originally Posted by bellaconnie80 I'm really really really worried girls... I mean this crazy bitch wanted to have rape victims pay for their examinations(to prove they were raped) she wanted them to pay $500 and force them to give birth(no abortion option).

The rape kit thing is interesting - I had to go read up on it a little more to try and understand what was going on. While there is now a federal requirement that victims not pay for these, it was apparently not all that uncommon for them to be charged back when Palin was Mayor of Wasilla. Well, at least in some states. In 2000 when Gov. Tony Knowles (Governor of Alaska at the time) signed the bill demanding that taxpayers pick up the tab for rape kits, Wasilla was the only city remaining the entire state of Alaska that did not already have this policy. According to the Police Chief Charlie Fannon (the one Palin hired after firing the old police chief), this would burden the taxpayers by costing a grand total of $5,000 to $14,000 annually. Fannon felt that, instead of burdening taxpayers, the criminal should have to pay restitution to the victim. I am still not 100% clear if Sarah Palin agreed with Fannon on this point, but I can say that she had been Mayor since 1996, so by the time the bill rolled around in 2000 she had been allowing victims of rape to pay out of pocket for their kits for 4 years. The way I figure, compared to a $14.7 million Multi-Use Sports Complex, $14k/year to collect forensic evidence in rape cases should have been chump change. Honestly, I really can’t figure out why Palin didn’t introduce some sort of bill to take care of this – either she didn’t care or she didn’t know, and neither one really bodes well in my opinion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NicksWifey Wow, if she can keep a pregnancy at bay from her family for seven months, imagine what she can keep from the American people?

LOL, I know – she recently stated that she would be in favor of another pre-emptive attack on a country if there was intelligence much like that which lead us into the Iraq war. I vaguely wonder if maybe as president she would just come out one day and say “Surprise! We initiated a pre-emptive attack on Ecuador two months ago and have been at war ever since!” Okay, that’s clearly a joke, but seriously – it’s a little scary she hid that so well for so long. I guess that it’s different when it’s your own family though. If it were my daughter, I would want to protect her from the media and the opinions people would generate of her as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lapis right now the conservatives love her, not because she's the best choice but because she had a baby with Downs syndrome and her 17 year old chose not to have an abortion Whopeeeeeeeeee I mean no one congratulated me when I choose to go forward with my pregnancy at 17, why are her daughter's bad choices being celebrated?

Aww, I congratulate you for making a difficult decision at a young age, and for making the decision that was right for you! I don’t know what everyone is talking so much about her daughter’s pregnancy honestly – Sarah Palin is the one running for VP, not her daughter. I mean I pulled all sorts of shit when I was 17, but it didn’t mean my parents were unfit to do their jobs – it just meant they had a rebellious headstrong daughter

.

 

[MAC_Pixie04]

I still think that latest baby was her daughter's and they covered it up...why the hell can't anyone find a picture of her pregnant with him, but there were pictures of her daughter with a swollen midsection and she left school for like 5 or 6 months....I've known kids who've gotten mono and they don't stay out of school for a half a year...but the ones who get pregnant do...

I don't agree with anything she's proposing, and her track record is filled with more holes and inconsistencies than 9/11. And if she becomes our VP I'll probably start looking to move, because if she gets her way, I'll be barefoot and pregnant and my college degree will become toilet paper for me to wipe my womanly, non-aborting ass with.

 

[duckduck]

LOL at Kayteuk – I love shows that poke fun at politics

Quote:

Originally Posted by xsnowwhite I'm not defending Palin or trying to start anything huge, but I really do not think Obama is 'qualified' either. He has been senator, correct? for what, 2 years and part of that time he has been campaigning for president. I am honestly scared about all of our options at this moment in time. I do agree Palin is not necessarilly qualified to be VP or president but on the other hand Obama does not have experience either.

Oh I understand completely – he was a member of the Illinois senate for about 8 years, and has been Illinois State Senator for about 3.5 years. This is the problem with our two party system: you get 2 choices, and if you don’t like ‘em, tough cookies. I really hope that I live to see the day when a 3rd party becomes a legitimate entity in this country, but that’s a whole separate discussion for a whole separate thread.

Quote:

Originally Posted by purrtykitty I can't say that I'm very pleased with McCain's choice of VP, but I understand why he did it. She's the ultra-conservative pick that McCain needed to get his core base back, and plus she's a woman.

But, but, but, whyyyy does it matter that she’s a woman? What specifically can a woman do as a VP that a man could not? Is dangling someone of the same gender in front of women somehow supposed to magically get their votes? Or maybe men will vote for her because she is pretty? I dunno… I am feeling like I clearly don’t understand something here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MAC_Pixie04 I still think that latest baby was her daughter's and they covered it up...why the hell can't anyone find a picture of her pregnant with him, but there were pictures of her daughter with a swollen midsection and she left school for like 5 or 6 months....I've known kids who've gotten mono and they don't stay out of school for a half a year...but the ones who get pregnant do...

LOL I hadn’t heard that one before! I saw in a few articles people made a point to say that the new baby was hers, and had thought it was an odd point to make – I guess this is why! Well, innocent until proven guilty – but intriguing definitely.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MAC_Pixie04 I don't agree with anything she's proposing, and her track record is filled with more holes and inconsistencies than 9/11. And if she becomes our VP I'll probably start looking to move, because if she gets her way, I'll be barefoot and pregnant and my college degree will become toilet paper for me to wipe my womanly, non-aborting ass with.

LOL, I also feel that the more I learn, the more inconsistencies pop up. She has *said* that she is a supporter of birth control, but she has also been a proponent of abstinence only education which, of course, is set up to leave young women ignorant of that option. If one claims to support something, wouldn’t one want others to be informed of that thing? I am suspicious.

 

[purrtykitty]

It doesn't matter to me that she's a woman, but I'm thinking it was more of a strategic move to get the female vote. It shouldn't matter, but I'm sure to a small sub-set of voters, gender (just like race) does.

 

[duckduck]

Quote:

Originally Posted by purrtykitty It doesn't matter to me that she's a woman, but I'm thinking it was more of a strategic move to get the female vote. It shouldn't matter, but I'm sure to a small sub-set of voters, gender (just like race) does.

Yeah, you might be right. I just don't like the message it sends - your VP pick should be a person who you sincerely believe could pick up the torch and keep running should you fall. There is a legitimate chance (about 20%) of any Vice President becoming the President of the United States. Filling that position into a "strategic move" to try and garner votes says to me that you care more about getting elected than you care about the good of the country.

 

[enjoybeingagirl]

The OP said everything I have been thinking.

The thought of Palin as VP makes me sick to my stomach.

 

[franimal]

I agree with you on a lot of points. I think it is absolutely disgusting how she would deny a woman who obviously had no choice in being raped the choice of whether or not she wants to carry that child. I think that both the mothers and the children of rape have an enormous burden to bear and I think it is absolutely a decision a woman in that situation has to make. I get so sick of politicians deciding how people should live when these decisions do not even apply to them. Taking away the right to have an abortion in the case of rape or incest is on such an extreme level, I am completely appalled. I am a big proponent of the belief that when you give people a choice and treat them with dignity, they will often do the right thing. On another note, it upsets me that her gender is swaying female voters. We look like a bunch of idiots who do not even look at the issues. It reminds me of the women's suffrage movement when women were seen as too stupid to vote, and this year I hope we don't prove them right. Palin is anything but a feminist and she is toxic to women's rights. Neither candidates are perfect, but I definitely won't be voting for McCain I think it is funny that she has sort of blown up into the sort of "celebrity" McCain mocked Obama for being. It is quite amazing how she has fascinated Americans, I'll give her that much.