Errrr…Never heard of her. Likewise neither has most of America. Odd choice.
I think for a number of people the fact that Obama has more education is alone enough to disqualify him.
I worry some about Obama’s relative lack of experience, but Palin is REMARKABLY unprepared.
Brian,
Osamaobama, as Ted Kennedy likes to call him after a 4 martini lunch, has only spent 143 days on the Senate floor in those 4 years. The rest of the time he has been out campaigning for his shot at prez.
The Most Popular Governor
Alaska’s Sarah Palin is the GOP’s newest star.
by Fred Barnes
07/16/2007, Volume 012, Issue 41
Juneau
The wipeout in the 2006 election left Republicans in such a state of dejection that they’ve overlooked the one shining victory in which a Republican star was born. The triumph came in Alaska where Sarah Palin, a politician of eye-popping integrity, was elected governor. She is now the most popular governor in America, with an approval rating in the 90s, and probably the most popular public official in any state.
Her rise is a great (and rare) story of how adherence to principle–especially to transparency and accountability in government–can produce political success. And by the way, Palin is a conservative who only last month vetoed 13 percent of the state’s proposed budget for capital projects. The cuts, the Anchorage Daily News said, “may be the biggest single-year line-item veto total in state history.”
As recently as last year, Palin (pronounced pale-in) was a political outcast. She resigned in January 2004 as head of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission after complaining to the office of Governor Frank Murkowski and to state Attorney General Gregg Renkes about ethical violations by another commissioner, Randy Ruedrich, who was also Republican state chairman.
State law barred Palin from speaking out publicly about ethical violations and corruption. But she was vindicated later in 2004 when Ruedrich, who’d been reconfirmed as state chairman, agreed to pay a $12,000 fine for breaking state ethics laws. She became a hero in the eyes of the public and the press, and the bane of Republican leaders.
In 2005, she continued to take on the Republican establishment by joining Eric Croft, a Democrat, in lodging an ethics complaint against Renkes, who was not only attorney general but also a long-time adviser and campaign manager for Murkowski. The governor reprimanded Renkes and said the case was closed. It wasn’t. Renkes resigned a few weeks later, and Palin was again hailed as a hero.
Palin, 43, the mother of four, passed up a chance to challenge Republican senator Lisa Murkowski, the then-governor’s daughter, in 2004. She endorsed another candidate in the primary, but Murkowski won and was reelected. Palin said then that her 14-year-old son talked her out of running, though it’s doubtful that was the sole reason.
In 2006, she didn’t hesitate. She ran against Gov. Murkowski, who was seeking a second term despite sagging poll ratings, in the Republican primary. In a three-way race, Palin captured 51 percent and won in a landslide. She defeated former Democratic governor Tony Knowles in the general election, 49 percent to 41 percent. She was one of the few Republicans anywhere in the country to perform above expectations in 2006, an overwhelmingly Democratic year. Palin is unabashedly pro life.
With her emphasis on ethics and openness in government, “it turned out Palin caught the temper of the times perfectly,” wrote Tom Kizzia of the Anchorage Daily News. She was also lucky. News broke of an FBI investigation of corruption by legislators between the primary and general elections. So far, three legislators have been indicted.
In the roughly three years since she quit as the state’s chief regulator of the oil industry, Palin has crushed the Republican hierarchy (virtually all male) and nearly every other foe or critic. Political analysts in Alaska refer to the “body count” of Palin’s rivals. “The landscape is littered with the bodies of those who crossed Sarah,” says pollster Dave Dittman, who worked for her gubernatorial campaign. It includes Ruedrich, Renkes, Murkowski, gubernatorial contenders John Binkley and Andrew Halcro, the three big oil companies in Alaska, and a section of the Daily News called “Voice of the Times,” which was highly critical of Palin and is now defunct.
One of her first acts as governor was to fire the Alaska Board of Agriculture. Her ultimate target was the state Creamery Board, which has been marketing the products of Alaska dairy farmers for 71 years and wanted to close down after receiving $600,000 from the state. “You don’t just close your doors and walk away,” Palin told me. She discovered she lacked the power to fire the Creamery Board. Only the board of agriculture had that authority. So Palin replaced the agriculture board, which appointed a new creamery board, which has rescinded the plan to shut down.
In preserving support for dairy farmers, Palin exhibited a kind of Alaskan chauvinism. She came to the state as an infant, making her practically a native. And she is eager to keep Alaska free from domination by oil companies or from reliance on cruise lines whose ships bring thousands of tourists to the state.
“She’s as Alaskan as you can get,” says Dan Fagan, an Anchorage radio talk show host. “She’s a hockey mom, she lives on a lake, she ice fishes, she snowmobiles, she hunts, she’s an NRA member, she has a float plane, and her husband works for BP on the North Slope,” Fagan says. Todd Palin, her high school sweetheart, is a three-time winner of the 2,000-mile Iron Dog snowmobile race from Wasilla to Nome to Fairbanks. It’s the world’s longest snowmobile race.
Gov. Palin grew up in Wasilla, where as star of her high school basketball team she got the nickname “Sarah Barracuda” for her fierce competitiveness. She led her underdog team to the state basketball championship. Palin also won the Miss Wasilla beauty contest, in which she was named Miss Congeniality, and went on to compete in the Miss Alaska pageant.
At 32, she was elected mayor of Wasilla, a burgeoning bedroom community outside Anchorage. Though Alaskans tend to be ferociously anti-tax, she persuaded Wasilla voters to increase the local sales tax to pay for an indoor arena and convention center. The tax referendum won by 20 votes.
In 2002, Palin entered statewide politics, running for lieutenant governor. She finished a strong second in the Republican primary. That fall, she dutifully campaigned for Murkowski, who’d given up his Senate seat to run for governor. Afterwards, she turned down several job offers from Murkowski, finally accepting the oil and gas post. When she quit 11 months later, “that was her defining moment” in politics, says Fagan.
Her campaign for governor was bumpy. She missed enough campaign appearances to be tagged “No Show Sarah” by her opponents. She was criticized for being vague on issues. But she sold voters on the one product that mattered: herself.
Her Christian faith–Palin grew up attending nondenominational Bible churches–was a minor issue in the race. She told me her faith affects her politics 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.” That same concept applies to her political career, she suggested.
The biggest issue in the campaign was the proposed natural gas pipeline from the North Slope that’s crucial to the state’s economy. Murkowski had made a deal with the three big oil companies–Exxon, BP, ConocoPhillips–which own the gas reserves to build the pipeline. But the legislature turned it down and Palin promised to create competition for the pipeline contract.
She made three other promises: to end corruption in state government, cut spending, and provide accountability. She’s now redeeming those promises.
Palin describes herself as “pro-business and pro-development.” She doesn’t want the oil companies to sit on their energy reserves or environmental groups to block development of the state’s resources. “I get frustrated with folks from outside Alaska who come up and say you shouldn’t develop your resources,” she says. Alaska needs to be self-sufficient, she says, instead of relying heavily on “federal dollars,” as the state does today.
Her first major achievement as governor was lopsided passage by the legislature of the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, which is designed to attract pipeline proposals this summer. The state is offering $500 million in incentives, but the developer must meet strict requirements. The oil companies have said they won’t join the competition.
Palin’s tough spending cuts drew criticism from Republican legislators whose pet projects were vetoed. But her popularity doesn’t appear threatened. “It’s not just that she’s pretty and young,” says Dittman. “She’s really smart. And there’s no guile. She says her favorite meal is moose stew or mooseburgers. It wouldn’t shock people if that were true.”
© Copyright 2008, News Corporation, Weekly Standard, All Rights Reserved.
Besides, Brian, she is a University of Idaho Vandal, which is qualification, enough.
I have to admit I had heard of her before but that’s due to Craig Ferguson of the Late Late Show -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5zsownDK2A
-Brian
I would rather have and inexperienced vice president than an inexperienced president. The normal course of things is for the first chair / command position to be occupied by the most experienced while the second chair is occupied by the lesser experienced. That plan works for everything from orchestras to the military to corporations to governments.
Obama harps on “change,” but I haven’t heard one substantial change he would make, with the exception of his announced give aways to “middle class” Americans. Oh, and there is the idea of taxing the oil companies’ profits to pay for it. Otherwise it seems like the only change he would make is to have himself installed in the White House.
At least Ms. Palin, as governor of Alaska has a track record of doing something about the scandals and corruption in that state’s government, and she appears to have good credentials on several fronts, including energy and the environment.
As to the crap about the state trooper, it truly appears to be a ‘he said, she said’ situation. Where are the emails, phone logs, etc. that show wrong doing? If even some of the accusations concerning the trooper are true, he should have been dismissed. The public safety commissioner should have fired the trooper in the first place. His current ‘sour grapes’ bleatings don’t seem to have much weight. Just imagine the reports if this situation was reversed, with the public safety commissioner claiming Ms Palin protected her BIL from firing. As Steve F. writes, it truly is the silly season.
Looks to me that this is shaping up to be an even race in the personal attributes department:
The Democrats have an inexperienced black man, claiming change is necessary, as candidate for president, with a highly experienced white male ‘old school’ politician for vice president. The Republicans have an experienced white male ‘old school’ politician for president, with an inexperienced white female, who’s working to make change in her current position.
On to more of the “silly season!”
Happy RRing,
Jerry
Qualifications of a previous President
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served four successive terms in the Illinois House of Representatives as a representative
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became one of the most respected and successful lawyers in Illinois
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served a single 2 year term in the House of Representatives
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lost the election for the US Senate two years before running for President
some food for thought.
-Brian
Ric Golding said:Yes, it is. Politically, it may rank as one of the smartest moves ever in US presidential politics.
THIS IS HUGE!!!!
You blokes worried about experience can relax. Any woman who can run a household of 5 kids plus a husband will have no trouble running a mere country.
Steve, if you’re going to criticize Obama’s Senate attendance, don’t forget to shine the light on the other senator running for President.
Since the 1st quarter of 2005, McCain has missed an average of 39% of the votes, while Obama has missed only 21%. source: http://www.govtracks.us Both candidates’ absenteeism increased significantly during their campaigns, though Obama’s attendence record during them has been markedly better. (McCain had a similar spike during his 2000 bid.)
But let’s face it–being on the floor of the Senate is NOT a measure of experience, no matter which side you sit on. There’s more to being a senator than voting. There’s getting out in the community, listening to your constituency, fact-finding tours, and just getting out and getting things accomplished. To say a candidate lacks experience because he hasn’t shown up to vote is absolute hogwash.
I will not say that being a governor isn’t good experience for being President (or VP) since many of our past presidents came from state office, but the McCain camp has clearly thrown “inexperience” off the table as a criticism against the Obama camp.
Definitely an interesting choice. McCain’s strategy seems to be to drive hard after the former Hillary voters. Personally, I don’t see it paying off, at least not in numbers that will make a difference for him. Experience aside, Palin’s hard-line stance on abortion and gay rights will be a bitter pill for even the most disgruntled Hillary supporter to swallow.
Later,
K
Dave Healy said:Ric Golding said:Yes, it is. Politically, it may rank as one of the smartest moves ever in US presidential politics.
THIS IS HUGE!!!!You blokes worried about experience can relax. Any woman who can run a household of 5 kids plus a husband will have no trouble running a mere country.
I guess my wife should be the nominee then. Raising eight children and putting up with me. Doing so on a budget from our two “blue collar” jobs without food stamps or public assistance.
Ralph
Palin took on and taxed " big oil" in Alaska…Ken and Ric both objected to my suggestion to “prod” oil companies. Hence my surprise in their support in McCain’s choice.
Palin is a member of Feminists for Life…Hence my surprise in their support in McCain"s choice.
Palin is for increased domestic drilling for oil…good
Palin has twice ratted out corrupt government officials…good.
Palin took on and taxed " big oil" in Alaska…good.
Palin and her husband ran a fishing business in Alaska and is said to have actually worked on the boat…good. Apparently knows the value of hard work.
Ralph
Your wife sounds more qualified than many that have been voted into office.
In another topic I stated my thoughts/opinion that politics seems to always be choosing the one that will do the least harm. By nature they are all of questionable character, they are politicians.
Ric Golding said:I think this is the one thing most of us might agree on. Ralph
politics seems to always be choosing the one that will do the least harm.
I’m finding the media’s “spin” on the ethics probe in Alaska VERY interesting… If she did pressure the public safety guy to fire her state trooper ex-BiL on PERSONAL grounds it is one thing, BUT have you looked at some of the things he’s been accused of? We will ignore the part about having affairs and heavy drinking, but these ones still jumped out at me… 1. Tasering his 11YO stepson? Was the kid committing a felony and resisting arrest at the time? I think somebody MIGHT have mentioned if he was. 2. Operating a state patrol car while drinking? oookay, then. 3. Shooting a moose out of season? IIRC the state troopers in Alaska are also supposed to ENFORCE the game laws… A vengeful SiL exerting unfair political clout or is he unfit to wear the badge and the “good ole boy network” is protecting him? If all 3 are true, I think quite possibly the latter. I’d also be interested in actually HEARING what the “other issues” with the public safety director were.
I’d like to have a bit more information before I decide on this one. It COULD all just be people who’s toes SHE has stepped on (or those with a political axe to grind) attempting to get even by trying to use her own methods against her.
I agree. It’s very hard to tell all the details yet. The thing is, she fired the head of the state police, Monahan, because he would not fire the trooper. In the story I read today, Monahan said the trooper in question was not a good example. But what Monahan kept saying to her–he clams–is that she had to back away and let the State Police handle it, it was unethical for her to get involved. But she and the family kept pushing it, and then she fired the guy, Monahan, possibly because he wouldn’t fire the trooper.
The thing is, there’s a rule of law here–you’re supposed to let the law handle it. You can’t fire a guy for rumors, you have to have a case. And you can’t fire a guy because of personal dislike.
She seems like a likeable admirable woman who has suceeded on her own merits, not family connections. But if it’s true, it seems like the kind of “the executive is above the law” behavior that the Bush admin has been pushing.
Ralph Berg said:Dave Healy said:Ric Golding said:Yes, it is. Politically, it may rank as one of the smartest moves ever in US presidential politics.
THIS IS HUGE!!!!You blokes worried about experience can relax. Any woman who can run a household of 5 kids plus a husband will have no trouble running a mere country.
I guess my wife should be the nominee then. Raising eight children and putting up with me. Doing so on a budget from our two “blue collar” jobs without food stamps or public assistance.
Ralph
Missus Berg for Ruler of the Universe (even without the 8 kids)!!!
Victor Smith said:Well, YOU might never have heard of her, but she and I are both life members of the same great American institution - The National Rifle Association.
Errrr......Never heard of her. Likewise neither has most of America. Odd choice.
She is a shooter.
She hunts and shoots her own mooseburgers.
True, Mr O’Barmy [Irishman as he is, according to his ‘ancestral roots’] and his dithering old fart of running mate are also shooters of note.
Mr O’Barmy shoot his mouth off.
And his new running mate shoots himself in the foot - his live TV comment ‘anybody who has a gun like that is sick’ was aimed squarely at at least 10 million ‘black-rifle’ owning Americans, the entire membership of the NRA and every man or woman in the United States who has ever picked up a ‘black-rifle’ on behalf of somebody else for Freedom’s Sake.
My $0.02.
tac
Terry A de C Foley said:
Well, YOU might never have heard of her, but she and I are both life members of the same great American institution - The National Rifle Association.She is a shooter.
She hunts and shoots her own mooseburgers.
True, Mr O’Barmy [Irishman as he is, according to his ‘ancestral roots’] and his dithering old fart of running mate are also shooters of note.
Mr O’Barmy shoot his mouth off.
And his new running mate shoots himself in the foot - his live TV comment ‘anybody who has a gun like that is sick’ was aimed squarely at at least 10 million ‘black-rifle’ owning Americans, the entire membership of the NRA and every man or woman in the United States who has ever picked up a ‘black-rifle’ on behalf of somebody else for Freedom’s Sake.
My $0.02.
tac
Mr. Moley,
Heck, since she is a NRA member and eats moose burgers, I guess she is imminently qualified to be commander-in-chief.
I guess since you and Joe Biden are the same age (and both of you 10 years younger than McCain), you would be the expert on being a dithering old fart.
When did any civilian ever pick up a “black rifle” in this country defending this country?
-Brian
A couple things that hunting moose will teach you are patience and caution – Moose are unpredictable critters, if they scent, hear, or see you, they are as liable to charge you (even been hit by a car with BIG horns?) as run away.
Brian Donovan said:
Mr. Moley,Heck, since she is a NRA member and eats moose burgers, I guess she is imminently qualified to be commander-in-chief.
I guess since you and Joe Biden are the same age (and both of you 10 years younger than McCain), you would be the expert on being a dithering old fart.
When did any civilian ever pick up a “black rifle” in this country defending this country?
-Brian
Dear Mr Donovan - the next time you read me taking the piss out of YOUR name will be the very first time I will have done it. It lowers you, Sir, so please refrain from personal insults.
Mrs Palin clearly believes with all her heart and soul in the one single part of the Constitution that sets the United States of America apart from the other nations of the world - I refer, Sir, to the Second Amendment, which I will not insult you by restating here - a group of words that set down an immutable statement about the American way of life.
In my book, anybody who believes in that, and lives within its tenets has the far higher moral ground than somebody who publicly mocks it in front of an audience of millions, including one of whom may actually become the leader of your nation and therefore de facto a defender of that Constitution.
And yes, I AM an expert on being a dithering old fart, as anyone who knows me will tell you. You have to ask yourself, however, how come that after 33 years service to my country in some very nasty places I have survived to become this old and dithering.
As for a civilian picking up a black rifle to defend your country or the rights and freedoms of anybody else in THEIR country, why Sir, every man and woman that has ever put on the honorable uniform of a soldier was a civilian before they were ever military.
Are you telling me, and the other members of this forum, that YOU would not pick up a gun to defend your rights and those of your fellow Americans?
Or would you mock those who have done so and will continue to do so, no matter what shite they draw down on their heads from their so-called leaders?
Shame on you, Sir, shame on you.
tac
Shame on me, sir? Shame on you! I was merely playing along with your childish game of making fun of people names. If you wish to discuss and argue your political points, I suggest we do so without the ridiculous name calling.
Defend my country? Sure I would. Just as my grandfather, whose name I took, proudly did in the Pacific during WWII. Though I may question this country’s involvement in VietNam, I have never questioned the honor of my uncle who served there. Now, do I believe we need to arm every man, woman and child in this country to defend it? Absolutely not! I even question your phrasing of the second amendment as an “immutable (not subject or susceptible to change) statement about the American way of life”. The Constitution has always been a flexible document in many ways, hence its strength and sometimes weakness. Even the wording of the second amendment - “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” is a bit ambiguous and open to several interpretations. Even with a conservative slant on those words, the term “well regulated” still stands out. Yet your beloved NRA is an organization that fights any regulation even those that would deter mentally unstable individuals from getting firearms easily. To that, sir, I say shame on you, as it is a clear infringement on my “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.
-Brian