Sarah Palin selected by McCain for VP slot

[KPO'M 0]

Yes, that was Obama, not you, Betsy. Anyway, I do think he had a point worth discussing.

[KurtColville 0]

We are fooling ourselves if we think that voting GOP will buy us time. The best thing that can happen for the cause of freedom and rational thought is for the GOP to disintegrate and be forced to reconstitute itself along rational lines.

Am I to understand that you hold the GOP as the greatest current threat to freedom and rational thought? Were the GOP to disintegrate, who would "force" it to become more rational, and how on earth would they accomplish this? Look at the culture you live in. The reason we have such rotten parties is not because people are just waiting for a power vacuum to finally establish a more rational party, but because this is what people want, if "wanting" even by their refusal to think.

The mere abandonment of a particular party is not enough to secure freedom. It will take nothing short of a philosophical revolution.

[jasonlockwood 0]

Yes, that was Obama, not you, Betsy. Anyway, I do think he had a point worth discussing.

Once again, I notice a snide tone in your posts. I would appreciate less impugning of "some on this forum" and more actual evidence to support your position.

[KPO'M 0]

We are fooling ourselves if we think that voting GOP will buy us time. The best thing that can happen for the cause of freedom and rational thought is for the GOP to disintegrate and be forced to reconstitute itself along rational lines.

Am I to understand that you hold the GOP as the greatest current threat to freedom and rational thought? Were the GOP to disintegrate, who would "force" it to become more rational, and how on earth would they accomplish this? Look at the culture you live in. The reason we have such rotten parties is not because people are just waiting for a power vacuum to finally establish a more rational party, but because this is what people want, if "wanting" even by their refusal to think.

The mere abandonment of a particular party is not enough to secure freedom. It will take nothing short of a philosophical revolution.

No, both parties are pretty corrupt and are a threat. However, the GOP is reeling right now, and is basically just hoping they can snatch the presidency and hold on to at least 41 seats in the Senate. They pretty much have abandoned hope of regaining a congressional majority (even though the Democratic congress has a lower approval rating than Bush), or even gaining ground. They also are reeling at the state level, having lost a lot of governorships and state legislatures over the past 8 years. An annihilation in 2008 may force some serious soul-searching at the RNC.

The hope here is that the Democrats, once in power, will do as they did in 1993, or as they are doing now in Illinois and be so hopelessly divided that a) they don't accomplish much, they approach a teetering point, as well, and c) the GOP, rather than rallying to its socially conservative, fiscally liberal evangelical base, plays instead to the political center (i.e. the urban Republican, socially liberal, fiscally conservative). Is it a lot to hope for? Perhaps, but we saw what giving the GOP full control of Congress and the White House gave us: Sarbanes-Oxley, "Homeland Security," thousands of pages of new regulations, and "No Child Left Behind," and the reintroduction of the abortion litmus test for federal judges. IOW, Democrat-lite with some "moral majority" excess thrown in.

[KPO'M 0]

Yes, that was Obama, not you, Betsy. Anyway, I do think he had a point worth discussing.

Once again, I notice a snide tone in your posts. I would appreciate less impugning of "some on this forum" and more actual evidence to support your position.

No snide tone, intended. Betsy pointed out that in attempting to quote her quote of Obama I made it look like she said those words. All I did was acknowledge, that, yes, Obama said those words, not Betsy. There's no edit feature on the forums, so it took another post.

Anyway, here's some insight into Palin's mayoralty. There are points and counterpoints, but notice how she politicized what had been a typical small-town mayorship, injected abortion in a position that has nothing to do with it, had the full backing of the party machine, and apparently tried to ban some books at the local library.

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/...8,00.html?imw=Y

On top of that, her whole speech yesterday was just about attacking. We didn't find out anything new about her, so it seems that Palin will be the attack dog on the campaign. If McCain goes all-positive tonight, that will basically confirm that's their strategy. However, sooner or later the McCain campaign will need to make clear what Palin's role will be as VP. Will she simply return to being the low-profile VP "learning the ropes" such as Bush I and Mondale? Will she be even lower profile, like Quayle? Or will she have a prominent policymaking role, as Gore and Cheney have had?

[KPO'M 0]

OK, Sarah. Lesson #1. Please learn the correct pronunciation of the country where your son is fighting...

What is the point in criticizing someone's pronunciation? Will you correct her grammar as well?

Apparently her tele-prompter had the words "new-clear weapons" in the prepared text, so she was concerned about some pronunciations (having used the "nucular" pronunciation on Friday). Anyway, would you like it if someone pronounced your state "New Zhersey"?

[KPO'M 0]

On another note, the Obama campaign's official response is a bit more muted than I thought it would be. Here's an excerpt from "David Plouffe"

It will be interesting to see what kind of bounce the GOP gets over the next few days (a lot is riding on McCain tonight). We can speculate on how "average America" responded to the speech, but some hard polling data and Intrade market results should give us a better insight.

--------------------------------------

I saw John McCain's attack squad of negative, cynical politicians. They lied about Barack Obama and Joe Biden...

But worst of all -- and this deserves to be noted -- they insulted the very idea that ordinary people have a role to play in our political process.

Both Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin specifically mocked Barack's experience as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago more than two decades ago, where he worked with people who had lost jobs and been left behind when the local steel plants closed.

Let's clarify something for them right now.

Community organizing is how ordinary people respond to out-of-touch politicians and their failed policies.

And it's no surprise that, after eight years of George Bush, millions of people have found that by coming together in their local communities they can change the course of history. That promise is what our campaign has been about from the beginning.

Throughout our history, ordinary people have made good on America's promise by organizing for change from the bottom up. Community organizing is the foundation of the civil rights movement, the women's suffrage movement, labor rights, and the 40-hour workweek. And it's happening today in church basements and community centers and living rooms across America.

[jasonlockwood 0]

Anyway, here's some insight into Palin's mayoralty. There are points and counterpoints, but notice how she politicized what had been a typical small-town mayorship, injected abortion in a position that has nothing to do with it, had the full backing of the party machine, and apparently tried to ban some books at the local library.

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/...8,00.html?imw=Y

On top of that, her whole speech yesterday was just about attacking. We didn't find out anything new about her, so it seems that Palin will be the attack dog on the campaign. If McCain goes all-positive tonight, that will basically confirm that's their strategy. However, sooner or later the McCain campaign will need to make clear what Palin's role will be as VP. Will she simply return to being the low-profile VP "learning the ropes" such as Bush I and Mondale? Will she be even lower profile, like Quayle? Or will she have a prominent policymaking role, as Gore and Cheney have had?

Time Magazine is, of course, a bastion of objective reporting, so that article reports all the relevant facts.

[Bill Bucko 0]

In spite of their own flaws, the Republicans are finally making some very HARD-HITTING and UTTERLY VALID points:

from http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/03/mc...ng-up-on-obama/ :

GIULIANI:

Rudy Giuliani blasted Barack Obama Wednesday as “the least experienced candidate for president in at least 100 years” in the most biting speech so far delivered at the Republican National Convention...

portrayed Obama as an inexperienced, tax-happy, liberal whose presidency would threaten the very existence of the United States.

Giuliani mocked Obama’s record in the Illinois Senate, noting that he voted ‘present’ nearly 130 times.

“He couldn’t figure out whether to vote yes or no. It was too tough,” he said to laughter. “I didn’t know about this vote ‘present’ when I was mayor of New York City. Sarah Palin didn’t have this vote ‘present’ when she was mayor or governor.

“It doesn’t work in an executive job. The president of the United States is not good enough to be ‘present.’ You have to make big decisions.”

HUCKABEE:

“John McCain doesn’t want the kind of change that allows the government to reach deeper into your paycheck and pick your doctor, your child’s school or even the kind of car you drive or how much you inflate the tires....

“Maybe the most dangerous threat of an Obama presidency is that he would continue to give madmen the benefit of the doubt. If he’s wrong just once, we will pay a heavy price,” he said.

And from http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/03/pa...vp-credentials/

PALIN:

Her speech was laced with biting references to Obama’s days as a community organizer in Chicago, and his reputation as a gifted orator.

“When the cloud of rhetoric has passed, when the roar of the crowd fades away, when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot, when that happens, what exactly is our opponent’s plan?” she said, in reference to the elaborate set at Obama’s nomination acceptance speech last week.

“America needs more energy; our opponent is against producing it. Victory in Iraq is finally in sight, and he wants to forfeit. Terrorist states are seeking nuclear weapons without delay; he wants to meet them without preconditions,” she said. “Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America, and he’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights.”

Defending her record as a “chief executive” in Alaska, she warned, “The American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of personal discovery … this world of threats and dangers is not just a community and it doesn’t just need an organizer.” ...

“Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown. And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess, I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities.”

[Bill Bucko 0]

More Palin as, quoted by http://michellemalkin.com/ :

“This is a man who has authored two memoirs, but not a single legislative reform.” This is a man who never uses the word victory, except when he’s talking about his own campaign. When the cloud of rhetoric has passed…when those styrofoam Greek columns go back to some studio lot…what exactly is our opponent’s plan?”

[Bill Bucko 0]

If a conservative candidate for president gave a speech from amidst a phony set of ancient temple columns, to announce that a light from the sky was going to strike you, you would vote for him, and the sea level would then cease to rise--would ANYONE doubt that he was a DANGEROUS MEGALOMANIAC?

But when the Obamessiah (the "chosen one," endorsed by Fidel Castro, dictator Khadaffi, and the American Communist Party) acts that way--hoping you'll ignore his terrorist and socialist connections--isn't the danger--and the derangement--EQUALLY obvious?

[Nathaniel Hale 1775 0]

Apparently her tele-prompter had the words "new-clear weapons" in the prepared text, so she was concerned about some pronunciations (having used the "nucular" pronunciation on Friday). Anyway, would you like it if someone pronounced your state "New Zhersey"?

I would not care in the least, particularly if that person had a different accent. And particularly when it does not in the slightest interfere with my comprehension of what was said. If you want to indulge in pedantic humor that is your prerogative, but how a person pronounces "nuclear" or "Iraq" has zero political implications.

[bborg 0]

“Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown. And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess, I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities.”

Wowee! Thanks for sharing these quotes, I didn't watch it.

[piz 0]

Nicholas Provenzo posted yesterday at The Rule of Reason about Palin's religious bent, including some video of a speech she gave at a church in her hometown. He argues that her religiosity is even stronger than at first glance. I haven't yet made up my mind about that. For example, in that video, is she saying "God has ordered us to build that pipleline and fight in Iraq, therefore those things must be good," or is she saying "Building that pipleline and fighting in Iraq are good, therefore those things must be God's orders"? The former suggests a religious nutball who would do anything, however evil, that she thought was an order from God. The latter suggests a fairly rational thinker whose philosophical foundation is wrong and who would refuse to do something evil because she would believe it couldn't have come from God.

Most likely Palin is somewhere in between, depending on the issue, but it's still an important distinction. Not to minimize the danger of her being a member of the religious right and her concomitant views on issues like abortion, but in light of everything I've seen, heard, and read to this point, so far I think she's more the latter.

[KPO'M 0]

I would not care in the least, particularly if that person had a different accent. And particularly when it does not in the slightest interfere with my comprehension of what was said. If you want to indulge in pedantic humor that is your prerogative, but how a person pronounces "nuclear" or "Iraq" has zero political implications.

Except that we are not talking about accents here. "Iraq" is not difficult to pronounce correctly, and by pronouncing it as "eye-rack," she shows either that she doesn't know how it's pronounced, or knows but doesn't care. Diplomatic gaffes are caused by far less than that at times. Even Reagan knew when to use diplomacy, and generally got basic pronunciations right.

[Free Capitalist 0]

unlike some on this forum, I also can see through Palin's spell and can recognize her for what she truly is. She's an irrational, freedom-hating evangelical who distorts the truth to feed her insatiable desire for power. At least Chicago politicians are blatant in their desire for power. People like Palin are more insidious, and thus more dangerous. The most dangerous people aren't the ones who come across as smart and power-lusting. The most dangerous people are the ones who come across as "folksy" and "humble."

As for Giuliani, he must have been fuming inside at having being forced to defend the "mayoral" experience of someone who ran a town 1/1000th the size of his. Clearly, he relished the fight, but it's equally clear to me he knows he's far more qualified to be VP than Palin.

Permit me to fall under her spell then, and ask how you could possibly know any of this? Were you reading Rudy's mind as he was talking? Is Palin evil "intrinsically", simply because she's evangelical? I mean sheesh.

it is no accident that a lot of people who consider themselves "disadvantaged," from the inner cities to rural areas, cling to religion

Right, that's why urban gangsters are pious church-goers, and why 50 Cent is a religious icon.

[KPO'M 0]

it is no accident that a lot of people who consider themselves "disadvantaged," from the inner cities to rural areas, cling to religion

Right, that's why urban gangsters are pious church-goers, and why 50 Cent is a religious icon.

Ever drive through an inner city area? There are lots of churches (storefront and otherwise). Lots of people do "cling" to religion in inner cities.

As for Giuliani, I'm surmising here, but it isn't much of a stretch. My suburban mayor runs a town twice as large as Palin's town, and from the council minutes, I can tell the big issues in running a small town are the occasional zoning variance or capital expenditure. Palin's the one who made abortion an issue when running for mayor of her town, and the one who wanted to fire a librarian for not banning certain books she didn't like. Whatever you think about Giuliani, it's clear he had lots more important items on his agenda.

[Free Capitalist 0]

As for Giuliani, I'm surmising here, but it isn't much of a stretch. My suburban mayor runs a town twice as large as Palin's town, and from the council minutes, I can tell the big issues in running a small town are the occasional zoning variance or capital expenditure. Palin's the one who made abortion an issue when running for mayor of her town, and the one who wanted to fire a librarian for not banning certain books she didn't like. Whatever you think about Giuliani, it's clear he had lots more important items on his agenda.

There's a good Palin quote for that: being a mayor of a small town is a bit like being a community organizer -- except that you actually have responsibilities.

As for the church-going in the inner city, I don't know what city you live in. Maybe it's in Chicago, and maybe it's the South side, right next to Rev. Wright's church. What I have a lot of experience with is New York City and with the fountainheads from which "urban culture" springs into mainstream America (and thence into the world). I have driven through their neighborhoods, lived in them etc: they are not church-goers. The black folk who are church-going are not these urban gangsters as I've appropriately called them. They are instead middle class Americans who hate the poor urban culture, and who join the church to try and escape from its nihilism into normalcy and decent values.

[Free Capitalist 0]

Community Organizers Fight Back

Community Organizers Fight Back

September 4, 2008 · 163 Comments

Organizers demand apology from Alaska governor, say “we’re working to clean up your mess!”

Community organizers across America, taken aback by a series of attacks from Republican leaders at the GOP convention in St. Paul, came together today to defend their work organizing Americans who have been left behind by unemployment, lack of health insurance and the national housing crisis. The organizers demanded an apology from Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for her statement that community organizers have no “actual responsibilities” and launched a web site, http://organizersfightback.wordpress.com, to defend themselves against Republican attacks.

The world has a sense of humor.

[Vespasiano 0]

From the little I've heard, seen and read about Sarah Palin (including her speech at the Republican Convention), my impression is that, unlike every other candidate and most certainly unlike the typical Democrat party operative, she actually looks and sounds like most of the Americans I come into contact with every day. Like those Americans, she appears to be energetic, hard-working, bright, decent, optimistic, and proud to call herself an American. Also like those Americans, while she appears to be largely ignorant of economics, history and philosophy, she does have a strong religious faith from which her values (indeed, she actually does have values such that they are) are derived.

If I were a Democrat, I'd be very, VERY afraid of Sarah Palin.

[KPO'M 0]

Here's some more info on Palin. Some positive, some negative. I and a lot of people here are likely to view some of the "positives" and "negatives" in a different light than how the author intended it:

---

Dear friends,

So many people have asked me about what I know about Sarah Palin in the last 2 days that I decided to write something up . . .

Basically, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton have only 2 things in common: their gender and their good looks.

You have my permission to forward this to your friends/email contacts with my name and email address attached, but please do not post it on any websites, as there are too many kooks out there . . .

Thanks,

Anne

ABOUT SARAH PALIN

I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah 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% 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 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 life-style 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 2 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 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. 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 benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.

The huge increases in tax revenues 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 over $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. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn't even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs 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 $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs 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 she 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 revenues: 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 (see below).

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 2 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-Governor 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 & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, 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 Senator 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.

As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as "AGIA" that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum.

Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to global warming. She campaigned "as a private citizen" against a state initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State's lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior's decision to list polar bears as threatened species.

McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President.

There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she.

However, there's a lot of people who have underestimated her and are regretting it.

CLAIM VS FACT

*"Hockey mom": true for a few years.

*"PTA mom": true years ago when her first-born was in elementary school, not since.

*"NRA supporter": absolutely true

*social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships (said she did this because it was unconsitutional).

*pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote it.

*"Pro-life": mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life legislation

*"Experienced": Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska. No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city administrator to run town of about 5,000.

*political maverick: not at all

*gutsy: absolutely!

*open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions.

*has a developed philosophy of public policy: no

*"a Greenie": no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.

*fiscal conservative: not by my definition!

*pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets to early 20th century standards.

*pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on residents

*pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla's history.

*pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union doesn't make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro-union.

WHY AM I WRITING THIS?

First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny + Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.

Secondly, I've always operated in the belief that "Bad things happen when good people stay silent". Few people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings.

Third, I am just a housewife. I don't have a job she can bump me out of. I don't belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in the future: that's life.

Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100 or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah's attempt at censorship.

Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.

CAVEATS

I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor) from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of Wasilla, and I can't recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible for a private person to get any info out of City Hall--they are swamped. So I can't verify my numbers.

You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the population of Wasilla, ranging from my "about 5,000", up to 9,000. The day Palin's selection was announced a city official told me that the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90's.

Anne Kilkenny

August 31, 2008

[KPO'M 0]

As for Giuliani, I'm surmising here, but it isn't much of a stretch. My suburban mayor runs a town twice as large as Palin's town, and from the council minutes, I can tell the big issues in running a small town are the occasional zoning variance or capital expenditure. Palin's the one who made abortion an issue when running for mayor of her town, and the one who wanted to fire a librarian for not banning certain books she didn't like. Whatever you think about Giuliani, it's clear he had lots more important items on his agenda.

There's a good Palin quote for that: being a mayor of a small town is a bit like being a community organizer -- except that you actually have responsibilities.

Yes, she was mayor. But she turned over the daily administration to a full-time administrator at the behest of the establishment. Also, enough with the community organizer stuff. That was one of Obama's jobs. He was also a litigator, president of Harvard Law Review (ask a lawyer how significant that is), and an adjunct college professor (U of C no less) while in the state senate. I disagree with his politics, but he does have a pretty impressive resume compared to a lot of 47 year-olds.

As for the church-going in the inner city, I don't know what city you live in. Maybe it's in Chicago, and maybe it's the South side, right next to Rev. Wright's church. What I have a lot of experience with is New York City and with the fountainheads from which "urban culture" springs into mainstream America (and thence into the world). I have driven through their neighborhoods, lived in them etc: they are not church-goers. The black folk who are church-going are not these urban gangsters as I've appropriately called them. They are instead middle class Americans who hate the poor urban culture, and who join the church to try and escape from its nihilism into normalcy and decent values.

No, I live nowhere near the south side of Chicago. However, I do live near what would be considered the "inner city" and some nearby suburbs with significant lower- to lower-middle class African American populations. The number of churches is astounding. Not everyone who lives in African-American inner city neighborhoods is an "urban gangster." I've seen it in other inner cities as well (though I haven't ventured into the "inner city" of New York). Maybe it's a Midwestern thing (we were the biggest recipients of the Great Migration).

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If I were a Democrat, I'd be very, VERY afraid of Sarah Palin.

As an American, I'm very, VERY afraid of Sarah Palin and what her wing of the GOP would do if left to their own devices. That's not the wing of the GOP that we need in power. From my experience, the moderate Republicans (who join the party because of its traditional economic positions) tend to be the most productive and least offensive politicians. Jim Edgar of Illinois comes to mind. A popular governor who kept government spending down, he had serious national political aspirations before health issues forced him to step down after 8 years (he was once rumored as a possible running mate for Bush I). The GOP considered "drafting" him back in 2004 when the original GOP nominee dropped out, but he turned it down. He was about the only candidate who could have (and probably would have) beaten Obama. On fiscal issues, he matched up quite nicely to Palin (and for two full terms, no less). At the same time, he was pro-choice. He was religious in his personal life, but kept it to himself and never campaigned on it.

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Betsy, regarding the letter, I posted it before noticing Ms. Kilkenny's request not to post it to websites. Feel free to edit/modify as you see necessary. Anyway, it is all over the place, so I do think it is worth a read.

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O'Reilly, furious about the pass given to Obama by the Press, is airing a personally supervised, 25-part investigation into Obama on Fox. It starts 9/8/08. Given the broadcast's nightly ratings and demographics, this series could have an impact on the election.

25-part? I don't like O'Reilly, but I can hardly wait for this.

O'Reilly just announced that, because Obama just agreed to go on the Factor tomorrow night, the series will be postponed by a week so they can take this last-minute interview into account.

Glenn Beck has a very interesting show tonight on Obama's radical left background and agenda.