Sarah Palin, GOP VP pick
Governor Sarah Palin has just been chosen as the Vice Presidential Candidate and running mate of Senator John McCain. An interesting choice to be sure. Governor Palin has few scandals in the works (though there are some), mostly because she is such a relative newcomer on the political scene. She came out of the woodwork to win the race for Governor here in Alaska. Her only previous political experience was as Mayor of Wasilla, population 6,500. When she won the election 2 years ago and became Governor, a new tag line was written for the state. Gov. Palin was a runner-up in the Miss Alaska contest in 1986. Alaska became known as, "Alaska, the coldest state with the hottest Governor."
Governor Palin's albatross is a current investigation regarding her ex-brother-in-law, a police officer. Did the Governor (or not) cover up past abuses in his power (regarding an illegal moose kill) and then later use those abuses to try and get him fired, and THEN when he wasn't fired, did she (or her husband) pressure his boss for not getting rid of the offending ex-in-law so much that he quit? Even though the ex-in-law may need to be fired... did he tazer an 11 year old? The Palins should not have been involved. Yep, very "Desperate Housewives."
Inexperienced as she may be, Gov. Sarah Palin has "curb appeal." She is a real outdoors woman and her husband is an outdoors kind of guy. Many Alaskan's like her for that fact alone. Her husband has won the "Iron Dog" competition multiple time (a snow machine race from Wasilla to Nome and back... about 2000 + miles through frozen tundra). And Sarah herself? She fishes. She hunts. She births babies in office (not announcing her pregnancy until she was in her 7th month.) Heck... she can hide a pregnancy into the 7th month? That's amazing! The stickler there is her policy of "transparent government." Even though a pregnancy is a private family matter, it seems to go against the grain that she waited so long to announce her news.
One of Sarah's opponents from the last race, Independent candidate Andrew Halcro, has been running an Alaskan political blog since his defeat. He might have some sour grapes, but he sure is keeping a close eye on her administration up here. Check him out at: http://andrewhalcro.com/
For all of her political inexperience and my basic opposing political values, She does have some merit as a VP candidate. She's smart. She will bring youth to McCain's platform. She is a real person, not a hardened bought-and-paid-for "politician," and will appeal to some for that reason. Her soccer-mom aura will win over some women voters. That she has a son in Iraq will convince others that she is in touch with the war and will be responsible when it comes to helping create policy that involves the soldiers there. She is very conservative, outspoken in her pro-life platform. Not my view, but still others will rally behind her for that. When she became Governor, her inexperience didn't seem to intimidate her. Even I have to admit that, whether I agree with all of her choices or not, she has made them decisively and followed through. Will it be enough to overtake the momentum built up by Obama? Probably not. But, still, she is an interesting choice.
