Mother Jones - Comments for "Yet More Palin"

Could the 30 year old GOP/Cheney/Rove quest for black gold in Artic National Wildlife Refuge, perhaps be overlooked as media coo's about 44 year old new mother,soon to be grandmother and a soldier mom? It's about greed. My knee-jerk reaction to Alaska Governor was to check on ANWR, man or woman she's got what they're after~ Alaska + Palin = Oil
~BINGO~
Forget about Hillary, Palin likes drilling ANWR/oil ~ladies & gentlemen~u watch~

Rove knows voters are stupid enough to vote for their religious & social ideals and they get dooped every single time.

Sarah Palin had the good fortune to be beauty queen material and PTA member in a small suburban area where getting elected to the council (a PT position) is a not-so-big-deal for a soccer mom with enough money not to have to work. Lucky again to be a Republican mayor of that suburb at a time when Big Box stores opened and a local sales tax (Alaska does not have a state sales tax or income tax) was a great way for the "city" to make big bucks and boast a "surplus," especially when the mayor voted down social services and civic improvements in favor of a new hockey stadium. And lucky again to be available when the Republicans needed to groom someone attractive and new to run against the then-current governor who was so vehemently hated by even his fellow Republicans that a pretty, pert Wasilla gal could knock his socks off. Yes, she is an attractive VP candidate. Just like you and me -- only prettier. And she's even more appealing if you like killing animals from helicopters, or suing the federal government because you don't believe global warming is responsible for melting sea ice. And if you support the teaching of creationism in schools, or think a one-time payment of $1200 to each Alaskan is a remedy for $10 a gallon heating fuel, or using line-item veto power to cut all state spending for health care for the poor in a state that has no community health care services or hospital care, then Sarah's your Gal. And if you believe in refusing funds for mental health services in a state where most people have to be sent out of state to receive basic mental health services -- well, Sarah is the one for you. By the way, this is not the same as Georgians being sent to Tennessee -- we're 6 hours by plane to Seattle and you need a passport and a week to spend driving to visit your child or parent who is living in the Lower 48 for treatment. Maybe you like how she decided to keep her baby even though the amnio test told her he had Down's syndrome. How simple and easy she adapted to being the mother of a Down's syndrome baby -- in a state where only one small private agency provides care for those Alaskans not fortunate enough to be Governor but with developmental disabilities or deafness. What does it matter that the rest of Alaska's parents have to face leaving the state to get treatment or services for thier own developmentally disabled or deaf children
And, of course, if you believe that abstinence whould be the only alternative taught to children and then when your own daughter gets pregnant at 17 while still in high school, you simply say, well, they'll just get married and live happily ever after -- well, makes you feel like Sarah is just "one of us." Of course, we all know how most pregnant teenagers end up, the success rate of most "shotgun weddings." but with Sarah, we can dream.
Meanwhile, for those of us who live in the real Alaska, we enjoy the highest suicide rate in the nation and a governor who cut access to mental health service; we enjoy the highest alcoholism rate in the country with a Governor who cut treatment for alcoholics; we enjoy the highest child and spousal abuse rates in the nation with a Governor who fires one Public Safety Director because he would not fire her sister's ex-husband and appoints a replacement with a record of proven sexual harrassment which she deemed to be "in the past" and "didn't think it was a problem." Yes, we have a governor who is so proud of her husband's Native American heritage and village roots but does nothing about the joblessness, lack of roads and transportation, lack of running water and sanitation (YES - I mean outhouses!!), astronically high drop-out rates, and dismal futures of the Alaska Natives and Bush villages. Some Alaska Native villages have 100% diabetes rate. Hepatitis A is endemic here. TB is rampant in the native population. And drug resistant infections such as MRSA normally spread in hospitals are found to be community-spread in Native communities. But I guess Todd Palin's affinity for his Native grandmother doesn't stratch far enough to do anything about that. Yes, we have a governor who speaks against Big Oil but awards the state's natural gas pipeline contract to a Canadian company which openly admitted its intention of not constructing any pipeline without the partnership of the Big Oil companies and allows Alaskans to continue to pay $4.50 a gallon for gasoline in the cities and almost double that in rural areas even though Alaska produces all of its own gasoline and at a time when oil prices are declining and the rest of the USA is paying a dollar per gallon less. And here in Anchorage, we recently read the headlines of how the Coast Guard had to watch 9 polar bears (maybe more) drowning as they found themselves forced to swim over 65 miles from sea ice (polar bears swim up to 20 miles, not 65+) but our Governor is still intent on suing the federal government because she does not believe that global warming should be conected with melting sea ice and drowning polar bears because it might impact future oil and gas drilling. sure sounds like she's against Big Oil to me! And don't forget her refusal to adjust fishing limits to replenish overfished stock because her husband's own quota might be impacted and lose value. And we appreciate her father's bumber sticker "Vegetarian: An Indian Word for Bad Hunter," especially since Alaska has one of the highest obesity rates in the nation. To be the Governor of a state that has the HIGHEST budget surplus of any state, a trust overflowing with oil royalties, but the lowest-ranked healthcare systems and the highest drop-out rates, suicide rates, alcoholism rates, child and spousal abuse rates, diabetes rates -- where homelessness is a severe problem and services rely on private agencies, where Native communities must share a single room because heating oil is priced beyond their means, where infrastructure is not repaired, where schools are ill equipped, etc., etc. -- Well, personally, I would be ashamed to admit I was the Governor of that state! Much less use that to claim I had the skills and abilities to be the Vice President of a nation. I have met Sarah and Todd Palin -- at the state fair, to be exact -- before she became governor. And she is nice, friendly, warm, gracious, petite, very pretty, well-groomed, and a lot of fun. If those are the qualities a VP needs, well, then she's the one. And she is a proven winer of popularity contests, always an important consideration in a candidate for election. But if you are looking for someone who has actually accomplished something, even just some one thing, you'll have to look elsewhere.

Drum needs to go to Alaska before jumping to unfounded, juvenile conclusions. Sarah Palin may very well be the future of politics. I hope the DC neocons are packing their bags. You want to know how ordinary voters view Palin's abilities: go and talk to Alaskans who seem to think that an 80% margin represents a resonable mandate. Palin just scares the hell out of all you wonks. She's got more executive experienc than Obama and McCain together. And the scandal screamers are guilty of some real shit, as well as attempting to deprive the citizens of Alaska of their fair share of oil revenues...Sarah just bugs those of you who didn't expect to get what you wished for. Get over it.

sarah's husband is a union member. bush,mccain and the republicans hate union's. has anyone noticed this? would she be pleased if the benefits he receives because of his union where taken away?

I feel confident about Sarah Palin's international credentials. Having flown all the way to Ireland, she must surely be familiar with the latest issue of Sky Mall.

As a mother of a severely handicapped child, I cannot conceive of someone that is so "Family" oriented taking off to further a political career. I don't see mothers identifying with someone who knowingly brings a Downs syndrome child into the world only to abandon its care to others. This is what is so hypocritical about the right to lifers - use any means to protect the fetus, but forget the child once it is born. My child died 43 years ago at age 2. The two years he lived were rough for our family, but at least we were there for him.

If you remember the president R.Reagan's last few years, that what John McCain is today.his dear friend Joe Lieberman keep correcting him and once he says
that Iran is on the border with Pakistan and many other mistakes that he should know better.I think he should be asked for memory and a state of mind test .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkf8XwHs668

Parlin - Not Corrupt yet- YES
that is what we need from a Vice president!! I am voting for McCain. remember its your picks for other key areas that make america!

Ha. Good one Lucinda. I think Palin is a gimmick to try to save McCain. However, McCain has the Neocons behind him, so crazy "events" could happen before the election or when the votes are "counted".

Obama and McCain will handle things differently I have no doubt. I like some of the Obama rhetoric. I also believe it is intended to make us believe we still have a real choice in the direction of the Nation. I do not believe we will see any REAL change come from either Obama or McCain/Palin. What we will see is the usual *3 steps forward, 2 steps back* promotion of the not so hidden agenda for America. Go google North American Union to see what I mean. An Obama presidency will be a step back, McCain/Palin will be another step forward in the agenda.

For real change, the American voter has to change and I believe we are beginning to realize that. *We the People* have to decide to put forward a real choice and not just try to get comfortable with that which is carefully placed before us. If a candidate surfaces that I think will constrain government to within the bounds of the US Constitution, they will get my vote! The current rep/dem candidates in this campaign WILL NOT!

Sarah Palin was an imspired choice -- for the Democrats. Up until now, McCain's entire strategy has been to make the campagn "all about Obama" -- Obama's fitness to lead, Obama's ambition and lack of patriotism ("Obama would rather lose a war than lose an election"), Obama's "dangerous" liberalism. At one stroke, that calculus has been reversed. Now it's all about Palin -- Palin's ethics investigation, Palin's relationship with Big Oil, Palin's support for teaching creationism in public schools, Palin's activism on behalf of Patrick Buchanan's presidential campaign, Palin's unpopularity among her colleagues in the Alaska Republican establishment. And most of this this isn't coming from the Obama campaign (although they are assiduously stoking the firestorm), but from the MSM. The Republicans have mounted a vigorous defense. But, as Paul Begala correctly noted, it's not about responding to McCain's attscks, it's about forcing McCain to respond to Obama's attacks. So yes, she really has been a game-changer.

What that lady's name from Victoria secret ????

The American people are happy to vote for someone who speaks better English than the current president.they're
also more than happy to vote for someone who did nothing other than spending (20)hours
of active duty more than (50)
years ago and complaining about the corrupting politicians in Washington that he's one of them !did our
beloved media try to ask McCain & Obama who give them all these millions of $$$$$
every month & how they'll pay it back ?I wonder why the U.S. presidency is becoming a JOKE !

Well here goes Cindy McCain, out the door. With the Repubs reputation(McCain, Reagan, Gingrich, Guiliani etc) for how they treat women and especially McCain's rep for same, Cindy may be a goner.
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Most women will easily see through this Palin choice, given the high level of functioning that their crap detection radar is set at for us guys. But the most angry PUMA's, maybe not so. Some of their anger seems to be blind rage and that seriously diminishes crap detection radar efficincy and encourages traitorism.

Is the Republican party really trying to trash the presidency. Methinks so.

And the Pope(my religion), a Republican, won't like this. A woman ??? in his political party.

And the beat goes on...

Face it folks Palin is not qualified & this has nothing to do with her returning to work on her third day post-partum. There is no mention as to how long her work day was.

For those folks doging her for leaving her pre-mature downs sydrome baby, guess what geniuses the baby would be under 24hr nursing care in the neo-natal intensive care unit & more than likely spent a minimum of any where from a month to possibly three or more months there,depending on just how healthy the baby was @ birth. Somehow her hovering under foot while the nurses & doctors are tending to her baby would be counter productive. So why shouldn't she be @ work. Get over it folks.

The judgement call really needs to be directed towards McCain. This pick of Palin is not "maverick" behavior. She is a right wing pro-life canidate. Picking Lieberman would have been "maverick. As McCain would have been bucking the Evangelical base. This pick by McCain was made impulsively while he was still angry from being forced to drop Lieberman from his ticket. He could not get support from the party elders for Liebermann. They know they can't win without the Evangelical vote. He remains angry with Huckaby due to him continuing to draw votes & not droping out even when McCain had expected him to. So this left him with Pelin.

As far as her judgement & wheither her acceptance reflects either good or bad judgement I don't think is the issue. Her better judgement is efected more by her ambition. Just about any politition is going to accept the invitation. Polititions generally are driven people, with the ego to match. Rember this is a lady who was a beauty pagent contestent. She likes being the center of attention any way she can get it.