I'm excited about Palin, but my sentiment also reflects my opinion of McCain. Palin is a fiscal conservative and a reformer. She has done an incredible job of cleaning up Alaska politics in her 2 years as governor. She's Bobby Jindal-West (though quite not as charasmatic). The Republican "reformers" aren't talked about as much nationally, but they're probably the politicians doing the most good right now. Palin in Alaska, Jindal in Louisiana, Coburn from Oklahoma in the Senate, Jerry Patterson here in Texas, Sarah Steeleman in Missouri, and even Larry Craig before he got caught with his pants down. They're standing up to corruption in their governments (Steeleman is State Treasurer and has refused to release checks for government expenditures that unduly benefit politicians.) I think that's a big part of what being a conservative is about.
I think the VEEP battle has meat this year Why? b/c there's been so much attention focused on each Presential candidates shortcomings that the VEEP is that much more impt to help plug the holes. In the case of Obama, it's foreign relations experience. Enter Biden. For McCain, even though it's brushed off, it's AGE. God forbid something happens to him. Enter a much younger Palin. With Obama, I think all ears will be on what his timetable and strategy is with pulling our troops out of Iraq and not in harm's way. Biden helps supplement that. With McCain, you have talk of being a Washington reformer. How can he stay independent from big oil? OIL OIL OIL! And here Palin helps him I hate to say it but I also think Palin "enhances" McCain's image. Bottom line: she's attractive. And people FUNDAMENTALLY like attractive people. Call me crazy. But it's true. To vote for them, you kind of half to form an opinion about them. To form an opinion about them is more than just listening to them. It's about LOOKING at them. Suffice it to say, Palin is very easy on the eyes and she will make for great airtime in conveying the Republican message. theSAGE
wow is john mccain that desperate to get attention and women's votes? this choice is so hypocritical on his part. 1) he opposes equal pay for equal work and then he chooses a woman for VP? obama has to go at this point b/c they emphasized this at the DNC 2) he has said the VP is someone who should be ready to be president if he's not and he chooses someone who is YOUNGER than obama with LESS experience? lol. but hey, he'll get all the attention b/c of this surprise pick so media-wise, it is a great choice
So not true. I had my hopes up when I read she was beauty pageant queen and played the flute. The years were not kind.
She has 3 years executive experience as a governor and Obama has 4 years experience as a legislator... It could be argued that her experience is much more valuable.
According to Wiki, she's not 4yrs from being a City Councilman, but 4yrs since her 2nd term as Mayor. She hasn't been "Just a city councilman" since 1996 Sarah Heath Palin (born February 11, 1964) is the current Governor of Alaska, a former Miss Alaska runner-up, and a member of the Republican Party. She is the youngest and first female governor of Alaska. She is the Republican vice presidential candidate for the November 2008 election.[citation needed] Brought to statewide attention because of her whistleblowing on ethical violations by state Republican Party leaders,[1] she won election in 2006 by first defeating the incumbent governor in the Republican primary, then a former Democratic Alaskan governor in the general election. On August 29, the Associated Press reported that "speculation [has] moved to [Palin as a] darkhorse" pick for the vice president running mate slot by presumptive Republican nominee John McCain.[2] The CNBC news service is now reporting that Palin will in fact be the GOP vice-presidential nominee.[3] She is reported to be a possible choice for the Republican Party's nomination as Vice President of the United States in the 2008 election. Formal announcement of the presumptive nominee will be made in Dayton, Ohio on August 29, 2008, by Presidential candidate John McCain. On 29 August, CNN, and Fox News, and MSNBC each confirmed that Palin was the running mate for Senator McCain.[4] [5] [6] Family and personal background Palin was born as Sarah Louise Heath in Sandpoint, Idaho, the daughter of Charles and Sally (Sheeran) Heath.[7] Her family moved to Alaska when she was an infant.[8] Charles Heath was a popular science teacher and coached track.[8] The Heaths were avid outdoors enthusiasts; Sarah and her father would sometimes wake at 3 a.m. to hunt moose before school, and the family would regularly run 5k and 10k races.[8] Palin was the point guard and captain for the Wasilla High School Warriors, in Wasilla, Alaska, when they won the Alaska small-school basketball championship in 1982; she earned the nickname "Sarah Barracuda" because of her intense play.[8] She played the championship game despite a stress fracture in her ankle, hitting a critical free throw in the last seconds.[8] Palin, who was also the head of the school Fellowship of Christian Athletes, would lead the team in prayer before games.[8] In 1984, Palin was second-place in the Miss Alaska beauty pageant after winning the Miss Wasilla contest earlier that year, winning a scholarship to help pay her way through college.[8] In the Wasilla pageant, she played the flute and also won Miss Congeniality. Details of Palin's personal life have contributed to her political image. She hunts, eats moose burgers, ice fishes, rides snowmobiles, and owns a float plane.[9][10] Palin holds a lifetime membership with the National Rifle Association. She admits that she used mar1juana when it was legal in Alaska, but says that she did not like it.[11] Palin holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Idaho where she also minored in politics. Her husban, Todd, is a Native Yup'ik Eskimo.[8] Outside the fishing season, Todd works for BP at an oil field on the North Slope[12] and is a champion snowmobiler, winning the 2000-mile "Iron Dog" race four times.[8] The two eloped shortly after Palin graduated college; when they learned they needed witnesses for the civil ceremony, they recruited two residents from the old-age home down the street.[8] The Palin family lives in Wasilla, about 40 miles (64 km) north of Anchorage.[13] She briefly worked as a sports reporter for local Anchorage television stations while also working as a commercial fisherman with her husband, Todd, her high school sweetheart.[8] One summer when she was working on Todd's fishing boat, the boat collided with a tender while she was holding onto the railing; Palin broke several fingers.[8] On September 11, 2007, the Palins' son Track joined the Army. Eighteen years old at the time, he is the eldest of Palin's five children.[13] Track now serves in an infantry brigade and will be deployed to Iraq in September. She also has three daughters: Bristol, 17, Willow, 13, and Piper, 7.[14] On April 18, 2008, Palin gave birth to her second son, Trig Paxson Van Palin, who has Down syndrome.[15] She returned to the office three days after giving birth.[16] Palin refused to let the results of prenatal genetic testing change her decision to have the baby. "I'm looking at him right now, and I see perfection," Palin said. "Yeah, he has an extra chromosome. I keep thinking, in our world, what is normal and what is perfect?"[16] Pre-gubernatorial political experience Palin served two terms on the Wasilla City Council from 1992 to 1996. In 1996, she challenged the incumbent mayor, criticizing wasteful spending and high taxes.[8] The ex-mayor and sheriff tried to organize a recall campaign, but failed.[8] Palin kept her campaign promises, reducing her own salary, as well as reducing property taxes 60%.[8] She ran for reelection against the former mayor in 1999, winning by an even larger margin.[8][17] Palin was also elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors.[14] In 2002, Palin made an unsuccessful bid for Lieutenant Governor, coming in second to Loren Leman in a four-way race. After Frank Murkowski resigned from his long-held U.S. Senate seat in mid-term to become governor, Palin interviewed to be his possible successor. Instead, Murkowski appointed his daughter, then-Alaska State Representative Lisa Murkowski.[8] Governor Murkowski appointed Palin Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission,[18] where she served from 2003 to 2004 until resigning in protest over what she called the "lack of ethics" of fellow Alaskan Republican leaders, who ignored her whistleblowing complaints of legal violations and conflicts of interest.[8] After she resigned, she exposed the state Republican party's chairman, Randy Ruedrich, one of her fellow Oil & Gas commissioners, who was accused of doing work for the party on public time, and supplying a lobbyist with a sensitive e-mail.[19] Palin filed formal complaints against both Ruedrich and former Alaska Attorney General Gregg Renkes, who both resigned; Ruedrich paid a record $12,000 fine.[8] Governorship Governor Palin visits a wounded soldier in Landstuhl, Germany, July 2007In 2006, Palin, running on a clean-government campaign, executed an upset victory over then-Gov. Murkowski in the Republican gubernatorial primary.[8] Despite the lack of support from party leaders and being outspent by her Democratic opponent, she went on to win the general election in November 2006, defeating former Governor Tony Knowles.[8] Palin said in 2006 that education, public safety, and transportation would be three cornerstones of her administration.[11] When elected, Palin became the first woman to be Alaska's governor, and the youngest governor in Alaskan history at 42 years old upon taking office. Palin was also the first Alaskan governor born after Alaska achieved U.S. statehood. She was also the first Alaskan governor not to be inaugurated in Juneau, instead choosing to hold her inauguration ceremony in Fairbanks. She took office on December 4, 2006. Highlights of Governor Palin's tenure include a successful push for an ethics bill, and also shelving pork-barrel projects supported by fellow Republicans. Palin successfully killed the Bridge to Nowhere project that had become a nationwide symbol of wasteful earmark spending.[16][20] "Alaska needs to be self-sufficient, she says, instead of relying heavily on 'federal dollars,' as the state does today."[9] She has challenged the state's Republican leaders, helping to launch a campaign by Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell to unseat U.S. Congressman Don Young[21] and publicly challenging Senator Ted Stevens to come clean about the federal investigation into his financial dealings.[16] Fred Barnes of The Weekly Standard praised Palin as a "politician of eye-popping integrity" and referred to her rise as "a great (and rare) story of how adherence to principle—especially to transparency and accountability in government—can produce political success."[9] In 2007, Palin had an approval rating often in the 90s.[9] A poll published by Hays Research on July 28, 2008 showed Palin's approval rating at 80%.[22] Energy policies Palin's tenure is noted for her independence from big oil companies, while still promoting resource development.[9][16] Palin has announced plans to create a new sub-cabinet group of advisors, to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions within Alaska.[23] Shortly after taking office, Palin rescinded an appointment by Murkowski of his former chief of staff Jim Clark to the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority, one of thirty-five appointments made by Murkowski in the last hour of his administration that she reversed.[24][25] Clark later pled guilty to conspiring with a defunct oil-field-services company to channel money into Frank Murkowski's re-election campaign.[26] In March 2007, Palin presented the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA) as the new legal vehicle for building a natural gas pipeline from the state's North Slope.[27] Only one legislator, Representative Ralph Samuels, voted against the measure,[28] and in June Palin signed it into law.[29][30] On January 5, 2008, Palin announced that a Canadian company, Transcanada, was the sole AGIA-compliant applicant.[31][32] In response to high oil and gas prices, and in response to the resulting state government budget surplus, Palin proposed giving Alaskans $100-a-month energy debit cards. She also proposed providing grants to electrical utilities so that they would reduce customers' rates.[33] She subsequently dropped the debit card proposal, and in its place she proposed to send Alaskans $1,200 directly and eliminate the gas tax.[34][35] Social issues Palin is strongly pro-life and belongs to Feminists for Life.[11] She opposes same-sex marriage, but she has stated that she has gay friends and is receptive to gay and lesbian concerns about discrimination.[11] While the previous administration did not implement same-sex benefits, Palin complied with a state Supreme Court order and signed them into law.[36] She supported a democratic advisory vote from the public on whether there should be a constitutional amendment on the matter.[37] Alaska was one of the first U.S. states to pass a constitutional ban on gay marriage, in 1998, along with Hawaii.[38] Palin's first veto was used to block legislation that would have barred the state from granting benefits to gay state employees and their partners. In effect, her veto granted State of Alaska benefits to same-sex couples. The veto occurred after Palin consulted with Alaska's attorney general on the constitutionality of the legislation.[39] Matanuska Maid Dairy closure When the Alaska Creamery Board recommended closing Matanuska Maid Dairy, an unprofitable state-owned business, Palin objected, citing concern for the impact on dairy farmers and the fact that the Dairy had just received $600,000 in state money. When Palin learned that only the Board of Agriculture and Conservation could appoint Creamery Board members, she simply replaced the entire membership of the Board of Agriculture and Conservation.[9][40] The new board, led by businesswoman Kristan Cole, reversed the decision to close.[40] The new board approved milk price increases offered by the dairy in an attempt to control fiscal losses, even though milk from Washington was already offered in Alaskan stores at lower prices.[41] In the end, the dairy was forced to close, and the state tried to sell the assets to pay off its debts but received no bids.[42][43] Budget In the first days of her administration, Palin followed through on a campaign promise to sell the Westwind II jet purchased (on a state government credit account) by the Murkowski administration. The state placed the jet for sale on eBay three times. In August 2007, the jet was sold for $2.7 million.[44] Shortly after becoming governor, Palin canceled an 11-mile (18-kilometer) gravel road outside of Juneau to a mine. This reversed a decision made in the closing days or hours of the Murkowski Administration.[45] In June 2007, Palin signed into law the largest operating budget in Alaska's history ($6.6 billion).[46] At the same time, she used her veto power to make the second-largest cuts of the construction budget in state history. The US$237 million in cuts represented over 300 local projects, and reduced the construction budget to nearly US$1.6 billion.[47] Commissioner dismissal On July 11, 2008, Governor Palin dismissed Walter Monegan as Commissioner of Public Safety and instead offered him a position as executive director of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, which he subsequently turned down.[48][49] Monegan alleged shortly after his dismissal that it may have been partly due to his reluctance to fire an Alaska State Trooper, Mike Wooten, who had been involved in a divorce and child custody battle with Palin's sister, Molly McCann.[50] In 2006, before Palin was governor, Wooten was briefly suspended for ten days for threatening to kill McCann's (and Palin's) father, tasering his 11-year-old stepson, and violating game laws. After a union protest, the suspension was reduced to five days.[51] Governor Palin asserts that her dismissal of Monegan was unrelated to the fact that he had not fired Wooten, and asserts that Monegan was instead dismissed for not adequately filling state trooper vacancies, and because he "did not turn out to be a team player on budgeting issues."[52] Palin acknowledges that a member of her administration, Frank Bailey, did contact the Department of Public Safety regarding Wooten, but both Palin and Bailey say that happened without her knowledge and was unrelated to her dismissal of Monegan.[52] Bailey was put on leave for two months for acting outside the scope of his authority as the Director of Boards and Commissions. In response to Palin's statement that she had nothing to hide, in August 2008 the Alaska Legislature hired Steve Branchflower to investigate Palin and her staff for possible abuse of power surrounding the dismissal, though lawmakers acknowledge that "Monegan and other commissioners serve at will, meaning they can be fired by Palin at any time."[53] The investigation is being overseen by Democratic State Senator Hollis French, who says that the Palin administration has been cooperating and thus subpoenas are unnecessary.[54] The Palin administration itself was the first to release an audiotape of Bailey making inquiries about the status of the Wooten investigation.[52][55] Wooten and the police union alleged that the governor had improperly released his employment files in his divorce case. However, McCann's attorney released a signed waiver from Wooten demonstrating that Wooten had authorized the release of his files through normal discovery procedures.[56][57]
And an assistant beer distributor! And a naval liaison to the senate, whatever that means... But yes, other than what's mentioned here, there is no big difference in experience. I started a thread about this a few weeks ago, asking if I was missing anything, and received no real responses. edit: PS -- weslinder, thanks very much for your added thoughts! Makes a lot of sense. True fiscally conservative governance, if it ever emerges in the GOP, could honestly shift my party allegiance. It's that important to our future, IMHO. The last 28 years have shown the democrats to be much more responsible, at the federal level, in that regard, but still not enough (especially in Congress).
Palin Grants Craig Ferguson Hononary Citizenship!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh-lW2opLyQ&feature=related ilikelibrariansSAGE
Well, Kay Bailey Hutchinson doesn't know either. ********* Looking for a quick reaction, and likely endorsement, of John McCain's surprise pick of Sarah Palin as his running mate this morning, CNN turned to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, the experienced Texan who was also on McCain's short list for the post. But, asked about Palin, all Hutchison could muster, just before the official announcement, was a few generalities about "spirit" and "enthusiasm," before admitting, "I don't know much about her." CNN's John King then asked, well, what does it mean that such a longtime GOP leader such as yourself doesn't know much about her when McCain in his ads is hitting Obama on his lack of experience? Palin has served as governor of her state for only two years. Hutchison repeated her earlier statements about "youth" and said flatly, "I don't know Sarah Palin," adding maybe that it was a "good thing" that she is fresh and not that well known. Pressed again about why she would think that Palin was ready to be commander in chief, a charge leveled at Obama, Hutchison could only muster that, well, she was sure John McCain had sat down with her and was convinced of this. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/leading-gop-senator-admit_b_122369.html
Here's what she's under investigation for..according to the above Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin Commissioner dismissal On July 11, 2008, Governor Palin dismissed Walter Monegan as Commissioner of Public Safety and instead offered him a position as executive director of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, which he subsequently turned down.[48][49] Monegan alleged shortly after his dismissal that it may have been partly due to his reluctance to fire an Alaska State Trooper, Mike Wooten, who had been involved in a divorce and child custody battle with Palin's sister, Molly McCann.[50] In 2006, before Palin was governor, Wooten was briefly suspended for ten days for threatening to kill McCann's (and Palin's) father, tasering his 11-year-old stepson, and violating game laws. After a union protest, the suspension was reduced to five days.[51] Governor Palin asserts that her dismissal of Monegan was unrelated to the fact that he had not fired Wooten, and asserts that Monegan was instead dismissed for not adequately filling state trooper vacancies, and because he "did not turn out to be a team player on budgeting issues."[52] Palin acknowledges that a member of her administration, Frank Bailey, did contact the Department of Public Safety regarding Wooten, but both Palin and Bailey say that happened without her knowledge and was unrelated to her dismissal of Monegan.[52] Bailey was put on leave for two months for acting outside the scope of his authority as the Director of Boards and Commissions. In response to Palin's statement that she had nothing to hide, in August 2008 the Alaska Legislature hired Steve Branchflower to investigate Palin and her staff for possible abuse of power surrounding the dismissal, though lawmakers acknowledge that "Monegan and other commissioners serve at will, meaning they can be fired by Palin at any time."[53] The investigation is being overseen by Democratic State Senator Hollis French, who says that the Palin administration has been cooperating and thus subpoenas are unnecessary.[54] The Palin administration itself was the first to release an audiotape of Bailey making inquiries about the status of the Wooten investigation.[52][55] Wooten and the police union alleged that the governor had improperly released his employment files in his divorce case. However, McCann's attorney released a signed waiver from Wooten demonstrating that Wooten had authorized the release of his files through normal discovery procedures.[56][57]
McCain has to run as a maverick of the republican establishment. You couldn't possibly win running on their record. Palin adds to this tact.
