Sarah Palin
Sarah Heath Palin (born February 11, 1964) is the current Governor of Alaska, and a member of the Republican Party. She is the first female governor of Alaska, its youngest, and is the first governor born after Alaska achieved statehood. 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.
Palin served two terms on the Wasilla, Alaska City Council from 1992 to 1996. In 1996, she challenged the incumbent mayor, criticizing wasteful spending and high taxes.[3] The ex-mayor and sheriff tried to organize a recall campaign, but failed.[3] Palin kept her campaign promises, reducing her own salary, as well as reducing property taxes 60%.[3] She ran for reelection against the former mayor in 1999, winning by an even larger margin.[3][14] Palin was also elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors.[11]
In 2002, Palin made an unsuccessful bid for Lieutenant Governor, coming in second to Loren Leman in a four-way race. After Frank Murkowski became governor (resigning his long-held U.S. Senate seat in mid-term), Palin interviewed to be his possible successor, but Murkowski appointed his daughter, then-Alaska State Representative Lisa Murkowski.[3] Then-Governor Murkowski appointed Palin Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission[15], 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.[3] 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).[16]
[Info from Wikipedia]
[By the way, Happy 72nd Birthday to John McCain.]
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Comments: 257
#1: McCain's campaign has been built on the premise that Obama is too inexperienced to be President, yet Palin is even younger and has served for less than 2 years as Governor of one of the least populated states in the country.
#2: Today is McCain's 72nd birthday. So the probability of the VP having to take over in an instant is actually relatively high.
Very curious indeed.
From what I have seen of her I like her.
I just wonder what the Repub party as a whole think of his choice.
The lack of experience thing is bizarre, given the emphasis McCain has put on it.
Karl Rove is such a freaking genius. Now he just needs to find a way to keep McCain alive for the next four years. Maybe they'll use whatever is keeping Cheney going.
So yes I would say that kind of power abuse does qualify her as a Rising Star in the Repub party.
Very funny.
From what I've read, she has been a good Governor for Alaska, but is she the best pick to run our country? I question McCain's decision making.
I am disappointed that he didn't pick Romney. If there was eve a poster boy for corporate America it is he. That smug CEO I know everything coupled with being a Mormon would surely help Obama into the white house
Thanks for the info!
McCain's FIRST EXECUTIVE DECISION.
This woman became governor two months before Obama started running for President.
Obama picked Biden because of his experience. McCain's pick is to win votes. This is the work of Huckabee and Dobson. They did not want a mormon on the ticket. They went for a creationist.
She of course had NOTHING to do with it.
Whats the weather like in the state of denial today?
Much appreciated, thanks. :)
David K., Aug 29, 2008, 12:30pm EDT
OK first of all why do you assume she didnt do anything wrong? Was she cleared of all wrong doing...oh thats right she used one of her staff members as a scapegoat.
Second this incident happened during her first year of being governor...most people wait at least 2 years before becoming this corrupt maybe she is just an early bloomer.
I'll beg off on the incident, since as you say I don't actually know the details of what happened. My thinking was just that even if she did it it's a minor part of the big picture of why she was picked and the ramifications of her being VP when the President would already start off as being old.
Why??????
Clearly he's going for the maverick vote. A bit ironic given his voting record, but we'll see what happens.
Her husband works for British Petroleum. More oil folks in the big house was not what I was looking forward to.
I agree with Lori, lets not dismiss the bil thing so fast. The first hit on Spitzer of NY was similar. And if she is going to make a play on her ethical thing, she had better be more than squeaky clean. Anyone remember Ferraro?
[By the way, I'm lifting quotes from Yahoo News and various other sources so my apologies for not documenting sources thoroughly.]
Population Ranked 47th in the US
- Total 683,478 (2007 est.)
- Density 1.2/sq mi
That's 1.2 people per square mile. Wow.
[My home town was about twice that size...and I thought we were tiny]
She hasnt been cleared nor convicted of the charges.
:-)
Oh will Hillary be pissed when she wins!
Oh, will the mainstream media look stupid when they start judging her on her clothing and hair!
It was a clever choice. That's why the left is steaming!
I think its interesting that he chose a VP that has virtually no experience.
I try to be as objective as possible about stuff. Yeah, whatever happens, I am voting Democrat, but in terms of experience by the standard calculations she has more than Obama because it is executive experience, and she also worked her way up clearly meriting her position, not based on speeches.
Objectively this is going to make Obama look bad.
And look at what David mentioned her experience and leadership was in ... ethics.
She is the perfect pick for the Republicans, if would be hard to invent someone better. Too bad she cannot run for President, but even that is not out since McCain is 72.
so I suspect the Obama campaign can figure that one out.
There is no doubt the Obama campaign will have words designed to handle the issue, but at at time when Obama needs to show that he is more than words this nomination is a kick in the gut. I do not know why the Democrats carried through with this guy. I am already angry about a possible Democratic loss. Then maybe in another 4 years when Democrats get one more chance, if they have any credibility left, they will quit leading with irrelevant issues, like gay marriage, ambiguous change, talk about how bad George Bush is, and others and actually do something.
For instance, another opening Obama left is his attempt at being Kennedy'esque saying he was going to get us off foreign oil in 10 years. How? How on Earth can a huge job like that be done in 10 years? He opened himself up for a big slam on that.
David K., Aug 29, 2008, 1:23pm EDT
Capture the female vote. Plain and simple.
I dont care about the experience per say...if a person is right for the job then they are the one I pick.
luv,
jean
David, nothing says blue collar male more than maverick.
And to start another one, who is actually concerned that creationism is any where near, almost any morality charged issue, in passing a Democratic party led Congress?
1) Palin is a conservative republican and will appeal to the base of the party.
2) Her background as a previous chairman of the Alaskan Oil and Natural Gas Conservation Board and chair of the National Govenors Association's Natural Resource Committee gives her expertise in one of the hottest topics in America right now. [Note: I assume this means energy.]
3) She is a Washington outsider
4) She's a woman [which presumably appeals to disenfranchised Independent female voters]
Thoughts?
It's your party, your supposed show stopper, you defend McCain choosing her.
Really he should have gone with someone much older and less healthy than him like Strom Thurman's corpse so he'd look great by comparison.
Hahaha, LOL, or maybe Uma Thurman!
Now, back to why this is a good pick:
-Like it or not, it will attract voters (OF BOTH GENDERS) who were hoping Hillary would be the Dem nominee. There was still plenty of talk among some of the die-hard Hillary supporters that they'd consider voting for McCain, and this will only cement that. I don't understand it either frankly, in terms of issues Obama is much more aligned to Hillary than McCain is, but it's still a fact
- By choosing a dark horse, it helps McCain cement his maverick image. It only helps more than she's attained a maverick image herself, as well
- She seems a pretty straight-laced Republican, which should pacify the core, many of which are nervous about McCain's perceived willingness to stray from the base (see immigration and campaign reform)
- She's young, which counters the old man thing (although it simultaneously takes steam out of the "too young" attack on Obama - but that's OK, they had already driven that point home enough imo)
I STILL think it's Obama's race to lose. I STILL won't vote for either one. But I think McCain did a much better job of VP selection than Obama did. The race just got a bit more interesting, and I'm going to enjoy the next 2 months!
I'm loving watching all the lefties trying to cut her down!
I love watching the media people! THey are stunned!
Her son is in the military!
She is a strong woman who will bring HOPE AND CHANGE!