Anti-Palin smears? Not the media, not Obama, it's just me.

There has been a considerable amount of whining from Republicans over the past few days. The Obama campaign and the liberal media have smeared her family and distorted her in the eyes of the public- vicious, cruel, lying personal attacks!

For the record, Obama stated that it was inadmissable to discuss Sarah Palin's infant, or the recently announced pregnancy of her daughter Palin. Actually, I don't hear any of that from his campaign surrogates either. Liberal media? Well, I think that they have mostly asked a few questions about her record- questions that so far have not been answered very well. How qualified is she to step into the presidency if McCain should have health issues? Reply: blustering attack on Obama's level of experience. Well, there may be validity to some of that, but it does not respond to the question. How about her passionate devotion to congressional earmarks as a source of pork for her terms as Mayor and as Governor?  How about her effort to toss books out of the Wasilla library that she disliked, an effort that failed because the librarian defied her? How about the fact that she sees no connection between climate change and human burning of fossil fuels, a position that is 180 degrees from that of the guy who just selected her as running mate? I understand that Palin is finally ready to interview with Charlie Gibson, after hiding out from the press for a few days.

Reporters report, that's how it works. Palin has a record, and after a few days the record becomes known. So far, the right wing loves that record, the left wing dislikes in intensely, and the independents see some serious minuses along with the plus of her willingness to defy oil companies. Smear campaign from the television, radio, or print media? I don't see it.

Now, if you want to talk about bloggers trying to "smear" Palin, feel free. I have been one of them, in a sense. Unlike many here on Gather, and almost everyone in traditional media, I see Palin's inability or unwillingness to take charge of her own fertility while in the governor's office of Alaska as an indicator of poor judgment. It's not that Trig is a down syndrome baby, it's that she showed a basic lack of respect for the hard work and responsibility of serving as Governor by conceiving a baby there.  Based on her record in Wasilla as Mayor and her past 1 &1/2 years as Governor, she is a tough cookie who is very willing to dismiss people who stand in her way. Her personal ideology finds its way into her policies pretty often. She has a pragmatic streak that led her to take on the good old boys of Republican politics who were taking goodies from the oil industry- but it needs to be added that this streak of pragmatism was also a streak of opportunism. Palin could see that speaking out on the co-dependence of Republican Alaska and the oil industry could result in her getting the job formerly held by somebody taking a fall from a high place.

Sarah Palin is not the devil incarnate. There, I said it, okay? She sees herself as a tough minded salt of the earth woman who works for real people. She sees herself as loving mother and devoted wife. She sees herself as a force for morality and Godliness in the world. I don't see her that way, sorry. I see her as a tough minded operative who prizes loyalty to herself a little too much, a person who is ambitious but may lack the knowledge and judgment to back it up. But that's just me. Don't blame the media for my personal attitude, I came up with it on my own.