I just finished watching the introduction by Senator McCain of his running mate, governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. And Jiminy Christmas, she is impressive! (She has an 80% approval rating among Alaskans.)I had only heard of her vaguely before today, but she is a huge breath of fresh air -- and a powerful speaker and communicator. A married mother of five, her fifth baby was born last April as a Downs syndrome child. I remember reading lately about how she laughed off advice to abort the baby, etc. Their oldest son is headed to Iraq in the Army in September, then three girls from high school down to grammar school age, then the new baby boy. Husband looks like a nice guy -- former commercial fisherman, now a manager in the oil fields in Alaska. (He's popular in Alaska where he's known as the "First Dude.")
The irony is that this woman has more experience managing "government" than Barack Obama! And I have a feeling that she would like nothing better than to go nose to nose with Joe Biden when it comes time for the debates. She has been an ethical reformer in Alaska and told the feds "Thanks, but no thanks" when it came to a decision to build the infamous "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska that was part of the huge (bogus) Highway Bill a couple of years ago. She told them, "If we need a bridge built, we'll build it ourselves." She's in the process of returning billions of dollars of windfall oil taxes to the residents of Alaska. Very interesting woman.
The Republicans have scooped the Dems when it comes to "breaking the glass ceiling" in Washington. She came onstage in a business suit (skirt), not a pants-suit, ready to do business. She's everything the Women's Lib movement could ask for except she's not a liberal! And the Republicans found her! Amazing.
Well, this has suddenly become interesting. Maybe I'll look at her and McCain differently after we learn more about her, but for the moment, I'm impressed.
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WASHINGTON-- Senator John McCain just announced his choice for running mate: Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. To follow is a statement by Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund.
ReplyDelete“Senator McCain’s choice for a running mate is beyond belief. By choosing Sarah Palin, McCain has clearly made a decision to continue the Bush legacy of destructive environmental policies.
“Sarah Palin, whose husband works for BP (formerly British Petroleum), has repeatedly put special interests first when it comes to the environment. In her scant two years as governor, she has lobbied aggressively to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, pushed for more drilling off of Alaska’s coasts, and put special interests above science. Ms. Palin has made it clear through her actions that she is unwilling to do even as much as the Bush administration to address the impacts of global warming. Her most recent effort has been to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the polar bear from the endangered species list, putting Big Oil before sound science. As unbelievable as this may sound, this actually puts her to the right of the Bush administration.
“This is Senator McCain’s first significant choice in building his executive team and it’s a bad one. It has to raise serious doubts in the minds of voters about John McCain’s commitment to conservation, to addressing the impacts of global warming and to ensuring our country ends its dependency on oil.”
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The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund (www.defendersactionfund.org) provides a powerful voice in Washington to Americans who value our conservation heritage. Through grassroots lobbying, issue advocacy and political campaigns, the Action Fund champions those laws and lawmakers that protect wildlife and wild places while working against those that do them harm.
And hopefully she'll keep pushing for no sex education in schools so that we have more pregnant 17-year-olds, most of whom won't have a wealthy/powerful family's support.
ReplyDeleteAt least she's willing to start drilling away in her own backyard. Hopefully the ELF won't be too far behind.
And lastly, what in George W. Bush's name does the fact that she's wearing a skirt have to do with anything in 2008?
McCain's pick was such an obvious ploy to seem like a "progressive" in hopes of winning fence sitting Hillary supporters. Now we have a minority figure on each side and the playing field has been somewhat leveled. Politics is all about appearances and sophistry, right?