What makes Sarah Palin relevant?

[JoB]

We have had a field day venting our personal feelings about Sarah Palin.

You like her or you don’t.. and it seems a larger percentage of Americans like her than we could have foreseen.

Throwing water in the face of her popularity just makes her an underdog… and makes people love her more.

Perhaps it’s time to ask the harder questions. what makes Sarah Palin relevant? What do we need to know about her? How much could she affect our political landscape?

Our history is full of Vice Presidents nobody remembers. So why does Sarah Palin matter so much?

She is only relevant because there is a pretty good chance that at least for short periods of time, if John McCain is elected, Sarah Plain will be acting president.

only 20% of VPs have become President, but John McCain will be our oldest sitting president yet and in spite of his refusal to release the entirety of his medical records, it is public knowledge that John McCain has had type 2 melanoma which has required treatment more than once… and that he has high cholesterol and takes several medications for a variety of potentially debilitating conditions.

Aside from his higher risk of stroke and heart attack due to his medical conditions, he is at extremely high risk for needing invasive medical treatments to prolong his life due to a recurrence of type 2 melanoma.

How invasive is that treatment? It is invasive enough to make him incapable of performing as President for at least a few days at a stretch. How many treatments would he need? And, how long would they last? That’s completely unknown.

Sarah Palin needs to be investigated like any other presidential candidate.. because there is a good chance that if elected as VP, she would spend time sitting in that chair.

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[JoB]

Questions for Sarah Palin…

relevant for a woman who would be president if need be…

http://womenagainstsarahpalin.blogspot.com/

the rest of the blog is pretty interesting too.

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[Zenguy]

Or do people just not know her?

“Last Thursday, Sarah Palin was on her third straight day of enjoying a 52% favorable / 35% unfavorable rating, but according to daily tracking polls, that 17-point net positive rating has dropped every day since then. And today, she’s down to a meager 4-point net positive (47% favorable / 43% unfavorable) — definitively worse than any other candidate in the race (Obama, McCain or Biden). Her slide can be seen in McCain’s favorability as well, where his net positive number has fallen from +13 to +6 in the same time span.”

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[JoB]

I agree that some people liked what they thought was her image more than they like the reality…

but she sure did capture the underdog slot.. and as we all know, that is a very popular slot in an election.

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[soclwrkrinmotn]

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/09/15/bess/index.html

She has the “image” of the underdog, but I think many of us know better. She really doesn’t care about the underdog/marginalized folks in society.

Above is a bit more about her actions in the Mat-Su Valley…

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[JoB]

Is this what you want for America?

Sarah’s “fiscal conservatism” at work in Alaska.

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1839724,00.html

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[flowerpetal]

Here’s what makes Sarah Palin relevant for me:

According to U.S. Government actuarial tables, there is a 38% chance John McCain (born 8/29/36, currently 72 years old) would die of natural causes during his first term as President:

http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/STATS/table4c6.html

These actuarial statistics do not factor in John McCain’s skin cancer, which pushes his individual likelihood of death even higher than the 38 percent average for any adult American male of his age.

Roll a dice cube four times. If you get a 1 or 2 on any roll, you’ve experienced the likelihood – very conservatively estimated – that Sarah Palin will hold America’s nuclear missile codes, and face down Vladimir Putin, the nuclear-armed and Taliban-supporting Pakistani military, and the rest of the mess out there.

Are you prepared to give this person the power to launch a nuclear war, and potentially end all human life on this planet, under nobody’s authority but her own?

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[JanS]

sent to me by a friend….it’s long, but apropos to topic at hand..

“Eve Ensler, the American playwright, performer, feminist and activist

best known for “The Vagina Monologues”, wrote the following about

Sarah Palin:

Drill, Drill, Drill

I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a

member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of

drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a

particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it’s their snowy whiteness or

their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have

never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that

they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the polar

bears.

I don’t like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life

trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence

against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the

Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people

who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of

Feminists.

But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical

to Feminism which for me is part of one story — connected to saving

the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls

options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence

and war.

I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous

choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates

the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas

that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the

impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately,

this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the

inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity.

Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor.

In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets

better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting

of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the

pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God’s plan. She is

fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The

earth, in Palin’s view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves

and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be

taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she

said herself of the Iraqi war, “It was a task from God.”

Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women

who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should

have a right to determine whether they have their rapist’s baby or

not.

She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I

imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many

babies that makes.

Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she

has tried to ban books from the li brary, has a tendency to dispense

with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an

environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who could and

might very well be the next president of the United States. She would

govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.

Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle.

She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds

of wolves from the air.

Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right.

But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is

declared in God’s name, when the rights of women are denied in his

name, that is the end of separation of church and state and the

undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.

I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election

in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not

just of the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine whether we

create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for

humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and

diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through

invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether we go for

oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives

that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine

if money gets spent on education and healt hcare or whether we build

more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is

a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism

and aggression.

If the Polar Bears don’t move you to go and do everything in your

power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the

hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, “Drill Drill Drill.” I think of

teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction.

I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force

mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity

or dissent. I think of pain.

Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor

of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations

and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call

life?

Eve Ensler

September 5, 2008″

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[WSMom]

Thank you Jan, Ms. Ensler’s words resonate the indignation I feel when pondering Palin as McCain’s choice for running mate. I’m ashamed and saddened for our country.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/15/business/marketwatch/main4448337.shtml

“The Sarah Palin Phenomenon Is Doomed

But it’s not because of her lack of foreign policy experience or her deer-in-the-headlights look during part of her interview last week with ABC’s Charles Gibson.

The primary reason why the Palin bubble will burst is that the media will decide that they are bored with her. They’ll need to move to shine a light on a fresh issue or individual.”

One good thing that may come from yesterdays financial meltdown is the hope that the presidential campaign will get back to the business of talking about VITAL ISSUES, instead of the vapid Ms. Palin.

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[Zenguy]

Wow Jan, that pretty much sums it up!

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[JenV]

even the National Organization for Women has thrown their support behind Obama/Biden…

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[RainyDay1235]

But where are their ads and commercials? THAT’S what is needed.

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[JenV]

they just endorsed them this morning..I am sure the ads are coming. At least I hope so. I am so tired of seeing nothing but McCain and Rossi ads whenever I turn on the TV- where are all of the Dem ads?

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[RainyDay1235]

But back to topic, I agree. In fact I think McCain is simply TOO OLD to be president. I think the age limit should be decreased. Sorry, it’s human nature. We only live so long on average. His history is especially iffy. I swear if it were someone on the Dem side – I would have it on the brain as well.

She has already stated “she is ready to be president” if need be, and McCain is spending more time talking about Palin than himself during speeches now. It’s very odd. And yes, very relevant.

Supposedly her “planned focus” (per McCain) will be on US oil and energy policy. I think the fact that she is coming from “drill, baby, drill” mentality is frighteningly relevant.

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[charlabob]

Check out Carly Fiorino (defrocked CEO of HP) who basically says, hell, no!, when asked if Palin could run a large American corporation. “But that’s not the job she’s running for.” Stunning .. simply stunning! These people will defend anything.

http://tinyurl.com/5tz63k

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[walfredo]

It’s a strange quote from Carly- she then goes on to say that Palin is far more qualified then Obama because she has more executive experience…

So, she also has far more executive experience if you choose to include being Governor of Alaska for 18 months but exclude 20 months running a massive political operation, then John McCain and Joe Biden as well as Obama.

If you use her logic, all 4 are not qualified to run a major company, but Palin would be the most qualified of the 4. She did a great job running HP into the ground herself, I guess only the truly special are ready to make millions in personal wealth by shipping American jobs to India.

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[charlabob]

Interesting thing about Fiorino is that her ultimate downfall at HP was lying to the board and other executives and illegally wiretapping her peers and staff. Hmmmmm — that’s the sort of experience I look for in an executive.

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[Jenny]

> JenV: even the National Organization for Women has thrown their support behind Obama/Biden…

??? Like that was a surprise or something?

> charlabob: Check out Carly Fiorino (defrocked CEO of HP) who basically says, hell, no!, when asked if Palin could run a large American corporation. “But that’s not the job she’s running for.” Stunning .. simply stunning! These people will defend anything.

So, um, you saying you’d rather see Carly Fiorina run for president?

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[JoB]

Lol.. why am i laughing?

i think Carly would make a better VP than Sarah…

and she hung herself with the same tactics that Sarah uses…

but at least she does understand a spreadsheet.

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[Jenny]

> JoB: Perhaps it’s time to ask the harder questions. what makes Sarah Palin relevant? What do we need to know about her? How much could she affect our political landscape?

> Our history is full of Vice Presidents nobody remembers. So why does Sarah Palin matter so much?

As VP I don’t think Sarah Palin matters as much as the left thinks she does. I think the VAST majority of the invective & terror the left is spewing about her is a pose.

Unless it’s because of what Palin represents. Seriously, I keep seeing this classic scene from Easy Rider play over & over in my head when I see y’all yelling “UNCLEAN!!! UNCLEAN!!!” at the sight of her name:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHd6m_cirrU

Substitute “feminist” for “freedom” or “liberated woman” for “free individual”, and “it’s real hard to be independent when you’re a professional victim working for the Women’s Auxillary of the Democratic Party” for “it’s real hard to be free when you’re bought and sold in the marketplace”.

As Nicholson says, “It’s not about [her]. It’s what [she] represents.” Did y’all really expect that when the Feminist Revolution succeeded, that all women would become pro-abortion, atheist, pacifist, gaia-worshipping multiculturalists? True freedom begets diversity of thought, people!

Now, in the long run I think that Sarah Palin means “only Nixon can go to China.” So maybe in 4 or 8 years Palin will go up against Clinton & this time Clinton will win. Or Pelosi. Or hey, Patty Murray or Darcy Burner, LOL! The point is, after Palin is in office, it’ll be Katy bar the door.

Now, frankly I do wish she’d been tapped in 4 or 8 years instead of this year. But even if McCain were to drop dead on January 21, President Palin would have had 4 months of intensive briefings to get up to speed. Plus she’d have McCain’s cabinet & the Executive Branch to support her. Plus she’d soon appoint her own VP, who would surely be a foreign policy expert.

And thus would the Sarah Palin/Condoleeza Rice administration continue to lead the country for 4 or 8 years. Causing half of all US Feminists to flee to Canada in despair. =:-D

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[JenV]

oh good lord.

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[charlabob]

Yes I would rather see Carly Fiorino run for president than Palin. Who wouldn’t? I must agree with JenV. And add, Jenny, you know better than this. :-)

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[walfredo]

“That increase in taxes would equate to about billions and billion of dollars on you taken from you and even with all those new taxes, still our opponent would need more taxes to pay for the enormous new federal programs that he is proposing,” she said.

That is a real quote from a vice presidential candidate today.

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[acemotel]

this is embarrassing. I’m embarrassed not only for Mrs. Alaska, but also for those who defend her. As for Mr. McCain, it’s time to address the elephant in the room. He is not playing with a full deck. I’m sorry, but it’s demonstrated day after day.

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[soclwrkrinmotn]

I am beyond embarrassed. I think I am horrified. I would have to concur with the assessment of Mr. McCain. In my professional capacity, I would recommend assisted living.

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