She’s attractive, conservative, youthful, accomplished and popular in her home state of Alaska – but the average American knows nothing about Governor Sarah “Baracuda” Palin, McCain’s historic choice for Vice President.
Longtime Palin-pusher, blogger Hyscience, has made his case for the Alaska governor again and again. He’s my go-to guy for information about Sarah Palin, and he should be yours, too.
Back in 2007, Fred Barnes wrote an evenhanded
profile of Sarah Palin at the Weekly Standard:
Her rise is a great (and rare) story of how adherence to principle--especially to transparency and accountability in government--can produce political success. And by the way, Palin is a conservative who only last month vetoed 13 percent of the state's proposed budget for capital projects (…)
"She's as Alaskan as you can get," says Dan F.agan, an Anchorage radio talk show host. "She's a hockey mom, she lives on a lake, she ice fishes, she snowmobiles, she hunts, she's an NRA member, she has a float plane, and her husband works for BP on the North Slope," F.agan says. Todd Palin, her high school sweetheart, is a three-time winner of the 2,000-mile Iron Dog snowmobile race from Wasilla to Nome to Fairbanks. It's the world's longest snowmobile race.
BeldarBlog has another, more recent, fact-filled profile of Sarah Palin.
OK, she’s not that experienced – but Obama can’t very well criticize her for that, can he? He’s a legislator (barely) while she’s a chief executive. Big difference.
On his radio show, Dennis Miller has been pushing Sarah Palin for the short-term tactical reason that folks will balk if Biden attacks Palin too hard during the televised VP debates.
That’s clever, but really: is a 44-year-old woman with limited experience really the best choice to take over if, God forbid, something happened to a President McCain?
For now, we all need more time to learn about Sarah Palin, and those feature profiles will be coming thick and fast as of today.
My prediction? Palin will get a makeover. Men love to look at her, and she is gorgeous.
But she’ll lose the glasses and the bun by the end of September.
Comments
Great to see Kathy Shaidle at Examiner.com.
Congrats to Kathy, great article.
Is membership free?
Thanks, everyone. That last link will be fixed soon. Here is the correct URL:
http://www.hyscience.com/archives/2008/08/if_mccain_picks.php
I was in a big hurry to get this post up, as you can imagine :-)
Yes, membership is free and there are lots of different topics covered all over this site. Check it out!
Gov. Palin doesn't need a makeover, her glasses and bun are fine. It her conservation convictions and heart that I find beautiful.
Palin seems a smart choice. Good stuff.
As a mother of five children (including one with major special ed issues), a full time nurse, part-time volunteer I appreciate the experience that Sarah has. She has managed a family, a small town and a large state. She understands real life and appears that she also lives it to its fullest.
There is an awful lot to like about her.
And if nothing else, she drew all of the media attention off of Obama's speech of a lifetime. Another score for Johny Mc.
Don't get me wrong -- I think she looks great.
But this is the stage where professional stylists step in and, usually, make a mess of everything. It is the way of the world, unfortunately.
We'll see -- I hope I am wrong.
Palin is an inspired choice. You could see the gas go out of the Obamaballoon in about ten seconds. Hillary supporters, some of them, are going to switch and the hard core Republican centre isn't going to waver; result? A Republican win.
A lot of us worried about the old white guy, but looks like he has his specs on this time.
And Kathy, don't be snarky about this, eh.
Well then, there, now turns out that doddering old man was a damn genius afterall. What a wonderful choice, but what a display of courage he has just shown.
Kathy, just a note to thank your for the link to Hyscience. We at Hyscience are all guys, but have long believed that motherhood and the competitive worlds of business and politics are compatible, one does not necessarily exclude the other. Sarah Palin is typical of so many women today who balance family life and work, and do well at both. In the case of Sarah, there's an outstanding opportunity to truly break the glass ceiling and make mince meat out of the good ole boys club in national politics in a very positive and acceptable way, while at the same time bring attention to the family values that have lately been put on the back burner by the media.
Just think, here is a lady with 5 children whose husband is a commercial fisherman - one of them a new-born with Down's Syndrome that she was aware of very early in her pregnancy and chose to protect the sanctity of life, and who has cleaned up the corruption in the State of Alaska.
And did I mention she's tough as nails!
Busy lady, and a good choice for McCain.
Kathy Shaidle you rock. It would be a powerful scene, Ms. Palin riding her Harley up to the TV station for the VP debate, her long shining mane freely following her, saddlebags brimming with fishing poles and 303's. Her kids follow on their respective banana seat bikes, VW beetles, and Alaska Prius's (diesel pickup trucks). Hubby of course is staying home to mind the sled dogs.
"but really: is a 44-year-old woman with limited experience really the best choice to take over if, God forbid, something happened to a President McCain?"
You're kidding right? All your statement does is to emphasize the very same reason the Obamessiah should not be elected President.
It would not surprise me to see Palin has more juevos than BHO.
Since I have really enjoyed reading 5 Feet of Fury during the HRC eruptions, I am very happy to see you coming (at least virtually) to the Bay Area (as in Baghdad by the Bay, not Cambridge of Persopolis).
And since you bring up my newest enthusiasm I'd like to make two comments, neither of them snarky in the least:
1) Makeover? OMG, no, no, no! IMHO, it is high time the "Audrey Hepburn look" returns, and who better to accomplish this than the estimable "Barracuda" Palin?
2) Certain ideologically overdone ones on the Right (such persons as Heather MacDonald of the usually intelligent City Journal) criticize said Barracuda's selection as smacking of identity-political opportunism.
I say to them, get a clue, ye clueless ones! If you can find a better able Pork Fighter, one who has actually fought and prevailed over Republican Porkers, you'd have a point. The dismal fact is, there is a paucity of politicians willing and able to actually constrain Mega-Pork-Schlurping in Washington, D.C.
Sarah Palin and John McCain, whatever faults you may say they have, are guilty, GUILTY, I say, of being our last, best hope for fighting Pork, and I don't mean the other white meat, either.
Thanks for the information Kathy, and good job as usual.
I just saw Palin with McCain, Romney and Huckabee on at a Pennsylvania campaign event on CSPAN. Great speaker. Like you predicted, the glasses and bun were gone. Bad move already by McCain's handlers.
You asked: "....but really: is a 44-year-old woman with limited experience really the best choice to take over if, God forbid, something happened to a President McCain?"
I would ask: Is a 47 year old man with NO executive experience really a better choice to take over as President, period?
This is from the Aspen Times, authored by Elaine Sandler.
The Sarah Palin Dynamic
Is Barack Obama wondering if he should have played the Hillary card? Maybe not, now that he sees how tough a climb it is for any female with the guts to take it on. Nonetheless, McCain appears to have stolen his thunder in a smart political move that may parlay, at least in part, the intense effort exerted by Hillary to be the Democratic presidential nominee, to a younger woman who landed, stunningly, as McCain’s VP pick. Governor Sarah Palin, a smart, ambitious 44 year old female, with 13 years of elected office and executive experience, can benefit from some of the female vote Hillary may have inadvertently helped her attain.
Mr. Obama tells us he is the candidate for change. His astounding ability to beguile with his stupefying facile rhetoric leaves many breathless as they succumb to his practiced mastery of convincing us of his gifts for leadership. In point of fact, for those who care to examine his record, there are few accomplishments to speak of or attest to, although many seem willing to give him their vote in good faith with little else. We are, after all, considering this man as our president and yet we do so with very little evidence that he has the capability to fulfill that promise. Still, he’s run a successful campaign, shrewdly beating the Clinton machine with alacrity and an exceptionally well organized team. It’s an amazing accomplishment, to be sure.
McCain, whose maverick nonconformist reputation precedes him, took a bold political gamble with an unknown like Palin, but did so knowing her accomplishments in Alaska would serve her well. He presented his female accompaniment with impeccable timing – just as the Democratic Convention was ending – and grabbed the limelight with his unanticipated smashing female VP pick. We expected Romney. He was the more experienced and safe VP nominee. Kind of like, Joe Biden, a man who has been in the senate for decades in an unproductive congress with a current 9% approval rating. His nomination was not the stuff of change.
Palin is shaking things up, changing the dynamics of this election in ways that excite and engage. Women who clamored for validation in Hillary’s run, may move to the other woman. Palin’s right-to-life stance will turn women away, but some will come anyway, once they get a closer look at this confident woman with no political connections to rely upon. Her rise is all the more remarkable without the patriarchal entrenched support DC female politicians depend upon. Women in the media have greeted her with snide criticisms in judgment of her background, values, and life style that do not conform to their exclusive elitist beliefs. No acceptance here into the higher echelons of select female accomplishment that must follow protocol.
She doesn’t need it. Her approval rating in Alaska is at 80%. She has strong beliefs in energy independence, is for drilling, recognizing that to achieve critical energy independence, as soon as possible, we must use our own natural resources along with wind, solar and geo-thermal, when available. She is a fiscal conservative, a reformer who has dealt harshly with corruption, even in her own party and is the head of the Alaska National Guard. We knew she had arrived the night she made her phenomenal speech after McCain’s introduction that followed with her electrifying speech at the convention on Wednesday.
She galvanizes this election as the unanticipated female candidate who actually materialized and became reality. But it was more than that. Many were captivated by her easy appeal and tough no nonsense demeanor. Middle America could relate to her unassuming regular-folk family with no glitz or guile. Her family doesn’t need to expend much effort on pretense; nothing really to hide. She reinforced the beliefs we know to be true about McCain, his valor, experience and accomplishments, but did so with ease in her natural manner. She was good. Riveting, in fact! She seemed very authentic; genuinely delighted to be McCain’s VP pick.
Along the way, after her initial presentation, we discovered her 17 year old daughter was pregnant. It caught us off-guard and quickly revealed our proclivity to rush to judgment about her blue collar background and the behaviors we associate with what that might mean. Women were the first to attack; they can be the toughest critics where morality about “female” responsibilities is concerned. It escalated into how she could raise her children as Vice President? It’s a question that would never have emerged had Sarah been a man. So much for our readiness to allow women to assume higher office! We may not be there quite yet.
The liberal press, predictably, descended casting negative aspersions about her lack of experience. It seems being Governor of Alaska isn’t important enough and the town of Wasilla is too small a place for her long mayoral stint to count. Palin is a threat to the Democrats. We knew it when we observed Obama’s unintended reactions to McCain’s unexpected, exciting VP pick with his not so cool and collected responses. She will not whimper under their assault. Some will recognize McCain/Palin could represent a new energized political spirit, unlike the previous administration, that might make a difference in a corrupt congress that hasn’t passed a noble piece of legislation in a very long time.
We cannot know the outcome of this election so unprecedented in many ways. We must carefully observe both sides to see which candidate offers real potential for legitimate change. Change must be clearly delineated, not just articulated, so we understand for ourselves if it will be in our best interests. The media, mostly, sings its praises for their chosen candidate. Media distortion has taken on a life of its own, and should be largely discounted for its biased interpretation of truth. Politics is a nasty ugly business; we acknowledge why fewer experienced leaders choose to step up to the plate.
An unanticipated woman has entered this race. Her performance is stirring up this election and women, even those who profess no interest, will be watching to see how she performs. Her presence will impact and we may discover, despite ourselves, a begrudging admiration for a bold woman who may surprise.
Elaine Sandler
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