So everyone has heard! Alaska's governor Sarah Palin has been chosen by John McCain to join him in the race tot he White House. One of my asshole conservative friends who supported John Binkley over her said, "We need a mover and a shaker, not a shake n' baker!" This person said that Sarah should stay home and be a wife and mother. Fuck that. Her parents and in-laws are very supportive of her and she is the first to state that she couldn't do it without her supportive family.
I can tell everyone that she is very down to earth. I have met her-- everyone in The Valley has met her if they have wanted to. My children and I have marched with her in parades. The first time I met her, I'd not been in the Valley for long. I had a sick baby on my shoulder and I was in the store. This nice lady who was ahead of me in the check-out line handed me a tissue and we started talking and she found out that I was new and she asked how I liked being here. It was very benign, and she seemed nice. A year or so later I got an invitation to her birthday party where she was accepting donations. I didn't think much of the picture; I just thought it was nice take my daughters to go see this young looking woman who was running for something. I was pleasantly amused when I saw her and commented on where we'd met and she said we were being moms-- her being mayor meant nothing when I had a sick baby with a runny little nose on my shoulder. (My coat was snotty. That she even got near enough to hand me a tissue speaks volumes of her! Germs avoid her!)
Her children seem unspoiled. Her daughter Bristol wore a t-shirt that said something about her mom running and to vote for her. My kids said they'd do the same for me. When I was growing up in South Anchorage, I knew a lot of children of political people who would have never done that. Her husband is a handsome guy-- I melted looking at a picture of him, Sarah and Baby Van Palin right after he was born. They knew that he had Down Syndrome not long after he'd been conceived-- it's one thing to be pro-life and anti-abortion, but it's another to have a baby with high needs who will grow into an adult with unique needs. (Having seen him, one would understand that he's not one to be sent back! Precious little person! Starshine saw his picture and kissed her finger and touched my monitor screen where his pretty little lips were!)
I kept thinking that McCain would come out at the end and say, "Psych!" and tell us that she isn't running, but she is! I do hope that she wins.
Sarah is an inspiration. My dad died around the time she got elected. Unable to save my dad from cancer, I promised him that I'd finish college and be a doctor. I asked my husband about me finishing school and he said that if Sarah Palin could have four kids and be governor, that surely I could finish college. We've just been talking about me going to Vermont for a low residency master's degree-- as in 24 hours ago. This morning he called me and was laughing saying that it looks like I can with her being able to do DC. . .
I am grateful for what she is giving up to serve her state and her country-- and for what her children and family are giving up, too. She/they may never be without a security detail, there will be few spontaneous camping trips and life as they once knew it will never return. We dream of a life like what she is going in to, but in return for her influence and power, she is giving up something that we Alaskans take for granted.
9 comments:
Asshole friend? It is a weird structure, it shows a kind of confusion. :D
Here most of the politicians are kind of untouchables and I don't mean it as the Indian (not Native American) slave layer but as gods or whatever. Nowadays they try with some crappy ideas to make themselves more humane as having a blog on net but I don't think it is effecient.
The weird thing I realise that people care too much with the nominees families. Here they are in the background.
The asshole friend is my brother! LOL No contradiction at all! He was razzing me when I called him but I didn't know it. Turns out he had me on speaker phone for his friends in the newsroom. He sent me a video of him talking to me with his friends around and you can hear me saying, "What do you MEAN you supported Binkley? He had some of the dumbest ads ever!" He went off about Sarah and I continued, "Her daughter was never pregnant! You should write for THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER!" Everyone was suppressing laughter!
Families are a big deal--they bring so much to the table as far as issues that may matter. I would have supported Obama had Johnny Appleseed Edwards gotten the VP nomination-- his wife had cancer and they both supported health care reform. Issues that are close to home will be important to them.
OK, I am not really into US politics but as McCain looks I am not sure he survives 4 years because he looks quite old.
Glad to have checked your blog--I saw your comments on Gov. Palin at Radical Catholic Mom's site. Good luck on your studies. I stayed home for over 16 years with five children, then began working again in scientific research. Don't try to work 40 hr/week though. My experience is that you can have a successful career at 24 hr/week while leaving time for important family obligations.
Plus I also have to add that I am glad that your "local hero" (I hope you let me add that cognomen) to McCain's VP nominee.
In news I heard that she is not an experienced politician so she is critisized due to that. Don't you think her nomination is a kind of "own goal" because now Sarah Palin is called unexperienced and not Barrack Obama?
ps: I don't really support any party and I dislike talking about politics with friends but you mentioned politics on your blog so can't ramble about weather. I am totally neutral about your election so I am not asking you to feel uncomfortable. I am just curious because I don't know much about it.
Thank you for coming over, Anonymous! Erma Bombeck mentioned what you did in one of her books that I am reading called, "A Marriage made in Heaven or Too Tired for an Affair." We have to work smarter, not harder! My husband works in informatics-- where he uses statistics and information to chart problems. Is this what you do?
Ropi-- McCain does look really old. He IS from Arizona where my dad beat cancer several times, so if anyone can live for a long time, he can and will! This is why the VP is such a big deal. I always saw VPs as dull side kicks. I was going to vote Democrat had they selected Edwards. Now well, I'll support a woman who is more like an average person but who is willing to make huge contributions to her world.
I don't think this is Sarah's personal goal to get nominated and be in line to the presidency. She is too normal. This had to have been suggested to her and pressed upon her. No intelligent person could want the presidency/VP jobs and she is a smart person. If you look at how our presidents look after a year on the job, you'll see that they start looking bad. Look at their eyes. Sarah wants to win, but if she looses, her ego won't be crushed; she will have her regular life back for at least the time being.
Obama will say silly things because it's his job. He will jeer her-- and it will get ugly. Least experience? She has been running a state with major exports to Asia and she has been dealing with a pipeline that may run through Canada. I don't agree with him and I hope that Sarah stays classy in this. The gubernatorial race got evil, and she would email us and say, "I am staying positive but rumor has it that Binkley is going to say some bad things this weekend. Don't take it personally, I'll come back with a positive response on Monday night so stay positive!" (I'm paraphrasing here.) If Sarah has any influence over the campaign, she will let the media slam Obama and focus on putting herself in the best light.
You can't sling mud without getting your hands dirty.
Hmm, I see, I have never wanted to be politician, but I never wanted to be a student either, so I may end up as a politician. hehe
You are too much of an I don't care bear to be a politician. . . did you ever want to be a cat burglar? You'd be better at burgling cats.
Barack Obama has been very gracious about Sarah Palin. Some one in his campaign made a disparaging statement, but Obama himself has not. He also refused to comment on Bristol's pregnancy, saying that family matters are off limits.
McCain chose her because she's young, female, and socially conservative. He's trying to court the Hillary Clinton supporters who say they're voting for McCain rather than for Obama. This may backfire. I suspect that some of the adamant Hillary supporters will consider McCain's selection to be patronizing--naming soneone who has little in common with Sen. Clinton other than the possession of two X chromosomes.
Sarah Palin seems to be a decent person who fought corruption in Alaskan government. (She's also saddled three of her children with dreadful names--Bristol, Track, and Trig--you know they can't have an easy time in school with names like that.) But I certainly wouldn't vote for her.
I admit that I fear a McCain presidency. For one thing, he'd try to put me out of a job--not me personally, but anyone who works for Amtrak and for people in mass transit generslly. He believes wholeheartedly in the Iraq war, and I have a feeling he'd get us into another war. His healthcare plan would tax employer-provided health insurance and eventually move to a "you're on your own" system in which wer'e all at the mercy of the insurance comapnies. So I don't see McCain as wise. I see him as scary.
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