As soon as John McCain selected the Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, as his running mate, the media outlets were scrambling for information about her and reactions from both Democrats and Republicans. Was Palin a shocker? You bet. However, the fact that the entire news world knew NOTHING about her was even more startling in my opinion. Why? Because Sarah Palin was already seen as the Holy Grail of what a leader should be in the eyes of "ordinary" everyday conservatives across the country. Granted, most "ordinary" people have a concept of what their ideal leader would be like (totally and completely unlike anyone in Washington today), and before Sarah actually became Governor, the idea of any ordinary American in a leadership role in American politics was nothing more than a dream most people eventually wake up from. But in today's blogosphere world, the fact that the media totally and completely ignored her very existence until about 10 minutes before the choice was confirmed is inexplicable, in my opinion.
Let's run through the events of that morning:
All the networks were literally glued to their Blackberries and cell phones desperately trying to figure out who the VP would be. Pawlenty was out, so it must be Romney. Rumor has it that a plane landed from Alaska. The female governor of Alaska? LAUGHABLE!!! No way, it must be Romney. Definitely not Romney. Who's left? Lieberman. Come on, the Republican Convention would literally blow up; that would be McCain's death sentence. Well, it could be Sarah Palin. NO WAY! It must be Ridge, yeah, Ridge! Oh my, we just got word that two planes flew in from Alaska: one to Arizona and another to Dayton. It looks like it could be Sarah Palin. Who IS Sarah Palin? Hey Pat (Buchanan), you know her, who the heck is she? Well, lets see, she's the Governor of Alaska! And, other than her 80% approval rating in the Forgotten State, every single person in the grassroots conservative base LOVE HER!!! But no way, McCain would never be that bold.
Confirmed! John McCain's running mate is a WOMAN! The Governor of Alaska.
Now, every single conservative, from every corner of the base: the Religious Right, the Fiscal Conservatives, libertarian-Republicans and everyone in between literally jumped for joy. Some probably even peed their pants! NO WAY! John McCain actually chose Sarah! I cannot believe it! After every horrible decision he has ever made, McCain chose SARAH!
And the media reports: McCain tries to grab disgruntled Hillary women. Will Sarah Palin actually attract disgruntled pro-choice liberal democrats?
My Answer: NO!!!!!!!! Why would you even ask that? HELLO? Do you media people have NO CLUE as to how sexist such a question is? Yes, Hillary is a woman, and yes, so is Sarah. But WHY do you assume that is why McCain chose her? She was chosen for two main reasons: Conservatives LOVE her, and SHE TAKES NO SHIT! She is hard-core! She has 5 kids, climbed the ladder from the PTA, to the city council to mayor to governor and tossed out tons of corrupt Republicans along the way. Sarah was chosen by McCain for the very reasons Sarah is so loved – she is EVERYwoman. She is a real person! She is THE person that "ordinary" Americans dream about as the perfect leader – one of THEM! And, as luck would have it, she happens to be a woman.
Trust me, if SHE happened to be a HE, conservatives would love him all the same. The difference would be in the media coverage. Personally, I find the reaction to her, particularly from the Democrats, disgusting.
If the Palins were reversed and it was Todd Palin, the commercial fisherman and member of the Steelworkers Union who rose from city councilman to mayor to governor, would the reaction be the same as it is for his wife? NO!
Do you really think that Democrats, vying for all the rural working-class votes that Hillary won would be attacking the most successful one of their own if it was TODD Palin? NO! But, because it is SARAH, well, obviously SHE is not qualified.
***
I have one simple request for the McCain / Palin campaign: Please do not bring up Hillary Clinton anymore. To do so would be disingenuous pandering. Yes, Ferarro and Clinton must be acknowledged, and Sarah has done that. But, let’s get real: Hillary and Sarah have about as much in common as a martian from space and a shark in the ocean. The ONLY thing they have in common is their gender; their backgrounds and political beliefs are so different, that to link the two as the same is simply insane.
I believe this election year has been the most important single year for women as a whole because two women, two women who could not be more different from each other, made it this far to the highest office in the land. It is precisely the extreme difference between these two women that shows how far our country has come.
Think about it: Hillary grew up a suburban middle-class Republican and later became a liberal, went to Yale Law School, became First Lady, then a senator, and finally climbed the highest ladder in the nation and almost made it over the top.
Then there is Sarah, a working-class girl who grew up hunting moose at 3am in Alaska, was just an ordinary conservative mother in the PTA who ran for the city council and won, witnessed corruption and decided to run for mayor against a fellow Republican, and finally did the same to become Governor of the largest state in the nation.
Hillary is the most famous woman in the world. If Hillary had not made it as far as she did, if Hillary’s affect on her supporters had not been so strong and so powerful, then, truthfully, Alaska would have seen their beloved Governor in person at the State Fair this weekend. But, it was because Hillary was so popular, because she proved that the citizens of America truly are ready to vote for a woman as president, that John McCain was able to go out on a limb and choose the Conservative’s version of her for his running mate.
Democrats love Hillary; the whole world knows that. Republicans love Sarah, even if the rest of the world never paid attention. Democrats love Obama; that is obvious. Republicans? Ironically, I cannot think of a single living man all Republicans love.
If it wasn’t for the leaders of the Democratic Party who backed an unknown guy named Barack Obama, no one outside of the DNC would have known who he was. So, for that, John McCain and all conservatives must say THANK YOU for giving us the courage to introduce the most amazing person, Sarah Palin, to the rest of the world.
Let’s be honest here: The lives of most ordinary Americans, men and women, fall somewhere in between the lives of Hillary and Sarah. I mean, seriously, how many people can actually lay claim to having been both a First Lady and a senator? And how many people actually grew up moose hunting at 3am? I’m not even sure there has been another governor who got their start on the PTA (although, many PTA moms are now setting their sights much higher now, I’d imagine).
The fact is this election is historic on numerous levels. Even if we do not agree on the issues, and believe me, we do not, when it comes to equality between women and men, the historic achievements of both Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin taken together have proven that ANY women can make it.
***
The truth is, unlike what many (often female) Democrats claim, not EVERY single woman in America agrees with Hillary on the issues. This is what truly disgusts me about the reactions from the Left to Sarah Palin. The initial response from Obama’s campaign itself was beyond belittling. But, I must say that it was the reaction of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (absolutely NO relation to me whatsoever) that was way beyond the pale. She was on MSNBC and she was FURIOUS over Palin; she immediately started attacking McCain and Palin by stating that no supporter of Hillary would ever support anyone who was not pro-choice and other issues. The most offensive part though, was that she was saying that Palin has absolutely no accomplishments at all, and then the interviewer cut in and asked something along the lines of "But you have to admit that having 5 kids and being governor is pretty impressive" and Wassreman-Schultz flipped-out and said something like "Ok, fine, she has 5 kids, I have 3 kids, I get juggling work and family; big deal every women does that." You could even see that the interviewer was shocked by her reaction, and he ended it there. (note: I am paraphrasing, not actually quoting the interview. It happened really fast, and I was totally shocked, so I cannot quote her exactly).
Based on the more extreme reactions I have seen, I think I understand where the PUMA people are coming from. Seriously, it IS about the issues; Hillary was right about that. But, if the Obama supporters have reacted this badly on national television towards Palin, I can only imagine how they actually treated the die-hard Hillary supporters behind closed doors. That, in itself, is one heck of an issue!
As a Ron Paul supporter I was FURIOUS at the media and the Republican Party for how they treated him; I stopped watching FOX News after Hannity was such an idiot toward him. Then I saw the media and Democrats totally ‘Ron Paul’ right over Hill and Bill. As someone who has always hated the Clintons, and someone who totally and completely disagrees with Hillary’s stance on issues like Universal Healthcare, I must say that I was totally shocked and then royally pissed-off at how she was treated. Hey, I disagreed with Hillary on issues, but I never once had to lie and smear her to prove my point. Truthfully, it got so bad that I had no choice but to start watching FOX News again just to hear fair coverage of Hillary (McCain having the Republican nomination by then). MSNBC was so obsessed with Obama that they fired Tucker for supporting Ron Paul (the only truly anti-war candidate who actually had a chance of winning), then they "quoted" Bill Clinton making a "racist" statement in South Carolina. I was shocked, until I saw him make the actual comment, and it was not racist at all.
Here is the TRUTH: This November the election would have been McCain vs. Hillary if the media and the Democratic Party had not lied and manipulated the public. Had the media not buried the Reverend Wright, Father Pfleger and Bill Ayers stories for as long as possible, Hillary would have won every single primary. The TRUTH is that Obama lost the rural working-class voters the second he made that ignorant statement about them being "Bitter" people who "Cling to guns and religion." The FACT is that Hillary won those votes by going out there and re-connecting with her childhood Republican roots. By the time the truth about Obama came to light, it was too late; the Democrats refused to count Florida and Michigan, thereby turning Hillary’s popular vote win into a marginal defeat.
Yes, every single die-hard Democrat who voted in the primary and attended the Democratic Convention will vote for Obama this November. To assume anything less would be ignorant. However, as someone who was actually ready to hold my nose and cast my vote for Hillary against McCain, not because I agreed with her, but because to me McCain was a traitor I could never vote for, and Hillary, although I disagreed with her, earned respect in my eyes by rising up and standing firm on her convictions while her very Party did everything they could to knock her down. After New Hampshire, Hillary changed and the Billary of old morphed into the Hillary we now know. During those later debates Hillary stood firm on what she believed in and took Obama to task. Hillary never wavered, and she grew increasingly more honest and real. Hillary earned my vote, but Obama would never have had my vote in a million years. I’m a New Yorker and soaring rhetoric just doesn’t fly here.
Like I said, Hillary was right: you vote on the issues, not the person. Without Sarah, Bob Barr had my vote. I guess I just got lucky that McCain chose a running-mate who is right on all the issues. I’m voting for McCain because I’m voting for the future. Because I know that Sarah Palin is the best person this country has to bring back our liberties and restore the Republic to the way our Founding Fathers intended it to be. Because, to quote Sarah herself "As Governor of Alaska my Bible is the Constitution of the State of Alaska," and it is because she holds the Constitution above all else that her very first veto as governor was a bill that would have outlawed benefits to same-sex partners. Personally, Sarah agreed with the bill, but she vetoed it because it was unconstitutional. That act alone proves to me that she is fit to be Commander in Chief of this great nation. We are not worthy of defending militarily if we give up our individual liberties and our sovereignty in the process. As long as we have leaders who create laws based on their own personal ideology and not on the Constitution that protects the liberties of EVERY American we will never move ahead, this country will never change for the better, and there will be no hope!
We all know where the candidates stand on the issues, but I believe that in this election there is a far more important issue at hand. That issue is this: Are you going to let any candidate, any Party, any union, any special interest group or any government bash you over the head and tell you who to vote for?
Give me LIBERTY or give me DEATH!
©2008 Natalie Schultz, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.
Published: Sunday, August 31, 2008
Last modified: Sunday, August 31, 2008
The views expressed in this article are those of Natalie Schultz only and do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Natalie Schultz is solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
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Reader Comments:
Posted By: Walt Thiessen
Date: 2008-08-31 07:12:38
Now wait a minute...what makes you think that the media knew nothing about her? I don't like the MSM any more than you do, but let's stick to facts. The Washington Post, among others, came out with articles about her trooper scandal within minutes of the announcement. That can't happen if they know nothing about her.
Posted By: Bruce R. Brittain
Date: 2008-08-31 07:13:20
You liked Ron Paul. No problem. Mitt Romney he was ‘My Man’. But now Sarah Palin is ‘My Woman’. The conservative cause carries on. This was a good move by McCain. McCain/Palin '08!
Posted By: AFH
Date: 2008-08-31 08:03:36
I might agree with you that Palin make McCain worth voting for except for one thing:
Liberty Killer McCain
Posted By: Bruce
Date: 2008-08-31 08:20:46
Palin is a liberty killer also. Although she hunts and hates polar bears, she was still a primary supporter of increased oil taxes and helped pass the largest budget ever passed by Alaska. She supported the bridge to nowhere until it lost its federal funding.
She is "as pro-life as a candidate can be", opposes drug legalization (even though she was a pot smoker), and adamantly opposes gay rights and marriage.
She even supported Obama's oil and energy plan (maybe because drilling on the continental shelf takes money out of Alaska or lowers the price for a barrel of oil)
She does not bring anything to the ticket that it didn't have before except youth and another pair of nice shoes. (see the AP photo of McCain and her shoes>)
Regardless of what the media tells you, she's not a libertarian nor does she have libertarian views.
Posted By: Steve
Date: 2008-08-31 13:33:38
Bruce,
The Libertarian Party of Alaska would disagree with you in that Palin has no libertarian views.
http://www.lpalaska.org/?p=238
Posted By: David F. Nolan
Date: 2008-08-31 18:25:29
Wow. 2,300 words to say she's voting for McCain instead of Barr because Sarah Palin is "right on the issues." Well, mostly she isn't ... and a McCain Presidency will be a disaster. I'm stickin' with Barr, thank you!
Posted By: Natalie Schultz
Date: 2008-08-31 22:22:58
This election is between Obama and McCain. To think that Bob Barr has a chance is delusional. I hate McCain, but Obama is MUCH WORSE! At the very least McCain's record is to CUT SPENDING. Obama's record is "Present."
As for the war, the only thing any Libertarians believe is an Obama positive is that he will get us out of Iraq. If you are truly that gullible to actually buy that rhetoric, then I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.Let's look at the Dems arguments against McCain-Palin:
1) Judgement:
Obama's record:
1) Reverend Wright: BAD JUDGEMENT
2) Father Pfleger: BAD JUDGEMENT (If this is what Obama thinks all Catholics are like, he had better avoid my part of Irish / Italian New York)
3) Bill Ayers: BAD JUDGEMENT
4) Rezco: BAD JUDGEMENT
5) voting record: PRESENTMcCain's record:
1) Sarah Palin: BRILLIANT JUDGEMENT - bringing in a true leader of the future and getting rid of the entrenched corruption in Washington.
2) McCain's record: He actually has one, there is a legitimate logical argument to be made on his stances, and although I disagree, at least I know exactly where he stands.Dem argument #2: Sarah Palin is inexperienced and not ready to be Commander in Chief. McCain is going to drop dead on day one from cancer.
Response: Sarah has more executive experience than Obama and Biden combined. She has dealt with budgets and vetoed an unconstitutional law she agreed with. Her record proves that she answers to the Constitution and the People, not her own beliefs. She has literally taken on corruption in her own Party and taken on Big Oil to make sure that Alaskans get the most benefit from oil production on the land that belongs to Alaskans, and Alaskans only. She cut right through the red tape that has prevented Alaska from bringing more energy production online. She did in less than two years what no other Governor could do in 30 - she gave the largest domestic natural gas pipelne the go-ahead, and she did it by allowing two competing designs to compete for customers and the one that proves to be the more profitable version will be built.
As for her views on war, she said: My son is 19 years old, just a kid, and his Striker Brigade is deploying to Iraq on Sept.11. Alaska is an energy rich state that she has been forcefully fighting to open up for domestic energy production. "I want to know that we are not there for oil, not when we have this energy supply right here in Alaska." Finally, she said it best, in fact she said it just like most Americans, specifically Democrats, say it when talking about the war: "We better not be at war over this, because, you know, I'm a mom, and my son is going over there, to Iraq, and I want to make sure that we have a plan there."
Sarah Palin knows more about energy production, not just the ins and outs (literally) of oil and natural gas, but about renewables like hydro, geothermal and wind as well, than the entire Democratic Party combined. She truly understands economics and is a stauch free-market capitalist, and she sees herself as the CEO of Alaska and her shareholders are the People of Alaska, and that is why she raised taxes on the oil companies drilling there - because in Alaska the PEOPLE own the land, and the oil companies are simply leasing that land from the people. She raised taxes on the oil companies just like a real estate investor would raise rates on rent to increase his or her profits. Sarah took that increase in revenue and put some of it aside in savings for when the oil revenues decrease in the future, she invested hundreds of millions into renewable energy sources for the future, and the rest was given directly back to Alaska residents in the form of dividends and finally in an energy fund to help cover the increased cost of heating oil and gas. She also repealed the gasoline tax in Alaska for one year to lower the cost at the pump. That oil belongs to Alaskans (according to Alaska's State Constitution) and she cut through the corruption and red tape to make sure that Alaskans earned the greatest return on their land leases.
Sarah ROCKS!
Posted By: David S
Date: 2008-09-01 10:47:42
I'm somewhat optimistic about Palin. But there are unknowns about her that must be answered.
1) What is her opinion of W's claim that he can label someone an enemy combatant and throw them in prison indefinitely without charges, without habeas corpus, without due process and without a trial? Would she end that practice or continue it?
2) What is her opinion of the BCRA which McCain wrote? Would she work to overturn it?
3) Does she favor continuing the Iraq war?
My guess is that she would be on the wrong side of all of those issues. If that's true then she would be a poor choice.