Problems with Palin

[Theory5]

I hope that Obama wins but I read something about Paulin which firmly supports my belief that Obama should be elected.

-She tried to ban books in her town, and when the librarian refused to help her, the librarian nearly lost her job.

-Mcain is a war veteran and has always put country first. Paulin put herself before anyone else.

 

Anyone have an opinion on this?

[Nitack]

The fact that she even suggests that Intelligent design should be taught in schools is enough to black list her for me. If she suggests it while running for election in alaska what the hell will happen when she gets in power?

 

I was firmly going to vote for McCain before he selected her. Now... well I just don't know.

 

Choice 1: Obama and a war on economics. A candidate who doesn't understand the fundamental truth that you can not tax your way into a better economy and more jobs, you can only hurt the economy and cost people jobs.

 

Choice 2: Palin and a war on science. Lets face it, odds are McCain will die in office or at least reach a severe level of age related disability, Alzheimer anyone? Even if he survives four or eight years, Palin would be the next in line on the republican ticket. I want to keep her as far away from running this country as possible.

[buddyzen]

ban books in her own town tisk tisk...... this should definitely turn oil hungry republicans around , at least i hope so. for the last couple years we have had the most dumbest candidates/presidents

[TheBigDog]

I hope that Obama wins but I read something about Paulin which firmly supports my belief that Obama should be elected.

-She tried to ban books in her town, and when the librarian refused to help her, the librarian nearly lost her job.

-Mcain is a war veteran and has always put country first. Paulin put herself before anyone else.

 

Anyone have an opinion on this?

Curious about the source of this rumor.

[InfiniteNow]

Curious about the source of this rumor.

 

The fact that a person in power would even consider banning books, let alone asking about how to go about doing so, poses a pretty fundamental (pun intended) problem for anybody with academic integrity.

 

 

 

Palin asked Wasilla librarian about censoring books - BostonHerald.com

"Back in 1996, when she first became mayor, Sarah Palin asked the city librarian if she would be all right with censoring library books should she be asked to do so.

According to news coverage at the time, the librarian said she would definitely not be all right with it. A few months later, the librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, got a letter from Palin telling her she was going to be fired. The censorship issue was not mentioned as a reason for the firing. The letter just said the new mayor felt Emmons didn't fully support her and had to go.

 

Emmons had been city librarian for seven years and was well liked. After a wave of public support for her, Palin relented and let Emmons keep her job.

 

<...>

 

In December 1996, Emmons told her hometown newspaper, the Frontiersman, that Palin three times asked her -- starting before she was sworn in -- about possibly removing objectionable books from the library if the need arose.

 

Emmons told the Frontiersman she flatly refused to consider any kind of censorship.

 

<...>

 

When the matter came up for the second time in October 1996, during a City Council meeting, Anne Kilkenny, a Wasilla housewife who often attends council meetings, was there.

 

Like many Alaskans, Kilkenny calls the governor by her first name.

 

"Sarah said to Mary Ellen, 'What would your response be if I asked you to remove some books from the collection?" Kilkenny said.

 

"I was shocked. Mary Ellen sat up straight and said something along the line of, 'The books in the Wasilla Library collection were selected on the basis of national selection criteria for libraries of this size, and I would absolutely resist all efforts to ban books.'"

 

Palin didn't mention specific books at that meeting, Kilkenny said.

 

Palin herself, questioned at the time, called her inquiries rhetorical and simply part of a policy discussion with a department head "about understanding and following administration agendas," according to the Frontiersman article.

 

<...>

 

Books may not have been pulled from library shelves, but there were other repercussions for Emmons.

 

Four days before the exchange at the City Council, Emmons got a letter from Palin asking for her resignation. Similar letters went to police chief Irl Stambaugh, public works director Jack Felton and finance director Duane Dvorak. John Cooper, a fifth director, resigned after Palin eliminated his job overseeing the city museum.

 

Palin told the Daily News back then the letters were just a test of loyalty as she took on the mayor's job, which she'd won from three-term mayor John Stein in a hard-fought election. Stein had hired many of the department heads. Both Emmons and Stambaugh had publicly supported him against Palin."

 

 

 

Btw - It's spelled "Palin" and a mod should fix the thread title.

[Buffy]

A bit of the story behind the story from CBS News:

Palin was elected mayor thanks in large part to the strong backing of her church, the Wasilla Assembly of God, which, right around the time Palin took office, "began to focus on certain books available in local stores and in the town library, including one called 'Go Ask Alice,' and another one written by a local pastor, Howard Bess, called 'Pastor, I am Gay.'"

 

When I asked her yesterday after school, my 13-year-old daughter knew exactly what the Bush Doctrine is. Maybe she's better qualified to be one heartbeat away from the most important job in the world!

 

YouTube - Palin seems unaware of 'Bush doctrine' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eJmviNyhfk

 

Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran, :(

Buffy

[Nitack]

Welcome to the police state. Please pick up your "Hail Sarah" arm band and prepare to look happy while posing for pictures.

[jackson33]

I hope that Obama wins but I read something about Paulin which firmly supports my belief that Obama should be elected.

-She tried to ban books in her town, and when the librarian refused to help her, the librarian nearly lost her job.

-Mcain is a war veteran and has always put country first. Paulin put herself before anyone else.

 

Anyone have an opinion on this?

 

*Factcheck.org* or in this case a google of Factcheck+Palin, will get you some more realistic, non partisan comments on rumors begun over various web-sites. On the Books for instance, many said she wanted ban, had not been released, while she was there.

 

If you believe, putting country first (I agree with) seemingly to echo McCain's advantage over Obama, why are you hoping Obama will win. Obama is running against McCain, not Palin.

 

To the rest of you; The people in the US are basically a religious bunch, most want the BIBLE taught, do so in there homes and attend church regularly. Children are already preached to daily in religious schools, private or Home schooling. Public schools, if they want Federal Grants cannot teach any one religion and thats all there is to it. Personal opinions, to my knowledge are not against any law....

 

Palin, has the identical resume as Teddy Roosevelt, when he first ran and won the Presidency. Young, mayor of a town 2 years and little foreign policy.

Palin is running for VP, not the President. She will have plenty of time to learn whatever any person believes a weakness. Since no person is versed in ALL the thousands of issues every President is involved with, one principle I base a candidacy on is WHO they know, people they associate or have associated with and would likely take the many advisory jobs available. McCain knows these people, has a 26 year track record and draw the people with expertise, in all field of government.

 

McCain, yes has had medical problems and not all melanoma, but there is no acceptable reason, he could not serve out four or possibly eight years. He could die next week or at 105 yo, with total mental faculties. So could Obama or Palin or any person...

 

Nitack; I frankly don't understand your logic. You feel McCain will die or lose mental capacity, but would have voted for him if he had picked another person for VP. Factually since Palin was the pick, McCain now has a probability of becoming President and you will not vote for him...

 

No one can predict the future for Palin, at this point, but its no secret the Country is ready other than an old white guy (sorry, no other way to say).

If Palin, under a guidance I feel she will receive, she will not only be in National Politics for years to come, but lead that party.

[Theory5]

Thanks InfiniteNow I forgot where I read that.

 

In My Opinon this woman clearly should not be near any position of power.

IN MY OPINON having religion take over your life and your religion's views become your own and obstructs reason and logic you cease to become an intellegent being. You dont think for yourself and if you do think then that thinking is clouded and muddled and usually involves accusing someone of witchcraft. Thus the logical solution (you think of) is to accuse a scientific process of going against gods will and burning something wether it be books or people.

Zealots, fanatics, (george bush), and anyone else whos idea of religion exculdes logic do not belong in office Because the Presedency of the United States involves atleast SOME logic and reason (despite what George Bush has shown us)

(once again this is MY OPINION and I am not trying to insult anyone or any religiously oriented mass mind)

 

 

I also think it is our constitutional right to be uncensored. If our government censors anything it brings us one step closer to being a police "state"

[Nitack]

*Factcheck.org* or in this case a google of Factcheck+Palin, will get you some more realistic, non partisan comments on rumors begun over various web-sites. On the Books for instance, many said she wanted ban, had not been released, while she was there.

 

 

If you believe, putting country first (I agree with) seemingly to echo McCain's advantage over Obama, why are you hoping Obama will win. Obama is running against McCain, not Palin.

 

Given the very real possibility of McCain not making it through his term, you have to consider what kind of President Palin would be.

 

To the rest of you; The people in the US are basically a religious bunch, most want the BIBLE taught, do so in there homes and attend church regularly. Children are already preached to daily in religious schools, private or Home schooling. Public schools, if they want Federal Grants cannot teach any one religion and thats all there is to it. Personal opinions, to my knowledge are not against any law....

 

Excuse you? Some in the US are a religious bunch. Not only that, but we have quite a variety of religions practiced, not just Christianity. Quite a lot of us object to the government pushing ideas based in religious beliefs (abstinence only, intelligent design). Rather than speaking for all of us how about you actually put some numbers on it, and then break it down to practicing and non-practicing too. There are quite a lot who are not practicing. Personally, I object to you saying that we are a religious bunch in general. I am part of the US bunch and don't believe in archaic religions.

 

Palin, has the identical resume as Teddy Roosevelt, when he first ran and won the Presidency. Young, mayor of a town 2 years and little foreign policy.

Palin is running for VP, not the President. She will have plenty of time to learn whatever any person believes a weakness. Since no person is versed in ALL the thousands of issues every President is involved with, one principle I base a candidacy on is WHO they know, people they associate or have associated with and would likely take the many advisory jobs available. McCain knows these people, has a 26 year track record and draw the people with expertise, in all field of government.

 

William Henry Harrison

Is she ready on day 1? How about day 31?

 

McCain, yes has had medical problems and not all melanoma, but there is no acceptable reason, he could not serve out four or possibly eight years. He could die next week or at 105 yo, with total mental faculties. So could Obama or Palin or any person...

 

I am too lazy to look it up, but you are committing at least one logical fallacy here. Given McCain's age, his probability of dying in the next four years is much higher than Obama or Palin. To compare them as if all having an equal chance is rubbish.

 

Nitack; I frankly don't understand your logic. You feel McCain will die or lose mental capacity, but would have voted for him if he had picked another person for VP. Factually since Palin was the pick, McCain now has a probability of becoming President and you will not vote for him...

 

Before this election McCain's main shtick was killing pork barrel spending. He was always much more moderate on social issues than other republicans. Palin has purely draconian views, and I have no interest in having another GWB round of suppressing science, pushing individual religious beliefs on the rest of the population, and trying to impose individual morality on the rest of the population. Foreign aid contingent on abstention only policies, purposely spreading misinformation. Nope, I could have stomached almost anyone else, but a pure ideologue is too much risk.

 

No one can predict the future for Palin, at this point, but its no secret the Country is ready other than an old white guy (sorry, no other way to say).

If Palin, under a guidance I feel she will receive, she will not only be in National Politics for years to come, but lead that party.

 

Pffft. She is going to get sent back to Alaska with her tail tucked between her legs and become an election footnote a la Geraldine Ferraro. Doesn't matter who I want to win, Obama is going to crush this election. In my state of Virginia, McCain is spending boat loads of money just to try to hold on to what should be a safe state for him. That diverts tons of funds that he needs for battleground states.

[jackson33]

Theory5; In politics, every issue has two sides of any story and in politics people supporting one side will slant a version of events to meet their goals.

As for censorship in 'Public Schools', its very common and up to the local school districts whether a book meets their particular criteria or not. I don't think you feel our Federal Government actually participates in each school district decision, but if you do, they don't or in public schools can they legally.

 

Nitack; According to an ABC News article, based on polls; Evangelicals make up 26.3% of the American Adults. Mainline Protestants 18.1%, Catholics 23.9% and Mormons 1.7%, with all others under 1% each and they do not mention Agnostic or Atheist. The American people, at least the adults are a very Religious bunch...The history, I know you understand, tells you no less, the founders and those these people have elected National Leaders all tell me the same...In the event you have forgot or didn't read a post to you from me, I am a self proclaimed agnostic, but feel I know my place in the society and don't deny what, where, how or why this country became what it is...

 

As for National Trends for this election cycle, I keep *Vote From Abroad.con*

as a icon and check daily the daily changes based on all the poles. Its probably not much different than any other electoral map, but does a good job of getting all poles included. Please note however, I do NOT place much in polls, especially this far out from election day. Todays map shows McCain with 270 Electoral votes and Obama 268, where two weeks ago the spread was 120 in favor of Obama. Based on states strong, moderate or leaning toward or tied...today none tied.

 

Virginia, on my own system, would go McCain back to the nomination, based on heavy rural area, large military, moderate black vote and to some degree historic voting. Today Virginia dropped off the tied to Republican, with McCain 49 and Obama 47, a 20 point swing in three weeks.

 

Sure, Palin could lose the election, make some major gaff's or just simple decide its not worth all the fuss and go back to Alaska after the elections. However there has never been anything so dramatic happen in American Politics to explain the energy a VICE PRESIDENT nominee has brought to an election of party.

[Nitack]

I see the main problem here is that generally you vote for the Presidential candidate, but given John McCain's age and health concerns, his vice presidential choice must be more heavily considered. That is not necessarily true with Obama who is less likely to experience an issue that would prompt a vice presidential take over. It bothers me quite a bit that McCain chose a woman who is far to the right socially and has already shown the willingness to censor information that she does not agree with and tries to fire people who will not comply. She tried to pull that crap as a MAYOR of a small town, what is she capable of as the head of the entire national government?

 

No more federal dollars for schools whose library contains any book not deemed Christian enough?

Required teaching of intelligent design in science classes?

 

Had eight years of a religious zealot, not interested in another four.

 

Commentary: The Obama-Palin dream ticket - CNN.com

[Moontanman]

I see the main problem here is that generally you vote for the Presidential candidate, but given John McCain's age and health concerns, his vice presidential choice must be more heavily considered. That is not necessarily true with Obama who is less likely to experience an issue that would prompt a vice presidential take over. It bothers me quite a bit that McCain chose a woman who is far to the right socially and has already shown the willingness to censor information that she does not agree with and tries to fire people who will not comply. She tried to pull that crap as a MAYOR of a small town, what is she capable of as the head of the entire national government?

 

No more federal dollars for schools whose library contains any book not deemed Christian enough?

Required teaching of intelligent design in science classes?

 

Had eight years of a religious zealot, not interested in another four.

 

Commentary: The Obama-Palin dream ticket - CNN.com

 

Amen Nitact, amem!

[jackson33]

I see the main problem here is that generally you vote for the Presidential candidate, but given John McCain's age and health concerns, his vice presidential choice must be more heavily considered. That is not necessarily true with Obama who is less likely to experience an issue that would prompt a vice presidential take over. It bothers me quite a bit that McCain chose a woman who is far to the right socially and has already shown the willingness to censor information that she does not agree with and tries to fire people who will not comply. She tried to pull that crap as a MAYOR of a small town, what is she capable of as the head of the entire national government?

 

No more federal dollars for schools whose library contains any book not deemed Christian enough?

Required teaching of intelligent design in science classes?

 

Had eight years of a religious zealot, not interested in another four.

 

Commentary: The Obama-Palin dream ticket - CNN.com

 

As I have indicated on several threads, my vote will go to the person I believe has access to the best political talent available. If Ms. Clinton were the nominee and chose Obama for VP, I would probably have voted for her, feeling Bill Clinton as an international ambassador could be effective, even thought I feel Obama would be a disaster for the country. If this assumption is/were wrong, he would have a year or more to prove me wrong. When McCain picked an activist reformer, which he ran on and noted as, my vote was cemented.

 

The Federal Government has no place in social issues of this Union, IMO at any level. On Education they actually have none and any influence (minimal) is coerced. The few grants given to STATES, not the school district, goes into State General funds, at best 2% of their Educational Budgets. Palin as a member of the PTA, Mayor of a small town was acting and doing exactly what every person on any School Board, or parent in any small town is or should be obligated to do. I sure don't want any School board of NYC, Detroit or any urban area, influences my small town and suspect no one in any other than that town would tolerate such intervention.

 

Your comments on Bush, probably goes to 'Faith Based Incentives', which if anything goes against 'Evangelic' principles. They are directed at every humanitarian or benevolence oriented organization, to do what THEY desire for their community and the impoverished in their area. FDR in his one National 6 minute prayer (over National Radio) on D-Day 1944, makes anything Bush EVER HAS DONE seem like mild comments on personal beliefs.

 

As I and others have indicated, people should pride themselves on achievement and should personally pursue those possibilities. Think there have been four personal stories, where one person has to some degree come from nothing to something, w/o government. I might add not one mention of some faith being mentioned. Ms. Palin, has demonstrated to millions that even a woman in this 'all boys' country of political power, can possibly achieve the ultimate or second ultimate job in her chosen field, politics. She has managed this with her own authentic personality, which happens to be the same as most Americans, whether I agree in total or not.

[Buffy]

Oh my, we can certainly expect someone who is incredibly frugal with state funds and horridly opposed to cronyism and corruption!

 

From yesterday's New York Times:

when there was a vacancy at the top of the State Division of Agriculture, she appointed a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, to the $95,000-a-year directorship. A former real estate agent, Ms. Havemeister cited her childhood love of cows as a qualification for running the roughly $2 million agency.

 

Ms. Havemeister was one of at least five schoolmates Ms. Palin hired, often at salaries far exceeding their private sector wages.

 

...an examination of her swift rise and record as mayor of Wasilla and then governor finds that her visceral style and penchant for attacking critics — she sometimes calls local opponents “haters” — contrasts with her carefully crafted public image.

 

Throughout her political career, she has pursued vendettas, fired officials who crossed her and sometimes blurred the line between government and personal grievance, according to a review of public records and interviews with 60 Republican and Democratic legislators and local officials.

And would bear no resemblance to the Bush administration! Its Change!

Ms. Palin runs an administration that puts a premium on loyalty and secrecy. The governor and her top officials sometimes use personal e-mail accounts for state business; dozens of e-mail messages obtained by The New York Times show that her staff members studied whether that could allow them to circumvent subpoenas seeking public records.

 

Rick Steiner, a University of Alaska professor, sought the e-mail messages of state scientists who had examined the effect of global warming on polar bears. (Ms. Palin said the scientists had found no ill effects, and she has sued the federal government to block the listing of the bears as endangered.) An administration official told Mr. Steiner that his request would cost $468,784 to process.

 

When Mr. Steiner finally obtained the e-mail messages — through a federal records request — he discovered that state scientists had in fact agreed that the bears were in danger...

...

In 1997, Ms. Palin fired the longtime city attorney, Richard Deuser, after he issued the stop-work order on a home being built by Don Showers, another of her campaign supporters.

 

Your attorney, Mr. Showers told Ms. Palin, is costing me lots of money.

 

“She told me she’d like to see him fired,” Mr. Showers recalled. “But she couldn’t do it herself because the City Council hires the city attorney.” Ms. Palin told him to write the council members to complain.

 

Meanwhile, Ms. Palin pushed the issue from the inside. “She started the ball rolling,” said Ms. Patrick, who also favored the firing. Mr. Deuser was soon replaced by Ken Jacobus, then the State Republican Party’s general counsel.

....

Half a century after Alaska became a state, Ms. Palin was inaugurated as governor in Fairbanks and took up the reformer’s sword.

 

As she assembled her cabinet and made other state appointments, those with insider credentials were now on the outs. But a new pattern became clear. She surrounded herself with people she has known since grade school and members of her church.

...

Ms. Palin chose Talis Colberg, a borough assemblyman from the Matanuska valley, as her attorney general, provoking a bewildered question from the legal community: “Who?” Mr. Colberg, who did not return calls, moved from a one-room building in the valley to one of the most powerful offices in the state, supervising some 500 people.

 

“I called him and asked, ‘Do you know how to supervise people?’ ” said a family friend, Kathy Wells. “He said, ‘No, but I think I’ll get some help.’ ”

 

The Wasilla High School yearbook archive now doubles as a veritable directory of state government. Ms. Palin appointed Mr. Bitney, her former junior high school band-mate, as her legislative director and chose another classmate, Joe Austerman, to manage the economic development office for $82,908 a year. Mr. Austerman had established an Alaska franchise for Mailboxes Etc.

...

....lawmakers in April accused her of improperly culling thousands of e-mail addresses from a state database for a mass mailing to rally support for a policy initiative.

...

Many lawmakers contend that Ms. Palin is overly reliant on a small inner circle that leaves her isolated. Democrats and Republicans alike describe her as often missing in action. Since taking office in 2007, Ms. Palin has spent 312 nights at her Wasilla home, some 600 miles to the north of the governor’s mansion in Juneau, records show.

 

During the last legislative session, some lawmakers became so frustrated with her absences that they took to wearing “Where’s Sarah?” pins.

 

Many politicians say they typically learn of her initiatives — and vetoes — from news releases.

...

At an Alaska Municipal League gathering in Juneau in January, mayors across the political spectrum swapped stories of the governor’s remoteness. How many of you, someone asked, have tried to meet with her? Every hand went up, recalled Mayor Fred Shields of Haines Borough. And how many met with her? Just a few hands rose. Ms. Palin soon walked in, delivered a few remarks and left for an anti-abortion rally.

 

The administration’s e-mail correspondence reveals a siege-like atmosphere. Top aides keep score, demean enemies and gloat over successes. Even some who helped engineer her rise have felt her wrath.

 

Dan Fagan, a prominent conservative radio host and longtime friend of Ms. Palin, urged his listeners to vote for her in 2006. But when he took her to task for raising taxes on oil companies, he said, he found himself branded a “hater.”

 

It is part of a pattern, Mr. Fagan said, in which Ms. Palin characterizes critics as “bad people who are anti-Alaska.”

Oh and her "80% popularity in Alaska rating?" Take a look at this...

"Sarah Palin frightens the hell out of me. I don't want her anywhere near the White House," said Marybeth Holleman of Anchorage.

But all work and no play is boring, so on a lighter note...

 

 

PALIN: Good evening, my fellow Americans. I was so excited when I was told Senator Clinton and I would be addressing you tonight.

 

CLINTON: And I was told I would be addressing you alone.

 

PALIN: Now I know it must be a little bit strange for all of you to see the two of us together, what with me being John McCain’s running mate…

 

CLINTON: And me being a fervent supporter of Senator Barack Obama, as evidenced by this button.

 

PALIN: But tonight, we are crossing party lines to address the now very ugly role that sexism is playing in the campaign.

 

CLINTON: An issue that I am frankly surprised to hear people suddenly care about.

 

PALIN: You know, Hillary and I don’t agree on everything…

 

CLINTON: Anything…I believe that diplomacy should be the cornerstone of any foreign policy.

 

PALIN: And I can see Russia from my house.

 

CLINTON: I believe global warming is caused by man…

 

PALIN: And I believe it’s just God huggin’ us closer.

 

CLINTON: I don’t agree with the Bush Doctrine…

 

PALIN: And I don’t know what that is.

 

CLINTON: But Sarah, one thing we can agree on is that sexism can never be allowed to permeate an American election.

 

PALIN: So please, stop Photoshopping my head on sexy bikini pictures.

 

CLINTON: And stop saying I have cankles.

 

PALIN: Don’t refer to me as a MILF.

 

CLINTON: And don’t refer to me as a “FLIRJ”. I Googled what it stands for and I do not like it.

 

PALIN: Reporters and commentators, stop using words that diminish us, like “pretty”, “attractive”, “beautiful”…

 

CLINTON: …”Harpy”, “shrew”, “boner-shrinker”…

 

There is nothing more unequal, than the equal treatment of unequal people, ;)

Buffy

[freeztar]

So...you're saying you like Palin? ;)

 

I've told all my lady friends that I find it disgusting that the McCain campaign would assume that Hillary supporters would suddenly become GOP because Hillary was not chosen as the dem VP. In other words, women are not a swing vote like that. Some are, but most are not. If I was a woman, I'd be insulted by this tactic. Women are much smarter than that.

[Moontanman]

Sadly none of the people who support Palin will care about any of this stuff, she is all flash and no substance and that is exactly what the McCain campaign wants. She is the solid girl next door church going soccer mom who cannot do any wrong. Anything she does is done in accordance with gods plan, her good looks and ability to field dress a moose is more important than any possible ability to actually run the country. I bet $50 to a donut she couldn't field dress a rabbit, much less a moose.