Why I Am Opposed to Sarah Palin (more than John McCain)
Sarah Palin is a very bad pick in my opinion. It’s great that she’s a woman, but she’s not the first woman vice-presidential candidate as many would have the public believe. Nor is she the most experienced woman in the Republican party. I think it’s very obvious she was picked to sway voters for that reason alone, which is not the right reason to pick someone for that position. Barack Obama picked Joe Biden because he’s the Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which helps Obama’s inexperience in that area. Palin does not help McCain in any area. She was the mayor of a 7,000 person town in Alaska where they are touting all of her experience there. She’s been Governor of Alaska for two years, almost as long as Obama/McCain have been on the campaign.
Her policies (text and reference links pulled from Wikipedia):
- She opposes same-sex marriage.
- She’s pro-life (anti-choice).
- Palin supported the Alaska Department of Fish and Game policy allowing Alaska state biologists to hunt wolves from helicopters as part of a predator control program intended to increase moose populations. (by the way, Palin is heavily touted by the Republican party as a moose hunter ) http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2008/2008-03-18-01.asp
- She opposes putting polar bears on the endangered species list: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/opinion/05palin.html?_r=2&scp=4&sq=bearing%20up%20by%20sarah%20palin&st=cse&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
- Palin also opposes strengthening protections for beluga whales in Alaska’s Cook Inlet, where oil and gas development has been proposed. http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1837868,00.html
- She supports teaching creationism in public schools http://dwb.adn.com/news/politics/elections/story/8347904p-8243554c.html
Edit: This has been debunked. - Palin has strongly promoted oil and natural gas resource development in Alaska, including in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). http://www.ontheissues.org/Governor/Sarah_Palin_Environment.htm
She has never been out of the country in an official capacity, yet she’s a 72-year old man’s heartbeat away from the presidency of the most powerful nation and army on the planet? It doesn’t make sense and I think is the number 1 reason why NOT to elect John McCain.
(by the way, if there is any wrong information here I’ll gladly correct it.)
I, personally, take a much closer look at the vice presidential pick of McCain than I do Obama. That may not make much sense, I realize, but my thought process is that McCain (God forbid and to put it bluntly) is much more likely to die in office than Obama is. Granted, Obama could be a high probability target for assassination by some ignorant redneck (and already has been if I recall). I also understand that McCain would be the third oldest elected, but for a man who has been through what he has physically and already faced bouts with cancer, he’s not exactly a beacon of health.
So yeah…Palin’s a bad idea.
I think she was a poor pick. I’m opposed to some of her views. Haha, The Onion had “Rumors Swirl Around Palin” and part of it said, “In addition to the five children that the media are aware of — Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper, and Trig — Palin alos has nine secret children: Frag, Moss, Scoot, Skiffer, Minnow, Plow, Snatch, Twiglet, and Drum.”
P.S. I posted that with Lynx. BF.com works pretty good with a free open-source, text-only web browser in a terminal.
@Adam: Thanks for commenting. Bill Maher commented that her kids names sound like she’s calling in an air strike.
The worst is how McCain was so critical of Obama’s lack of experience, and then he goes and picks a 2 year Governor/mayor of a small town. Bill Clinton was dogged for lack of experience during his run for presidency and then he dogged Obama for the same thing before Hillary conceded. Oh well, I guess that’s politics.
@Adam: There has definitely been a lot of back-tracking by everyone, including the experience issue as well as the idea of “Change.” So McCain is the maverick, experienced senator with the most and best experience on the job, but he and Palin will change Washington? How exactly are you going to change Washington in 4 years as President when you haven’t in all your years there as a Senator (with arguably more power?)
But I agree that the Clintons/Obama thing was bad. But you’re right, it is politics. The Republican candidates did the same thing when they were kissing McCain ass at the RNC.