Politicians are a confusing breed. There are very few who do exactly what they say they will. Most break promises made during their campaigns.
My personal favorites are those who run on “family values” and are caught having strange extramarital affairs, like Governor Mark Sanford (R-SC), Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) or Governor Eliot Spitzer (D-NY).
But few politicians confuse me more than former vice presidential candidate, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. From her nomination on, she was a polarizing enigma. She is clearly hypocritical and more than a little foolish. She gave us little gems like, “I’m the mayor, I can do whatever I want until the courts tell me I can’t.” Palin would have made ‘Darth’ Cheney look like a kitten.
Conservatives treat her as the embodiment of their ideals. To the more moderate, independent and democratic voters, she is utterly ridiculous. Tina Fey’s dead-on impersonation will go down in comedic history.
So when she resigned from her post as Governor of Alaska on July 3, I cheered loudly. What could she possibly destroy now that she was no longer in a position of power?
The world made sense again.
Yeah, not so much. She still enjoys overwhelming support among Republicans. “In fact, her resignation seems to have even slightly boosted her among GOP constituents,” according to the YahooNews article “Sarah Palin: Out, but not down.” According to a July 7 USA Today poll, 71 percent of Republicans would vote for Palin if she ran for president in 2012.
Doesn’t this make you scratch your head and go “Huh?” How can someone with so thin a political resume gather such a following so quickly?
Of course, the same is true of President Barack Obama. If the 2008 election has proved anything, it’s that political resumes have little weight. Personality and bland sex appeal seem to influence voters more. Well, that and various catch phrases, like “You betcha!” and “Hope and change!”
The phrase “President Palin” sends chills down my spine. I can’t remember a time when a political figure has been so blatantly anti-woman.
“There’s a place in hell reserved for women who don’t support other women,” Palin once said. Ironic given that she doesn’t support comprehensive sex ed or women’s reproductive rights. She even used her own daughter’s pregnancy as a “teaching tool for others.”
But wait, the parenting gets worse. “Sarah Palin declared that she would not support an abortion for her own daughter even if she had been raped,” said a Sept. 1 Huffington Post article. Regardless of how you feel about abortion, denying someone the right to even consider their options is unethical and immoral. Yet she is the darling of the GOP, that prides itself on being pure and proper.
Many believe Palin may become a fundraising tool for the Republicans. In fact, the Iowa Republican Party is currently courting her for their annual fundraiser, according to a July 9 Omaha World-Herald article. If there is anything the Republicans are good at, it is rallying themselves to the polls. Even if she isn’t planning on running for Senate or president, this will make her a formidable force.
Despite the fact that Palin constantly makes herself out to being a victim of the media, she definitely knows how to use it. She recently appeared on a pro-gun radio show with Ted Nugent, and on that same day, she signed a gun rights bill.
Even conservative writer Cal Thomas mapped out a strategy for her in his July 8 column. “She should hit the books and learn as much as she can about the modern world, history and court cases. She should read newspapers so that when future interviewers hit her with questions, she can dazzle them like a Jeopardy champion,” he said. Clearly, knowing the question of who is in charge of “casting the tie breaking vote in the Senate” is going to help her govern if she actually feels like it.
Thomas also advised Palin to “deliver a daily radio commentary. Radio takes the focus away from outward appearance and places it on the substance of what is said.”
Apparently, Palin uses a lot of slang and needs a tone adjustment. But wait, there’s more sexist advice. At the same time we shouldn’t focus on her outward appearance, Palin “needs a hair, makeup and wardrobe makeover.”
Laugh all you want at Sarah Palin. She’s an easily ridiculed public figure. So was George W. Bush and look at the horror of what his eight years brought about. Our country is at war, in the middle of a financial crisis, and past educational policies have screwed over my generation.
If nothing else, former President Bush has proved that fools should not be underestimated in their capacity to fully and thoroughly abuse their power. This mistake cannot be repeated, especially not with Sarah Palin. Our country wouldn’t survive.
Rhiannon Root is a sophomore journalism major. Reach her at rhiannonroot@dailynebraska.com.
As for your misinterpretation of affirmative action: "Affirmative action attempts to compensate for the effects of a legacy of bias by giving preference to individuals whose qualification was achieved despite obstacles and discrimination" (Julia Wood 2009). In other words, because an ethnic minority or female individual, as a member of a minority group, has to defeat traditional discrimination and work harder to possibly do as well as someone (say, a white male) who grew up priviledged, that minority individual should be noticed for his or her achievements, instead of just dismissed because an employer assumes a minority individual isn't as good. Affirmative action actually contradicts and tries to oppose the "Nazi-life" belief of which you speak.
And most "people of miss Roots ilk" do not spit on returning service(wo)men: we support the troops, not the war.To "Anatomy of a tarbrushing:" Thanks for the laugh, and talk about hypocrisy! You're spewing quite a bit of ignorance, prejudice, and hatred yourself, there.To "Back to work:" You should go back to English class and learn about proper capitlization and the difference between "to" and "too," among other things.To "Lamer still:" Let me know when 7 months of work can fix 8 years of economic destruction. And where is he calling people racist and running all over the constitution? Before you respond, let me remind you of a little thing called the separation of church and state.To the anonymous conservatives: Apparently you all think there can only be one liberal-minded Justin in all of UNL...and you're too cowardly to use your names.And to my dear Rhiannon: You should have brought up her glass ceiling comment...but good job anyway. :-)
Isn't time for a ASUN meeting? Maybe you could tell them what you just wrote. I'm sure they need a good laugh.
Don't ever doubt me when I say that Obama spent his time as a legislator dodging issues.
Bush and Palin are quite different in "polices" what ever the heck that means. Kind of like John F. Kennedy is different that Obama.
Is that the best you can say for Obama? Kind of says how little he's done and how unqualified and unfit he is to be President. Though his presidency testifies to that far better.
I didn't realize your membership in ASUN was the "fevered Imaginings of a Andrew Lacey'. I thought it was because you got elected to the post. Did this Lacey guy suggest you were on ASUNt? That news to me. I imagine he knows that you are just a member of ASUN he doesn't have the nerve to sign their name to their embarrassing and silly rantings. It not such a big secret after all.
Justin don't you have some ASUN business to attend to our are you like Obama; to concerned about your self?
I find it truly farcical how she manages to lump Sarah Palin with George W. Bush. I suppose their is a similarity. They both were elected as Republicans. But I can't see where the similarity goes any further than that. Perhaps we should do the same thing with Barack Obama and Hugo Chávez, after all they both are anti-democratic would be totalitarians with Marxist Socialist tendencies. In fact my comparison makes more sense than Roots; whose comparison is based primarily on irrational hatred and fear and a desire to tar brush anyone who doesn' t share her point of view.
I'd be a little more accepting of her Bush and Palin are evil idiots fantasy if she would recognize the evil idiocy that is presently occurring in the White House. But thought Obama's crimes are far greater than any of her name calling fantasims concerning Bush and Palin she seems strangely silent.
This it what happens when you place politics before ethics.
It seems that people of miss Roots ilk were free to spit on returning servicemen and call them "baby killers" but they seem to reserve the right to kill babies when ever they see fit and call it "reproductive freedom".
Spare me their bigotry.
Buy the way why is "non support comprehensive sex ed or women’s reproductive rights" (the lefty euphemism for abortion; the clinically acceptable term for baby killing an indication of being anti woman? Comprehensive sex education is a joke resulting in increased teen age pregnancy everywhere is it taught and frankly abortion is murder pure and simple.
Frankly Rhiannon Root is a fine example of the declining standards of journalism that plague this country. Her simpering ignorance make Kyle Citta look like a genius.