A reader writes:
Not knowing anything about the Republican field, I heard about the pick this morning and looked up the stories on her.
My first thought was: Trophy Candidate.
The visuals were strange. She looked like the promising student that an older professor admires (and has a bit of a crush on). When she called McCain her "partner," it sounded odder still. He comes off as her guardian or foster parent.
An Alaska native writes:
On Palin generally, I tend to agree with your analysis. Most Alaskans like her, but there’s a lot about Alaska that the rest of the country either doesn’t know or doesn’t care about. Her likability stems in part from the unique political-social culture in Alaska. I’ve known some die-hard republicans and some ultra-liberal democrats, but what connects everyone is a strong undercurrent of libertarianism. It’s very much a "let me be" kind of place, and I think you see that in Palin’s political positions.
The state tends to look very Republican, but in many ways it’s more centrist–albeit a sort of bizzaro centrist–than people realize. You see this in our governors more than the congressional delegation (which embodies the desire to hold firmly onto whatever little power the state can get). Alaskans like people who support gun rights but smoke pot, are anti-abortion but gay-friendly, are pro-drilling and pro-environment. So Palin strikes me as a good fit for Alaska, but I’m not sure she’s a good fit for the national Republican party.
Worth noting:
"Signing this bill would be in direct violation of my oath of office," Palin said in a prepared statement released by her administration Thursday night."
Constitutional issues have not stopped other Christianists. I like her personally – a good deal.
It’s going to be awfully, awfully tiresome to hear conservatives whine about Palin attacks being sexist. One, it’s in bad faith: I challenge them to take a polygraph and say they never visited SlapHillary.com or giggled when a voter asked McCain how he could "beat the bitch." Two, it minimizes Palin by portraying her as a hapless female, and comparing her to Clinton. Clinton was and is a feminist icon. Sarah Palin is Sarah Palin.
I like it (second video). I’m not sure the PUMAs will.
It seems that the main theme of the GOP this year will be that more domestic oil will solve all our problems. From Palin’s interview with Time:
“What, on a real practical level here, the GOP has got to do between now and the election is to convince Americans that it is our energy policy that is best for our nation and the nation’s future, that if we are to become energy independent and if we are to become a more secure nation then we had better start supplying our very very hungry markets across the nation with American supplies of energy…. That, of course, has been a problem for the GOP. And a problem up here in Alaska. We have state lawmakers serving time in prison right now… other lawmakers whom the FBI is probing right now… because they have been found, some, to be corrupt in oil and gas issues, having taken bribes. That does not bode well for the GOP.”
Palin is creationist friendly. Does she favor banning private stem-cell research as the GOP platform does?
Havana, Cuba, 2.01 pm.
How the Plain name surfaced.
“As for that VP talk all the time, I’ll tell you, I still can’t answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day?" – Sarah Palin, a month ago.
The Dish 