Good evening, lots of
friends and relatives have been asking me (as an
Alaskan) what I think of Sarah Palin,
our Governor, and new choice for McCain
as a VP candidate.
Here it goes:
This pick floored me. Sarah Palin is a
nice person. I've met her, I've even
talked to her for a few minutes at a
principal's conference a couple of years
ago. She has lots going for her
superficially. She speaks from the heart,
like a spitfire mother; she can even be
sort of funny sometimes. She is quite
beautiful; athletic, and has that
radiant glow of someone who actually spends
time doing things outside. Unlike many
politicians, she has lived a 'real
life' and done things that few living
and working in DC could ever do....like
dipnettin' fish, shootin' stuff and
eating it out on the tundra, and havin' 5
kids.
Personally, I'd never vote for her. She
has an extremely simple view of the
world. I don't even think she has ever
been abroad. As governor she has
repeatedly shown us that she is unable
to grasp the demands of leadership.
She is very prone to cronyism of the
worst kind. Every cabinet level
political appointment she has made she
has over-ridden suggestions of our
state advisory boards, and instead
promoted those who had granted her direct
political favors. Not that other
politicians don't do this, they do, but most
of them are able to balance their
appointments to ensure that at least a few
people with real skill and experience
are running big state agencies.
She also has been unable to pay
attention to her Alaskan constituency.
Personally, I've written several of our
previous gov's and been asked to
comment publicly on education policy.
All the previous gov's have always
acknowledged that contribution,
criticism or comment; sometimes by direct
reply, or at least by that of a staff
member. Palin's office has been a zone
of silence. Not I, nor one person I know
commenting has ever gotten any sort
of reply. Her claim of running an open
or transparent government is totally
false; the public simply has no role in
her administration.
Her previous claim to fame was being
mayor of Wasilla, a growing town about 40
minutes from Anchorage of about 15,000 people. Wasilla is
a hellhole, even by
Alaskan standards, where there are
plenty of hellhole towns and villages.
Wasilla is an ugly place that shows a
complete absence of planning, design, or
sense of public vision. Gov't agencies
and services are completely overrun in
this town; things are so bad that they can't
even track their population or
build schools in the right place,
because most parts of the town don't require
building permits, so the only clue about
where people are settling are utility
receipts. Imagine trying to be an
emergency responder in this kind of place:
Houses don't just catch on fire in
Wasilla, they burn to the ground, because
by the time the fire
department has figured out which road to take (no signs)
or whose house it is (no directory), the
place is done for. Palin was mayor
this town for at least 2 terms before
being elected gov. a y
ear and a half ago.
Her moral sense is simplistic and not
inclusive. She is the sort of person
who is used to using their 'faith' to
divide and isolate minority groups of
human beings instead of uniting them. To
her credit as Gov. she has kept out
of this arena pretty well, but when in
comfortable company (i.e the Matanuska
Valley Republican Women's Club), she
lets her moral cat out of the bag.
I will do what I can to ensure her
defeat and that of her running mate as
well. :) Please share this information
with those who can use it well.