Sarah Palin Will Ruin America
John McCain picking Sarah Palin is very encouraging. As far as I can tell, it means that in 2012 I have a shot at becoming the vice-presidential nominee for the Republican party because by that time it is possible that I will have amassed the required 2-3 years of professional political experience. And by professional political experience I mean being the chairman of the local Apple computer fan club…in Alaska.
All kidding aside, I think tapping Palin is a terrible decision by McCain. If you can get past her lack of experience - she served on the city council of Wasilla, AK (population: 5,469) and was the mayor of the same town before becoming governor - you still run into the fact that she is about as right wing as it gets.
McCain chose her to do the following:
- Appease the right-wing core of the party (you know, the ones who think evolution is a vast liberal conspiracy)
- Pander to women - if he can get the Hillary supporters, he wins.
- Appear young and hip, even though he has never sent an email.
Sarah Palin: Right Wing Nut Job
I have a number of problems with her stances on political issues, but I will go over the issues that are the most illogical and, frankly, piss me off the most. As a quick reference you can see where she stands by visiting OnTheIssues.com.
She supports teaching intelligent design in schools.
I don’t actually have a huge issue with teaching intelligent design to kids. As long as you keep it a million miles away from the science class room and teach it as though it were a fantasy story and routinely compare it to the Care Bears.
This topic is really too big to cover in one post, but intelligent design is a code word for creationism, which is a story related to the Bible, which means it is a religious story. Even if you ignore the separation of church and state (I know the Constitution never says “church and state” but it is implied a number of times) you still run into the problem of the story having absolutely no factual basis. None. At all.
This topic could take up an entire post, so lets just say she is wrong.
She wants to open ANWR for drilling.
The republicans would have you believe opening ANWR would drop the price of oil tomorrow and suddenly all of our problems would disappear. Turns out, by 2026 we would see the price per barrel of oil drop $0.75. If we are still so dependent on oil in 2026 that we need a price drop of $0.75 per barrel (less than a percent of the current price!) then we are in much bigger trouble than ANWR can dig us out of.
Also lets not forget that OPEC is a cartel and can increase or decrease their oil production at will to affect the price of oil worldwide. Until we don’t need oil, we will be at the mercy of OPEC, because ANWR cannot even come close to producing enough oil to keep Americans happy.
She is anti-gay rights.
She takes a number of stances that indicate she thinks the government should stay out of people’s lives as much as possible, and then she decided that when it comes to gay rights she should legislate her own backwards morality on the country.
Not allowing two gay individuals who are in love to enjoy the same benefits as two straight individuals who are in love by way of a civil union is despicable. It limits their ability to attain custody of children if their partner dies, it makes it significantly more difficult to see a loved one in a hospital, not to mention the tax benefits of being legally married. I don’t care if individual churches want to perform marriages or not - let them decide - but at the very least let everyone who wants one have a civil union.
Legislating Judeo-Christian morality is not the job of the government, and I would prefer this not even be a political issue, but it is and Sarah Palin is on the wrong side of it.
She actually thinks abstinence-only education works.
I think it is absolutely disgusting that Sarah Palin’s daughter has been dragged into this campaign and I wish major news outlets and bloggers would move away from her daughter and onto the bigger issue at hand.
Abstinence-only education does not decrease teen pregnancy. The American Academy of Pediatrics agrees.
In 1996 President Bill Clinton signed a welfare reform bill that included an amendment enforcing the teaching of abstinence-only education. It stipulated teaching that abstinence is the only acceptable form of sexual behavior outside of marriage at any age. It also severely limited teachers from explaining safe-sex practices to children.
So what happened? The teen pregnancy rate went up. Teaching kids about safe sex is one way to lower teen pregnancy rates.
So yeah, I’m voting for Obama
I have already said I am voting for Obama on this blog. A lot of people tell me that Obama is going to raise my taxes. For the record, I do not think a tax rate is a good reason to vote for someone. I also would prefer lower taxes - I think the government should provide only the most basic necessities for a civilized society (roads, schools, clean water, etc.) and let private industry do the rest. But as long as both parties are taking my money, I’m going to pick the party that will dig the United States out the hole we’re in and restore our place in the world as a respected nation rather than the big bully who can barely dress himself.
In any event, for most Americans, Obama’s tax plan will actual get them more money. See for yourself.
I also hear people questioning whether Obama is a Muslim or a Christian. First: who cares? There is no religious test to be President of the United States and what religion someone is makes no difference. Second: He is a Christian, and while I am not religious, I am praying he does not take his religion into account when making decisions about our country. Look where George Bush, the born again Christian, has gotten us.
Thirdly, Obama is another politician. Anyone expecting radical change in Washington, D.C. once Obama is elected is going to be sad when they realize that he still has to fight with Congress and battle the bureaucracy that makes Washington, D.C. the busiest place in the world to never get anything done.
24 responses so far ↓
2 Sep 2008 at 12:03 am
All I can say is that I wish I could vote!
It’s ridiculously transparent what McCain is doing and I praise Allah it doesn’t work!
2 Sep 2008 at 5:52 am
um…..all of your points.
I could not find where the price of oil would go down $.25 in your reference.
Another point, because your right wing that means that you’re a nut? Are you in the mental health profession? Statements like that diminish the validity of your argument. I am always astonished what I perceive as liberals (or progressives as you like to be called now) just use name calling instead of arguing facts. I do not put you in that category though
2 Sep 2008 at 5:54 am
Actually, unless you make over $161,000 a year, Obama will DECREASE your taxes. You can read about that at
http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/11/news/economy/candidates_taxproposals_tpc/?postversion=2008061113
Also, can we please discuss Sarah Palin’s 1990’s membership in the Alaskan Independence Party? They favor SUCCESSION for Alaska. Are the Republicans honestly nominating a woman who didn’t even WANT to be part of this country 10 years ago?
2 Sep 2008 at 6:02 am
you guys just don’t get it… this is what middle American wants… you watch, they will love her and she will win the election for McCain because of it. Just the mere fact that so many people are talking about it proves my point.
I thought Obama was very gracious in his remarks about Palin’s daughter, but trying to spread anti-Palin anything is only going to empower her more (IMO).
2 Sep 2008 at 6:35 am
Hmmm lets see apparently your definition of enough “professional political experience for the presidency” is one term in the Illinois state legislature and less than one term as a U.S. Senator, on thing seriously lacking there is EXECUTIVE BRANCH experience. Granted she doesn’t have much but she has more than Obama and not to mention she’s not the top of the ticket McCain is, oh and BTW yes she wants to drill and if you noticed the price of oil per barrel went down $10 on Friday after McCain announced her as his VP choice.
2 Sep 2008 at 6:35 am
Tess, You are wrong about the graph. The negative means how much money will be taken from your tax bill. Hence it being a tax break. Kindly learn to double check yourself before you post again.
2 Sep 2008 at 7:05 am
@Scott Fillmer
“trying to spread anti-Palin anything is only going to empower her more”
Are you saying we should ignore it? Apple constantly produces anti-Microsoft ads and it seems to be working for them. Besides, if we leave it to the mainstream media who knows where they’ll take it. They’re already praising her for living up to her pro-life stance when they should be pointing out the obvious failure of her abstinence-only policies.
2 Sep 2008 at 7:06 am
All the reasons you gave for not voting for Sarah Palin are exactly the reasons why I would vote for her.
2 Sep 2008 at 7:23 am
I’m not American, but both VP choices had me kind of confused. Also, I think the whole abstinence only education will promote teenage pregnancy more than anything. It’s a timeless fact that one way to make a teenager want something is to tell them they can’t have it.
2 Sep 2008 at 9:26 am
I agree. She will be very popular with a lot of people. BUT… the “parallel” teaching of evolution and creationism is a will scare off a lot of independents.
As for the ANWR argument, it’s a losing argument for democrats, even with the base. It’s a known source of oil. Palin’s argument of “it’s only 2000 acres out of 1.7 million” is compelling, even if it’s a lie, and voters will believe it.
Democrats need to keep their head down on ANWR and hope for the best because in this climate the republicans have the edge.
2 Sep 2008 at 9:36 am
Oh, her argument of ANWR oil development drilling is only going to effect 2000 acres out of, sorry, 19 MILLION acres (see why this looks so good).
WHy is this a lie. The area is really a coastal plain of 1.5 million acres. 2000 acres is the size of the oil derrick. drilling there will cause a spider web of development consisting of roads, support structures, pipelines, etc…. Everyone knows once the roads are in, the wilderness are is over.
Palin is trying to snow over voters and is very smart when she does it. I’m torn because unlike today’s Bush republicans, I’m for state rights and Alaska wants the drilling to happen.
2 Sep 2008 at 9:54 am
Good for you, Ben. While I disagree with your reasoning for voting Obama (I personally will be voting 3rd party, for the same reasons you’re voting for Obama), I’m glad to see you’ve gotten sick enough with both parties to warrant action.
2 Sep 2008 at 10:22 am
** Just another ugly, cynical christo-fascist **
Palin is as cynical a choice for VP as Clarence Thomas was for the Supreme Court. And for exactly the same reason.
Thomas would never grow into the shoes of Thurgood Marshall. He was chosen as an African American of the far right who would trample hard won gains of the civil rights era.
Palin is a few feet shy of the stature to take over the presidency. She was chosen as a woman of the far right who would trample hard won gains in women’s and children’s rights.
Both of them are small human beings, intellectually and morally. Her xianity is a dishonest ersatz for foreign and public policy.
McCain’s calculated cynicism at the same time betrays his lack of judgment and his frivolous nature. He’s no “maverick”.
He capitulated to the death impulse of the christo-fascists (dominionists) who now control his party. Those who look forward with glee to nuclear Armageddon in the middle east.
Now, the choice is stark. McPain and a continued assault on the Constitution by ignorant, arrogant “servants” of an imperial presidency.
Or, Obama-Biden and a chance to undo the harm suffered by the Republic from the Bush-Cheney reign of thuggery.
bipolar2
2 Sep 2008 at 2:24 pm
@Adam: Obama’s experience is in a state with almost 25x the people, and since he’s a Senator you could give him, say, half the state’s persons as constituents (still 12x as many people as the governor of alaska). Republicans grasp onto this ‘executive branch experience’ lie because its all they have. Obama was also the president of the Harvard Law Review, a professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School and a practicing civil rights attorney.
Sarah Palin was a self-described hockey mom until her stint on the town council of wasilla, please - new argument.
Also just because she isn’t the ‘top of the ticket’ doesn’t help me feel any better - because mccain would be our oldest president, he’s already proven to be forgetful, and he’s been through 4 bouts of cancer… can YOU honestly say you think Sarah Palin is ready to be President of the United States?!
@Voter in NJ: Not all right wing people are nut jobs - the people so far to the right that they can’t even see the middle are nut jobs. People on the very very far left are also nut jobs, just of a different breed. Forcing religion down the throats of an entire country (where 12% are atheists or claim no religious affiliation) behind the thin shroud of ’science’ is an insult to anyone who has taken a introductory biology class. N-u-t-j-o-b.
This pick for VP is a ridiculous ploy that will not work, and its a dangerous thing to be playing around with just to win an election. Sarah Palin is the LAST person I want to be President if McCain were to have to hand over the office, while Joe Biden at least has 25 years experience in Washington if the same happened to Obama.
If McCain wins the election I’m moving out of the country.
2 Sep 2008 at 4:32 pm
@Ben & Connor – you’re right, abstinence only education doesn’t work (I say as a Christian, who doesn’t think that sex outside of marriage is right, but isn’t blind to the opinions of everyone else). Anyone who thinks it does doesn’t live in the real world… reminds me of that movie Mean Girls:
“Don’t have sex. You will get chlamydia and die… Everybody take some rubbers.”
@voter in NJ – good job skimming the subheadings and then commenting. If you actually read the post you’d notice that none of your comment was valid. Ben doesn’t call her a nut because she’s right-wing, he calls her a right-wing nut because of her policies that he talks about. Listen first, then speak.
2 Sep 2008 at 9:15 pm
I fail to see why people believe Palin will be popular with the Clinton supporters. God help us if the Republicans scrape over the line because of the women out there who chose to vote for a woman candidate, regardless of her political stance.
3 Sep 2008 at 2:41 pm
COMMENT DELETED.
Maybe next time Christopher will choose not to insult people using inappropriate terms (i.e. “retards”).
5 Sep 2008 at 6:44 pm
I’m not exactly sure how I found your blog, but this is the first time I’ve commented on it. If you feel like deleting it, read through; there’s a moral at the end of the story.
In regards to oil, I think that doing anything is better than nothing. Intelligent design should be out of school, but not compared to Care Bears. Church and state was so that the state could not affect the church, not the other way around. Finally, I consider homosexuals as phony. I disagree with a lot of points in your post, but there’s one part that made me respect it, anyway: “…I’m going to pick the party that will dig the United States out the hole we’re in and restore our place in the world as a respected nation…” That’s a nice idea. No matter your party, vote for who you think will fix it best, not based on race or sex.
Thanks for putting that in,
…tae
7 Sep 2008 at 2:08 pm
Well…the point is drilling in ANWR is essentially a political ploy to divide the country into two political groups. It is, effectively, going to do nothing.
And also it will ruin hundreds of thousands of acres of wilderness which is a huge price to pay so that the average American save save, quite literally, a penny.
Actually it was so that there would not be a national religion and so that religious affiliation would not determine whether or not a person could serve in political office or get any other job. Imposing laws that are based on Judeo-Christian morality is just as much against the Constitution as the government outlawing Christianity.
8 Sep 2008 at 12:59 pm
Since when does State population have ANYTHING to do with whether or not you HAVE executive experience?
Alaska has a population of 670,053 people… flip her over to Biden’s state.
Had she been Governor of Delaware, which only passes Alaska’s population by 200K people, would she have been allowed to cite her “experience”?
8 Sep 2008 at 3:11 pm
@James: Biden is not running based on executive experience, he is running based on his foreign policy experience.
I would say sitting on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee qualifies him to be an expert on foreign relations - wouldn’t you?
If he were running on executive experience and the size of his state, then I would say that he is an idiot, but he’s not. Also, I am not so much worried about Alaska’s population, but I am worried about the fact that she thinks governing a town of around 5,000 people prepared her for the vice-presidency.
13 Oct 2008 at 6:27 am
You obviously have no clue of the real world. When Obama raises the taxes on your employer, who in turn lays you off Thank Obama then.
Happy Job Hunting
14 Oct 2008 at 10:05 pm
I nominate Ed Kooi’s comment for best of post.
18 Oct 2008 at 9:39 pm
Are you kidding Ed?
If you check the facts http://www.factcheck.org/ the John McCain / Sarah Palin’s numbers do not even come close to adding.
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