Sarah Palin’s longest political experience is as the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, so one might ask what the mayor does in Wasilla. Lucky for us, the Powers and Duties of Mayor of Wasilla are listed online. Here are the first two duties on the list:
- Preside at council meetings. The mayor may take part in the discussion of matters before the council, but may not vote, except that the mayor may vote in the case of a tie;
- Act as ceremonial head of the city;
Other than that, she has been governor of Alaska for less than two years. Note that the entire state of Alaska has a population smaller than Brooklyn, NY. And while the McCain campaign has touted that she has a 70% approval rating at that job, they don’t mention that 75% think she lied in office about trying to get her ex-brother-in-law fired.
Some people think that she might be the worst VP nominee in US history. Even Alaskans are scratching their heads.
UPDATE: Apparently Palin opposes the use of birth control pills or condoms, even among married couples. I wonder how that will fly with America.
UPDATE 2: It doesn’t look like McCain did a very good job of vetting Palin. In 1997, she almost got recalled as mayor of Wasilla. Why? Because she fired the city’s police chief and library director because they supported her opponent in the election. The police chief sued, but lost only because under Alaska law, the mayor can fire the police chief for any reason whatsoever. So while it wasn’t illegal, she has now put politics over safety twice (the second time was when she fired the state commissioner of public safety for not firing her ex-brother-in-law).
4 Comments
Well, McCain was looking for a VP that will do no evil. He got it. The only problem is, if something happens to him, then the “CEO” label that the Republican seems to suggest that she is as Mayor of Wasilla will come into play. Attend a birthday party in Moscow, break cola with crazy in North Korea and tell the Pakistani, my bad! What exactly did she do as the Mayor? This is the hypocrisy of the Republican Party. They lie and people die. The same old George Bush philosophy.
When did being the Governor of Alaska became auditioning to obtain experience in foreign Policy? My guess is when the Governor became the Republican VP Nominee. Listen, I don’t care who wins this election. I just don’t like being lied to and the truth distorted like the Republicans do. These guys have elevated lying to an art form. And what is scary about the Republican Party is, they actually believe their own lies and continue to perpetuate it even when they have been caught. You have to admire that kind of loyalty; you also have to be mindful when a party raises its own interests more than the nation’s interests. That is the Communist Party in China and the old USSR, only with a leftist bent. The danger is still the same.
How do you govern in this atmosphere? How do you govern when you say that only the Republicans put the country first suggesting that the Democrats don’t care about America. How do you govern when you say that only the Republicans can protect America more than the Democrats. Let me see, the 4000 or so brave soldiers that died in Iraq, some of them were Democrats; and I believe paid for a Country where the governing political party’s platform believes they did not put the country first! So they died for naught? You see, Karl Rove and this administration have so divided this country and tarnished people’s accomplishments and diminished what America represented so much that the Republican Party is more like the Communist Party in China. It’s all about the Party, not America. Destroy Americans but maintain the Party. Humiliate Americans including braves soldiers and their values which happens to be Democratic value, so long the Republicans win. Call them unpatriotic even when they have their sons and daughters fighting the war and paying with their lives and while their own children are neatly tucked way in Texas, etc. When are we American and think about the people that are getting these messages: when do they matter?
We must commend Governor Pahlin for making the decision to keep her four months old child with down syndrome. I believe she made the decision that was right for her and her family. The problem I have with Governor Pahlin’s, however, is will she be kind enough to extend the same courtesy to other women, to let them make choices about their reproductive system that fits their own circumstance? You see, being a social conservatives, the first thing you have to do is to disrespect a other women’s right to make these decision–to extend the same right to them that has been accorded to Governor Pahlin. When you make this right illegal and impose State’s control over their reproductive system, you are taking away from these women a very important decision, and denying them the same respect that we believe the Governor enjoyed in her personal life. The decision whether or not to have the child is not the child’s decision, and should never be allowed to be trivialized as such. Governor Pahlin clearly enjoyed the benefit of not being forced to have this baby. That is the correct thing to do; she needs to now respect other women’s right to have the same.