The Hammering of Palin

Is there anyone out there paying attention to the constant hammering of attacks on Governor and Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin?

It seems to me that, besides McCain & Palin, everyone (who does that leave?) in this election has been getting a pass.  It doesn’t matter how many gaffes that Biden pulls out of his ears, or how many flaws we find out about Obama’s character/past/associations, we only hear negativity about McCain and especially Palin.  It’s absolutely stunning.

Don’t get me wrong… there are plenty of stories that paint Obama and Biden in a bleak picture… it’s just that the liberal media never covers it.  We have to rely on News Talk Radio and Fox News for this information.  The libs don’t want anything to do with it and pretty much just brush it off as unimportant or a “distraction” to the “real” issues.  Please… get over yourselves.  And when someone sources a Fox News or News Talk Radio report, what happens?  We get smeared, because they’re “ultra conservative/right-wing.”  Which is bullsh*t, but whatever…  We accept it, do our best to spread the news our own way and move on.

We’ve encountered negative campaigning before… in every election really, but this season, it’s no-holds barred action.  I’ve never seen the media as unfair as they are this time around and I’ve never ever seen so many sheepeople in my life.  They’re coming out of the wood work and no matter how many sources you give them on facts, and how many truths you disclose, it doesn’t matter… they’ve already drunk the Obamalade and believe that he’s the second coming.

I digress… we’re supposed to be talking about Palin’s negative coverage.  Ok, show of hands:  How many of you have actually watched a fair interview with her (or heard)?  How many of you have actually watched one of her speeches or actually seen her debate?  Two, three?  How many of you liberals are just regurgitating what’s been said in your media?  Yeah, that’s what I thought.  For if you actually did see any of the aforementioned venues with Palin, then you’d understand why there’s a “Team Sarah” and why conservatives love her.

The liberals have picked her apart, based on cuts of interviews run on ABC, NBC and CNN… they’ve given her unfair interviews to boot.  They use gotcha’ questions and they distort facts to get favorable reactions… favorable to the media, that is.  What I’ve seen is absolutely amazing.

She’s been accused of not understanding the role of Vice President, because she said “…the Vice President is in charge of the Senate.”  People are jumping all over her, because it’s “incorrect.”  However, that’s not altogether true…  Her role will actually be “President” of the US Senate.  Might want to check your sources.  While she doesn’t dictate what they decide on (this is a democracy, after all… otherwise there would be no need for a senate), and she does not vote, she does have final vote if the Senate is split down the middle 50/50.  That one vote shall determine the win.  They also have the duty of collecting electoral college votes and opening the ticket of the next elected President of the United States (and making the announcement).

It’s interesting, as well, because the duties of the Vice President are left pretty open to the VP in question.  Depending on their personality, they can control the meetings of the Senate, keeping order and moving them along, or allowing them to move on as they will.  It all depends on the character of the VP.  The position has also evolved into a more executive position, where most Vice Presidents really don’t spend much time with the Senate, unless it’s to cast a deciding vote or if there’s a ceremonial occasion.

In actuality, Palin was very correct.  The Vice President truly does control the senate, but does not control the votes of the Senators.  Anyone can look this information up; the fact that they all jumped to conclusions and assumed she didn’t know what she was talking about is ignorant.

In fact, Biden was actually wrong in his definition.  He defined the role of Vice President as, and I quote “Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that’s the Executive Branch.”  Yeeeaaahh, no.  He then goes on to say, “The Constitution is explicit.  The only authority the vice president has from the legislative standpoint is the vote, only when there is a tie vote.”

Well, if you head to the link I provided (or actually read the Constitution), you’ll notice that in the Constitution, the role of the Vice President is defined as the “President of the US Senate,” and not of the Executive Branch at all, but of the Legislative Branch.  It’s true that the Vice President role has moved toward a more executive position, but it still remains part of the Legislative and is executive only by nature, not by law.  So, with that, and Biden’s many years as a Senator, he has formally been shamed by Governor Palin’s knowledge of the Constitution and the many roles of government.  Have at thee!  Of course, the liberal media has ignored, yet again, Biden’s gaffe.

Sarah Palin has also been accused of being stupid…  I ask you… why?  She supposedly attended 4-5 different colleges in 5-6 years.  No one really knows the extent to why she moved around so frequently.  It could be because she wanted to find the right fit.  It could be that she was studying abroad in a few places.  She’s apparently been to Hawaii for one school, so that’s not really reaching.  Maybe the schools she went to didn’t offer the degree she wanted.  Could be anything, but that’s reason number one for her being so “stupid.”

I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve been to two different colleges in five years.  It wasn’t extremely difficult to transfer from one to the other, and I transferred for several reasons.  I didn’t like the people there, my girlfriend was going to a different school, the school she was going to was actually my first choice and I didn’t get in the first time, etc.  I personally don’t think that I’m an uneducated and stupid person.  I don’t think I’m a genius, but I can think on my feet and I’ve been pretty successful at life, so I suppose that’s what I’m going on.  I’ve also met a multitude of people on the 5-year plan. Some longer than that.  It’s actually very common.

You can’t truly judge a person based on their high-school/college education.  There could be several reasons for bad grades or ending up at the end of your class, like McCain supposedly did.  I never took college seriously, until I was about 3 years in.  I always procrastinated on writing papers until the night before they were due, and sometimes the day of.  I didn’t study very hard, I stayed up until 2-4am playing Counter-Strike.  I was running a business on the side for 2 years of my college career, which really deterred me from caring about school, and I changed my major about 4 different times.

I’ve met people that have attended and graduated from Harvard, Holy Cross, Rutgers, Berkley, Tufts, and other prestigious and well-known Universities.  I’m friends with some of them.  Let me tell you… while most of them are good people and have a good head on their shoulders, not all of them are extremely intelligent.  Some are book smart and some have common sense.  Both are great, but when you get into the real world, it really comes down to common sense and street smarts.  If you don’t have that, the world will eat you alive.

So, really?  I have no concern about the candidate’s educational background.  It’s great if you’ve gotten your Masters or Doctorate, but that just means you studied a lot harder than some.  What really matters for running a Presidential office?  Common sense and street smarts, being able to lead and make difficult choices, having morals and running the office based on those morals and integrity.  These and many other qualities make for a good President/Vice President.  Your college experience and educational background means diddly squat in the end.  What’s Barack going to do, when he’s having an argument with Kim John Il?  Spout his Harvard credentials?

Let’s talk a little bit about the course of her life, as well (the start of her journey towards Vice President).  She joined the PTA at her daughter’s school, because she was a concerned mother in regards to the education that her daughter was receiving.  Upon realizing that the education wasn’t sufficient, she wanted to take steps forward in reforming the system, so she served on the Wasilla City Council for two terms.

She then ran for the office of Mayor of Wasilla, AK and served for two more terms in the local government.  She wanted to do more for her state, so she ran for Governor of Alaska, running against another Republican.  It was a tough race, but she won and she’s served since 2006.  It’s 2008 now, and McCain, having realized how far she’s come by herself, knew she was a perfect pick for a Vice Presidential candidate.  Which leads us into another negative story…

So, after serving for 6+ years in an executive position for the government of Alaska, she’s been viewed as an up-and-comer and someone with drive; someone who knows what she wants and has worked extremely hard to get to where she is, while having a family life, as well.  In all aspects, she’s been successful, but the liberal media would have you think differently.  They would have you believe that John McCain chose her, merely because she’s female, and that this election would be based on sex and/or race.  Hillary Clinton ran and lost to Obama, but she was “cracking the glass ceiling,” so why not finish the job with another woman, but from the Republican side?

To think she wasn’t qualified to serve as Vice President is absurd.  She’s proven herself time and time again, and she’s shown that she has what it takes to fend off the press and take the negative slandering that the liberals have to offer.  She’s been in the spotlight far more than Biden, a man who’s been dealing with this for 30+ years and she’s done a perfectly fine job at speaking to the people, rallying conservatives and straight-talking (a phrase that McCain and Palin have adopted for their campaign).  Sure, it’s a campaign slogan of sorts… but it’s true.

Sarah has also been touted as being too “corny” or ridiculous sounding.  Why?  Because she has an accent?  She has a simple and common way of speaking to people?  Because she doesn’t feel like she needs to use enormous words found in the back of a dictionary to sound condescending?  I admire that about her.  I, too, speak the language of the common people.  It’s the non-elitist language that anyone can understand, and I dig it.

There are many more things that Palin’s been accused of, starting with her pursuance to becoming Vice President, while having a family and a new baby with down syndrome.  Why would this even come into question?  Especially in this generation of voters.

She’s been accused of carelessly killing wolves and being apathetic toward the wildlife of Alaska.  Okay, well… the next time you live in Alaska and understand the frustration of having limited wildlife, like Moose to feed upon, maybe you’ll think twice about the very healthy population of wolves in the area, that’s killing your means to food.  Yes, I hate the idea of killing wolves, because they really are one of my favorite animals; they’re quite majestic.

Alaskans live a different life than we do in the lower 48.  They hunt where it’s pretty much winter 24/7/365.  They rely on Moose and fish for their food stock, and they have to contend with the predators of the north, like these beautiful wolves.  While they are beautiful, they’re still eating the same food as the people in that region.  We’re predators too, and it’s a harsh world we live in, where it’s survival of the fittest.  While they do hunt these animals and it may seem inhumane, it’s merely a necessity to control the population.  They still have a very healthy population of wolves.  I dare say, more healthy than we have down here in the lower states.

There are more issues, but the last one I want to talk bout is this recent front page of the New York Times (what a credible newspaper).  Apparently they’ve run out of stories to tell, so they’re attacking Palin for her wardrobe.  They’re accusing the McCain campaign of buying $150,000 worth of new clothes to wear, while they’re campaigning.  Well, in actuality, the Republican National Committee purchased the clothes and donated them to Sarah.  After having worn them, she then donates them to charities.

I find it funny that she’s been attacked for this, but it’s ok for Obama to wear custom-made suits and it’s fine for him to stay in downtown Manhattan at the Waldorf-Astoria, where the cheapest rooms are roughly $400-600/night.  Guaranteed he didn’t stay in a cheap room.  While he was there, he was kind enough to dine on lobster and Iranian caviar.

I’ve also heard that Hillary Clinton received her pant suits for free from designers.  Apparently it’s illegal for corporations (read: designers) to donate suits or otherwise in the amount they did, which was about $6,000 per suit, but everyone pretty much looks the other way.

What do I think about this?  Meaningless.  So the RNC wants Sarah to look good during the campaign… so what?  I would think that would be in their best interest.  She typically doesn’t dress this way, anyway, being from Alaska… it’s a bit more simple up there.  Just take a look at her usual garb from some old pictures on the net of her as Mayor or Governor.  She still pulls it off, of course.

Regardless… this story was not worthy of a front page slot.  The NY Times needs to get real and they need new ownership.  They’ve gotten out of hand with their liberal banter and their constant attacks.  Not only them, but most of the media on television and several national papers/magazines.  It’s all very sad.

Let’s hammer someone else for a change, eh?