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Pondering Palin's Social Agenda Pre-Debate

Gov. Sarah Palin talked abortion and LGBT issues with Katie Couric in the lead-up to Thursday's debate and arguably gave one of her stronger media appearances thus far. But her public record on social issues and how her debate performance will play remains less than clear.
An Advocate.com exclusive posted October 1, 2008
Pondering Palin's Social Agenda Pre-Debate

Alaska governor Sarah Palin waded deeply into the area of social issues for the first time since being named John McCain's running mate during her most recent interview with CBS's Katie Couric. In one of her more deft media dances to date, Palin discussed both abortion and homosexuality in ways that will likely satisfy her base without totally alienating independents.

"As for homosexuality, I am not going to judge Americans and the decisions that they make in their adult personal relationships," Palin told Couric. "I have one of my absolute best friends for the last 30 years who happens to be gay and I love her dearly and she is not my gay friend, she is one of my best friends who happens to have made a choice that isn't a choice that I have made. But I'm not going to judge people.”

While most gays and lesbians reject the notion that their sexuality is a choice, the characterization is a wink to Palin's Christian evangelical base -- her bread and butter -- that tempered with her tone of tolerance will avoid leaving an unnecessarily bitter taste in the mouths of many Middle Americans.

On abortion, Palin called herself unapologetically pro-life but added that she understood there are "good people" on both sides of the issue. Pressed by Couric on whether it should be made illegal for women who are victims of rape or incest to get an abortion, Palin responded, "I’m saying that, personally, I would counsel the person to choose life, despite horrific, horrific circumstances that this person would find themselves in. And, um, if you’re asking, though, kind of foundationally here, should anyone end up in jail for having an ... abortion, absolutely not. That’s nothing I would ever support."

Homosexuality and abortion essentially form the yin and the yang of nation's social issues, with polling indicating that even as Americans slowly grow more accepting of LGBT rights, they are consistently trending more conservative when it comes to abortion rights. Presumably, these are also issues that fit more easily into Governor Palin's comfort zone, given that her answers on them seemed almost cagey compared to her halting, nonsensical responses to economic and foreign policy questions posed in previous interviews with both Couric and ABC's Charlie Gibson.

Though Sarah Palin is well-known to be a person of Christian faith who comes out of a particularly conservative branch of Protestantism known as the Assemblies of God, as governor of Alaska, she has failed to make social issues a key policy concern of her administration.

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Eleveld is political editor of The Advocate.
Keywords:  2008 Election 
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Reader Comments

These comments are reproduced as written by visitors to this Web site. They have not been edited for content, grammar, or spelling. The viewpoints appearing here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of advocate.com, The Advocate, or its affiliates.

  • Name: Henry J Ceslewski Jr
    Date posted: 2008-10-10 3:12 AM
    Hometown: lakewood, OH

    Comment:

    As a member of the Assemblies of God, Sarah Palin MUST submit to the will of her man/husband, meaning that if McCain is elected and were to die in office of old age, it would be Sarah's husband who would actually be running this fast-dying 'democracy.' god help us all.


  • Name: jason
    Date posted: 2008-10-01 8:10 PM
    Hometown: miami

    Comment:

    At least conservatives are honest when it comes to their opinion of gay/bisexual people. Liberals, on the other hand, are dishonest and have a double standard. Liberals divided gay/bi people into the "hot lesbians" and the "gross gay guys". The liberal media and entertainment industry promote this double standard. It's even worse in relation to bisexuality. Liberals promote and celebrate female bisexuality as "erotic" whereas male bisexuality is ignored or considered gross.


  • Name: Larry in Miami
    Date posted: 2008-10-01 5:31 PM
    Hometown: Coconut Grove, FL

    Comment:

    About the "pray away the gay" thing. I dare suggest, for, at least gays in my generation, "baby boomers" if PRAYING could make us STRAIGHT? None of us would be gay! Hysterically, the priest to whom I confided at 19 years old, told me to pray pray pray, etc. Years later (I was adult,) he made a pass at me! I do SINCERELY hope that the newer generations (actually, I know) realize that they need to live their lives as they were born. These newer gens will NOT tolerate what we did. They will lead the way to the ultimate equality.


  • Name: Michael
    Date posted: 2008-10-01 5:07 PM
    Hometown: Las Vegas

    Comment:

    Daniel! You are giving Ms. Palin way to much credit for being some kind of master. She is a bafoon of enormous measure. Plain and simple. She bloviates like a beauty queen trying to answer the question " What would be your contribution in preserving world peace?", then failing miserably with some obscure answer. She was able to hide her ignorance in the vast land of Alaska but now she has been exposed and saw her rep drop even in Alaska and with FoxNews.


  • Name: Swoosie
    Date posted: 2008-10-01 5:03 PM
    Hometown: Raymond, Ca

    Comment:

    Why do we give Obama a pass here? The first thing he launches into at Saddleback is to say: "I believe marriage is between a man and a woman..." and there ya go. He and McCain do not differ on gay rights. They believe in State determination. It was Hillary who said she wanted FEDERAL CIVIL RIGHTS. However, the far left has other agenda than our puny rights folks...believe me.


  • Name: Daniel
    Date posted: 2008-10-01 3:21 PM
    Hometown: New Hope, PA

    Comment:

    Palin is widely regarded as a master of evasive speaking. She's not going to "judge" anybody. She's also not going to support, and will probably oppose, equal rights for the people she's not judging. Apparently she has a great past history of being able to avoid quantifying any of her positions when directly questioned. This may make her look more moderate than she actually is because she generally won't admit to her plans in advance.


  • Name: Mark Thomas
    Date posted: 2008-10-01 2:44 PM
    Hometown: Wappingers Falls

    Comment:

    You call that strong? She couldn't even name one Supreme Court decision! She said you "choose" to be gay. She is an ignorant, bigoted, vicious liar like Bush and McCain. Why is this site campaigning for her? Why don't you write articles about Biden who has a strong pro-gay and strong economy record?


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