A Week of Palin: Republican VP Pick Met With Criticism, Gossip  | News | Advocate.com

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September 09, 2008

A Week of Palin: Republican VP Pick Met With Criticism, Gossip

A Week of Palin: Republican VP Pick Met With Criticism, Gossip

In a week that saw an Alaskan governor rise from relative political obscurity to the face most plastered across websites, newspapers, and television sets the world over, the Republican Party has welcomed a new star to the political arena -- and her name is Sarah Palin. 

Palin was such an out-of-left-field choice for the Republican vice presidential slot that when McCain added her to the ticket Friday, news anchors were scrambling to play catch up, some even needing clarification as to how her last name was pronounced.

And as with many a politician before her, a massive media-led investigation into her past followed.

Hot off breaking the John Edwards affair scandal wide open, The National Enquirer immediately hopped on rumors that Palin had cheated on her husband, Todd, among other stories. The tabloid for a time even suggested Palin’s 4-month-old baby had actually been born to her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, who herself is now five months' pregnant.

The McCain camp quickly countered the rumors with a cease and desist order of sorts, urging the media to lay off Palin’s personal life. Barack Obama issued a statement of his own, suggesting Palin’s family should be off limits to the media.

But rumors surrounding the Alaska governor’s personal life could just be the tip of the iceberg. Journalists are continuing to follow an ongoing investigation into whether Palin improperly ordered the dismissal of Alaska’s top law enforcement officer for refusing to fire a state trooper from his post.

The trooper, Mike Wooten, was married to Palin’s sister, but Palin says that when she fired Alaska Public Safety commissioner Walt Monegan on July 11, it was because she wanted to take the commission in a new direction.

Monegan countered her claims, telling an Alaska NBC affiliate he felt he was fired because he resisted pressure from Palin’s staff and her husband to fire Wooten, who had been involved in a lengthy custody battle with Palin’s sister after their divorce in 2005.

Palin is urging an independent investigation team to “hold me accountable,” according to MSNBC.

But the accusations continue to fly, and just this weekend, the Alaska trooper’s union filed an ethics suit against Palin.

And despite a reenergized conservative base of support for McCain on the heels of Palin being added to the ticket, the self-described “hockey mom” continues to face her fair share of criticism from across the board -- particularly from women.

Though Palin herself indicated early on she was picking up the race to see a woman in the White House where Hillary Clinton left off, Clinton supporters aren’t biting, with many suggesting Palin’s beliefs go against everything Clinton has spent her career fighting for.

Noted feminist Gloria Steinem echoed those sentiments in an opinion article for the Los Angeles Times, saying: “Selecting Sarah Palin, who was touted all summer by Rush Limbaugh, is no way to attract most women, including die-hard [Hillary] Clinton supporters. Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Clinton.”

Even antigay author-radio talk host Dr. Laura Schlessinger joined the fight against Palin, expressing disappointment that Palin would return to work so soon after giving birth to a baby born with Down syndrome. Schlessinger supports traditional families with a stay-at-home mother.

While political pundits all seem to agree Palin has reenergized McCain’s campaign just when it needed it most, her addition to the ticket has also resulted in a surge of donations to the Obama campaign. According to the Boston Globe, Obama raised $10 million on the heels of Palin’s speech at the Republican National Convention Tuesday night, a one-day record for the campaign. (The Advocate)

Keywords:  2008 Election 
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  • Name: Tom Kidd
    Date posted: 2008-09-09 3:57 AM
    Hometown: Decatur, Illinois

    Comment:

    Has it been just a little over a month ago, that Sen. John McCain was grousing over Barack Obama running a 'celebrity campaign'? And now here it is this week with his VP running mate on the cover of every news-stand issue (save Archie comics). Well, he won't be the first war hero to live off of a woman, but I know my Pentacostal step-mother would not have paraded her 17-year old unmarried pregnant daughter (and the 'baby daddy') in front of the eyes of the world; she'd have had them married presto-pronto and away from the media. Well, the bright side is, the GOP can no longer beat up gay marriage and Hillary Clinton with a straight face because the elephant in the room is Sarah Palin, who is about as subtle as a horny naked man in a room full of nuns!


  • Name: Todd
    Date posted: 2008-09-08 8:04 PM
    Hometown: Seattle, WA

    Comment:

    I sat there and fumed when I watched this hick-ish style woman, in her convention speech, deride Obama and state she doesn't know what a "Community Activist' does. Why should that surprise anyone? She openly admitted that she "doesn't know what a Vice President does" either. Seems the media is mesmerized about the fact that she has a career AND kids!! Duh......There are millions of American women who have a career and kids at the same time. This woman is nothing special folks, and actually quite unremarkable. McCain is getting nastier by the day. He reminded me, in his speech, of some World War II dictator, as he stands there, with neck veins bulging, and fists waving, urging Americans to "fight". Fight for what?? He's bordering on senility and should be removed from the public arena by the Republicans themselves. You think Bush has been an embarrassment to this country? You ain't seen nothin' yet!!! We'll be the laughing stock of the whole world!!


  • Name: Mark Thomas
    Date posted: 2008-09-08 1:22 PM
    Hometown: Wappingers Falls

    Comment:

    Palin, like McBush, is against every type of civil rights for gays/lesbians. She also wants a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Since she is in our bedrooms, why can't we be in hers? I'd like to know more about her adulterous affair with her husband's friend, as well as her and her family's drinking problems. Her support of abstinence only sexual education calls into question her pregnant seventeen year old unmarried daughter. Like most fundamentalist Christians/Republicans, she is a hypocritical bigot bent on loading the Supreme Court with radical right wing judges to bring back sodomy laws via their appointments on the Supreme Court. They only need one more to do it! I hope the Log Cabins Republicans are the first to hit the jail cells.


  • Name: Carol
    Date posted: 2008-09-07 7:12 PM
    Hometown: MO

    Comment:

    Polls don't mean anything they are just there to beat the emotions of people. Sounds as though the women at least aren't fooled by big brown eyes and the song and dance of she, Palin, picking up where Hillary left off. She is so far from the stateswoman that Hillary Clinton is. Her statement only shows her megala-manic ego is going super-speed.


  • Name: D
    Date posted: 2008-09-07 6:00 PM
    Hometown: LA

    Comment:

    To S: Try your Republican propaganda and disinformation tactics elsewhere. "Liberal press." Who believes that silly smear anymore? Some of the sharpest critics of Palin are conservatives, such as Peggy Noonan or Laura Schlessinger. "Polls." Ever heard of post-convention surge? It's expected, and it usually vanishes within days. "Positions on gay marriage could be identical." Could be, but aren't. Obama hasn't supported state constitutional amendments against gay marriage, as McCain has done. And how about the other gay rights issues Obama supports and McCain opposes? What's McCain's position on Don't Ask, Don't Tell, for example? He's adamantly for it. "Anti-gay bigots." Obama chastised black churches for promoting homophobia. That took a lot of courage and showed genuine commitment to gay issues. Has McCain spoken out against homophobia on the religious right?


  • Name: S
    Date posted: 2008-09-07 3:05 PM
    Hometown: NYC

    Comment:

    It seems the harder the liberal press tries to demonize Sarah Palin, the more it actually helps McCain. Both Gallup and Zogby polls are now showing McCain is beating Obama. The gay press seems intent on smearing McCain on gay rights even though his position on gay marraige is so similiar to Obama that they could be identical. And now the blogs are screaming about Palin's pastor's views on "saving" gays, but they seem to forget that Obama has a long history of allowing his campaign to associate and be represented by anti-gay bigots like Donnie McClurkin, Pastor Meeks, and Kirbyjon Caldwell.


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