Everything you wanted to know about Sarah Palin....

[deBeauxOs]

but wouldn't have known or bothered to ask 72 hours ago.

In this thread: discussion about her choices, non-political-wise.  Although the personal IS political, news items relevant to her candidacy as McCain's VP selection should be kept in the US forum thread, or perhaps double-posted if people care to do that.

Links from the 2008 Presidential Race thread:

The Alaska governor might be just a “plain Sarah” herself, but her children’s names are far more dazzling: Track (18), Bristol (17), Willow (13), Piper (7) and Trig (4 months).

Five shots at naming a child (OK, she's a self-described soccer/hockey Mom but still...)and she manages to saddle all five with words more associated with a Lee Valley catalogue than handles for human beans.  

Wonder what the middle names are..."Field", "Board", "Weeping", "Pied" and "Onometry"?

Yeah, like someone said, her fambly went the Romney fambly one better.

A Creative Revolution sums it all up: John McCain picks Dan Quayle in a dress - Meet John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin.   :

I just heard that Palin is against abortion rights even in the case of incest and rape -and Alaska has the highest rate of incest and rape.

...Is true (at least, the former). Palin is a member of Feminists For Life (and, according to Chris Hayes of The Nation, is also a Buchanonite.) I also agree that abortion is now front and centre in the US election; as I wrote today, this is less a play for disaffected Clinton voters and more of a sop to the GOP's conservative Christian base, many of whom before today weren't solidly behind McCain.  Pure Karl Rove shit, y0.

Also, my CFLF co-blogger tas points out that Palin might continue the trend of AK pols with ethical (and legal) issues.  .......

I can't believe that I'm about to write this, but...

everyone should go read this analysis by Ramesh Ponnuru @ The Corner.

I'm trying to work up the energy to blog about this (xist, but I find it depressing), but I have one question for now. What would the Christo-fascists have said if a Democratic woman with a 4-month-old handicapped baby went on campaign for VP?

Or I may just post a link to mattt. Great post, very thorough, lots of links. Very depressing.

Palintology

Underneath her attractive and youthful exterior, Sarah Palin is no different from the old white guys running the Republican Party.  She doesn't care about good government, she doesn't believe in science, she wants everyone to live in accordance with her Old Testament Christian values.  Basically, she's Tom Coburn with boobs.

(I guess he assumes that women will just blindly vote for anyone with a vagina)  :lol:

Got a call from good friend in Van today. He's terrified of her. Then when he saw McSame standing beside her he says to me "God, his f'ing head wobbles, I never noticed that before"  :lol:

I've been doing some skimming of stuff here and there on the web about Palin, without following anything on TV, and it's looking a lot like parallel worlds. There are a lot of surprising things said about her, both for and against; at this point it's hard to know what's true, or what is pure partisan interpretation or wishful thinking, etc.

The only thing I am sure about is that this does go to prove that both parties are simultaneously trying to appeal to certain voting blocs in a blatantly strategic way, but ultimately it really doesn't matter who wins, or maybe only slightly, because both have to fall in line with the American military-industrial complex. Nothing is going to "change" that. There may only be slight differences in terms of social policy, but even with a supposed anti-abortion agenda, McCain and Palin are still only playing to a certain demographic, so whatever their personal beliefs might be, it's still just a show for a bloc of voters who have been deluded into believing they are powerful. On the sole basis of their opposition to abortion and euthanasia, they are being used very cleverly.

That's the way I see it, anyways.

Likewise, everyone is fawning over her because she went back to work 3 days after giving birth to a child with Downs' Syndrome. Imagine what would be said if Hillary had done that...

Not to make it all about me  :D , but this is just my luck. Weeks before I'm supposed to give birth we have a new national hero who goes back to work after 3 days! I'm already catching crap, and getting jokes that aren't really funny, about my planned 6 weeks! Gaah... Sarah Palin, I don't know how you did that and my hat is off to you for it I guess, but did you have to ruin maternity leave for the rest of us!!!!!

This is the Alaskan political blogger who seems to have broken the TrooperGate story.

A more recent blog measures local reaction. This one is his favourite.

Alaska State Representative Mike Doogan (D): “Either Sarah Palin has talents and skills we were not aware of”, or “John McCain fell down and hit his head”.  He also called the prospect of Palin potentially needing to take over as President”pretty scary.”

Mine too.  :mrgreen:

Here's the previous  post. Pretty funny and the comments, nearly 400, are good too.

I'm at sweetie's and so can run videos.  Here's Samantha Bee and Jon Stewart on the Palin choice.

From a link at CC's, The Kossacks are on Palin.

From here, some little-known facts about Sarah Palin:

* Sarah Palin once guided Santa’s sleigh through an Alaskan blizzard with the light from her smile.
* Chuck Norris wishes he was Sarah Palin trapped in a man’s body.
* Three of Sarah Palin’s five kids came out sideways - she never flinched.

Much more at the links.

BONUS link from Canadian Cynic to dailykos, regarding speculation that Trig is actually Palin's grandchild and her daughter Bristol is the birth mother.   CC challenged Blob Blogging Wingnut's jumping on the fetus-fetishist bandwagon regarding the topic of Palin's fifth child.

[fern hill]

Elsewhere,   mattt posted this link to a fascinating development, Who is the mother of Trig Palin? and what the heck kind of name is Trig?

[skdadl]

On the one hand ... I do believe that Palin's nomination is an insult to women, and there's a lot to be said about this as a Rovian switcheroo. She's a match for Hillary -- uh huh.  :roll:

On the other ... The speculation about the youngest child, verisimilitudinous as it sounds, is really a mistake imho. If it's true, then yes, Palin has lived a lie, just as John Edwards lived a lie. They didn't do anything wrong in the first place, but then they were asked stupid questions that are endemic to North American culture (Quebec and Mexico excepted, lagatta) and they were stupid enough to start off by lying, as most people do when quizzed about their sex lives in public. Bill Clinton did that too, although Clinton actually did something wrong (power relationship).

If the Palin story is true, it's still not that unusual in many cultures. Palin's husband is part Yup'ik, and if the family want to cope that way, what's wrong with that?

Palin herself is a public problem for reasons that we can describe politically. Mostly, I think that she will just be blown away, either by a scandal that I don't consider scandalous or for the better reason, that she's such a lightweight. If I'm wrong, then North America is sicker than I thought.

[sparqui]

That mystery about who really is Trig (?!?!) Palin's mother is fascinating stuff in that National Enquirer way. But still, it fits with the profile of her extreme religious beliefs. Babies at all costs, including using deception. Deception seems like a core tenet of these Dominionist sects.

More about Evangelicals rejoicing McCain's choice:

...Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, who initially said he could not vote for McCain but has since opened the door to an endorsement, called Palin "an outstanding choice that should be extremely reassuring to the conservative base" of the GOP. Dobson added that the ticket "gives us confidence he will keep his pledges to voters regarding the kinds of justices he would nominate to the Supreme Court."

"It's an absolutely brilliant choice," said Mathew Staver, dean of Liberty University School of Law. "This will absolutely energize McCain's campaign and energize conservatives."

Staver called Palin a "a woman of faith who has a strong position on life, a consistent opinion on judges. ... She's the complete package."

A Pew poll last week showed McCain leading Democrat Barack Obama 68 percent to 24 percent among white evangelical Protestants. But there was little enthusiasm: Only 28 percent of white evangelicals call themselves "strong" supporters of McCain, far short of President Bush's numbers four years ago.

Many evangelical leaders said McCain helped himself with a solid performance at Pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Church, where McCain proclaimed, "I will be a pro-life president."

Mark Silk, who specializes in religion and politics at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., cautioned that while evangelical leaders are praising the Palin pick, it might not necessarily trickle down.

"The question is how this will be received by a lot of rank-and-file evangelicals who are just Americans struggling along, going to their megachurches, and care about values," Silk said.

Some question whether old-guard traditional leaders, like Dobson, hold as much influence as in the past. The evangelical establishment never warmed to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's candidacy, but grass-roots evangelicals contributed to his big win in the Iowa primaries...

Evangelicals energized

[fern hill]

Exactly, sparqui. It's just more lying for the bay-beez.

If it turns out that this child is her grandchild, it won't hurt her with the Religious Right. She'll look even more heroic for 'protecting' her daughter.

But she lied and there's that weird story of her water breaking in Texas and then her heroic journey back to Alaska to give birth there. So, while 'protecting her daughter,' she also managed to manufacture some bullshit PR for herself.

It doesn't matter what we oh-so-enlightened people think of it. Just like with Edwards, it's what the media and other dullards will make of it.

[deBeauxOs]

The elaborate subterfuge, if that is the case, would be another indication that Palin is not the squeaky clean candidate the Repulsicans claim that she is.

[vmichel]

I'm kind of disgusted by the speculation that Trig isn't her son (I am not disgusted at the present conversation, or present company -- but at the media spin.) So she doesn't look "pregnant enough" at six months? Come on. I fully believe that she could be pregnant and not quite "look it," having been around enough pregnant women to see that they come in all shapes and sizes. I've seen the pictures of Palin supposedly looking too small, and I've seen women as pregnant as that who looked just as small. It happens.

I also fully believe that Palin, learning by ultrasound that her baby had Downs, would wait until 6 months or later to announce the pregnancy to give the doctors time to determine the extent of the child's disability and give her family time to adjust to the idea in private. That is an extremely common reaction.

ETA: Also, amniotic fluid leaking out is not an f-ing national emergency that requires an immediate hospital check-in, despite what some overly anxious doctors might have women believe. I fully believe that, by baby number 5, Palin felt comfortable giving a speech and flying back to Texas after feeling a slow trickle of fluid. I also believe that she'd want to check into a small, local hospital where she was comfortable and could have the kind of birth that she wanted.

ETA2: And those high-res close-ups of her daughter's body on Daily Kos are disgusting. Give the girl some privacy and dignity.

[Toedancer]

ETA2: And those high-res close-ups of her daughter's body on Daily Kos are disgusting. Give the girl some privacy and dignity.

Hear! Hear! But then I've never been a fan of dK anyway.

Palin's MIL not sure if she's voting for McSame.

"Being pro-life is who Sarah is."

NY Daily

[kuri]

what the heck kind of name is Trig?

This was precisely my thought as well. Reminds me of high school maths.

[Toedancer]

K'in did the best meet-up names to follow: "Field", "Board", "Weeping", "Pied" and "Onometry"

[fern hill]

Yeah, and that's a big reason I wanted the thread split. Smarty-pantsitude.  :mrgreen:

[Zastrozzi]

On the one hand, I know that naming one's children is a personal choice, and that it's often informed by one's culture, and I don't want to be all authoritarian and say that people can only use boring kids' names that've been used for centuries. On the other hand, people coming up with weird names for their kids bothers me on a gut level.

The current left-wing candidate for Vancouver mayor, Gregor Robertson, named his children Terra, Satchel, Jinagh and Johanna (the last one sounds kind of normal, but it's probably after the Bob Dylan song or the daughter from Sweeney Todd or something). I'll vote for him, but he wasn't my first choice to lead the left slate into the election. The naming bit was only a small part of it. Still, it just says something to me about a person's judgment and their empathy or lack of it, that they feel it's okay to saddle their children with names they're likely to get teased about.

I feel intolerant for thinking that way, like I'm a reactionary conservative or a smothering nanny-state liberal. (And at the same time!) And I guess "Willow" and "Piper" aren't really unusual names.

[Debra]

You know I don't really give a shit who had the baby or really for that part what they are named.

Mike and Debra are fairly normal common names and yet Mike got Michael Michael motorcycle and I De-bra. Still do sometimes by particularly inventive idiots.

And I was raised by my grandparents after being born to a teenage mother, so if that makes them all fucked up ...then I guess my family and I are all fucked up too.

What I care about is that the republican party and it's blogging supporters who all told Hilary to make sandwiches and iron shirts and how women were voting with their vaginas and not their brains and how feminazi sisterhood was more important to them than leadership qualities are now touting this woman as a saviour.

A saviour who doesn't believe in women's rights thereby closing not opening doors behind her. A saviour who beleives in religous coopting of politics and that everyone is free to hold their own beliefs as long as they are the same as hers. A saviour that has longtime women haters asking why feminazis aren't acting in sisterhood to support this woman.

And if those who are disappointed in Hilary's loss are giving any thought whatsoever to voting for this woman they have seriously lost their fucking minds.

[brebis noire]

What I care about is that the republican party and it's blogging supporters who all told Hilary to make sandwiches and iron shirts and how women were voting with their vaginas and not their brains and how feminazi sisterhood was more important to them than leadership qualities are now touting this woman as a saviour.

A saviour who doesn't believe in women's rights thereby closing not opening doors behind her. A saviour who beleives in religous coopting of politics and that everyone is free to hold their own beliefs as long as they are the same as hers. A saviour that has longtime women haters asking why feminazis aren't acting in sisterhood to support this woman.

Yup. Closing the doors behind her that had been opened for her by others.

[skdadl]

Debra hits a home run!   :

From Attaturk at FDL:

   

2006 Alaska Primary Questionnaire Sent out by the Eagle Forum,

    11. Are you offended by the phrase “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance? Why or why not?

    Sarah Palin : Not on your life. If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its good enough for me and I’ll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance

Heh. Even I knew that the pledge is C19 (written in 1892, so it's almost C20). And the words "under God" were inserted in ... 1954, in the midst of the Red Scare.

That is the problem. Karl Rove is attempting to put another pod person, another Monica Goodling, in place so that the evil genii of the Repubs can carry on with the destruction begun by Dick Cheney.

I think it's entirely possible that that family have a happy home life. They sure look happy to me, including the daughter who is being gossiped about. We will probably never know, and who cares? At the same time, Palin herself in political terms is a bot. That we can know about and investigate; the rest of it don't matter.

And the netroots are strong enough now, I believe, that we don't need to kowtow to conventional thinking or suspicion or paranoia. Screw the em ess em. Fight from your strength. We'll never have any if we don't insist on that.