What’s the deal with Sarah Palin?

There is a feeding frenzy regarding Sarah Palin out there.  It’s intense and disorienting.  It’s also disquieting.

Palin seems like a pleasant woman who would make a nice neighbor.   But since when are people qualified to be Vice-President just because they are “nice”?

Tonight I started seeing many comments that extol Palin for having a baby (“Trig”) even though she allegedly had amniocentesis, which indicated that Trig had Down’s Syndrome.  It struck me as odd that someone would have amnio when she was planning to have the baby no matter what.  In fact, this puzzling point is but one of many strange stories adding up to an intriguing claim that Trig was not actually the child of Sarah Palin, but her grandchild, and that Sarah pretended (but not very well) to be pregnant to cover up for her Daughter Bristol, who was absent from high school for more than five months allegedly because she had mononucleosis.   This story is burning up the Internet at Daily Kos. If you venture over there, you’ll need to weigh the evidence presented for yourself, and you can (if you’d like) add your comment to the 1,500 comments already added–a phenomenal amount of comments, given that the post went up only today.

As disputed as the story about Palin’s pregnancy is, there much more to concern cautious voters.  Palin is demonstrably anti-science (disputing the human cause of global warming) and her church has tangible connections to dangerous right wing extremists. As P.Z. Myers writes, “The anti-intellectualism is overt. They’re actually proud of their contempt for learning.”

Here’s another concern.  Palin has the appearance of a small town mayor, not someone sophisticated.  She doesn’t show depth of thought or detailed knowledge of the world around her.  Her comfort zone is simple and local.  I would very much like to see Palin given as much time as she can fill, to tell us everything she knows about the culture, geography and politics of any country other than the United States.  I suspect that she would be out of things to say in 30 minutes.   Links are springing up by the dozens on Palin’s strange statements and behavior (Andrew Sullivan has a quickly growing collection).  Palin’s story appears to be a facade that is being intensely worked over. She was actually FOR building the Bridge to No where, though she now claims to have opposed the project.

There is much more to be concerned about Palin.  I suspect that it’s going to get intensely bad for her within a week.  Her story just doesn’t add up.

What most concerns me most, however, is John McCain’s poor judgment.  Aren’t there any job qualifications for the office of Vice President?  All responsible businesses require special knowledge and experience for demanding jobs.  Why wouldn’t McCain demand someone with the requisite knowledge and experience?  Palin is a laughable choice for Vice President.  Should we start allowing life guards to work as architects?  Should we allow window washers to teach medical school?  Add this to the list of questions the Press should ask McCain.

I suspect that McCain’s choice of Palin is possible in McCain’s mind because John McCain subscribes to the Grover Norquist school of “starve the beast” when it comes to government.   He thinks we’re all better off without government.  We’re better off on our own, and the country will somehow run itself.   That’s the way it is with many free market fanatics. Therefore, it doesn’t matter who serves as President or Vice President.

Our country can’t run itself, of course.  What McCain is revealing by choosing a running mate without meaningful qualifications is that he is actually a nihilist.   Or maybe he’s trying to cleverly hand the election to Obama.  Or maybe he is pandering to the religious right.  Or maybe he is intellectually incoherent.

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Erich Vieth

Erich Vieth is an attorney focusing on civil rights (including First Amendment), consumer law litigation and appellate practice. At this website often writes about censorship, corporate news media corruption and cognitive science. He is also a working musician, artist and a writer, having founded Dangerous Intersection in 2006. Erich lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his two daughters.

This Post Has 51 Comments

  1. Avatar of Vicki Baker
    Vicki Baker

    Dan, I disagree about the firing of the state trooper. Abuse of power is a serious issue.

  2. Avatar of Erich Vieth
    Erich Vieth

    The other day, I wrote about how Sarah Palin was nothing more than a two-bit hack, given the investigation into her abuse of power as Governor, firing the Public Safety Commissioner when he wouldn't fire her ex-brother-in-law, lied about pressuring the guy to do so, and then showed keen judgment by replacing him with someone who had to resign in two weeks because of sexual harassment problems.

    Eric Schmeltzer writes that Palin was almost recalled as mayor of Wasilla:

    Seems that Palin honed this skill back as Mayor of Wasilla, where she was nearly recalled, for firing the Police Chief and Library Director for not supporting her in her 1996 race for Mayor.

    Yes, that's right. Hack n' Sack Sarah didn't even try to hide it. She didn't say the Police Chief and Library Director were doing a bad job. No, she fired them for "not fully supporting her efforts to govern" (i.e., not endorsing her for Mayor).

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-schmeltzer/pal

  3. Avatar of Erich Vieth
    Erich Vieth

    Another point of view. I surfed various conservative religious websites tonight, and many of them are still holding on to Sarah Palin's chances. Here's an example:

    I thought I'd start a daily thread as a reminder for us all to keep Gov Sarah Palin and her family in their prayers. After all she is looking like the answer to all of ours. The onslaught that has begun against Gov Palin and her family by the democrats and their willing accomplices in the MSM will be ruthless, relentless, and totally undeserving.

  4. Avatar of Erich Vieth
    Erich Vieth

    Following Palin is like trying to get a drink out of a fire hydrant. Here's yet another angle, from Huffpo:

    Republican John McCain, whose running mate disclosed that her unmarried 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, has opposed proposals to spend federal money on teen-pregnancy prevention programs and voted to require poor teen mothers to stay in school or lose their benefits.

    And for a LOT more on McCain's approach to sex and reproduction (caveat to conservatives: they need not be the same thing), see here.

  5. Avatar of Vicki Baker
    Vicki Baker

    I think we have to look at class angle of the Bristol Palin story, too. Having a teenage daughter turn up pregnant is a familiar situation to lots of working class, especially rural families. It's not just a matter of access to factual sex education courses and contraceptives. A 17 year old facing the decision of where to go to college and what to major in has lots of motivation to avoid pregnancy. A teen contemplating whether to apply to the chicken processing plant or go to Iraq may not have the same motivation.

    So I think that attacks that suggest that Palin is somehow a loser for having a pregnant teenage daughter may backfire by pointing up these class and status divisions. I think Barack's warning to "back off" is good advice.

    There's plenty of other evidence that Palin is a poor choice to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

  6. Avatar of Erich Vieth
    Erich Vieth

    And now we find out that she had it out for the librarian (when Palin was Mayor) because Palin is a BOOK-BURNER! Must not have inappropriate books at the public library . . .

    Here's the story.

  7. Avatar of grumpypilgrim
    grumpypilgrim

    What's the deal with Sarah Palin? She's Caribou Barbie. She'll appeal to other middle-aged and old-aged Republican men.

  8. Avatar of grumpypilgrim
    grumpypilgrim

    Indeed, what does Palin know about *any* religion besides her own?

  9. Avatar of projektleiterin
    projektleiterin

    Is it true that they announced this week that her underage unmarried daughter is pregnant (again)?

  10. Avatar of Erich Vieth
    Erich Vieth

    Proj: She's very much pregnant at the moment. I'd be curious how the German media is covering the story of Sarah Palin. What are you hearing about her over there?

  11. Avatar of projektleiterin
    projektleiterin

    Boy, and her mom is still against sex education at school. And her daughter is stupid enough to get pregnant twice? Or should I say, the mother was stupid enough not to have a talk with her about the birds and bees after the first time? I have a hard time deciding whether stupidity is running rampant in this family or whether the rumours about the daughter's pregnancy were wrong.

    What I have read so far (I don't have a tv), they don't think that highly of Sarah Palin (surprise, surprise), but they think the Republicans' choice was a clever one. She gives the party a human touch, she is not as cunning and a warmongerer as Dick Cheney, so nobody can claim she is standing for a continuation of the old boys' politics. She seems more vulnerable and honest, because she is not as savvy and experienced in the politics games as Obama, which is a good point. These election campaigns are such a huge show, where it's not enough to possess qualities like honesty and integrity. You have to wrap it in a nice package and manipulate people so they get that you do have indeed these qualities. It's not only about being honest and integer, it's also about being able to create the image of honesty and integrity that people expect. Kerry is a good example of what happens if you possess these qualities, but are not able to make it clear to people that you do have them. I'm watching Obama a bit with unease, because his show is running so smoothly. Is it possible to manipulate a corrupt system and not being corrupt yourself?

  12. Avatar of grumpypilgrim
    grumpypilgrim

    Further to Erich's above question about how much intelligence it take to run a small city, I would add that regardless of the intelligence that is needed for that job, the skills and experience that are gained are not useful to the job of either U.S. Vide-President or U.S. President. The issue is not that the jobs she has done were easy or hard; the issue is how the experience she has gained from those jobs would be useful to her in the role of V.P. or, God forbid, President. So far, even Palin hasn't made the connection, other than to trumpet her past jobs as "executive experience." The trouble with Palin is that this is just one of many ways the McCain camp is padding her resume. I heard yesterday that they're crediting her with "European travel experience" because an airplane she was on, for a trip to the Mid-East, had to stop and refuel in Ireland. Her "European travel experience" consisted of spending an hour in the airport.

  13. Avatar of projektleiterin
    projektleiterin

    No, let's vote for McCain/Palin! That way, Obama will be out of the way and wouldn't realistically be the nominee next time around. McCain can continue the incompetence of the last eight years and then Hillary can swoop in and save the day in 2012! Take that Obama!! Hooray for John McCain!!!! Go Hillary!

    The above is a comment on http://blogspot.pocpuma.com/2008/09/01/mccains-vp

    Those Hillary supporters are just insane…

  14. Avatar of grumpypilgrim
    grumpypilgrim

    McCain and Palin are apparently practicing the secrecy, obfuscation and closed government that have come to characterize the Republican party.

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