I can get away with posting something about Palin every other day because I'm an Alaskan... right? OK, so it's getting tedious for me too but this is my last post about this topic for a while.

I don't usually talk about politics on my blog, though I've been known to post a good video or link now and then, because I tend to be pretty private about my political leanings, religious associations, etc. and because the focus of this blog has always been our adoption, our son, and, well, building our family. Sure, little things creep in now and then that hint at my opinions but I don't tend to wax poetically about them.

When Palin was announced as running mate to McCain I didn't post about my reactions here. THAT was a long day. Many of you know that I work for a public TV and Radio station and we had tons of calls from media stations all over the US. The news took all of us by surprise. I don't like Sarah, I never have. I don't like her stance on most issues and was very unhappy when she was elected Governor. I will be even more disappointed and unhappy if she is elected VP. I think that, even though she will be the first woman elected to serve as VP, it will be a huge blow for womens rights in this country.

I think Palin is highly under qualified for the position of Vice President. Elections in Alaska are more like high school popularity contests then REAL politics. Everyone here knows everyone else. There are only 600,000 people in the whole state! In the 2006 election Palin received 114,697 votes. That means that only 19% of the general population of Alaska voted for her. Yes, that was enough to get her elected, seeing how only 238,307 people bothered to vote at all, but it's not that hard to convince 115K people to vote for you, even if you're a crazy, gun toting, extreamist... *cough*

It's also a bit embarrassing on the national scene for Alaskans right now. Palin under qualified and making an ass out of herself. Stevens is on trial and is definitely possibly a criminal. I mean Stevens is being federally prosecuted and will still be re-elected by the yokels in this state. The bridge to nowhere? It's enough to make you want to claim to be from Canada!

That said, it is hard to listen to her being bashed in the national media. Alaska, as I said, is a very small State. I've met Sarah personally and it's hard to watch someone you know get lambasted on such a huge public scope. It's like watching a family member you dislike getting raked over the coals. You know you shouldn't care but it's FAMILY! I think a lot of Alaskans take the "She may be crazy, but she's mine" view of things. Not that this lingering sentimentality would EVER convince me to vote for the McCain, Palin ticket... not in a million years.

On a related note. I was told by my co-work this week to look at this story in The Huffington Post. Scroll down a take a good look at the first picture of Palin. Notice anything? Funny story. The TV station I work for was broadcasting the GOP Gubernatorial debate and we opened the studio for a public audience. We ended up not having enough people show up, so some of the staff was asked to sit in to fill up the empty chairs.



Yup! That's yours truly in the pink shirt NOT doing a very good job of looking interested instead of bored out of my skull! It's not a very good picture (That haircut! What was I thinking?)and was taken 20 pounds heavier than I am now... But that's me, right in the national spot light, with Sarah Palin! *sigh*

***Edited to add***

AHHHH the damn video is everywhere. It's on the front page of the New York Times today with me in my lovely pink shirt RIGHT THERE! How embarrassing!!! I'm going to go hide under my bed now...

posted at 8:00 AM  
Labels: It's ALL about ME