Sarah Palin….Sugar on a Turd Pie

Today is a historical day for Alaskans. Having been born and raised here, I can celebrate whole heartedly that an Alaskan politician has made the national stage for something other than corruption charges. Wow, the nation is stunned…you have a gun, Lady? Really? Neat! Can we vote NOW? The story of a real Alaskan woman, mother of five, uber-pro-life, a creationist, loves Jesus, hates the devil, married to a real life stud…well, you just can’t write this stuff. If John McCain had selected my favorite Alaskan Conservative, my father, instead of Governor Gump, I still wouldn’t vote for him.

When it comes to being one breath from the presidency, my nostalgia for an Alaskan being in the White House wanes fast. I want a vice president with good judgment. I don’t care what gender you are, or what color you are…I want your brain to be connected to your heart and spine. After the debacles of Frank Murkowski, I was ready to give Sarah Palin the benefit of a doubt and line up as an Alaskan First, before party. She has shown weakness on a few key issues that disappointed me in the past few months, and now are red flags with her new job offer.

Last spring there was the big announcement of Sarah Palin’s 5th pregnancy. I’m pro choice, happy she was able to make whatever choice was best for her family. With her oldest child in the military, three more at home, and one on the way, she was getting quite a bit done. I would have wanted a nap and a spa, but that’s just me. In the last few weeks of her pregnancy she was flying all over the country. She flew to Washington D.C. then off to a conference of Republican Governors in Dallas. Her water broke in Texas. She decided to fly back to Alaska to have her 5th child that she knew had Downs Syndrome. She passed up some of the finest children’s hospitals in Dallas, Seattle and Anchorage. She flew several hours and then drove 50 miles to her home town and had her baby. I admire her ability to hold a child in during all those hours and miles above the Earth while she was in labor. I’m impressed with her staunch Alaskan loyalty to deliver her baby on Native Soil. But had I been traveling on the way to take a loved one off life support, or attend a wedding, or job interview, or any of the other major life events that we commute on planes for, and was diverted by a woman who knowingly got on board after her water broke, I may not admire her uterine control so much. Her lack of judgment for fellow passengers seems obvious, but for someone who is so “pro-life” it seems reckless.

As Governor, Palin did call a legislative special session to fix the previously bought net profits tax on the oil industry. NOT giving away our state’s resources doesn’t constitute standing up to Big Oil. I’m sure it feels like it with pressure from some of the most powerful lobbyists in the world, but it just isn’t. It is standing up FOR Big Oil to sue the federal government for listing polar bears on the endangered species list because it could affect future exploration. Alaskan towns are washing away, and our climate is changing. Permafrost is no longer “perma” in many places. The rapture is not an environmental policy.

I’m all about killing and grilling moose. So is Sarah. But to the degree she will influence elections by spending $400,000 of state money to propagandize her position to shoot wolves and bears out of planes is bizarre. You would think Alaska has a ban on the importation of Viagra for all the fervor to chase animals with airplanes.

Just days before last weeks election, her administration put up a website and held a press conference-all to influence the outcome of a ballot initiative. While at a different press conference she was asked how she would vote on the issue. She “took her governor’s hat off” and came out against it. Over the next several days, a full page ads ran in the Anchorage Daily News with a picture of the most popular governor in Alaska’s history holding a salmon and telling readers to VOTE NO ON 4! The initiative intended to beef up the environmental water standards for large scale open pit mines proposed in the Bristol Bay Watershed-home of the world’s largest wild salmon run. After the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Exxon over Alaskan fishermen, paying monetary damages for environmental damages seems like the cost of doing business rather than a deterrent. As a fellow fisher woman I was shocked by her stance, as an Alaskan I was upset at her lack of regard for the election process and her naivety to think her “personal opinion” wouldn’t alter the outcome.

John McCain came in 4th place during the Republican Primary. His disregard of the US Constitution trumps his service. The national media has said Sarah and McCain are both Mavericks. A maverick in Washington wouldn’t have voted lock step with George Bush. To be a Maverick Republican in Alaska all you have to do is not be indicted or sitting in jail for selling your vote. For all the inexperience or judgment questions I have on Palin’s policies, she’s too good for him. You can put all the sugar on a turd pie that you want….John McCain will still be a turd pie.

The only thing more varied than Alaska’s landscape are Alaskans themselves. When you see someone on the side of the road with a flat tire in the dark at 20 below, you don’t ask political affiliations; you just pull over and help. Sarah Palin is Alaskan, so am I. Politically we disagree on many things, but I’d help her change her tire any day.