Closing Thoughts on Sarah Palin

I am calling this my closing thoughts, because I am frankly kind of tired of the debate about McCain’s VP pick. I oppose her candidacy purely on the issues, viz:

* She favors Bible study and like programs in public schools. I think that is an inappropriate insertion of religion in a public institution.

* She does not recognize global warming and, while John McCain has said he would institute some kind of controls over CO2 and other global warming emissions, presumably she would oppose such measures if she ever became president. I think in order for us to counteract or limit the devastating effects of global warming, controls need to be introduced to internalize the common costs to our environment to those businesses contributing to global warming. I.e., spouting global warming-causing pollutants into the environment should carry a cost to those who do it.

* She opposes abortion in all cases except when the mother’s life is in jeopardy (including in cases of rape or incest). I believe that the government should only intrude on a person’s private decision when there is a life-in-being entitled to rights under our laws. I believe that, in the case of abortion, that begins at viability (roughly).

* Economic policies—I am not entirely sure what her economic philosophy is, but if she agrees with John McCain about cutting taxes for the “middle class” as he defines it (earning less than $5 million per year), eliminating the estate tax, and cutting corporate taxes, then I don’t agree with her.

And I close with a few observations about the zaniness surrounding her selection as a VP candidate and the Republican strategy:

* SHE HAS ZERO FOREIGN POLICY EXPERIENCE, PEOPLE! PLEASE STOP THE MADNESS! Despite the fact that “you can see Russia from certain islands in Alaska” and that the governor of Alaska is technically the “commander of the Alaska National Guard”—doing what exactly? Leading them in Iraq? Or is it just waiving handkerchiefs and wrapping yourself in the American flag—that does not mean you know the first thing about diplomacy and how the world functions. It is also not helpful to have a candidate for the backup president who has so rarely left the country and known anything about other people in the world (she made one visit to troops on an official visit to Iraq last year—that’s it.)— AGAIN (W was the other). I am still astounded at the Republican strategy of... really not another way to put it... lying about this. It actually is fair to say, okay, hey, she doesn’t have much, if any, foreign policy experience—but that’s okay, because John McCain does, and she can pick up a lot as the VP. Why insist on making this garbage up???

* HER SCANDALS WILL CONTINUE. Seems like every day there is more news about “Troopergate,” the many bodies she left on the side of the road in Wasilla in her pursuit of political power, questionable personnel management (capricious firings), possibly unethical and maybe illegal spending of public funds for personal purposes, the odd role of her husband as an unofficial voice in the Alaskan government, etc. My prediction is that as the scandals mount, her attractiveness to moderates and Democrats—she actually has lost Democrats over the last week due to the news coming out—will increasingly diminish.

* TINA FEY IS BETTER LOOKING. I heard one description of Sarah Palin as “Tina Fey’s prettier sister.” Can’t disagree more. Just look at the SNL skit, then look at Sarah. Tina Fey might not be a knockout, but she edges out Palin. (Notsostayathomemom—feel free to call me sexist for including this item, but this is objective truth).

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. I have been out of town and also not near my computer when the desire to post has come upon me. I will try to do better as we run up to 11/4.