Sarah Palin????
Here's an email I received from Moveon.org today with all you ever wanted to know about Sarah Palin and probably more...
Dear MoveOn member,
Today is John McCain's 72nd birthday. If elected, he'd be the oldest president ever inaugurated. And after months of slamming Barack Obama for "inexperience," here's who John McCain has chosen to be one heartbeat away from the presidency: a right-wing religious conservative with no foreign policy experience, who until recently was mayor of a town of 9,000 people.
Huh?
Who is Sarah Palin? Here's some basic background:
* She was elected Alaska's governor a little over a year and a half ago. Her previous office was mayor of Wasilla, a small town outside Anchorage.1
* Palin is strongly anti-choice, opposing abortion even in the case of rape or incest.2
* She supported right-wing extremist Pat Buchanan for president in 2000. 3
* Palin thinks creationism should be taught in public schools.4
* She's doesn't think humans are the cause of climate change.5
* She's solidly in line with John McCain's "Big Oil first" energy policy. She's pushed hard for more oil drilling and says renewables won't be ready for years. She also sued the Bush administration for listing polar bears as an endangered species—she was worried it would interfere with more oil drilling in Alaska.6
This is information the American people need to see. Please take a moment to forward this email to your friends and family.
We also asked Alaska MoveOn members what the rest of us should know about their governor. The response was striking. Here's a sample:
She is really just a mayor from a small town outside Anchorage who has been a governor for only 1.5 years, and has ZERO national and international experience. I shudder to think that she could be the person taking that 3AM call on the White House hotline, and the one who could potentially be charged with leading the US in the volatile international scene that exists today. —Rose M., Fairbanks, AK
She is VERY, VERY conservative, and far from perfect. She's a hunter and fisherwoman, but votes against the environment again and again. She ran on ethics reform, but is currently under investigation for several charges involving hiring and firing of state officials. She has NO experience beyond Alaska. —Christine B., Denali Park, AK
As an Alaskan and a feminist, I am beyond words at this announcement. Palin is not a feminist, and she is not the reformer she claims to be. —Karen L., Anchorage, AK
Alaskans, collectively, are just as stunned as the rest of the nation. She is doing well running our State, but is totally inexperienced on the national level, and very much unequipped to run the nation, if it came to that. She is as far right as one can get, which has already been communicated on the news. In our office of thirty employees (dems, republicans, and nonpartisans), not one person feels she is ready for the V.P. position.—Sherry C., Anchorage, AK
She's vehemently anti-choice and doesn't care about protecting our natural resources, even though she has worked as a fisherman. McCain chose her to pick up the Hillary voters, but Palin is no Hillary. —Marina L., Juneau, AK
I think she's far too inexperienced to be in this position. I'm all for a woman in the White House, but not one who hasn't done anything to deserve it. There are far many other women who have worked their way up and have much more experience that would have been better choices. This is a patronizing decision on John McCain's part- and insulting to females everywhere that he would assume he'll get our vote by putting "A Woman" in that position.—Jennifer M., Anchorage, AK
So Governor Palin is a staunch anti-choice religious conservative. She's a global warming denier who shares John McCain's commitment to Big Oil. And she's dramatically inexperienced.
In picking Sarah Palin, John McCain has made the religious right very happy. And he's made a very dangerous decision for our country.
In the next few days, many Americans will be wondering what McCain's vice-presidential choice means. Please pass this information along to your friends and family.
Thanks for all you do.
–Ilyse, Noah, Justin, Karin and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "Sarah Palin," Wikipedia, Accessed August 29, 2008
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin
2. "McCain Selects Anti-Choice Sarah Palin as Running Mate," NARAL Pro-Choice America, August 29, 2008
http://www.naral.org/elections/election-pr/pr08292008_palin.html
3. "Sarah Palin, Buchananite," The Nation, August 29, 2008
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/jstreet/350730/sarah_palin_buchananite
4. "'Creation science' enters the race," Anchorage Daily News, October 27, 2006
http://dwb.adn.com/news/politics/elections/story/8347904p-8243554c.html
5. "Palin buys climate denial PR spin—ignores science," Huffington Post, August 29, 2008
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-grandia/palin-buys-climate-denial_b_122428.html
6. "McCain VP Pick Completes Shift to Bush Energy Policy," Sierra Club, August 29, 2008
http://yubanet.com/opinions/Sierra-Club-McCain-VP-Pick-Completes-Shift-to-Bush-Energy-Policy.php
"Choice of Palin Promises Failed Energy Policies of the Past," League of Conservation Voters, August 29, 2008
http://www.lcv.org/newsroom/press-releases/choice-of-palin-promises-failed-energy-policies-of-the-past.html
"Protecting polar bears gets in way of drilling for oil, says governor," The Times of London, May 23, 2008
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article3987891.ece
and if that's not enough for you then Brilliant at Breakfast is not happy either and links you to yet another article from Jazz Shaw of The Moderate Voice
Whew! :)
OK, I admit, I am a woman, and although I believe in feminism, I also believe in the sanctity of life and am pro-life, AND a creationist. I'm just not thrilled with this choice, because I do think she's too inexperienced, and she'd be second in command. My mom though, who is 58 likes her and wants her to be VP. I think she's vote for any woman though.
ReplyDeleteI just don't get that argument. to me it's not about the sanctity of life or being pro-life but a woman's right to choose what to do with her own body, a woman's right to not be pregnant all the time, a woman's right to not be always in the subserviant position. You're not really old enough to remember life before roe vs wade. I don't think there is a woman alive that wants to have an abortion or that having had one can live without guilt and pain at having done so. I had to make a decision. That decision for me came down to whether or not I could live for nine months with a child growing in me (which really wasn't an option, me not having any support system in place) and then give it up or having an abortion before I learned to love that child. I chose the latter. At the time it seemed easier to come up with the 400. than it would have been to live on the streets pregnant. It is never an easy choice and it is always devastating to the person having to make it but at least we are still for the moment allowed to make that choice. should palin and mccain go in we can kiss that choice goodbye and might as well kiss every other advance we've made goodbye too because once men can control our body then they control our ability to support ourselves, our freedom, hell what will be next will we be deemed to stupid to vote?
ReplyDeleteI suppose the deciding factor for me came because I had a child at 19. My cousin who got pregnant when my daughter was about 2, went to the abortion clinic and they did an ultrasound and told her it might be twins. She decided to wait. When she found out for sure it wasn't twins she had an abortion. WTF? If it's twins then that's LESS hard? If it's twins, they are BABIES, and VIABLE? But a single child isn't? And that kind of hypocrisy is too common.
ReplyDeleteAll my friends who had babies at my age were leaving them with their parents or daycare and partying while I was trying to work and go to school and take care of my kid. I just feel like most people who have abortions do it because a baby is inconvenient. I think they should take control of their sex lives and use birth control instead of resorting to an abortion. I think a part of feminism isn't just being able to choose, but being able to make smart, informed choices BEFORE you get pregnant.
However, I'm not talking about people who are raped, or medical emergencies or really even critically poor (or homeless) people. I think adoption is a better choice, but I realize that for some people abortion is the only choice they have (or think they have).
I'm not saying the right to choose should be taken away, but too many girls aren't educated about stds and birth control and what could happen if you have an abortion. I know you feel blessed that you even had your son because of yours, and you truly were blessed. Young women don't always think things can happen to them, and that if they got pregnant once they can do it again, and it's no big deal.
We certainly DON'T need to be teaching abstinence though, that only works on a small number of people. We need to teach birth control birth control birth control!!! =)