Sarah Palin was born in Idaho and moved to Alaska as an infant. She grew up in Wasilla, Alaska (pop. @9,000), where she enjoyed the outdoors and an active lifestyle that included moose hunting with her father. In high school, she excelled at basketball, and earned the nickname 'Sarah Barracuda' due to her intensity on the court. She won the Miss Wasilla beauty pageant, then took second in Miss Alaska. She got a degree in journalism and worked for a time as a sportscaster and helped her family's commercial fishing business.
She began her career in public service on the Wasilla city council. She ran for Wasilla Mayor in 1996 on a platform of reducing wasteful spending and high taxes, and defeated the incumbent. She served until term limits ended her time as Mayor in 2002. At that point, she ran for Lt. Governor, but came in second in a five-way race. Appointed by the winner to the Alaska Oil and Gas Commission, she once again crusaded on a platform of ethics reform. In 2004, she resigned over her own party's lack of said ethics. In 2006, she ran for Governor on ethics and reform and beat the incumbent (from her own party) handily before going on to defeat the Democrat challenger easily, too.
Her husband, Todd, is a commercial fisherman and a union oil worker. She has four other children, the oldest of which (Track) is going into the military in a few days. She is pro-life, and walks the talk - she recently had a baby with Down's Syndrome. When she found out about the Down's, she refused any further testing, as well as any thoughts of aborting the baby. Trig is now four months old.
I'm sure you've heard that her oldest daughter, Bristol, is pregnant. An official announcement was made that the family unconditionally loves the young parents-to-be and supports their decision to get married and have the baby.
Here are some of her positions as posted on Wikipedia:
She is also a lifetime member of the NRA, she fishes, she races snowmobiles for fun, and she knows how to field dress a moose. She leads the fight to have polar bears removed from the 'threatened' list because of the disastrous effects it would have on the economy of Alaska (they're also more numerous now than in decades). She's run a marathon. She's visited troops overseas. While giving a gracious nod to the likes of Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton, she is a pioneer of women's success in her own right. She is enduring incredible sexism from the self-described 'tolerant' Left, but instead of whining about it or playing the victim card, she came out swinging for the fences and looking to the future. She has a stuffed grizzly bear and Alaskan king crab proudly displayed in her office. She's the most popular Governor in the nation.Palin has called herself as "pro-life as any candidate can be."[45] She would permit abortion only in cases where the mother's life is in danger,[101] and supports mandatory parental consent for abortions.[102] Palin is a member of Feminists for Life.[103] Palin has been described as supportive of contraception.[45] She backs abstinence-only education and is against "explicit sex-ed programs" in schools.[104][105][106]
Palin supports capital punishment.[107]
Palin opposes same-sex marriage[45] and supported a non-binding referendum for a constitutional amendment to deny state health benefits to same-sex couples.[108]
Palin has said she supports teaching both creationism and evolution in public schools, but not to the extent of adding creation-based alternatives to the required curriculum.[109]
Palin has strongly promoted oil and natural gas resource development in Alaska, including in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).[48] She has opposed federal listing of the polar bear as an endangered species warning that it would adversely affect energy development in Alaska. [67] Palin does not believe that global warming is human-caused.[51]
Palin, a long-time member of the National Rifle Association, strongly supports its interpretation of the Second Amendment as protecting individual rights to bear arms, including handguns. She also supports gun safety education for youth.[110]
Palin's foreign policy positions were unclear at the time she was picked as McCain's running mate.[111] When asked for her views about troop escalations in Iraq, she replied "…while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place…"[112][113]
Sarah Palin is a woman of colorful background, as well as sound character and accomplishment. She is a woman's woman. She is also a man's woman. She has broad appeal from all sides of the political aisle. Her list of accomplishments during her time in elected office (which I'll post more on later) is lengthy. There is a reason the Democrats fear her.
There's my two cents.
Sources:
http://www.palinfacts.com/
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjNjZjE2YTMyYzNiNTUwZjU0NTA2ZTY0Mjg5NzQ1YmM=
http://www.newsweek.com/id/156190
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1050881/Why-John-McCains-beauty-queen-running-mate-grizzly-bear-office-wall.html
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/09/kristol_on_sarah_palin_hockey.asp
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Y2U3ZmMwY2M4OThlOGZhY2U1NTcyMTQ3Mzk0MmNiMDU=
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/op_ed/view.bg?articleid=1116377
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/the_real_american_idol/article1640770.ece
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YWQ3ZWMwMmExNGMxOTI0ZDdiYTgxOWYyNjZiOWJkMzA=
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Zjc2ODIwZDFlY2RiYmFkYjQ2ODJlODZjNGM5YTM4MzE=
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/09/why_palin_is_a_bee_in_dems_bon.html
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/09/how_sarah_palin_handled_corrup.html
http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=1161
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4ad145f8-7907-11dd-9d0c-000077b07658.html
http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2008/09/sarah_palin_our_energy_answer.html
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/09/sarah_palin_and_the_two_americ.html
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/09/sarah_palins_pioneering_streak.html
http://www.anchorrising.com/barnacles/006280.html
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13129.html
1 comment:
Rosemary's Thoughts and Rosemary's News and Ideas says:
Homerun Sarah Barracuda.
I loved Sarah's speech. It seemed more like a conversation than a speech. Were there any memorable statements? Drill Baby Drill! I loved her attack on the press about her not having any experience. She put them in their place...
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