BorderWest
Sarah Palin: We Know Her
By Rebecca Powell, 9-01-08
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The more I read about John McCain’s vice presidential pick, Sarah Palin, the more I feel like I know her that I have lived beside her, sat a few pews behind her in church, and maybe bumped into her at the local grocery store. Sarah Palin reminds me of dozens of Northern women I met in Montana. Physically imposing and fiercely competent, they make running their homes and communities look effortless. Men call them “good gals,” and children need them. They hunt, bake, fish and camp for weeks on end with the same smile and perfect hair.
She is the woman that passed me on the snow mobile with shampoo commercial hair fluttering in the wind as I slowly trudged up a hill on my cross-country skis, my bangs plastered to my forehead. I think I saw her in the grocery store, navigating two carts full of goods, a child perched atop, one on her back, and another dispatched with a list, while I tried to shove my one child into the Baby Bjorn. When I twisted an ankle in Glacier and lay sprawled across the hiking trail, she is the woman with long legs who had an ace bandage in her pack.
Sarah Palin seems to belong to that tribe of women who make sexism work for them, who take on hunting and do it better than most men, who so fit a physical ideal of womanhood that one can almost miss the fierceness under a winning smile. These women I met in the north are women of action. They organize the pot-lucks and run the Sunday School at church. They don’t just cook the elk, but shoot and skin it, too.
I know, I know. Her underage, unwed daughter is pregnant, yet that story seems familiar, too, like a story that happens in small northern towns where summer nights last and last and the threat of winter makes everyone a little frenzied. Having worked with teenage girls and been a particularly headstrong teenage girl, I think the appropriate Christian response to such a story is “there goes I, but for the grace of God.” Show me the mother that has perfect control of her teenage daughter and I will show you a teenage girl locked in a basement without windows or cell service.
Unaccustomed to the national stage, Sarah Palin might bumble, might fall, but if she is like those competent, action-oriented women of the north, she might just stride the halls of power.
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Comments
If you all can't see how that is not the appropriate set of criteria by which to consider a person for the job of pres or vp -- and if you all (for the love of god!!!) have not figured that out BY NOW -- then we are all some serious sh!t.
To be clear, the piece says nothing about the appropriateness of the choice of Palin. It only says I recognize her. And yes, because I recognize her, others might also, and it might translate to votes.
Sutton,
Your remarks "suited to her family role" smacks a little of condescension, and paired with your "Oprah" comment in your last piece might even hint at a little misogyny.
One boy is half a boy two boys is no boy at all. Think about it.
Thanks for writing this article, I appreciated it.
As for my comment about Oprah indicating misogyny (also in the article linked above), I think you are reaching — honestly, you sound a little like one of this new brand of sensitive conservatives, alert to cry foul at every third adverb :) — but if that's what people think, I'll take my lumps.
My intended point was that any public speaker/politician working today knows that one easy way to grab applause is to refer to being or respecting a working mother, regardless of whether the speaker intends to do the first thing about actually helping families, not to mention that the only judge of whether you are a GOOD mother or not is your children, about ten years out of the house.
I think we do motherhood in general a disservice -- not to mention possibly inflating the rate at which young women seem to be racing a little more to get pregnant these days -- when we unreflexively worship motherhood. When we cheer for anyone who is a mother, we imply that anyone can do it.
And yes, Oprah is a good place to find that kind of cheering.
I know that's a popular narrative these days, but no, I don't really think that's a main contributing factor. I'm sure that some disturbed individuals think that way, of course, but I'm talking more about the current "baby chic" fashion trends and what I see as a gradual return to the once popular idea that having a child is a woman's greatest possible accomplishment. (Hint: anyone with the right equipment can do it; just takes about ten minutes work to get started.)
Oh, and Palin lied about the Bridge to Nowhere (never mind the fact that vice presidents don't get much say in federal budgeting), as it would seem she has lied about a few other things, which McCain is discovering now that he is finally getting around to vetting her.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/johnmccain/2656914/John-McCain-running-mate-Sarah-Palin-misled-Republican-supporters.html
By the way, thank you for this great article Rebecca, it is refreshing as I watch the libs try to destroy this lady and her family. Fortunately I think she is tough enough to survive.
And I certainly hope to win!!!!!
I would love to hear what his Grandmother or wife will tell him, when he asks them what to do when Iran starts shooting off nuclear warheads. After all he did say they were who he would go to for 'WISE' decisions.
looks like there is some desperate scrapping of the barrel to insult that admirable family. Maybe there is some jealousy because she is so capable, and more so than most men.
Good work Rebecca.
The more 'they' say she should take care of the kids, the more the jealousy shows.
You can't keep your kids in a locked room to protect them, at some point they WILL get into the REAL world.
Bristol being pregnant has very much to do with the hypocrisy her mother has esposed over "abstinence only" If she can't get her own children to follow her advice/rules how effective a leader will she be?
You are telling me that kids listen to EVERYTHING their parents tell them. Again what world do you live in?
My parents taught 'abstinence only' too. I got pregnant as a teenager so your telling me my parents are no good, because I didn't take their advice. Well you would be wrong again.
You say you have kids, are they ever let out of their room? or Are they Perfect? I bet neither, and you can't keep running their lives for them.
With your thinking I guess that means you agree with Reverend Wright, and our government really did invent aids to get rid of blacks. After all Obama was a church goer for years, and listened to that man every sunday, so according to your way of thinking, Obama should be doing as reverend Wright said.
Come ON Get in the REAL world.
So I guess the old guys can have hard feelings because they are getting some of the young girl sex. The older mothers can be angry that those girls might have some romance in their lives, fleeting as it might be. It is all about sex, and who is getting some and who is not, and repressed anger from the have nots.
Biologically, teenage girls are built and designed to have babies and pass dna. Teenage boys are built to be of service, now and in a minute, and more after that. That it has societal sanctions is because food and shelter has been a problem for an eternity. Communal living calls for some sort of order, and conservation of scarce resources. The Palin family, and millions just like them here and abroad, don't have the food and shelter problem to the degree people once had even a century ago.
Teenage fathers used to be able to work, and were expected to work, hard, to support their family. Somewhere along the line we got out of that mold. Maybe we got tired of hearing about it from Loretta Lynn. Buffy and her friends go to college, travel, do internships, and maybe have children in their late thirties, and late motherhood comes with risk of children born with defects...old eggs and old sperm....not new stuff, without the vigor of youth.
There are two sides to having a family. Start young, and the mother and child are much more healthy, but hardly able to have the financial support it takes to "live the good life." Start too late, and even getting pregnant becomes a challenge, and then the chance of having a challenged baby grows exponentially. Having the resources and peace of mind to care for a child really does not trump the quality control issues of late mother and fatherhood.
So the Palin outfit is damned that they do and damned if they don't. Welcome to the real world us taxpayers live in. Do your best, and you can still be disappointed by kids. And kids can do their best, and still be disappointed by parents, on hand or missing in action.
I like Sara Barracuda for her grit at going at corruption in her Republican Party, which NEEDS to happen (so can again register as a Republican, having registered Democrat out of protest), and her grit at taking on Big Oil, and staying the course until she had hammered out a much better deal for Alaskans. And then using part of the windfall to send a fuel subsidy check to every Alaskan. She accomplished something. So, with a two year Democrat Majority, name the big accomplishments of Reid and Pelosi. I await the names of real legislative gains by the People's Party, who once nominated a hick Senator from Missouri to be the Vice President..and the Prez folded a few months later, making Mr. Inexperienced POTUS overnight. And he might have been the best of the 20th century, or at the least, in the top 3. Harry Truman. Humble and when his second term was over, accomplished. And he always dressed well, and looked like he was alive, well, and ready to address the "Buck stops here." Maybe it is the Republican turn to have an humble vice presidential candidate...
I bet you would have made Sara (had you been her husband) abort the downs syndrome child because it wouldn't be perfect, and we know YOU live in a perfect world.
Unlike you, Sara is willing, ready and eager to face 'troubled-waters' She has proven she doesn't run from it, she faces it head on. (I do believe I see a bit of chauvinism in your comments.)
She is willing to work with things instead of running from them or turning them over to someone else.
I, like Bear bait, admire the woman, and am willing to let her show her stuff. I tell you what I would rather have her on the front lines, gun in hand than Obama.
Ann is absolutely right, Bristol is NOT running for VP, her mother is. It is pretty despicable of ideologues to use that kid for a whipping boy to try to chase her mother away.
I would suggest that we really want someone extraordinary in that position. Someone whose experience on the international stage has a bit more heft than living in a state that's kindof near siberia.
John McCain has chosen someone who's totally unsuited for the job to appease the religious base of his party. It's a slap in all our faces.
Marion you are completley right about Joe Biden's son but he will be pretty much left untouched as are most lobbyist because their money greases the skids of both parties.
Opponents of Sarah Palin: "she's not qualified."
Supporters of Sarah Palin: "I can't BELIEVE you're beating up on 17-year-old Bristol Palin like this."
The opponents of Palin are nervous and the only thing they can 'dig' up is her daughter's pregnancy. You tend to forget the President can't do anything without backing by other Gvt. bodies. so all 'your' paranoia is misplaced.
If it were so then Bush would have stopped abortions a long time ago. Come on people your really grasping at straws here. You can't do better than pick on a 17 year old girl. Grow up.
Let's face none of you are going to vote for a Repub anyway, so why has it gotten you in such a dither? It sure looks like Dems are afraid of another Republican win with this lady in the #2 spot. Then for all of the big talk about women's rights etc, who will be the ones to actually take a woman to the White House? And which party dissed a woman?
A bit scary when your own running mate doesn't believe you are qualified to be the Commander in chief. That doesn't look like a country first type platform. Definitely a change, but not a change this country can afford to take.
He was never a good fit for the navy, and he quit when it became apparent that he wasn't going to be promoted. Came home to find that his beauty queen wife was an invalid, and began cheating on her. One of his conquests was the millionaire daughter of a beer baron, who he married after shedding his former wife. His new family bankrolled his political career.
In Congress he developed a reputation for breaking with his party, but was caught trying to protect a criminal banker, Charles Keating, who was part of the S&L;collapse that left the taxpayers on the hook for millions.
After running a relatively principled campaign for the presidential nomination in 2000, he was taken down by Karl Rove's dirty tricks.
And so this time he has Rove, himself advising his campaign, which is being run by Rove protege, Steve Schmidt. And in this campaign, he's reversed himself on every principle he once claimed to hold. He wants to reverse Roe v Wade, privatize Social Security, and make the disastrous Bush tax cuts permanent (and in doing so, enrich himself even more). He was once against the tax cuts, and has never explained what changed his mind.
Obama's tax plan will raise taxes only on people making more than $250,000 which means that unlike McCain, he plans to raise his own taxes.
And finally, in an act of sheer desperation to shore up his religious base, has chosen a person to be his vice president who we have video of asking just what it is a vice president does. This was only two months ago.
Navy washout. Serial adulterer. Kept man. Oh, and he came out publicly for invading iraq even before Bush, and we all know how that's turned out. But he's a maverick, so they say.
For urbanites, townies, Uncle Sugar is recreational director, and loved by all. Y...M...C...Aaaaaa! Camp Runamok. Oh, here Mr. Bear. Have some food. A different reality. Palin does not look upon the Public Domain in quite the way as our urban majority. She has a different life experience.
Three times in recent years, the Arizona senator's lists of 'objectionable' pork spending have included earmarks requested by his new running mate.
September 3, 2008
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-earmarks3-2008sep03,0,6851593.story
I'm proud of the Red, White and Blue that my family has fought bleed, and died for. I believe in the UNITED States of America. I believe in 50 stars on the flag, NOT 49.
Governor Sarah Palin apparently does not, or did not.
… looking more like Bush everyday.
Yup I know he left the church which is exactly my point he can change his mind but the Repubs can't? typical leftist BS
Sarah Palin July 2008
"As for that VP talk all the time, I'll tell you, I still can't answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does everyday?"
Republicans can change their minds, but seldom do. This they vote in lockstep, McCain included, to protect a president who is a lawbreaker who is in continual violation of the Constitution he swore to protect and uphold. Apparently the GOP considers this a quaint document that no longer obtains. Talk about changing your mind.
And McCain has come about 180 degrees on every issue that origninally earned him the maverick lable. His tax cuts go even deeper than the Bush cuts he originally opposed, but they mean very little unless, like his wife, you're fabulously wealthy.
And reproductive rights. McCain wants to take that choice away from the mother and her doctor and make fundamentialist principles the law of the land. He changed his mind on this one when he decided to run for president, so I guess we can't really know what he actually believes on this. But when asked what he'd do if his daughter became pregnant, he said that it was the family's business. Typical of the new GOP. Laws are for the little people.
But he was a POW so it's OK.
Palin's past pastor: Bush-foes Hell-bound
by Mark Silva, Chicago Tribune's Washington Bureau
Posted September 2, 2008 4:45 PM
ST. PAUL - Is there a pastor problem in Sarah Palin's closet?
The most recent pastor [Ed Kalnins] at the Assembly of God in Wasilla, Ala., where Palin was raised - the pastor arriving in 1999, in a church that Palin left in 2002 - later warned that critics of President Bush might be banished to Hell and that people who voted for John Kerry might not gain entry to Heaven, the Huffington Post reports.
A review of recorded sermons Ed Kalnins, the senior pastor of Wasilla Assembly of God since 1999, also offers an "eyebrow-raising sketch of Palin's longtime spiritual home,'' the Post reports....
Kalnins has preached that critics of Bush will be banished to Hell, questioned if people who voted for Sen. John Kerry in 2004 would be accepted to Heaven, charged that the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Iraq were part of a war "contending for your faith;" and that Jesus "operated from that position of war mode."
During the 2004 election, Kalnins praised Bush's performance in debate with Sen. John Kerry, then offered a not-so-subtle message about his own preference: "I'm not going tell you who to vote for, but if you vote for this particular person, I question your salvation. I'm sorry." Kalnins said. "If every Christian will vote righteously, it would be a landslide every time."
Kalnins later bristled at the criticism Bush was facing for the government's handling of Hurricane Katrina: "I hate criticisms towards the president, because it's like criticisms towards the pastor -- it's almost like, it's not going to get you anywhere, you know, except for hell. That's what it'll get you."
Of course this revelation might have an impact (not really). LOL
http://www.tmz.com/2008/09/02/barack-makes-his-tory-with-his-two-dads/
I seriously doubt that there are any real feminists out there that see legitimate questions raised about the Palin pick or Palin's stance on issues as being sexist attacks, as you are inferring. But then again, using your logic, any questions raised about Obama and his stance on issues must be bigoted remarks from total racists.
Many people who have been paying attention during this entire presidential election have some real questions about Palin and her stance on important issues and her ability to lead the country in important areas, such as foreign policy. This is especially true, since nobody really knew who she was until last Friday when McCain abruptly picked her to be his running mate.
Since McCain picked her, how many interviews has the McCain campaign allowed her to participate in? I've heard of one...in People magazine, which pretty much sums up what this election has come down to. If you folks are so upset with the media coverage Palin, perhaps you should convince the McCain campaign to actually let her conduct some interviews (any interviews) with the media so that we can all learn more about her. Don't the voters and our country at least deserve that simple step?
Governor Sarah Palin apparently does not, or did not.
That is inexcusable.
Knowing this, why would McCain pick her? If McCain didn't know, why not? and if he didn't know, he does now, so why doesn't he correct his mistake?
The man who didn't know the difference between Sunni and Shiite, who thinks Iraq share a border with Pakistan, and who declared Baghdad safe after visiting a flea market in a flak jacket, accompanied by 100 fully armed soldier and a helicopter escort, has picked a person who knows even less than he does to pick up the reins in the event that he checks out.
I think I'll go with the community organizer and Constitutional Law professor who earned his own money.
That would also be the guy that thinks there are 57 states?
I just can't see why we would choose a woman who lacks the appropriate qualifications to be second in command of the country. She's been a small-town mayor for a few years and a Governor for a year and a half. During her stint as Gov., she's already being investigated for possible ethics violations. While I may recognize her and see myself in her, I don't think that I'm qualified to lead a country either. It has nothing to do with Bristol Palin's pregnancy, Trig Palin's Downs Syndrome, or whether a woman is qualified to be a Vice President. It's common sense.
The above debates are interesting, though far from the original post, which said, "Geez, she looks like a lot of women I met in Montana." I have not met women like this in Oklahoma, California, or New Mexico. They are physically imposing, have adopted a somewhat masculine outlook, while retaining a very feminine appearance. I found them interesting and intimidating. I love hearing the thoughts of those who have lived in the West and also recognized her, like Bear Bait and Sharon Fisher.
I see a kind of subtext running through the debates. With one camp saying, "motherhood is a type of preparation" and another saying "not for government." I think that's worth exploring.
I am also interested in how people view the role of the vice president. Historically, he/she has been chosen for a host of reasons (competency, vote attraction, to balance a ticket's experience, etc.). I seem to be reading different interpretations of the role in these comments.
I'm looking forward to her speech tonight, to see if she is indeed like those northern women.
Okay by golly, that SETTLES it for me!!! She's got my vote!
Aren't you demacrats PROUD of your party NOW?
Don't forget there were 10,000 people at a Ron Paul ralley on Tuesday in Minneaplolis.
September 3, 2008 2:04
Angry Amateurs
by Joe Klein
The story of the day out here in Minneapolis is the McCain campaign's war against the press. This has been building for some time. Those of us who have criticized the candidate--and especially those of us who enjoyed good relations with McCain in the past--have been subject to off-the-record browbeating and attempted bullying all year. But things have gotten much worse in recent days: there was McCain's rude, bizarre interview with Time Magazine last week. Yesterday, McCain refused to an interview with Larry King, for God's sake, because Campbell Brown had been caught in the commission of journalism on CNN the night before, asking McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds what decisions Sarah Palin had made as commander-in-chief of the Alaska national guard. (There was an answer that the unprepared Bounds didn't have: she had deployed them to fight fires.)
So what's going on here? Two things. McCain is just plain angry at us. By the evidence presented in the utterly revealing Time interview, he's ballistic. This is a politician who needs to see himself as the man on the white horse, boldly traversing a muddy field...any intimations that he's gotten muddied in the process, or has decided to throw mud, are intolerable.
The second thing is more insidious: Steve Schmidt has decided, for tactical reasons, to slime the press. He wants the public to believe that there is an unfair--sexist (you gotta love it)--personal assault going on against Palin and her family. This is a smokescreen, intended to divert attention from the very real and responsible vetting that is taking place in the media--about the substance of Palin's record as mayor and governor. Sure, there are a few outliers--and the tabloid press--who have fixed on baby stories. That was inevitable....the flip side of the personal stories that the McCain team thought would work to their advantage--Palin's moose-hunting and wolf-shooting, and her admirable decision to have a Down Syndrome baby. And yes, when we all fix on the same story, whether it's a hurricane or a little-known politician, a zoo ensues. But the media coverage of the Palin story has been well within the bounds of responsibility. Schmidt is trying to make it seem otherwise, a desperate tactic.
There is a tendency in the media to kick ourselves, cringe and withdraw, when we are criticized. But I hope my colleagues stand strong in this case: it is important for the public to know that Palin raised taxes as governor, supported the Bridge to Nowhere before she opposed it, pursued pork-barrel projects as mayor, tried to ban books at the local library and thinks the war in Iraq is "a task from God." The attempts by the McCain campaign to bully us into not reporting such things are not only stupidly aggressive, but unprofessional in the extreme.
GP
http://www.fishcreekhouse.com
And they should be.
Women have been fighting for equality for years. Palin is PROOF that women can do the job hands down.
Maureen Reagan
Joe Biden Vice-Presidential candidate for 20008
Sarah Palin Vice-Presidential candidate for 20008
(Always impressed with the level of dialogue I find here on NewWest. (HINT for Anne, that's not a compliment))
FACTCHECK.ORG
A Maverick Misleads
A McCain ad comparing Palin to Obama isn't all above board.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/157019?from=rss
I am sure that you have done many of the same things as Governor Palin, oh - except the mayor an Governor thing. I guess that gives Governor Palin a little more advantage.
You said: "I just can't see why we would choose a woman who lacks the appropriate qualifications to be second in command of the country." Now Palin has more executive experience than Obama and you want him to be first in command - do you think that Obama is more prepared to lead with less experience because he is a man? Or is it because that Carter was such an Abysmal failure that you have concluded all governors aren't qualified to be president.
Slideguy ~
McCain’s choice to choose Sarah Palin was inspired. At long last McCain has my vote and the votes possibly millions of conservatives like me that had many fundamental problems with McCain’s centrist legislative style, I hope Governor Palin can pound some sense into him. I was afraid I was going to have to write in Newt Gingrich as I did in the Idaho Primary.
A powerful and articulate woman with guts and conviction, now wonder Democrats hate her so much; she is their worst nightmare. It is going to be entertaining to watch the incompetent liberal media try to articulate how their empty suit candidate, Obama, is more experienced and ready to lead than Sarah Palin.
clem from boise ~
So what you are inferring, if Bristol was your daughter you would kill her baby? I think that it is a Palin strengh that knowing that she was under consideration for VP that she didn't secretly flush her grandchild into our abortion holocaust legacy.
Can't dispute Biden's words...unless you are now claiming that the clips have been dubbed.
It's a great day for Repubs!!!
1) The complete, childish mocking of "community organizer." Funny thing, no matter how you vote, "community organizers" do a lot of great work in this country and everyone knows it and appreciates it. Heck, isn't being on the PTA (where Palin got her start) really part of the "community organizer" family? How about delivering meals to the elderly? How about taking part in a big brothers/big sisters program? How about looking to clean up your neighborhood from crime, drugs, pollution? How about working as a tutor in your local school? Will the GOP faithful mock these examples of "community organizing?"
Last time I checked, "community organizers" (no matter how they vote) work day and night for little, if any, pay to make their communities better. So because Obama finished collage (it's my understanding that he earned scholarships) and instead of going to work for a big DC law firm he came back home to Chicago and helped working people who were down on their luck recover from steel plant closings and economic turmoil we should be mocking him and all "community organizers?" Seems pretty childish to me. I wonder how this played outside the walls of the GOP convention, especially with all those TV viewers who actually know the great and meaningful things that community organizers do for our communities and country.
2) The very general energy policy talk, by both Rudy and Gov Palin, (including mentioning how we can't drill our way out of the problem) was followed by the male-dominated chant, "Drill Baby Drill...Drill Baby Drill...." Enough said.
While these might have been the biggest energy moments of the night for those who attended the convention, I seriously doubt that these moments played nearly as well across the country.
P.S. Below is more specific info on Obama's "community organizing" efforts. When you read the information below, keep in mind the mocking, childish behavior from the GOP faithful last night over "community organizer." I mean, being the director of a successful, faith-based program that provides south-side Chicago residents job training and college prep tutoring, while helping to ensure tenants' rights just smacks of liberal elitism, doesn't it?
This is from Wikipedia:
Obama moved to Chicago to work as a community organizer for three years from June 1985 to May 1988 as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Greater Roseland (Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale) on Chicago's far South Side.
During his three years as the DCP's director, its staff grew from 1 to 13 and its annual budget grew from $70,000 to $400,000, with accomplishments including helping set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens. Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute.
"On the critical question, "With Palin As Vice-Presidential Nominee, Are You More Or Less Likely To Vote For McCain," there's a striking result. Among those already for McCain, 68 percent say it makes them more likely to vote for him; only 6 percent say less; and 23 percent said no impact. Among those already for Obama, Palin made only 9 percent of them more likely to switch to McCain, 59 percent less likely, and 30 percent said it would make no difference.
But among the critical undecideds, the Palin pick made only 6 percent more likely to vote for McCain; and it made 31 percent less likely to vote for him."
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/08/undecideds-dont.html
As to Wikipedia:
That is the last place to believe anything. Anyone at any time can put anything they want in there. Not a good reference.
Again, from Wikipedia:
Obama moved to Chicago to work as a community organizer for three years from June 1985 to May 1988 as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Greater Roseland (Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale) on Chicago's far South Side.
During his three years as the DCP's director, its staff grew from 1 to 13 and its annual budget grew from $70,000 to $400,000, with accomplishments including helping set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens. Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute.
You also mentioned in your retort you "A powerful and articulate woman with guts and conviction" so I'm I to infer then you are for the impowerment for women that also allows them choice over their own reproductive rights?
But specifically, you're saying it's a "complete fabrication" that Obama was the director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes on Chicago's far South Side? OK, Anne...where's your proof?
So, you're saying it's a "complete fabrication" that during Obama's threes years as the director the staff grow from 1 to 13 and the annual budget increased 6-fold? Ok, Ann...where's your info to back this up?
So, you're saying that Obama actually didn't help set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens? Ok, Ann...care to share your info to back that up?
We all look forward to seeing the information you find about these "complete fabrications." After all, with Obama running for President it shouldn't be too hard to it, right?
And come to think of it, while I'm not a frequent Wiki user, I do believe that if, as you claim, all this stuff about Obama's experience and accomplishments as a community organizer are a "complete fabrication" that you can write up the "truth" and post it on Wiki. I do notice that the Obama entry has over 170 Notes/Citations, so I think you may have to come up with more than "Ann said it's a complete fabrication" to pass the mustard.
Yes I am for empowerment for women that also allow them choice over their own reproductive rights as long as they make that choice before copulation.
Clem, I'm guilty of murdering a few children also, as a young cocksman I "pressured" no wrong word – persuaded a few young women to exercise their/my choice to kill which greatly helped me extend my carefree adolescence well into my thirties. One woman latter had eight children which she lost to CPS because she turned into a meth addict. You see she was one of thousands of women every year that don’t want the abortion but are pressured into it anyway. I can’t help but wonder if exercising her/my choice was the recipe for her personal demise.
Had I not changed my position on abortion my wonderful son I now have would have been vacuumed as he came at an incontinent time also.
Sarah Palin told ministry students at her former church that the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a "task that is from God." In an address last June, the Republican vice presidential candidate also urged ministry students to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion natural gas pipeline in the state, calling it "God's will.
"Palin asked the students to pray for the troops in Iraq, and noted that her eldest son, Track, was expected to be deployed there.
"Our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God," she said. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God's plan."
++++++++++++++++++++++++==
Sound familiar? Maybe a little like Bin Laden's admonition to his "soldiers for Allah" who flew into the Twin Towers? +++++++++++++++++++++++
Check out the whole article here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080903/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_palin_iraq_war
_________________________
P.S. Below are snips from an August 2007 article in US News & World Report...you know, that "complete fabrication" publication. You can read the article it's entirety here:
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/070826/3obama.htm
SNIPS:
"In 1985, Obama moved to Chicago to work with local churches organizing job training and other programs for poor and working-class residents of Altgeld Gardens, a public housing project where 5,300 African-Americans tried to survive amid shuttered steel mills, a nearby landfill, a putrid sewage treatment plant, and a pervasive feeling that the white establishment of Chicago would never give them a fair shake.
Jerry Kellman, a social activist who recruited Obama, recalls, "He was very bright, very articulate, very personable, and very idealistic," inspired by civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.'s philosophy of nonviolence. Kellman offered Obama a job at the annual salary of $10,000, and he threw in $2,000 so Obama could buy a ramshackle car to get around.
Obama was a stranger to the area but caught on quickly by showing humility and a strong work ethic. "We knew what was wrong in the community but we didn't know how to get something done about it," recalls Yvonne Lloyd, 78, who worked with Obama. Obama insisted on "staying in the background while he empowered us." By Obama's own admission, there were few big victories. But whether it was getting the city to fill potholes, provide summer jobs, or remove asbestos from the apartments or persuading the apartment managers to repair toilets, pipes, and ceilings, Obama encouraged residents to come up with their own priorities with the gentle admonition: "It's your community."
David Kindler, a colleague at the time, said the lanky newcomer with the funny name understood that a community organizer is a combination of educator, confessor-priest, social activist, motivational expert, mediator, and campaign leader. To accomplish his mission, Obama spent hours with Altgeld residents one on one, learning their problems and their dreams, and he resisted taking credit for success, preferring to give it to individuals in the community.
Obama lived a few miles away in a modest Hyde Park apartment, but he quickly became part of "the Gardens" community. He played pickup basketball. He walked from house to house to discuss what needed fixing. Wearing his trademark outfit of neatly pressed slacks and button-down shirts with no tie, he spent many hours meeting in kitchens, parlors, and churches.
Many of the older women took a liking to him. They fed him cookies, invited him for dinner, and introduced him to their friends-and their marriage-minded daughters. "I called him my little skinny boy," says Lloyd. "He was so thin, we wanted to fatten him up, but we couldn't do it."
Now tell me What has Obama gotten accomplished since he's been in the Politcal Arena, such as the Senate?
And AGAIN why compare Obama to Palin? They are not running for the same ofrfice in case you hadn't noticed.
As for your assertion that "it's on tape," if you are referring to the quote you attribute to Joe Biden it is actually not on tape, because he never said that. See quotes require a level of exactness you can't seem to grasp.
But whatever, facts, like issues, are not something committed Republicans are comfortable debating this year.
Here's a good supporting quote for my assertion:
"This election is not about issues." Rick Davis, Campaign Manager for John McCain.
(Ann are you taking notes?)
McCain will lose, and he will have himself to blame.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMYty1PgHEg check it out and that was just a couplke seconds looking
But, I'm not comparing Obama and Palin, as you allege. I wrote a comment based on my observations from last night's program at GOP convention Part of that observation, in addition to the male-dominated "Drill Baby Drill" chant, was some thoughts on the childish mocking of the very concept of "community organizing." So, I decided to look into Obama's efforts as a community organizer. Simple enough....and the fact still remains that you haven't provided any information, nor will you (is my guess) to proof your "complete fabrication" claim.
As for Obama's Senate record, this link goes to Obama's legislative record (thanks to Sutton from a different post):
http://factcheck.barackobama.com/factcheck/2008/03/08/fact_check_on_new_york_times_s_1.php
By the way, Ann, my grandparents were GOP delegates from Wisconsin during the 60s to 80s. Grandpa was on school board and was the manager of the local department store and grandma was a bookkeeper. Word has it that Grandpa and Joe McCarthy were acquaintances. I grew up in a town of 900 people in rural Wisconsin. My great-Grandma was one of the oldest ladies in town when she died around 1984 and she served as the "town's" seamstress for many years. My great-Grandpa, who died before I was born, was the rural mail man for the surrounding areas and even delivered the mail by horse and buggy.
My dad (a strong Obama supporter) has been a house painter for 40 years (a factory work before that) who served as the president of our church congregation. He also painted, stained and varnished the entire church on his own time. In fact, I remember the long days and nights hand-sanding the used pews that our church acquired second-hand. My mom, a registered nurse who was the organist and choir director at our church for 40 years, is a one-issue [abortion] Republican who has never voted anything but GOP in her whole life. She's seriously "on-the-fence" this election. My brother was a high school basketball star who ended his career as the 3rd all time leader scorer in the history of Wisconsin high school basketball and his jersey was retired by our little high school. He married his high school sweethart. My cousin Chuck runs a meat market in Sheboygan and makes the best bratwurst in the state and if you shoot a big buck or catch a big northern, take it over to Uncle Glen, because he's considered one of the master taxidermists in that part of the state. I've worked in a cheese factory, in a lumber yard building trusses, as a special education instructor, on a fuel reduction crew and as a basketball coach... You know, a typical liberal, elitist upbringing by all accounts.
By the way, elk and deer hunting season starts here in Montana real soon. You wanna come along? Most of the meat we eat is deer and elk that I go deep into the backcountry to hunt and much of the other food we eat either comes from our own gardens or from farmers and ranchers around Missoula.
I bring all of this up because, as someone who has been followed this election and both the major party conventions pretty closely, it seems that the GOP folks want us to believe that they have a corner on rural, working class folks...or hunters...or farmers...or veterans, etc. It's pretty insulting, really. My life experiences (fine, I'm only 36) tell me that that's not entirely true and I believe that the desperate, emotional, name-calling, "buzz-words", "race-to-the-bottom" way that the GOP is running their presidential campaign/convention is turning off quite a few folks out there. We'll know for sure in 2 months.
Why don't you try repeating the statement exactly as it is read in the clip. Then write it out. If you write it out exactly as it is read, you have yourself a quote. Then you can go use it.
You should have learned this in school. A good argument for public education I suppose.
As to going hunting Thanks for the invite, but all I have to do if I want is step out my door and take a walk of about 30 yards and I can have either Elk or Deer. Were I lucky enough to get drawn I could have moose as well and also black bear. But as I've aged, and broken down. The Fun is over once you squeeze the trigger, so I don't hunt anymore. Also my freezer is full of Bison and Elk and Deer a little antelope too.
On Obama, Earmarks, Palin Less Than Honest.
Palin's RNC Speech Bent the Truth on Her Record and on the Opposition.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Conventions/story?id=5726571&page=1
Gallup Daily: No Dent in Obama Lead So Far.
Barack Obama continues to hold a significant lead over John McCain, 49% to 42%, in the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking results.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/04/opinion/polls/main4416798.shtml
"CBS) The presidential race between Barack Obama and John McCain is now even at 42 percent, according to a new CBS News poll conducted Monday-Wednesday of this week. Twelve percent are undecided according to the poll, and one percent said they wouldn't vote.
This is in contrast to a poll conducted last weekend, where the Obama-Biden ticket led McCain-Palin by eight points, 48 percent to 40 percent."
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/latestpolls/index.html
[makes it, what, Marion? I get 48-44...so does Gallup, the most respected polling agency in history...oh, sorry...SECOND only to CBS that gives us a TIED race today....]
http://www.gallup.com/poll/election2008.aspx
http://www.gallup.com/poll/110065/Gallup-Daily-Obamas-Lead-Now-Points.aspx
A city? When she was elected, Wasilla had about 5000 people. That's not a city. It's a town. I come from one that was a bit bigger, and it felt more like a village. Any idiot could run it, and a number of them did. As for "running" a state. Alaska has almost as many people as San Francisco. Now THAT's a city. Unfortunately for her story, the truth is getting out. Firing state employees to settle family scores and stonewalling the investigation unless it gets turned over to a committee that she appointed. How Republican.
They lied about her being against the Bridge to Nowhere. She was for it. They lied abbout her standing up to Ted Stevens. She was the chairman of his 527. They lied about her selling Murkowski's jet on eBay for a profit. It was a private sale and they took a loss. They lied about her being against earmarks. She had actually hired a Washington lobbyist to get them for her. They lied about her being a fiscal conservative. She left Wasilla $20 million in debt. And now they've sent her back to Alaska to hide from the media.
This is the woman who seemed so "average" to you. YOu've been sold a bill of goods by a party that can't seem to tell the truth about anything.
Well, it appears the bad boy in all this was Ben Stevens, Senator Ted's boy, and the fisher folk had a war with him...in their blogs and newspapers...If I remember right, Ben set himself up to get a big piece of some processing deal, in the dark of course, and it was a corrupted Republican Govt in Alaska covering for each other that Palin took on. The fisher folk were betting on her to beat the Murkowski clan in the primary, and to win the State House....the gov's job....and they supported her, and she said the right things, and she did what she said she would. She took on the Republican establishment and the Alaska mob and got people convicted of bribery. She sold the jet, she fought the oil lobby, she won concessions for Alaskans in the oil deal, she got a pipeline deal. That her brother in law might have been a bad ass state cop and he was messing with her sister and family, will all be settled in the next month or so. I don't think she will lose...or be charged for anything. But it has been fun to watch her progress as reported in the Alaska papers for the last three years...and when she was selected by McCain, I was not surprised because she has been popular, and vocal, and effective. You don't have to like a conservative. I do. I don't like liberals because they are not realists all too many times. But I will tell you that the Economist magazine had a story that said Obama spent 12 years as adjunct faculty at U of Chicago law school, and was hoping some of the U of C economic theory had stuck to him in those years....so Obama, as smart as a whip, has kept a hand in law. Even while being a community organizer. However, (and nothing counts before "but"--or "however") that Obama IS a lawyer makes him NOT what I am looking for. Anyone but a lawyer. No lawyers, please. That is professional word parsing and dodging and denial or false claims, because lawyering has no moral compunction but to advance the cause of the client, and Obama's client is himself......McCain is not a lawyer, and Palin is not a lawyer, so that, in and of itself, is a very good deal.....my opinion....lefty trial lawyers are more than happy to grow government if only because that makes more fertile ground for them to plow in the future..more law, more money, more litigation....and that is how we get to our current state of "paralysis by analysis"....ours is a government that now cannot make a decision if only because they can't stop the processes they have set up to challenge anything a government might do, or a private company or person might do that is covered by some part of the law....our feet are in lawyerly cement. Our lives are one big billable hour....we are not getting the job done. We are enjoined, stopped, at every junction or fork in the road....it will be soon that you can't pee without a lawyer advising on how to hold your dick, which way to point, and how your pee is no longer yours once it leaves your penis and enters the public sewerage system....So, I won't ever vote for a lawyer again for public office. I have a vet I can vote for as my House representative who is a Democrat....but he is not a lawyer...which is why I have no choice in the Senate race....so I will vote for the more conservative lawyer....uck!!!
All of that aside, the very fact neither is a lawyer is reason enough to vote for them. Obama never actually commits himself to anything, nor says anything, and when a lawyer does that, watch out. He does not stand on his record, he doesn't even share his record. I really think if he had actually accomplished anything specific during his time as a community organizer we woudl know it.
It is kind of funny, hordes of "investigative reporters" are headed to Alaska to try to pry every whisp of dirt and dust they can find about Sarah Palin. They are sure that any dubious connections of Obama's are absolutely irrelevant and of no interest to anyone. They prefer the tinkles running down their leg when his presence.
Interesting commentary on the troopergate issue now under investigation in the Alaska legislature.
Just for the record, the trooper in question DID fire the taser at his stepson, at the boy's request to "test it out". It was on a reduced, test impact setting and, as you say, was certainly a misjudgement by the trooper. As for the moose "out of season," that's not at all what happened. His wife at the time, Molly, Sarah's sister, had the legal moose tag but asked her husband [the trooper in question] to shoot the moose because she "could not do it" herself. He did as she asked and put the tag on the animal. Yes, illegal. However, the moose was dressed and brought in and SARAH AND TODD assisted in processing the meat, for which, they shared in the meat. Their portion of the kill was in their freezer being consumed for over two years before the NEW governor [Sarah] decided this act [killing a moose with her sister's tag and not the husband's] was not appropriate for a State Trooper. These acts, among other things, were never brought up to any official prior to Sarah's becoming governor. In fact, the director of the Alaska State Troopers reprimanded the trooper in question, suspended him, and this went on his record. As Governor, Palin and her powerful government assoicates attempts to pressure the Director into firing him two years AFTER the officer had been disciplined is the issue involved in the current litigation. She wound up firing the director over this and his "not being a team player." And oh, by the way, she replaced the director with a new director who turned out to have been involved in some "sexual harassment" issue on the Kenai. He lasted two weeks and was given a $10,000 "severance" package.
So okay, the trooper probably SHOULD have been dismissed. But that's not the current issue.
Google it if you want to find out much more about it and what's happening right now with witnesses deciding not to testify, etc.
Have a great day! And oh, check out those pesky Gallup polls again today if you get a chance...
I think Governors can be quite qualified to lead this country. President William Clinton did a fine job.
For the record, I have nowhere stated that I am an Obama supporter. At this point, I am on the cusp of abstaining from voting in this Presidential election because I don't see in either candidate for President the qualities that I need in my Commander-in-Chief.
Sorry for jumping to conclusions but when you said: "I sure hope she's not walking the halls of power in 2009. This country can't afford another "good ol' [girl]" in the highest office in the land. Hell, I am a woman like this--I can bake muffins, organize the PTA, run a capital campaign, and change the starter on my truck at the same time. And you know what? I'm not prepared to be the second in command of a country at war with a flagging economy. Respectfully."
I had a hard time concluding anything else.
When you said "I am a liberal. I am a feminist. I would dearly love to see more women in positions of higher power in this country. I have no inclination to attack Sarah Palin's mothering or her children."
I jumped to the conclusion that you would be eager to vote for the most liberal Senator in the history of the United States to run for President.
It is a shame that feminists are only for the advancement of liberal women as it is a shame that the NAACP is only for the advancement of liberal African/Americans.