Questions need to be asked

Robert Legge
Published: September 10, 2008

Remember when vice presidential candidates were afterthoughts in the minds of voters and the media?

Not this time.

Sarah Palin became a household name faster than anyone in U.S. history. Her name produces more Google hits than Obama or McCain.

Supporters complain about the scrutiny she and her family have received by the media. But when you rise to the top this fast, you become fair game. And especially when you distort your profile, the media has a duty to point that out.

For example, during her convention speech Palin said she “championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress.”

Her main claim to fame was killing the “Bridge to No-where” that connected coastal Ketchikan with its island airport. The $400 million project became the symbol of wasteful federal spending. But when running for governor she was a big supporter of the bridge.

It was only after the feds said they would only pay for 20 percent of the project, that she decided to cancel. McCain said it showed “guts” to “kill” the bridge. Actually Palin kept the money for other projects. Alaskans get more federal earmark money per capita than any other state.

While mayor of Wasilla, she hired a lobbyist to bring in $27 million in federal earmarks.

McCain touted her selling the governor’s jet on eBay “for a profit.”

Actually, a Texan bought it (not on eBay) for a $600,000 loss to the state. The legislature never wanted the plane in the first place. But it was a great campaign issue in her run for governor.

Notice a trend here?

Then there is the matter of the Alaska Independence Party.

Gov. Palin made a special welcoming video for its April convention saying “keep up the good work.” Their “work” is to try to get Alaska split off from the U.S. Their motto of “Alaska first, Alaska always” contrasts with McCain’s of “Country first.”

It is not hard to understand why Palin is so popular among the right wing.

On abortion, she supports no exception for rape or incest. She wants creationism taught in schools and federal funding of religious schools. She is anti-gay, pro-gun, pro-drilling in ANWR and believes the war in Iraq is a “task from God.” She has all the stock answers.

Such a person could never get nominated — let alone elected — the conventional way. Ask Mike Huckabee.

But via an appointment to the ticket as a vice presidential candidate, the right wing can get that special someone a 72-year-old heartbeat away from the presidency. It is a once- in-a-lifetime chance.

Brazenly, when the media raised reasonable questions about Palin’s mostly small town political career and her readiness to assume the most powerful job in the world, Republicans went on the offensive fending off the questions as “attacks” either on womanhood or rural Americana.

No one is supposed to note that Palin presided over a town less than half the size of Culpeper or became governor of a state with about the same number of votes as the population of Spotsylvania County. About 85 percent of Alaska’s budget comes from oil resources. That limits most of the tough work at budget time.

So far, Ms. Palin has refused to be interviewed so that we might learn a little about her views on foreign policy and other important issues. I suspect her star quality will wear off when we learn some more about her and have a chance to evaluate her answers.

But it’s easy to forget that it’s McCain who is at the top of the ticket. Incredibly he is running on a “reform” platform. Apparently Washington is broken and needs fixing.

And even though we’ve had a Republican president the past eight years, who better to fix things than another Republican — one who voted with the Bush administration more than 90 percent of the time. Now that takes guts.

LAST WORD: The demographics of the U.S. electorate are changing rapidly. The demographics of the Republican National Convention (97 percent white) are not.

Robert Legge is an independent columnist and resident of Madison County. His column appears every other Thursday.  E-mail