Sarah Palin, the future V.P.
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J. Michael Sharman
Published: September 1, 2008
In 1984, Geraldine Ferraro became the first woman vice presidential candidate on a major party ticket.
On August 29, 2008, John McCain named Sarah Palin as the woman who will actually become the first female Vice President of the United States.
When she was elected as Alaska’s governor in 2006, National Public Radio said, “She’s a moose-burger-eating, snow-mobile-riding maverick who’s not afraid to take on fellow Republicans she disagrees with.”
Obviously, she’s no Washington Beltway Insider like Joe Biden who has been in the U.S. Senate for 35 years. But because she’s also not as well known, here’s her short biography.
The 44-year-old Palin was born in Sandpoint, Idaho, on February 11, 1964. When she was three months old, her parents moved to Wasilla, Alaska after accepting teaching jobs there.
Sarah Palin grew up there, just outside of Anchorage, played on Wasilla’s state champion girls’ basketball team in 1982, and won the Miss Wasilla beauty pageant in 1984. (When she became Alaska’s governor, Alaskan convenience stores began selling bumper stickers declaring: “Coldest State, Hottest Governor.”)
She attended the University of Idaho, and graduated in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
For two years, she worked as a television sports reporter before becoming co-owner of a commercial fishing operation in Alaska.
Her husband, Todd, is part Yup’ik Eskimo, and competes in the Iron Dog, a 1,900-mile snowmobile race. Sarah is a fisher, hunter, and lifetime member of the National Rifle Association.
She describes herself as a hockey mom with five children: Track, 19; Bristol 17; Willow 14; Piper, 7, and Trig, who was just born on April 18.
The oldest son, Track, enlisted in the Army on September 11, 2007 on 9/11’s sixth anniversary. An infantryman, he will be deployed to Iraq this September.
No political novice, Sarah Palin was first elected to the Wasilla City Council in 1992. In 1996, she was elected mayor, and served two terms. In 2003, she was appointed chairwoman of the powerful Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
The current Alaska Republican Party Chairman Randy Ruedrich was also an AOGCC commissioner. As chairwoman, Palin exposed him for ethical violations.
In 2005, Palin co-filed an ethics complaint against the Republican attorney general, Gregg Renkes, for having a financial interest in a company that was likely to benefit from an international trade deal he was helping to broker.
On December 4, 2006 Todd Palin held the Bible for Sarah, when she was sworn in as the youngest governor in Alaskan history after upsetting the incumbent governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary, and then defeating former governor Tony Knowles in the general election.
As governor, Palin asked Alaska’s congressional delegation to be more selective in seeking earmarks after the “Bridge to Nowhere” turned into a national symbol of pork-barrel spending. She also successfully passed a state tax increase on oil company profits over the opposition of oil industry lobbyists.
Governor Palin’s labor with her youngest child, Trig, began a month early while she was in Texas with her husband, Todd, for the Republican Governors Association convention. When the labor hit, she flew to Anchorage where she delivered the baby.
At his birth, the Palin family issued a statement that read: “Trig is beautiful and already adored by us. We knew through early testing he would face special challenges, and we feel privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives. We have faith that every baby is created for good purpose and has potential to make this world a better place. We are truly blessed.”
Trig Palin has Down syndrome.
Gov. Palin is strongly pro-life, opposes same-sex marriage, and is perhaps best known to those outside Alaska for aggressively pushing for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
I feel strongly Todd Palin will again have Bible-holding duties for Sarah Palin on January 20, 2009 as she takes the oath of office as America’s first female Vice President.
J. Michael Sharman is an independent columnist who practices law in Culpeper. His column appears Tuesdays in the Star-Exponent.
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Reader Reactions
Posted by ( OrdinaryWoman ) on September 08, 2008 at 11:01 pm
This country is not ready for Obama, not because of his “funny” name, not because he’s part black, like he wants to say. But we’re not ready for him because of what he believes in and his inabilities. We need a full-blooded American, not half; we need someone who has always loved this country and not just when this country and his Muslim money-backers do somethings for him.
Sarah Palin reminded us women that there is a time when it’s ok to be a Mom and a Maverick. People act like her beliefs are awful, but they are exactly what the majority of this nation really do believe in, and that’s why she will be elected and we’re not afraid because her core beliefs is what will make her be a good leader in this country & world.
The alternative inferred by the scoffer’s of her daughter that is pregnant, is that she should have had an abortion. How dare her have a little child!
I was 15, raped and pregnant by a 35 year old brutal man. But killing my child was never a thought, cause it was not the child’s fault. I’d no sooner kill a child than my neighbor.
And they probably think, how come she had the child with Down syndrome? Why didn’t she abort that child too.
Small minded thinking. If she can handle the task of being a governor and a mother of 5, she’s more fit than anyone we’ve had to choose from since George Washington.
Why do we even compare Obama to Palin, or Biden to Palin? Biden is the one who had to drop out of his first bid for President because he was found to be a liar with Plagiarism. It one thing to thing someone may have lied to you and you don’t have any proof. People who copy word for word someone else’s writings and claim them to be their own, is a liar. And it makes them lazy and unable to bring forth their own beliefs and thinking.
That’s why I appreciate J. Michael Sharman, and read his articles every week.
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Posted by ( caveman823 ) on September 06, 2008 at 8:11 am
Ciudadano 4:20 pm writes “Also as a father of 2 women I am happy they have a choice when it comes to their body”. You are talking about Roe vs. Wade. This is a case where the Supreme Court over stepped it’s power creating a right where it didn’t exists. I do not believe that congress will ever over turn Roe vs. Wade. Politicians have been using this issue to get votes, since its inception. No one has done anything to change it. When we had a Republican controlled congress and a Republican President, no change. Now we have a Democratic controlled congress and they have not passed any legislation to insure that abortion rights are permanent. The fact is, that if Roe vs. Wade was ever over turned, abortion would not disappear. It would put the issue back where it belongs, at the state level. To many one-issue organizations have gone to the single Federal Government, instead of the 50 State Governments. The Federal Government has been all to happy to over step their Constitutionally granted power, usurping the power of the States.
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Posted by ( smooty ) on September 05, 2008 at 9:13 am
Hey, caveman, I’m laughing at Sharman, not the poor little girl. I AM an unwed mother, so I’m not casting stones at anyone. It’s Sharman that seems to have the problem with unwed mothers—it’s Sharman who deserves to feel ashamed for the nasty things he’s said about unwed mothers for years! Look at his past articles in this paper. I don’t give a horse’s you-know-what about Palin’s daughter, but the audacity of Sharman to blanketly criticize the women of this country on a weekly basis but then sing Palin’s praises (while omitting certain information) because it suits his political agenda is sick.
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Posted by ( Ciudadano ) on September 04, 2008 at 3:20 pm
As a man that served 13 years in the US ARMY, have 3 family members still serving that between them have 8 tours in Iraq I am appalled and scared to have this woman as the Commander in Chief. The woman just got her first passport a year ago, what does she knows about foreign policy, world economics, national health care? Nothing, Nothing at all.
Also as a father of 2 women I am happy they have a choice when it comes to their body. One of my daughters happen to have a health issue that hormones or pregnancy can made worst hence she needs the choice. Think about your daughter’s people. Also with a previous condition it will be hard for her to get health coverage is not her fault that she is sick. Think about that people.
When it comes to my health care McCain’s plan want to separate your work from health care plans by giving you a $5000 tax rebate. Have you look at you company benefits package?? I did my health coverage cost $14,000 per year where I am getting the other $9,000 from. Think about that one people.
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Posted by ( caveman823 ) on September 03, 2008 at 8:34 pm
rjma 11:07 am says ” I simply asked who is going to take care of the special needs baby”. Please, anyone who read your post knows what you are doing, so why not be honest about it? You know Palin and her husband will continue to care for their children. You just wanted to continue the liberal smokescreen that is trying to discredit Palin. Did you ever ask who was caring for the Obama kids while both their parents worked?
rjma 11:07 am says ” But is there any Republican out there that thinks this woman might not be ready to be president?” I ask you, is there any Democrat out there that thinks BHO is ready to be president? BHO has a commercial where he says he is more qualified to be president, than Palin, because of his experience running his presidential campaign. That’s right, his resume is so thin, he has to use his campaign as an accomplishment. By the way, David Axelrod is running BHO’s campaign, not BHO.
rjma 11:07 am says ” Wait until the steamy photos start popping up”. Are you taking about pictures of Biden or Michelle? Or are you talking about Liberal Bloggers using PhotoShop try to discredit Palin.
Why is Palin getting more scrutiny, by the media, in one week than BHO has gotten in 18 months? Why are you people comfortable with BHO’s relationship with Tony Rezko but are concerned about Palin’s relationship with her 17 year old daughter?
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Posted by ( rjma ) on September 03, 2008 at 10:07 am
cave writes: rjma 12:35 pm, please tell the National Organization for Woman (NOW) that mothers can not be vice president. They clearly do not have your enlightenment. If fact, many woman here in Culpeper think that they can have children and a job.
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Who says mothers can’t be VP? I simply asked who is going to take care of the special needs baby. Of course many women have kids and a job. But a Down Syndrome child takes a lot more attention than a typical child and being vp is not “just a job”. But is there any Repbublican out there that thinks this woman might not be ready to be president? Wait until the steamy photos start popping up.
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Posted by ( caveman823 ) on September 02, 2008 at 10:11 pm
The outcome of this coming presidential election will be historic. If the democrats win we will have the first black president. If the republicans win we will have the first woman vice president.
proud dad 12:40 pm, as a town mayor and a governor of the state of Alaska, Palin has executive experience, which BHO has none. BHO selected the wrong person to “back him up” on foreign policy. Biden’s foreign policy opinions has been proven wrong time and again.
With respect to knowing where Tennessee and Kentucky is, why do you assume that coming from a small town equals stupid. As the parent of children raised and educated in Culpeper, I find that insulting.
rjma 12:35 pm, please tell the National Organization for Woman (NOW) that mothers can not be vice president. They clearly do not have your enlightenment. If fact, many woman here in Culpeper think that they can have children and a job.
smooty 8:12 am and El Debibble 7:35 am, shame on you for bringing up Palin’s 17 year old daughter, Bristol. Even BHO has said that candidates’ children are off limits. Bristol should be given credit. She did not have an abortion. In addition, it has been reported that Bristol is planning to marry her baby’s father. Let it go.
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Posted by ( wonderbread ) on September 02, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Here’s a scary story kids, you may want to turn on the lights ... Once upon a time there was a realllly ollld president. His vice-president, was beautiful, but she held many secrets. One day, the old president went into a deep sleep, never to awakeen. So the beautiful vice-president rose to the president’s office. Then one day, her special ministers told her that if she did n’t do something fast, the bad guys (who don’t go to their church) would do something bad. And since, the church they went to believed that the world would end soon any way ...
Sorry can’t finish it.
Beauty queen, short-term governor, mother of a teen mother-to-be ... no big deal. The rest - scary.
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Posted by ( buddy ) on September 02, 2008 at 3:22 pm
I would like to know if Gov. Palin knows which country borders Iraq because Sen. Mc Cain wont be able to tell her. He does not know.
This is a huge insult by the Republicans on all of us Americans. Palin is no Hillary.
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Posted by ( proud dad ) on September 02, 2008 at 11:40 am
Mr. Sharmin I’m sure you think that Palin’s extensive executive experience would qualify her to be President if McCain should not last his presidency. Afterall being mayor for 8 years of a town the size of Culpeper and govenor of a State with a population smaller than that of Washinton DC will make up for any deficiencies. For example her foreign policy knowledge. Also it is one thing to say you are for the enviornment in Alaska afterall half of it is frozen most of the year. It will be a lot harder to protect the lower 48 from the ravages of unethicle exploiters.IE strip coal mining in Tenesee and Kentucky. Does she know where those states are?
When Barrak Obama was told he lacked foreign policy experience he chose Biden to back him up. When Mccain was told his age was an issue he got himself a beauty queen way to go .
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