Monday, September 22, 2008

Why I ♥ Sarah Palin

So I thought I should put my two cents in about this crazy presidential race. For the record, I'm not voting for Barack Obama, and I'm on the fence about voting for John McCain. I loved Obama at first.. I saw him speak at a rally last January and I caught the "change" bug. He promised he was going to fight for a different type of politics, but as the months wore on, I realized that his politics and the old ways of Washington were one and the same. Contrary to popular belief, Obama has, in fact, supported special interests and lobbyists by having them on his payroll (For the record, so has McCain).

But I digress.


The one person I would not hesitate to vote for is Governor Sarah Palin. She has come under attack these past few weeks, which is understandable given that she is undergoing an ethics probe and is virtually unknown in the political world. I recently overheard a couple of old ladies discussing Palin's supposed lack of experience while walking to class. It seems like wherever you look, there's an Obama sign, a table with a couple of idealistic kids asking you if you're registered to vote, and if you're not, they'll suggest you vote for Obama. After all, he's bringing "change". It's really frustrating to voice your opinions (or to not be able to, in my case, because everyone looks down on the fact that you happen to be conservative).

The most frequent thing I hear about Governor Palin is the fact that, before she was Governor of Alaska, she went to school to be a broadcast journalist. They say this as if a journalist, for some reason, can't be trusted with the presidency. I take a bit of offense to this, as I myself am a journalism major, and we have to look out for our "people" (At least I know that I, too, can run for Vice President of the United States). The problem is, isn't this whole election about the "American Dream"? Isn't most of the media hoopla surrounding a man who is from mixed heritage, was raised in Hawaii and Indonesia and is now making history as the first African American to run for President of the United States??
Why, then, is it so terrible that a small town girl from Alaska who happened to go to school to study journalism be running for the VP spot? Granted, she might not have had much experience with politics before her Mayoral run, but she won the election. And she won the election for Governor. And she is now the first woman to run as a Vice Presidential candidate in the Republican Party's history. Why is everyone giving her grief? Just because she is the Governor of a small state, people discount her as having little to no experience. If i lived in Alaska, I would be insulted! They are, after all, still a part of America, and they are being treated as if they don't exist.

Not long ago, Obama was battling another female looking to take over the White House (only she's a lot less good looking, let's be honest). He too was fighting claims that he is inexperienced. So I find it hypocritical of him to be bashing Palin on her experience (or lack thereof). Palin, after all, has executive experience, which significantly dwarfs Obama's record of legislative experience in Congress.

Secondly, I constantly hear how Sarah Palin, for some reason, is not a "real woman". Forgive me if I'm wrong, but Sarah Palin has all the same anatomical parts that I and every woman (one would hope) has. So how is she not a "real" woman?
Many liberals cite her pro-life views as a major issue, as something that "real women" are opposed to.

I guess I'm not a real woman either, because I happen to support her views on abortion and family 150%. Under no circumstances is abortion ever ok, in my eyes. This woman should serve as an inspiration to other women, just because of the fact that she has five- count em- five children, and who recently gave birth to a special needs child. Many question whether she is a good mother, what with all those kids and that high profile position. But these are the same people who are saying that killing an unborn child is wrong! So how can they have any validity to what they're saying? Palin is a great example of a woman, and while she may not be pro-abortion, she should serve as an inspiration to women everywhere for her family values.

Another contentious issue is that of Palin's daughter, Bristol, having a child out of wedlock. It seems like everyone likes to pick on this moral dilemma, as if they are really the ones who should be judging others for their personal issues. Might I remind you that our last Democratic president was gettin' frisky under the desk of the Oval Office... but everyone seems to discount that for some reason. The fact that this woman's daughter made some bad decisions (just like our former President made some bad decisions in the past) does not make her any less of a formidable candidate for VP.

As for McCain, I'm not 100% sure I'm going to vote for him this election. The only issue I really have a problem with is his Iraq policy. It scares me a bit, to be honest. I'm definetly no Bush fan, and I have thought that Iraq was a mistake since before we invaded. I was set on voting third party, but to be honest, I'm really thisclose to voting for McCain, because, let's face it, the man might not make it to 2012 (cynical, yes, but you know you've thought about it too). In that case, there's nobody I could think of who would make a better First Female President than Sarah Palin.