When I think of Sarah Palin, a few words come to mind: “Thanks, but no thanks.” She’d be my pick if I were on a moose hunt, but since I live in the lower 48, I am going to stick with Sen. Obama.
The governor has memorized her GOP talking points well. Her stock lines remind me of the Chatty Cathy doll I had when young—you pulled a cord in the back and the doll gave several responses before repeating itself.
Sen. McCain claims Palin’s executive experience qualifies her to be VP. What has she done in her less than 20 months as governor? Alaska now has some of the country’s highest rates in drug and alcohol abuse, domestic and child abuse, and rape. Palin slashed spending for independent-living centers and transition housing for homeless young adults and pregnant teens. She cut $325,000 for substance abuse education and prevention programs for young people. A dropout-prevention program with a 30-year success rate ($500,000) was vetoed, but she funded the brutal aerial wolf-killing campaign for $400,000. … Families with special-needs children should know that they will not have a friend in the White House—as Palin stated in her nomination speech. She cut $275,000 from the Special Olympics Program.
Like the Bush administration, Palin already feels she is above the law—not responding to subpoenas in the Troopergate scandal, choosing cronies over competence for bureaucratic positions, using personal e-mails instead of business lines to avoid scrutiny. She is Bush with lipstick. Her only knowledge about energy concerns oil. She is relying on neocons to fill her foreign-policy void. …
With the Republicans and Sarah Palin, we get no choice. No matter how many times McCain says, “We want to keep government out of your lives,” the intrusive Republican platform advocates no choice for women even in times of rape, incest and when the mother’s life is in danger.
All this in less than 20 months. I hate to think what she would do in four years.
— Linda Pannullo
Asheville
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