[Sydney Morning Herald, Australia]
Nachrichten,
Switzerland
Beware The 'Pit-Bull With Lipstick'
"Even if she tries to smile it away and to make it look
pretty: The pregnancy of her daughter can be directly attributed to the twisted
sex education policies of Sarah Palin and other conservative Christians, which still
assert (despite clear statistics to the contrary) that vows of celibacy keep
teenagers from having sex."
By Patrik Etschmayer
Translated By Patrik Etschmayer
September
4, 2008
Switzerland - Nachrichten -
Original Article (German)
The selection of his "running mate" surprised
everyone. When John McCain introduced Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his choice
for Voce President, everyone was astonished. Sarah who? But in the shortest of
time, this dark horse in the night was bathed in the blinding glare of a thousand
spotlights, and even the pregnancy of her 17-year-old daughter became a major
issue - a matter that would be a private affair if it wasn't precisely the
result of the policy that Palin promotes when it comes to sex education in schools.
But first things first. Sarah Palin should not be underestimated. As a mere mayor
two years ago, she ran against party colleague and incumbent governor Frank
Murkowski, who was mired in accusations of nepotism and corruption (especially after
sending his daughter to Washington to take up his Senate seat after he had been
elected governor in '02). Palin won the party primary and then the election.
Before that, Palin had drawn attention as Mayor of the
town of Wasilia, when she took an essentially
non-partisan post and with Republican Party support, pursued Republican
policies. Even back then, her line of reasoning was "my way or the highway."
People that haven't completely fallen into line with her views have been fired.
On the other hand, she successfully cut taxes and wages to civil servants -
including her own - and successfully lobbied for state-funds for her community.
The successful populism of her mayoral years carried
over to her tenure as governor. When it became evident, for example, that federal
funding for the infamous bridge to nowhere wouldn't fly (a bridge meant to
replace a ferry connecting a town to its regional airport that, with an expected
thousand cars per day would have cost more than the construction of the Golden Gate
bridge), she turned her back on the project, transforming herself from a
supporter to an opponent … and bringing her for the first time into John McCain's circle,
since he was one of the most outspoken opponents of the bridge.
But in Alaska, she is still very popular. Special
taxes on oil-companies, a budget surplus that is a direct result of current oil-prices
and checks for the population out of this revenue ($1,200 for each resident of
Alaska) means that her popularity among the population as high as ever.
SARAH PALIN ACCEPTS NOMINATION AS VICE PRESIDENT, SEPT. 3
When it comes to achieving her goals, Palin has no
scruples about going against her own party and even to obtain certain things by
cooperating with Democrats.
But on many issues, Palin is the darling of the
conservatives of the far-right: Be it on environmental protection (Away with
it!), guns (More!), abortion (Shame!), the Iraq War (Great!), religion (yesyesyessss!) or sex education in schools (Yuck!). When it
comes to the religious, her quotes sometimes enter the realm of the absurd, for
example, her belief that the construction of a natural-gas pipeline was God's
will or that the Iraq War is proceeding according to the plans of the Almighty.
And even if she tries to smile it away and to make it
look pretty: The pregnancy of her daughter - in contrast to other pregnant U.S.
teenagers is in a financially comfortable situation - can be directly attributed
to the twisted sex education policies of Sarah Palin and other conservative Christians,
which still assert (despite clear statistics to the contrary) that vows of
celibacy keep teenagers from having sex.
It has been said that this election will center on a
battle for voters in the center. Sarah Palin, who joked about herself by saying
that the difference between a hockey mom and a pit-bull was "lipstick,"
will hardly appeal to them. And the three electoral votes of Alaska will hardly
matter to McCain (also because it's a red state, anyway.)
THE DAILY SHOW ON REPUBLICAN VP PICK PALIN
But perhaps that isn’t too bad, considering that
McCain isn’t the alternative to Bush, which he once was. Instead he has emerged
as a Bush-warrior behaving like a classic neo-con hawk.
CLICK HERE FOR GERMAN
VERSION
[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US September 4, 4:45pm]
