Palin's Sheep Clothing

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright September 4, 2008
All Rights Reserved.                    

               Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin proved Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz,) right for at least one night, delivering a well-paced, populous speech to a frenzied GOP audience in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Palin’s speech was as noteworthy as much for what it didn’t say than for her Reaganesque talking points blasting Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama for disparaging small-town America, remarks made April 11 at a campaign fund raiser in San Francisco.  Hitting all the patriotic notes, Palin hopes to consolidate the same evangelical base that helped President George W. Bush win two terms in office.  Picking Palin, a former small-town mayor of Wasilla, Alaska and governor since Dec. 6, 2006, was a bold move, bypassing better-known GOP candidates.  While she wowed the convention audience, she failed to mention her deep antiabortion and anti-gay marriage convictions.

            Palin’s rhetorical style was best described by herself, joking about “what’s the difference between a soccer mom and a pit bull?—lipstick.”  With an acerbic wit, Palin smiled her way delivering clever one-liners, carefully crafted to throw red meat to her GOP audience.  “They loved their country in good times and bad, and they are always proud of America,” indirectly slamming Michelle Obama for her comments about her husband’s run for the White House.  Palin’s remarks hark back to post-Sept 11 White House making it unpatriotic—even treasonous—to question any policy from “enhanced interrogations” at Guantanamo Bay to invading Iraq under false pretenses.  Palin’s speech shot back at all the petty issues, ignoring the indisputable fact of a misguided war and failed economy.  Listening to Palin, you’d thnk Democrats had been in office the last eight years.

            McCain’s gamble with a political neophyte undermined his argument about Barack’s “dangerous” lack of experience.  While the GOP wants sell McCain as “country first,” he picked Palin not because she’s most qualified for vice president but precisely because he expects her to win him votes.  “Sarah Palin is exactly what I need,” said McCain Aug. 29, reinforcing the coldly calculating move to chase evangelical and women votes.  Palin mentioned nothing in her speech about her religious fervor, telling Wasilla Assembly of God ministry graduates that fighting in Iraq was “a task from God.”  “Our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God,” said Palin, giving a free X-ray into the only logic that justifies the Iraq War.  “That’s what we have to make sure that we’re praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God’s plan,” exposing her decision-making process.

            Right wing pundits like Ann Coulter are thrilled with Palin’s pick because it continues the same religious fervor that’s infiltrated the Oval Office since Bush took office Jan. 20, 2001.  Palin’s agenda in Alaska is allowing big oil to tap the Arctic National Wild Life Reserve and build a $30 billion oil and natural gas pipeline.  While there’s nothing wrong with the U.S. developing more energy independence, there’s something very wrong with crossing the line between church and state.  “God’s will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that pipeline built, so pray for that,” Pallin told the seminary graduates.  Palin’s alluded in her convention speech to Iran and former Soviet Georgia, where the U.S. faces the most dangerous confrontation with Russia since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.  Her religious convictions—not national or geopolitical realities—influence her judgment.

            Palin mentioned nothing in her speech about her deep belief in “creationism,” seeking a national education agenda giving the bible equal time in science classes.  She mentioned nothing about her mission to pass Constitutional amendments banning abortion and gay marriage.  She spoke of great economic prosperity with her model of cutting taxes and shrinking government.  Nothing was mentioned about the Bush track record of record budget deficits and the economic slowdown that has  thrown millions of citizens out of work.  Yet she milks the biggest applause lines from Reagan’s worn out clichés that “our government is too big and spends too much.”  She blasts Obama for wanting to grow the federal establishment, as if the Pentagon is not part of the federal budget.   Under Bush, the Pentagon budget is cannibalizing the U.S. treasury, driving the country into recession.

            Palin hit all the right clichés except for the fact that her Party has been in office for eight years.  She takes no responsibility for the abuse of national security, costing the federal treasury $10-12 billion a month for a misguided war in Iraq.  If Palin gets her way, God will tell her to bomb Iran and rescue the reckless U.S. puppet in Georgia, Mikhail Saakashvili who, with U.S. backing, grossly miscalculated the Russian response to annexing South Ossetia and Abkhazia.  “But here’s a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators:  I’m not going to Washington to seek their good opinion.  I’m going to Washington to serve the people of this country,” said Palin, precisely the same logic that landed Bush 29% approval ratings.  Without some accountability to public opinion, the White House will wind up exactly where it is today:  With a failed domestic and foreign policy.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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