Politics

There's a part of me that can't help thinking that John McCain selected Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate in an effort to win over disgruntled supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton. If so, I really hope that the disgruntled supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton aren't stupid enough to find Palin -- a "Social Conservative" card-carrying member of the NRA whose sole foreign affairs experience is having Russia and Canada as next-door neighbors -- a suitable substitute. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of faith in the voting public.

I suppose there is one place where Governor Palin can compare to Senator Clnton: She's currently under an ethics investigation.*

According to On The Issues (http://www.ontheissues.org), Sarah Palin opposes gay rights, opposes abortion, thinks that the drug problem consists of drunk driving, and supports the death penalty.

She suspended the Alaska 8-cent fuel tax for one ear (which may have amounted to a little more than a 2% savings on gas at the time).

She opposes a windfall profits tax on oil companies, claiming that "windfall profits taxes alone prevent additional investment in domestic production." Now, I may not have two whole years experience governing the state with on of the smallest populations in the United States (DC is not a state, but apparently North Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming each have fewer people), but I thought companies invested in their own growth because it made good business sense, tax or no tax. Then again, oil companies don't really seem to me to be the most forward-thinking of corporations.

She is suing the federal government over its decision to list the polar bear as "threatened" because "The Service's analysis failed to adequately consider the polar bears' survival through prior warming periods..." Hey, they survived before! That's good enough for her.

Hillary Clinton, who wants tougher gun control to keep guns out of criminals' hands, supports (same-sex) civil unions with full equality of benefits; "deeply values choice" (in regard to abortion); includes stances on crack, non-violent drug offenders and special drug courts; and -- yes -- she also supports the death penalty.

Clinton supports a windfall profits tax on oil companies and investigating gas price manipulation.

While I did not find her stance on Polar Bears, Senator Clinton is not from Alaska, so that isn't that big of a surprise. Her position on the environment goes a bit beyond Alaskan issues. Look it up at On The Issues (dot) org.

If you think that Sarah Palin is a good choice for Vice President, then so be it (obviously I disagree, but that's what makes this country great), but first find out what her positions actually are. Certainly don't look to her as a Clinton subsitute. Also find out what John McCain's positions are and what Barrack Obama's positions actually are, and Joe Biden's as well. And find out their real histories, not that e-mail rumor cr** that's already been refuted at snopes(dot)com but people keep repeating anyway. Start at OnTheIssues(dot)org, but then go beyond that.

This coming election is too important to vote for someone because your candidate didn't get the nomination or because one candidate is the wrong color, too young, too old, or from the wrong state. Know who you're voting for, but know why.

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* From what I've been able to gather, Sarah Palin has been accused of pressuring the state's chief of public safety to fire her sister-in-law's husband. She denies this. According to The Atlantic, "there's mounting evidence that the impetus did indeed come from her." Allegedly, Palin asked the Alaska attorney general to open an investigation when the legislature already had an ongoing investigation. I guess that passes for ethics in politics: once an investigation has started, it's okay to ask for it.