Wish I had My Camera Cause This is a Kodiak Moment

The Daily Kos has done an admirable job digging up mud on Sarah Palin that has nothing to do with unwed teenage daughters who may have been 16 at the time they were inseminated by their high-school boyfriends. (Side note-does anyone in the media have the balls to ask Palin whether she still supports abstinence only sex-education in light of its apparent failure in the Palin home?) My personal belief is that candidate’s families are only off limits to the extent that those candidates feel similarly about your family. Palin supports an abortion ban and other planks in the Republican platform that intrude into the privacy of your home. She should expect no quarter from the rest of us. Another bit of “family-values” hypocrisy that popped up is the fact that Palin unexpectedly eloped with her snowmobile racing husband and had her first child eight months later. Guess the fruit doesn’t fall too far from the tree. Far be it from me to moralize about personal behavior, but I’m not running on a platform that advocates teaching about Jesus in the public schools and attempting to enforce a Christian-based morality on everyone else. Palin is. The decisions she makes in her private life are fair game for public discourse.

Of course you don’t really need to get into her private life. Her public life is repugnant enough. Aside from the oddities like her support for a bill allowing the hunting of wolves from airplanes, there is this from her days as mayor of Wassila:

“[Former Wasilla mayor John Stein] says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." The librarian, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire her for not giving "full support" to the mayor.”

Any doubt as to whether Palin is a true conservative in the Bush/Cheney mode need look no further. While mayor, Palin continuously exhibited a contempt for the rule of law and showed a predilection for abusing executive power. Here's a news report citing another example:

"City librarian Mary Ellen Emmons [Baker] will stay, but Police Chief Irl Stambaugh is on his own, Wasilla Mayor Sarah Palin announced Friday. The decision came one day after letters signed by Palin were dropped on Stambaugh's and Emmon's desks, telling them their jobs were over as of Feb. 13.

Both Stambaugh and Emmons [Baker] publicly supported Palin's opponent, long-time mayor John Stein during the campaign last fall. When she was elected, Palin questioned their loyalty and initially asked for their resignations. But Stambaugh said he thought any questions had been resolved.”

I guess not. She'll fit in pretty well in Washington, especially in such executive branch corridors as those at the DOJ. How about foreign policy? Can expect Governor Palin to focus on the important issues like the war in Iraq. In her own words, "I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq," she said. I'll bet Bush loves her. Bravo McCain. Now I am convinced that you are totally senile. No one in their right mind would nominate someone like this to the vice presidency.