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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Community Comment

She’s come a long way, baby…

Good morning, Netizens...

In another of David Horsey's excellent political cartoons from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, we see yet another view of Sarah Palin. It seems, according to the cartoon qualities that Horsey has seized upon several times this week, the Republican die-hards consider Palin “interesting”. Many others continually refer to her purported lack of experience or the controversy surrounding her ex-brother-in-law. Others are carping about the entitlements and earmarks which Palin has brought to her town. Just this year, she sent to Sen. Ted. Stevens, R-Alaska, a proposal for 31 earmarks totaling $197 million — more, per person, than any other state. So, I suppose that if one is searching for a controversy, they probably can find one in Sarah Palin's past, but I also hasten to point out nearly every politician walks that same pathway.

On the right, we have a picture of Sarah Palin taking the oath of office in Wasilla, Alaska in 1996. As they say, she's come a long way, baby. From beauty queen, to small-town Mayor, then Governor and now Vice-Presidential candidate. I consider that a significant amount of movement.

It should be noted that Alaska pays $1,200 cash to every Alaskan. In addition, each Alaska resident gets an annual dividend check, about $2,000 this year, from Alaska's oil-wealth savings account, known as the Permanent Fund, now fattened to more than $35 billion. Perhaps residents of Alaska view entitlements and earmarks a bit differently than other states.

When you examine both Governor Palin and her husband, I find it more interesting that he prefers the official title of “first dude” than various other titles that have been suggested for him. One presumes that this title could be transferred to the husband of the Vice-President of the United States then, couldn't they? Somehow that title could go either way, depending upon circumstances, but I like it.

There is also a fair amount of controversy about Democrat female crossover voters who will vote for Palin strictly on the basis of her gender. How significant is the voting for former Hillary Clinton voters? There is apparently a groundswell of female voters who apparently are leaving the Democratic Party for Republican headquarters in the aftermath of Hillary losing a bid to Obama.

Sarah Palin is interesting, to say the very least. The real question of the day is will she add interest to the John McCain campaign, which according to all the polls, is trailing the Obama campaign at the present time? Is she an asset or a liability?

Those are the questions foremost in my mind. By all means, feel free to add more of your own remembering that tonight, Wednesday, Governor Palin will address the convention, and thus perhaps things may change.
Pictures courtesy of AP
Dave



Spokesman-Review readers blog about news and issues in Spokane written by Dave Laird.