Posted on 04/11/2011 9:18:41 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Few people have ever attracted more polarization than Sarah Palin has. Since her name was announced as John McCain’s running mate in 2008, she has been at the center of controversy. Many Americans love Palin, but an equally large number despise her. Those who speak so ill of her claim she is completely incompetent to be in a leadership position. That may not be entirely true.
After becoming governor of Alaska in 2007, Palin immediately passed a state bill on political ethics. This bill requires all Alaskan representatives to receive ethics training, and increases the amount of money a lobbyist can give a representative. The bill also requires all representatives and candidates to disclose financial information. In other words, the bill required politicians to show where they are getting campaign money from, in order to ensure they are doing everything lawfully.
Palin’s bill also improved ethics by making it illegal for companies to give money in exchange for a representative’s vote. In many cases, a company will offer a representative money, but only if the representative votes the way that company wants. Palin’s bill exterminated many of these kinds of political bribery.
Sarah Palin’s predecessor as Alaskan Governor was Frank Murkowski. As governor, Murkowski’s budget was $11,697,400,000 in 2007. Palin’s 2010 budget was $10,570,000,000. That’s an 11 billion dollar difference. Perhaps such are the cuts we need to make at the federal level.
I would like to mention that before her nomination for Vice President, Palin’s approval rating was consistently above 90 percent. That is a statistic that nearly no politician can claim.
Evident through her high approval rating, the people of Alaska saw Palin’s efficiency as governor. It was only after her nomination for Vice President, that the liberal based media tarnished her record. Political shows took everything Palin said and tried to make her sound ignorant. Anyone would look incompetent if their every word was sifted through in an attempt to find errors.
In 2000 a poll was conducted to discover the political background of the media. The results were overwhelming; the breakdown was 61% liberal, 30% moderate, and only 9% conservative. Palin is of conservative background, so it is not surprising that every word Palin speaks is dissected, contorted, and ridiculed by the media.
One issue that both republicans and democrats can agree on, is the fact that Palin has been made a fool of by television shows, magazines, and newspapers. I believe her actions and political record contradict the media slander.
Other than media bias, there are other reasons to why Palin is thought to be foolish. I believe the harsh northern tones of her voice greatly influence the public. People infer she is simple minded just because she sounds different that the majority of the American population. If she spoke the same words, but with Barrack Obama’s booming, authoritative voice, these questions of her intelligence would not be so frequent. Also, the fact that she is a woman may have brought many sexist males to challenge her intellect.
This is the part of my column where I usually mention any counter-arguments that have truth, but honestly, I believe the accusations of Palin’s incompetence to be completely invalid. I don’t believe that any person can rise to the power of governor without intellect. That is absurd. If one wants to debate the political policies of Palin, I’d be glad to concede to certain flaws in her methods.
If her name comes up in the 2012 election, I hope that the American population would ignore media attacks on this lady’s intelligence and family, and vote based on the issues. Vote based on who can help the American economy. Vote based on who shares the same views as yourself. Vote based on who will make sure schools get their full funding. Vote based on who can solve immigration problems. Vote for any logical reason, but don’t vote based on who the media says is an idiot, because they are often biased and wrong.
11 billion dollar difference???
Apparently something wasn’t understood. LOL
If I’m not mistaken he needs to check his math (not 11 billion, but $1,127,400,000 difference, still nothing to sneeze at!) but spot on with the majority of his essay! Kudos to Luke! :-)
“Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?” Forget about it, he’s on a roll.
lol. Thats the new math!!!
The cuts amounted to 10%. She did about a thousand times better than Boehner. Palin/Rubio ‘12!
No, but it is a 9.6% reduction. Not bad.
It really gets confusing when you are working with the federal budget. Thank God for Excel because calculators won’t go that high.
Make no mistake, the largest number of "people who despise her" is (largely exaggerated and is from people who are the pro-abortion culture!
No only 1.274 billion...
Chicken feed. < /sarc >
;^)
Looks like a typo: 1.1 billion dollars
OK, I know its high school. But have they no editors?
One cannot attract polarization. Something either is “polarizing” or it is not. Being polarized means aligned in straight, up and down lines.
Therefore someone who is “polarizing” causes others to line up one way or the other, with no “noise” breaking those lines.
Can someone please tell the children to stop using verbs as nouns, and vice versa.
Man, if she doesn't run, and win, your life will be, for all intent and purpose, over.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.