Thursday, September 04, 2008

They don't get Palin

The media and the blogosphere has exploded over Sarah Palin. Much of what they've written has seemed tabloidesque. Some of it is factual. Some of it is not.

When they do start to talk about her record, they seem to have trouble getting it right.
I mean, everyone knows she supports teaching creationism in public schools. Right? Wrong! (Note, this is not about what you or I believe, this is about media myopia.)

What about those earmarks? It's being widely reported that under her leadership Alaska received earmarks of $295 per capita, the highest in the country. What they don't tell you is that that is down. Way down. From $800 per capita last year and $1013 per capita the year before that. Now, I don't favor earmarks. In fact, I'd like to see them gone. But I have read several analyses that say Alaska's land mass, climate, and distance from the mainland are among the reasons for the high per capita amount.

Would she have been my first pick for VP? No. But neither were any of the people who were being talked about in the media. Is she a perfect candidate? No. But she is certainly looking better than the alternative.

3 comments:

Jen - Queen of Poo said...

I like her. :-)

Compared to the alternative? No contest!

AmusedMomma said...

I've given you a blog award, please visit my blog post of September 4 to see it.

ghp said...

Good call, Jane -- they don't get her. They don't want to get her, and I don't think they're even capable of getting her, her worldview is so foreign to them.

I do differ from you slightly, though, in that she was my first choice for McCain's VP. (disclaimer: I'm a Ron Paul guy, not a McCain guy, but I can't go 3rd party because it's too important to keep control over court appointments...) I'd been hearing & reading good things about Palin for a while, and she seemed like a really good choice, even beyond just counter-programming the Dems & going against type.

What we've seen is a re-energizing of the Republican base that's been beyond anyone's anticipation. Why? I think largely because it's shown that the future of the Republican part lies not in the stereotypical "Rich White Males" that the Left likes to skewer as being so out of touch, but rather in the folks like Sarah Palin & Bobby Jindal, who are very much real and in-touch with what mainstream America is all about. This is an exciting development.

And it's blindsided the Dems, the Left, and the MSM, such that they're stunned, they're lashing out, and they're exposing far more of their true colors & arrogance than they've ever done before.

This ought to be a very interesting final 9 weeks!