WSJ weekend interview Palin

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Registered: 10-17-2008
WSJ weekend interview Palin
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Sat, 11-01-2008 - 5:22am
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Sarah Palin
'I Haven't Always Just Toed the Line'
The GOP's vice-presidential pick says she'd work on energy, government reform and special-needs kids in the White House.
By KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL



  • Cape Girardeau, Missouri





Ask Sarah Palin what she has found most surprising about her campaign experience and she replies, with more than a touch of humility, "the enthusiasm." She's got a point.


Wending my way through the traffic and crowds around the Palin event in this small river city on Thursday morning, I began to wonder if the whole state hadn't shown up. Walking the cold half-hour from the nearest parking space, I passed mobs of disappointed voters who had already been turned away for lack of space. Inside the city's Show Me Center, thousands of roaring, stomping, sign-waving Palin fans were practically hanging from the rafters. It felt like, well . . . an Obama rally.






Terry Shoffner

And there you have the paradox of Sarah Palin. The press has brutalized the Alaska governor, playing gotcha with her record, digging through her family life. The liberal intelligentsia has declared her unfit for office, a rube, a right-wing maniac. The conservative intelligentsia has accused her of being a lightweight, of "anti-intellectualism." Polls suggest a significant number of voters believe she is not up for the job.


Yet her supporters idolize her -- all the more because of the criticism. Mrs. Palin has, for millions of Americans, become a symbol of a reformist average Jane, a working mom, ready to take on the Washington they detest. Talking to Missourians before the event, I heard little mention of flashpoint issues like her religious views, or her experience. I was instead repeatedly, and vociferously, informed that a Vice President Palin would "fix that place" and "shape up the GOP." I also heard a lot about how she would accomplish all this because she was a "real" person.


The governor is one of those politicians with the gift of connecting with her audience, a trait that surely has helped with her quick political rise. "I'm so glad you're here!" she said as I walked in to the holding room, with such warmth I wondered if she might actually mean it. As in her staged events, she comes across in person as confident.


The tasks of "fixing" Washington and "shaping up" the GOP are no small things, whether from inside the West Wing, or depending on Tuesday, from some future role as a party leader. And so, after a firm handshake and an introduction to First Dude Todd, I ask the governor if we could forgo the stump speech and talk about her contribution to this ticket, and the future of the party. Why, exactly, are Republicans as a whole struggling so badly? Are the liberal pundits right that modern conservatism has run its course?


"The planks in the Republican platform are good, they are strong. Economically speaking, Republicans support a uniquely American system that rewards hard work and empowers the entrepreneurial spirit that made this country the greatest country on earth. And on the national security front . . . it is about strength through power, it is about diplomacy across this world, allowing America to lead us toward a more peaceful world. On those planks -- economic and national security -- the Republican Party has the right agenda."


The problem, she explains, is a failure to deliver. "We must prove to the American people that we will live out the ideals and the values articulated in that platform." She says that "in too many cases" the GOP has let voters down, in particular on spending and with the abuse of earmarking. She argues the most effective way to revamp the party is from the top, by putting her ticket in the Oval Office, where it will enforce discipline. "We have a track record that proves we can reform government. And ultimately, that will reform the Republican Party."


I probe a little bit more on this word "reform" -- a favorite of Gov. Palin's, though it isn't always clear what she means. What exactly will she reform? "It's reform of the abuse of the earmark process. There's nothing wrong with governors and mayors and members asking for a share of the federal budget, in order to help a community, but it is the abuse of that process that has got to be reformed. It's reform of federal government spending; they've run up a $10 trillion debt that we're expected to hand off to our children. . . . It's about, ultimately, putting government back on the side of the people. Not to make Americans believe that they have to work for government, but that their government needs to be working for them. . . . This is their government. It's of the people, by the people, for the people."


She also explains that what distinguishes a new generation of reformers in the party -- people like her, or Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal -- is a willingness to learn from Republican failures or successes of the past, and apply them to current concerns, say health care. "We have the luxury of looking back with 20-20 hindsight." She mentions Ronald Reagan, his ability "to win the Cold War without firing a shot" and his focus on pro-growth policies, as examples of those successes. But she also notes that today's global economy and global threats have combined to demand more from leaders.


"It used to be you could choose the president based on one or two things, on strength on national security, or on a view on the economy. Today, everything is interwoven. With globalization and with how quickly the world has changed, we need a president with the experience and leadership capability and the good judgment to handle both." She flags energy, saying that today it is both an imperative for domestic economic prosperity as well as a question of national security.


The vice-presidential nominee took heat recently for talking about the values of "real America" -- a comment some took as an implication that red-state America is more patriotic than other parts of the country. I ask her if the GOP doesn't in fact have a perception problem, that it is no longer viewed as a big tent? What does it need to do to reach out and once again become competitive in places like New Jersey or Connecticut, or the suburbs?


Mrs. Palin, again, suggests that implementing reform is the best way for the party to connect with the broader electorate. This was her approach in Alaska, where she at one point boasted 90% approval ratings. "My concentration is on bettering our country. I've never been known as an obsessive partisan. In fact, I've taken on my own party. I've run against members of my own party in order to reform at a local level and a state level. And on a national level I'd do the same thing and so will John McCain. And McCain, he's got the scars to prove that independent streak, that comes from making the right decisions for the people he was serving, putting country first. So my concentration is on how do we make this country as a whole better, stronger, safer."


The governor herself has also been attempting to retool the GOP's message to broaden the party's appeal with key voting groups. In a largely unnoticed policy speech in Nevada last week, Mrs. Palin pitched to women. Flanked by feminists -- including Democrats and members of the National Organization for Women -- the governor argued that the GOP's free-market policies were particularly important to women. Women need changes in rigid 40-hour-a-week labor laws to obtain more flexible work schedules; women own millions of small businesses that would be hurt by tax hikes; women need entitlement reform to provide security for their long retirement years.


"Every woman that I know works so hard, because they have a couple of extra hurdles, obviously, that they have to jump over in order to succeed. . . . Of course we want and deserve equal pay for equal work. But we also want to be able to afford good health care for our families. John McCain's plan for the $5,000 tax credit will allow us to make our own decisions, to be able to afford health care, to erase these state lines that prohibit a competitive environment to purchase a good health-care package. . . . That's an issue that is important to women."


All of this, says Mrs. Palin, undermines suggestions by conservative critics that she represents an us-versus-them streak in the party. She bluntly suggests they are missing the point. "I think those who would criticize what I believe I represent -- and that is, everyday, hardworking American families who desire and deserve reform of government -- I think they are out of touch with what the rest of the nation is talking about today. It's a reflection of some elitism that assumes that the best and the brightest of this country are all assembled in Washington, D.C., and I beg to differ. You can walk out in the rally that we are going to attend in a minute, and you talk to anyone there, and I believe you will hear the same thing. Enough of that arrogance. Enough of that assumption that unless you are a part of that Washington elite that you aren't worthy of serving this great country."


She is equally blunt in her retort to those who say she's not up to the job. "I'll tell you, some within the party who have criticized me -- or John McCain's pick of me -- I think some of this underlying criticism is again coming from the hierarchy. It is because I haven't always just toed the line in the party. I'm not wired to do that. I want reform of our party, I want to be able to prove that our party is worthy of leading this country. And I'm not going to just go along to get along. I've never been able to do that. It bodes well for someone's character, I believe, and is a strength."


I ask if she's already discussed with Mr. McCain what her portfolio would be as vice president, and she enthusiastically ticks off her responsibilities: "Energy independence -- and that is just key to our national security and our economic prosperity. Reform of government -- put us back on the sides of the people. And helping families who have children with special needs -- ultimately, allowing every family to know that they have a friend and advocate in the White House, but specifically families who have worked so hard to make our nation a more welcoming place for children with special needs."




Related

Main Street: Palin Shows How to Transcend the Culture Wars
A society should be judged by how it treats its weakest members.
By William McGurn


Mrs. Palin doesn't mention her youngest child here, who was born earlier this year with Down syndrome -- but she doesn't need to. It's clear this is a subject on which she feels passionate. "They are special. We will elevate this whole issue, letting families know that children with autism, Down syndrome, with physical disabilities, these are special citizens of the United States of the America and they will be made to feel that way, not excluded, but included and provided equal opportunity."


As we wrap up I thank the governor and she asks a few questions about me. Then I am whisked out to the rally. Within a few minutes, the speakers start to blare Dolly Parton's "9 to 5," and Mrs. Palin steps out on to the stage. Listening to the crowd go bonkers, it's hard not to think that -- whatever happens Tuesday -- Mrs. Palin may yet have a long political future.

 

 

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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-31-2008
Sat, 11-01-2008 - 11:01pm

Most of those items were facts, not

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-08-2008
Sat, 11-01-2008 - 11:30pm
Who are the Goldwater conservatives? Are those the Colin Powells?

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 11-02-2008 - 4:29am

This article gives some good examples of conservatives who have left because of Palin:

US ELECTION | 02.11.2008
Fear of a Palin Presidency Drives US Expats to Vote for Obama

The economy, taxes and America's image are hot-button issues for US expats in Germany. But even Republicans are now going Democrat for a far more compelling reason: Fear that Sarah Palin could become president.
Jim Sides, 55, a Californian living in Bonn, is a swing voter who cast his ballot for President George W. Bush in 2004. This time the one single factor driving him to the Democratic ticket is the possibility that the Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin is a heartbeat away from the American presidency.

If John McCain is elected next Tuesday, the 72- year-old Republican senator from Arizona, who has battled skin cancer, would become the oldest US president in history.

“Let’s say McCain doesn’t make it health-wise -- then we’d wind up with Caribou Barbie in the White House,” Sides said, referring to the Alaskan governor’s bouffant hairdo and the political lightweight impression Palin has made on millions of television viewers.

Sides, a CEO of Meyer Sound Germany, a division of the US manufacturer of professional loudspeakers, said he had been even leaning towards McCain before Palin entered the Republican ticket.

Feeling betrayed by McCain’s choice
“I had a very high regard for John McCain based on my knowledge of his record as senator. He was an honorable man, a war hero, but after he picked Palin, I felt he had betrayed his country,” he said.

“I was in a state of pure shock. Leaving someone completely unqualified intellectually in a position to step into the Presidency was so irresponsible,” Sides continued.

Sides’ wife Lisa, who had also liked McCain, felt that the Vietnam veteran’s extensive military experience could be valuable in finding a realistic exit strategy out of the morass in Iraq.

“But picking her (Palin) pushed me over the edge towards Barack Obama. McCain made that choice based on trying to win the election rather than having the best interests of our country in mind,” she said.

Picking Palin alienated expat voters

The choice of Palin was meant to balance and galvanize the Republican ticket with a social conservative who could draw on the extreme, evangelical elements of the party as well as female Hillary voters.

But the move wound up alienating many of the US expatriates DW-WORLD.DE spoke to in the old American settlement of Bonn’s scenic Plittersdorf district on the Rhine River, where life revolves around the international school and English-language church.

All those interviewed said it was a key, if not the key reason, to vote for Barack Obama, whether they liked the Illinois senator or not.

The expatriates in the former German capital come from all over the map in the United States and reflect diverse political views. They tend to be better off than their compatriots back home, since many are managers at blue chip US multinational companies. That puts tax policy, trade and America's image abroad high on the list of issues that matter to them.


Jeff Nagel, 44, a top executive at one such multinational, said that the way McCain made his vice-presidential choice reflected the personality differences between the two presidential candidates. That sealed his decision to vote for Obama instead, he said.

Choice of VP reflects personality of candidates

“As a businessman, I look at an individual’s leadership skills regardless of their experience and position on the issues. I agree with Obama only about half the time,” said Nagel, who had previously voted for President George W. Bush and describes himself as a free trader and fiscal conservative, but a moderate on social policy.

“But look at how he has managed his campaign, taking on the Democratic establishment Clintons. Look at how he articulates his positions, and his ability to keep a level response through the ups and downs of his campaign,” he said adding that Obama has already shown that he is a thoughtful and effective leader through his choice of six-term Delaware senator Joe Biden, 65, as his running mate.

Obama's choice of Joe Biden (left) has been widely praised

“Biden is someone who can deliver the experience that Obama lacks, but not the electoral votes that he needs to win the presidency. Obama’s choice was not based on the short term decision to get into office, but to put together a good team for the long haul in office,” continued Nagel, who declined to name his company since he was expressing his personal views.

Many expats like Nagel see McCain’s public outbursts and unpredictability that his Republican handlers call “maverick”, in a negative light. They say that McCain’s ‘shoot first, ask later’ fighter pilot mentality that might work on the battlefield, is unsuited for the US presidency, which requires a cool head.

Concerns about McCain’s judgement

Others have expressed serious concerns about McCain’s judgement. Matthew Howard, a global engineering manager based in Cologne for Ford Motor Company, who has Republican leanings and is not convinced of Obama, has vacillated so much with his absentee ballot that it is now too late to cast his vote.

“If McCain had picked (former Massachusetts governor) Mitt Romney or any other qualified candidate, I would vote for him in a flash. Picking a running mate was the most important decision of his candidacy and he blew it with Palin. How could he be so dramatically out of touch to pick this woman?" asked Howard, who added that the role of VP today is no longer just a president-in-waiting, but an important team player in the cabinet.

“If I were back in Michigan, I wouldn’t be able to sit home on Election Day. It’d be painful, but I’d vote Obama,” said Howard, explaining that he generally dislikes Democrat fiscal and economic policies.

Resigned into voting for Barack Obama

Expat absentee ballots can make a difference in swing states

Vera-Lynn Lewallen, 53, who was born on a military base in Germany and grew up in North Carolina, sent in her absentee ballot, but initially thought of abstaining, since she is bitter at the Democratic Party for casting aside Senator Hillary Clinton in favor of Obama.

“I’d rather not vote if I’m not happy with the Democratic candidate, but now I feel blackmailed by the Republicans into voting, because they picked this Palin woman,” she said.

Then there is Mickie Nagel, who unlike her husband, an Independent, has been a lifelong Republican and even worked on the campaign to re-elect the incumbent president’s father, George Bush Sr. She was opposed to Palin enough to cross the line for the first time in this election. “I never thought I would vote for a Democrat,” she said.

One Ford engineer and mother of two, who asked not to be identified, did vote for McCain out of loyalty to the Republican Party, but also voiced serious doubts about Palin. She is taking strange comfort in the fact that her absentee vote won’t count in her home state.

“Michigan is a clear blue state. Obama will win there anyway,” she said with a sigh of relief.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3756020,00.html

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-12-2007
Sun, 11-16-2008 - 8:02pm

1) She does not understand the 1st amendment. FACT wrong. not fact
2) She does not understand the role of the VP. FACT wrong. not fact
3) She does not understand world affairs. Opinion
4) She does not understand how government in the other 49 states works. Opinion
5) She allows herself to be a Rove puppet. Opinion
6) She could not readily come up with the name of a single newspaper she reads. FACT wrong. not fact
7) She thinks only people who think like she does are REAL Americans. FACT wrong. not fact.
8) She does not believe climate change is caused by human behavior. FACT smart woman.


9) She accuses a U.S. senator of palling around with terrorists. FACT smart woman.
10) There are too few minorities at her rallies. Opinion
11) She lacks intelligence. Opinion
12) She has abused her positions of authority. FACT wrong again. not fact.


   

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2008
Sun, 11-16-2008 - 9:22pm

Well done. I wish Palin were a better candidate. I wish the fops weren't just the fops. But in reality Palin and these Fox-Republican officials and politicians have nothing good to contribute to America. I hope they shape up their act soon. They seem stuck in phase 1, although lately some of them may be achieving stage 2 (I can't tell if this is just demagoguery or they are really angry):

1. Denial (this isn't happening to me!)
2. Anger (why is this happening to me?)
3. Bargaining (I promise I'll be a better person if...)
4. Depression (I don't care anymore)
5. Acceptance (I'm ready for whatever comes)

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2008
Sun, 11-16-2008 - 9:33pm

"Who are the Goldwater conservatives?"

Good question! I think Powell really let us down. He went along with the Iraq war and he sat with Cheney at the roundtable meetings of senior Bush officials where they authorized torture. He doesn't make the Goldwater cut in my book. Sadly, I think Powell too irresponsible.

It's hard to find a Goldwater conservative these days - pro-civil liberties, for small government, anti-interventionism, and for fiscal responsibility. Goldwater himself saw his party degrade before his eyes:

"Yet in his older years the founding father of conservatism gazed out upon his works and recoiled. It was not, after all, what he had had in mind. In his plainspoken manner, indifferent to what anyone else thought, he railed against the right's intolerance, sanctimony and bullying. Mr. Conservative, author of its early seminal manifesto, "The Conscience of a Conservative," took to calling himself in public a "liberal." He spared no words in denouncing the right as the enemy of liberty.

"Barry was always a social liberal," Susan Goldwater Levine, his widow, keeper of the flame, told me at her home, high in the hills above Phoenix, watching a pastel sunset, in 70 degree winter weather. "Barry believed that people should be allowed to do whatever they wanted in their own homes." When Goldwater observed the right trying to use government to enforce private morality, he spoke up for women's right to abortion and for gay rights. His wife insisted that his convictions had remained unaltered, but that the movement for which he was the avatar had become warped. "He hated it that the right-wing zealots took over the party," she said. "Barry hated the right wing.""

http://dir.salon.com/story/opinion/blumenthal/2004/02/26/goldwater/

So who is a Goldwater conservative? Maybe Bloomberg, but he was kind of a forced convert to the Republican Party.

Possibly Senator Chuck Hagel:

"On August 18, 2005, Hagel compared the Iraq War to Vietnam and openly mocked Vice President Dick Cheney's assertion that the Iraqi insurgency was in its "last throes."
In November 2005, Hagel made a much-publicized statement: "To question your government is not unpatriotic — to not question your government is unpatriotic." This was in reference to the lack of open debate in Congress regarding the Iraq War, and in defense of his assertion that the United States should withdraw its troops.
In December 2005, in reference to Bush, the Republican Party, and the PATRIOT Act, Hagel made a much-publicized statement: "I took an oath of office to the Constitution, I didn't take an oath of office to my party or my president."
In January 2006, Hagel took issue with Karl Rove over controversial statements the White House advisor made concerning the mindset of Republicans and Democrats. Hagel said, "Well, I didn't like what Mr. Rove said, because it frames terrorism and the issue of terrorism and everything that goes with it, whether it's the renewal of the Patriot Act or the NSA wiretapping, in a political context." He also said that "dark clouds" are hanging over the Republican party, and "If you look at the environment and the atmospherics politically in this town, read any poll. The sixth year of a governing party usually... is not good... the country is tired, a lot of complications in these international issues, we're at war."
Hagel further criticized the Bush administration, saying, "National security is more important than the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. And to use it to try to get someone elected will ultimately end up in defeat and disaster for that political party."
In July 2006, Hagel again took issue with the Bush administration, this time on its handling of the Israel-Lebanon issue saying "The sickening slaughter on both sides must end and it must end now. President Bush must call for an immediate cease-fire. This madness must stop."
After Republican losses in the 2006 midterm election, Hagel penned an editorial in the Washington Post highly critical of military strategies both employed and proposed for Iraq. He unequivocally declared that "There will be no victory or defeat for the United States in Iraq," and called for a "phased troop withdrawal"—making Hagel one of the most prominent voices in his party to do so.
According to a SurveyUSA poll, Hagel has a 10% higher approval rating among Nebraska Democrats than Republicans. OnTheIssues.org rates Hagel as a "libertarian-leaning conservative".
In January 2007, Hagel openly criticized President Bush's plan to send an additional 20,000 troops to Iraq. He called it, "the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam, if it's carried out." Together with Democrats Joseph Biden and Carl Levin he proposed a non-binding resolution to the Democratic-controlled Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which rejected Bush's policy as "not in the national interest" in a 12-9 vote. However, in a Senate vote of 94-2 to revoke executive power to replace federal prosecutors without a preliminary hearing, Senator Hagel and Senator Kit Bond were the only opposition.
After an April 2007 visit to Iraq with Pennsylvania Democratic Representative Joe Sestak, Hagel expressed his belief that the occupation of Iraq should not continue indefinitely and defended Congressional actions to set a timeline for an end in occupation.
In July 2007, Hagel expressed his intention to cooperate with Senate Democrats in voting for a bill that would set a timeline to get out of Iraq.
In November 2007, he rated the Bush administration "the lowest in capacity, in capability, in policy, in consensus—almost every area" of any presidency in the last forty years. He also revealed he is open to running as vice-president with the 2008 Democratic nominee. In the same month, he said, "I have to say this is one of the most arrogant, incompetent administrations I've ever seen or ever read about.""

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Hagel

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 11-17-2008 - 6:39am
Uhm, I posted a newspaper article about the fact that many republicans decided not to vote for the GOP because they disapprove of Palin.
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-08-2008
Mon, 11-17-2008 - 8:24pm

((((Goldwater himself saw his party degrade before his eyes:))))


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