[Psudo]

I wasn't terribly interested in Sarah Palin during her governorship or candidacy (since McCain was already certain to lose), but it appears she's not going to just fade away from fame. I have hoped some of the discussion surrounding her would give me some insight into her character, politics, and personality but the arguments have been so partisan (and shallow) as to prevent any substantial common ground agreements that I can point to and say "That must be true." So I'm going to do it myself.

What do I need to reach a reasonable conclusion (besides a miracle)? Sources. Lots of sources. If I miss any relevant speeches, interviews, or arguments by or about her, inform me and I'll edit this post to add them.

Most importantly: [On The Issues]

Palin's Resume:
1982 - State Championship Girls Basketball win as point guard, nicknamed "Sarah Barracuda"
1983 - Named Miss Wasilla, 3rd place and Miss Congeniality in Miss Alaska Pagent
1984-1987 - Bachelors in Communications/Journalism from University of Idaho
1988-1991 - Sportscaster career
1992 - Elected to Wasilla City Council (54.9% vs. 32.1% of the vote)
1995 - Re-Elected to Wasilla City Council (68.4% vs. 30.6%)
1996 - Elected Mayor of Wasilla (unofficially Republican) (57.6% vs. 38.9%)
1999 - Re-Elected Mayor of Wasilla (73.6% vs. 23.6%)
2002 - Lost Alaskan Lieutenant Governor Republican primary (26.61% vs. 29.34%)
2003-2004 - Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Chair
2006 - Won Alaskan Gubernatorial Republican Primary (50.59% vs. 29.84%)
2006 - Elected Governor of Alaska (48.33% vs. 40.97%)
2008 - Unsuccessful Vice Presidential campaign (46% vs. 53%)
2009 - Resigned from Governorship

Speeches by Palin:
between 1 Jan and 1 Sep 2008 - 2008 Alaskan Independence Party Convention: [video] and [transcript]
(Can anyone narrow that date range down?)
3 Sep 2008 - Nomination Acceptance: [video] and [transcript]
3 Sep 2008 - RNC Speech: [video and transcript]
2 Oct 2008 - Vice Presidential Debates: official [video] and [transcript], [unofficial transcript]
4 Nov 2008, never delivered - Election Victory and Concession Speeches: [transcripts] (Is this legit?)
3 July 2009 - Governorship Resignation: [part 1] and [part 2] of the video, and the [official transcript]
6 Dec 2009 - informal Gridiron12 Dinner: [summary] (shows her sense of humor)

Interviews of Palin:
6 July 2007 - by sports radio commentator Donny Baarns: [audio] (before her national fame)
11 Sep 2008 - by Charlie Gibson: video [the first 9:37] and [10:12 more], [transcript]
18 Sep 2008 - by Hannity & Colmes: video parts [1], [2], and [3], transcript parts [1] and [2]
24 Sep 2008 - by Katie Couric for CBS News: [video as aired]
16 Nov 2009 - by Oprah for her TV show: [first 10 minutes as aired], partial clips [on Levi], [on Couric], [highlights], and [unaired clips]
(I couldn't find a full video or transcript of the Oprah interview. Little help?)
17 Nov 2009 - by Rush Limbaugh for his radio show: [transcript] (audio requires paid registration)
18 Nov 2009 - by Barbra Walters for 20/20: [video as aired]

Written by Palin:
5 Jan 2008 - Bearing Up for the New York Times (before her national fame)
14 July 2009 - The 'Cap And Tax' Dead End for the Washington Post
8 Sep 2009 - Obama and the Bureaucratization of Health Care for the Wall Street Journal
16 Oct 2009 - Drill for National Review
17 Nov 2009 - Going Rogue: An American Life - excerpt on [Her Down's Syndrome baby]
9 Dec 2009 - Copenhagen's political science for the Washington Post (entitled Boycott Copenhagen in The Guardian)

Views of Palin:
26 Feb 2008 - Sarah Palin for Vice President? from the Veep nomination speculation days
29 Aug 2008 - The Joan of Arc of Alaska politics by the Anchorage Daily News
29 Aug 2008 - Sarah Palin: Diva for Gay Republicans? by GayPatriot.net
2 Sep 2008 - Substantive Criticism of Palin from conservatives, incl. the Cato Institute
4 Sep 2008 - "I have known Sarah since 1992..." letter by Anne Kilkenny, Alaskan homemaker and politics wonk
8 Sep 2008 - How To Understand Sarah Palin: The Issues, Not Biography from the Huffington Post [see also]
10 Sep 2008 - Matt Damon on CBS News RAW
27 Oct 2008 - Sarah Palin's A Brainiac by Elaine Lafferty for The Daily Beast
17 Feb 2009 - Trailblazer: An Intimate Biography of Sarah Palin by Lorenzo Benet of People Magazine
12 Dec 2009 - The latest from GayPatriot.net in the Sarah Palin category.

Other Stuff:
[Wikipedia] [Sarah PAC] [Facebook] [Twitter] [YouTube] [Snopes] [Conservatives 4 Palin] [Daylife; Palin-authored articles]

Items marked with are new as of the most recent edit.

[BartSimpson]

Good post - thank you.

[N_Fiddledog]

This is a good one for in-defense-of-Palin stuff, when you're looking for the other side of whatever attack she's defending herself against at the moment.

http://www.conservatives4palin.com/

[Psudo]

The list of "Views of Palin" is rather one-sided right now. Anyone know a good, comprehensive criticism of Sarah Palin? Sound-bite or single-issue attacks aren't useful, but a thorough, thoughtful analysis that concludes against her would be great.

[commanderkai]

I'd be curious on her political career. I know she was elected Mayor, and then Governor (though for how long I'm not sure) and what issues she campaigned for or supported during those runs.

Both Obama and Palin were basically newcomers to the cutthroat game of US Federal politics. One became the President, the other a seemingly up and coming Republican Party figurehead, and both have been faced with some...shall I say...harsh criticism from their ideological opponents.

Edit: I'd like to state, if none of that made any sense, please tell me.

[Psudo]

Made sense to me.

[Psudo]

Since I just added Matt Damon's famous criticism of Palin from just days after her announcement, I figure I'll address some of his fears.

Matt Damon wrote:

I think there's a really good chance that Sarah Palin could be President, and I think that's a very scary thing. 'Cause I don't know anything about her. I don't think in eight weeks I'm going to know anything about her.

The Huffington Post had a pretty good summary of her issue positions two days before his interview aired, and from a point of view Damon would probably find ideologically acceptable. His fear that he wouldn't know anything in 8 weeks demonstrates a common thing in our culture: a tendency for passive research. In other words, if you don't see it on the nightly news, you don't know it. I can't blame Damon for being a product of his culture, but he (and anyone) is perfectly capable of looking these things up. It just takes a little time and effort.

Yes, she's low on experience. So is Obama. So what experienced alternative, I wonder, did Damon have in mind?

Matt Damon wrote:

I need to know if she really thinks dinosaurs were here 4000 years ago [...] because she's going to have the nuclear codes.

Is Palin a young earth creationist? She has expressed skepticism that all Earthly life evolved from a common ancestor or from fish. On evolution, she has said "I know about evolution, and I accept evolution." and "I believe that God created us and also that He can create an evolutionary process that allows species to change and adapt." and "I'm not going to pretend I know how all this came to be." [source]

I can't find where she's estimated the Earth's age as a four or five digit number of years, and the adaptive micro-evolution she has conceded typically requires more time than that to function. Best I can tell, she believes in a much older Earth.

In short, she's a creationist but not a young earth creationist. She doesn't believe there were dinosaurs 4000 years ago.

I'm not entirely sure what her beliefs on evolution have to do with responsibility over the nuclear arsenal. Young earth creationists don't want to see nuclear war either. Even if it shows intellectual delusion regarding the origin of the species, what association does that have with pragmatic, day-to-day operations? If I believed humans were pooped out by the flying spaghetti monster would banks stop taking my checks, or would murder cease to be wrong, or would I be unable to be pragmatically diplomatic with people who disagree? People's practical intelligence has far more to do with running the country than which abstract theories they espouse. The Huffington Post summary that predated the airing of the Damon interview describes Palin as a pragmatist in the execution of the office of Governor; thus, her abstract theories are irrelevant.

(Myself, I believe in God exists and influences our lives, and that scientific investigations into evolution are completely valid. The Bible speaks symbolically, and God creates by adding organization to existing things. The only ex nihilo creation possible for God or man is to create thoughts; plans, organization, intents, stories, etc. That is God's glory, a divine talent for planning for man's best interest.)

Matt Damon wrote:

What I want know is [...] if she banned books or tried to ban books. We can't have that.

She didn't.

[N_Fiddledog]

Psudo wrote:

Matt Damon wrote:

I need to know if she really thinks dinosaurs were here 4000 years ago [...] because she's going to have the nuclear codes.

Is Palin a young earth creationist? She has expressed skepticism that all Earthly life evolved from a common ancestor or from fish. On evolution, she has said "I know about evolution, and I accept evolution." and "I believe that God created us and also that He can create an evolutionary process that allows species to change and adapt." and "I'm not going to pretend I know how all this came to be." [source]

I can't find where she's estimated the Earth's age as a four or five digit number of years, and the adaptive micro-evolution she has conceded typically requires more time than that to function. Best I can tell, she believes in a much older Earth

I can kind of help you out with that one, but I don't have an actual link right now.

Damon's remark there evolves out of a post from a blogger. The blogger later admitted his assertions were untrue. He claimed to have made the story up, and posted it for humor. Nevertheless the left wing blogosphere, and I think some mainstream outlets posted the story as fact. It went viral.

[Mustang1]

Psudo wrote:

Matt Damon wrote:

What I want know is [...] if she banned books or tried to ban books. We can't have that.

She didn't.

I remember reading - and this was years ago - that this "book banning" myth did have some original truth (although, not to the extent that was later reported) to it. Apparently, in her capacity as mayor, she was allegedly to have inquired at the library about how one goes about banning books. Now, that doesn't mean she did it, but i'm always a little nervous about politicians that engage in intellectual censorship (not that i think liberties should be unbridled) and for what purposes.

I'm wondering if this was the initial information Damon was working off when he queried about her apparent "censoring" activities

[N_Fiddledog]

A lot of those stories can be traced to this group of Alaskan women who blog. One's a radio talk show host.

They're the ones who made all those bogus ethics complaints.

I'm not sure, but I think they can be traced to the Lucille the waitress stories (Palin's a bad tipper, and nasty to waitresses, everybody hates her), and the woman who claimed to be from Wasilla, and offered what she said was inside scoop.

[Zipperfish]

She seems very similar to George W Bush, actually. The things she is promising are similar to what Bush promised. And I imagine the tings she would deliver would be the same things Bush delivered--Big Government, perpetual war. But it seems clear to me that Republicans want another George Bush type, so I think she'll be a contender.

I think the big issue in the next election will probably be China. Their influence is growing, and they've been content to mind their own business on the world stage, but should they ever decide to dabble more overtly in global politics, the temperature will rise very quickly.

The American consumer economy (and the Canadian one) now relies on Chinese goods, and the Chinese economy depends on American consumers. So far, this interdependence has made relations better. All the same, I think a Chinese challenge to American hegemony will be the next geopolitical issue over the next couple of decades.

[coaster_dot]

Kind of the topic a bit but I LOVED this site

http://www.palinaspresident.us/

[Psudo]

Palin and Bush don't strike me as very similar. They're both conservatives and neither is much of an intellectual, but that's not much. Bush got an MBA from Harvard, while Palin got a journalism degree from the University of I-duh-ho.

Bush served in the Guard (to some extent), while Palin's only connection to the military is her son. Bush has no city level political experience at all, whereas Palin has 10 years. Bush had 6 years of state government experience (plus a 1976 campaign) when he ran for President (Governor of Texas, 1994-2000), whereas Palin has 3 (Governor of Alaska, 2006-2009). Note that Texas has 24 million citizens, whereas Alaska has 650,000. Palin has no federal-level experience (except the campaign), whereas Bush was the child and campaign adviser to a President H.W. Bush (twice). Bush worked in the private sector for, what, 10 years? in the all-important oil industry, while Palin worked as a sportscaster for 3 years. In summary, Bush had far more experience, except that Palin might run D.C. pretty well.

On the other hand, I was pretty young when Bush was running, though; maybe there are more stylistic similarities that I didn't notice back then and, thus, am blind to.

That PalinAsPresident site is pretty hilarious.

[commanderkai]

coaster_dot wrote:

Kind of the topic a bit but I LOVED this site

http://www.palinaspresident.us/

I loled. The "Bridge" one was the best, I find, but the paper shredder and the various Maverick representations was awesome too

[coaster_dot]

commanderkai wrote:

coaster_dot wrote:

Kind of the topic a bit but I LOVED this site

http://www.palinaspresident.us/

I loled. The "Bridge" one was the best, I find, but the paper shredder and the various Maverick representations was awesome too

I like when you turn off the lights, and when you click on the phone.