Sarah's Speech Shines

It is ironic that a weekly 'news' magazine, Newsweek, just a matter of months ago was singing their praises of Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin. In 2007, the publication printed an article about two successful women governors - Arizona's Gov. Napoleano and Alaska's Gov. Palin. A rare bit of bi-partisan reporting was conducted by the magazine. Now that Governor Palin is the choice for the VP nominee of the Republican party, suddenly all that's out the window.

The feeding frenzy surrounding Governor Palin and her family has been a new low in what is today passed off as journalism. Between the written words printed and the spoken words uttered by the television people, a person would think that this choice was completely unprecedented. The first frenzy focused on the fact that she could not have been properly vetted. The fact that her husband (a union member, a commercial fisherman, a production mgr on the North Slope of Alaska, and a world champion snow machine racer) is not a registered Republican and neither is her oldest child, the 19 year old son named Track. He joined the military on Sept. 11, 2007 and will soon deploy to Iraq. His name comes from a sport his mother participated in during her high school years.

Then the news that her husband, Todd, to whom she refers to as "First Dude", had a DUI 22 years ago. And, she is under investigation for an alleged scandal named Troopergate. More on that another time. She is fully cooperating and says she didn't do anything inappropriate.

The most disturbing stories, though, have been generated on the far left web sites and the mainstream media followed their lead. The far left runs the Obama campaign and the Democrats in the Congress - the party leaders have a morning briefing with sites like the George Soros controlled MoveOn people and others - so they are clearly coordinating an effort to destroy Gov. Palin. She is seen as that big of a threat to their candidate.

First, it was that the precious 4 month old infant son of the Palins is not really the Governor's child but her oldest daughter's child. Bristol Palin is 17 years old and we learn she is 5 months pregnant. This was disclosed by her parents to clear the air of the stench caused by the 'progressives' on the left. Bristol and her fiance, Levi, will be married soon. He has now been brought to the convention to be a part of the public face of the family.

There is more coming and the American public has caught on to the methods and motives of the Democrats. It is backfiring and that is a heartening thing.

Was she properly vetted? Of course she was. She has been in contention for several months now. I wrote about her in July and said that her name was frequently mentioned as a possible VP choice. I recommended, as a matter of fact. She was vetted by the man tasked with leading the search, Arthur Culvahouse. He is a high powered D.C. lawyer and back in May an Alaskan blogger was providing a tip that Culvahouse was spotted in Juneau. He met with her then and her family. She provided all the reams of paperwork needed for the vetting process. She secretly went to meet with Senator McCain and Culvahouse not long after that. Since then, she has been in weekly contact with the campaign and Culvahouse. McCain was told by her of her daughter's pregnancy and her husband's long ago DUI. They knew about the investigation into the alleged Troopergate.

The interesting thing is that none of this matters. She has a remarkable record in public office. She has 13 years in elected public service. She has been a lightening rod for reform and, yes, change in Alaska. Within the Republican party in Alaska, too. She is a bi-partisan Governor when it comes to weeding out corruption. She has Democrats and Independents that she appointed to serve with her. Most importantly, she has what none of the three men running have - executive experience.

There is a reason that traditionally it is very difficult for a U.S. Senator to become President. In the recent past, the job has gone to state Governors. The reason is the difference in governing and legislating is the difference in apples and oranges.

The mainstream media, embarrassing themselves on a daily basis for being so far into the tank for Obama, was only too happy to make the story all about a 17 year old and her pregnancy. It is as though a teenager has never been pregnant before. She's been called trailer trash by those who certainly would know of which they speak. The main sticking point for them, I think, is that her parents are stongly together in their support of her. No abortion. No adoption. She is marrying the father and they will go on from there. Her fiance is called, on one web site, a high school drop out that plays hockey. If it was true, what business is that to the writer? It's not true, though. He's homeschooled. And, I think the verdict was long ago in that the people that are home schooled are usually far better educated than those in traditional schools.

And, as Rudy Giuliani so eloquently said during his speech before the convention tonight - how dare they treat Gov. Palin like this. How dare they.

Governor Palin was accused of 'causing' her infants son's Down Syndrome. True, older mothers take that risk, but the ultrasound revealed this as a distinct possibility and she and Todd chose to continue the pregnancy. She told the convention that the parents of special needs children would have an advocate in the White House. Did you know Cindy McCain has a masters degree in Special Ed teaching?

Soledad O'Brien, completely in the tank for Obama along with her co-workers at CNN, asked if the fact that reports are that Palin didn't have a passport before 2007 when she took her trips to Kuwait and Germany are true, did that matter? Did it matter if she wasn't "well traveled"?

NBC's David Gregory referred to Hillary's attacks on McCain as 'rousing' and 'playful' yet called Fred Thompson's speech last night a 'hard-edged attack on Senator Obama." CBS's Maggie Rodriguez stated "I think they're fair questions" when Giuliani challenged her on asking if a vice president can be in office and a mom at the same time. All of these are clearly biased reporters. None of this would happen with a man. Do reporters ask if the two Obama girls will be properly taken care of by their parents - both of whom work outside the home? Joe Biden loves to tell the stories of the time in his life after his first wife and a child died in an auto crash, that he would go back and forth on the train to Washington and home to Delaware to raise his son. Did anyone ask him if that was the job he should have?

The double standard between Democrats and Republicans, men and women, has been played out in this very long and drawn out campaign season. When reporters first learned of the Edwards extra martial affair and the baby involved, it was kept quiet for months, even as he ran for the highest office in the land. Not a peep until a supermarket tabloid was about to break the story.

So, it's ok to not report on a story concerning adult politicians but run like fools on a story that is completely fabricated slime about the 17 year old daughter of the potential future VP. Then that forces a completely private family matter out into the open and we go on from there.

The treatment of Britol Palin is the most heinous. The Houston Chronicle today has a large picture of Bristol on the front of the lifestyle section along with Jamie Lynn Spears and a scene from the movie "Juno". The motive is clear. The exploitation of the girl in this article is what spurred on this post. Not a single worthwhile sentence was printed in the whole article. It was written under the pretext that this pregnancy is a 'teachable moment'. No new suggestions to parents or teens were provided. That part of the article was reduced to a few sentences.

I didn't intend to do this post until that page was in front of my face this morning. I would challenge anyone who thinks they are so much above this kind of issue arising in their own family or someone in their close social circle, to think long and hard about that assumption. The facts are otherwise.

Tonight Governor Sarah Palin was a huge hit. She has energized the Republican party as it has not been in a very long time. All the negative hits in the press? It has served to solidify her support. And the support of non-Republicans, which is crucial for a win in November.

So, I suppose every cloud has a silver lining.