I just got done watching Palin's entire speech and doing a bit more research on her and her story is rather compelling (if you honestly stop and give it fair look). While she is still a fairly young politician with only about a year and a half in the Governor's office she has accomplished a lot in that time, and she has routinely gone against the grain to accomplish it.
She hasn't just fought corruption in her state...she fought corruption within her own party (and won, which is the important bit). She challenged a wasteful incumbant Republican Governor (and won) going on to soaring approval ratings. She said no to the bridge to nowhere, she got rid of her state funded bodyguards to save the taxpayer's money, as Governor she ebayed the private Gubernatorial jet and put the money back into the coffers, she raised taxes on Oil companies, cut property taxes by 40% while she was mayor, she overruled the previous Governor's plan for a natural gas pipeline which took the grant away from a BP lead coalition, she took surpluss money from the high gas prices and gave it back to the people of Alaska, she slashed the state's budget by nearly $250 million, etc, etc...
I read this woman's resume and I see the type of actions that I associate with someone who fundamentally understands what wasteful spending is and has already proven that she has the character to not only say no to it but cut it off at the knees even if it means flying commercial or braving encounters with Alaskan voters without protection. Her record on all of those issues shines with a high gloss.
The one area she is lacking on is the same as Obama (ie foreign policy experience) and she will need to prove she can hold her own on that issue sooner rather than later.
PS - For the record I HATED the pick when I first heard it...I seriously thought it was a terrible reactionary pick to grab Hillary voters...but the more research I do the more I really really like the pick (even though I still disagree with her on quite a few issues) and I now think the Hillary angle was at best a secondary reason for making the choice...she brings so much more to the table than her sex, its almost insulting to suggest that was the only reason and I suspect those that make the claim know very little of her record.
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| To Each Man, Responsibility |
