The Good Authority: Sarah Palin Link Roundup

We know that just about everyone has been talking (and blogging) about Sarah Palin over the last few days, so we thought we'd just do a link and quote roundup and also highlight some of our many many many disagreements with Ms. Palin's positions on issues at the same time.

Reproductive Rights

~Palin reportedly has described herself as "as pro-life as a candidate can be". From her 2006 campaign for governor:

This summer, in a candidate survey by the anti- abortion Alaska Family Council, Palin answered "Yes" to the question: "Would you support legislation and/or a constitutional amendment to clarify that the state constitution does not contain a right to abortion?"

As to what she'd do as governor, Palin said, "I would side on the side of life if legislation were passed by the people's representatives in the state of Alaska, the Legislature, but ... there is no law that I could sign in office that could ever supersede the Supreme Court's ruling."

~Member of the group Feminists For Life.

~"The candidates were pressed on their stances on abortion and were even asked what they would do if their own daughters were raped and became pregnant.

Palin said she would support abortion only if the mother's life was in danger. When it came to her daughter, she said, 'I would choose life'."

~So, Palin supports abortions only to save the life of the mother. No exceptions for mother's health, rape, or incest. Katha Pollitt explains what that really means:

Here's the reality: Palin is a rightwing-Christian anti-choice extremist who opposes abortion for any reason whasoever, except to save the life of the girl or woman. No exception even for rape, incest, or the health of the woman. No exception for a ten-year-old, a woman carrying a fetus with no chance of life, a woman on the edge of suicide-- let alone the woman who is not ready to be a parent, who is escaping domestic violence, who is already stretched to the limit as a single mother. She wants to force over one million women and girls a year to give birth against their will and judgment. She wants to use the magnificent freedom the women's movement has won for her at tremendous cost and struggle--the movement that won her the right to run those marathons and run Alaska -- to take away the freedom of every other woman in the country.

~As part of her "pro-life" stance, Palin also opposes stem cell research.

Gay Rights

~"Palin said she's not out to judge anyone and has good friends who are gay, but that she supported the 1998 constitutional amendment [banning gay marriage]. Elected officials can't defy the court when it comes to how rights are applied, she said, but she would support a ballot question that would deny benefits to homosexual couples. "I believe that honoring the family structure is that important," Palin said. She said she doesn't know if people choose to be gay."

We'd love to meet some of these gay friends of hers. We tend not to be friends with people who don't believe that we deserve legal rights.

~In December of 2006, Palin vetoed a bill that would have blocked the state from giving benefits to partners of same sex couples. The bill was a response to a state Supreme Court ruling that denying benefits to same sex partners of state employees was a violation of Alaska's constitution. Some people have been pointing to this veto as an example of how she's 'not so bad' on gay rights. However, her office announced that she only vetoed the bill because the state attorney general advised her that it was unconstitutional and would be fought in court.

The Governor's veto does not signal any change or modification to her disagreement with the action and order by the Alaska Supreme Court. It is the Governor's intention to work with the legislature and to give the people of Alaska an opportunity to express their wishes and intentions whether these benefits should continue.

Right after vetoing that bill, Palin signed another one that would put the issue to an advisory vote on the ballot for the next elections.

Palin reiterated her opposition to benefits for same-sex partners, and hopes the public vote will persuade legislators to vote for a constitutional amendment barring them.

From Bilerico:

Cost of the referendum: $1.2 million
Cost of the benefits: $313,562
Stirring up homophobia in Alaska: Priceless

Creationism/Evolution

~Palin believes that Creationism should be taught in schools.

"Teach both. You know, don’t be afraid of information. Healthy debate is so important and it’s so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both. And, you know, I say this, too, as the daughter of a science teacher. Growing up with being so privileged and blessed to be given a lot of information on, on both sides of the subject -- creationism and evolution. It’s been a healthy foundation for me. But don’t be afraid of information and let kids debate both sides."

Sure, let's teach kids "both sides" - the side that is accepted by just about everyone in the scientific community and is supported by lots of evidence, and the side that...uh, isn't.

Global Warming/Climate Change
~Palin doesn't believe that the behavior of humans contributes to global warming.
"In an interview released by Newsmax magazine today, Palin said that while she recognized her state would be affected by climate change, that didn't mean humans are responsible.
'A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location,' she said. 'I'm not one though who would attribute it to being man-made'."

Censorship?

According to the Frontiersman newspaper, Wasilla’s library director, Mary Ellen Emmons, said that Palin asked her outright if she "could live with censorship of library books.” Palin later dismissed the conversation as a “rhetorical” exercise.

Hillary Clinton
~At a Newsweek forum on women in leadership last March, Palin was asked about the sexism that Hillary Clinton was dealing with in her presidential campaign.

Karen Breslau: When you look at the coverage, when you listen to the conversations, what do you see?

Palin: Well, you know, I think fair or unfair, the...and I do think it is a more concentrated criticism that Hillary gets on so many fronts. I think that's unfortunate, but fair or unfair, I think she does herself a disservice to even mention it, really. I mean, you gotta plow through that. You have to know what you're getting into, which...I say this will all due respect to Hillary Clinton and to her experience and to her passion for changing the status quo also. But when I hear a statement like that coming from a woman candidate with any kind of perceived whine about that excess criticism or maybe a shaper microscope put on her, I think "man, that doesn't do us any good" - women in politics, women in general wanting to progress this country. I don't think it bodes well for her, a statement like that, because again, fair or unfair, it is there. I think that's reality, and I think it's a given. I think people can just accept that she is going to be under that sharper microscope. So be it! I mean, work harder, prove yourself to an even greater degree that you're capable, that you're going to be the best candidate, and that of course is what she wants us to believe at this point. So it bothers me a little bit hearing her bring that attention to herself on that level.

So sexism does exist and Hillary is a victim of it, but if she mentions that fact she's really just whining. She should just work twice as hard to prove herself without ever acknowledging that it is, in fact, unfair. After all, it has never 'done us any good' as women to call out sexism. Just ignore it and it will go away!

Miscellaneous Bonus Fun Facts

~She has her very own scandal back home in Alaska.

~She supports Alaska's policy of allowing aerial hunting of wolves, despite a federal law that bans airborne hunting.

~"Palin has come into criticism recently for using her post as governor to influence a ballot initiative on clean water, which voters also rejected last week. "Proposition 4" would have prohibited or restricted new mining operations that could affect salmon in the state's streams and rivers, and was crafted in order to prevent the development of the Pebble Mine, which if approved would be the largest open-pit gold and copper mine in North America. Toxic runoff from the mine would threaten the Bristol Bay ecosystem, and put drinking water at risk. It is widely opposed by commercial fishers, native populations, and environmentalists in the state. While state regulatory agencies will get the final say on granting permits for the mine, the initiative would have made it considerably harder to move forward.
Just days before the vote on the ballot initiative, Palin stated publicly that she opposed it. "Let me take my governor's hat off just for a minute here and tell you, personally, Prop. 4, I vote no on that," she said. Groups that supported the measure argued that Palin's comments were highly unethical. They also filed a legal complaint against the state government for improperly weighing in against Prop. 4 on the state's website."

~"As for that V.P. talk all the time, I’ll tell you, I still can’t answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the V.P. does every day?"