A Christian Liberal is NOT an oxymoron.

Posted by XT on September 2nd, 2008 in Campaign News

Let’s play pretendsies. Let’s say that you are the presumptive nominee of a political party and you will soon be choosing your vice-president. Do you go with this list of questions:

Campaign advisers at the convention in St. Paul, Minn., said Palin filled out a survey with 70 questions, including: Have you ever paid for sex? Have you been faithful in your marriage? Have you ever used or purchased drugs? Have you ever downloaded pornography?

That’s only four out of seventy, but aside from being slightly embarassing, John McCain can’t even give a negative answer to those questions (hint: it’s the second one that trips him up – that’s why he’s with Cindy).

And oddly – or maybe not – none of them address the memes that the McCain campaign has been hitting – that being Governor of Alaska provides some sort of foreign policy experience, that Palin is more experienced – politically, of course – than Barack Obama, that…well, that something besides her breasts is the real reason why Palin landed on the ticket.

Meanwhile, the list of things that someone should have probably disqualified Sarah Palin for VP over grows – and it isn’t the family stuff.

• GOP vice presidential pick Sarah Palin accepted at least $4,500 in campaign contributions in the same fundraising scheme at the center of a public corruption scandal that led to the indictment of Sen. Ted Stevens.

• Palin sought pork-barrel projects for her city and state, contrary to her reformist image.

• Her husband once belonged to a fringe political group in Alaska with some members supporting secession from the United States.

• A private attorney has been authorized to spend $95,000 [of the public's money] to defend her against accusations of abuse of power.

• She has acknowledged smoking marijuana in the past. “I can’t claim a Bill Clinton and say that I never inhaled,” she said.

• In her earlier career as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, Palin hired a lobbyist to help the tiny town secure at least 14 earmarks, worth $27 million between 2000-2003. McCain has touted Palin as a force in his long battle against earmarks.

• Palin opposed the U.S. government’s listing of a variety of animals as endangered, including the polar bear and the beluga whale, both of which inhabit areas also rich in oil and natural gas.

• Palin’s management style has come under scrutiny. When taking over as mayor of Wasilla, she asked top officials to submit resignation letters, resulting in several departures, including that of the police chief. The chief claimed it was because he supported her opponent in the mayor’s race.

• Under her leadership this year, Alaska asked for almost $300 per person in requests for pet projects from Stevens, one of McCain’s top adversaries. That’s more than any other state received, per person, from Congress.

• She was a director for a nonprofit group [currently indicted Senator Ted] Stevens set up to increase the number of Republican women in government. Stevens also campaigned for Palin in 2006 and appeared in a political advertisement for her.

But at least she never downloaded porn. Because, you know, we can’t have a Veep getting busy in the danger zone when she should be turning out the earmarks.

This is any kind of judgment? I’ll accept that McCain went on the recommendation of someone who works for him. But he should have given his personal okay on the questionaire. It should have asked about things like this. If it did, and no one red-flagged her all the way to the circular file; then they should be fired. If, on the other hand, they only vetted her for things that mattered – aka, things on the questionaire – and it didn’t cover this stuff…well, what’s that say about McCain?

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