Sarah Palin has been selected by John McBushCain to be, quite possibly, the second most powerful person in the world.
Now everyone across the nation is saying to themselves: “Who is Sarah Palin?”
Perhaps the second question running around is “Why is she fit to be the next Vice President of the United States of America?”
Well folks, it doesn’t really seem that she is. At least not in the opinion of this blogger.
Here are 6 Good Reasons Why America Does Not Need Sarah Palin as Vice President:
6. No experience with how to rebuild a nation after war.
I would like my Presidential candidates to have some idea of what it is to be in combat, but I would like even more for my candidates to have experience or education in rebuilding a country after a war; whether it be ours or theirs. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism with a minor in politics. No combat experience. No education on the subject. The closest she comes to having experience with war is having her son enlisted. Her son, according to some, is scheduled to be deployed in September 2008. Now isn’t that just handy for the campaign of a war President?
Oh wait, she poses for pictures with injured soldiers. I forgot she’s got experience with posing for pictures:
Which brings me to my next point…
5. Winning second place in the beauty contest means you get to collect 10 dollars.
I don’t really think that it’s important that the Vice President of our United States won a beauty contest, whether it be Miss Alaska or Miss Teen USA. In fact, I think it detracts from how other countries view us. We go from having an idiot in the White House as President to an old war monger and a beauty pageant loser? Really? I think it’s possible that people could lose even more respect for those positions.
4. She’s all about oil.
Sure, it’s oil in Alaska. But the last thing that this country needs is another leader that has big oil signing their paychecks. Don’t believe me? Here’s her own words:
““We want it to happen,” she said, “Alaskans want to open up the lands for that development, for the contributions that are potential here for the rest of the US.” Palin went on to note that “it’s really a pathetic situation
“And I have to ask lawmakers in Washington, DC, who have prohibited this drilling in ANWR if they’re doing all they can to secure the United States. When you consider, too, the geology that we’re talking about here, and the physical space that’s even needed to drill now, about a 2,000 acre plot, because of directional drilling and new technology, allowing such a small footprint to even be placed upon the tundra up north, it’s about 2,000 acres, which is smaller than the size of LAX and other big-city airports, that we would need to drill…”"
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about removing our reliance on foreign oil, but again: we do not need another President with ties to big oil companies. I, for one, am sick of doubting the true intentions of my President (or Vice President) with every step they take.
Besides, after she gets 3 square miles of land to drill for oil, how big is the next chunk of land she asks for going to be?
But she doesn’t just want to drill for oil in Alaska:
“Gov. Palin has also worked with the legislature to encourage these three big oil companies [BP, ExxonMobil, and ConocoPhillips] — and others who are not already so heavily invested in Alaska — to compete in developing a natural gas pipeline that will bring cheaper and more reliable energy to Alaska’s own consumers and eventually permit cheap export of natural gas to the Lower 48 states.” (source)
Natural gas? Cool! I’m all for it! But assisting gas companies with anything is not something we should be focusing on right now. I know, I know. Those oil companies are really going through some tough times right now aren’t they?
3. She seems to have her hands full enough already.
Sarah Palin has 5 kids. They are 7, 13, 17, 18 and oh yea, one around 4 months. She had a baby in April that has Down syndrome. I don’t think that anyone, man or woman, young or old, has the capacity to raise a newly born child with Down syndrome, and other kids going through school (or Iraq) AND competently help run the United States of America as it is coming out of one of the most destructive Presidencies in its history. Not her, or anyone else. Please don’t take this as me saying that those with families can’t raise their kids and be extraordinarily successful, because I don’t think that’s true. I’m just saying that Vice President of the United States of America, at this point in history, is a position that requires the utmost dedication, focus, patiences and time; 4 qualities not usually found in excess for a new mother or father, let alone a new mother or father with 4 other kids already there.
I looked around to try and find some good quotes about her being a parent and I was a bit shocked. Just when you thought we couldn’t get more “quotable” candidates in the office (for saying stupid things unfortunately) for the USA, check out this gem:
“The Palins named their first child, a boy, Track, after the track and field season in which he was born. Sarah’s father jokingly asked what they would have named their son if he had been born during the basketball season. Without hesitating Sarah answered “Hoop.”"
Or how about this one when it comes to her being a mother:
“It’s said the only difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull is lipstick,” she wrote. “So, with lipstick on, the gloves come off in answering administration accusations.”
2. She posed for Vogue magazine.
No, I’m not referring to the Photoshopped image that is floating around the internet. I mean she posed for Vogue magazine. Here’s what she said about the shoot:
“”At first they had me in a bunch of furs,” she said. “Yeah, I have furs on my wall, but I don’t wear furs. I had to show them my bunny boots and my North Face clothing.”"
She just had to show them her bunny boots.
How can we expect countries like North Korea, China, Japan, India, Afghanistan, Iran, etc. to show us any respect on the global front if they are seeing the one of the leaders of our country plastered on a beauty magazine?
1. Just 5 months ago, she could not even get her arms around or contemplate being selected for Vice President.
From her own words in March of this year (just 5 months ago) on being selected for the Vice Presidential position:
“I’ll tell you, I think that the possibility of this ever happening is so far out there, that it’s tough to get my arms around and even contemplate.”
Now suddenly she is accepting the position for nomination? How about someone who was striving for the position for, I don’t know, sometime within the past year? Could they really not find a single person who wanted to be Vice President bad enough to push to be on the ticket?
Nope. Instead they found a 44 year old beauty pageant loser with 5 kids, one of them being in the military (of course), with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in politics who used to be a television reporter, that now has a few years experience in politics for the state of Alaska, for the next Vice President of the United States of America.
Not only that, but she has already disregarded the Vice Presidential position in government. She was caught asking a reporter to tell her:
“…what is it exactly that the VP does every day? I’m used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration.”
Apparently she is of the opinion that the Vice President does not work real hard in administration.
When the reporter challenges her and says that the Vice Presidential position is a tough one she responds: “Well this is a pretty cool job here too though as governor of Alaska.” Check it out for yourself:
Do you really want a Vice President, who was not ready for the position 5 months ago, to take on the position and think that it is a “pretty cool job?”
At this point: it doesn’t surprise me that the Republican party could make such a stupid decision.
Those are just 6 reasons. But they are reasons enough for me. Please do not vote for John McCain for President in 2008. If McCain wasn’t bad enough, his pick for VP certainly isn’t even close to an ideal candidate either.