Mark My Words - commentary on news, politics, religion, philosophy, science and social issues

Seems that's the complaint about Sarah Palin. It might surprise some people, but I agree.

Putting aside the juveniles masquerading as adults, who say she has a *insert negative term* look, some seem to think all that Sarah Palin has is a nice smile and general attractiveness and nothing else. A rather silly take considering her impressive record as Governor, regulator and even Mayor. A short piece here breaks out three of her major accomplishments.

Excerpt:

It's no accident that Gov. Palin remains immensely popular in her home state, notwithstanding the widespread derision of the national elites. Her actual accomplishments in office are vastly disproportionate to her time spent in office, but her constituents value the results she's gotten.

And isn't that what we want? Should we want politicians who have been in office a long time without getting anything done? Should we want the kind of "wisdom" shown by Slow Joe Biden, who opposed the nominations of both Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito, and who proposed that we subdivide Iraq into three parts (each to be dominated by a different foreign interest)? Should we prefer someone like Barack Obama in the top job as POTUS, even though he has no longer tenure than Gov. Palin and conspicuously fewer actual accomplishments?

Some may reply that she still isn't qualified to be president, with the unstated premise that McCain is old, she's one heart beat away *wink* *wink*. What will someone as inexperienced as Palin do if she should, heaven forbid, become President early in a McCain first term? I wish I could remember where I saw the following as it’s a reply that ends such silly questions quite well. All Sarah Palin has to do is pick an experienced Vice President like Barack Obama did. If someone wants to then claim Obama still has more experience because he's been campaigning longer, well that doesn't work out all that well for him either, as covered here. It's also rather unwise to hold up Obama's experience as a campaigner when it's been pointed out that's one of the few things he seems to do well. As for actual performance, let’s not forget that in a Democrat favored election cycle, with turmoil in the economy and an obvious partner in the mainstream media, Barack Obama has led his campaign to still only lead by single digits nationally.

Which brings us to tonight's debate. Will Biden utterly fail as some think or hope? Will Sarah Palin give another sliver of opportunity for the partisans to continue their attacks? Since she will no doubt continue to exist the answer is clearly yes. In my view, people on both sides shouldn't be so confident their side will win. It's not impossible that someone can have a bad night while the other has a great night, no matter how out of character that may be. As is normal for such an event, both sides, the McCain campaign and the Obama/mainstream media campaign, are playing the expectations game. Lower it for their candidate, raise it for the other and all that strategery type stuff is part of the political theater this has become. And yes, I'll be watching because of course I base my vote not on whether I agree with someone's record or stance on the issues, but on whether or not they have a good day with their presentation skills and have learned to bs like a seasoned politician.

So yes, I do agree that Sarah Palin has a style over substance problem. That problem being too many people are focusing on her style, rather than on her impressive record which includes fighting her own party to clean out corruption. Put another way, if you disagree with Sarah Palin on the issues, will that change if she completely destroys Joe Biden tonight? Why should it be different if Sarah Palin loses a "debate" and yet you agree with her on more of the issues?

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Filed under: Politics – Palin

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