Palin in Comparison

By Amy Yensi-

Republican supporters began touting John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate almost immediately following the shocking announcement of the ticket last Friday. McCain saw a surge in his campaign contributions; blogs were inundated by shows of support by GOPers, and conservative talking heads acclaimed her reputation as a ‘reformer’ who stood up to the corruption and earmark spending of members within her own party—including the now infamous “Bridge to Nowhere.”

Democrats however, were not so excited with McCain’s choice, and accused him of clearly pandering to women—Hillary Clinton supporters, especially. Many of these women immediately began denouncing the choice on web forums, citing that they were insulted by the choice. To many of the women who supported Clinton, it was as if the McCain campaign was saying that they would support any woman because they previously supported Hillary.

The McCain campaign seemingly overlooked one key factor, that Clinton supporters may have been supporting a woman, but it was mostly because it was THAT woman. To Clinton supporters, even without much knowledge of who Sarah Palin is, Palin would never be able to fill their candidate’s shoes.

Nonetheless, Republicans were hopeful that McCain’s pick would shake up the electoral race; McCain aimed to divert attention from Obama’s widely watched and praised acceptance speech.
72 hours after picking Palin, McCain sure enough snatched the spotlight from Obama, but not for the reasons he had hoped.

The fact that Palin is opposed to everything Clinton stands for is the least of McCain’s problems. For the last three days, Americans have been bombarded with scandal after scandal surrounding the VP hopeful. We were just introduced to her, and we’ve already learned that her opposition to the “Bridge to Nowhere” is not as clear-cut as she presented it; we've learned that she is under investigation for abuse of power in what has become known as “Troopergate,” it is also being said that she was a member of the Alaska Independence Party, which wants secession (withdrawal from the United States) for Alaska.

All of these issues may be troublesome to McCain and Palin, however the bombshell that is being discussed more than any of these is that Palin’s daughter, Bristol Palin is 17 years old, unwed, and pregnant. The GOP critics, not surprisingly, wasted no time in mocking the so called “family values” party as hypocritical, and used Palin’s daughter as a chief example for why her mother’s opposition to sex education and birth control is problematic. To them, in the real world, kids may or may not abstain from sex, so educating them on the pitfalls of unprotected sex is desperately needed. Palin’s daughter has momentarily at least, become the poster child for the double-edged sword that is the abstinence only argument.

Following the announcement, many Republicans have been trying their best to spin this “negative into a positive” by stating that the Palin’s family decision to keep both Trig (Sarah Palin’s child with Down Syndrome) and Bristol’s unborn child is proof that they are anti-abortion to the core. It is also proof that for all the talk that Hillary Clinton is “divisive” and has many “skeletons in her closet,” the Palins, for such novices on the national stage, are giving the Clintons a run for their money.