More Palin Photos

Megan McCain has a bunch more "insider" pictures on her website McCainBlogette, but here are a few teasers.

Set Todd Palin free

Hopefully, the McCain/Palin campaign releases Todd Palin from campaign stumping duties soon. He just isn't built for it. The guy is obviously charming, but it's equally obvious the guy belongs back in Alaska in a pair of jeans. Personally, I think it looks a little ackward for Governor Palin to have him hanging around in the background of all these media stops.

Sarah Palins Alaskan Style Feminism

As the father of four daughters, the sexism against Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin disgusts me. A majority of it comes from the main stream media, but there is a good chunk of it coming from the Obama campaign and disappointingly, the good old boy network of the Republican party.

To understand how Sarah Palin looks at things, please go read this Times interview with her.

Here is what she had to say on being a woman in politics.

I've totally ignored the issues that have potentially been affecting me when it comes to gender because I was raised in a family where, you know, gender wasn't going to be an issue. The girls did what the boys did. Apparently in Alaska that's quite commonplace. You're out there hunting and fishing. My parents were coaches, so I was involved in sports all my life. So I knew that as woman I could do whatever the men were doing. Also that's just part of Alaskan life.

I sincerely hope that I can instill the same sort of attitude in my Alaskan raised daughters.

Sarah Palin's Alaska

I have only lived in Alaska for one year, but I wanted to share with you my impression of Alaskans so that you might have a better idea of what sort of environment Sarah Palin comes from, and what sort of person she is.

Alaskans are incredibly independent. This is the sort of place that attracts people looking to earn their fortune the old fashioned way, with their hands and their wits. It is the sort of place where success isn't automatically assumed to happen to only those with a college degree, but that success happens due to a good old fashioned work ethic and a little bit of miners luck. While they definitely lean towards the conservative side, there is a strong libertarian way of looking at things. Alaska is full of mavericks and people here have a live and let live sort of attitude.

Alaskans are conservative, but in a different sort of way than southerners. While there are plenty of Churches, religion here is not worn on a persons sleeve, but is demonstrated in the way people live their lives and treat other people. People here are just as likely to spend Sundays worshiping in nature as they are in a building, especially during fishing season in June - August.

One of the things that shocked me and my wife when we first moved here from South Carolina, is how friendly people were, even at typically bureaucratic places like the passport office or the DMV. And when I say friendly, I don't mean the sort of "good manners" type of friendly, I mean in a sincerely, eager to welcome you to Alaska, friendly.

Outdoorsy; Alaskans are very outdoorsy. When you live in a state as beautiful as Alaska, it is a given that people would enjoy the outdoors, but what really surprised me was how much even the winter doesn't slow them down. Their hardiness is bred in elementary school. In my kids elementary school, they have outdoor recess unless it gets down to something like -10 to -20 degrees F. In most places in the lower 48, any temperature 5 or more degrees below zero is enough to shut down the school. My kids spend more time playing outside in the middle of winter that they did during the spring, fall, and summer of South Carolina put together.

Now what does this mean for Alaska. Well I think the first thing to note is that many politicians are going to look at Sarah with an initial condescending attitude. Her looks, camouflage a no nonsense, take no prisoners, lets get down to business sort of attitude. What many Republicans have yet to realize is John McCain has probably single handily started the reform and modernization of the Republican party by choosing her as his running mate. Make no mistake, that she is loyal to a tee, and will stick with and by John McCain unwaveringly, but she will have very short thrift for the "good old boy" network that exists in today's Republican party.

She will be the antithesis of Barack Obama's elitism and arrogance. As you have may already noted, she is a social conservative based on her deeply held religious convictions, but unlike many Christians out there, her beliefs are tempered by a sense of doing right and respecting others point of view. This is a woman that resigned from a pretty cushy job as Palin Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, because a member of her own party of legal and ethics violations. Then after defeating a corrupt governor, she swept into the old boy system of Alaska politics and completely turned it on its ear.

Finally, I want to say something about her experience. Let's be real here, no one has the entire breadth of hands on experience to deal with the complexity of the job of the American Presidency. What we need in the office is someone who has executive experience to take in information and to quickly make an executive decision based on sound advice and the information available at hand.

I ask you this. In the next couple of days, carefully watch her, watch the way she handles herself. Metaphorically look her in the eyes, and then... then do the same with Joe Biden and Barack Obama. I also want you to listen to her on the issues. If you truly don't think she has what it takes to be President or don't agree with her, then don't vote for her, but I think that you are going to realize that she is one of the few politicians out there that is truly sincere and is someone you will trust to lead this country.

Bears are behind Sarah Palins stance on guns

Election: Palin's Stance on Guns Newsweek Politics: Conventions Newsweek.com

Like many Alaskans, Gov. Sarah Palin is a lifelong hunter and strong proponent of Second Amendment rights. A longtime member of the National Rifle Association, she told USA Today when she was running for governor as a Republican in 2006 that "We hunt as much as we can, and I'm proud to say our freezer is full of wild game we harvested here in Alaska." Her own parents had just returned from hunting caribou when they learned that she had been tapped as Sen. John McCain's running mate.

Note to all you liberals out there without a sense of humor or the common sense to recognize satire when you read it, the following statements are not to be taken seriously. We now continue our regularly scheduled blogging.

Sarah Palin's stance of guns is entirely reasonable considering the rash of Bear Attacks we have had in Alaska recently.

Alaska Govenor Sarah Palin gallery: Alaska Photo Galleries | adn.com

Alaska Govenor Sarah Palin gallery: Alaska Photo Galleries adn.com

Just in case you haven't been able to find a decent collection of photos anywhere else on the web, check out the Anchorage Daily News photo gallery.

Here is a teaser photo for you: (She is #22)

After she trashes Joe Biden in the debates, she is going to school Barack Obama on the court.

If you wanted that Sarah Palin biography, you are going to have to wait...

Epicenter Scores with Palin Bio - 8/29/2008 9:41:00 AM - Publishers Weekly

Epicenter went through its 7,000-copy first printing in less than a month, and then reprinted 3,000 more copies. "Those will be gone today," Sturgis said. The press is working with print-on-demand printer Lightning Source to meet the initial demand and hopes to start shipping copies next week; it is also going to print offset copies in September. "Right now I can’t get to all my phone messages," said Sturgis. "I walked in the door this morning and the first call was from Barnes & Noble; they wanted 15,000 copies. I’ve got an e-mail queue here that’s longer than I can see."

Don't worry, I can sum up her story for you.

She entered politics. People underestimated her. She kicked their ass.

Now, head over to Amazon or Barnes and Noble and order a copy to get the rest of the details.

Sarah Palin Biography - Sarah was a bookworm

There is a biography out on Sarah Palin by Kaylene Johnson called Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment Upside Down available from Epicenter Press Inc.

You can read the first chapter for free [pdf] at least for now.

Here is something that might surprise you:

Sarah had two childhood traits that her family says played trajectory roles in her life. From the time she was in elementary school, she consumed newspapers with a passion. “She read the paper from the very top left hand corner to the bottom right corner to the very last page,” said Molly. “She didn’t want to miss a word. She didn’t just read it—she knew every word she
had read and analyzed it.”

Sarah preferred nonfiction to the Nancy Drew books that her classmates were reading. In junior high school, Heather—a year older in school—often enlisted Sarah’s help with book reports. “She was such a bookworm. Whenever I was assigned to read a book, she’d already read it,” Heather said. Sarah’s thirst for knowledge was nurtured in a household that emphasized the importance of education. There was never any question that all the Heath kids would go to college. With her love for newspapers and current events, Sarah majored in journalism and minored in political science. Her brother, like their father, became a teacher. Heather works for an advertising firm. Molly is a dental hygienist.

Sarah’s other trait is what her father calls an unbending, unapologetic streak of stubbornness.

Campaign U.: Sarah Palin on Higher Education - Chronicle.com

Campaign U.: Sarah Palin on Higher Education - Chronicle.com:

Ms. Palin, who is the first woman and youngest person to have been elected governor of Alaska, has not made higher education an especially prominent priority of her administration. But the state’s government—which is enjoying an economic boom, thanks to rising oil and natural-gas prices—has recently been treating the University of Alaska system well, at least in terms of its budget.