Mad, Mad McPalin

Mad John is Beyond the Palin DromeWasilla high school teammates called her “Sarah Barracuda” because of her fierce competitiveness, a fitting nom de guerre as Rageboy wishes for the McCain-Palin production of Mad John, Beyond Palin Drome.

A colleague from Alaska says, “Sarah is an unorthodox political original, I’ll give her that. [Try any]…crap with her, she’ll find a way to knock them back on their asses. I’ve been knocked on my ass a few times by her, and I can vouch for that.”

The most pro-gun candidate in the country, here are some of Barracuda Palin’s “thought processes” on issues of national relevance:

“I am a lifetime member of the NRA, I support our Constitutional right to bear arms and am a proponent of gun safety programs for Alaska’s youth…. I have always strongly supported the personal use of fish and game by Alaskans. I grew up hunting and fishing in Alaska, and I am proud to raise my children with this same uniquely Alaskan heritage. … Anti-hunting groups who oppose hunting and fishing rights will be the winners if we allow them to pit us against ourselves…. As an Alaskan with strong beliefs on this issue, I am confident in my ability to build consensus among diverse user groups and reconcile the many competing interests….”

“I am pro-life and I believe that marriage should only be between and man and a woman.”

May McPalin“As Mayor and CEO of the booming city of Wasilla, my team invited investment and encouraged business growth by eliminating small business inventory taxes, eliminated personal property taxes, reduced real property tax mill levies every year I was in office, reduced fees, and built the infrastructure our businesses needed to grow and prosper.”

“I respect our military personnel and understand the importance of Alaska’s National Guard. As I watched our military men and women being deployed I recognized how important it is for their families to know how much Alaska and America support them.”

“I support flexibility in government regulations that allow competition in health care that is needed, and is proven to be good for the consumer, which will drive down health care costs and reduce the need for government subsidies. I also support patients in their rightful demands to have access to full medical billing information.”

I very much doubt her health policy statements are more than repeating the RNC plank. Whether “competition in health care” is “proven to be good for the consumer” is a major social issue requiring the most sophisticated policy planning of our time.

Sarah Palin is in the midst of a global-scale battle between gold and salmon in Southwest Alaska. The Pebble Mine is a proposal to build one of the largest gold and copper mines in the world, and her efforts to loosen oversight of mine pollution rules reveal a dedicated campaign to invigorate Alaska’s resource industries while diluting the influence of both scientists and activists.

“I believe in protecting Alaska’s environment through fair enforcement of our environmental laws.”

But she was found to have overstepped while opposing Alaska’s Clean Water Initiative designed to protect Bristol Bay from mining – the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery.

Capitalizing raw materials, particularly ANWR oil, offshore drilling, pipelines, forestry, mega-mines and power plants are major new initiatives. Palin’s stance on heavy industry “is totally pro-development”.

Often not mentioning intense capital formation within Alaska’s oilfields or for new pipelines, Palin looks to walk a fine edge saying, “Having a clean record on environmental regulation is critical to getting ANWR open and maintaining our fisheries, mining, timber, and tourism industries.”

“Perhaps it was God who put these two great resources right next to each other,” said the chief executive of a foreign consortium that wants to mine the copper and gold deposit. “Just to see what people would do with them.”

“I am a conservative Republican, a firm believer in free market capitalism. A free market system allows all parties to compete, which ensures the best and most competitive project emerges, and ensures a fair, democratic process.”

Among several critics of her jingoist ‘free market’ plank, the Native community in Alaska is first to respond to the effects of price and service shortfall and her reliance on the magic of the free market. [link]

Palin meets with Alaska Native leadersIn the same company, Palin came across as flat, which is mildly surprising, since her husband is part Yupik and she repeatedly invoked her husband’s grandmother, Lena Andree, a former Bristol Bay Native Corp. Elder of the Year.

Palin’s talk about the Alaska Constitution didn’t resonate with a Native crowd, perhaps because of the 55 delegates who drafted it, in 1955, only one was an Alaska Native, at a time when Alaska Natives composed 30 to 40 percent of the population.

Palin’s message about getting government out of the way so that communities could choose their own paths may have been a miscalculation.

Alaska Natives don’t necessarily see that they have influence in an unfettered marketplace, said Carl Shepro, an Alaskan political science professor. “What they need is an equitable distribution of goods and services, and that’s not going to happen in bush Alaska if you leave it up to the marketplace.


Note: The campaign logo above was designed in May 2008.

Prayer Note: For a system that “allows all parties to compete” shall this please one day become a system, and a system that includes all its parts, not without salmon, not with poverty, not capped only by wealth.

Note: I double checked. The quote does state that Sarah Palin supports “the personal us
e of fish and game”, but we must presume only if “between a man and a woman”.