In Part One, we learned that Sarah Palin has taken stands opposite John McCain on open government and sex education, feuds with members of her extended family, lies about little things as well as big things, has never expressed a conviction on a major issue, there is a concerted effort to quash an investigation in which she is accused of firing a political enemy, she attends a church where some pretty weird stuff gets preached, and as a true-blue Christianist effortlessly mixes religion and politics.
On to Part Deux:
Palin billed taxpayers for over 300 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a “per diem” allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business. She also charged the state for travel expenses to take her children on official out-of-town trips, while her husband has billed the state for expenses and a daily allowance for trips he makes on official business for his wife.
Palin went to extraordinary lengths to hide her most recent pregnancy.
Palin made no mistake about the kind of politics she played in her first run for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. Although elections are nonpartisan, she turned the race into a proxy war, tarring her opponent as "pro-abortion" and questioning his marital status. Oh, and she had the support of bar owners who wanted to stay open until 5 a.m. and not have to close earlier despite an epidemic of drunk-driving arrests and fatal accidents.
There were years of litigation and at least $1.3 million in extra costs for a sports complex in Wasilla, the biggest project that Palin undertook as mayor. This is because the town began building roads and installing utilities for the project before it had unchallenged title to the land.
Palin burnished her feminist credentials with rape victims.
What do the movies Wag the Dog and Man of the Year have in common with the Palin rollout?
An effort greased by the McCain campaign to unseat the Alaska state senator overseeing the ethics investigation into whether Palin abused her power when she dismissed the state’s public safety commissioner has failed.
Is Palin remotely qualified to be president? No. But that's precisely what is so interesting.
Palin is being touted as a special-needs advocate because of her son Trig, but her record is mixed at best.
Like White House Like Governor's Office: The Palin administration won't release about 1,100 emails, claiming these communications cover confidential policy matters although many of the subject lines refer to political foes, journalists and non-policy topics.
Palin is described as a news-media ingenue, but she's anything but.
Palin's grasp of the economy seems . . . uh, a little tenuous.
The outpouring of purple prose from the right-of-center punditocracy is amazing, but the usually down-to-earth Rick Moran has flown too near the sun in writing that Palin:
"[I]s like a virgin in the Sultan's harem . . . the corrupting influence of power has yet to perform its dastardly sorcery on her and turn the pure as the driven Alaskan snow child into the coldly calculating political computer that will probably be her legacy once history is done with her."
The media blow back against Palin’s incredible lightness, as well as the McCain campaign’s patent misrepresentation of her record, is underway and not all of the blow backers are members of the “liberal media elite.”
Finally, we direct you to the Palin Cone of Silence Watch, which is now in Day 11, and nine questions one pundit would ask the guv when and if she takes them.
Photo by Brian Wallace/Juneau Empire via The Associated Press
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