The Presidental Issue - Part 1

Today, the Swanson Blog is bringing you the first of a two part series on the Presidental Showdown that is currently going on. Without a doubt, this is a historic election. What was supposed to be Hillary against Rudy turned into Barack verus John. This Fall, Americans will have to choose between two men, one who will be the first President of African decsent or the oldest elected President (as well as having the first female Vice President).

This Spring, we were treated to two showdowns, one of which became an epic as the first major female canidate went head to head against the first major canidate who wasn't White. Taking advantage of a large segment of the Democratic Party who were unconfortable with a Clinton restoration (as well as Hillary's vote for the Iraq War), Barack Obama challenged the might of Bill and Hillary Clinton. As what should had been a short term show down, the Democratic Primary season dragged on into the Spring. The resutlt of this is the Democrats split into warring factions, White Collar Liberals against Blue Collar Moderates; men against women; college grads against non college grads, young against old; rich against poor; and (unfortuately) White against Black. As the final primaries ended, and Barack was the clear (but by a razor thin majority) winner, the Democratic Party leadership was quick to start the healing process.



As the Democrats were tearing themselves to pieces, the Republicans had their own problem, John McCain. John McCain is, to be blunt, the default canidate. When the Republican leadership took a look at the field of canidates they really didn't like what they saw. Rudy: Hero of 9-11, fighter of crime, but a social liberal who moved in with a homosexual couple after his second wife threw him out for repeatedly cheating on her, and even his own children hated him. Mitt: The darling of the Far Right but everyone else was turned off by the fact that he was a very recent convert to the Far Right, and as governor, he ran Massachusetts as a centrist (by Massachusetts standards). Mike: Mike Huckabee came out of nowhere because the Christian Right never really went for Mitt's charm (plus, they wern't confortable with Mitt's Morminism). But Mike had a problem, as Governor of Arkansas, he actaully raised taxes and spent quite heavily (by Republican standards) on helping poor people. Plus, Mike was a Southern Baptist Minister, which isn't a good thing with the seventy percent of Americans sick of the shenagians of the Christian Right. Fred: Fred was supposed to be the Second Comming of Ronald Regan, but Fred proved to be a dud. So then there was John: John still had the respect of Indpendents, and many within the Party remembered the Maverick John from the Clinton years, the Maverick who fought his own Party, the Maverick who forced Campaign Finance Reform down the throat of the Republican Party, the Maverick who worked well with some of the most liberal Democrats in the Senate. Of course, McCain had voted with Bush 90 percent of the time, so they knew they had a loyalist.

But the Far Right and the Christian Right (FYI: there's alot of overlap between these groups) were not confortable. McCain never butt-kissed the Right Wing Windbags like Mitt did. John also was quiet about his religious views, which the Christian right didn't like at all. Though John and these two groups officially made their peace as Barack verus Hillary was reaching its peak, many within these two groups were still unconfortable with John McCain.

However, it appears the healing process has happened, and unity is occuring in both parties. Obama's pick of Delaware Senator Joe Biden was seen as good choice due to Biden's blue collar roots and his foreign policy experience. The Democratic National Convention went flawlessly, going above and beyond expectations, perhaps being the best political convention ever. The Clintons threw their full weight behind Obama, even saying Biden was a excellent VP choice. I have to admitt I was impressed big time by Hillary's speach and by the fact it was she who stoped the roll call vote and called for Obama to be declared the nominee by universial acclumation. I will admitt that I have a new respect for Hillary by being gracius in defeat and calling her supporters to vote for Obama and reminding them why they should. Bill's speach was also impressive, and for once we got to see the old Bill Clinton, the Bill Clinton of the 1990's who could whip up a crowd. Finally there was Barack's speach. Barack's speach was flawless and it brought down the house. Barack did something that neither John Kerry nor Al Gore did: grow a spine and challenge the Republicans, even bringing up social issues that most Democrats dare not bring up. AND he responded to his critics who said his campaign was nothing but fluff: he spelt out what his administration would do. The Democrats came out of the convention swinging.

Now it appears John McCain has also brought unity to the Republicans through his choice of Sarah Palin as VP

WHO IN THE WORLD IS SARAH PALIN???????

I have to admit that I never heard of Sarah Palin until she was announced as McCain's VP pick. At first I thought (and I'm sure most people thought the same) that McCain's choice was going after Hillary supporters. But as I started reseraching about her, it turns out that this woman is a full blown member of the Far Right. Which is of course why the Republican base has rallied around her and (finally) the McCain campaign.

Sarah Palin has been Governor of Alaska since 2006. Before that, Palin was mayor of Wasilla, a town with about 7,000 people, for six years. Palin ran for govenor on an ethics reform platform, and swept the Republican primary, and won the general election easily in this Republican state. Palin ran as an ethics reformer because in the past decade, Alaska has become the most corrupt state in the union. Alaska is home to Senator Ted Stevens, the poster boy of wastefull spending (such as the bridges to Nowhere that we're now learning Palin actaully supported), and now under indictment under corruption charges. In the past few years, a very large number of Alaskian officals (I've personally have counted over 20) have been indicted or under investigation for corruption, many for taking bribes from oil companies. Some of them even had polo shirts made with CBC insribed on them, CBC being short for "Corrupt Bastards Club". Oh yes, and they're all Republicans. With so many Republicans being caught with dirty hands, the unknown and clean Palin was able to sweep the primaries, and has been an ethics reformer in office. Due to her clean house approach to dealing with corruption, Palin has close to 80 percent approval ratings in Alaska (though some of her harshest critics are fellow Repubicans).

Now to Palin's political views. Like I said before, this woman is a full blown member of the Far Right. On reproduction rights she is totally in the "anti choice" camp. A Pentacostal, she doesn't think highly of homosexuals, and believes its ok to teach religion in public schools. As Governor, Palin has supported abstenace only sex education. Palin is also a big time hunter, with moose being her favorite thing to shoot (appearently she also loves moose burgers) and is a proud member of the NRA. Her husband has worked for the oil companies in the past (starting off as a regular worker), and currently between the 2 of them they have alot of connections to the oil and natural gas industries. As you should expect, Palin is for drilling for oil anywhere (which is actually a popular position in Alaska). A mother of 5, her children are named - are ready for this - Track (m), Bristol (f), Willow (f), Piper (f), and Trig (m). Here is a picture of Palin, her husband Todd, and her 3 daughters:

However, in the few days since Palin being named to McCain's ticket, 5 scandals have emerged. The first is the Wooten scandal. Recently, Palin's sister was going through a messy divorce from her husband, Alaska State Trooper Mike Wooten. Apparently Palin put pressure on Alaska's Public Saftey Commissioner, Walter Monegan, to fire Wooten as revenge for dragging her sister through the mud during the divorce. Palin has now admitted to actaully calling Monegan and other state officials to talk about the situation, but still state that it wasn't to force him to fire Wooten. Monegan refused to fire Wooten and shortly after, Palin removed Monegan from his post. Under Alaska law, the governor has the right to remove top burricrats at any time for no reason, it usually is considered decent to have a resason to remove one from his or her job. Though Palin quickly offered Monegan a new job in a different position, (which Monegan turned down) the damage was done. Palin was no longer seen as the squeeky clean ethics reformer, as this is a clear case of an abuse of power. As of right now, Palin has hired a lawyer to deal with the situation and the Alaska State Legislature might end up having a full scale investigation on the matter.

Then, another scandal has emerged. It turns out Palin's 17 year old daughter Bristol is pregnent and in her second trimester. When Palin was named the Republican VP, rumors started circulating that Palin was not the mother of her youngest child, Trig, but Bristol was. The eveidence was the following 1) Palin did not announce her pregnacy until she was 7 months in; it took everyone who knew her by surprise and no one on her staff even suspected she was pregnant. 2) Palin went into labor while attending a conference in Texas and flew on an 8 hour flight in order to give birth in Alaska (without even telling her doctor) and 3) Bristol had a long absence from school due to an "illness". These rumors was so loud that in order to silence them, Palin and her people issued a statement stating that yes, Bristol is pregnant, she will carry to term and she will marry the father. The Religious Right applauded this move and many of its leaders have been calling for the meida to leave the Palin family alone (after all, when you're a gun-loving, gay-bashing, abstenance-only-sex-educaion-in-schools member of the Religious Right, you have every right to privacy when it turns out that your own daughter doesn't even listen to you). The fallout of the Bristol scandal has yet to be determined but many feel that its proof that McCain did not properly vett Palin.

Then, a third scandal has emerged, it turns out Palin's husband Todd was arrested about 20 years ago on a DUI charge. Once again, many are openly questioning McCain's reasoning of his choice of Govenor Palin. However, many Republicans reminded themselves that George W Bush also had a DUI charge at one point in his life.

And now, we're learning about the Palins assoication with the successionest Alaska Independence Party. The most successful 3rd Party on a statewide leval, the AIP (as it is known as in Alaska) offically states on its website that all it wants is for Alaskans to be given chance to vote in a referendom that was supposed to happen in 1958. The referendom would give Alaskians a choice of independence, statehood, remain a Federal controlled territory, or become a Commonwealth like Purtro Rico. (In case you were wondering, there actaully was a vote in 1958 in which statehood won by a landslife, winning more votes than all other options combined) The AIP is one of the most anti Federal government political parites in the nation, openly opposed to any forms of government regulation, espially in regards to the enviroment. The AIP's founder, Joe Vogler, has said some of the nastiest things about the US government outside of Terhan. According to the Clerk of the AIP, Sarah and Todd Palin actaully attended the 1994 AIP Conventrion (though the Palins are denying this). And it now has been recently confirmed that Todd Palin was indeed a member of the AIP as late as 2002. As Governor of Alaska, Palin has sent to the AIP a video messeage giving them a very friendly shout-out (you can see the whole video on youtube).

And just recently, a video of Palin that was filmed just this spring in her local church in Alaska. In the video Palin decalers that the Iraq War is "a task that is from God". She also asked the congergation she was speaking to to pray for a successful outcome in a pipeline deal she was working on. And we're now learning that its pastor, Ed Kalnins, is an extreeme Far Rightist who makes Rev Jeriamiah Wright look like Gandhi. Just to give an example, in 2004 he preached that anyone who voted for John Kerry would go straight to Hell. With the media scruniy given to Obama and Rev Wright this spring, watch for plenty of scrunity given to Palin and Rev Kalnins.

Since more and more is pilling up about Sarah Palin, here is an article about some more discoveries about Sarah Palin (otherwise this edition will never be published, I was supposed to update this back on Sunday but I keep finding out more and more about Sarah Palin):

http://www.alternet.org/election08/97350/8_more_shocking_revelations_about_sarah_palin/

Reaction to Sarah Palin has been mixed. The Far Right and its legions of Evengelicals are bombastic that one of their own was choosen. Of course, they're totally ignoring Palin's daughter, calling her situation a "personal issue". Even though her acceptance speach showed that she is indeed a fighter, there is still much whispering about the haste of this decision and its potential to backfire. The rest of the nation is a different story. Obama and Biden have decided to keep quiet for now, playing a "wait and see" stragedy. So far, with 5 scandals (6 if you include Palin going fishing without paying for her licence) in 7 days, it's probably the best thing to do.

We'll close this section on Sarah Palin with a clip of her talking about the Vice Presidency about a month before she was named McCain's choice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=006axc2aELE

So ends part one of the Presidential Issue. Next we'll be turning to the playing field of states in play as well as anything else that will come to light by then.