Sarah Palin: Wild and Remote

The more I read about Sarah Palin, McCain’s choice for Vice-President the more I like her and yet dislike her. What I can’t stand is that she is a gun-totting creationist who is so anti-liberal she makes Uzbekistan look like Amsterdam. Her beliefs not only horrify me but horrify any Y2K liberal and open-minded European. Yet, despite her beliefs which I find outlandish at best I like the way she not only has clung onto them, but she has made everyone else (who is Republican of course) like and support them as well. The fact that she is not, and I quote her part of the ‘Washington elite’ actually makes her more appealing. An outsider in the most powerful club in the world? Albeit she was hand-picked by McCain himself, but after the Republican convention she really fired up the Republic party which until now was looking dower, bland and boring. It’s true that the Republicans are just a collection of old men one as similar and bland (and older) as the next. Like Russian dolls they are the same mass-produced men with slight variations. And then this stunning librarian goddess comes on the scene and shakes things up. Even I can’t help but be mesmerised by this conservative ‘hockey mom’ and I’m a confirmed liberal.

And that’s my point, although I do not agree with anything Palin says and think she is a hypocrite for having an unmarried pregnant 17 year old daughter and shoving her into the spotlight while simultaneous banning S- - education at school I like the way she stands by her beliefs and is defined by them. Not many people are like that. Not even Obama who touts change and yet hasn’t been half as vocal as Palin. She does not believe in abortion and so actually had her down syndrome child. Whatever party you belong to, that is admirable. It’s not easy raising a child let alone a differently-abled one. Her zest for life, the fact that she is a runner-up to the Miss Alaska title, her ruthlessness even at playing basketball and ‘sorting out’ unethical practices within her own party such as selling her predecessor’s private jet on eBay, makes her a force to be reckoned with. She is the life and soul of the Republican Party that they so dearly and desperately need. Without her it’s just a bunch a wrinkly white men. She has truly resuscitated the McCain campaign. If McCain wins, it’ll be because of her. And if they don’t win the election, then she’ll just be another joke to the Republicans, because no matter how good you are, big boys clubs like the Republican party only look after big boys regardless of how strong the girl is.

I’m still supporting the Democrats (without Hillary unfortunately) but I have a feeling that some of the swing-voters of the Democrats who backed Hillary won’t resist being seduced by Palin and her politics. But I’ll tell you what, I’m curios to see what she’ll be like if they win. Although that will spell disaster again for everyone (another four years of Republicans? Oy!) I can imagine that she’ll shake up Washington and the world in ways Bush only could with his incompetence