That's what Dan Brown is admitting, anyway. Remember how Democrats argue that it is Republicans who thrive on fear? I've pointed out on numerous occasions that it isn't Republicans who are fearful, but Democrats, who think common sense measures equal "trampling on the Constitution."
Here's Brown's list with appropriate rebuttals.
10. She homeschools!
Dan Brown thinks homeschooling is radical and that homeschoolers are kooks. I guess he's never met one of the thousands of kids who have been homeschooled since the 1980s. That's a real pity, considering they do at least as well as their peers on standardized tests. Plus, there are all sorts of advantages that union-teacher-supporing Democrats ostensibly care about: low student-to-teach ratio, flexibility in teaching material, instant feedback, and time management. But to Dan Brown, being invested in your children enough to homeschool them is scary.
9. Palin practiced unabashed cronyism as mayor of Wasilla, firing the police chief and library director for not endorsing her mayoral campaign. And Troopergate is just waiting to blow up.
Sorry to disappoint him, but Troopergate has been a dud because the arguments were exposed for the politics they are early (see a previous post linking to Flopping Aces). I don't have any doubt that some people like Palin as an administrator and some people hate her. Whether it was "cronyism" that tops the Obama-Rezko connection is another story. After all, she didn't get a million-dollar mansion for a song.
8. Wasilla is too small to count as experience.
Running a small town just doesn't count as executive experience in Democrats' book. Not that their candidate ever even ran a small town. Hell, if Obama had run the yearbook staff at his high school, it would be more executive experience than he's displayed so far. According to Ann Althouse, Barack Obama is now trying to argue that running his campaign staff counts as executive experience. "It's true that Obama's biggest accomplishment is his success (thus far) in running a Presidential campaign. But isn't this a bit absurd? One qualifies to run for President by the very activity of running for President? I'm glad to hear that he smiled when he said that, because I don't think it's an argument you can make with a straight face." One could even argue that he hasn't run that very well, considering his campaign bleeds money and Obama is constantly disavowing statements from his staff.
7. Her website, www.palinforgovernor.com is no longer accessible...This isn't necessarily terrifying or fascinating; it's just sketchy.
It's hard to believe this is actually an argument being made. Palin was elected governor two years ago. Now she's a veep candidate for a Republican Senator. It's not terribly difficult to realize that she will be fine-tuning her positions to align more closely with his. Ask Joe Lieberman about Al Gore's positions. The idea that there's some deceit involved is silly.
6. She supported the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere" project before it was outed and made an embarrassing symbol of wasteful pork spending.
So wait. If she wasn't against the bridge initially then she's not allowed to decide it was bad news for her state? What happened to all that John Kerryesque finessing about being for something before you are against it? I thought Democrats were all into that waffling stuff.
5. Sarah Palin doesn't seem to know much at all about the history or policies regarding the war in Iraq.
I don't know my governor's position on the war in Iraq. In fact, I'd say that I don't really care about my governor's opinion on the war. That's not what I hired him to do. I do expect him to care about how various policies, national and statewide, affect me as a citizen of my state. So the fact that she wasn't going to get all political to Washington Monthly isn't indicative of anything, really.
And have you noticed that liberals who were screaming "chickenhawk" a week ago now don't think having a son going to Iraq is relevant? I wonder why that could be, eh?
4. She doesn't believe global warming is man-made....
So, not buying into the latest liberal theory about the environment disqualifies her from VPOTUS? There are many scientists who don't believe in it. Why should this disqualify her? Other than she doesn't support policies which would wreck our economy, I mean.
3. Palin supports abstinence-only sex ed! And her daughter's pregnant!
Here's one of those false equivalencies. Lots of people support abstinence-only sex ed. Why? Because they don't really think teaching their 12-year-olds how to perform oral sex with a mouth guard in is appropriate. And, oddly enough, I don't see any reduction in pregnancy rates among those supporting sex coaching for ninth graders. Brown calls it "hypocrisy" that Palin supports abstinence-only sex ed but her 17-year-old is pregnant. How is that, in any way, hypocritical? Hypocritical would be supporting abstinence-only sex ed, then driving her kid to the abortion clinic. But Brown thinks that would be choice.
2. Brown laments the "People Magazining" of the presidential race.
Does he mean this People Magazining of the race? Or this? Or this? If that's what Brown is complaining about, then I'm all for it. But I don't think that's Brown's complaint. He's upset that people can relate to Sarah Palin's story and aren't holding her responsible for her husband's 22-year-old D.U.I. Here's a hint for libs: when the smear is older than voters, it's not much to hold on to.
1. Sarah Palin is pro-life.
That really terrifies Dan Brown. Palin believes that babies don't deserve death because of the circumstances underwhich they are conceived. It's a shocking position, I know, to actually think that life is important. The only exception for her is life of the mother. But Brown is really upset because all the stories about Palin--her Downs Syndrome child, her pregnancy at 44, her daughter's pregnancy and upcoming wedding--point to the fact that Palin actually thinks life is better than death. That's just a hard thing for a lot of liberals to wrap their minds around.
Ordinary folks understand what is going on. They know that parents don't get to make all the choices for 17-year-olds, but that they aren't going to cast their children aside, either. Evangelicals know that being a Christian isn't about being perfect (other than Christ's perfection), but about being forgiven and doing the best you can. That's why Democrats are so scared.
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