Thursday, September 04, 2008

Palin and personal integrity

One thing I don't like about the political Christianity types is that when push comes to shove although they expect everyone else to abide to some high moral code they don't seem any more moral than anybody else - in fact I'm tempted to say they appear to be just the opposite.

Sarah Palin said in her big Republican speech that "In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers. And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change." But then there are also those who use their position to further their own personal interests.

Now Sarah Palin, whom we are assured has been vetted by the McCain camp, seems to be a complete disaster area as a VP candidate. Her terrible politics will play well with some (although they're clearly divisive and have only minority appeal) but her personal abuses of power are genuinely going to hit the McCain campaign hard - in fact I wouldn't be surprised if McCain's recent slip in the polls was caused by the revelations surrounding Palin's selection.

I'm not talking about the alleged affair - that doesn't interest me, although I suspect it wont play well with her religious base. If she did have an affair it makes her a hypocrite - but doesn't particularly influence how she might behave in office.

However, as we've already seen she used her political position to get her sister's ex-husband fired, and then pressured others over the firing and then lied about it. This is corruption, pure and simple.

We've seen something approaching the forced marriage of her daughter when abstinence only sex education failed to do the only thing it was designed for. Which isn't just ruthless of her, it shows she doesn't care who gets hurt in order to fulfill her own ambitions. Once she's Vice President that tendency could end up with extremely serious consequences.

But now we have an official ethics complaint against Palin. What enemy of the Republican cause has done this you say? Why it's Sarah Palin herself! Could it be that even she believes her ethics are well below the required standard?

Well, she probably does, but that isn't why she's initiated the enquiry. You see if she pre-empts the complaints others have waiting in the wings and puts in process the official system herself due to her current political position it means that *she* gets to appoint the 3-person board that deals with the ethics investigation and, she argues, supersedes any other body conducting investigations into her ethics, or lack thereof.

Pretty neat trick, but is this the kind of person that decent minded Republican voters want running the country? I doubt it frankly, you'd have to have a pretty low opinion of Americans to think that's what they want in a Vice President.

An ethical politician would not only be in this position in the first place - but they'd never stoop to stitching up an investigation for their own personal benefit in this way. As time goes on we will begin to see just how corrupt the hard right of the Republican Party can be, embodied in McCain's choice for VP.

I'm even getting the feeling he may well dump her before the election as the complete liability that she is.

Incidentally, McCain made an interesting point in his conference speech where he said that his appointment of the fresh faced Palin showed he was looking forwards, whilst Obama's choice of the experienced Biden shows he's looking backwards. Doesn't that mean that come November when Americans go to the polls that everyone who votes for McCain is looking backwards and everyone who votes Obama is looking to the future?

Yup, I think it does. Thanks for that thought Senator McCain, thanks for that thought. You can donate to the Obama campaign here.

Check out this fact file (thanks Scott)
And thanks for the badge Bo Beau D'Or (thanks for the reminder John)

10 comments:

John A said...

If the "Dinosaur/Creationist" badge is nicked from Bo Beau D'or, credit him as per his house rules :-D It's only polite!

scott redding said...

I just ran across this. Pretty thorough.

Jim Jepps said...

John: gah! I used this twice and creditted it the first time and forgot this time - thanks for the reminder.

Scott: I've bumped that link into the post, you're right very comprehensive

MC Fanon said...

There are serious questions as to Palin's ethics while in office. However, I fear such questions will go unanswered, as you hinted at. Gallup hasn't shown any meaningful increase in poll numbers for John McCain since he chose Sarah Palin, but polls are very rarely accurate, and there is a long time until the convention.

I fear that Sarah Palin will be what the Republicans need to win another term in the White House. At first I wanted to credit racism for this, but I firmly believe that this should-be-but-isn't landslide race is a manifestation of the failures of the Democrats to represent the interests of the American working class.

If they lose this election, it will be absolutely unbelievable. Such a loss will be devastating for the next four years, but I foresee the labor movement growing from its ashes.

JS.Ray said...

saw a photograph of her future son-in-law the other day, his face should've been in the dictionary next 'shotgun wedding'

Anonymous said...

Nothing wrong with being a dinosaur: they bossed the earth for 150 mllion years.

There is everything wrong with being a creationist.

Anonymous said...

I share your deep dislike of Sarah Palin's politics. But I do wonder why people think they know that her daughter didn't used contraceptives. 17-year olds are definitely old enough to make their own decisions and obtain contraceptives. People seem to think that the fact she is pregnant is proof that she didn't have access to birth control. Many, many women, young and not so young, become pregnant due to contraceptive failure.

As well, we don't know Bristol Palin's views on abortion. I also know many pro-choice women who have decided to proceed to birth in cases of "accidental" pregnancy.

Jumping to these conclusions only plays into the hands of the Republicans crying "sexism" and unfair press coverage. And in the case of unfair comment on Bristol Palin, her pregnancy and her husband-to-be, everyone's descended into the gutter.

Anonymous said...

Look's like McCain thought, I'm old and male, so I should get someone younger and female, who has a little kudos with the religious right in the Republican Party, who don't like me!
The point Dave Marlow made is the key, the Democrats, just like New Labour have failed to represent the Working Class.
Nick
Bristol

JS.Ray said...

hysperia: the point is that Sarah Palin is an advocate of abstinence based sex-education. It shows pretty spectacularly poor judgement to insist that something so apparently ineffective, even among your own immediate dependents, should still be considered effective practice.

Jim Jepps said...

hysperia - I think it's a point worth raising that Sarah Palin's daughter is not her and therefore will have her own views - which may or may not be the same on any particualr issue.

I was slightly concerned you might be thinking my view is that this young woman should have an abortion - I certainly do not think so - unless she wants one (and frankly it's a bit late for that). I completely agree that many unwanted pregnancies are not terminated - in fact I'm here to prove it!

My focus on this area was actually on the happy couple - which smacks to me of a "shotgun marriage" as Jack mentions.

Although I'm willing to look again at what I've written I'm pretty sure I've stuck to the personal integrity of the republican nominee for VP rather than gender based attacks... I think.