When I first heard about Sarah Palin during the 2008 election I had much curiosity. I had been bullied by the Democratic Party during the primary, so I kept an open mind about Sarah. When the Democrats started treating Sarah much like they treated Hillary Clinton I became even more curious. I found myself drawn to her for many reasons. When the Democrats made fun of her down to earth attitude and folksy voice I was amused. No she didn’t have an “ivy league” pedigree but I kept thinking “thank God”. I’m really tired of the attitude the Democrats have taken against these two strong women, Sarah and Hillary. I found Sarah to be a breath of fresh air, someone that seemed willing to tell it like it is and not cater to certain groups of people, like wealthy Republicans! I listened intently to her speeches and found them to be more against corruption than anything else. This was something I grew to admire as I think there is much corruption in government that leads to government waste. I even admired the way she held her baby in one hand and managed campaigning with phone calls and all with the other hand. Fast forward to the Republican convention and this electrifying speech:
I liked what I heard and I was totally annoyed with the Obama team anyway. I continued to like and to be drawn to Sarah, even after the election. I continued to follow her and even bought her book, Going Rogue. I enjoyed the book until I got to the all powerful, all important, Ronald Reagan, section. I couldn’t believe this woman that I had admired could herself so admire Ronald Reagan. I kept thinking this must be for her base, you know those crazy Republicans! I still liked Sarah’s take charge attitude and her willingness to remain a fairly “normal” person. I could even over look many of her faults and found her interesting even though many of her ideas were diametrically opposite my own.
Recently, I have had to give up on Sarah. It seems the Sarah that I was drawn to has disappeared and been replaced with a new Sarah. The new Sarah is more about making her own money than helping others make and keep theirs. The new Sarah is making crazy statements at Tea Party events that I find terribly troubling. We live in a violent society. People that are seemingly at their wit’s end because of the economy or whatever else is ailing them don’t need someone encouraging them to act out with violent actions. Sarah can say that her words mean something else but most of us see that as just more political double speak. Words do have meaning and saying things can have an effect on people at their most vulnerable times. The new Sarah has embraced the most right wing of the Republican Party. It is unfortunate that the Republican Party has encouraged her behavior because it’s good for their business. They like the money she can bring in at these events. They are banking on these Tea Party people voting for them. Many of those Tea Party people will probably vote Republican but it isn’t because they liked GW and how he spent money. They are banking on the Republicans becoming more conservative with their money. However, it defies logic how anyone can view these Republicans as being fiscally responsible. They bank rolled these two wars on the future taxes of our youngsters. They’re good at spending money on war and pretty much nothing else. Sarah speaks with that same old rhetoric when she talks about our soldiers. She creates this picture of such noble, greatness when the truth is neither of these current wars could possibly be described as being noble or great. The soldiers are doing their job and sometimes their job requires extreme bravery. This is noble. They sacrifice much but the Republicans that put them there are anything but noble. They would send anyone’s child to war but not their own. Of course there are exceptions to this. We know that both Sarah Palin and John McCain have children in the military and are willing to send them off to fight but there are many that had better things to do with their time as Vice President Cheney claimed during the Vietnam War.
I am deeply troubled with the antics of the new Sarah. I can’t embrace the verbal assault that she continues to make about the Obama administration and the federal government in general. I want a solution driven Sarah, one with ideas, not violent tinged rhetoric. As far as the Obama administration goes they have yet to earn my trust. However, it would be foolish for any American to want them to fail in any way. We are at the center of a storm. We must work together creatively for a solution to the problems we face. Democrats and Republicans should be working together for the common good of our nation. The economy is in dire straits. While some of the losses have been recouped from the stock market crash of 2008, much of that wealth has not spread to the little guy. Sarah has much new found wealth but I fear with her wealth she has lost touch with the rest of us. I can see that President Obama may be trying to make some changes to the banking industry. I see this as a plus. The verdict is still out on his administration but it is still far superior to the Bush years. Those years have left our nation in a world of hurt. For anyone to want to revisit those years they would have to be insane!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp89-6_7Zsk
The two parties missed a great opportunity to help our nation during the health care debate. Instead of real reform we ended up with some washed down version. People and businesses would have all been better off if this reform had included a single payer option. The cost of insurance is just mind boggling and I don’t see this changing with this watered down plan. Sarah was against all of this. On a personal basis it should be noted that her children and Todd already have health care because they are Native Americans. Sarah doesn’t have to worry about health care for her children. Unfortunately, most Tea Party people don’t know this information about Sarah. When Sarah talks about death panels she omits the death panel that visited my sister that didn’t have health insurance. My sister had her own death panel when her doctor made it very clear that she wasn’t “worth” much to him. She didn’t have the true care that she deserved because she didn’t have insurance. When my sister had insurance she doctored. When she didn’t, she avoided going because it cost too much. When she finally was forced to go it was late in her cancer, treatment was expensive and that in itself was a death panel!
I’m no longer looking to politicians for anything insightful. I thought John Edwards was insightful but he was so busy screwing up his own life that he lost track of that insight. He was a common man that I thought really cared about me. John changed. Sarah had something special. She had a way of communicating to the common people that made us want to believe that she is one of us and that she cared about us. She has lost all of this appeal. She no longer interests me. She has grown up into a full fledged millionaire that just doesn’t care about us little guys. The Tea Party people need to figure this out. Ronald Reagan was never one of us like so many tried to convince us. George Bush wasn’t one of us either. These politicians were wealthy people that were powerful and made to look common but were not common. Sarah was common and powerful now she is wealthy and powerful but she doesn’t really speak the truth of the common person any more. It is more Republican rhetoric and talking points. Her power holds no truth and it is dangerous to have power and no truth!