Superstar Palin makes Obama look like unknown

Maggie Devine/Opinion Editor

Sarah Palin. The name that makes people grimace … or grin. She’s really only been in the nation’s eye for a few weeks, but she’s become a media superstar already.

Palin is a controversial woman, but no one can deny that she brings results: as John McCain’s chosen running mate, she helps bring 23,000 people to rallies and has upped McCain in the polls, especially with white women.

She’s become hated by the media and has been vetted shamelessly. But for some reason, the public cannot get enough of her.
I, too, cannot get enough. It’s not because I agree with her or think she’ll make a good VP. Oh, no. I think she’s a good choice for the Republican ticket because she’s an staunch conservative woman, but under no circumstances do I want her to be that close to the presidency.

No, I’m so enthralled with her because I believe she’s going to be an utter disaster — a sort of Britney Spears #2.
Palin has been Alaska’s governor since December 2006, and prior to that served as the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, (population: 9,780) for two terms. Before that, she was a local TV sports journalist and then a city council member.

A former beauty queen, Palin is now 44 years old and a married mother of five, including a 19-year-old soldier, a pregnant 17-year-old and an 11-month-old baby with down syndrome. And now she’s decided it’s time to run for vice president.
In an interview with ABC’s Charles Gibson, Palin was asked if she hesitated when John McCain asked her to be his running mate. She simply answered, “You know, I did not.” Gibson went on to ask about whether she thought about her experience level before she accepted, and in the cloud of words Palin delivered, the answer was basically the same.

In two weeks, I cannot begin to count number of questions that have come out about Palin. The biggest is probably “Troopergate,” in which she allegedly fired the Alaska Safety Commissioner because he would not fire her sister’s ex-husband, Alaska state trooper Mike Wooten. This is a huge scandal in Alaska, and when it first started, there was talk of possible impeachement. Palin denies these allegations.

In wake of the Republican Convention, Palin admitted that her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, was five months pregnant. To add her own 11-month-old down syndrome son, Trig, into the family equation, many American mothers believe that Palin should have held off on her political dreams to give support to her family.

I agree. This is a major qualm that I have with Palin. Political views (and the fact that she hasn’t even completed her first term as Governor of Alaska) aside, she just had a special needs baby, and now she’s going to become a grandmother. This is no time to be second to the the president of the United States. There are things more important than your own goals, yet Palin retains a stance that she “couldn’t blink” when asked to become McCain’s VP.

And then, of course, there’s the holding of the down syndrome baby while taking a tour in a moving vehicle (ring any bells?) and the Wasilla library censorship and followed firing of the librarian, and the hockey rink she built that sunk Wasilla in debt, and the Bridge to Nowhere issue, and …

How is it possible that one person has so many scandals? How is it possible that America knows all of them within two weeks of meeting her? How is it possible that she has made such an impression on America?

For example, in her rare interview, Gibson was downright mean to her. He kept on questions she didn’t answer directly, and, frankly, made her look stupid. Gibson is a respected journalist yet he refused to look Palin in the eye while interviewing her. He gets the first interview since she’s been nominated for vice president and treats her like that. How can he show so much antagonism toward her already?

Well, the answer is simple. Palin has become an overnight superstar. McCain needs to take back his Barack Obama celebrity slam ads, because Palin makes him look like a Z-lister. She has risen to fame in too little time. This is not the person we want to be the Alternate President.

I think that, if elected, Palin will be a trainwreck. She already has so many scandals that prove her failure as a leader in Wasilla and Alaska. Let’s be honest, McCain could easily die in office. America cannot afford to have Palin as president.

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