She hunts, fishes, and eats moose burgers. She is such a keen runner that she
named the first of her five children Track. She is a lifetime member of the
National Rifle Association and was runner-up in the Miss Alaska beauty
contest in 1984.
In short, this self-styled “average hockey mom” is the kind of all-American
girl to gladden the heart of the Republican Party — and yesterday Sarah
Palin delighted it even more by virtually wiping out coverage of Barack
Obama’s acceptance speech in Denver on Thursday night.
Mrs Palin may have been Alaska’s Governor for a mere two years, but she is
wildly popular, with an approval rating of 80 per cent. She ran in her
gubernatorial campaign as a cleangovernment reformer and scourge of wasteful
spending, a message that resonated strongly in a state beset by political
corruption.
But for all her strengths, both parties know that her nomination is a risk for
John McCain. Only two years ago she was the Mayor of the Alaskan town of
Wasilla, where the biggest worry is whether there will be enough snow for
the annual dog-mushing race. Before her two terms as a councillor in the
same town she was a sports reporter for a television station in Anchorage.
Since she took office in 2006 as Alaska’s youngest governor, and the first
woman to hold the post, she has delivered on many of her campaign promises.
She took a pay cut, dispensed with the gubernatorial jet, and killed the
infamous “Bridge to Nowhere” project that had become a nationwide symbol of
the wasteful spending that Mr McCain has made a cornerstone of his campaign.
“As Governor I’ve stood up to politics as usual,” Mrs Palin said. “I’ve
stopped wasteful spending, cut taxes, and put the people first.”
A fiscal and social conservative, she is also strongly “pro-life” and belongs
to Feminists for Life. She opposes gay marriage, although she says she has
gay friends. She has also admitted in the past that she smoked marijuana
when it was legal in Alaska — but did not like it. Born in Idaho, Mrs Palin
has lived in Alaska since she was three months old.
She once worked as a commercial fisherman with her husband, Todd, her
high-school sweetheart and a native Yupik. It was their 20th wedding
anniversary yesterday. Her husband works for BP, is a champion snowmobiler —
a passion she shares — who has won the 2,000-mile “Iron Dog” race four
times.
They have three daughters, Bristol, 17, Willow, 13, and Piper, 7. In April she
gave birth to another son, Trig, after refusing to let the results of
prenatal testing that showed he had Down’s syndrome affect her decision to
have the baby. He was asleep on the shoulder of one of her daughters during
her speech.
At the rally in Ohio last night Mrs Palin was given a raucous reception during
a poised and forceful speech in which she displayed clear signs of grit, a
muscular, family-oriented conservatism, while also reaching out to the
disaffected supporters of Hillary Clinton.
“I would be honoured to serve next to the next president of the United
States,” she declared, with four of her five children behind her. “I know it
will demand the best that I have to give, and I promise nothing less.”
Her son Track will be deployed with the US Army to Iraq on September 11, she
added. “As a mother of one of those troops, John McCain is the kind of man I
want as our commander-in-chief.”
Her description of herself as an “average hockey mom” was a clear bid for
America’s swing-vote suburban mothers and disaffected Hillary Clinton
Democrats. In her speech she heaped praise on Geraldine Ferraro — the only
other woman to be named on a major presidential ticket, in 1984 — and Mrs
Clinton, and got her biggest cheers when she said: “We can shatter that
glass ceiling once and for all!”
Thrilled as they were, Republicans knew straight away that her choice was
highly risky. With Mr McCain turning 72 yesterday, and having suffered two
bouts of skin cancer, Mr Obama’s campaign wasted no time in raising the
question of his age and Mrs Palin’s lack of experience.
“Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign
policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency,” Bill Burton, an
Obama spokesman, said. And, in her one vice-presidential debate, she will
face the seasoned foreign policy veteran Joe Biden.
Mr Burton also criticised Mrs Palin for her support of oil drilling in the
Alaskan wilderness and her anti-abortion stance, referring to the 1973
Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal in the United States.
“Governor Palin shares John McCain’s commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade,
the agenda of Big Oil and continuing George Bush’s failed economic policies.
That’s not the change we need, it’s just more of the same,” he said.
Mrs Palin’s lack of experience undercuts Republican charges that Mr Obama is
not ready to be commander-in-chief. Mr McCain said in April that he was
determined to avoid choosing someone like Dan Quayle, the little-known
Indiana senator whom George Bush Sr put on his ticket in 1988. The choice
proved embarrassing. Mr Quayle “had not been briefed and prepared for some
of the questions”, Mr McCain said.
Pat Buchanan, a conservative who twice sought the Republican nomination in the
1990s, said: “This is the biggest political gamble I have ever seen. She is
enormously exciting but if, God forbid, something happens, can she be
president?”
Mrs Palin was closely vetted by the McCain team because of an ongoing ethics
investigation by the Alaskan legislature over claims that she used her
executive position to try to get her sister’s former husband, Mike Wooten,
an Alaskan state trooper, dismissed from the police force after their
divorce. In 2006 Mr Wooton was briefly suspended from his job for
threatening to kill Mrs Palin’s father, and for shooting his 11-year-old
stepson with a Taser gun.
Another potential problem was that she was endorsed in a 2006 television
advert by Ted Stevens, the Republican Alaskan senator recently indicted on
corruption charges.
Mr McCain passed over several men for his choice, including Mitt Romney, his
former presidential rival, and Tim Pawlenty, the Minnesota Governor. He had
been keen for months to pick a woman, and declared yesterday: “She’s got the
grit, integrity, good sense and fierce devotion to the common good that is
exactly what we need in Washington today.
“She’s exactly who I need, she’s exactly who this country needs.”
From beauty pageant to governor’s mansion
— Sarah Palin is 44
— At high school she acquired the nickname “Sarah Barracuda” for her fierce
competitiveness as the star of the basketball team
— She won the local Miss Wasilla beauty contest, in which she was named
“Miss Congeniality”, and was a runner-up in the 1984 Miss Alaska pageant
— She has worked in a commercial fishing business with her husband,
Todd, and as a television sports presenter
— He is of Inuit heritage through his grandmother and is a four-times
champion of the 2,000-mile “Iron Dog” snowmobile race
— Her children are named Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper and Trig
— The eldest is going to serve in Iraq next month and the youngest, who
has Down’s syndrome, was born this April
— At 32, she was elected mayor of Wasilla, population 9,000
— She has a reputation for cracking down on government waste
— She was championed as a heroine for resigning as head of the Alaska
Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in 2004, after highlighting ethical
violations by another commisioner
— She was sworn in as Alaska’s first female and youngest ever Governor
in December 2006, despite missing so many campaign appearances that she was
tagged “No Show Sarah” by her opponents
Source: Times archives
Conservative? Palin is pro life = far right, lifetime NRA hunts with hubby (gun toting mom = conservative?) To Joseph in Redmond: Alaska pop=670,000, Arkansas 2.8mil, Georgia 9.3mil. Jimbo and Bubba were Gov of large population base and had exposure to int. diplomacy . Alaska is near the north pole.
Steven, Foster City, US
Palin is another Chaney in a dress,I don't know if I would care to hunt with her.McCain-Palin another Bush-Chaney ticket.When McCain gets his pink slip will he still get medicare?
Don, CALIFORNIA,
'with all the debt that has accumulated.' from Fred W
Fred , Where do you think all of this debt came from? We had a surplus when Bush came into office and now the highest deficit in history - do you really want 4 more years of this?
Gary, Silver Lake, USA
In the end, either you support her views on abortion, guns, and oil. If you do, the next question is, has being governor of Alaska for all of 1 1/2 years prepared her for being president? I'd rather take my chances with Ahnold. Too bad he can't be on the ticket, it would only be slightly funnier.
DK, New York,
The problem is McCain could kick the bucket any day would we want her running our country?
Jonathan, Mckinney texas,
JJ says:
> Obama won his nomination using a process that is not
> completely democratic. His silencing of the Hillary's supporters
> in the DNC...
Details, please? Whom did he silence exactly and how? I keep hearing this accusation made with nothing to back it up.
John, Philadelphia, USA
Yep, vote for John McCain he was in the army, so that gives him foreign policy experience.
Oh and his running mate is a woman, so that is a change we can believe in!
Higher taxes, more tax cuts for the rich, star up world war 3 with iran, and break the military.
Diplomacy? nah, bomb first.
Cosmo, Chicago, USA
Palin will help carry Michigan. Just watch.
YOU GO GIRL! ;)
BRENDA, sagniaw , usa
Yes, Mrs Palin is young and has no foreign policy experience, some of have correctly noted than both JFK and Clinton had none as well. Everyone compares her to Obama, but she is not running for a presidency he is. Mccain has the foreign policy experience and she has domestic. She has character!!!
Sergey, New York, USA
McCain delivers the change by placing Palin on the ticket! Obama won his nomination using a process that is not completely democratic. His silencing of the Hillary's supporters in the DNC is very concerning if this is the change he wants to bring to this free nation.
JJ, Los Angeles,
Sarah Palin was a great choice. This Registered Independent be voting the Republican ticket in spite of John McCain.
Max Dixon, Ogden, UT, USA
Outstanding choice, I never saw it coming. Obama might want to keep his eyes open for another career choice.
Jim A, Beach Park, USA
While I will be voting against the evil of two lessers: Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain, I am heartened that there yet exists one like Mrs. Palin, although I do not agree with her all too neo-conish statements about Georgia. Paleo's and libertarians are flocking to her. So is the conservative base!
robert m. peters, coushatta, louisiana
I agree with others who have a positive opinion of Mrs. Palin, BUT I thought that it was unfair to state in a letter that Buchanan is anti-Semitic, so she is a bigot IF she listens to him! A lot of people like to listen to him who are not anti-Semitic, me too. Guilt by association is dirty pool.
Neal, East Lansing,
Sarah Palin is more qualified than Barack Obama hands down. And she's not even the one running for President. A self made reformer thats actually run something v. a product of Chicago corruption that's never run anything?
Experience is on the table big time, Barack.
ed werner, Pittsburgh, USA
Hillary Clinton supporters - if you supported Hillary's ideas stay far away from Sarah Palin - she is a hardcore conservative. If you were supporting Hillary just because she's a woman don't fall into McCain's trap. Palin is about courting the conservative base.
James, Dublin, USA
If she is a supporter of Pat Buchanan and his anti Semitic, anti black rhetoric, then much as I do not have much faith in Obama - I do not see a choice but to vote for him. Shame on McCain.
What a waste of an election !
Edwin G. Berks, Pittsfield. MA, USA
I am thrilled with the selection of Mrs. Palin as VP. She has demonstrated strong leadership in her past and shows courage in accepting this very large task. The reason why she will be VP is because she and the future President have character. GOD BLESS AMERICA!
Gene Dinelli, Houston, U.S.A.
To those who say Palin shouldn't be a VP due to lack of foreign policy experience, remember that Bill Clinton had none either. And Jimmy Carter? Both Democrats, both without foreign policy experience, and both pretty lousy Presidents. Hey John/WI - Ted Kaczynski was also a Harvard grad.
Joseph, Redmond, WA, USA
She has my vote! At last a real person.
Dave Brookes, Cardiff CA, USA
I'm appalled by this description of Palin's "executive experience." She was mayor of a tiny town in Alaska. Her education was mediocre; she's a trained sports reporter. Obama was president of Harvard Law Review and professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago. Have we gone mad?
JOhn, De Pere, WI, USA
I think with her selection Obama may have already been narrowly defeated. Thus the USA will have dodged a very deadly socialist bullet. We can hardly afford to give up our manic work ethic at this point with all the debt that has accumulated.
Fred X, Phoenix, usa
“She’s got the grit, integrity, good sense and fierce devotion to the common good that is exactly what we need in Washington today." That says it all for me. She would work for the good of her country.. we arn't electing world leaders, we are electing leaders for our nation. Obama forgets that
lawhite, Idaho, USA
Where is the video of Sarah Palin's speech from yesterday? I want to see it and you have it nowhere. Obama's speech is old news--I want to see what Sarah has to say. Where is the bias here? I think I can see it.
ronnie, hutchinson,
In Bethesda, MD there is a statue of a pioneer woman holding a babe in her left arm, a musket in her right hand and with a 4 year old child clinging to her skirt. It's called "Madonna of the Trail".Named for the women who forged this country from nothing. Sarah Palin is one of those women, too.
Jim, Roscoe, USA
Sarah Palin has a good record on environmental issues including global warming. She has a good record on gay rights although she doesn't support gay marriage (neither does Barach Obama). Like most Americans she wants to drill for oil. She's fought corruption in both parties. McCain now has my vote.
Chris Z., San Francisco, USA
What a beautiful and great President she will become!
Don, Buffalo, usa
Obama has no executive experience, nor does Biden. She has run Alaska for two years. Furthermore, much of Obama's 3 1/2 years in the US Senate has been spent running for president, not being a legislator. Biden is a career politician (1/2 his life in the Senate), hardly an "agent of change."
Joe, Washington, DC
Sarah Palin is the next Hurricaine Gustaf for the Republicans,Bush was Katrina,worst hit of all.What was McCain thinking?Hitting ice hockey in Alaska?America needs experience with qualifications not a runner up beauty queen. Its a country in economic crisis not a beauty paegeant.A Political insult !
rin, BIRMINGHAM, U.K
These elections demonstrate everything that terrifies me about the the most powerful and responsible nation on earth. Its taken months of elections to find amateurs to run that country. Movie stars, families, wife of previous president, inexperienced people - no wonder the rest of the world laughs
Chris, Blackburn, England
Her record and character can not be doubted. She is a great women. However, my very first thought after reading this article; If she is so family oriented and strong, why risk being VP, as this will take most of her time away from raising her children in a close parental environment. Stay at home.
Brian K Howerter, Atlas, United States of America
The Obamites quickly pulled the press release about the mayor of a town of only 9,000 people now "a heartbeat away from the presidency" when they realized they'd misspoke: the theme of the DNC convention was populism, saluting "the little guy", and the folks "outside of Washington"!
Stephanie Gutmann, Piermont, New York, USA
One line says it all " I've stood up to politics as usual, stopped wasteful spending, cut taxes, an put people first." And for once shes a politician who's record backs that statement up!! How refreshing! Shes got my vote.
Murph, Madisonville, USA/KY
She is a desperate joke who couldn't even build a hockey rink on town land in her home town when she was Mayor. She is going to make the Republicans weep for someone as good as Dan Quayle.
Robert Dale, Wilmington NC, USA
It is so very refreshing to see an accomplished, honest, plain spoken person running for senior office. From experience, I began assuming long ago that virtually everything any politician says is a sleazy, insulting, depressing lie. Governor Palin truly seems to be different. Go, go go!
Wil, Santa Barbara, USA
Why McCain does not want to appoint Saakashvilly to be the vice-president? Georgian president will be the unemployed soon.
Sergey, Saint-Petersburg, Russia
John McCain has gravely insulted the American people by proposing, after one meeting, that a woman with no national experience whatsoever be a heartbeat away from the Presidency and the leadership of the free world. Does John McCain think this is a game? He has shown no judgment whatsoever.
Cynthia Meketa, Bonsall,
Now I know that I have to overcome my objections to Obama and vote for him.
Colin, Fort Lauderdale, USA
McCain made a smart choice. Sarah Palin will take on corruption, lobbyist, and big oil. She will make the politicians look over there shoulder twice (Republicans and Democrats). I see a very bright future ahead for all of us since we have someone honest running for a change
Alan Hoffer, Seattle, USA
Go Sarah! This is great!
M M, Beverly hills, US
As for Ms. Palin being to young if John McCain can not serve out his term, one only needs to go back to John Kennedy and Bill Clinton who, if I am not mistaken, were only in their 40's when they assumed the presidency. At least she has executive experience which Biden does not.
James, Greensurg, Pennsylvania, USA
Sarah Palin is a fierce advocate of the hard-working, taxpaying people of America. Democrats will attempt to dismiss her, but it will backfire. Many Americans wil admire and identify with her. Democrats talk the talk, but she walks it.
Ross, Wyoming, USA