The Idiocy of Sarah Palin

Over the last two years, since the vice-presidential nomination of Sarah Palin for the Republican Party I have seen more hate mail and nasty jokes about this one person than anyone else.  In fact, I often feel a sense of being in a hostile work environment because of the in bad form jokes made against her.  Most of the attacks made on the former governor seem to play on the same common theme:  she's an idiot or that the country or even the world would go to hell in a hand basket with her as president.  To the haters I would like to ask these simple questions:  What makes her an idiot?  What do you think she would have done as Vice President or even President that would have been a disaster for the United States?

In this posting I would like to confront some of the major issues I have with people's problems with Sarah Palin.

Russia From My House Quote
Many times people spout the idiocy of Sarah Palin based on the fact that she said she can see Alaska from my house.  Well that would be incorrect.  That line was spoken in by Saturday Night Live's Tina Fey as satire of a different quote of Sarah Palin. The actual quote is:   

“They’re our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.” – ABC News interview, Sept. 11, 2008

The fact of the matter is that there are places in Alaska where a person can see Russia.  She's not an idiot for saying that, she's just stating a fact of geography.  Which leads to my next point.

Foreign Policy Experience
It has often been said that Sarah Palin has no foreign policy experience.  While she may not have met with any real heads of state, the fact that Alaska borders Canada and is across the Bering Sea and Strait from Russia, does give her access to ambassadors and other foreign envoys.  She certainly has more experience than say a Junior senator from the state of Illinois who only served 191 days in that office before upgrading to the office of President.

Also, there is something to be said about her former security clearance as the governor of Alaska.  As governor she has is commander-in-chief of the Alaska National Guard, which includes the 49TH Missile Defense Battalion.  Its job is to protect the U.S. from potential missile attacks and is on permanent active duty.  She is also the commander of the Alaska State Defense Force which was incorporated as part of the Department of Homeland Security.  Both of these positions do rely on her to be briefed about issues of national security.  There are some doubts as the the extent of the power she had as the Alaska governor with these militia but the fact that she was commander of them while governor gives her credibility as a possible commander-in-chief of the whole U.S. military.

Banning Books in the Wasilla Library
There are indisputable facts that Sarah Palin did ask the librarian of the Wasilla about the possibility of banning or removing certain books from the collection.  The fact most people neglect to leave out is she never actually did it.  She never even attempted.  There was not even a list.  What people try and put out as a list includes books that were not even published yet.  Also every person in power has tried to censor books.  Even parents try to get libraries to remove certain books from the library.  I am not saying its right but it never gets far.  This does not make her an idiot.

Experience
There was a lot of talk of experience of any of the candidates.  In all honest Sarah Palin had the most experience to be President out of all the men running for office (McCain, Biden and Obama).  She spent the better part of 10 years as a chief executive of some form in the state of Alaska.  She was a mayor and governor for the state.  It was her responsibility to make sure the state had a balanced budget, that the state met its payroll obligations.  And she did so quite responsibly.  In fact she did so well that the economic downturn is not negatively affect Alaska as much as other states.  She created a surplus on state tax dollars and stashed them away for when bad times came.  Also the fact that Sarah took on the corrupt Republican party members in the Alaska legislature gives her experience.  She took on her own party long before she tried to take on her opposition. 

What gets me the most about Sarah haters is they seem to think she would bring about the end of America as we know it.  Yet I have not heard any arguments why.  She is not the candidate who said he would fundamentally transform the United States.  She is not the one who appointed communist and other extremely left wing nut jobs into high ranking positions in the White House.  She was just the governor of Alaska doing the best job she could for the people of her state, while Barak Obama and John McCain were campaigning and neglecting their duties as U.S. Senators for nearly two years.  I'd take her over either of them any day of the week.