# What would a Palin administration be like? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 22, 2008, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-palin-administration-be-like/464648 "2008-09-22T06:03:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-palin-administration-be-like/464648/41 "2008-09-22T23:08:57Z")
> [@Lord\_Ashtar](#): > > Wow. Just…wow. Anybody who fires small town librarians for political reasons is not someone I’d trust an inch. I lived in a small town, and anyone who does what she did is power mad. I’m not saying that she would have knocked McCain off - but I’d want to be damn sure. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-palin-administration-be-like/464648/42 "2008-09-22T23:12:10Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > It’s amazing how you all have managed to spin yourselves into such a froth about her that you’re now convinced she’s some evil Taliban-like figure that’s just waiting to take away all your rights, rule like a moron, and destroy the nation. You can laugh. You’re safe up there. I think your political system is getting to look more attractive all the time, actually. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-palin-administration-be-like/464648/43 "2008-09-22T23:19:03Z")
Just occured to me to ask this. If McCain-Palin win the election, and, before inaugaration, McCain rings down the curtain and joins the Choir Invisible…does that mean that Palin is inaugarated as President? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-palin-administration-be-like/464648/44 "2008-09-22T23:37:31Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > You can laugh. You’re safe up there. I think your political system is getting to look more attractive all the time, actually. Frankly, I think you’re all getting a little hysterical about her. You’re believing your own spin. If you want to try a fun experiment, Google ‘Sarah Palin’, and filter the results to only show hits from before she was picked as VP. You’ll find a completely different tone in the various articles about her, including several in the mainstream media. Before she needed to be destroyed, the ‘book’ on Palin was that she was a tough, reform-minded Governor who actually did take on the special interests in her state and significantly clean house. A couple of articles made special note of her willingness to cross the aisle to get things done, even against great opposition from her own party. She had a 70% approval rating among _Democrats_ in Alaska. She was also seen as a social moderate who did not push her values on her constituents. The only thing she did as governor that had anything to do with the hotbutton social issues was to _veto_ a bill that her own party pushed on her to prevent gay couples from getting spousal benefits. In her interview with Sean Hannity, Palin said the following things: [ul] [li]As Vice President, she’d like to work to strengthen the National Institute of Health, and work on energy independence.[/li][li]Whether creationism should be taught in school: “No. In fact, growing up in a school teacher’s house with a science teacher as a dad, you know, I have great respect for science being taught in our science classes and evolution to be taught in our science classes.”[/li][li]On the role faith plays in governing: “Faith is very, very important in my life. I don’t believe I wear it on my sleeve and I would never try to shove it down anybody else’s throat and try to convert anybody.”[/li][/ul] She doesn’t exactly come across as James Dobson or Jerry Falwell or even Trent Lott, does she? And in fact, as Governor she has completely ignored social issues. So there’s no reason to believe she’d be the second coming of the Taliban if she were elected, unless you believe that devout Christians by their nature are not suited for office. In which case, you should be doubly worried about Barack Obama, because he prays to Jesus for guidance every day, by his own admission. Hey, I guess if Nancy could have an astrologer, why shouldn’t Jesus call the shots once in a while? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-palin-administration-be-like/464648/45 "2008-09-22T23:49:20Z")
[QUOTE=Sam Stone] She doesn’t exactly come across as James Dobson or Jerry Falwell or even Trent Lott, does she? And in fact, as Governor she has completely ignored social issues. So there’s no reason to believe she’d be the second coming of the Taliban if she were elected, unless you believe that devout Christians by their nature are not suited for office. In which case, you should be doubly worried about Barack Obama, because he prays to Jesus for guidance every day, by his own admission. Hey, I guess if Nancy could have an astrologer, why shouldn’t Jesus call the shots once in a while? [/QUOTE] As McCain shows, it is easier to lie to then get elected. The big lie to me is still the idea that many smart republicans are happy with the Palin Choice. There is a reason why conservative Christians jumped to the McCain campaign. [http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/09/15/bess/index.html](http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/09/15/bess/index.html) > [@](#): > > Baptist minister Howard Bess, who wrote a book Palin wanted banned and who fought her on abortion and gay rights, says the country should fear her election. > [@](#): > > Soon after the book controversy, Bess found himself again at odds with Palin and her fellow evangelicals. In 1996, evangelical churches mounted a vigorous campaign to take over the local hospital’s community board and ban abortion from the valley. When they succeeded, Bess and Dr. Susan Lemagie, a Palmer OB-GYN, fought back, filing suit on behalf of a local woman who had been forced to travel to Seattle for an abortion. The case was finally decided by the Alaska Supreme Court, which ruled that the hospital must provide valley women with the abortion option. > > At one point during the hospital battle, passions ran so hot that local antiabortion activists organized a boisterous picket line outside Dr. Lemagie’s office, in an unassuming professional building across from Palmer’s Little League field. According to Bess and another community activist, among the protesters trying to disrupt the physician’s practice that day was Sarah Palin. > > Another valley activist, Philip Munger, says that Palin also helped push the evangelical drive to take over the Mat-Su Borough school board. “She wanted to get people who believed in creationism on the board,” said Munger, a music composer and teacher. "I bumped into her once after my band played at a graduation ceremony at the Assembly of God. I said, ‘Sarah, how can you believe in creationism – your father’s a science teacher.’ And she said, ‘We don’t have to agree on everything.’ > > “I pushed her on the earth’s creation, whether it was really less than 7,000 years old and whether dinosaurs and humans walked the earth at the same time. And she said yes, she’d seen images somewhere of dinosaur fossils with human footprints in them.” ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-palin-administration-be-like/464648/46 "2008-09-22T23:57:05Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > …why shouldn’t Jesus call the shots once in a while? No executive experience. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-palin-administration-be-like/464648/47 "2008-09-22T23:59:34Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > As McCain shows, it is easier to lie to then get elected. The big lie to me is still the idea that many smart republicans are happy with the Palin Choice. There is a reason why conservative Christians jumped to the McCain campaign. > > [http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/09/15/bess/index.html](http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/09/15/bess/index.html) I have never found a cite anywhere that mentioned any specific book she wanted banned. And sorry, but I refuse to accept hearsay from townies as evidence, especially given that there’s nothing in her record that would back it up. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-palin-administration-be-like/464648/48 "2008-09-23T00:00:59Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > No executive experience. Oh yeah? Do you have any idea how hard it is to organize a last supper? And TWELVE disciples. Hell, if that was a business, it would have qualified to be regulated by the Americans with Disabilities Act, and with equal rights laws. They would have had to give Mary a seat. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-palin-administration-be-like/464648/49 "2008-09-23T00:02:33Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Just occured to me to ask this. If McCain-Palin win the election, and, before inaugaration, McCain rings down the curtain and joins the Choir Invisible…does that mean that Palin is inaugarated as President? If it is after the electoral college votes in December, yes. If before, I think the electoral college is _supposed_ to vote for her, but are not constitutionally bound to. ---
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-palin-administration-be-like/464648/50 "2008-09-23T00:04:25Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > No executive experience. He was more of a “community organizer”, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-palin-administration-be-like/464648/51 "2008-09-23T00:07:25Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > If you want to try a fun experiment, Google ‘Sarah Palin’, and filter the results to only show hits from before she was picked as VP. You’ll find a completely different tone in the various articles about her, including several in the mainstream media. Yes, you’ll find that she was cooperating with the “Troopergate” investigation. 'Course, that was before she needed to be sanctified. I don’t think she’d be an incompetent president; probably about the same as Jimmy Carter. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-palin-administration-be-like/464648/52 "2008-09-23T00:13:19Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > I have never found a cite anywhere that mentioned any specific book she wanted banned. And sorry, but I refuse to accept hearsay from townies as evidence, especially given that there’s nothing in her record that would back it up. So a retired priest that was involved is just a townie? The retired priest was interviewed, I would not call that hearsay. As for you accepting it or not, I would care if you would also had to possibly endure her as your vice president and possibly president in the future. Canadians in discussions like this are less reliable than a “townie” 🙂 In any case, creationist barbie would never make any moves, until she and the religious right pressures McCain into selecting more judges to their liking that will then someday decide teaching creationism is just dandy. Then this facade of “just teaching the controversy” will turn into a bigger nightmare for American schools. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-palin-administration-be-like/464648/53 "2008-09-23T00:17:19Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Yes, you’ll find that she was cooperating with the “Troopergate” investigation. 'Course, that was before she needed to be sanctified. > > I don’t think she’d be an incompetent president; probably about the same as Jimmy Carter. But did Jimmy carter also told his staff to defy subpoenas? ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-palin-administration-be-like/464648/54 "2008-09-23T07:00:23Z")
> [@RyJae](#): > > Want a serious answer? It would look the same as an Obama administration with a hostile Congress. They may want different things but underneath the pretty words is a politician. Nothing in the power list that says Palin could make Americans ride “the Jesus train” as far as I am aware the President only nominates Supreme Court justices but they require the Senate to approve before they’re seated. > > ``` > * May veto laws > * May refuse to spend money allocated for certain purposes > * Wages war (has operational command of the military) > * Makes decrees or declarations (for example, declaring a state of emergency) and promulgates lawful regulations and executive orders > * Often appoints judges > * Has power to grant pardons to convicted criminals > > ``` > > Or are you thinking that Congress will try passing the buck like they’ve been known to do? No I think she’ll use the contacts she’d have as president to find five fanatical anti-abortion lawyers and judges who would be willing to be evasive on the stand. I think the Senate would deflect the first two, but would allow one of the last three because they’re afraid of looking like they’re stalling to the American people. I think their fear of looking like partisans gridlocking the nomination process would force their hand into letting one of those anti-choice lawyers onto the bench. Then a year or two down the line we’ve got American women hemorrhaging around filthy clothes hangers. Yay, Jesus wins! I think if you can’t imagine how an angry, fanatical, arrogant prick with nearly limitless power can abuse it, you aren’t trying hard enough. ---
**Author:** ![BigBertha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@BigBertha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigBertha)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-palin-administration-be-like/464648/55 "2008-09-23T07:06:52Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > I don’t think she’d be an incompetent president; probably about the same as Jimmy Carter. Is this subtle humor? Seems like any oxymoron. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-palin-administration-be-like/464648/56 "2008-09-23T07:45:25Z")
> [@ASAKMOTSD](#): > > He was more of a “community organizer”, I believe. You guys are comparing loaves to fishes ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-palin-administration-be-like/464648/57 "2008-09-23T15:48:39Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > So a retired priest that was involved is just a townie? The retired priest was interviewed, I would not call that hearsay. > > As for you accepting it or not, I would care if you would also had to possibly endure her as your vice president and possibly president in the future. Canadians in discussions like this are less reliable than a “townie” 🙂 > > In any case, creationist barbie would never make any moves, until she and the religious right pressures McCain into selecting more judges to their liking that will then someday decide teaching creationism is just dandy. Then this facade of “just teaching the controversy” will turn into a bigger nightmare for American schools. The fact that she was interested in the process and whether she had the power to ban books is telling. I would never go through that thought process. She did, and it is an indication she thinks she is on gods side and should be able to do such things. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-palin-administration-be-like/464648.md?page=2)