To make an informed choice you must be informed. Here’s to understanding Sarah Palin ...

On Choice and “Women’s” Issues

The candidates were pressed on their stances on abortion and were even asked what they would do if their own daughters were raped and became pregnant.
Palin said she would support abortion only if the mother’s life was in danger. When it came to her daughter, she said, “I would choose life.”
Anchorage Daily News 10/3/2006
I am pro-life and I believe that marriage should only be between and man and a woman. I am opposed to any expansion of gambling in Alaska.
Source: Campaign website, www.palinforgovernor.com, “Issues” Nov 7, 2006
Sarah Palin’s latest explanation for why she fired Walt Monegan is that he had gone over her head in seeking federal money for an initiative to combat sexual assault crimes, before she had approved the program. According to Peggy Brown, who heads the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Monegan wanted to use the federal money to hire retired troopers and law enforcement officials, and assign them to investigate the most egregious cases of sexual assault -- including those against children. In other words, if Palin’s new story is true, she fired Monegan for being too aggressive in going after child molesters.
ABC News 9/15/2008
TPM 9/16/2008
Her positions on social issues emerged slowly during the campaign: on abortion (should be banned for anything other than saving the life of the mother), stem cell research (opposed), physician-assisted suicide (opposed), creationism (should be discussed in schools), state health benefits for same-sex partners (opposed, and supports a constitutional amendment to bar them).
Anchorage Daily News 11/5/2006
[Curtis Smith, spokesman for the Palin] said Palin is opposed to abortion ...“She doesn’t make exception for rape and incest, only for health of the mother,” he said.
Juneau Empire 10/19/2006

On Science (Evolution, Stem Cells, ...)

The volatile issue of teaching creation science in public schools popped up in the Alaska governor’s race this week when Republican Sarah Palin said she thinks creationism should be taught alongside evolution in the state’s public classrooms.
“Teach both. You know, don’t be afraid of information. Healthy debate is so important, and it’s so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both.”
Anchorage Daily News 10/27/2006
Her positions on social issues emerged slowly during the campaign: on abortion (should be banned for anything other than saving the life of the mother), stem cell research (opposed), physician-assisted suicide (opposed), creationism (should be discussed in schools), state health benefits for same-sex partners (opposed, and supports a constitutional amendment to bar them).
Anchorage Daily News 11/5/2006

On the environment

Ms. Palin opposed Mr. McCain on one of the most prominent Alaskan issues: She supports drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Mr. McCain opposes it, much to the consternation of some Republicans. Mr. McCain’s environmental policy accepts that global warming is driven by pollution; Ms. Palin has said she is not convinced.
New York Times 8/30/2008
In May, Palin said she would sue the federal government after it declared polar bears an endangered species. Here’s what the Anchorage Daily News reported:
She and other Alaska elected officials fear a listing will cripple oil and gas development in prime polar bear habitat off the state’s northern and northwestern coasts...

Climate models that predict continued loss of sea ice, the main habitat of polar bears, during summers are unreliable, Palin said.

The announcement drew a strong response...

“She’s either grossly misinformed or intentionally misleading, and both are unbecoming,” said Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity. ...

“Even the Bush administration can’t deny the reality of global warming,” she said. “The governor is aligning herself and the state of Alaska with the most discredited, fringe, extreme viewpoints by denying this.”
Boston.com 8/29/2008

Controversies

Book Censorship
Back in 1996, when she first became mayor, Sarah Palin asked the city librarian if she would be all right with censoring library books should she be asked to do so.
According to news coverage at the time, the librarian said she would definitely not be all right with it. A few months later, the librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, got a letter from Palin telling her she was going to be fired.

Anchorage Daily News 9/4/2008
YouTube ABC News story
Charging rape victims for police test
[Former Alaska Governor] Knowles broke new ground while answering a reporter’s question on whether Wasilla forced rape victims to pay for their own forensic tests when Palin was mayor.

True, Knowles said.

Boston Herald 9/11/2008
“Trooper-gate”
State investigators are looking into the sudden dismissal of Alaska’s former Department of Public Safety Commissioner, and whether a divorce and custody battle between Gov. Palin’s sister and a state trooper, was behind it.

Gov. Sarah Palin is trying to find out what the Legislature’s special investigator might discover as he probes her firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.

Anchorage Daily News archives
Per Diem, Travel Expenses
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin used a government “per diem” allowance to charge the state for more than 300 nights spent at home and spent another $43,490 on travel for her children and husband.

Washington Post 9/9/2008
Abuse of Power
“Throughout her political career, she has pursued vendettas, fired officials who crossed her and sometimes blurred the line between government and personal grievance ...”

New York Times 9/13/2008
Openness or Closed Government
“While Ms. Palin took office promising a more open government, her administration has battled to keep information secret. Her inner circle discussed the benefit of using private e-mail addresses. An assistant told her it appeared that such e-mail messages sent to a private address on a “personal device” like a BlackBerry “would be confidential and not subject to subpoena.”

New York Times 9/13/2008
Changed view on Global Warming
“Palin Flip-Flops on Whether Global Warming Has Man-Made Causes; Falsely Claims She Never Suggested Otherwise”

ABC News 9/12/2008
Changed view on “Bridge to Nowhere”
“Palin touts stance on ‘Bridge to Nowhere,’ doesn’t note flip-flop”
Anchorage Daily News 8/31/2008