Alert to all those spreading anti-Palin slurs and smears on the internet and in national magazines, newspapers, and television shows: She does not support: creationism, book banning in libraries and Jews for Jesus. She did not name her children after witches or pass her daughter's baby off as her own, nor does she speak in tongues.
She believes man may be responsible in part for climate change. But wait there is more. To the consternation of those who have roundly attacked her as some Alaskan hillbilly and religious fanatic straight out of an Erskine Caldwell book, she actually governed from the center -- which conforms quite well with John McCain's approach in many areas. As this picture emerges from the miasma of partisan attacks, hopefully more independents will continue their onrushing migration to support the McCain/Palin ticket.
Weeks after taking office as Alaska's governor in December 2006, Sarah Palin vetoed a bill that sought to ban benefits for the same-sex partners of state workers. It was unconstitutional, she said.
This year, she rebuffed religious conservatives who wanted her to add two abortion restriction measures to a special legislative session on oil and gas policy, even though she supported the bills. Former aide Larry Persily said she didn't want to risk offending Democrats, whose votes she needed on energy legislation.
But in her 21 months as governor, Palin has taken few steps to advance culturally conservative causes. Instead, after she knocked off an incumbent amid an influence-peddling scandal linked to the oil industry, Palin pursued a populist agenda that toughened ethics rules and raised taxes on oil and gas companies. And she did so while relying on Democratic votes in the Legislature.
"She has governed from the center," says Rebecca Braun, author of Alaska Budget Report, a non-partisan political newsletter. "She has in some small ways supported her religious views — for example, proposing money to continue the office of faith-based and community initiatives — but she has actually been conspicuously absent on social issues. She came in with a big oil and gas agenda, which really required Democratic allies to get through."
John Bitney, who was Palin's issues adviser during the 2006 campaign and later worked as her legislative liaison before she fired him, says, "She's a very devout Christian. That's a part of her core. But we never put those issues forward in the campaign. She takes the positions she takes because that's who she is, but when she came into office, that wasn't her agenda."
Hopefully, Democrats and independents will rememebr John Kennedy's views of his Catholic religion and its role in his actions as a political leader. The two are separate spheres that are not joined.
USA today has the largest circulation base of any paper in the nation. Hopefully, the truth will begin winning out.
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