12 New Stomach-Turning Revelations About Sarah Palin

By AlterNet Staff, AlterNet. Posted October 10, 2008.

Sarah Palin has had a lot of ups and downs in her time in the national spotlight. When she was first nominated, the Alaska governor exceeded expectations by successfully reading from a teleprompter at the Republican National Convention. Then, she sat down with CBS's Katie Couric to disastrous results -- disastrous, hilarious or downright frightening, given your point of view. Any way you look at it, Palin's awful interview with Couric set the bar so low that her embarrassing performance at the vice presidential debate, where she refused to answer the questions and flirtatiously winked at the camera, was deemed a success by many commentators in the corporate media. At least she didn't vomit on stage, seemed to be the general consensus.

Since the debate, though, Sarah Palin has dropped to new lows. She has maliciously gone after Barack Obama, using hate speech, dog whistles and every inexcusable attack in the book.

But no matter how ridiculous or sensational Palin's attacks on Obama are, her venomous words cannot hide all the skeletons that keep pouring out of her unvetted closet. And these are the things that should give the American public cause for concern.

1. Palin's Fearmongering Attacks on Obama

Palin's attacks on Barack Obama over the past week have been sickening. She has questioned his patriotism and manufactured a bogus association to terrorism. Her hateful rhetoric goes far beyond dirty politics.

Palin is a "demagogue in a skirt," says Susie Hoeller of the Huffington Post.

"Webster's Dictionary defines a demagogue as 'a leader who obtains power by means of impassioned appeals to the emotions and prejudices of the populace,'" Hoeller writes. "Governor Palin, in her stump speeches this week, fits this dictionary definition."

The McCain-Palin campaign has said that it does not condone the use of Obama's full name, but given that almost everyone who introduces either McCain or Palin at their official rallies is doing just that, many are wondering if it may be an order straight from the campaign.

Jeffrey Feldman goes even further, asking of Palin's recent hate speech, "Is Palin Trying to Incite Violence Against Obama?":

Palin's new rhetorical strategy signifies an alarming new development in the 2008 presidential election, and one that has been not only been documented by such high-profile newspapers as the Washington Post, but confirmed by the McCain campaign itself.

"It's a dangerous road, but we have no choice," a top McCain strategist recently admitted to the Daily News. "If we keep talking about the economic crisis, we're going to lose."

2. Palin Lied About Darfur

During the vice presidential debates, Palin claimed to have helped spearhead a measure protesting genocide in Darfur:

When I and others in the Legislature found out we had some millions of dollars in Sudan ... we called for divestment through legislation of those dollars to make sure we weren't doing anything that would be seen as condoning the activities there in Darfur.

That's a noble stand to take. Too bad Palin wasn't the one who took it. Palin's administration publicly opposed the bipartisan effort to divest Alaskan holdings from Sudan. According to the Washington Post:

During a committee hearing in February, a Palin administration representative, deputy revenue commissioner Brian Andrews, testified against the legislation on the grounds that it would do nothing to help "the afflicted in Sudan," and would add to the fund's administrative costs.

Palin officially changed her position in April. But by that time, the bill had died in committee.

3. Sarah Palin Hearts Dick Cheney

During one of her sit-downs with Katie Couric, Palin was asked to name the best and worst things that she thinks Dick Cheney has done as vice president:

Worst thing I guess that would have been the duck-hunting accident -- where you know, that was an accident. And I think that was made into a caricature of him. And that was kind of unfortunate.

Kind of unfortunate? He blew a friend's face off. But that is not the worst thing that Dick Cheney has done while in office, which is saying something. When shooting your friend in the face is low on your list of the worst things you've done, you know you're in trouble.

See more stories tagged with: debate, election 2008, palin, troopergate

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