Values and Truth

Sarah Palin wears a seatbelt here. If John McCain wins we'll need more than that.

by Michael Ekstract

Sarah Palin is an attractive choice for Vice President on the surface, but then again George W. Bush seemed an attractive choice for President once upon a time. If Palin were to become President, do we really deserve four more years of someone in the George W. Bush mold?

Let me explain. Sarah, like George W., is the life of the party (okay even more than George). She’s the gal we’d all much rather hang out and have a drink with. She’s fun, lively and looks great on TV.

When I look at how we admire Gov. Sarah Palin, it reminds me of how we used to admire Gov. George W. Bush. Bush, the “outsider” was gonna fix Washington. Instead, Washington (and the entire American economy) are more broken than ever.

Remember how George W. presented himself as one of us: just a good ol’ born again Christian man from Texas — deeply humble and a compassionate conservative? Of course, then he got us into a war with reckless arrogance that was anything but humble or conservative. And worse, he used lies to talk us into going along. And his “compassionate” economic policies have run up the greatest debt this country has ever seen and threaten the economic well-being of every single one of us.

You see, George W. Bush made a good beer-drinking buddy but he’s the last person you’d ever want to drive you home. And yet he’s been behind the wheel for almost eight (very long) years.

Look, not everything George W. Bush has done was bad (he is human after all — and capable of good works) but on balance are we really better off thanks to that man’s presidency?

So now we have a new, even more fun and appealing drinking buddy (and shooting buddy if you like to hunt). She’s really “one of us.” But is she really?

Actually, most of us don’t live in a place like Alaska. Most of us, while we believe in God, we think evolution should be taught in science classes. Most of us, while we abhor abortion and want to do everything we can to prevent it, we still respect a woman’s right to choose for herself whether or not to make that harrowing and painful decision. Most of us would not lie about another person to advance our own careers.

Hey, I liked Sarah Palin, too (now that she’s crossed the line with deceitful defamation of character I’ve lost a lot of respect for her.) And, I might yet enjoy a Moosehead brew with the Governor but let’s let it end there. I won’t be giving Sarah Palin the keys to my car and the rest of America shouldn’t either.