The Myth of Sarah Palin

Everyone knows that Fox is biased. It’s been well-documented by many people over many years. But I came across an example of this bias, and thought I would use it as a jumping off point to talk just a little bit more about Sarah Palin. I found an article on foxnews.com, titled “Top 7 Myths, Lies and Untruths About Sarah Palin.”

First of all: Seven?? What the hell happened to top TEN? It was clearly very hard for them to come up with even 7 things they could purport to be elusive and pervasive myths about Palin, never mind 10. In this post I go myth-by-myth and discuss how the assessment of the point even being a myth is mostly dubious, and that Fox, and writer of the article Maxim Lott (is it just me or is that a fake name?), are greatly skewing the presentation of facts to make Palin look like she is besieged by erroneous allegations and unjust criticism. Furthermore, this list belays deeply flawed stances by Palin.

Also, I searched for quite some time through fox's database, and was not able to find one article in all the months of this election, since the primaries, which attempt to debunk any of the far more prevalent and harmful myths about Barrack Obama, that have been circulated not just by internet blogs, but by major news media outlets. Palin's been on the national scene like a minute, and already her suposedly besmirched character is deserving of an article to debunk misrepresentations? But Obama's never been in need of that aparently.

1) Palin “Joined a Secessionist Political Party”
The Charge: Unsubstantiated Internet reports insisted Palin was once a member of the Alaska Independence Party, which critics call a secessionist political movement and supporters say is dedicated to seeking greater state control over federal lands across Alaska.
The Facts: Palin has been a registered Republican since 1982. There is no record of her ever being a member of the AIP, or any party but the GOP. Palin’s husband has been a member of the AIP in the past, but since 2002 has been a registered independent.

The inclusion of this “myth” exemplifies Fox’s biased attempt to marginalize criticism or scandal of Palin. This was not some internet fabrication, it was Lynnette Clark, chairwoman of the AIP, who said that Palin was a member in the first place. She then promptly retracted her statement, and blamed the confusion on a source she declined to identify. How convenient. Now, would I assert she definitely was a member of this party? No. I don’t think that can be known. But clearly the facts presented by Palin are dubious.

Especially when considered in the context of the fact that her husband was a member of the party, and that she attended the party’s 1994 and 2006 conventions and provided a video-taped address as governor to the 2008 convention. As Jack Tapper of ABC pointed out, the convention of a party whose motto is: “Alaska First -- Alaska Always,” falls in diametric opposition to the motto of the convention Palin also recently spoke at: “Country First.” I’m not saying she believes Alaska should secede (who knows what she realy believes), I’m saying she clearly associated with the AIP, is now trying to hide that, and Fox’s assessment of this fact as myth is disingenuous, to say the least.

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2) Palin Supported a “Nazi Sympathizer”
The Charge: “Palin was a supporter of Pat Buchanan, a right-winger or, as many Jews call him: a Nazi sympathizer,” Obama Florida spokesman Mark Bubriski was quoted as saying in a Miami Herald article.
The Facts: While mayor of Wasilla, Palin wore a Buchanan button during the sometimes presidential candidate’s 1999 visit. But Palin actually supported Steve Forbes in 2000, and served as a co-chair on his Alaska campaign.

I cant say I’ve heard this “myth” bandied about recklessly (or at all) on major media outlets (like say that Obama is a Muslim or terrorist sympathizer). This seems like a trumped up accusation, in order to create a larger list of myths to make it appear that Palin has just been inundated by lies that threaten to ruin her VP bid. What Fox did not explain was that one person, Democratic Congressman Robert Wexler (again, not some anonymous slandering blogger) said that McCain’s choice was offensive to Jews, because Palin supported Pat Buchanan, who Wexler claimed was a “nazi sympathizer.” First of all, Pat Buchanan is not a Nazi sympathizer. He’s a prick. The two are easily confused.

More importantly, clearly the inference is that she has some relationship to Nazi sympathy, by saying that she is sympathetic to Nazi sympathy. This is ridiculous. No one thinks this about her; mostly because there is no true correlation between Buchanan and Nazi sympathizing. But also because I believe her that, like many officials, they are gracious to whatever candidate is in their city at the time of an election. This is a stupid myth that no one believes, and Wexler is an idiot for trying to attack her on that basis.
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3) Palin “Wants Creationism Taught in School”
The Charge: Palin opposes the teaching of evolution, and would mandate the teaching of creationism in the state’s public schools.
The Facts: Palin said during her 2006 gubernatorial campaign that she would not push the state Board of Education to add creation-based alternatives to the state’s required curriculum, or look for creationism advocates when she appointed board members. She has kept this pledge, according to the Associated Press.

Fair enough clarification; but thats all. I’ve heard this repeated a few times. However, it certainly was not some imminently damning scandal. And more importantly, clarifying the policy stance of a hardly known VP candidate, does not rise to the level of "myth." It's not unfair to think with her beleifs that she might support this. If she’s running for office and says she wont push for creationism, and has a record to back it up, I don’t have a reason not to believe her- and I cant imagine a McCain administration that would bother to make this an issue, since he realy just doesnt care. Now, if he died, and she came to power, thats another story. Who knows how her opinion might change.

However, what is more relevant about this is that although she may not push for Creationist curriculum, she still believes in it, and does not believe in evolution. I’m sure in this age of really only the beginning of the boom of bio-technologies, her perspective on science will prove most perspicacious in helping to fund and support the next generation of American technological exports. (And John McCain does believe in evolution.)
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4) Palin “Was Nearly Recalled” While Mayor
The Charge: Palin was so controversial as mayor of Wasilla that she was almost recalled by a popular voter movement.
The Facts: The Wasilla City Council considered but never took up a recall motion after she fired a longtime police chief, who subsequently brought a lawsuit. A citizen’s group dropped their recall bid, and a judge ruled Palin had the authority to fire the chief.

I could see Democrats trying to trump up some scandal that she was nearly recalled from office. Again, though, they would be profoundly stupid, since the facts are so well-documented that she was cleared of any wrong-doing and no official recall proceedings were filed.
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5) Palin “Opposes Sex Education”
The Charge: Palin opponents say she supported the end of all sex education in public schools. In light of her daughter’s presumably unplanned teen pregnancy, this has been a particularly well discussed Internet topic.
The Facts: “The explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support,” Palin wrote in a 2006 questionnaire distributed among gubernatorial candidates. Palin favors abstinence-based sex education programs.

So let me get this straight. She’s not opposed to Sex Education, only to sex education that encourages kids to have sex? And by that she means, all sex education programs that don’t teach only abstinence. And since Sex Ed classes don’t teach only abstinence, therefore she opposes……Sex Education. This is circuitous, evasive logic if it came from a political camp’s rep, but to come as objective journalism from a media organization is just blatant bias.

That’s like saying: “I’m not opposed to the Seat Belt Law, I just support a Seat Belt Law that says you do not have to wear a fabric apparatus around your abdomen while driving.” Once again, this is not some absurd myth like “the Government has an earthquake machine” (that’s a real conspiracy, by the way). This “myth” is only untrue if you pose the statement as “Oppose Sex Education.” If you say “Palin only supports Abstinence-Only Sex Education and opposes any other form of sex education,” then you would be correct.

So lets get into the specifics, of why Palin’s stance, which is not a myth, is so damning. “According to Columbia University researchers, virginity pledge programs increase pledge-takers’ risk for STIs and pregnancy. The study concluded that 88 percent of pledge-takers initiated sex prior to marriage even though some delayed sex for a while. Rates of STIs among pledge-takers and non-pledgers were similar, even though pledge-takers initiated sex later. Pledge-takers were less likely to seek STI testing and less likely to use contraception when they did have sex.”

“Evaluations of the effectiveness of state-funded abstinence-only-until-marriage programs found no delay in first sex. In fact, of six evaluations that assessed short-term changes in behavior, three found no changes, two found increased sexual activity from pre- to post-test, and one showed mixed results. Five evaluations looked for but found no long-term impact in reducing teens’ sexual activity.”

“Analysis of federally funded abstinence-only curricula found that over 80 percent of curricula supported by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services contained false, misleading, or distorted information about reproductive health. Specifically, they conveyed: False information about the effectiveness of contraceptives; False information about the risks of abortion; Religious beliefs as scientific fact; Stereotypes about boys and girls as scientific fact; and Medical and scientific errors of fact,”
- http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/factsheet/fssexcur.htm

“When a reporter asked McCain whether he thought contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV, he replied: "You've stumped me." McCain said later that he was sure he opposed government spending on contraceptives. Asked whether he would oppose condom distribution if he knew that condoms stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, McCain said he had never gotten into those issues before.”
- http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080902/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_mccain_teen_pregnancies

McCain talks about Education Reform, but he clearly doesn’t have any thoughts on any of the pressing issues that surround it. And even though I think Obama was wise to say that people’s families should be left out of the debate, and the campaign should stick to the issues, that doesn’t mean that I as a voter should restrain myself from the personal context of the candidate, and how that relates to their policy. In fact, that’s the entire Republican strategy: sell character over substance, and smear the character of the opponent.

So, much as the official policy of Obama’s campaign should be to avoid this glaring fact, I can glibly point it out all day: Palin is opposed to sex education; I wonder if that’s how she ended up with an 18 year old daughter that’s knocked up? Or as Bill Maher pointed out, I think most insightfully, I wonder what the Republicans or the press would be saying if it was Obama who had an 18 year old daughter who was pregnant, and the father wasn’t some self-labeled “red-neck” that likes “shootin shit” and “doesn’t want kids” (as he said on his myspace page), but the father was some black, thug equivalent.

The republicans and the media would crucify him. So don’t give me this ‘the liberal media’ bullshit. When she was first chosen the media was salivating over the scandal that McCain chose an unqualified nobody, cause that was the salacious story, and when she made one good speech (that she didn’t write), the media deemed her the “future of the party” and has praised her every move. The overal mainstream media is not biased, they are gossip-mongering, attention whores. Theres a diference.
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6) “This Picture Proves Palin is …”
The Charge: A slew of fake, Photoshopped or misdated photographs on the Internet purport to show Palin in any number of embarrassing or compromising poses. One photo claimed to show Palin standing poolside, wearing an American flag-themed bikini, toting a rifle with telescopic sight.
The Facts: The various photos are being discredited and shown to be fake on a number of Web sites. The original of the so-called bikini shot, probably the best-known of the pictures, was shown to have been taken of another woman, with Palin’s head Photoshopped above the body.

Yet another trumped up myth. Fine, who cares, you’re right, the photos are fake. So are all the other random photoshoped images of Obama, McCain, Bush, Clinton, etc. that are all around the internet. I fail to see why her fake photos are of mythic proportion while other public official’s are not. And its not exactly major media outlets that are showing them around. However it was CNN, MSNBC, FOX, NBC, ABC, CBS, TIME, NEWSWEEK, and just about every website there is that pedaled the picture of Obama in Muslim garb with the caption: “IS OBAMA A MUSLIM?”

PS. The photos of Palin are fuckin hilarious
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7) Palin is the grandmother, and not the mother, of Trig Palin
The Charge: The most salacious rumor of all, this theory holds that Palin did not give birth to her son Trig in April, and was actually covering up for her daughter, Bristol.
The Facts: There are a number of photographs showing an apparently pregnant Sarah Palin, as well as a number of published eyewitness accounts of her pregnancy. These include First Lady Laura Bush, who says she spoke with a pregnant Palin at a governor’s conference in February. An assignment manager for KTVA news in Anchorage, Cherie Shirey, has also been quoted saying: “We worked with Governor Palin many times in 2008. Our reporters worked her on location and in the studio and I worked with her myself. She was definitely pregnant. You could see it in her belly and her face. The whole idea that Sarah Palin wasn’t pregnant with Trig is completely, absolutely absurd.”

I’ll admit this is a myth that’s gotten spread around a lot that needs de-bunking (that makes exactly 2 out of 7, by the way). And again, she’s been in the public eye for like a week, and already this absurd myth has been debunked by all media outlets, and all parties. No one thinks this is true except internet conspiracy gossips, and morons.
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Across the board, its clear that Sarah Palin’s coronation as the future of the party, and embracement by conservatives is due to the fact that frankly, they are desperate. They so want to be as energized as the Democrats are about Obama, that they are willing to suspend critical logic, in order to passionately back Palin, if they cant passionately get behind McCain (which they can’t). Whether it’s the fact that James Dobson, who for thirty years has spoken out against women going off to the workplace, and leaving their children at home, now championing Palin for the fact that she is doing this; or the fact that Palin once said she didn’t “know much about Iraq.”

She has no foreign policy knowledge (but somehow she supposedly is equal to Obama's seat on the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations), and the only thing she has said is that she supports the troops and supports the failed foreign policies of Bush, as well as the disastrous invasion of Iraq. The surge has clearly worked, but political reconciliation and progress is fragile at best. And the entire point of the surge was to create peace in order for that to occur.

She's exploited her daughter, daughter's boyfriend, and their pregnancy as some triumph of conservative compassion, while attacking democrats for discussing her personal life.

Or how about the fact that she doesnt even have a masters degree, and didnt go to a great college. Or that the Republicans are trying to pretend that her mayorship and the fact that she has been governor for 2 years is an equivalent to Obama's decade as a state senator and almost 4 years as US senator.

Never mind the fact that McCain has changed his opinion on: Bush’s tax policy, going from against it to for it; Bush’s policy on drilling for oil domestically, going from against it to for it; immigration, going from FOR his own bill to AGAINST HIS OWN BILL.

So on every major issue (except Iraq, which he has remained consistent on): Economy, Energy, and Immigration, he has flip-flopped his position, and aligned himself with Bush- though he purports to be a drastic departure from Bush.

He supports Bush’s failed No Child Left Behind, he has nothing to say on Sex Education reform, and has chosen a VP who does not believe in Evolution- Same as Bush.

Palin is Pro-Life, and so is McCain, though apparently he really wanted to choose Joe Lieberman as his running mate (which I believe is true), who is pro-choice. I believe that he chose her because he was pandering to the religious right, hoping to energize the conservative base to come out for him the way they came out for Bush.

Even on the Environment, McCain and Palin will admit Global Warming is real, but are against capping corporate carbon emissions, and Palin has said publically that humans have nothing to do with Global Warming, and that it’s a total natural phenomenon. Another example of how anti-science/anti-intellectualism is pervasive in the Republican culture- stemming from the religious base

Compound all of these poor stances on issues with the fact that McCain voted 91% percent of the time with Bush, exactly what qualifies him to even run on a reformist, ‘maverick;’ platform? And Palin agrees with John McCain, so she’s the exact same as him. That she is “Change” is the true ‘Myth, Lie and Untruth About Sarah Palin.’

Democrats, campaign surrogates, liberal columnists and bloggers need to stop fighting Sarah Palin in terms of these ridiculous angles, like she’s too busy with her family and shouldn’t be running. No one says Obama is too busy with his kids to run for office. Its sexist, and never mind absurd. She’ll have an entire paid staff to help her with her kids, as well as having a husband who can stay at home and help them.

Or trying to attack her for someone she fired in Alaska a couple years ago, or only that she is unqualified, or that evangelicals can be hipocritical in their social stances. Getting derisive towards religion or condescending the fact that she is a woman is very dangerous for the Democrats. Liberals just paint themselves into illogical, hypocritical boxes by getting so angry at Palin that they throw any attack they can muster at her, and let the Republicans take up feminist issues in a way they haven’t ever been able to do with any authority. McCain/Palin can be beat. Not because there is some shortcut scandal or character flaw that can be exploited through the media to smear them. But because their ideas are inferior, their accomplishments are diminished, their policies are failed, and their philosophies are fundamentally flawed.