Palin Book Report

I finished Going Rogue by Sarah Palin. I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend that you read it

The book tells the story of how she became who she is, what she’s done, and gives a convincing look behind the scenes of all of the things that happened. What brought her to the national stage and what was going on while she was on the national stage.

One of the first things I noticed in reading the book was that in the first 27 pages she mentioned twice how much she read as a kid. It must have stung the inferences from Katie Couric and the like that she is not very smart or very well informed. She goes out of her way to show, or to try to show, how well read and how well informed she is.

What she writes about politics in the campaign really rings true to me which makes me think that most of what is in the book is accurate; to be sure, it’s written to put her in the most favorable light but after the shellacking she has taken by the mainstream media and many people in her own party she deserves the opportunity to set the record straight. When I say the book rings true to me it’s because I understand politics and what goes on in political parties and how the media can be a little lopsided. What she wrote has the ring of truth to it; I’ve seen much of the same myself.

As a side note I didn’t believe the hype around Y2K, because when I read what they wrote about agriculture I knew it was untrue. I figured if they had something that basic and simple wrong the rest of their hypothesis about the impending doom associated with Y2K would be inaccurate at best. That’s why I tend to believe the things Sarah wrote in her book; those things I know about, she got right.

The biggest concern with regard to her political career is that she quit the governorship without finishing her first term. She actually lays out a convincing case for why that was the right thing to do not only for herself but also for the state of Alaska.

It was the right thing to do for her because her detractors were logging ethical complaint after ethical complaint against her and since in Alaska, members of the executive branch have to pay of their own pockets for their defense in these cases she was slowly going broke. That’s shameful. I wouldn’t want to live in a state were only a rich guy can afford to be governor.

It was best for Alaska because her administration was paralyzed by all of the people going out of their way to destroy her chances to become President of the United States. You can see how that would be the case. They were charging everybody on her staff with ethical violations for almost everything too. The staff members had to pay to defend themselves out of their own pockets also; how can you expect anyone to work under those circumstances?

So she made a tough decision, knowing full well that people just like me all over the United States would likely hold it against her if she quit, but she did it anyway because she knew it was the right thing to do for herself and her state. It’s obvious however, that she’s not giving up. She continues to be a thorn in the side of the left by using Facebook and Twitter to pick apart their bad ideas. They don’t know what to do with her. Maybe her dad was right: she is not retreating; she was reloading.

I would vote for her in a heartbeat for president. No, I don’t think she knows as much about foreign policy as John McCain or for that matter me, but I’m a nerd who reads all kinds of books and follows news sources to specifically to learn about foreign policy issues. She has shown that she makes good decisions, surrounds herself with capable people, and puts the interests of the folks ahead of self interest and even ahead of the interests of her party. I think she’d make a fine president.