Does Sarah Palin Govern in a Separate Universe? You betcha!

By Si Dunn

Call me old-fashioned, if you wish. But I don't want a lawbreaker serving as Vice President of the United States.

Especially an ethics lawbreaker.

I don't want a Vice President who can't read, either.

On Oct. 10, Alaska lawmakers issued a report declaring that Gov. Sarah Palin "violated Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act, which states, "… each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust."

According to CBS News, in a brief conference call to the press after the so-called "Troopergate" report was issued, Gov. Palin declared: ""I’m very, very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing … any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that."

Huh? Has Alaska somehow become part of a separate universe?

What part of "violated Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act" did you not understand, Gov. Palin?

Ethics violators--especially ethics violators who can't read--have no place in government: state, local or federal.

The Republicans should remove Gov. Sarah Palin from their ticket immediately and replace her with any one of several female Republican leaders who have good records on ethics and leadership.

Karl Rove has tied a very loose cannon around John McCain's neck, and the Arizona senator's campaign is sinking fast.

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Alaska Needs More Hockey Moms, So Send Sarah Palin Back Home to Wassila

By Si Dunn

At the vice presidential debate, Sarah Palin spouted Alaskan "hockey mom" platitudes fast enough to grill moose meat with her breath. And she almost set some new Guinness Book world records for the most times uttering the words "change" and "maverick" in one minute.

The fact that she didn't provide any substantive answers to the debate questions seems to have completely escaped the notice of her rabid fans in the Republican Party. She simply stared into the camera, ignored both the debate moderator and her opponent, and delivered Republican talking points as if they were minor-league sports scores.

No matter. She apparently has a new role, as the GOP's lead attack dog/sled dog. Will Karl Rove now task her to mush as many lies and half-truths as possible into the presidential campaign's final weeks?

If so, she's off to an Iditarod flying start. CBS News' Scott Conroy has reported that at a fundraiser in Denver, Sarah Palin has criticized Barack Obama as "someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country.”

Based on her shockingly thin resume, her media-interview blunders and her debate non-performance, it is fair to ask: Aren't the Republicans now palling around with ineptitude on a scale that would immediately endanger the survival of our nation if Sarah Palin becomes Vice President and sits one heartbeat away from taking over as leader of the Free World?

With all due respect, driving kids to hockey games in Wassila, Alaska, does not give someone experience to do anything except...drive kids to hockey games in Wassila, Alaska.

Alaska needs experienced hockey moms much, much more than it needs an utterly unqualified Vice President of the United States. Hopefully, voters will do our great Arctic state a huge favor and send Sarah Palin back home to Wassila next month, so she can get back to her driving.

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Sarah Palin: Will She 'Win' Just By Showing Up?

By Si Dunn

Republican operatives, deathly worried about Sarah Palin's absence of knowledge and experience in any areas vice presidential, are desperately trying to cram some complete talking points into her head, while also working feverishly to lower the bar for her "debate" against Democratic rival Joe Biden, Oct. 2.

According to some sources, the performance bar is now "on the ground" or "maybe even a couple of inches beneath the surface."

Her handlers will hail her as "The Winner!" immediately after she shows up and opens her mouth, and they will keep drumbeating that message no matter what she actually says in the debate.

The idea, of course, is to ensure hardcore conservative Republican voters continue listening to the drums and not to what their candidate actually is saying--or not managing to say in a coherent fashion.

However, if she does stumble through something about divine intervention and overturning Roe v. Wade as peachy-keen ideas for resurrecting America's economy, watch for Republican operatives to immediately release an edited quote beneath the following banner headline: "Sarah Palin Shows She's the New Spirit of St. Louis!"

Joe Biden will be the actual winner in the debate, of course. But he still won't get much respect, or attention, from his performance. All eyes will remain on Sarah Palin, waiting for something to happen to her hair, her glasses or her lipstick as she recounts how Vladimir Putin gave her important foreign policy experience just by flying over Alaska at 38,000 feet.

For the battered Republicans, their message no longer will have much resonance amid the economic wreckage they will leave the next President. So their new mantra will have to be: "All hail the (former Alaska beauty queen) messenger!"
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