Republican presidential nominee John McCain today ( Friday, August 29 ) announced that he has selected Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his vice-presidential running mate.
While the choice of Palin seems almost certainly an attempt to draw women voters from the ranks of Democrats –particularly those who initially supported Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination—it seems a hard sell, at least at initial glance. Palin experience includes only two years as governor of one of the least populated states in the country and ten years as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, a city of only about 5,000 people.
In her run for the governorship in 2006, the Anchorage Daily News reported that Palin supported a constitutional amendment to the state constitution in 1998 to ban same-sex marriage and, later, supported putting a measure on the ballot that sought to ban benefits for the same-sex partners of state employees. But, according to the Daily News, she vetoed a bill that sought to block those benefits to gay state employees and she has said she has good friends who are gay.
Unlike her predecessor in the governor's office, Palin complied with a state supreme court order that the state government give the partners of state gay employees the same benefits as the spouses of straight employees. In doing so, she noted that the state felt it had 'no more judicial options to pursue,' in not providing benefits.
'We may disagree with the foundation [ of the court decision ] ,' she said, ' … but our responsibility is to proceed forward with the law and abide by the constitution.'
Palin, 44, is the first woman to be nominated on the Republican ticket. Palin was also a runner-up in the 1984 Miss Alaska contest and point guard on her high school women's basketball team the year it won the state championship.
'A real test of a presidential candidate's judgment is his choice of a running mate—the person who is next in line to become the Commander in Chief,' said openly lesbian U.S. Rep, Tammy Baldwin. 'As we face serious global challenges and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, John McCain has chosen someone with virtually no national security or foreign policy experience. This choice calls into question both Sen. McCain's judgment and a McCain administration's ability to lead a nation in crisis. To the extent that this choice represents an effort to court supporters of Hillary Clinton's historic candidacy, McCain misjudges the reasons so many voters rallied around her candidacy. It was Senator Clinton's experience, skill and commitment to change, especially in the areas of health care and energy policy, that drew such strong support. Sarah Palin's opposition to Roe v. Wade and her support of big oil will not draw Democrats from the Obama-Biden ticket.'
Log Cabin President Patrick Sammon made the following statement about Sen. McCain's selection: 'Alaska Governor Sarah Palin can help Sen. McCain win this election by appealing to independent and young voters. She's a mainstream Republican who will unite the party and serve John McCain well as vice president. Gov. Palin is an inclusive Republican who will help Sen. McCain appeal to gay and lesbian voters.'
'America may not know much about Sarah Palin, but based on what our community has seen of her, we know enough,' said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. 'Sarah Palin not only supported the 1998 Alaska constitutional amendment banning marriage equality but, in her less than two years as governor, even expressed the extreme position of supporting stripping away domestic partner benefits for state workers. When you can't even support giving our community the rights to health insurance and pension benefits, it's a frightening window into where she stands on equality.'
Palin will be honored along with anti-gay Rep. Michelle Bachman, R-Minn., at an event at the Republican Convention, the 'Life of the Party,' sponsored in part by long-time anti-gay activist Phyllis Schlafly of Illinois.
"Senators Obama and Biden offer a clear contrast to the failed policies promoted by Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin," said Jon Hoadley, executive director of the Stonewall Democrats. "The choice of a governor mired in charges of personal corruption has even shocked the people of Alaska, and it should shake the conscious of our country. Sen. McCain has proven himself aloof, unresponsive, and out of touch with the problems facing America. This breathtakingly poor choice--among many poor choices---demonstrates that he does not possess the sound judgment to lead our country."
©2008 Keen News Service
