From the Canadian Press via Google News

Palin's troubles go past family, enter politics with controversial A-G pick



WASHINGTON — Sarah Palin's attempts to shake the hillbilly tag tied to
her by wary Republicans are being hamstrung by the sordid revelations of
her daughter's ex-boyfriend and her choice of an anti-gay lawyer as
Alaska's attorney general.

Far from the corridors of power on Capitol Hill, Alaskans are consumed
with the woman who is playing coy about her aspirations to run for
president in three years amid family and political theatrics that would
do Jerry Springer proud.

Palin has recently endured the teen father of her first grandchild
telling family secrets to Tyra Banks and the arrest and indictment of
her sister-in-law on break-and-enter charges.

Now she's confronted with a political storm: Wayne Anthony Ross, her
choice for attorney general, has an alleged fondness for rape jokes and
doesn't like homosexuals.

Ross, who once described gay people as "immoral degenerates," was
quizzed this week about how he would view cases involving homosexuality
as the state's top legislator.

"Let me give you an analogy - I hate lima beans," Ross told a
legislative hearing into his nomination.

"I've never liked lima beans. But if I was hired to represent the United
Vegetable Growers, would you ask me if I liked lima beans? No. If I
disliked lima beans? No. Because my job is to represent the United
Vegetable Growers."

A letter from Leah Burton, a lobbyist on children's issues and domestic
violence, has caused an uproar, hogging headlines and infuriating some
of Alaska's most outspoken bloggers, who play a critical role in
reporting politics in the remote and far-flung state.

Burton alleges that in 1991, she heard Ross say at a public meeting that
domestic violence "wouldn't be an issue if women would learn to keep
their mouth shut."

At the hearing, Ross denied uttering that statement, and also denied
making the suggestion in the same conversation that it was acceptable
for a man to rape his wife.

"That's a bunch of crap," Ross told the hearing.

On Tuesday, there was more bad news as the Huffington Post obtained a
1991 column written by Ross in defence of a statue of a KKK figure as an
expression of free speech on a college campus.

Rumours were swirling in Alaska on Tuesday that Palin, who was John
McCain's vice-presidential running mate in last year's U.S. election,
would soon withdraw Ross's name from consideration to save face.

A vote on Ross's nomination was scheduled to be held on Thursday.

The damning headlines come just as Levi Johnston, the strapping teen who
stood holding a pregnant Bristol Palin's hand at various campaign events
last fall, ends a round of high-profile television interviews that
angered the woman once poised to become his mother-in-law.

He told Banks he lived in the governor's mansion in Wasilla for two
months during Bristol Palin's pregnancy.

Johnston also said he was quite certain the governor, a proponent of
abstinence-only sex education in schools, was aware the teen couple had
been sexually active.

In the aftermath of his interviews, Palin issued a statement calling
Johnston a liar and suggested he didn't care about his infant son, Tripp
- a firebomb that only served to reignite the story for a few more news
cycles.

On Monday, the governor's family troubles continued as Diana Palin,
half-sister of "First Dude" Todd Palin, was indicted on burglary, theft
and trespass charges for three break-ins at a home in Wasilla.

The burglar was apprehended by the homeowner as she headed to the
cabinet from where his stash of cash kept mysteriously disappearing. The
suspect's four-year-old daughter walked into the home as she was being
detained.

Despite the drama, Palin remains the darling of the Republicans' social
conservative base. There's still an active and well-organized "Palin in
2012" movement among the party's social conservatives, even as Alaska
Republicans gripe that she's missing in action in her own state.

Many leaders in the Republican-dominated Alaska legislature are publicly
complaining about the Palin administration's failure to support even its
own bills.

Bill Stoltze has been pushing a bill requiring parental consent for
minors seeking abortions. The measure is something Palin has
consistently said is on high priority for the current legislative session.

But when the bill came before Stoltze's committee, no one from the
administration was there to support it or answer questions.

"I can't explain their not even being in the room; that baffles me,"
Stoltze said recently. "This is supposedly a top administration priority."

Copyright © 2009 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.


*Absolutely Delightful...the Right Wing of the GOP Continues to Sink in
a Pile of Crap of Its Own Creation*




Words from rec.boat's resident racist:
--
"John H" wrote in message
...

Please note that Interstate 90 will be closed this weekend across
South Dakota. This closure will allow the Federal Government free
access to haul a 200 ton piece of coal to Mt. Rushmore so that
President Obama can be added to the Presidents on the monument.
--
John H

--

I like Ross
JR


HK wrote:
From the Canadian Press via Google News


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Home Page: http://www.seanet.com/~jasonrnorth