The Palin picture is getting clearer:
1. This was a pure base-pandering choice. There were lots of non-joke candidates available, including women, but none who would please the Family Research Council and the Club for Growth.
2. In particuar, the anti-abortion extremists — the people who wouldn’t allow an exception for rape victims — are ecstatic about the choice: Gary Bauer says “I believe we now have the most pro-life ticket in history running on the most pro-life platform in history.”
3. “Porkbuster”? Not so much. Turns out she was an enthusiastic supporter of the “Bridge to Nowhere” as long as it was on the Feds’ dime. She just didn’t want to pay for it out of her budget.
From a Q&A when she was running for Governor:
5. Would you continue state funding for the proposed Knik Arm and Gravina Island bridges?
Yes. I would like to see Alaska’s infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later. The window is now–while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist.
Here was her comment when the project was finally allowed to die:
“It’s clear that Congress has little interest in spending any more money on a bridge between Ketchikan and Gravina Island,” Palin said.
“Much of the public’s attitude toward Alaska bridges is based on inaccurate portrayals of the projects here,” Palin said. “But we need to focus on what we can do, rather than fight over what has happened.”
So the claim that Palin is “anti-pork” is a flat lie.
4. Palin supported Pat Buchanan in 1999. Buchanan, if you haven’t been paying attention, blames Churchill for World War II and thinks that the U.S. should have stayed out.
5. Gregg Erickson of the Anchorage Daily News sums up his governor’s strengths and weaknesses:
She is smart, vivacious and energetic; she tends to oversimplify complex issues, has had difficulty delegating authority, and clearly has difficulty distinguishing the line between her public responsibilities and private wishes.
Update Naturally, the AP just prints the RNC press release, gushing that “McCain picked an independent figure in his own mold,” and mentioning that Palin killed the Bridge to Nowhere whethout mentioning that she was for it before she was against it.