Loading ...“Troopergate” And “Preggergate” Aside — What Are The Palins REALLY About?
In the midst of this controversy swirling around the Veepstakes pick of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin by Republican presidential candidate Señor Juan Sidney McCain of Arizona Panama (Source: Huffington Post), it occured to me there is an almost 100% chance only myself and my “baby brother” share the distinction of having attended school with both Palins: Sarah and her “First Dude“, Todd.
Since my “baby brother” doesn’t have a website and I do — after lots of thought on the subject, I arrived at the conclusion I might be able to offer a unique perspective nobody else might be able to offer; the perspective of a former classmate of both Palins. And yeah, it’s true — that’s really my picture in the sidebar and it is a FACT former classmates of mine from both Wasilla and Glennallen Alaska do, indeed, read this blog, and if I were “B.S.’ing”, they’d be quick to weigh in on it in the comments sections, or worse — via private telephone call or email.
That said, the criticisms of the Palin pick run anywhere from “Troopergate” (Source: Talking Points Memo), to “Preggergate” (Source: Andrew Sullivan of The Daily Dish), to anything and everything in between. And hey, I’ll be the very FIRST one to say it’s fair game — after all, there is a great chance she’ll be our vice president and perhaps, even LIKELY (considering Señor J. Sidney McCain’s VERY old age), our president soon enough, should the McCain-Palin ticket prevail. Let the truth, whatever it may be, be known, I say. But, for the most part, I’ll be staying out of the “Palin-bashing” game going on in the Blogospheres and the Internets.
With all of the above being considered, allow me to finally o-pine from that standpoint, which surely, at the VERY least, nobody with a well-read blog can o-pine from…
My Middleschool Classmate, Sara Heath, Now Sarah Palin, Of Course (Wasilla Junior High School, Wasilla, Alaska):
What can I say — we’re talking about the seventh and eight grade here. People change, right? HOWEVER; numerous studies show our lifelong personalities are fairly well developed long before middleschool. What do I remember about Sarah back then? First thoughts to come to mind is she was hot back then too, coming from this “Elder Generation X-Er” brain. I had a schoolboy crush not only on her, but her sister Heather, too. My younger brother shared my attraction for Sarah Heath (Palin) as well — he excitedly called me a few days ago and we both laughed about this. Sarah was VERY studious and very friendly but not outgoing back then. She stayed to herself in the middle of the classroom, didn’t raise her hand but would answer questions when called upon and wouldn’t hesitate to help a fellow classmate out. I would say she was probably a “perfect” middleschool student. On the other hand, to be fair — her parents were both teachers at the same school, too. And that could make a difference, to be as unbiased as possible.
Sarah wasn’t my “friend”, she was just friendly. Quiet, yet approachable. Definitely NOT “stuck up” like the other girls her age who were also Blessed with her good looks. I was scared to death back then to strike up a conversation with the prettiest girls in our school but NEVER felt any such reservations when it came to Sarah Heath. On the handful of occasions I did approach her for a conversation, in my mind’s eye, I see a pretty, bespectacled girl peering up from her studies with a friendly smile — not “flirtacious” in any way, just FRIENDLY. Things may have changed later on, but Sarah was never, in the two years I attended school with her, one of the “popular babes”. She didn’t hang with the “popular babe” club; she simply seemed to be trying to be as studious as possible and trying to be as serious as she could be about LEARNING. Period.
“The First Dude” — My Highschool Classmate, Todd Palin (Glennallen High School, Glennallen Alaska):
I didn’t like Todd Palin very much; not HIS fault, but my own. I highly suspect the feeling was mutual, by the way. All the girls thought he was the “hunk” of the school, he was a much better basketball player than I could ever hope to be, and contrary to what the Right-wing media is telling us, MOST of us pretty much thought Todd was born with a silver spoon; born into a VERY prosperous and hard-working family. Right or wrong, that was my impression. To be fair, while the rest of us Glennallen, Alaska high school kids hung around the lazy, boring little bush town for the summer, Todd seemed not only dedicated, but ANXIOUS to head out to Bristol Bay to help reap the salmon harvest in their fishing fleet until school was back in session for the fall each year.
As for the “Troopergate” controversy, I can CLEARLY see this happening when I imagine my former teammate on the Glennallen High School basketball team. Not only was this guy as competitive as they get, the Palins were VERY much a “family oriented” type of family. If you were to step on Todd’s family’s toes, I’d not only be surprised, I’d be shocked if he didn’t use every resource at his disposal to settle the score — AS WOULD I, to be frank.
If — IF this “Troopergate” story turns out to be true, I could honestly imagine Todd being the catalyst behind the whole thing before I could imagine his wife, Sarah being proactive in such a circumstance, but again — that’s just coming from my junior high school recollections of Ms. Alaska Runnerup Palin. Of course, this doesn’t mean I’m convinced the “Troopergate” thing is a genuine scandal, it means I could imagine the VERY influential Todd Palin instigating it, and perhaps, for the RIGHT reasons based upon my limited relations with BOTH Sarah and Todd in my youth. So, please take that for what it’s worth.
Conclusions — For NOW:
I’m trying to be as “fair and balanced” (no capital letters on purpose) as possible and I know people can and WILL change. It’s been many years since the last time I saw either of the Palins and yep — they’d know me in a heartbeat if they saw me in a Winn-Dixie tomorrow — guaranteed. I’m not claiming they are my personal friends, only the fact I and my “baby bro” are probably the ONLY TWO people in the United States who have attended tiny little schools with both people in tiny little towns where we all knew each other’s “bidness” and I thought SOME folks might find that to be rather interesting. If not, I hope I didn’t bore you all too much.
Todd “First Dude” Palin and I never seemed to agree on much of anything growing up, but looking back, I’d be surpised if we couldn’t share a laugh and some high school gossip were we to bump into each other today. As for Sarah, you’d probably have to describe me as the “really tall kid from Juneau” with two left feet at the time and mention my last name and my brother before she’d go “OH! That guy!”. So what.
I have NOTHING against the Palins — nothing at all — I wish them and their families, who were a small part of my youth, the VERY best of luck in everything they do. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — my REAL problem is with the man who headed up the attack upon our 1st Amendment Civil Liberty with his treasonous “act” called “McCain-Feingold”; Sarah’s new boss, Señor J. Sidney McCain. As for the Palins’ mutual enthusiasm for realizing “The American Politicians’ Dream”, more power to ‘em, I say. On the other hand, let us NOT forget the fact there are NO LESS THAN TWO HUNDRED OTHER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES IN THIS RACE (Source: The Mansfield Herald); Two Party System Cartel BE DAMNED.
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Other bloggers weigh in…
“… it looks as if one major part of the political vet — the hometown newspaper archive search — did not take place. …”
“After only one meeting before naming her his running mate and little to no vetting, McCain has decided that Sarah Palin is his “partner and soulmate”. Ew, that’s a little creepy. Can you imagine him saying that about his true partner, Joe Lieberman, if the GOP hadn’t demanded he not pick Holy Joe as his running mate? …”
“… I can’t wait to see the partisan faithful come up with excuses for why careful, considered vetting of a VP candidate is no longer important. Their flip-flop on the experience question came fast enough to cause whiplash… “
“Weve got a woman holding a shotgun, mixing up a batch of moose stew, defending her sick– baby against the predatory demon democrats from the wilds of alaska, with her regular-joe, blue-collar husband who works in the oil fields and supplements the family income with fishing, all of her children clustering around except the brave young man just out of high school who has volunteered to join bushs war on terra.
Is this a weird dream?”
GTL, here’s where I find out who you really are and why I found your blog in the first place. If you had never had an association with them in the past would this be your position now–leave ‘em alone and concentrate on McCain v Bush. A high school association alone does not forgiveness make.
I’m hoping that was a compliment? lol…
LOL, It’s why it’s your BLOG.
So, lemme get this correct — You think I’m striking a low blow to my former classmates here?
I’m trying to be as fair as possible, to our readers, the Palins, and stay TRUE to my liberal libertariainism in the process. If I’m failing at it, I’ve not yet gotten a torqued off phone call or email from either of the Palins yet, so I must be doing okay, right?
Put yourself in my shoes. This ain’t easy — AT ALL…
I liked your insight and as a former teacher I believe in the formation of lasting personality traits being formed early on.As a student(degreed in )psychology I have often tested this theory to see if my first graders turned out like their personalities showed me as grown adults.Amazing almost 100% of them did in my little self styled experiment.I am voting for Sara as I want a female in office as I feel it would be great for country.Lets be honest all Pres/vice pres rely on their advisors her do the hard work and get no credit.Kind of like THE QUEEN of England.BTW Margaret Thatcher had little experience when she became Prime Minister.
No GTL I don’t, actually I was just asking, perhaps poorly, if she deserved a pass because of past association. But then that’s why I also mentioned that it’s your BLOG so you should be free to run it as you wish. You also haven’t focused on Biden either so I do believe you are being fair in your desire to focus on the Pres. candidates and leave the veeps out. I’m not sure what I’d do were I in your shoes either btw.
Respectfully,
LC
M.L. MacPhail — Thank you so much for your input; hope you’ll keep coming back
Oh, okay, Left Coast, appreciate the clarification. It’s really a tough position, disagreeing with my former classmate politically (not on everything, but definitely on the wedge issues) but wishing her well and being proud of her for accomplishing what she’s accomplished thus far in her life. Once the Veepstake winners begin to debate, I’ll probably cover that, but yep — I’ve got to be fairly subtle when it comes to Sarah even when she stumbles because mutual friends and friends of friends of both of us read this blog on a fairly regular basis. Should I ever choose to move back “home”, well, “home” is a very small state and I don’t want to be the classmate who aired dirty laundry on two decent enough folks, the Palins, despite my different political points of view…
Yeah, this is pretty WEIRD, for SURE!
Fair enough and points taken. Looking forward to your next installments.
Great comment on the Palin’s. I met the GTL in Alaska 20 years ago. I just want the GTL to know this, don’t sell your basketball skills short, I’ve seen you two hand dunk at the rec center in Anchorage.
Heh… thanks, James! Glad you’re readin’ and appreciate the comment, Sir
LC — See what I mean? Friends from The Great White North read this site — gotta be careful, indeed
Margaret Thatcher had little experience when she became Prime Minister
Huh? She’d been an MP for 20 years, been a Cabinet Minister for nine and party leader for four. Where do people come up with this tripe?
And oh, btw, she was the biggest disaster for the country sice Dunkirk.
Regards, C (a Brit)
Ahhh… I know there is dirt spewing out of the Palin family, just everyone back there is too scared to talk on record… so far. To put it in context, when you portray yourself as squeaky clean, even a little dirt stands out as a huge contrast.
I have someone up that way, and the best they will do is hint and insinuate, but not come out and say what they know, because that person is afraid it will come back around to them and the media will be knocking on his door.
I did ask him specifically about the Trig rumor, and he did tell me that some Bristol’s friends / schoolmates had relayed some conflicting info to their parents that made seemed to give credence that it might be more than a rumor. I couldn’t get any actual specifics out of him of things he knew for sure, despite my begging and pleading, out of fear… similar to your reasoning, but it sounds like there is plenty.
OBAMA MUST THINK THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE STUPID !!!
It’s one thing when Obama tries to cover up mistakes he’s
made in private, or when he feebly tries to cover up or misdirect
us, by saying that he never heard Wright’s anti-American sermons
over a 20 year period … but, when Obama tells us that the
Palin lipstick/pig remark wasn’t an insult directed towards
Governor Palin, then Obama is adding insult to injury towards
the American people. This creep is not Presidential material.
P.S. The biased main stream liberal press which is attempting damage control for Obama, also must think the American people are stupid