Avowed pro-Hillary blogger, and former CIA operative, Larry Johnson, on Governor Sarah Palin:
The more I learn about Palin the more I like her. She may be far more conservative than me on social issues, but she is a person of courage and principle. Alaska is to Republicans what Louisiana is to Democrats-it is a cesspool of corruption. Palin took on the Republican establishment. She got a nice appointment on a public board and could have made some extra cash if she just kept her mouth shut and went along with the insider corruption. Instead she resigned in protest as the Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission charging fellow Alaskan Republican leaders, who ignored her whistleblowing complaints of legal violations and conflicts of interest, with lack of ethics. Yeah, that’s a sure path to political success. Just ask Sibel Edmonds and other whistleblowers how much “love” they get from cronies accused of raiding the cookie jar.
But she did not stop there. Next she went after fellow Oil & Gas commissioner, Randy Ruedrich, who also happened to be the state Republican Party’s chairman, for doing work for the party on public time and supplying a lobbyist with a sensitive e-mail. Goddamn her. Doesn’t she realize how this game of back scratching is supposed to be played? Speaking of audacity, she then filed formal complaints against both Ruedrich and former Alaska Attorney General Gregg Renkes, who subsequently form the Oil and Gas Commission. Randy Ruedrich also paid a record $12,000 fine, which I suspect left him a bit grumpy.
Unlike George Bush, who sought out a war but kept his daughters at home, Sara Palin does not seek to use her position to protect her son. He’s in the Army on the way to Iraq. She says she is pro-life and, when informed that she is pregnant with a Down’s syndrome baby, she carries the boy to term.
These incidents, taken together, tell us something very important about this woman-she talks the talk and walks the walk. She does not ask other people to do what she will not do herself. I challenge anyone to cite just one anecdote about Barack Obama that exhibits this kind of character and courage. Just one.
This is the kind of person we want and need in public office. Hell, I want her as President. McCain can learn a thing or two from her.
The funny thing is that after what I expect will be an even bigger poll bounce for McCain/Palin (post convention) than has already been measured, the Obama campaign will get to spend some time competing against an opponent they don’t understand and can’t damage with the standard playbook. The schadenfreude among Obama’s vanquished primary opponents presumably will, for appearances sake, will be kept private…
