(above) The ironic truth behind Sarah Palin’s selection as John McCain’s Vice Presidential running mate…“Sarah” Speaks

I became sick to my stomach after watching the press conference today at which John McCain introduced his VP running mate selection, Sarah Palin.

“How stupid does he think women are?” I asked myself. “How superficial?”

The first outrage is that he’d present a VP candidate with no national, let alone international experience. With all the well qualified Republicans he COULD have chosen, he picked someone without the basic credentials and experience Americans could rely upon, to be one heartbeat from the Presidency.

With a 72 year old President, in possibly the world’s most stressful job, that one heartbeat is actually important. Is John McCain so arrogant as to think he will live forever, so much so that he could pick as a running mate someone whose qualifications he himself would castigate, had she been a Democratic candidate? This woman holds only an undergraduate degree in journalism, and while one could admire her track record with regard to ethics issues in Alaska, there is no indication whatsoever that she has any basis of understanding or providing leadership in solving the complex problems of 49 states, much less of our nation in relation to other countries.

She has governed for less than two years a populace of fewer than one million people, which, with a median household income of $52,000, is roughly 40 percent wealthier than many other states, and averages one person per square mile. What can she know of urban challenges, ethnic diversity, immigration problems, poverty?

Although Palin is reported to have stated that education, public safety and transportation would be areas of emphasis of her administration, she has yet to involve herself with addressing the dropout rate of Alaskan teens, which hovers near 6 percent of all 7-12 graders in her state. No notable public safety or transportation accomplishments have been reported during her tenure.

On the other hand, there’s no shortage of videos of her on YouTube. The former television talking head and beauty queen has participated in every possible media-grabbing event in her 20 months in the Governor’s office, ranging from appearances on Conservative talk shows, where she pooh poohed environmental concerns about drilling for oil in protected areas, to appearances on late night entertainer Craig Ferguson’s show, where she invited him to come to Alaska to fish and to taste “our succulent salmon.” She never mentioned, of course, that those same salmon are threatened by mining expansion which rejects limitations on its ability to pollute waters used by salmon and humans.

Palin has been the poster child, song and dance woman on behalf of the oil industry, pushing to increase oil exploration and drilling in Alaska as a solution to America’s dependence on foreign oil. To me this is evidence that she is short sighted, choosing stopgap old fashioned thinking instead of promoting 21st century, earth friendly solutions, such as development of renewable energy sources, and creating greater efficiencies in energy consumption. She seems to echo Bush, Cheney and McCain in her thinking, “just drill it” which is why the old school Republicans might feel comfortable with her as a ticket choice, and is another reason why I view her with dismay.

If by choosing a woman, McCain is trying to demonstrate that he cares about women’s issues, he’s missed the mark by a long shot. This woman is not pro choice, as most women in this country are. As McCain himself told George Stephanopoulos, he believes Roe v. Wade should be overturned and he supports a constitutional amendment to ban abortion. Sarah Palin agrees with McCain’s positions. Most American women do not.

A high profile member of Feminists For Life, an anti abortion group which claims it advocates provision of health care services for pregnant women and infants, Palin is associated with no pre-K, head start, child health or for that matter, family health care program initiatives. Once children are born, they and their mothers are on their own, apparently.

Neither has Palin –or McCain– ever been associated with any efforts to gain equal pay for women, another key issue to women in America, where for every dollar an American male makes, a woman makes only 77 cents, on the average. Since no one’s passing out 23 per cent discount cards to women on account of their gender, this is still a matter of great significance. Thus Palin’s claim, at the press conference with McCain, that her nomination was a chance to “shatter the glass ceiling” was particularly galling.

By comparing herself with Hillary Clinton, a second term United States Senator, law school graduate, former two term first lady, reformer of education in Arkansas, long time advocate of health care reform, Palin left no doubt that her nomination was a crude attempt to attract to John McCain those people who would have liked to see Hillary Clinton as the Democratic Presidential nominee.

I would have liked to have seen Hillary Clinton as the Democratic Presidential nominee. That’s not going to happen this year, and possibly ever, but I’m not about to be duped into thinking that Palin is a reasonable compromise and that McCain is a champion of women. She’s not and he’s not.