One of the frustrations of this campaign season has been watching so many people—even conservatives, and even smart conservatives (like Peggy Noonan, or Bird over at The Thinklings)—buy the dismissive leftist line, backed by predatory editing to distort her MSM interviews, that Sarah Palin is intellectually and otherwise unqualified to be VP. On that, listen to Elaine Lafferty, the former editor-in-chief of Ms. magazine:
It’s difficult not to froth when one reads, as I did again and again this week, doubts about Sarah Palin’s “intelligence,” coming especially from women such as PBS’s Bonnie Erbe, who, as near as I recall, has not herself heretofore been burdened with the Susan Sontag of Journalism moniker. As Fred Barnes—God help me, I’m agreeing with Fred Barnes—suggests in the Weekly Standard, these high toned and authoritative dismissals come from people who have never met or spoken with Sarah Palin. Those who know her, love her or hate her, offer no such criticism. They know what I know, and I learned it from spending just a little time traveling on the cramped campaign plane this week: Sarah Palin is very smart. . . .Now by “smart,” I don’t refer to a person who is wily or calculating or nimble in the way of certain talented athletes who we admire but suspect don’t really have serious brains in their skulls. I mean, instead, a mind that is thoughtful, curious, with a discernable pattern of associative thinking and insight. Palin asks questions, and probes linkages and logic that bring to mind a quirky law professor I once had. Palin is more than a “quick study”; I’d heard rumors around the campaign of her photographic memory and, frankly, I watched it in action. She sees. She processes. She questions, and only then, she acts. What is often called her “confidence” is actually a rarity in national politics: I saw a woman who knows exactly who she is.For all those old enough to remember Senator Sam Ervin, the brilliant strict constitutional constructionist and chairman of the Senate Watergate Committee whose patois included “I’m just a country lawyer” . . . Yup, Palin is that smart.
It’s not a long piece, and it’s well worth your time to read the whole thing.HT: Beldar
Palin manages to govern Alaska from afar
By ANNE SUTTON
A state that is remote from the U.S. mainland is essentially being run by remote control.
Aides say Gov. Sarah Palin is still calling the shots in Alaska government even as she campaigns as Sen. John McCain’s presidential running mate. Her Anchorage office director and hometown friend, Kris Perry, has been with Palin for almost a month to help facilitate communication between the governor and her staff back home.
Perry travels at the expense of Alaska residents _ probably at a cost of more than $1,000 every day.
“She was dispatched from the governor’s office to be right with the governor, staffing her as it relates to state business,” said Linda Perez, state director of administrative services. “The governor is at rallies and things, and if we need to get information to her and get responses back, Kris is the one used to do that.”
Perez said she does not know how much Perry’s travel is costing Alaska. News organizations traveling with Palin’s campaign routinely are charged more than $1,000 per day per person for air travel, depending on the length of trips and how many people aboard flights share the cost.
Said to be Palin’s closest confidante on staff, Perry was manager of Palin’s gubernatorial campaign and has since run the Anchorage office, Palin’s main base of operations as governor.
Perry continues to draw her regular salary of $105,060 annually, and the state will pick up the tab for her travel and expenses, Perez said. She said some items, such as rides on the McCain-Palin campaign bus, will be difficult to estimate for reimbursement purposes. Perry also may use the state credit card for travel, said Perez.
“I asked her to keep a log and when she returns, if there are things that are reimbursable, we will do that,” said Perez. “We will try to sort it out when she gets back.”
State Rep. Les Gara, a Democrat, said it was appropriate for Perry to accompany the governor, but he questioned the state having to pick up the cost.
“It’s a lot of work, I assume the governor is doing it and she absolutely has the right to have staff with her. But those are costs the campaign has chosen to impose on us and it would seem fair that the campaign would pay for it,” he said.
Though the governor continues to draw her $10,417 monthly salary, the state will not be paying for her travel and expenses because her purpose for traveling is not state business, Perez said.
Palin herself is in daily contact with her chief of staff, Mike Nizich, according to her staff.
Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell said he also is in frequent e-mail contact with the governor. He said Palin has named board members and appointed a new commissioner since leaving the state.
“The great thing is we’ve got a great team in place who continue to work at her direction,” Parnell said. “Our governor is definitely acting as governor. She’s in charge and communicating well.”
In the 2000 presidential campaign, George W. Bush turned over the governor’s duties to Lt. Gov. Rick Perry on days when Bush was not in the state. In identical circumstances in the 1992 presidential campaign, Bill Clinton turned over the governor’s duties to the lieutenant governor, Jim Guy Tucker, as called for in the state constitution.
Both McCain and Democrat Barack Obama have been criticized for missing substantial numbers of Senate votes since 2007 while campaigning.
Still, such a lengthy absence by the acting head of state is unprecedented in Alaska, and one author of the state constitution believes Palin should have turned her duties over to the lieutenant governor before leaving Alaska two months ago to campaign for the nation’s second highest job.
“When she took on the candidacy for vice president, she should have then created a letter saying, ‘I am temporarily away from the Office of Governor and I hereby notify the lieutenant governor that he is constitutionally in charge,'” said constitutional convention delegate and former Lt. Gov. Jack Coghill. “That’s the way it should be.”
There is something respectful about a person who will continue to do the job to which she was elected, and still have the energy and conviction to campaign hard for the job she is seeking. She is probably averaging 18 hour days, having family time, prepping for each new rally, running Alaska, holding interviews, and traveling from venue to venue. In my opinion, she is the only candidate currently performing as a President.
Governing Alaska – Running the Nation. Holding Interviews – Whitehouse Press Conference. Traveling to each venue – Traveling to National or International Meetings. Prepping for Rallies – Meeting with advisors.
Who else is doing the same? Exhibiting the same energy, and actually thriving? She has managed through all the attacks on her abilities, family, ethics, wardrobe, and values to smile, keep her head up and maintain a positive attitude. This says a lot about her as a person, mother, wife and servant of the people.
Very interesting. That speaks well for Gov. Palin; I have to agree with the Democrat quoted there, though, that it doesn’t speak too well for the McCain campaign, which really ought to be paying Kris Perry’s expenses itself.