Posted on 08/30/2008 8:10:05 PM PDT by kristinn
WASILLA, ALASKA - Sarah Palin's hometown rallied around her as mayor - now Republicans wonder if the rest of America will warm up to the surprise pick from cold country.
Though her mother-in-law has doubts.
Faye Palin admitted she enjoys hearing Barack Obama speak, and still hasn't decided which way she'll vote.
"We don't agree on everything. But I respect her passion," she said. "Being pro-life is who Sarah is."
Faye Palin said the governor never considered ending her recent pregnancy when genetic testing showed her son Trig, born in April, would have Down syndrome.
"There was no question," she said. "She was going to have that baby."
With a population of just 6,715, Wasilla is a fast-growing railroad town that got its start as a mail and supply hub linking the coastal towns of Seward and Knik to Alaska's interior mining camps along the Iditarod dog sled trail.
Scores of reporters descended Saturday on the A-frame wood hunting lodge where Sarah Palin's parents live amid hundreds of sets of trophy antlers and a taxidermy collection that includes a giant moose head and a full-grown mountain lion.
Faye Palin said the entire family was shocked by the news on Friday.
"I'm not sure what she brings to the ticket other than she's a woman and a conservative. Well, she's a better speaker than McCain," Faye Palin said with a laugh. "People will say she hasn't been on the national scene long enough. But I believe she's a quick study."
She said people doubted Sarah Palin when she ran for City Council, but that her daughter-in-law had a "singular focus."
"She was out there with [then-young son] Track, pulling him around from house to house in a wagon," she said.
Sarah Palin is well known as a former high school basketball star, cross-country runner, beauty queen, hockey mom, city council member and Wasilla's mayor from 1996 to 2007.
"I think it's great. She's a hometown girl from Smallville, USA," said Felix Bruno, 43, a masonry contractor who plowed her driveway. "She's not afraid to speak her mind. She really dropped the hammer on the politicians fleecing Alaska."
At the local Mat-Su Family Restaurant in downtown Wasilla, a Bible-study group that includes two ex-mayors from neighboring cities cheered her pick as McCain's running mate.
"She's an excellent social conservative, fiscal conservative and political conservative," said Tom Baird, 68, a Vietnam veteran who sat with his Gideon Bible opened to 1Corinthians. "If she can energize the conservative base, it won't matter if she gets the women's vote."
"This is a really nice person, and she's disarming in that way," said George Carte, 67, a retired geophysicist who was mayor of neighboring Palmer when Palin was mayor of Wasilla.
"I was very impressed with her as mayor," said Carte. "She did some housecleaning with her department heads. She had to learn about the sewers, the libraries, public safety."
But even with her impressive approval rating, Palin still has work to do even in her own hometown.
"I'm still leaning toward Obama. I think Sarah has been really good for our state, and it would be wonderful to see her in the White House, but she's on the ticket with McCain, and I can't vote for McCain," said Eileen Moe, 33, a second grade teacher at Iditarod Elementary, which Palin's kids attended.
"If it was her running for president, there'd be no question in my mind," Moe said. "The Republicans right now are about big business and big oil. I don't see Sarah as a staunch Republican in that way."
Not everyone is convinced her experience as mayor and governor are enough for a vice president who would be next in line to the presidency.
"I wouldn't say she's qualified," said Bill Gleason, 60, a contractor from nearby Big Lake. "I want someone with a little more experience. "
I know what the Iditarod is! What I meant was, because it’s so identified with Alaska it seems almost stereotypical to call a school....oh, never mind.
Networks Offer Sarah Palin's Mother-in-Law Prime Time Talk Show
yeah, he did barely mention her when he was saying, how she poured everything she had into him...and that she was no longer able to travel.
Yeah, she's probably unable to travel or speak with anyone because of the DNC goons that are 'keeping close, close watch over her.'
When I think of it though, my m-i-l wouldn't have ever voted for me either (she doesn't care for Catholics).
Touche! Good point!
Stop it. Iisten to Yanni .... and Vangelis.
I’m reminded of the old bumper sticker: “Mother-in-law in trunk.”
Felix Bruno, 43, a masonry contractor who plowed her driveway. "She's not afraid to speak her mind. She really dropped the hammer on the politicians fleecing Alaska."
This will be her biggest selling point. She is rabid about getting rid of corruption and driving out crooked politicians, even in her own party.
"I wouldn't say she's qualified," said Bill Gleason, 60, a contractor from nearby Big Lake. "I want someone with a little more experience. "
Kind of pitiful that they had to go find someone from another town to parrot their daily talking point.
“She was out there with [then-young son] Track, pulling him around from house to house in a wagon,”
Bless her heart...
I questioned this before too...Grandma Dunham is in the ‘same’ condo she has lived in for years and years. Is she being well cared for? Or just living on a pension and Social Security (nobody knows)...but with such a successful grandson (who she sacrificed for and raised) should’nt she be taken care of? Barry and Shelli spend (by Mrs. O’s admission) $10,000 on ‘after school’ activities for the girls...surely they could help care for Grandma a little. A maid service; maybe an aide to take her on errands.
i ask a local high party RAT at Wally's today what he thought of the prospect of having a Republican president in office till the day he dies???(he turned 70 this year) i walked out away... he was NOT AMUSED!!!
It seems typical and logical for schools to have local names. Heck, the school where my three kids graduated in MA is "King Philip Regional High School" -- named after the Wampanoag Indian Sachem in a local Indian war...
I guess that, like taste, there's no accounting for local pride... ;-)
You forgot to mention Barack’s treating his own brother George like total crap.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSsQdZE0f-A
Ok.
gracias
LOL! Need that on a bumper sticker.
Someone like Alice Palmer perhaps?
Whata stupid comment. Mr. Moe, where in the hell would we be if not for big business and big oil?
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