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Hernando Today

The Borking Of Gov. Sarah Palin

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By DONALD J. MYERS, A Mind of My Own

HERNANDO TODAY

Published: September 6, 2008

Many years ago, 1987 to be exact, President Ronald Reagan nominated Judge Robert Bork to be a Supreme Court justice. The personal attacks on him by the Democrats and media resulted in the term "Borking" to be added to the dictionary.
Since they were so successful in blocking his nomination, the left has used that tactic to attack many conservatives such as Vice President Dan Quayle, Justice Clarence Thomas, Speaker Newt Gingrich and President George Bush to name a few. Their newest victim is the current vice presidential candidate, Gov. Sarah Palin from Alaska,
The attacks on her and her family have set a new low even for Democrats and the media. Her decision to not abort her last child, whom she knew was a Down Syndrome baby, was depicted as wrong. Her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant and intends to carry the child to birth and marry the father. Some "blogs" have suggested that the Down Syndrome baby is really her child and the governor pretended to be pregnant in order to protect her daughter. Some reporters have even wanted a paternity test to be conducted on the baby. How sick is that? Gov. Palin has also been attacked because in her younger years she was a "beauty queen."
This newspaper had articles by France Earl in the Thursday edition, "McCain And Palin: Beauty And The Beast" and Ted Rall, "Sarah Palin: Queen Of The Nobodies." According to Earl, Palin does not believe that humans are responsible for global warming and even wants the polar bears to be removed from the endangered species list. Wow! She was the mayor of a small town and the governor for less than two years, and on top of that, she has no foreign or national experience. I must have missed the part where all of the national and foreign experience on Sen. Barack Obama was explained.
Obama has stated publicly that he will not tolerate personal attacks on Palin and her family and anyone on his staff who does will be fired. That's fine, but it has not stopped the mainstream media and other left groups from their attacks. The fact that Palin's husband was charged with DUI 20 years ago has been thrown into the mix. What does that have to do with her credentials? The future husband of her daughter is also being looked at.
If the left wants to question the credentials of Palin, I have no problem with that. That is fair game, and those questions should be asked. They should be asked of all individuals running for office. An MSNBC reporter questioned former Speaker Newt Gingrich on Wednesday night at the Republican National Convention about the lack of credentials of Palin, and Gingrich went down the list of her accomplishments as an executive with responsibility and then asked the reporter to name an accomplishment of Obama.
The reporter paused and then said that he would not debate the issue and had to return to the channel.
Ever since 1987, Republicans have rolled over when a member has been unfairly attacked by the left. Wednesday night at the convention, it seemed like they are finally not going to take it anymore. It is not fair, it is not right and it is dirty. Palin has been a two-term successful mayor and an elected governor, who challenged a sitting Republican governor in the primary and then defeated a former Democratic governor for her position. She has an approval rating of 80 percent.
I don't think any other governor can say the same.

Donald J. Myers, a retired colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps, is a regular columnist for Hernando Today. He lives in Spring Hill and can be contacted at DMyersUSMC@aol.com.

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