in defense of sarah

when you lose there must be a reason.  even if it is the loss of a shoe (the dog ate it), the loss of your homework (again that dog is hungry), the loss of a softball game (our star player got bit by a hungry dog), world war II (stupid french dogs getting help from the rest of the world), or a game of golden eye (no dogs you were just drunk)... there always seems to be a scapedog.  it is wrong for the republican higher-ups to make sarah palin the bitch in this election.  as a long time republican, i understand the desire to find a reason this election was lost.  but it rankles my skin to use palin as a pawn in this.

alot of my beliefs as a republican were reshaped by john mccain in the mid-90's.  i guess i am vacillating from federalist to libertarian, but the maverick wanted a change in the monies that seem to always taint politics and i am 110% behind that.  i have tried to vote for him in every election since '96 (i wrote him in for governor of MS).  granted the path he took during this presidential election pushed me away, i could not find support in what the other party offered and i hoped that if in office mccain might say "haha, tricked your punk ass Rush (Limbaugh).  now i am gonna go back to my roots."  but instead he "chose" a vice presidential running mate to appease the bible-belt.

i will gladly admit i had never heard of sarah palin until 12 hours before she was announced.  i do understand the political choice to temper the conservatives.  but what i dont understand and will not stand for as a republican second, but a human first is the party leadership throwing her under the bus!  it is completely asinine to me that someone would suggest the reason the election was lost was her being a "beauty queen contestant".  the same people who approved her vetting have now decided that it was her fault, not thiers, that she was not prepared for the role she was thrust into.

i have heard that she "didnt know africa was a continent not a country".  so what they are saying is that they okayed someone who doesnt have a simple 2nd grade knowledge of geography.  and then there's the "i can see russia from my back yard" comment.  i would wager a speech writer put that one out there and then it was okayed by at least 3 other people.  or the whole trooper-gate issue which she was cleared of and even still was something that should have been outed in the vetting process (how was her husband's 22 year old DUI a surprise?)

i understand that there are voters who were rubbed the wrong way by palin's evangelical background, but at the same time there were several republicans who embraced her as much s they shunned mccain.  but it is completely pure b.s. to lay this loss at her feet alone.