Mean girl - Sarah Palin has a habit of betraying former patrons…

[kskiska]

especially when they get in trouble -- but only once they're no longer useful.

By David Talbot

Sep. 23, 2008 | Before Sarah Palin decided to run for the Wasilla mayor's office in 1996 against incumbent John Stein, the Palins and Steins were friends. John Stein had helped launch Palin's political career, mentoring the hockey mom during her 1994 run for City Council, along with veteran council member Nick Carney. Stein's wife, Karen Marie, went to aerobics classes with Palin.

But when she announced her candidacy for Stein's seat, vowing to overturn the city's "old boy" establishment, a different Sarah Palin emerged. "Things got very ugly," recalled Naomi Tigner, a friend of the Steins. "Sarah became very mean-spirited."

The Wasilla mayor's seat is nonpartisan, and Mayor Stein, a former city planner who had held the post for nine years, ran a businesslike campaign that stressed his experience and competency. But Palin ignited the traditionally low-key race with scorching social issues, injecting "God, guns and abortion into the race -- things that had nothing to do with being mayor of a small town," according to Tigner.

Palin's mayoral campaign rode the wave of conservative, evangelical fervor that was sweeping Alaska in the '90s. Suddenly candidates' social values, not their ability to manage the roads and sewer systems, were dominating the debate. "Sarah and I were both Republicans, but this was an entirely new slant to local politics -- much more aggressive than anything I'd ever seen," said Stein, looking back at the election that put Palin on the political map.

There was a knife-sharp, personal edge to Palin's campaign that many locals found disturbing, particularly because of the warm relationship between Palin and Stein before the race.

"I called Sarah's campaign for mayor the end of the age of innocence in Wasilla," said Carney.

more…
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/09/23/palin/

[tularetom]

1. McCain better not turn his back on this woman

He should stay behind her staring at her butt.

[msongs]

2. or her husband, the governor of alaska nt

[curious one]

3. Did Sarah scare Cindy? I don't see her as much.

[Bobbieo]

4. I would not be surprised to learn that her husband, Todd, runs the show from behind the scenes.

Maybe Todd thinks one woman on the set is enough.

[judasdisney]

5. Naomi Wolf's opinion of Sarah Palin

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/the-battle-plan-ii-sarah_b_128393.html

[The Hope Mobile]

6. Perfect for McCain! He does the same thing.

First wife, no longer statuesque . . . down she goes. Pro-choice not an asset anymore . . . gone. Vets and their families no longer helpful to his career . . . all but forgotten, or even actively hidden. Deregulation no longer cool . . . totally against it. You get the picture.

[gingersnaps1]

7. I am waiting for the day when she turns on McCain.

I know it's coming because it's her MO

[patomime]

8. ...a lot of people are like this...

they are called bullies.... let them eat each other alive. They will, they always do. They've always gotten away with their head tripping egos, and people in power have let them.

But, actually, this time the people have the power - the power to make a change.

[IndianaGreen]

9. Palin played the anti-Semitic card in her mayoral race

Even though Palin knew that Stein is a Protestant Christian, from a Pennsylvania Dutch background, her campaign began circulating the word that she would be "Wasilla's first Christian mayor." Some of Stein's supporters interpreted this as an attempt to portray Stein as Jewish in the heavily evangelical community. Stein himself, an eminently reasonable and reflective man, thinks "they were redefining Christianity to mean born-agains."

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/09/23/palin/?source=newsletter

They all love Israel, but they hate Judaism and Jews. Frak 'em!