User talk:Justmeherenow/Public image of Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin, the Governor of Alaska, was nominated as the first woman candidate of the Republican Party for Vice President of the United States. Her image came under close media scrutiny, particularly regarding her religious perspective on public life, her socially conservative political preferences, and her experience or lack thereof, following the 2008 Republican National Convention. Some commentary has involved her physical appearance or her private life.

Palin announced on September 1, 2008, that her daughter Bristol was five months pregnant and intends to keep the baby and marry the father of her child, Levi Johnston.

Palin was crowned Miss Wasilla in 1984 and also competed in the Miss Alaska pageant. She likes to hunt, ice fish, ride snowmobiles and eat moose burgers. In 2005, she completed a marathon in less than four hours, and is a self-described hockey mom.

Palin's inexperience in internal and domestic politics came under fire following her nomination. An Alaska headline focused on her status as “Former Beauty Queen, Future VP?”

Religion
Palin was born into a Catholic family. When she was 4 years old, her family joined the Wasilla Assembly of God, which belongs to a Pentecostal association of churches. Palin attended the Wasilla Assembly of God until age 38. When in Juneau, she attends the Juneau Christian Center. Her current home church is the Wasilla Bible Church, an independent congregation. Palin described herself in an interview as a "Bible-believing" Christian. She has encountered some criticism for making remarks about religion that go beyond what a modern American politician typically says.

Palin has stated that she would not allow her personal religious beliefs to dictate her political positions.

After the RNC, Palin's religious views came under increasing scrutiny in the media. Palin spoke to a group of graduating ministry students at her former church, where she urged them to pray "that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God", and in the same remarks asserted that "God's will" was responsible for the Alaskan national gas pipeline project. In her talk at the Assembly of God Church, she stated, “Believe me,” she said, “I know what I am saying — where God has sent me, from underneath the umbrella of this church, throughout the state.” In light of these comments, a Washington Post Monthly opinion piece asked, "Palin, given her public comments, should answer a few reasonable questions: Does she believe in the separation of church and state? Is she comfortable with a government that remains entirely neutral on matters of faith?"

Palin has encountered criticism for making remarks about religion that go beyond what a modern American politician typically says. "The London Times has called attention to her former pastor's apocalyptic religious perspective, and cited a recent sermon attended by Palin in which the Jews for Jesus head "suggested that terrorism in Israel was God’s judgment against the Jews for failing to accept Christ as the Messiah;" the McCain campaign responded that Palin “would not have been sitting in the pews of the church if those remarks were remotely typical”. Juan Cole calls Palin a theocrat and says that her values "more resemble those of Muslim fundamentalists than they do those of the Founding Fathers." After the RNC, the McCain campaign told CNN that Palin "doesn't consider herself Pentecostal," raising questions in the media about whether she was downplaying her faith.

According to Steven Waldman of BibleNet, Palin signed a Christian Heritage Week resolution which "plucked Founding Fathers quotes way out of context to misleadingly imply they were devout Christians" a technique which he says in many other cases has been used "to promote the argument that America was created to be a Christian nation, and separation of church and state is a myth." Furthermore, Palin has suggested that her work as governor would be hampered "if the people of Alaska’s heart isn’t right with God," which Steven Waldman of BibleNet says ascribes religious explanations for policy outcomes, and "makes assessing her performance nearly impossible. If she stumbles, it’s our fault."

Women's issues
A spokesperson at the National Organization for Women (NOW) said, “She's more a conservative man than she is a woman on women's issues. Very disappointing." However, NOW President Kim Gandy disputed this comment, contending it does not reflect NOW's policy or position.

Ruth Mandel of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University pointed out, “The first image here [of Palin] was: This is a woman who is a wife and a mother, and let us tell you about her family...If they want the country to see her in a different way, and if they want the children and the family to be off-limits, they have to reframe it. You can’t have it both ways.”

Persona
A great deal of attention has been paid to Palin's physical appearance. According to Vogue Magazine, "Besides being telegenic, [Palin] had a tough-girl Alaskan résumé that most politicians could only dream of—the protein her family eats comes from fish she has pulled out of the ocean with her own hands and caribou she has shot." Regarding her appearance, Palin has said, "I've been taken aback by the nasty criticism about my appearance. I wish they'd stick with the issues instead of discussing my black go-go boots. A reporter once asked me about it during the campaign, and I assured him I was trying to be as frumpy as I could by wearing my hair on top of my head and these schoolmarm glasses." A profile in The New Yorker described Palin's oratorical style as "simultaneously chatty and urgent, and she reinforces her words with winks and nods and wrinklings of her nose that seem meant to telegraph intimacy and ease"; and its author, Philip Gourevitch, described Palin as being, when he met her, "high-spirited, irrepressible, and not in the least self-conscious."

Soon after the RNC Palin quickly became a favorite subject of satire and derision. A Comedy Central writer joked that "she's a pitbull who wears lipstick for some reason!"

Palin's status as a mother of a child with Down's Syndrome as well as a pregnant teenage daughter has been a focus for some pundits and reporters. CNN’s John Roberts pondered: “Children with Down’s syndrome require an awful lot of attention. The role of vice president, it seems to me, would take up an awful lot of her time, and it raises the issue of how much time will she have to dedicate to her newborn child?”