Five Questions For Sarah Palin

Charlie Gibson scored the first interview with the GOP VP nominee, and Progressive Alaska has some interesting background on it, including the statement from McCain campaign manager Rick Davis that Palin won’t do interviews “until the point in time when she’ll be treated with respect and deference.”  Also notable is the take from Josh Marshall who offers further background on this interview coup. 

Here some things I’d like to know.

1.  Your husband was a member of the Alaska Independence Party, and you addressed them with a welcoming video for their most recent convention where you congratulated them on the good work they do as a positive force for Alaska.  Does that mean you agree with their mission statement, which is to secede from the union?  If not why did you offer them such praise?

2.  You are presenting yourself as a reformer who opposed the Bridge to Nowhere and who eschews earmarks.  Why did you repeatedly express support for the bridge during your 2006 campaign and say that Alaska should accept earmarks “while our congressional delegation is in a position to assist”?  As a “reformer” who is hailed as having fought against big oil,  why did you accept so much of your 2002 campaign money form Veco when you ran for lieutenant governor, and why did BP Oil help sponsor your inauguration?

3.  Why did you ask the Wasilla Library Director, Mary Ellen Emmons, about the banning of books if your intention was not to do so?  Are there books you feel should not be available in a public libarary and, if so, what are they?  Why did you attempt to terminate Ms. Emmons?  Were employees fired as tests of loyalty and do you believe that is a proper way to assess someone’s value for a job?

4. When your campaign put out a statement announcing that Bristol Palin is pregnant, your family praised her by saying, “We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby…”  Why should other families be denied the opportunities to make their own choices in such matters?

5.  You addressed your former church by saying that our military in Iraq is “on a task from God.”  Do you believe our invovement in Iraq is God’s will?  Your former pastor, Ed Kalnins, who leads the Wasilla Assembly of God Church, said of John Kerry in 1994, “If you vote for this particular person, I question your salvation.”   Kalnins also said of those who criticize President Bush, “…it’s not going to get you anywhere, you know, except for Hell.  That’s what it’ll get you.”  Do you agree with him?  If not, why did you choose that church and that pastor for your spiritual guidance?

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.