Gary J Carter
2008-09-05 21:39:38 UTC
Verified on Snopes;
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/kilkenny.asp
ABOUT SARAH PALIN
I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992.
Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a
first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her
father was my child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a
first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more
City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the
residents of the city.
She is enormously popular; in every way shes like the most popular
girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and
won't vote for her can't quit smiling when talking about her because
she is a "babe".
It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She
kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents
for seven months.
She is "pro-life". She recently gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby.
There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.
She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.
She is savvy. She doesn't take positions; she just "puts things out
there" and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.
Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a
champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palins kind of job is highly
sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his
work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or
so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their
major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like
that of native Alaskans.
Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.
She's smart.
Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000
(at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about
670,000 residents.
During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running
this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been
pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had
gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had
given rise to a recall campaign.
Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a "fiscal conservative." During her 6
years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over
33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the
City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation
(1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a
regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she
promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they
benefited residents.
The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration
weren't enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed
money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left
it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin
encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure
that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city
lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for
construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to
build on a piece of property that the City didn't even have clear
title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later to the delight of
the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to
the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she
claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road
projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.
While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office
redecorated more than once.
These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.
As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus
in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will
make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she
proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the
state.
In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she
recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while
she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today's
surplus, borrow for needs.
She's not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas
or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that werent generated by
her or her staff. Ideas weren't evaluated on their merits, but on the
basis of who proposed them.
While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly
respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider
removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City
residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against
Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and
withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust
the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.
Sarah complained about the "old boy's club" when she first ran for
Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Palin
fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as
Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people,
creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally
grateful and fiercely loyal loyal to the point of abusing their
power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened
in the case of pressuring the State's top cop (see below).
As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla's Police Chief because he "intimidated"
her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska's
top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her
pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty
clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because
he wouldn't fire her sister's ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under
investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than
2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person
that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law.
She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had
been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public
furor, she withdrew her support.
She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in
help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town
introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council
became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She
abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didnt
like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.
Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything
publicly about her.
When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah
got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission:
one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no
background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great
job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the
high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the
structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this
Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party)
engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some
undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all
her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and
garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as
a gutsy fighter against the "old boys' club" when she dramatically
quit, exposing this mans ethics violations (for which he was fined).
As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from
Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel
politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the "bridge to
nowhere" after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.
As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget
guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing
projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative
action restored most of these projects which had been vetoed simply
because she was not aware of their importance but with the
unobservant she had gained a reputation as "anti-pork."
She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party
leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated
them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a
fiscal conservative.
Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah.
They call her "Sarah Barracuda" because of her unbridled ambition and
predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly
stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made
point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah's
mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and
experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.
As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of
package of legislation known as "AGIA" that forced the oil companies
to march to the beat of her drum.
Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked
to global warming. She campaigned "as a private citizen" against a
state initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams
from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in
the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the States
lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior's decision to list polar
bears as threatened species.
McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a
heartbeat away from being President.
There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more
knowledgeable and experienced than she.
However, there's a lot of people who have underestimated her and are
regretting it.
CLAIM VS FACT o "Hockey mom": true for a few years
o "PTA mom": true years ago when her first-born was in elementary
school, not since
p "NRA supporter": absolutely true
o social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill
that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships
(said she did this because it was unconsitutional).
o pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to
promote it.
o "Pro-life": mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby
BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life
legislation.
o "Experienced": Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has
residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska.
No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on
supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city
administrator to run town of about 5,000.
o political maverick: not at all
o gutsy: absolutely!
o open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at
explaining actions.
o has a developed philosophy of public policy: no
o "a Greenie": no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores
and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
o fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
o pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city
without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built
streets to early 20th century standards.
o pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden
on residents.
o pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city
government in Wasillas history.
o pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union
doesn't make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim
that she is pro-labor/pro-union.
WHY AM I WRITING THIS?
First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed
voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting
programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny +
Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local
government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.
Secondly, I've always operated in the belief that "Bad things happen
when good people stay silent". Few people know as much as I do because
few have gone to as many City Council meetings.
Third, I am just a housewife. I don't have a job she can bump me out
of. I don't belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no
fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will
cost me somehow in the future: thats life.
Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100
or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah's
attempt at censorship.
Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to
say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.
CAVEATS
I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in
spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor)
from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of
Wasilla, and I can't recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust
for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible
for a private person to get any info out of City Hall they are
swamped. So I can't verify my numbers.
You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for
the population of Wasilla, ranging from my "about 5,000", up to 9,000.
The day Palins selection was announced a city official told me that
the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count
was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996
to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90s.
Anne Kilkenny
August 31, 2008
Of all the articles (both positive and negative) about Alaska governor
Sarah Palin that began circulating via e-mail forward in the immediate
aftermath of her selection as the 2008 Republican vice-presidential
candidate, the one reproduced above was the one that by far garnered
the most attention. It purportedly offers a viewpoint of the candidate
written by a resident of Wasilla, Alaska (the town where Sarah Palin
served as mayor).
The article was indeed written, as claimed, by a Wasilla resident
named Anne Kilkenny, who says she has known Sarah Palin since 1992:
Recently, we received a note about the Web post, "Letter from Anne
Kilkenny," about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice
presidential nominee. We thought for sure it was not really, "a
resident of Wasilla, Alaska"
who has known Palin since 1992 as the post claims.
So, we checked it out. Kilkenny does exist, and she does live in
Alaska. We reached her by phone and asked if she wrote the rather long
note that calls Palin "smart" but also questions her abilities.
We asked Kilkenny, "Did you write that letter?" She replied
skeptically, "Well, I don't know. Read me parts of it. I'll tell you
if it's mine or not."
After we read it to her, she said, "Yes, I wrote that." She sent it
out to 40 people, brothers, sisters and friends, on Sunday two days
after U.S. Sen. John McCain announced Palin as his choice. On
Wednesday, if you enter Kilkenny and Palin's names on Google, about
200 sites refer to this letter.
Why did she do it? Kilkenny told The Daily Journal she wanted to offer
people information and her experiences. She does not flatter Palin,
but she said she did vote for Palin when she ran for city council.
"How affirming it has been," she said. "I am pleased to know how
idealistic Americans are. They want information not just the politics
of destruction."
There is a correlation here that should be noted. Sex certainly does
sell doesn't it? Diabetes kills more people than HIV & Breast Cancer
combined yet ask for a donation for Diabetes and you won't even get a
passing glance from most people. But ask for funding for the boobs,
and out comes the wallet and a free exam if the woman lets him. Why
older republicans will go for Sarah is simple. It's called an
erection. Why women will go for her is just as easy to figure out.
Sarah is nasty and vindictive.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/kilkenny.asp
ABOUT SARAH PALIN
I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992.
Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a
first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her
father was my child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a
first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more
City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the
residents of the city.
She is enormously popular; in every way shes like the most popular
girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and
won't vote for her can't quit smiling when talking about her because
she is a "babe".
It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She
kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents
for seven months.
She is "pro-life". She recently gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby.
There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.
She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.
She is savvy. She doesn't take positions; she just "puts things out
there" and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.
Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a
champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palins kind of job is highly
sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his
work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or
so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their
major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like
that of native Alaskans.
Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.
She's smart.
Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000
(at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about
670,000 residents.
During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running
this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been
pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had
gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had
given rise to a recall campaign.
Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a "fiscal conservative." During her 6
years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over
33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the
City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation
(1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a
regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she
promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they
benefited residents.
The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration
weren't enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed
money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left
it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin
encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure
that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city
lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for
construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to
build on a piece of property that the City didn't even have clear
title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later to the delight of
the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to
the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she
claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road
projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.
While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office
redecorated more than once.
These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.
As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus
in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will
make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she
proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the
state.
In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she
recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while
she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today's
surplus, borrow for needs.
She's not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas
or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that werent generated by
her or her staff. Ideas weren't evaluated on their merits, but on the
basis of who proposed them.
While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly
respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider
removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City
residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against
Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and
withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust
the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.
Sarah complained about the "old boy's club" when she first ran for
Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Palin
fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as
Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people,
creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally
grateful and fiercely loyal loyal to the point of abusing their
power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened
in the case of pressuring the State's top cop (see below).
As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla's Police Chief because he "intimidated"
her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska's
top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her
pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty
clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because
he wouldn't fire her sister's ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under
investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than
2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person
that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law.
She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had
been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public
furor, she withdrew her support.
She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in
help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town
introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council
became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She
abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didnt
like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.
Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything
publicly about her.
When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah
got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission:
one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no
background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great
job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the
high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the
structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this
Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party)
engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some
undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all
her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and
garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as
a gutsy fighter against the "old boys' club" when she dramatically
quit, exposing this mans ethics violations (for which he was fined).
As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from
Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel
politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the "bridge to
nowhere" after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.
As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget
guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing
projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative
action restored most of these projects which had been vetoed simply
because she was not aware of their importance but with the
unobservant she had gained a reputation as "anti-pork."
She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party
leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated
them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a
fiscal conservative.
Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah.
They call her "Sarah Barracuda" because of her unbridled ambition and
predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly
stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made
point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah's
mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and
experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.
As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of
package of legislation known as "AGIA" that forced the oil companies
to march to the beat of her drum.
Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked
to global warming. She campaigned "as a private citizen" against a
state initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams
from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in
the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the States
lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior's decision to list polar
bears as threatened species.
McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a
heartbeat away from being President.
There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more
knowledgeable and experienced than she.
However, there's a lot of people who have underestimated her and are
regretting it.
CLAIM VS FACT o "Hockey mom": true for a few years
o "PTA mom": true years ago when her first-born was in elementary
school, not since
p "NRA supporter": absolutely true
o social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill
that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships
(said she did this because it was unconsitutional).
o pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to
promote it.
o "Pro-life": mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby
BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life
legislation.
o "Experienced": Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has
residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska.
No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on
supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city
administrator to run town of about 5,000.
o political maverick: not at all
o gutsy: absolutely!
o open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at
explaining actions.
o has a developed philosophy of public policy: no
o "a Greenie": no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores
and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
o fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
o pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city
without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built
streets to early 20th century standards.
o pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden
on residents.
o pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city
government in Wasillas history.
o pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union
doesn't make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim
that she is pro-labor/pro-union.
WHY AM I WRITING THIS?
First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed
voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting
programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny +
Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local
government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.
Secondly, I've always operated in the belief that "Bad things happen
when good people stay silent". Few people know as much as I do because
few have gone to as many City Council meetings.
Third, I am just a housewife. I don't have a job she can bump me out
of. I don't belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no
fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will
cost me somehow in the future: thats life.
Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100
or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah's
attempt at censorship.
Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to
say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.
CAVEATS
I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in
spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor)
from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of
Wasilla, and I can't recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust
for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible
for a private person to get any info out of City Hall they are
swamped. So I can't verify my numbers.
You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for
the population of Wasilla, ranging from my "about 5,000", up to 9,000.
The day Palins selection was announced a city official told me that
the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count
was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996
to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90s.
Anne Kilkenny
August 31, 2008
Of all the articles (both positive and negative) about Alaska governor
Sarah Palin that began circulating via e-mail forward in the immediate
aftermath of her selection as the 2008 Republican vice-presidential
candidate, the one reproduced above was the one that by far garnered
the most attention. It purportedly offers a viewpoint of the candidate
written by a resident of Wasilla, Alaska (the town where Sarah Palin
served as mayor).
The article was indeed written, as claimed, by a Wasilla resident
named Anne Kilkenny, who says she has known Sarah Palin since 1992:
Recently, we received a note about the Web post, "Letter from Anne
Kilkenny," about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice
presidential nominee. We thought for sure it was not really, "a
resident of Wasilla, Alaska"
who has known Palin since 1992 as the post claims.
So, we checked it out. Kilkenny does exist, and she does live in
Alaska. We reached her by phone and asked if she wrote the rather long
note that calls Palin "smart" but also questions her abilities.
We asked Kilkenny, "Did you write that letter?" She replied
skeptically, "Well, I don't know. Read me parts of it. I'll tell you
if it's mine or not."
After we read it to her, she said, "Yes, I wrote that." She sent it
out to 40 people, brothers, sisters and friends, on Sunday two days
after U.S. Sen. John McCain announced Palin as his choice. On
Wednesday, if you enter Kilkenny and Palin's names on Google, about
200 sites refer to this letter.
Why did she do it? Kilkenny told The Daily Journal she wanted to offer
people information and her experiences. She does not flatter Palin,
but she said she did vote for Palin when she ran for city council.
"How affirming it has been," she said. "I am pleased to know how
idealistic Americans are. They want information not just the politics
of destruction."
There is a correlation here that should be noted. Sex certainly does
sell doesn't it? Diabetes kills more people than HIV & Breast Cancer
combined yet ask for a donation for Diabetes and you won't even get a
passing glance from most people. But ask for funding for the boobs,
and out comes the wallet and a free exam if the woman lets him. Why
older republicans will go for Sarah is simple. It's called an
erection. Why women will go for her is just as easy to figure out.
Sarah is nasty and vindictive.