I watched a little of the Sarah Palin acceptance speech. Not only did she lie and mislead, but the demeaning, spiteful way that she talked down about community service, Mr. Barack Obama and all the other issues she doesn’t agree with was truly unbecoming of a vice presidential hopeful.

After the oohs and aahs settle down, I hope a closer look at Ms. Palin’s record and stance on issues is made possible.

For the time being, John McCain is keeping her very close. No questions allowed. Only one interview scheduled so far that had her party so worried that they dispersed an army of former Bush aids to Alaska to help her prep. She will be a heartbeat away from being the leader of the free world, and she has to be protected this much? What are they afraid of? What are they hiding?

In her acceptance speech Palin ripped on earmark spending. In reality as mayor she asked and received $26.9 million in earmarks and over $589 million as governor. She said she will fight against taxes. As mayor she supported and passed a city tax increase. She now says she will help create jobs with alternative energy programs. Reality, in 2007 as governor she vetoed $20 million toward wind farms. In 2008 she cut $20 million out of the program. As mayor, government expenditures increased 63 percent under Palin. Debt went from zero to over $18 million in her small town. She has told the world we need to respect her daughter’s choice and leave the matter to her family. That sounds good, but when you think about it, if the McCain-Palin ticket gets into office, they are determined to not let any woman ever have a choice again.

She proudly claims she stopped the bridge to nowhere. Campaigning for governor, she was all for it. Then after elected and after the plans were in the garbage can, she said no. But she kept the money! Is this change?

July of 2008 a bipartisan committee of Alaska state legislators found enough evidence to launch an investigation into Palin for abuse of power (Troopergate). The investigation was going well until the Bush people recently got involved. Now she is refusing to turn over documents claiming executive privilege. Sound familiar? She has said she will fight for seniors, education and health care. As governor she vetoed or cut $396,000 for education, $4.5 million for hospitals and health care, $600,000 for senior programs. All the while she supports more tax cuts for millionaires. She says she is for ethics reform, but then she charges the state of Alaska over $19,000 for per diem expenses while staying at her own home!

When asked recently about her claim that humans have not had an impact on climate change. She said that she has never said that. One year earlier in an Alaskan newspaper she did in fact make that statement. When all of the excitement wears off this temporary distraction, hopefully we can get back to the issues. Let the candidates discuss and debate, economic crisis, energy crisis, health care crisis, Iraq War, women’s choice, environment, roads, bridges, Social Security, deficit, etc., etc., etc. Then we can seriously see where they stand and choose who is best to change our direction and get us out of this huge mess.

Al Helgerson

Albert Lea