The Integrity of Sarah Palin

Last week Governor Palin endorsed Senator McCain for re-election to the Senate. Since then she has been unfairly criticized by some on the right. It came as no shock to me that she endorsed him, especially after reading her book. It's clear that Sarah Palin holds a great amount of respect and admiration for the man she once ran on a presidential ticket with.

While I am not a real big fan of John McCain on a political level, I understand her decision. It shows a tremendous amount of character for her to throw her support behind him, once again.

One thing for certain is that this should put to rest any false meme out there that Sarah Palin was "dissing" John McCain in any way when the paparazzi took those pictures of her in her hat on the beach in Hawaii. It appears that the former governor of Alaska WAS just trying to stay "incognito" while she enjoyed a vacation with her family.

I got into a conversation with my aunt about that phony media fishing expedition shortly after it happened. Somebody had actually told her that Governor Palin had written "No McCain" on a hat and was walking around the beaches of Hawaii with it on. I have no idea who told her that rubbish, but it does prove that quote from Winston Churchill, "A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on" wasn't far off.

Needless to say, my aunt, a conservative woman that holds no party as her own, was upset at the notion that Governor Palin would do such a thing. When I assured her that she had received bad information and explained what really happened, she was relieved. She likes Sarah Palin a lot and wants to support her. She said she could not support someone that would treat the person that brought her to the national stage, in such disregard. All is well now and my aunt is back firmly in the Palin camp. But it does prove that character and integrity go a long way with the American public.

In fact that seems to be a major reason Obama's poll numbers are tanking. The man is showing this country that he is absolutely devoid of good character and integrity by attempting to break records in the department of broken campaign promises. For more details on that, please see Sarah Palin's Facebook note "Mr. President: Please Try, "I'm Listening, People," Instead of "Listen Up, People!"

There are a whole host of political reasons that Palin's endorsement of McCain makes sense given the current political climate. Adam Brickley recently wrote a piece called "J.D. Hayworth – A Fool’s Errand." In it he lays out many of these reasons:

Let’s remember that McCain was the first senator visited by Scott Brown after his win in Massachusetts last week – but I don’t hear anyone calling for Brown’s head on a plate. In fact – Brown is widely seen as being decently conservative. He’s definitely the most conservative Massachusetts senator in recent memory – eschewing the hyper-moderate stances that have generated the few recent GOP victories in that state. And who is one of Scott Brown’s idols? John McCain.

More:

Arizona is a red-state – but it’s not THAT red. If McCain loses a bitter primary, we will have to spend valuable resources ensuring Hayworth can hold off a strong Democratic challenge. Right now, our resources are going to be spread thin for a GOOD reason in that we have the potential to bump off multiple Democratic senators (especially now that we are looking at challenging Senators Bayh and Feingold in the wake of the Brown victory). We do not need to divert resources out of purple states to make sure that Hayworth doesn’t lose.

By the way - for those of you backing Hayworth – I want you to meet Democratic Tuscon City Councilman Rodney Glassman. The 31 year-old Glassman has no real chance of taking out McCain in a year when the GOP is at it’s strongest, but as you will see in the video below, he’s a very marketable guy and I would expect him to get massive amounts of DSCC cash if Hayworth ousts McCain. Also – don’t tell me that a JAG officer can’t pick off a lot of bitter, disgruntled McCain loyalists in a general election.

You can read the rest here, it's well worth it!

In plain and simple terms, Governor Palin did the right thing. When asked recently by Glenn Beck why she was doing it, she said:

I'm supporting [McCain]. I keep my word. John McCain is on fire to kill Obama's government takeover of healthcare and that's what I want to see. And his commitment and his leadership on national security to win the war on terror, that's what we need. And I'm going to support him. And he is a statesman, and I don't hesitate at all to say, no, we do need his leadership, especially on those two fronts..

As someone who has spent a great deal of time observing politics over the years, I can assure you how truly rare it is to hear "I keep my word" from a major political player. Not only are the words rare, but the act of doing it is almost unheard of.