Andrea Wilson Woods' Blog

When Sarah Palin’s memoir Going Rogue debuted last year, I didn’t buy her book, but I did follow her press tour. I watched almost every television show she was on including The O’Reilly Factor, Hannity, Oprah, and the Barbara Walters interview on Good Morning America. Palin mesmerizes me because she is charismatic, attractive, and much smarter than people are willing to admit. While I don’t believe she will ever become president, no can deny Palin’s political power.

Part of Palin’s charm is that she is the hockey mom, the loyal wife, the competitive athlete, the beauty pageant contestant, and of course, the career woman. Even if you don’t agree with her politics (and I don’t), you have to admire her ability to do so much in such a short amount of time. Five children, twenty-two years of marriage, Alaska state basketball champion, and third place in the Miss Alaska pageant are some of her notable personal achievements. Professionally, she is the woman who went from City Council member to Mayor to Governor to Vice Presidential nominee to author, speaker, and Fox News pundit in eighteen years. She inspires people—especially conservative young women who share her values.

Palin also has the “sexy” factor. If she didn’t, why did Newsweek take an old photo of her from Runner’s World and put it on the cover of their magazine on November 23, 2009? Why do people still Photoshop pictures of Palin on a bikini touting a gun? Can you imagine anyone doing the same thing to Hillary Clinton even in her younger days? Everyone should play up their positive attributes so if you are attractive—use it to your advantage. Palin has a very specific look from her hair, to her makeup, to her glasses, to her clothes, and the message is clear: tasteful, personable, playful, yet conservative. If you think her style is accidental, then you don’t anything about being a woman in a man’s world.

Palin is smart, but she is not intellectual. She is ignorant about many national and world issues. But guess what? So are most Americans, which is why so many people relate to her. We have an intelligent, Harvard-educated president and half the time, no one understands his message. Palin speaks to the people in “plain” English. Even when she rambles on, she repeats herself less often than Vice President Biden does, and she is frequently more coherent than President Obama is. Many words that were attributed to Palin during the 2008 campaign were made up by Internet bloggers trying to smear her credibility. I don’t think she was ready to be the VP nominee and she was definitely over-coached, but that experience prepped her for current and far more lucrative career.

With all of her political cache, I think Palin could have easily won the U.S. Senate race in Alaska this year. With six years as a senator under her belt, she would have had the time to educate herself on domestic and foreign policies/issues; make friends in Washington and understand how “it” works; and become a serious contender in 2016 for the highest office in the land. As a mayor and a governor, she has an executive background, but she has little political experience in the national arena. If Palin ever wants to be our first female president, she needs to gain that experience now. However, she appears to have no genuine interest in becoming President Palin in the near future.

For the moment, Palin seems content to rake in the cash from her books sales and speaking engagements as well as to support current political candidates (e.g., South Carolina’s Nikki Haley, Alaska’s Joe Miller). She evades questions regarding a presidential bid in 2012 except to say that she “would offer [herself] up in the name of service to the public,” in the event that “nobody else wanted to step up.” Either she is being deliberately vague or Sarah Barracuda does not want to be president.

Beware though … don’t underestimate the power of Sarah Palin.

AWW — XoXo

Posted under News & Politics | 2 Comments »

I admit the title of this blog is somewhat ironic considering I am an “artist” who occasionally writes about politics. (Trust me, my interest in this subject matter will diminish after the election.) However, I just received another ridiculous email from a fellow artist who forwarded this Huffington Post article from playwright Eve Ensler best known for The Vagina Monologues.

The most upsetting thing about Ensler’s article is the many partial truths littered throughout it. Artists are not journalists so therefore they often don’t do the necessary research before voicing their opinions. Ensler is absolutely entitled to her point of view; however, she should be accurate when she discusses Sarah Palin’s record.

For example, Ensler condemns Palin’s action of shooting “hundreds of wolves from the air, ” but what she fails to mention is that this practice is legal in Alaska. It is called “predator control” because it is used to keep the populations of moose and caribou high for subsistence hunters. If one wanted to twist this fact in the opposite direction, one could suggest that Palin is providing food for the people in her state by supporting and participating in a law that allows them to kill the predators who prey on the animals  that many people eat. By the way, this predator control program is limited to just 9 percent of the state’s land mass, and unlike the lower 48 states where gray wolves are endangered, they number between 7,000 — 11, 000 in Alaska.

Ensler also states that Palin is against abortion, doesn’t believe in global warming, and tried to ban books. Let’s be clear about Palin’s beliefs, which are far more nuanced than Ensler would like us to believe.

• Palin is against abortion in almost all cases except when a mother’ s life is in danger. Palin’s view stems from her belief that life begins at conception, a view shared by many religious people in this country.
• Palin believes in global warming, but she doesn’t think it is necessarily manmade. She stated in the vice presidential debate that it is part of the cyclical nature of our planet, a view shared by many scientists. Even though she doesn’t think man created it, Palin is prepared and has ideas about tackling global warming.
• Palin never tried to ban books. Look it up on factcheck.org.

Another issue Ensler has with Palin is that she owns guns. Well, the Second Amendment allows for the right “to keep and bear arms” and approximately 25 percent of Americans own a gun. Does Ensler condemn them too? Ensler also wants us to believe that Palin doesn’t support sex education; well, that’s not entirely accurate either. Palin supports abstinence-only sex education.

Some facts in Ensler’s editorial article are correct. Palin believes in God, and she does support drilling in ANWR. Senator McCain suppors the former; he opposes the latter so drilling in ANWR is unlikely to happen during his administration … should he be elected.

Perhaps Ensler’s article would have been more powerful if she hadn’t opened with her sentimental feelings about polar bears. Right away, she comes off as an extreme animal-rights activist who puts animals before people instead of an intelligent woman trying to convey her concerns about one of our vice presidential candidates. Don’t get me wrong, I love animals, and Ensler is correct in that Palin wants polar bears removed from the endangered species list because according to the Anchorage Daily News she believes the listing “will cripple oil and gas development” in Alaska’s northern coast, a prime polar bear habitat. The conclusion I draw from Palin’s opinion is that she believes energy independence is a higher priority than protecting polar bears. People before animals. I think many would agree with her.

AWW — XoXo

Posted under Entertainment & Politics | No Comments »

I feel sorry for Sarah Palin because she has already lost her way. Political pundits predict that the McCain campaign is prepping, drilling, and hammering Gov. Palin with an overabundance of knowledge so she won’t say the wrong thing tomorrow night. The Katie Couric interview was a debacle, and now Palin is expected to be more than perfect to make up for it. Well guess what guys—nobody is ever perfect. If Palin was allowed to be herself, she would win back the hearts of those undecided voters who deserted the McCain campaign after Palin’s gaffe and the first presidential debate. I hope she does well tomorrow night, not because I support her views, but because I don’t want anyone to blame her gender if she screws up.

My sympathies aside, here is a New York Times article you must read about Palin. I also urge all women to sign the Planned Parenthood petition that personally addresses Palin and her views about women’s choices.

AWW — XoXo

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To question vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s experience is not sexist; however, to state that her first priority should be to her children and because of this responsibility she is not ready to be in the White House is. How come no one has bothered to ask Barack Obama who will take care of his children if he becomes elected? Well, according to Sally Quinn it’s because, “A mother’s role is different from a father’s.”

Shame on you Sally for saying that mothers can’t be elected officials until their children are older. If you want to criticize Governor Palin’s record, go ahead, but you have no idea what goes on in the Palin house. Did it ever occur to you that Todd Palin is an excellent father and he enjoys being Mr. Mom?

AWW — XoXo

Posted under People/Relationships & Politics | No Comments »

I’m fired up about this election because—for the first time ever—I am an undecided voter. Not that it matters in California, as Senator Barack Obama is a shoo-in for the state, but I still like to think my vote matters, at least to me it does.

So I ask you … do I vote for my principles, which are actually far more centered than people believe, but if someone drew a line in the sand, I would lean to the left. Or do I vote for someone who I think is principled—Senator John McCain. Obama changes his mind faster than I switch my shoes; at least McCain’s opinions change over the course of many years. (That’s a joke. Laugh. Now.)

A friend wisely informed me that no politician is principled so I should vote with my principles, but I need more convincing.

I’m also appalled by the media coverage of Governor Sarah Palin. I may not agree with her politics, but she is not a bimbo or a bitch—two insults hurled by close friends and family members. For the record, she never banned books, and she never said “God made dinosaurs 4000 years ago as ultimately flawed creatures“—a blogger made up those statements (and more) and attributed them to her just for fun.

Don’t panic though. I may defend Palin against false rumors, but I do think her record should be closely scrutinized (although can the pundits please stop acting as though McCain is going to drop dead the minute he takes office). I also believe I have more than one choice; at this moment I plan to write in a candidate although I’m open to suggestions.

So give me some feedback—convince me. Why should I vote for your candidate?

One more thing … you have to check out this out this Biden story and clip.

AWW — XoXo

P.S. Look up ugly rumors before emailing them to your friends by visiting these websites: Fact Check and Snopes.

Posted under Politics | 2 Comments »