Palin lost to the phony rank choice system .
She may be strange in your view but she was the most successful Guv in state history . Most of the critique of Palin comes from the elite who would not tolerate that treatment of one of their own.Even McCain was a condescending a$$hole . After his defeat he blamed the loss on her and regretted not selecting Joe Lieberman. She to this day speaks of him admiringly despite his despicable betrayal.
Words like sexist ,misogynistic would flow from their mouths if Dem woman leaders were subject to the things Palin routinely endures . Compost columnist Richard Cohen compared McCain's selection of her for Veep candidate as Caligula selecting his horse . Imagine if that was said of Evita . There were more than one suggestion in the media that she was not her daughter Trig's real mother . What male sitting Guv was subject to such ridicule by the establishment ?
The sad irony was that she got along well with the press until McCain elevated her onto the national stage. Then suddenly she was made public enemy #1 . They even tried to pin the shooting of Gabrielle Gifford on her.
They made a caricature of her that stuck . She did not want to ban books .She did not want Alaska to secede . She did not oppose contraception (she does oppose abortion) . She did not "see Russia" from her house (that was a Tina Fey line that the complaint press embraced )
They ridiculed her faith making exaggerated comments about the Pentacostal church she attends ;even though Pentecostalism is one of the most main stream branches of Christianity in America. When one speaks of woman's rights then one could not find a branch more rooted in egalitarian practices.
She ran a bipartisan government very successfully .She ran on anti-corruption and worked hard to implement it . She passed tough anti-corruption laws and her enemies used it against her making her defend her own ethics with her own money fighting one law suit after another . None of the charges stuck.She navigated the corrupt world of Alaska oil and energy politics that was stuck in the days of wild cat era . She promoted Alaskan resource development. She gave the royalties back to the people of Alaska and put the state on a trajectory to financial well being; something that eluded the state since it's 1959 statehood. When she started out as chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission the state was pretty much ruled by big oil. Resources were under developed and revenue left the state. She changed that by changing the culture at the agency and then challenging Murkowsky for Guv. He was in bed with big oil.
She negotiated with the legislature to pass a pipeline construction deal that cut big oil out .She pushed hard for Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share (ACES)This would not have happened without bipartisan cooperation from the Dems in the state. As a result there was a budget surplus that blunted the worse effects of the Great Recession. Alaska's bonds were elevated to AAA for the 1st time. To this day the state cuts a check to every resident for oil revenue from the state , This year every resident got a $3,000 deposit .
