What We Are NOT Hearing From Obama

On the topic of Bill Ayers, Barack Obama and their joint multiyear effort together on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (dedicated to public school reform) we have seen from the Obama campaign outrage and the attempted stifling of dissent.

I have a simpler suggestion for a response from Team Obama that might be effective and would, unlike the current effort, have a modest basis in reality - Obama should just admit he ordered the Code Red.

This is the sort of statement I have in mind:

"Yes, I am proud of my work on education reform with the Chicago Annenberg Challenge.  Any attempt to reform a big city's public schools is inevitably caught up in political cross-currents, but I believe I gained valuable insight and experience, and I continue to have confidence in many of the initiatives supported by the Challenge." (At some point the Obama people will need to provide examples of some Challenge successes, but that is for another day.)

"And yes, Bill Ayers was involved.  The mayor, the governor, the head of the Chicago schools and much of the Chicago political establishment turned out in 1995 to celebrate the launch of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, which Bill Ayers helped co-found.  Do I deplore his terrorist activities in the 60's?  Of course.  But his insights into education reform are valued by Chicago's mayor and many others, so I was obliged to work with him, and together we helped Chicago's children and parents".

Obama could say something like that, or his campaign could, or some under-worked lefty blogger could pry their fingers out of their ears, stop humming "I can't hear you!" and hop to and address this Ayer issue.  A possible starting point is this Chi Trib story from 2000 which seems to have found kind words for the Chicago Annenberg Challenge and other school reform efforts (maybe; I haven't splurged to buy it):

WORST ON THE WAY TO FIRST CHICAGO'S LOCAL SCHOOL COUNCILS ARE IN THEIR SECOND DECADE. AND GUESS WHAT?; SUDDENLY OTHER CITIES ARE COPYING THEIR SUCCESS. Series: SCHOOL REFORM A report card. The first of two articles evaluating the efforts of Chicago's local school council system.

Now the Annenberg Foundation reviewed the efforts of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge and concluded it had "limited impact".  But they must have done something right!  If Hillary can present her health care debacle of 1993 as a learning experience, surely Obama can do the same with this.  And since education reform, like health care reform, is a high national priority Obama really ought to take ownership of his personal history.

Now, this "honesty is the best policy" tactic may not sway Obama's harshser critics.  But who in the media or the general public is an authority on Chicago school reform circa 1995?  If Obama insists he learned from his mistakes and scored a few successes with his attempt at school reform, at a minimum his supporters will have more upon which to hang their hats than the current "Kurtz is a liar who bashed Scandanavian homosexuals" defense is giving them.

Comments

[clarice]

Shut your mouf,TM.
How stupid are these people? Instapundit links to a Reason video in which they show the celebs in the American Prayer shtick are all FOREIGNERS.

Just don't help them any more.
Anyway, I know you're joshin'--he knows admitting a close relationship with Ayers will cost him at least 10 points.(And it's too crowded under his boss for anyone else.Klonsky took the last open spot.)

[clarice]

**under his BUS*** (blush)

[laura Peter]

And I was thinking you must have meant Michelle.

[BumperStickerist]

Perhaps a more salient question would be to ask Obama if his children were educated according to principals he espoused while heading the Annenberg Challenge.

I mean, hell, at that time he and Michelle were, per their recollection, just po' folk.

-

[bgates]

Clarice - either foreigners, or have played foreigners. Which is to say either foreigners or, um, not. (Forest Whitaker is from Texas).

Do you think he can avoid admitting a closer relationship with Ayers? I don't think that's possible, and I think TM's spin is a plausible way out. "Hey, I wanted to work on education. This guy, unfortunately, is a major player in Chicago education - but what am I going to do? It's not like there were any conservative Republicans with the same level of clout in Chicago." (Which, for Chicago, might well be true.) "Anyway, I've said for years that I want to find common interests that span partisan divides; working with Ayers was just one instance of that."

[clarice]

I've written something on that very point. Remember when one of O's campaign aides was trying to hide their relationship by saying theire kids went to the same school, suggesting they were schoolmates. Ahem..They went to the same school years apart--that school, the Lab School of the Univ of Chicago is private.

[clarice]

bgates, Don't you think it's too late for that way out?

[clarice]

I can't remember where I read it today--but there was an article noting that O was afraid of attack ads in his Senate race. (They never came because he bumped out his only real opponent by getting his divorce records open.) Anyway the article continued he had his own team do oppo research on him and concluded he'd lose 10 pts if all his associations had become known.

[M. Simon]

Live blogging:

Lousy schools is a theme.

He is going to get killed.

[bgates]

Clarice - for the people who've been paying attention since the beginning, yes. But he only needs to win the people who started listening this week, or later.

I don't think his campaign is going to take TM's advice, so I'm not too worried about it.

[M. Simon]

Shaped by his father's absence.

His father the communist.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

When they start in about McCain and houses, they ought to ask how much O is paying for school tuition. I read it is approx. $25,000 a year per child.

But he is just regular folk, doncha know?

[M. Simon]

Shipping jobs to China?

A solar energy company from China is coming to Rockford.

[Publius]

Can you say, "Bill Ayers, Secretary of Education?"

[M. Simon]

A cheer for McCain.

[Jon h]

How about describing the terroristic radical inclinations of everyone else on the board, you fucking pathetic dipshit?

In your world, Ayers and Obama were the only people on the board. They weren't. Therefore, Obama is no more tainted than the other members of the board. That includes some Republican pillars of society.

[M. Simon]

The economy.

3.3% growth last quarter. Unemployment is declining.

A nation of whiners. He will be their president.

Workers keep going without complaint. If you have complaints vote Obama.

[M. Simon]

The government will fix your problems.

By taking from the rich.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

The Speech: The Full Text

[M. Simon]

I see we have an O-bot.

Welcome.

More profanity please. It enhances your argument.

[M. Simon]

His grandmother - the bank vice-president.

[kim]

Well, son, we're really only interested in the terroristic radical intentions of Obama and Ayers, since they are the ones being crammed down our throat. Now, if you don't mind, butt out.
======================================

[M. Simon]

His heros.

Workers.

Businesses must create American jobs while we tax them out of business.

Big cities (run by Democrats) are in trouble.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

Did the Chicago Annenberg Challenge help Michelle's children?

[M. Simon]

Cut taxes for working families.

Raise them on the job providers (rich).

No ME oil in 10 years.

Drilling is a stop gap. He is ignorant of logistics.

Biofuels - the corn lobby.

Jobs that can't be outsourced - plumbers.

[M. Simon]

More money for teachers unions.

A GI bill for the military. Which already has a GI bill.

Lower health care prices. While providing more care. I believe.

More time off to help ailing relatives. Businesses will pay.

Taxes will rise. Eliminate waste fraud and abuse.

[Jon h]

Tell me about how working with Bill Ayers makes Edward Bottum a terrorist and a radical.

He was the head of a Chicago venture capital firm and consistent GOP donor.

If you can't manage that, Tom, take your weak guilt by association bullshit and shove it right up your bloated ass and tuck it next to your tiny atrophied brain.

[M. Simon]

Programs can't replace parents.

Mutual responsibility. Government enforced.

Obama is commander in chief material.

The Iraq war is a distraction. End the war.

Take out Osama if in the sights. A dig at Clinton.

Osama is our only problem.

[M. Simon]

Iraq is a failure.

Can't defeat terrorists in 8 countries by fighting them in Iraq.

Party of Kennedy: Support the legacy of Kennedy:

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. - John F. Kennedy

Rebuild the military. Keep Iran from getting nukes.

[kim]

You're missing the point, Jon; Edward Bottum isn't asking us to vote for him. We are interested in the animosity that Obama and Ayers hold against America.

Is it a sign of worry that you would bother to trot out this poor excuse, Jon? Do you not have anything else? Because this is not a meme to inspire, whereas Obama and Ayers either negligently or with malice aforethought throwing away a hundred million dollars is a meme to inspire. Now go crawl back under the rock with your nastiness and your pitiful objection.
=====================

[M. Simon]

Will support all people in the world who long for a better life.

Except Iraqis.

[Joan]

Re:How about describing the terroristic radical inclinations of everyone else on the board, you fucking pathetic dipshit....Obama is no more tainted than the other members of the board. That includes some Republican pillars of society.

Good God, what pathetic rubbish.

[Jon h]

"You're missing the point, Jon; Edward Bottum isn't asking us to vote for him. We are interested in the animosity that Obama and Ayers hold against America."

Irrelevant. Your 'argument' such as it is, is based only on proximity of the two people. If you can't prove it in the case of Bottum, you can't prove it about Obama, and thus they just worked together.

You're desperate, because your candidate and party suck.

[Terry Gain]

McCain alone wants victory in Iraq?

He's unhnged.

he has the Judgment

His Judgment was to cede Iraq to al Qaeda and Iraq.

He's going to invade Pakistan.

Don't attack me I love America.

[Rick Ballard]

Bill Ayers launched Edward Bottum in Chicago politics?

I never knew that.

[sbw]

Short commercial:

[Pan in to close-up on McCain's face -- (sorry, you've got to do it.)]

McCain: You know what America's problem is?

(Pause)

... Just listen to Barack Obama.

[Fade to message "Please vote Republican. You can't afford not to."]

Voiceover: I'm John McCain and I approve this message.

[M. Simon]

Tough choices.

Common purpose.

Abortion. Uh. Oh.

Gang violence. Uphold the 2nd. Keep AKs out of the hands of criminals. No mention of the drug war.

Hiring illegals yet foreign mothers should stay in America for their children.

He says he has no record.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Jon h: All hail totalitarinism, Seig Hiel, up with people, down with capitalism, the glory of the Soviet will rise from the ashes.

[ex-democrat]

jon h - do your parents know you're using their computer?

[M. Simon]

Washington is broken.

I can make it bigger and fix it.

[kim]

Good heavens, Jon actually thinks he has a point. Get a clue, son, your logical point doesn't translate into a political point. No one gives a DAMN about Edmund Whosisface, they do about Obama, and they do about Ayers.

Are you so stupid you can't see that? OK, don't answer that.
=========================================

[M. Simon]

He worked across party lines.

He is against Biden's son. The lobbiest.

[M. Simon]

He has a dream.

His Marxist friends running America.

[M. Simon]

Education is not working.

He will mend broken lives.

He has a dream. No mention of the content of his character. Or the character of his friends.

[Joan]

Re: "Do I deplore his terrorist activities in the 60's? Of course. But his insights into education reform are valued by Chicago's mayor and many others, so I was obliged to work with him, and together we helped Chicago's children and parents"."

This line of reasoning has always bothered me. If anyone with principles discovered that another member of a group they were interested in joining was an unrepentent terrorist, plus a radical, why wouldn't a person of integrity join another group, move to another city -- do anything but simply "deplore" the evil inherent in such a flawed character? A bright, intelligent, honorable person would. Does anyone think that they'd be comfortable sitting in a planning committee with a former bomber? It doesn't make sense. Politics might make strange bedfellows, but hobnobbing with a "former" radical who plotted blowing innocent people into bloody pulp isn't an odd association, it's a despicable one.

I've ranted on this point all week, but, honestly, I hate bombers. I despise terrorists.

[M. Simon]

Song about the red white and blue. No flags or bunting visible.

[M. Simon]

Obama had a Marxist mentor, his father was a Marxist, he sought out Marxist professors, and he worked with a Marxist bomber.

Any one see a pattern?

[M. Simon]

TM says:

But his insights into education reform are valued by Chicago's mayor and many others, so I was obliged to work with him, and together we helped Chicago's children and parents.

Except they only helped themselves to $100 million. The kids got nothing.

[sbw]

M.Simon, I'll go with your Dem nutroot nutshell:

Washington is broken.

I can make it bigger and fix it.

[JM Hanes]

TM:

This will probably be the one and only time I ever link to an Yglesias piece for anything other than ridicule, but I think his reference to Obama's Accidental Foreign Policy is on point here as well. Referring back to a Jan. '07 "YouTube" debate, he noted:

Obama was asked whether he would be willing to meet “without precondition … with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, and North Korea,” the right answer, conventionally speaking, was a qualified “no.” But Obama answered in the affirmative. Initially, even sympathetic observers like The Nation’s David Corn called this statement a “flub” at best. [...] Few observers believed that Obama genuinely intended to break new ground with his response—his campaign had never articulated any such policy before, and seemed ill-prepared to defend it on the spot.

Although Yglesias eventually manages to sound like he's actually praising Obama's new approach, the idea that his foreign policy was inadvertently determined by an on camera flub seems to have a parallel here. Having committd to "a guy from my neighborhood," and then doubling down on that characterization, he's got a problem whether or not there's anything fundamentally disturbing in the history of the CAC itself.

[ben]

Our local Obot's hysterical reaction shows just how worried they are about the Ayers connection.
CNN has a poll out on their website on whether you think Obama made his case for President....its running 3 to 1 in his favor but we can rain on the parade.

[Sue]

Maybe John H can tell us what Obama won't tell us. Why has Obama distanced himself from the executive experience he garnered at CAC and the invaluable experience he got working on education in Chicago?

[M. Simon]

Obama provided a target rich environment.

McCain should have a ball with this.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

ARLINGTON, VA – Tonight, the McCain campaign issued the following statement from Tucker Bounds, McCain 2008 spokesman, on Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention:

“Tonight, Americans witnessed a misleading speech that was so fundamentally at odds with the meager record of Barack Obama. When the temple comes down, the fireworks end, and the words are over, the facts remain: Senator Obama still has no record of bipartisanship, still opposes offshore drilling, still voted to raise taxes on those making just $42,000 per year, and still voted against funds for American troops in harm’s way. The fact remains: Barack Obama is still not ready to be President.”

[Jim Rhoads aka vnjagvet]

TM's explanation makes sense. Axelrod and Obama are supposed to be very clever operators. Why haven't they adopted this kind of position, but rather chosen classic Alkinsky intimidation tactics to try to cover up the Obama Ayers CAC connection?

There must be more to it than the relationship.

Huh, Jon?

[JorgXMcKie]

It's because Axelrod and Obama are both productds of the Chicago System, and that sh*t works there. Always. Always has, maybe always will. Unfortunately for them and for Jon it doesn't necessarily work in the rest of the country.

In Chicago, info that the Machine doesn't want to come out doesn't come out and anyone that pries too closely suffers. Unfortunately for Axelrod and Obama, Chicago can't punish total outsiders for pushing the question, and the more desperately they (and the Jons [hmmmm, kinda like one who solicits a prostitute, no?] who support them) try to convince people not only is there nothing there but no one should be allowed to look to see [much like John Kerry's military records, which he assured us would give the lie to the Swifties, but somehow he never made public] what info exists or talks about it, the more rational people wonder what the hell they're hiding.

70 days. I don't think they can keep the Obama/Ayres relationship hidden for that long, despite Jon's best efforts at obsfucation.

[JBean]

M. Simon --

"Obama had a Marxist mentor"

Who was an admitted child-molester/pervert. Just making his contribution to the overthrow of the social order by correcting the oppressive moral strictures of brainwashed youth in an evil, racist, imperialist society, of course. Bill Ayers would approve. Obama was unavailable for comment.

Frank Marshall Davis was early influence on Barack Obama.

[clarice]

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/what-lurks-in-the-ayers-annenberg-files/

[Jim]

Did the NY Times distort Ayers' words?

[kim]

Ooh, how that open source can become a Wickedpedia.
================================

[Joan]

Yes, I'm probably obsessed, but I keep reading Obama should just come out and admit he worked with a man whose former actions were deplorable and everyone will understand. This doesn't work for me. For example, what if Ayers had been a 'former' pedophile? In fact, a serial pedophile. (Ayers proudly proclaimed he created several bombs, so he could be called a serial bomber.) And, the former pedophile (of my example) was currently photographed stomping on a small child's underwear.

Would everyone still say, forgive and forget. It's okay. Blah, blah, blah.

How can liberals and leftists and idiots just calmly accept and embrace twisted, evil people?

I can't believe I am posting this.

Man, I must be turning into some sort of curmudgeon (and don't anyone post and say, no, you're a nutter.

I just simply despise bombers. Must be my 12 years living in London when the IRA was terrorizing and killing so many innocent people.)

Okay, I feel better now.

[anduril]

Stanley Kurtz will start out the Hugh Hewitt Show today.

The Chicago Way

Long Steve Sailer blog, very worthwhile--Rezko, Black Muslims, The One.

Red meat quote:

It's important to understand that affirmative action is just another way for the bipartisan and multicultural cabal of Illinois insiders, what Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass, Mike Royko's successor, calls The Combine, to rip off the public. Thus, you get these hilarious combinations: the Irish Catholic Daley, the Black Muslim Muhammad, and the Syrian Christian Rezko, all united -- transcending race, as it were -- to steal money.

And Obama played ball with all of them in his pursuit of power.

It's long, with quotes from the Chicago Sun Times. Anyone offended that Sailer once made a mistake about McCain's credit card will want to avoid this.

[bad]

Clarice

Great Article!!

[Ann]

Excellent Clarice:
Clarice's Article

[bad]

JBean

Glad to see you back. What an article! Hope it is widely read.

[anduril]

Another very worthwhile article: Will Turkey Abandon NATO? The author is senior fellow and director of the Center For Eurasian Policy at the Hudson Institute. These are issues that the next president will have to try to come to grips with. Sadly, probably none of the presidential OR vice presidential candidates (not even the one with the supposed foreign policy "chops") are up to the job. Hey, maybe will get a really capable Sec of State?

Will Turkey side with the United States, its NATO ally, and let more U.S. military ships into the Black Sea to assist Georgia? Or will it choose Russia?

...

Whether in government or in the military, Turkish officials have for several years been expressing concern about U.S. intentions to "enter" the Black Sea. ...

The Turkish mantra goes something like this: "the U.S. wants to expand NATO into the Black Sea -- and as in Iraq, this will create a mess in our neighborhood, leaving us to deal with the consequences once America eventually pulls out. After all, if Russia is agitated, it won't be the Americans that will have to deal with them."

...

Russia is Turkey's largest trading partner, mostly because of Turkey's dependence on Russian gas. More important, the two countries share what some call the post-imperial stress syndrome: that is, an inability to see former provinces as fellow independent states, and ultimately a wish to recreate old agreements on spheres of influence. When Mr. Putin gave a speech in Munich last year challenging the U.S.-led world order, Turks cheered. The Turkish military even posted it on its Web site. President Abdullah Gül recently suggested that "a new world order should emerge."

...

Two other neighbors -- Azerbaijan and Armenia -- are watching the Turkish-Russian partnership with concern. ... Neither wants to have to rely on Iran (once again) as a counterbalance to Russia. Oh, and of course, Iran had its own sphere-of-influence arrangements with the Soviets as well.

Though Turkey and Iran are historic competitors, Turkey has broken with NATO countries recently by hosting President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad on a working visit. As the rest of NATO was preoccupied with the Russian aggression in Georgia, Turkey legitimized the Iranian leader amidst chants in Istanbul of "death to Israel, death to America."

A few days later, Turkey played host to Sudan's Omar al-Bashir, who is accused of genocide by the rest of NATO -- but not by Russia or Iran, or by the Muslim-majority countries who usually claim to care so much about Muslim lives.

Where is Turkey headed? Turkish officials say they are using their trust-based relations with various sides to act as a mediator between various parties in the region: the U.S. and Iran; Israel and Syria; Pakistan and Afghanistan, etc. It may be so. But as more American ships steam toward the Black Sea, a time for choosing has arrived.

Turkey may have to make a decision soon on more US ships in the Black Sea, but even if it allows the ships in, don't expect that to resolve the underlying tensions. The dynamics of the entire situation will not go away. And they are very important to most of the world. There will also be many potential pitfalls along the way. It is in this context that I would place China's recent distancing of itself from Russia's actions in Georgia. China depends heavily on Iran for oil and is very concerned about Central Asia as well. It will not want to commit to Russian control in these areas, but will also want to keep a door open to Moscow. All complicated, requiring a firm grasp of the dynamics, which are constantly shifting.

[kim]

What? Nervous Turks? Oh, pshaw.
======================

[kim]

Yes, clarice, William Ayers is still setting off bombs in classrooms.
===============================

[anduril]

Nervous about US ships, not Russian ships.

[kim]

Oh, for crying out loud, anduril. You are internally inconsistent.
======================================

[bad]

I'm married and I have papers prepared by an attorney to assert my wishes for medical care.

Gay people have this opportunity as well.

[anduril]

Heh. PJMedia has a contrarian take: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Cold War II. "Could it be what Russians and Americans really want?"

Why repress what you really desire? The Cold War was the best of times and the worst of times. Both Russia and the United States were at the pinnacle of power that was ironically secured in their mutual adversarial existence. The Islamic enemy, on the contrary, only reveals our sentimentality, our weakness, and our hesitance. The Russians, however, are a real enemy easily amendable to political and cultural simplicity. They are an enemy we can talk to. One that reflects our own fantasies about ourselves back to us. Russians and Americans, embrace your symptom! Embrace your mutual paranoia, your inability to evaluate yourself without your dark other! The Cold War has so much more to give. Why continue to repress a good thing? Treat yourselves.

And this from the Telegraph: Iran's secret weapon isn't bombs but oil:

With every passing day, doing business in Tehran becomes steadily more difficult and costly - but Ahmadinejad's government remains devoted to its nuclear programme and, in particular, to the vital process of enriching uranium which could be used to make the essential material for a nuclear weapon. advertisement

To grasp why Tehran feels confident enough to shrug off the sanctions and press on with its nuclear-tipped ambitions, you need only understand a handful of crucial figures. At present, oil trades at around $115 per barrel, a fall of over 20 per cent in the last two months.

Yet Iran's national budget for 2008 presumed an oil price of only $40 per barrel. As the proud possessor of 130 billion barrels of proven reserves - more than anywhere else in the world except Saudi Arabia - Iran can produce about 4.2 million barrels of crude every day.

[anduril]

Will Palin be Veep? Here's part of her Wikipedia bio:

Palin was born as Sarah Louise Heath in Sandpoint, Idaho, the daughter of Charles and Sally (Sheeran) Heath.[3] Her family moved to Alaska when she was an infant.[4] Charles Heath was a popular science teacher and coached track.[4] The Heaths were avid outdoors enthusiasts; Sarah and her father would sometimes wake at 3 a.m. to hunt moose before school, and the family would regularly run 5k and 10k races.[4]

Palin was the point guard and captain for the Wasilla High School Warriors, in Wasilla, Alaska, when they won the Alaska small-school basketball championship in 1982; she earned the nickname "Sarah Barracuda" because of her intense play.[4] She played the championship game despite a stress fracture in her ankle, hitting a critical free throw in the last seconds.[4] Palin, who was also the head of the school Fellowship of Christian Athletes, would lead the team in prayer before games.[4]

In 1984, Palin was second-place in the Miss Alaska beauty pageant after winning the Miss Wasilla contest earlier that year, winning a scholarship to help pay her way through college.[4] In the Wasilla pageant, she played the flute and also won Miss Congeniality.

Palin holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Idaho where she also minored in politics.

Her husband, Todd, is a Native Yup'ik Eskimo.[4] Outside the fishing season, Todd works for BP at an oil field on the North Slope[5] and is a champion snowmobiler, winning the 2000-mile "Iron Dog" race four times.[4] The two eloped shortly after Palin graduated college; when they learned they needed witnesses for the civil ceremony, they recruited two residents from the old-age home down the street.[4] The Palin family lives in Wasilla, about 40 miles (64 km) north of Anchorage.[6]

She briefly worked as a sports reporter for local Anchorage television stations while also working as a commercial fisherman with her husband, Todd, her high school sweetheart.[4] One summer when she was working on Todd's fishing boat, the boat collided with a tender while she was holding onto the railing; Palin broke several fingers.[4]

On September 11, 2007, the Palins' son Track joined the Army. Eighteen years old at the time, he is the eldest of Palin's five children.[6] Track now serves in an infantry brigade and will be deployed to Iraq in September. She also has three daughters: Bristol, 17, Willow, 13, and Piper, 7.[7] On April 18, 2008, Palin gave birth to her second son, Trig Paxson Van Palin, who has Down syndrome.[8] She returned to the office three days after giving birth.[9] Palin refused to let the results of prenatal genetic testing change her decision to have the baby. "I'm looking at him right now, and I see perfection," Palin said. "Yeah, he has an extra chromosome. I keep thinking, in our world, what is normal and what is perfect?"[9]

Details of Palin's personal life have contributed to her political image. She hunts, eats moose hamburger, ice fishes, rides snowmobiles, and owns a float plane.[10][11] Palin holds a lifetime membership with the National Rifle Association. She admits that she used marijuana when it was legal in Alaska, but says that she did not like it.[12]

[clarice]

Thanks bad and Ann.