Wayne Anthony Ross has quite an interesting history and made a number of even more interesting statements on important issues.
Sarah Palin's choice of Attorney General speaks volumes about her claims regarding natives, homosexuality, real Americans and feminism.
Sarah Palin cannot possibly be against natives. Some native groups expressed concerns about WAR's appointment.
Palin dismissed their concerns, saying her husband and children are part Native.
"I'm not anti-Native and Wayne Anthony Ross is not anti-Native. I would never hire anybody who is," Palin said. (ADN)
Sarah Palin cannot be against homosexuals, because, as she told Katie Couric, one of her dearest and best loved friends is a lesbian.
"But as for homosexuality, I am not going to judge Americans and the decisions that they make in their adult personal relationships. I have one of my absolute best friends for the last 30 years happens to be gay, and I love her dearly. And she is not my "gay friend," she is one of my best friends, who happens to have made a choice that isn't a choice that I have made. But I am not going to judge people." (Katie Couric interview transcript)
Sarah Palin cannot be against America. She went as far as claiming that real Americans were to be found in small towns like Wasilla, her own homestead.
"We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation. (HuffPo)
“I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town,” I grew up with those people. They’re the ones who do some of the hardest work in America, who grow our food, and run our factories, and fight our wars. They love their country in good times and bad, and they’re always proud of America.” (Article, The Moderate Voice)
Sarah Palin is definitely a feminist! She said that Hillary Clinton shouldn't whine about the way she was being treated by the media during the primaries, accusing them of being sexist, because that didn't help other women striving for equality, like Sarah Palin herself.
Wayne Anthony Ross said a few things this week.
On protected subsistence rights for natives in rural Alaska:
"But the problem with subsistence is that some people felt that they should have more rights than other people, and instead of sitting down and working out to make sure that subsistence was protected… you can’t have “those who have” and “those who have not” and not develop enemies." (Previous post, palingates)
On the US government:
"You don’t go to Washington D.C. anymore. Washington D.C. is not friends with Alaska. The General’s job is not to cause casualties with its own people. The General’s job is to win the war against the enemy." (Previous post, palingates)
His view on homosexuality:
During a fight several years ago over gay rights, Allison Mendel, an attorney, helped organize Anchorage lawyers in support of an anti-discrimination ordinance.
Ross wrote a nasty (public) letter to the Bar Association newsletter, using words like "immoral", "perversion" and "degenerates". (Diary, Pam's House Blend)
Back in 1991, on women's rights, WAR was overheard saying:
“If a guy can’t rape his wife…who’s he gonna rape?” and “There wouldn’t be an issue with domestic violence if women would learn to keep their mouths shut.” (Shannyn Moore, HuffPo)
There is a very wide gulf between what Sarah Palin says and what Sarah Palin does.
It appears to me that she pays lip service to all the issues outlined above, having a few soundbites for each occasion, but when it comes to the crunch, she shows her true colours.
Sarah Palin is, in her actions, a bigoted anti-native, anti-gay, not too American pseudo-feminist.
Sarah Palin's choice of Attorney General is a good indication of how she really stands on these issues.
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