Questioning Sarah Palin

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: September 7, 2008

The Founding Fathers saw fit to create a role for just one type of business in our republic — the press.

Those men knew the value of a free and unfettered press. They knew that a well-informed citizenry was best able to govern itself and to make the right choices.

The news media, like everything else created and operated by human beings, is far from perfect. But over the next two months, it will have the task of educating the American people about the newest face on the national political scene, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

We’ve already seen foolish and unimportant stories about Palin, such as the drunken driving charge her husband faced some two decades ago. How is that relevant? It isn’t.

Palin has gone from a small-state (in terms of population) governor to being one election away from being one heartbeat away from the presidency. The American people need to learn everything they can about Palin over the next two months.

So, let’s learn more about how she changed her mind on the so-called “Bridge to Nowhere.” What books, if any, did she want banned from the library in the city where she served as mayor? Let’s get to the bottom of the accusations that she tried to get her former brother-in-law fired from his job as a state trooper. Let’s hear about her command of the Alaska National Guard, her relationship with indicted Sen. Ted Stevens, her views on the Alaskan Independence Party, her contacts with the Russian and Canadian governments, how she really feels about federal government pork (Alaska gets a lot of it), her relationship with both big oil and her own party.

Tough questions, one and all.

But consider this: Joe Biden was elected to the U.S. Senate from Delaware in 1972. John McCain was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982 and the Senate in 1986.

Barack Obama has a thinner resume than either Biden or McCain, but he has been on the national stage for the better part of two years.

Biden, McCain and Obama are pretty well-known by most Americans. Regardless of how we feel about them, many questions have been asked and answered.

Not so with Sarah Palin.

That’s why now is the time for the news media to do its job by asking the tough questions and digging for the complete story.

Palin talked pretty tough during her electrifying speech this week at the Republican National Convention. If that’s the way she plans on conducting this campaign, surely she is tough enough to fully explain her public record to the American people.

Put another away, if Sarah Palin can’t handle so-called “mainstream media,” how can she handle Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Vladimir Putin of Russia and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran?

Over the next two months, we need to learn a lot more about Palin. She’s no longer just a small-state governor. She could one day be our president. We have to know more about her record and her views on the issues that will affect all of us.