In this Book
- Unlikely Liberal: Sarah Palin's Curious Record as Alaska's Governor
- Book
- 2012
- Published by: University of Nebraska Press
summary
How much do you really know about former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin? The revelations in Matthew Zencey’s account of her tenure will surprise you. Although Palin is widely seen as a conservative social ideologue, her political career in Alaska was marked by a progressive fiscal approach that is at odds with her current right-wing Republican identity. A self-described red-meat conservative, the partisan “pit bull with lipstick” had been a bipartisan, pragmatic, and surprisingly progressive governor who raised taxes on Big Oil and distributed oil revenue to every Alaskan. She also rankled her social-conservative supporters by vetoing an anti–gay rights measure and placing a pro-choice woman on the Alaskan Supreme Court. But her mishandling of accusations of ethics violations made her politically vulnerable at home, and her foray into the partisan brawling of national politics broke apart her bipartisan governing coalition in Alaska’s capital. After her failed 2008 bid for the vice presidency, Palin spent one more legislative session trying to run a big government state while maintaining her national stature as a small-government conservative, but it was politically untenable. With no hope of achieving any major political accomplishments, plus a growing strain on her family life, huge legal bills, and a large book advance in hand, she resigned. Zencey, an editor at the Anchorage Daily News during her tenure, shows how the Sarah Palin who was so popular in Alaska is starkly different from the Sarah Palin who is now so popular with the Tea Party.
Table of Contents
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- Acknowledgments
- pp. xi-xiii
- 10. Al Gore, She’s Not
- pp. 75-83
- 13. Personnel (Mis)Management
- pp. 109-116
- 14. This May Sound Familiar from High School
- pp. 117-124
- 15. The Truth Can Be So Inconvenient
- pp. 125-138
- 16. “Where’s Sarah?”
- pp. 139-149
- 17. Palin Returns to Her Day Job
- pp. 150-165
- Source Notes
- pp. 197-202
- About the Author
- pp. 209-212
Additional Information
ISBN
9781612341866
Related ISBN(s)
9781612341859
MARC Record
OCLC
967588743
Pages
222
Launched on MUSE
2017-01-05
Language
English
Open Access
No