Palin's Pals

Nominated for Attorney General by then Governor Sarah Palin, Wayne Anthony Ross allegedly defended a man's right to rape his wife.

Palin’s hopes for a swift confirmation process were dashed April 10 when Leah Burton, a veteran lobbyist on children’s issues and domestic violence, submitted a letter to the Alaska State Judiciary Committee claiming that Ross publicly defended spousal rape.

According to Burton, who detailed the allegations for me, Ross allegedly declared during a speech before a 1991 gathering of the “father’s rights” group Dads Against Discrimination, “If a guy can’t rape his wife, who’s he gonna rape?” (In a subsequent letter, Ross denied the remark and claimed, “I don’t talk like that!”)

Burton said Ross’s statement was consistent with his overarching attitude toward women’s issues. She claimed that he once said during a debate on the Equal Rights Amendment, “If a woman would keep her mouth shut, there wouldn’t be an issue with domestic violence.”

Burton also maintained she has been in touch with “a number” of domestic-violence victims who witnessed Ross make “horrible” statements, but are too intimidated to speak out.

“Alaska is a very small state and it’s terrifying for these victims to come forward because they’re afraid of retribution,” Burton said.

Endorsed by Palin for having "guts", Sharron Angle ran against Democrat Senator Harry Reid from Nevada. Angle demonstrated her "guts", by calling for the elimination of the Department of Education, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Energy and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). 

Angle's positions were so extreme that they were dismissed by various Republican Senators like Richard Lugar of Indiana who  when asked about Angle's positions stated, "I would characterize (them) as very extreme views that do not have much basis in either practicality or what is going to occur in the evolution of our country.”

Republican Senators Mike Crapo of Idaho, Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma and Jeff Sessions of Alabama joined Senator Lugar in stating their opposition towards eliminating government departments and privatizing Social Security, another belief by Angle. 

Angle spread further consternation when she stated her opposition to abortion including cases of incest and rape, by stating that, "God has a plan and a purpose for each one of our lives" and that victims of incest and rape should turn, "...a lemon situation into lemonade".

Most disturbing of all, was Angle's "solution" to what she saw as an out of control Congress, by discussing "Second Amendment remedies" for the "Harry Reid problems". 

From her admission of "dabbling into witchcraft" and having a "little picnic on a satanic altar", to her  assertion that scientists are creating "mice with fully functioning human brains", to her belief that masturbation was equivalent to adultery , many had difficulty taking Palin endorsed candidate Christine O'Donnell seriously.

Conservative pundit Bill O'Reilly called her "dopey" and her statements "crazy". 

Karl Rove, top political aide to George W. Bush, dismissed O'Donnell stating that he "wasn't frankly impressed as her abilities as a candidate", that she had said, "nutty things" and that he did not think she would win the Senate seat in Delaware. Rove was correct in that O'Donnell lost to Chris Coons by 17 percentage points.

Military veteran Vaughn Ward was backed by Sarah Palin in his run for State Representative of Idaho.

Unfortunately for Vaughn, not even Palin could help him win the primary let alone the election when it was revealed that Ward heavily plagiarized a speech given by then Senator Barack Obama in 2004 at the Democratic National Convention.