Took almost 5900 posts before I ever had one deleted...lol.

From the Lewiston Morning Tribune...
 

Former UI classmates remember Palin as quiet, bookish
By Joel Mills

Saturday, August 30, 2008



Sarah (Heath) Palin is pictured in the 1987 Gem of the Mountains, the University of Idaho yearbook.

MOSCOW - Talk about coincidence.

"It's crazy," was about all Sara Taft could say Friday morning when Republican presidential candidate John McCain selected Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, 44, as his running mate.

Taft attended the University of Idaho with Palin when she was Sarah Heath.

And her dad, Denis Taft, went to the Naval Academy with John McCain.

Taft said she didn't know Palin well when they were communications students in the mid-1980s in Moscow, but remembered her because they had similar names.

"That's why it stood out," Taft said from the Seattle area, where she's a human resources manager for a vehicle auction company. "But that's all I could remember."

Denis Taft and McCain also went to flight school together in Pensacola, Fla., she said. "They used to drink beer and eat oysters together."

McCain, an Arizona senator, surprised many when he picked Palin, a relative newcomer to politics who's been in the governor's office for just 20 months.

Brian Long is another Palin classmate who registered shock when McCain made his announcement in Ohio, with Palin, her husband and four of her five children by his side.

"I'm really interested in politics, so I know she'd been mentioned from time to time," said Long, a Coeur d'Alene defense attorney and 1987 UI student body president. "But it did surprise me a little because I always remember her being pretty quiet in class."

Long described himself as a "dyed-in-the-wool Democrat" who wouldn't likely be swayed by Palin's new stature. But if he was a Republican, "I'd probably be gunning for a press secretary position," he joked.

"We always like to see our fellow alums do well," Long added. "But I'm curious to see her debate against (Democratic vice presidential nominee) Joe Biden on foreign policy. She's running with the big dogs now."

Like Palin, Long was born in Sandpoint in 1964. Palin moved to Alaska with her family when she was still a baby, however, while Long was raised in northern Idaho.

Larry Richardson, a real estate broker in Eagle, remembers seeing Sarah Heath's name frequently when they were both UI students because she was involved with so many activities.

"Obviously, she's a smart gal, and that's kind of how I remember her, as being one of those bookworm kind of girls," Richardson said.

As soon as he heard rumors Thursday night that Palin might be McCain's pick, Richardson said he grabbed his 1987 Gem of the Mountains yearbook and found her picture.

Richardson said he has an independent bent in politics with Republican leanings, and saw Palin's selection as a smart move.

"I know why they're using her, because they want to get the female vote, obviously," he said. "I think that's going to help their campaign."

But Palin's lack of national and international experience could also be a weakness, Richardson added.

"It's like a crapshoot," he said. "It's like rolling the dice and saying, 'Let's go for it.' "

Palin graduated in 1987 with a bachelor of science degree in journalism with a broadcast news option and a political science minor, said Kenton Bird, the director of the UI School of Journalism and Mass Media.

Bird said he spoke with several of Palin's former professors two years ago when she was elected governor, but none could offer any firm recollections of her time in Moscow.

The university issued a statement saying Palin was part of its "legacy of leaders."

"University of Idaho alumni are sizable in number, but remain a close-knit community," the statement said. "A large number of university alumni, such as Sarah, have gone on to distinguish themselves in public service."

Agreed, with a few exceptions...
"Post-First Ladydom", Barbara had time to devote, a proven connection with the philanthropy, and most importantly, connections to Pi Beta Phi already, all of which made her a good candidate for AI.
That's another big factor why I would highly doubt any NPC would approach Palin for AI.

I'm pretty new to this forum, but when I saw this thread I had to share this with some women who might understand.

Last night in bed my husband (who had already discussed politics with me earlier in the day as usual) saw Sarah Palin on TV and suddenly said, "Don't you think she looks like a younger Raquel Welch?"

Since I know what "type" of woman he likes, I got jealous in a weird sort of way and what I call a silly tiff ensued. Part of me was mad he was "sexualizing" a political candidate and part of me was jealous because I thought he found her attractive! We must have tiffed back and forth about it in bed for at least 20 minutes until we both had to laugh at ourselves when the conversation escalated to such a silly place.

Anyway, this is off topic, so I just wanted to share ;)

No kidding! WTF?!? So now every time a thread goes even slightly off topic on GC, are moderators going to start deleting some of the posts they don't like? Because not every off-topic post was deleted. Never mind that the ones that were, were completely innocuous. No one was fighting or arguing in any way. This is one of the most inconsistent things I've seen on here.

I expect this post to be deleted shortly, by the way. If it isn't, it's more evidence of inconsistency, because my post is not a direct reply to the OP. :rolleyes:

i know her. i'm pretty positive she wasn't greek at all.

Either way, while in office/politics even such a shor time, she seems with her track record, she will not take crap from anyone.

Even if she is a very attractive women, she seems to have put a lot under her belt in her 44 years.

So, why not give credit due where it is due!

She damn sure cannot do any worse than what we have in D C now!

I'm feeling bad because it seems like I'm attacking groups who might have AIed famous people. I've really got no problem with that as long as the AI was AIed for reasons other than simply fame. Service in the same field, like Barbara Bush, sounds great as would any famous person who happened to have personal connections to a certain chapter or group.

Maybe she has done well but her stand on issues scares the hell out of me.

I agree! She won't take crap from other legislators, lobbyists, or foreign diplomats.
Just because she is from Alaska doesn't mean she is naive pushover. She has dealt with some of the most powerful lobbyists in the country as the governor of a state that is so rich in natural resources. She has stood strong against the big oil companies when every other governor before her had been bought out. Her state budget runs over 2.5 BILLION dollars!! Compare that with Arizona at 1.9 billion, Alabama at 784 million, and Illinois at 1.8 billion. If she was governor of any of these states she wouldn't be facing half the criticism that she is because of the false notion that Alaska is nothing compared every other state.

And just so this doesn't get deleted.... Sarah Palin was not in a sorority.

It seems that any stands seem to scare you!:rolleyes: You profess a lot of things about or against many things and people!


But Obama is such a known poiticion and brings in Biden an old liner?

Now, that seems to be well in your arena of life!

Thanks for your comment.

Here Yea, Benzgirl has so proclaimed!

HUH?:confused:

Co-sign the Huh?

eh, he's been drinking again.

For the record, Gov. Palin (nee Heath) does not appear in the online directory for Gamma Phi Beta.

.....Kelly :)

This is really sad! I totally agree with you pbear!! When does a topic on GC NOT go off-topic. People need to stop getting their panties in a rut, and let threads be. What's more sad is that awkward's post were all deleted. So, the Alaskan GCer can't give her opinion on her own governor without her posts being deleted???

Did I set some kind of record or something for getting posts deleted right out of the shoot? Can't we agree do disagree as long as it is amicable and friendly? Sure the thread is about Sarah Palin's sorority affiliation but that can only go so far since we have pretty much established that she is not a member of an NPC group. How many different ways can that be said? It leaves some room for discussion of other aspects of Sarah's life that need to be vetted. Conversations that go on tangents are sometimes the best and most enjoyable of them all. IMHO some of those posts were damn funny and should have been saved into a GC hall of fame thread!

I assumed the posts taken out of here were merged into the McCain's Running Mate thread -- no, huh? Well that does really suck then.

^^Not that I can see.......:mad:

No merge, just random, unwarranted deletes. I've had posts deleted before because they were part of a hot discussion, but never because they were off topic. I'm actually quite pissed about it. There was absolutely no reason to delete my posts, and others, while leaving up posts that were equally off topic both in this thread and in others.

It was incredibly arbitrary and petty.

Of the four candidates for president and vice-president, only John McCain attended an institution where there were no fraternities or sororities. The fact that NONE of the other three chose to join a fraternity or sorority, is very discouraging. Especially, since one of our strongest arguments for joining our organzations is LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT. I hope this is not a trend, but I suspect it is.

How do we know that they didn't try? What if they did, but for some reason was not extended a bid?

We tell bidless PNMs that there are still many ways to get involved on campus. I was in leadership positions before I joined my sorority as a junior. You don't have to be Greek to possess leadership qualities.

Being Greek isn't a requirement to get my vote.

I dunno, oldu.... I don't think it's that discouraging. I think it's representative of the eras in which they were collegians.

I think once people who went to college in the 90s and 00s start running for office, we will find that the majority of them will be Greeks.

Yeah, that too.

I think the other 3 have all made clear that they worked hard to get themselves into college and worked hard to get themselves through college, paying for it on their own. I don't think it's that unusual that for students in their situation, joining and paying for a GLO wasn't their top priority and I don't take it as a positive or a negative that they weren't in a greek org. I'm not sure why that's such a "must have" in your book, there are plenty of other LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT opportunities in college, greek life doesn't own the corner on that one.

Yeah because we all know the way to judge whether someone is worthy of running our country is whether they joined a fraternity or sorority :rolleyes:

I wouldn't vote for someone just because they went Greek. Not everyone who "goes Greek" is a leader.

Wow! Personally, I'd rank GLO affiliation at around 12,098 on my list of concerns for our Presidential and VP candidates.

SO WHAT?

Just because 3/4 Pres/VP candidates aren't greek does not mean GLO's are doing a crappy job of churning out leaders. People have other avenues of LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT. It's not like GLO's are the end-all, be-all of leaders. There are plenty of leaders in the world in different areas that chose not to go Greek. There's nothing wrong with that.

On the same note, being a ABC fraternity/sorority member doesn't automatically mean you will be a leader. There are many members who go on to living normal, Average Joe lives and others who become extraordinary people in their respective fields. Maybe it was because of something they learned while being a ABC member or maybe it was just something they already had in them.

Even if this Sarah lady was my own sorority sister, that doesn't mean jack. It just means she happened to join the same sorority as me. I don't care whether or not someone is Greek when I am consdering how I am going to vote, so why again does this matter?

Somehow I think that for oldu, it's less about the tragedy of these individuals not going Greek and thus missing out on leadership development (which, besides, was that even a major emphasis in GLOs in the 60s/70s when these people were in college), and more about the fact that these people aren't in the WASP "chummy" club of Greek Life.

And let's face it, some of these people went to schools where, even at a time of relative overall decline in Greek life (60s/70s), Greek life at those schools was not particularly popular then or now - only a small minority of students were Greek.

I'm specifically thinking of Barack Obama + Columbia, but he actually started out at Occidental for two years, and I'm not sure if there was Greek Life there then - according to irishpipes' thread, their only NPC is Theta and that was only founded in 2004. If the pattern holds....

Wait, if I am reading this post correctly then you are assuming that Sarah Palin went to college in the 60's/70's? She graduated college in '87. Perhaps I have misinterpreted this post...

Yes, I believe you have.

Some clues:

Perhaps OldU meant that he/she finds it disappointing for GLOs as a whole, not disappointing in that the candidates are less qualified for Pres/VP because they aren't Greek.

We've all heard/quoted the old stand-by claim that xx% of Congress-people/Presidents/VP's were/are Greek. "See, GLOs create some great leaders, and many great leaders choose to be in GLOs!"

My read of OldU's comment was that perhaps this is the beginning of the end of that claim...

i can't imagine that the average Columbia student has Greek Life on their mind. honor society (PBK?) surely, but social GLO? esp if he transferred in as a junior from another college.

but im not gonna write the man's life story or anything.

ETA: then again, i doubt Obama was the "average" Columbia student. ;)

I agree with your second suggestion, Janerz222. Oldu's comment seems to suggest that an end of an era has come.

I don't think that's entirely accurate though. Part of what I believe breathesgelatin was pointing out is that we're coming into a time when many Americans who are seeking elective office happen to have gone to college during the 60s and 70s. It's been debated but I'm one of those who believe that those two decades were a low point in Greek affiliation. The 1980s, however, were a high point. I think we might just be going into a bit of a dip.

There are reasons why there will probably never be a full recovery though. Again, as breathesgelatin suggested, we're entering an era that is more accepting of non-WASPs being in power. Although I tend to think this is a good think, I'd agree that this is what has oldu so discouraged.

Not after being publicly exposed as a liar. She's a 44 year old grandmother!

that's actually not uncommon as you make it out to be. whether that's something to be so positive about is another story.

the denial of extending alumnae membership, IMO would be upon the actual lying, not because of the young grandmother bit.

That's what I meant.

I realize I am late to the party, and that it is elsewhere.

And? What would that prove if it were true?

Besides, the rumor that Trig is her grandchild is unsubstantiated thus far. The picture that the rumors are using as "evidence" was taken in 2006. Most people do not have a 2 year gestation period.

If it's true, oh well. I wonder how many mothers raise their teenage daughter's children these days as their own? Not so uncommon. Wouldn't you protect your daughter?

It proves that if she would go to ridiculous lengths to cover up something that doesn't need to be, what else is she hiding or WOULD she hide if the GOP ticket wins? It's a trust issue.

The facts just don't add up. Bristol pulled out of school for several months, 8 hour plane ride plus 45 minute drive to a remote hospital, Sarah Palin's coworkers not suspecting she is pregnant at 7 months?

Would I "protect" my daughter? I wouldn't see the need to lie because I am not friends with any Evangelical Christians/other types that are adamantly against premarital sex so it's not like my success or hers would depend on what the "wait until marriage" crowd thinks.

Obviously, anyone can see Sarah Palin's rationale for the cover up. She is a Republican, a member of a party with a substantial bloc of voters who feel strongly that sex should be saved for marriage. However, given the choice between being honest and being exposed as a liar, I'd be honest. And if I were a hypothetical Republican in public office, I'd put a spin on it and emphasize that my daughter did not have an abortion.:rolleyes::rolleyes:

I posted a few weeks ago in the Random thread that a girl I know is becoming a grandmother next year at the tender age of 31.

She had her eldest at 15. At 16, her son is continuing the cycle. Mind you, she has 6 kids, the youngest of whom was born last February.