Really, you see her as being enormously controversial? She doesn't seem that way to me, especially had she not been picked up as VP.

I don't see anyone offering her AI just because it would seem cheap. Well, not cheap exactly, but a little pathetic to offer membership just because a person with no connection to your group was nominated as a VP candidate. It'd be something else if she met the same requirements groups are generally looking for in AIs.

I agree totally, plus it would seem to send a message that being famous somehow makes someone more attractive for membersip than a regular person, and the regular people are the ones who support the GLO at the grass roots level. To me it would seem like a slight to them. The cool part of having notable members is that they chose you and you them before anyone knew they were going to be notable. That is lost if you AI famous people, in my opinion.

she's definitely not a tri delta. i checked maiden name and married name too

Just being devil's advocate, but Pi Phi AIed Barbara Bush (the elder, the twin Barbara is a Theta from Yale). And that was post-First Ladydom.

What I saw written about it, suggested that Mrs. Bush wanted to join Pi Phi because she felt an affinity for it and many of her closest friends were Pi Phis. So who knows who approached whom?

Are there any other first lady AIs?

Last week my step-dad and I discussed the election and who we were planning on voting for. At that point, neither of us had decided which candidate was the lesser evils.

I talk to him this morning and he's voting for McCain because he says Sarah Palin is hottttt.

(I'm sure he was joking of course :p)

Too bad. There was some "good stuff"

That sounds like Pi Phi does a sort of honorary AI, and my group just doesn't do that. (I say honorary in the sense that I doubt Barbara is attending local AC meetings or advising a chapter.) I think she was also popular across party lines since she wasn't a politician at all and was just a nice, unthreatening cutie.

Barbara Bush had literacy as her "cause" - so the Pi Phi connection makes sense. She was very active and vocal in the philanthropy that Pi Phi works for, so I think it was a win/win for both. Pi Phis correct me if I'm wrong (I know I read about it in my former mother-in-law's Arrow, but I don't remember distinctly) but I do not believe it was an "honorary" - I think she was an AI like any other AI, in that she was seen as someone who met membership criteria and could contribute to the group.

If Sarah Palin had belonged to a local chapter that went national (although come to think of it, LBJ never was initiated into Pike, which is what the Black Stars became, but I digress) or was heavily involved in a philanthropy of an NPC, then I think AI might be an option. With what we know now, I'd say it's not likely.

Didn't Florence Henderson AI for DZ? I thought she did. I always wondered what made certain stars choose to AI once they were famous. Did Florence have a prior connection with DZ initially? Maybe a DZ can answer that...

It's more likely she's not greek since she started at Hawaii Pacific and transfered to North Idaho College before going to University of Idaho and those two don't appear to have greek life (North Idaho is a community college).

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: