Going Rogue: An American Life (113 page)

SARAH

PALIN

sonnel Board dismissed rhe ethics charges surrounding Trooper.gate. Thar circus was finally over. Was I “Thumped,” as some suggested? Others can decide. One does have to wonder, though, what Kim Elton did to earn his new job in Washington.

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“It’s still best for the state that you’re there,” Todd encouraged me. “The people who are ticked off just cannot stand that with all the darts and arrows they throw, your team is still making progress. Do you kind of get a kick out of that aspect of all this?” He grinned.

“Well, hmm … what a perspective,” I said, not grinning.

“Hey, just keep reminding me of Grandpa Sheeran’s favorite Latin tag:
IlIegitimi non carborundum!”
which, loosely translated, means,

“Don’t let the bastards get you down.”

It was

to take Grandpa’s advice when it concerned my

own hide. But the attacks on my family? Those cut deep. I would ask only this of others: imagine if your family were the subject of relentless attention from a hostile press. Surely there is ar least one person or incident the press could seize on to
embarrass your loved ones; perhaps there is a messy divorce, or
even an adored child whom you are proud of but who maybe made a mistake and is now taking responsibility and doing so with quiet grace and hard work. If your extended family doesn’t fit that description, COUnt your blessings. I’ve never met anyone like you.

The questions for me became: How do I respond to attacks on my children? Do I respond? Do I ignore them? And if I ignore them, will that encourage more Ot allow the cheapening of our national discoutse to go unchallenged? I still don’t know the

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Going Rogue

answer, bur I responded as any mother would-with rhat mama grizzly rhing again.

Bristol was criticized from all sides as a hypocrite because she took up the cause of helping prevent teen pregnancy. Critics couldn’t understand how she could love her precious son, Tripp, with all her heart, and still wish that he had been born ten years later. She wanted teens to know that though they had choices to make about contraception, the only surefire way of preventing pregnancy is not to have sex. This pragmaric position was artacked by both the right and the left-the left because abstinence seems to be a dirty word and the right because even mentioning rhe word “contraception” “sends a mixed message.” Bristol wasn’t trying to draft a narional sex-ed policy. She just wanted to help her peers. She simply told teens what she has told her sisters: “Don’t make the same mistake I did. Wait.” She graduated from high school on time with great grades, while raising her son and working two part-time jobs to pay for his diapers and formula, and then immediately started college classes. You don’t read about any of this positive progress in the tabloids and scandal rags, though.

Bristol wasn’t the only target. Using partisan bloggers as rheir primary sources, some reporters questioned Ttack’s enlistment, suggesting that he had joined rhe Army because he was “hiding from the law.”

Also, unbelievably, hurtful attacks were directed at Trig. On the Internet, a fake Planned Parenthood ad showed a photo of me holding Trig. In one corner there was a coat hanger and in the other a slogan: “Better luck next time.” What kind ora person creates something like that? Maybe the same kind who would Photoshop distorted images over Trig’s pretty face in order to make him look monstrous. The person who did this proudly displayed it on her Web site; she was also the official Alaskan
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SARAH

PALIN

blogger for the Democratic National Committee during the 2008 election.

It was reporred nationally that a New York federal judge named Naomi Reice Buchwald blasted me for bringing Trig onstage during the campaign: “Thar kid was used as a prop. And that to me as a parent blew my mind,” she said. Apparently she missed it when the Obamas appeared on stage with their lovely daughters. at the Bidens. Or the McCains. Or most every other public servant/parent in living memory. Imagine if I hadn’t been a proud mom-those same individuals would have said I was ashamed of Trig.

I’m a mom. He’s my baby. Who is this woman to say I cannot hold my baby in public? No one told me that running for office means a woman candidate has to switch off her maternal instincts and hide her children from view. If that’s required, then count
me out.

Let’s debate ideas. Let’s argue about legislation and policy. Let’s talk abour political philosophy. But leave my children alone. By the summer of 2009, Kris was ready to leave state service because of the nonstop harassment. She finally had enough when, while eating for her dying father-in-law as the family stood at his bedside, she received another harassing FOIA request. The official demand for action was presented to Kris just an hour after her father-in-law passed away.

She knew she couldn’t serve “the state effectively anymore because her days were spent fending off wasteful charges, putting out partisan fires, and managing the avalanche of paperwork PUtposefully generated by the hit squad since our return from the campaign trail. No one blamed her when she decided she’d had enough.

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Going

I knew exactly how she felt. It got to the point

I thought,

To

tbis job, you either have to be

or corrupt.

Rich enough not to cate that even though you’ve been found innocent of all the charges your political enemies have filed against you, your legal bills now exceed several years’ income. Ot corrupt to the point of being able to sleep well despite knowing you are collecting a paycheck but have ceased being effective in your job.

My approval ratings plummeted ftom nearly 90 percent to 56

percent during rhe one-sided public discourse over “the governor’s ethics problems.” Slowly and steadily, my record, my administration’s and my family’s reputation were shot to hell.

The hit squad had successfully cteated a mirage, a kind of

“where there’s smoke, there’s fire” illusion. Friends told me they saw blog comments from ordinary, well-meaning citizens around America saying things like, “Well, how could Sarah have a