Banning books in Wasilla; or, the arrogant thuggery of Sarah Palin

By Michael J.W. Stickings

The stories just keep coming out. Here's another despicable example -- add it to Troopergate and the rape kit business, among others -- of Palin's "executive experience":

Shortly after taking office in 1996 as mayor of Wasilla, a city of about 7,000 people, Palin asked the city's head librarian about banning books. Later, the librarian was notified by Palin that she was being fired, although Palin backed off under pressure...

Taylor Griffin, a spokesman for the McCain campaign, said Thursday that Palin asked the head librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, on three occasions how she would react to attempts at banning books. He said the questions, in the fall of 1996, were hypothetical and entirely appropriate. He said a patron had asked the library to remove a title the year before and the mayor wanted to understand how such disputes were handled.

Records on the city's Web site, however, do not show any books were challenged in Wasilla in the 10 years before Palin took office.

Palin notified Emmons she would be fired in January 1997 because the mayor didn't feel she had the librarian's "full support." Emmons was reinstated the next day after public outcry, according to newspaper reports at the time.

Still, one longtime library staffer recalls that the run-in made everyone fear for their jobs.

This one pretty much encapsulates the very essence of Sarah Palin: self-righteous fundamentalist conservative, ignorant anti-intellectual philistine, arrogant thug.

She wanted to ban books, because she has a problem with free speech and other civil liberties, and, when she didn't get what she wanted, she pushed her weight around, trying to ruin the life of the person who didn't give her what she wanted and creating a culture of fear.

Hey, sounds like Dick Cheney, except disturbingly ignorant and completely unqualified. At least Cheney, to give him his due, had been around.