http://iowapolitics.com/index.iml?Article=135972INDIANOLA -- The Harkin Steak Fry is traditionally a fundraiser that acts as a stage to rally Democrats around their candidates in addition to highlighting a star of the party. While this year’s gathering did all of those things, it also gave top Iowa Democrats a forum to throw in their two cents about the Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.
Iowa Lt. Gov. Patty Judge that spent the most time talking about Palin. She began by joking that she’s heard people try to draw parallels between the female governor and herself and said she wanted to highlight the distinctions in their public service record.
“I’ve been elected twice to the Iowa state Senate, I’ve been elected twice as the first woman in the state to serve as secretary of agriculture, and two years ago I was elected lieutenant governor to serve with my great friend Chet Culver,” Judge said. “So count ‘em up: Sarah, less than two years; Patty, 16 years.”
She went on to highlight the differences in their policy stances.
“Sarah and I are both girls. We both wear glasses. We both have families that we’re very proud of. But Sarah does not believe in a woman’s right to reproductive choice and I do. Sarah doesn’t believe in a woman’s right to equal pay for equal work and I do. Sarah doesn’t believe in a solid science-based education as the foundation of truth and learning and I do,” Judge said. “Sarah is taking a job that will put her within a heartbeat of the presidency of my country, and that scares me to death.”
Judge also poked fun at the details that have become widely noted and reported about the array of outdoor activities Palin enjoys in rural Alaska.
“Sarah knows how to field-dress a moose. I know how to castrate a calf. Neither of those things has anything at all to do with this election. But since we know so much about Sarah’s special skills, I wanted to make sure you knew about mine too,” she said.
Judge dismissed the idea McCain surrogates have put forward about the possibility former Hillary Clinton supporters may throw their support to Palin.
“If John McCain thinks women are than stupid, he is wrong,” she said. “In summary, just because you have a pantsuit, that does not qualify you for the sisterhood.”
Iowa’s First Lady Mari Culver likened the day’s cold, overcast, and windy conditions to her feelings about Palin’s spot on the GOP ticket.
“I haven’t been this cold since John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate,” she said.
Harkin himself spent a few minutes weighing in on the Republican ticket. He said what troubled him most was Palin selling herself as a conservative that has a track record of cutting wasteful government spending.
“When I saw her get up and talk about all these earmarks, I said ‘Wait a minute, what’s going on here? Did I wake up in a parallel universe?’ When she was mayor she got more earmarks for her town per capita than any city in the United States of America,” he said. “This February, as the governor, she requested $270 million in earmarks from our committee.”
Harkin also took aim at the factual accuracy of claims Palin continues to make about specific instances she rejected pork barrel spending.
“She keeps saying she stopped that ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ -- not true,” he said. “In November of 2006 Congress stopped the ‘Bridge to Nowhere.’ Here’s the kicker -- she kept the money.”
Harkin concluded by saying Palin has “more earmarks than John McCain has houses.”
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