People who are excited at the prospect of Sarah Palin’s candidacy need to look a bit more closely, because her positions are not woman-friendly, family-friendly, or even America-friendly.

In Alaska, Palin sought out ways to ban books from libraries — imagine this in a McCain/Palin administration, writ large to apply to all your freedoms of expression. She was a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, which has been pushing for secession from the Union for 40 years. Not exactly “America First.”

Palin slashed funding for Covenant House in Alaska, which supports troubled youth, including teen mothers. Being anti-abortion is fine if you’re a rich governor’s daughter, but if you’re young, poor and pregnant (because you’re only being taught abstinence), you don’t garner support from the likes of Sarah Palin.

Palin is not your average Christian. Palin is a religious extremist who doesn’t believe in the separation of church and state. Her church in Wasilla preaches that people who vote against the Republicans will “be banished to hell,” and that the Iraq war is a religious war for Jesus. Yes, that’s right, a religious war for Jesus! These deeply held beliefs are deadly in the hands of the vice president, or president.

Sarah Palin can’t even run a car wash. She recently owned one, failed to file for

more than a year and lost it. Is this the person we want a heartbeat away from the presidency, beside a 72-year-old man with a history of recurrent cancer?

Melissa Kruger

Renton