"What's the right thing to do?"

These days, all sorts of smear campaigns (Fight the Smear...lol) are being waged against Sarah Palin, VP candidate. I just found a piece by someone who actually knows her - has worked with her. Unlike third hand gossip repeated ad nauseum, or slurs tainted with venom, this is the real goods. Read on:

A Palin Media Advisor Talks About Governor Palin

Sarah Palin, a Friend of Mine

By David Murrow at American Daughter
Published with permission

I see in her the grit, resolve and complete lack of political pretense that brought Teddy Roosevelt to power a century ago.

People around the world are asking, “Who is Sarah Palin?” I thought you might appreciate an analysis from someone who has worked with John McCain’s pick for Vice President.

Before I wrote Why Men Hate Going to Church, I was a full-time television producer in Anchorage, Alaska. I did quite a bit of political consulting in election years. Sarah came to me in 2002 and asked me to produce media for her Lt. Governor campaign. I knew right away she was a different kind of politician. She was confident but not arrogant. She was down-home approachable, yet sophisticated. She seemed utterly uninterested in the trappings of power, yet ambitious to wield power for good. As cameras rolled for her first commercial, I knew that Sarah Palin was a gifted communicator.

And she was a savvy negotiator. At our first meeting she made it clear she would be running a shoestring campaign. She told me she liked my work and wanted me to produce her electronic media, but she had no fat cat donors to bankroll her run.

I don’t cut my rates for anybody. But I did what Christians are supposed to do: I went home and prayed about the decision. Frankly, I didn’t expect an answer. God doesn’t usually prompt me regarding my business decisions. But in the case of Sarah I had an immediate impression that I should help her, and that I was not to worry about the money. I called Sarah the next day and signed on for her long-shot campaign.

Sarah has been a guest in my home. She’s had dinner with my family and I’ve been to her house in Wasilla to film one of her commercials. We’ve worked together through the pressures of the campaign season. We took a moment to stop and pray when the campaign got tough. Sarah also encouraged me to complete my first book, and came to a book signing at Barnes and Noble in Anchorage in 2005 (see photo).

Her rapid rise in politics is a direct result of her unwavering moral compass. Sarah makes her decisions based on one criterion: what’s the right thing to do?...

This piece is the real deal. Go read the rest of it here at Maggie's Notebook, or go to the original writer, here.

*cross-posted on Tanker Bros and Knee Deep in the Hooah!