Pamela Gorman - Arizona's Sarah Palin?

State Senator Pamela Gorman seems to be caught in a Sarah Palin conundrum regarding the state budget - follow your conscience and do what's right for your constituents, and what they elected you to do, or bow to political pressure and be a party lemming.  Admirably, Gorman is standing up to the pressure, and refusing to agree to a tax increase.  Either way though, she will be chastised.

Senator Gorman showed similar Palin-like courage by resigning her post earlier this month as the Senate Majority Whip, as a matter of principle.  Principle is so rarely seen anymore, that political critics of both women have labeled them quitters and cowards.  Yet they simply do not, or chose to not, know these women.

Gorman and Palin seem to have many similarities, and it's a compliment to both.  Both are savvy politicians, conservative, very attractive, pro-life, successful career women, wives and mothers - the exact formula for eliciting extreme hatred from the vice-ridden left, and the confused middle.  Nothing is more evil, from he perspective of the left, than a pro-life mom with a successful career.   George Bush had it easy compared to what Sarah Plain has endured.

While I have disagreed with both women on a few issues in the past, I applaud the resolve of both.  In the face of intense scrutiny and pressure, both Palin and Gorman have proven that conscience, principle and character do matter. Kudos to them, and the people they serve.

Comments

[Restore Integrity]

A very well-done piece.

Of course, its an inevitable (but rarely) written comparison as both women are attractive, principled, strong, outspoken conservatives as you indicate in your post. Like or dislike, people feel strongly about both. And both are lightening rods because it's so easy to beat on the "old white male" model of conservatism, but it throws them for a loop when the voice is not coming from their traditional targets that they are well-practiced in attacking.

It forces critics on the left to pause and reconsider their attack strategies. And when losing an argument, the tactic they (and these pro-tax increase, pro corporate welfare critics) often fall back on making fun of someone in humiliating fashion. It's wrong to do so with the typical "old white male" but somehow it gets a little "uncomfortable" when the critics are a gang of insider, special interest, old white men beating up a woman because she dare to have an opinion, because she's outspoken about it and it's different than theirs. A mob of angry, old, white men beating up a woman for opposing tax increases is quite unseemly to moderates, conservatives and even gender-sensitive, responsible members of the left-wing.

I've often joked with friends who make the comparison that Gorman is like Palin, with more state government experience, a college degree, who reads more. Either way, while they are similar, they are two very different people. But still, a well done piece.

[Keeper]

I've deleted a couple of comments that were personal attacks and not substantive. This is a blog for thinking people, not anonymous people seeking to trash opponents based on their personal lives.

Keeper