Palin's True Political Colors?

I read this really insightful article written by David Talbot of Salon about Sarah Palin's run for mayor of Wasilla. Apparently her campaign was full of lies and backstabbing. Before Palin decided to run for mayor against incumbent John Stein, the two were friends. Stein actually helped launch Palin's polticial career! Stein took Palin under his wing and mentored her during her run for city council in 1994. When she announced her candidancy for mayor in 1996, she vowed to overturn the Wasillas's "old boy" establishment. That's when "thing got very ugly," according to one of Stein's close friends Naomi Tigner. She also recalls that Palin "became very mean-spirited."

Here are a few excerpts from the article that exposes Palin's true political colors:

• Even though Palin knew that Stein is a Protestant Christian, from a Pennsylvania Dutch background, her campaign began circulating the word that she would be "Wasilla's first Christian mayor." Some of Stein's supporters interpreted this as an attempt to portray Stein as Jewish in the heavily evangelical community. Stein himself, an eminently reasonable and reflective man, thinks "they were redefining Christianity to mean born-agains."

• The Palin campaign also started another vicious whisper campaign, spreading the word that Stein and his wife -- who had chosen to keep her own last name when they were married -- were not legally wed. Again, Palin knew the truth, Stein said, but chose to muddy the waters. "We actually had to produce our marriage certificate," recalled Stein, whose wife died of breast cancer in 2005 without ever reconciling with Palin.

• According to some political observers in Alaska, this pattern -- exploiting "old-boy" mentors and then turning against them for her own advantage -- defines Sarah Palin's rise to power. Again and again, Palin has charmed powerful political patrons, and then rejected them when it suited her purposes.