Yep, the first photo is really of her from the 80's. I stole it from perez Hiltons site.
Let me be the first to say that I don't agree with many of her beliefs but I am just thrilled that we have reached a day and time when REPUBLICANS!!! would pick a WOMAN to be in a position to be 2nd in line to the president. Was it a big surprise when Hillary Clinton ran for president on the Democratic ticket? only sort of. I never thought I would see a Republican female get this nomination. At least not this election. I am not endorsing her or McCain by any means, I am just happy as a woman and as a mother, that we have come this far in our country. Remember, it wasn't that long ago that women couldn't even vote here! See the chart below and then some stories about Sarah Palin.
A World Chronology of the Recognition of Women's Rights to Vote and to Stand for Election.
Unless otherwise indicated, the date signifies the year women were granted the right both to vote and to stand for election. The countries listed below currently have a Parliament or have had one at some point in their history.
1788 United States of America (to stand for election)
1893 New Zealand (to vote)
1902 Australia*
1906 Finland
1907 Norway (to stand for election)*
1913 Norway**
1915 Denmark, Iceland*
1917 Canada (to vote)*, Netherlands (to stand for election)
1918 Austria, Canada (to vote)*, Estonia, Georgia1, Germany, Hungary, Ireland*, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russian Federation, United Kingdom*
1919 Belarus, Belgium (to vote)*, Luxembourg, Netherlands (to vote), New Zealand (to stand for election), Sweden*, Ukraine
1920 Albania, Canada (to stand for election)*, Czech Republic, Iceland**, Slovakia, United States of America (to vote)
1921 Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium (to stand for election)*, Georgia1, Sweden**
1924 Kazakhstan1, Mongolia, Saint Lucia, Tajikistan
1927 Turkmenistan
1928 Ireland**, United Kingdom**
1929 Ecuador*, Romania*
1930 South Africa (Whites), Turkey (to vote)
1931 Chile*, Portugal*, Spain, Sri Lanka
1932 Brazil, Maldives, Thailand, Uruguay
1934 Cuba, Portugal*, Turkey (to stand for election)
1935 Myanmar (to vote)
1937 Philippines
1938 Bolivia*, Uzbekistan
1939 El Salvador (to vote)
1941 Panama*
1942 Dominican Republic
1944 Bulgaria, France, Jamaica
1945 Croatia, Guyana (to stand for election), Indonesia, Italy, Japan1, Senegal, Slovenia, Togo
1946 Cameroon, D.P.R. of Korea, Djibouti (to vote), Guatemala, Liberia, Myanmar (to stand for election), Panama**, Romania**, The F.Y.R. of Macedonia, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yugoslavia
1947 Argentina, Japan1, Malta, Mexico (to vote), Pakistan, Singapore
1948 Belgium**, Israel, Niger, Republic of Korea, Seychelles, Suriname
1949 Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile**, China, Costa Rica, Syrian Arab Republic (to vote)*
1950 Barbados, Canada (to vote)**, Haiti, India
1951 Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Nepal, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
1952 Bolivia**, Côte d'Ivoire, Greece, Lebanon
1953 Bhutan, Guyana (to vote), Mexico (to stand for election), Syrian Arab Republic**
1954 Belize, Colombia, Ghana
1955 Cambodia, Eritrea2, Ethiopia, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru
1956 Benin, Comoros, Egypt, Gabon, Mali, Mauritius, Somalia
1957 Malaysia, Zimbabwe (to vote)**
1958 Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea, Lao P.D.R., Nigeria (South)
1959 Madagascar, San Marino (to vote), Tunisia, United Republic of Tanzania
1960 Canada (to stand for election)**, Cyprus, Gambia, Tonga
1961 Bahamas*, Burundi, El Salvador (to stand for election), Malawi, Mauritania, Paraguay, Rwanda, Sierra Leone
1962 Algeria, Australia**, Monaco, Uganda, Zambia
1963 Afghanistan, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Kenya, Morocco, Papua New Guinea (to stand for election)
1964 Bahamas**, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Papua New Guinea (to vote), Sudan
1965 Bostwana, Lesotho
1967 Democratic Republic of the Congo (to vote), Ecuador**, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Yemen (D.P. R.)
1968 Nauru, Swaziland
1970 Andorra (to vote), Democratic Republic of the Congo (to stand for election), Yemen (Arab Republic)
1971 Switzerland
1972 Bangladesh
1973 Andorra (to stand for election), Bahrain3, San Marino (to stand for election)
1974 Jordan, Solomon Islands
1975 Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, Vanuatu1
1976 Portugal**
1977 Guinea Bissau
1978 Nigeria (North), Republic of Moldova1, Zimbabwe (to stand for election)
1979 Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Fed. States), Palau
1980 Iraq, Vanuatu1
1984 Liechtenstein, South Africa (Coloureds + Indians)
1986 Central African Republic, Djibouti (to stand for election)
1989 Namibia
1990 Samoa
1993 Kazakhstan1, Republic of Moldova1
1994 South Africa (Blacks)
2005 Kuwait
In the United Arab Emirates, where the Parliament is officially appointed, neither men nor women have the right to vote or to stand for election. In Saudi Arabia, men took part, in 2005, in the first local elections ever held in the country. Women however were not allowed to exercise their right to vote or to stand for election on that occasion.
* Right subject to conditions or restrictions
** Restrictions or conditions lifted
Reference to several dates reflects the stages in the granting of rights. It is not uncommon, in countries previously under colonial rule, for women to have been granted the rights to vote and be elected by the colonial administration and to have had them confirmed at the time of accession to independence. Similarly, it is not uncommon, in countries that were formerly part of a federation and in which women were entitled to vote and be elected under the federal legislation, for women to have had these rights confirmed under the Constitution of the newly independent State.
In November 1955, Eritrea was part of Ethiopia. The Constitution of sovereign Eritrea adopted on 23 May 1997 stipulates that "All Eritrean citizens, of eighteen years of age or more, shall have the right to vote."
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McCain's veep choice is historic and hardly known By STEVE QUINN and CALVIN WOODWARD, Associated Press Writers
In two short years, Sarah Palin moved from small-town mayor with a taste for mooseburgers to the governor's office and now — making history — to John McCain's side as the first female running mate on a Republican presidential ticket.
She has more experience catching fish than dealing with foreign policy or national affairs.
Talk about a rocketing ascent.
In turning to her, McCain picked an independent figure in his own mold, one who has taken on Alaska's powerful oil industry and, at age 44, is three years younger than Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and a generation younger than McCain, 72.
Palin's selection was a jaw-dropper, as McCain passed over many other better known prospects, some of whom had been the subject of intense speculation for weeks or months. "Holy cow," said her father, Chuck Heath, who got word something was up while driving to his remote hunting camp.
Palin had been in the running-mate field but as a distinct long shot.
She brings a strong anti-abortion stance to the ticket and opposes gay marriage — constitutionally banned in Alaska before her time — but exercised a veto that essentially granted benefits to gay state employees and their partners.
"She knows where she comes from, and she knows who she works for," McCain said in introducing her to an Ohio rally. "She stands up for what's right, and she doesn't let anyone tell her to sit down." He said: "She's exactly who I need."
Said Palin: "I didn't get into government to do the safe and easy things. A ship in harbor is safe, but that's not why the ship is built."
Democrats seized on the gaping experience gap and said McCain now has no business questioning the seasoning of their nominee. Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York said McCain was taking a "roll of the dice" and declared that Palin's "lack of experience makes the thought of her assuming the presidency troubling."
Palin lives in Wasilla, a town of 6,500 about 30 miles north of Anchorage, with her husband, Todd, a blue-collar North Slope oil worker who won the 2007 Iron Dog, a 1,900-mile snowmobile race. He is part Yup'ik Eskimo. The two have spent summers fishing commercially for salmon, an enterprise that once left her with broken fingers aboard their boat.
Typically seen walking the Capitol halls in black or red power suits while reading text messages on Blackberry screens in each hand, Palin made a recent appearance in fashion magazine Vogue.
"At first they had me in a bunch of furs," she said of the photo shoot. "Yeah, I have furs on my wall, but I don't wear furs. I had to show them my bunny boots and my North Face clothing."
Palin's clean-hands reputation has come into question with an investigation recently launched by a legislative panel into whether she dismissed Alaska's public safety commissioner because he would not fire her former brother-in-law as a state trooper. Trooper Mike Wooten went through a messy divorce from Palin's sister.
The governor denied orchestrating the dozens of telephone calls made by her husband and members of her administration to Wooten's bosses. She says she welcomes the investigation: "Hold me accountable."
Palin, who led the Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter at her high school, could help McCain's standing with social conservatives who have been skeptical of him.
"It's an absolutely brilliant choice," said Mathew Staver, dean of Liberty University School of Law and founder of the legal group Liberty Counsel, who has sought to coalesce evangelicals around McCain. "This will absolutely energize McCain's campaign and energize conservatives."
Palin is "a woman of faith who has a strong position on life, a consistent opinion on judges," Staver said. "She's the complete package."
Four months into her most recent pregnancy, Palin learned the child would have Down syndrome, and she said she never had any doubts about whether she would have the baby.
"We understand that every innocent life has wonderful potential," Palin told AP earlier this year in describing what she and her husband had confronted. Trig, her fifth child, was born in April.
Alaska's first female governor arrived at the Capitol in 2006 on an ethics reform platform after defeating two former governors in the primary and general elections.
In the primary, Palin defeated incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski, who also had 22 years of experience in the U.S. Senate.
Her task didn't seem any easier in the general election, but she handily beat Tony Knowles, a popular Democrat who had served two earlier terms as governor.
During her first year in office, Palin moved away from the powerful old guard of the state Republican Party and has refused to kowtow to the powerful oil industry, instead presiding over a tax increase on oil company profits that now has the state's treasury swelling.
But she is a proponent of petroleum development, in tune with McCain, although the two disagree on drilling in Alaska's protected Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She favors drilling there; he opposes it.
The governor also opposed designating polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, fearing that step would get in the way of a proposed natural gas pipeline tapping the North Slope's vast reserves.
Before becoming governor, her political experience consisted of terms as Wasilla's mayor and councilwoman and a stint as head of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
Her parents Chuck and Sally were trying to reach the abandoned gold mine that serves as their hunting camp when their son-in-law called them Thursday to tell them to tune in to the radio when they got there. A flooded creek turned them around for home.
"I should have put two and two together," her dad said. "I'd rather go moose hunting than be involved with politics."
But if she's down-home, she's also politically savvy.
"Sarah Palin for her entire political career has been underestimated," said Paulette Simpson of the Alaska Federation of Republican Women. "She's tough, she's tenacious. I believe that she does have what it takes to get out there. Again, her ability to connect with voters and make a case is very, very, very strong."
Palin's confrontations with the state GOP began when Murkowski named her chairwoman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. There, Palin exposed current Alaska Republican Party Chairman Randy Ruedrich, who was also on the commission, for ethical violations.
In 2005, Palin co-filed an ethics complaint against Murkowski's longtime aide and then attorney general, Gregg Renkes, for having a financial interest in a company that stood to gain from an international trade deal he was helping craft.
The Palins' five children are Track, 19; Bristol 17; Willow 14; Piper, 7, and baby Trig.
Track enlisted in the Army in 2007 on the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and has been assigned to Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks.
Palin was born Feb. 11, 1964, in Idaho, but her parents moved to Alaska shortly after her birth to teach. She received a bachelor of science degree in communications-journalism from the University of Idaho in 1987.
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Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin at a rally on August, 29, 2008, in Dayton, Ohio.
Buzz up!John McCain has chosen his running mate: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
The 44-year-old -- who was elected governor just two years ago after serving as mayor of Wasilla (pop. 6,715) -- will be the first woman nominated by the Republican Party to run on a national ticket.
"She's exactly who this country needs to help me fight the same old Washington politics of me first and country second," McCain, who turned 72-years-old Friday, said at a rally attended by 15,000 flag-waving supporters at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.
Palin reached out to Hillary Clinton's supporters in her remarks.
"It was rightly noted in Denver this week that Hillary left 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America," she said. "But it turns out the women of America aren't finished yet, and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all."
Palin is the mother of five children, the youngest of whom was born in April and has Down syndrome. Both Palin and McCain both have children in the military.
She is a pro-gun rights social conservative who opposes abortion and gay marriage.
"Governor Palin is a tough executive who has demonstrated during her time in office that she is ready to be president," the McCain campaign said in a statement. "[She] has the record of reform and bipartisanship that others can only speak of. Her experience in shaking up the status quo is exactly what is needed in Washington today."
Born in Idaho and a graduate of the University of Idaho, Palin is the first female governor of Alaska and its youngest. She was also the runner-up in the 1984 Miss Alaska pageant.
Barack Obama and his running mate Joe Biden said in a statement that McCain's pick "is yet another encouraging sign that old barriers are falling in our politics."
The Obama campaign, meanwhile, issued a sharper critique: "Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency. Governor Palin shares John McCain's commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade, the agenda of Big Oil and continuing George Bush's failed economic policies -- that's not the change we need, it’s just more of the same."
Palin's parents were advised to "listen to the radio" by her husband, Tim, they told CBS News.
Chuck and Sally Heath described the choice as "a wonderful surprise."
Said Sally, "I am shocked!"
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman were all considered to be on McCain's short list.
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