(Courtesy of Mark Manning, whose brother Terry Manning is a volunteer firefighter in Wasilla.  Also, another of Mark's many manly brothers, Brian Manning, is a captain in a fire department around here.

Update of July 2008: Brian has been promoted to chief.  As of this writing on February 27, 2022, Brian went on to become an arson investigator and then he retired.)

Also, as far as I know, now-governor Sarah Palin did not, as then-mayor, try to FIRE anyone about this.  (Fire, get it?  Also, as with everywhere on this site, I remind you that Wikipedia articles are never automatically trustworthy, but the references and links they offer might be.)

Update of July 2009: Brian's career has moved forward yet again, and Palin is now a former vice-presidential candidate and also a former governor, having inexplicably quit her post with 18 months left in her term.  She's a character.

George H.W. Bush chose Dan Quayle to be his running mate in the 1988 election, and they won.  For the next four years Mr. Quayle proved conclusively and repeatedly that he's an idiot, yet when George ran against Clinton in 1992 he chose Quayle again, which to me showed a shocking lack of judgment.

Similarly, I am astonished that John McCain thought Sarah Palin -- no matter how pretty she is -- was or ever could be qualified to preside over the whole, entire United States.  She wasn't.