# Sarah Palin Thread



## GAP (8 Sep 2008)

More and more the US Election is being energized by Republican VP Candidate Sarah Palin.....there's a lot of interest by myself and others as she comes across as a breath of fresh air in normally staid, boring US Politics.....

*Articles found September 8, 2008*

Sarah Palin to be energy independence chief in John McCain's government  
John McCain wants to put Sarah Palin in charge of US oil and energy policy if he becomes president, The Sunday Telegraph has learned. 
 By Tim Shipman in St Paul, Minnesota Last Updated: 5:21PM BST 06 Sep 2008
Article Link

The Republican presidential candidate will make his running mate the public face of the country's drive for energy independence, according to a McCain campaign official. 

Mr McCain, whose selection of Mrs Palin has electrified Republican supporters, wants to capitalise on her expertise in the oil and gas sector while governor of Alaska. He believes that her record of taking on oil company chiefs will help convince the public that his government would not be in the pocket of energy fat cats, a perception that has damaged George W.Bush's poll ratings. 

The move would give Mr McCain political cover to resume widespread domestic drilling for oil, even in areas of environmental fragility. 

Mrs Palin backs drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), which Mr McCain has previously opposed. Should he decide to reverse that position he will use Mrs Palin to make the case that it is necessary. 

The campaign official said: "The Democrats say that Governor Palin is inexperienced, but she has vast experience in the energy sector. She will be at the forefront of the push for energy independence. She's popular and she's very persuasive." A Republican Party official, who has discussed Mrs Palin's role with members of Mr McCain's team, added: "She can say: 'I'm from Alaska. I know all about this and I support drilling, even in ANWR." 

Mr McCain discussed the role Mrs Palin would play in government as well as the election campaign when he held a three-hour getting-to-know-you session two weeks ago. 

To assuage angry green activists, the prospective vice president will also be charged with overseeing a dramatic increase in federal support for the development of clean coal and electric car technology, as well as the spread of wind and solar power. 
More on link

Sarah Palin brings the Hillary Clinton era to an end
Whether or not Sarah Palin wins, for American women, politics will never be the same again, says Anne Applebaum. 
 Last Updated: 1:09AM BST 07 Sep 2008
Article Link

She wasn’t going to “stay home and bake cookies”, she was going to reform the health-care system: if we elected her husband, we were thus going to get “two for the price of one”. With those words, Hillary Clinton launched herself into America’s national consciousness, and began a political career that very nearly brought her the Democratic presidential nomination earlier this year. Though she lost that contest, along the way she succeeded in making herself into something more than an ordinary woman in politics. She became an archetype, the Female American Politician. 

More than that: she became the archetype of the Powerful American Woman. She herself once explained the hostility she inspires as the misdirected fury of men who were angry at a “female boss” or other female authority figure. They felt bad about being subordinate to a woman at work, so they took it out on her. 

This was not entirely accurate: some people disliked Hillary just because she was Hillary. But it’s true that her personal style – frequently chilly, determinedly frumpy, visibly calculating, pointedly humourless – did come to seem like a kind of norm. That’s why, when she lost the Democratic nomination, it wasn’t hard for some to see it as a defeat for all women. If Hillary couldn’t make it in national politics, her disappointed supporters declared, then no woman could. 

As anybody who has been watching the news for the past week will already know, that statement turned out to be dead wrong. As it turns out, there are numerous ways for women to be politically powerful in America, and they don’t all involve wearing shapeless trouser suits and looking frosty: Sarah Palin, enter stage right. 
More on link

Sarah Palin's Alaska aides will be forced to reveal her office secrets in Troopergate inquiry  
Senior aides to Alaska governor Sarah Palin are to be compelled to reveal the inner workings of her state office in an ethics probe that could be highly embarrassing for the new Republican vice-presidential candidate. 
 By Philip Sherwell in Wasilla, Alaska Last Updated: 10:26PM BST 06 Sep 
Article Link

Alaskan legislators have raised the stakes in their investigation of John McCain's newly anointed running mate by declaring their intention to subpoena key members of her staff, obliging them to give evidence.

Mrs Palin, 44, who has electrified the race for the White House, denies claims that she abused her powers by dismissing an official who refused to fire her former brother-in-law, Mike Wooten, as a state trooper.

The cross-party judiciary committee also said it was bringing forward the date for its report into the woman who has electrified the by three weeks, to October 10. That is seen as a rebuff to attempts by the governor's newly-hired legal team to stall an inquiry which she had said she welcomed before her surprise nomination to the Republican ticket.

Separately, Mr Wooten's police union has filed an ethics complaint against Mrs Palin and her administration, claiming that his personnel files were viewed unlawfully.

"Troopergate" has its roots in a long-standing and bitter feud between the Palin family and Mr Wooten, who underwent a messy divorce and custody battle with Mrs Palin's sister. In his first public comments on Friday night, Mr Wooten denied allegations that he threatened to shoot his then father-in-law during the acrimonious split.

The controversy is among many elements of Mrs Palin's life in Wasilla that is now under the political and media microscope after her stunning debut on the national stage.
More on link

Sarah Palin: Nemesis of Barack Obama  
By Amando Doronila Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 06:44:00 09/08/2008
Article Link

MANILA, Philippines—Less than a week after the Republican Party nominated Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as its vice presidential candidate for the November elections, the rejuvenated Republicans have found a new star who has stolen the thunder from their presidential standard-bearer, Sen. John McCain, as well as from the Democratic Party presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama.

New polls taken on Friday showed that the presidential race had tightened since Palin delivered her vice presidential acceptance speech on Wednesday. Gallup and Rasmussen daily tracking polls reported at the weekend that McCain was narrowly trailing Obama.

Gallup reported that the surveys conducted before the Palin speech showed Obama with a 49 to 42 percent advantage over McCain. Friday’s survey showed that lead reduced 48 to 44 percent. On Tuesday, the poll reported Obama ahead, 50 to 42 percent. According to Yahoo News, while the Gallup shift from Friday was not statistically significant, other surveys also reported public opinion was moving toward the Republicans following their party convention in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Ramussen reported that when “leaners” were included, Obama was ahead of McCain, 48 to 46 percent. The day before, Obama was ahead by 5 percentage points.

These results show that McCain, who was neck-and-neck with Obama for a week, has been chipping away on the advantage gained by Obama after the Democratic Party’s nominating convention in Denver, Colorado, more than two weeks ago.
More on link

Confessions of a Secret Sarah AdmirerMaybe I'm a sucker for a frontier myth, the narrative of a person who rises up in a frozen, faraway place by making her own rules.
Published Sep 6, 2008 
Article Link

I have a dirty little secret.

I really like Sarah Palin. It's kind of embarrassing, because I was a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton and because I live in a liberal bubble in Brooklyn, N.Y. I'm not sure what's wrong with me, but the more my friends and media colleagues attack Palin for being a lightweight or a hick or a lunatic, the more I like her.

I liked her the first time I saw a picture of her, nearly a year ago in this magazine. It illustrated a story about how women leaders like Palin and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano were gaining power at the state level. Palin, BlackBerry in one hand, Red Bull in the other, checked her messages as she crossed the street, seemingly oblivious to her youngest daughter, Piper, who trailed along behind her, jumping rope in the crosswalk. Now that's my kind of working mom, I thought.

I liked her even more after her speech at the Republican convention, and not just because she gave a masterful performance. I am riveted by her family and struck by what appears to be her complete confidence in the choices she's made. Women both liberal and conservative may be locked in combat about whether she went back to work too soon after Trig's birth or whether she should be making a run for national office when her teenage daughter is pregnant. But if Palin is agonizing about her decisions, it doesn't show.

Which does not mean that I would do what she did—or that I will vote for the McCain-Palin ticket, because like many former Hillary supporters, I would not step over Roe v. Wade to vote for anyone. I took a six-month maternity leave and I doubt I would run for national office if my daughter were pregnant. But as I watched Palin and her family on that stage, the way she embraced daughter Bristol and called Trig a perfectly beautiful boy, I liked what I saw. I found her lack of defensiveness admirable. And if I were nominated for the vice presidency, I would probably let my kids stay up way past their bedtimes, too.
More on link

Rumors of Sarah Palin-Scott Richter Affair Denied
Posted on September 6th, 2008 12:07 PM by Free Britney
Article Link

The ex-wife of a man said to have had an affair with Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin tells it's "absolutely, completely false."

"I can tell you this with 1,000 percent certainty, Sarah Palin never had an affair," said Debbie Richter when reached on Friday afternoon.

The rumor that her now ex-husband, Scott Richter, had an affair with Sarah Palin gained momentum after the National Enquirer reported she had been romantically involved with one of Todd Palin's former business associates.

The John McCain-Sarah Palin campaign threatened to sue over the story.
More on link

Sarah Palin is extraordinarily ordinary
By Bruce Anderson Last Updated: 12:01am BST 07/09/2008
Article Link

It was the most important Convention in American political history. 

At the beginning, the Republicans looked weary, stale, flat and unprofitable. Their candidate was old, tainted by an unpopular war, a stricken economy, and an eight-year presidency that the voters were booing off the stage. Barack Obama was young, eloquent and renewing. He had the future and the big momentum.

Now, everything is in flux. Last weekend, I phoned around my Republican friends. Who is Sarah Palin and what do you know about her? 

If cliche can be forgiven, there is an easy summary of their answers: gobsmacked.

I was told that she is focused, energetic, able and determined. But in British politics, it would be like meeting a bright girl at a Tory conference, who was fighting a safe Labour seat with ferocious energy and whom it would be easy to imagine as a junior minister, in 10 years' time.

America is different. Despite an increasingly urbanised society, the founding myths still overshadow the political system: virgin soil, the open frontier, log cabin to White House. Even though most recent candidates have been multi-millionaires with a campaign budget the size of a second-world country's GDP, Americans insist on believing that anyone can aspire to the presidency.
More on link

Bringing Up Baby
September 7, 2008 
Article Link

Young Bristol Palin threatened to take the spotlight off her mother, Sarah Palin, this past week with the announcement that the teenage daughter of the GOP's vice presidential choice was pregnant but unwed. We asked feminist scholar Gina Barreca and conservative pundit Laurence D. Cohen for their thoughts.

GINA: Can you imagine what the right-wing, ultra-conservative, sanctimonious, holier-than-thou types would be saying if it had been one of the Democratic nominees' daughters who got pregnant by a self-proclaimed redneck who declared in his MySpace page that he never wanted to have children?

Can you just imagine?

Can you imagine the knee-slappin', whoopin' and hollerin' jubilation had, for example, Chelsea Clinton's hockey-playing boyfriend been the one to say, "Oops, sorry, I meant to take it offside"?
More on link


----------



## tomahawk6 (8 Sep 2008)

So far the media's effort to destroy Palin have resulted in the McCain-Palin ticket jumping ahead of Obama by as much as 10 points.


----------



## Mike Baker (8 Sep 2008)

I really think that because of Palin, the Republicans will stay in the White House. I guess a lot more people believe that too, but hey, I wanted McCain to win in the first place 


-Deadpan


----------



## Bass ackwards (8 Sep 2008)

Most of the American conservatives I talk to, cordially detest McCain. They didn't so much want him to win as they _really_ didn't want to see Obama get in power.
I have a lot of Republican friends down there and for the last several months they've been moping around all disgruntled and resigned to their fate -basically acting like _we _ do most election years.  
Now most of them are so pumped up, you could use one of them to jump-start a C-17.  It's nice to see.

I think it's quite a stretch comparing her to Ronald Reagan (which a lot of them are doing) but you can't blame them for being excited. 
I agree that she has given the Republicans a real shot at staying in the White House.


----------



## GAP (8 Sep 2008)

Sarah Palin's style: the issue at hand
Until time reveals more of the Alaska governor's substance, we can't help but study the Republican VP nominee's style.
By Booth Moore, Times Fashion Critic September 7, 2008 
Article Link

WHAT TO do about the war, what to do about the economy, what to do about those rimless glasses and that saucy updo? Style has never been more important than it is in this election. That's not just because this high-stakes political contest is being watched by a tabloid and celebrity-obsessed culture. It's also because this election now has so many powerful women on the national stage who are putting their message across with vastly different style strategies.

For months, we've seen how polarizing style can be, dissecting Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's gender-neutral pantsuits, Cindy McCain's $300,000 Oscar de la Renta-and-diamonds convention outfit and Michelle Obama's throwback Jackie O. shift dresses. But in a little more than a week, the Republican vice presidential nominee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, 44, has stolen the campaign's style spotlight, causing a run on Kawasaki 704 eyeglass frames and upswept hairstyles. 



 Photos: Sarah Palin: Style NotebookFashion can be a potent tool for packaging a candidate (or "co-candidate," as political spouses take on more substantial roles). And though men can speak volumes just by washing the gray out of their hair, or choosing to wear makeup on TV, women have bigger challenges. Keeping the focus on the issues, not the clothes or their looks. Projecting authority while seeming approachable, not elitist. If you're a woman in the spotlight of a high-profile race, the issue quickly becomes: What changes are you willing to make to your appearance to get people to take you seriously? And in a savvy, YouTube-aware way, how will you use style to telegraph your essence?

A beauty queen turned politician by way of the PTA, Palin has a style strategy that's quite clever. In an interview in Vogue magazine in February, when rumors of her as a possible VP candidate were only whispers, the Alaska governor said she was trying to be "as frumpy as I could by wearing my hair on top of my head and these schoolmarm glasses." (Never mind that she was appearing in Vogue, bastion of the fashion obsessed, which Clinton famously refused to do when she was campaigning for president.) 

Barely a blip on the political radar before now, Palin has to go the extra mile to hone her VP style. But far from uglifying herself, she plays up her sexuality. And this early on, Palin is already playing the image game like a pro. When Sen. John McCain accepted the nomination Thursday night, she wore a black satin jacket that dipped just low enough in front so you could see some cleavage. In this political marriage, Palin clearly knows she's the trophy.


Her hair is a study in contrasts, carefree and "done" at the same time. The untidiness of her updo has a can-do spirit that says, "I have more important things to do than worry about my hair, so I just twirled it into this clip so I could get to the real business of governing and shooting caribou and having babies and taking them to hockey practice." 

The bouffant in the front, which appears to be teased from underneath, is more traditional, to appeal to the GOP base and those big donors from Houston who've been known to fly with their hairstylists on their private planes. And yet, you get the feeling that at the end of the day, she could shake out that lustrous mane (longer than any other major female U.S. political figure's) and get it on with her man. 

She wears skirts that are quite form-fitting and often goes without stockings. As ZZ Top might say, she's got legs, and she knows how to use 'em. When Sen. John McCain introduced her at an Aug. 29 campaign rally in Dayton, Ohio, she was wearing open-toed red patent leather shoes. The only difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull is lipstick, she said in her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., on Wednesday. She could have added to that joke the black pencil skirt and shiny, oyster-colored jacket she wore that night, a more modern take on Clinton's power pantsuit. It looked darn good. 

Which is not to say that style is a substitute for substance. But because she's a relative unknown, style is a lot of what we know about Palin right now. No doubt, in coming days her positions on the issues will eclipse our fascination with the brand of eyeglasses she wears. If they didn't, that would be the worst double standard of all. 
More on link

For VP candidate, the puck stops here
Article Link

I liked the part at the convention where she said she was a hockey mom. I was so surprised. I pumped my fist and shouted 'Awright.' Hockey moms rule." 

-- Gwen Davis, 63, hockey grandmother, at Walter Baker Arena 

When Sarah Palin boasted she's a hockey mom, I thought how cool, how Canadian, this will resonate hugely and positively in the land that worships the puck and do wonders for our ingrained national inferiority complex. C'mon, the possible next vice-president of the United States of America a proud and rabid hockey mom? 

It's enough for Canada to bestow citizenship on her. It's enough for Canada to annex Alaska. 

When's the last time an American running for the second highest office in the land, or even the highest, was a hockey anything? 

Maybe football something, baseball something, basketball something, golf something -- but hockey? Our game? Never. 

HUNTIN' AND FISHIN' 

Should we be surprised, Sarah Palin, hockey mom? Probably not. When you think of Alaska, you do kind of think of Canada. Big, cold, and empty, lots of huntin' and fishin' and snowmobilin' and, yeah, HOCKEY, lots of hockey going on way up there, the place nuts about hockey, one of those nuts about hockey being the governor's 19-year-old son, Track. 

Track Palin was so good a player growing up in Wasilla, population 7,900, that a couple of years ago when he was playing with the Alaska All-Stars, his mom and dad got him into competitive Bantam AAA in Portage, Michigan for the greater exposure of his talents, hoping for a possible college hockey scholarship. Such was the love of Sarah Palin, hockey mom, for her son and the sport he played, that, when she could, she'd fly down from Alaska to watch him in tournaments, one a four-day affair in Dallas. 

Sadly for Track Palin, he blew his shoulder out requiring major surgery, and that was the end of his hockey. He left the family he was billeted with, returned to Wasilla, joined the army, and is about to be shipped to Iraq. 

With hockey moms never getting recognition they deserve, and Sarah Palin now the world's most famous hockey mom -- signs everywhere she goes saying Hockey Moms For Palin and Hockey Moms United For Sarah -- I decide, for the nourishment it will give our national psyche, to find out more about the hockey momming of Sarah Palin. 

I thought it'd be rather easy. Wrong. 
More on link


----------



## gaspasser (8 Sep 2008)

Strange that you say that, I keep getting anti-Obama e-mails from my cousin in Wisconson.  I guess maybe the american political picture is broken down into geographical areas as opposed to individual mindsets and personal political beleifs.
Me, I'd actually like to see someone in the oval office who can be a stronge leader and not mess up his words.  I find GWB to appear to be an idiot when he opens his mouth.
my $0.02


----------



## GAP (8 Sep 2008)

BYT Driver said:
			
		

> I find GWB to appear to be an idiot when he opens his mouth.
> my $0.02



As do I....if you are going to put someone into the whitehouse, at least have them be able to do a basic speech....

At least now it's a true race....not necessarily on issues, then when has that ever been the case (rather than personalities)


----------



## Redeye (8 Sep 2008)

After watching both the DNC and RNC on TV (my wife is American and is anxiously awaiting November - she claims if the Republicans win again she may as well renounce her US citizenship), I have to say that I was stunned by the Republicans.  All of their speeches were just trite cliches and it sounds like they really have no ideas to offer.  It seems like when the Dems say that all McCain represents is "four more years of the last eight years" they're right.  Astoundingly most of the Republican talking points on Democratic policy seem to be in direct contrast to what the Dems actually say.  The fact that there are still anti-Obama emails floating around based on falsehoods suggests to me that the Republican Party really is scared.

At the end of the day though I think that VP candidates will be a lot more significant in this race - because McCain's not exactly young and doesn't have the best health record.  Is Sarah Palin really ready should she get to step up?  I don't really think being Mayor of a town of 7,000 and governor of one of the least populated states is that great preparation.

The thing of it all is that I don't know that Obama will be much better.  His plans for healthcare will improve the quality of life of a lot of Americans.  My grandmother-in-law looks with great envy north now that her health is failing and she's stuck with medicare and social security only.  It's not going to be Canadian-style universal health care but his proposals will be more palatable to Americans.  I think that the Dems will do well to play on how out of touch the GOP is with average Americans.  Listening to Rudy Giuliani go on about how "the Democrats never once mentioned 9/11 during their convention" (or however he worded it) was a prime example.  While 9/11 certainly shouldn't be forgotten, looking back at it constantly is not helping the US - it's time to get moving on again and that seems to be what Obama and Biden are more interested in.  They know they have to get out of Iraq because that's not selling anymore.  They know that they have to focus on Afghanistan.  They know that they have a lot of work to do to fix the American economy too.  I don't think the Republicans have any more answers at least.

It'll be interesting to see how this race shapes up - far more interesing than the Canadian election at least.


----------



## tomahawk6 (8 Sep 2008)

Anyone who thinks socialism is the answer all they have to do is look at Europe.Healthcare and social security is bleeding their budgets dry. Fewer and fewer euros are available to be spent on defense,infrastructure ect. This is what we in the US would have to look foreward to under Obama - another $1 trillion in new spending,tax increases,higher fuel costs,price increases in everything.Higher uneployment from businesses that cut payroll because of higher taxes.Obama is a socialist as is many in his party.This election is a referendum on Obama and whether America is ready to lurch to the left.


----------



## Mike Baker (8 Sep 2008)

tomahawk6 said:
			
		

> Anyone who thinks socialism is the answer all they have to do is look at Europe.Healthcare and social security is bleeding their budgets dry. Fewer and fewer euros are available to be spent on defense,infrastructure ect. This is what we in the US would have to look foreward to under Obama - another $1 trillion in new spending,tax increases,higher fuel costs,price increases in everything.Higher uneployment from businesses that cut payroll because of higher taxes.Obama is a socialist as is many in his party.This election is a referendum on Obama and whether America is ready to lurch to the left.


That is the the best post I've read all day!


-Deadpan


----------



## Redeye (8 Sep 2008)

Obama is hardly a socialist.  Americans seem to be totally unable to conceive of what socialism even means.   And with the Republicans blowing trillions of dollars on their pointless war in Iraq I find it rich when the Republicans talk about taxes and government spending.  From what I've read the sort of healthcare system Obama wants to see is still a user-pay system, but one where there's access to at least a basic minimum level of care for all.  He's not advocating anything like Europe - the only people who seem to think that are those who've bought into the nonsense the Republicans are pushing while they continue to screw the middle class.

The only people the Dems seem to have an interest in hitting with a tax burden is companies that offshore American jobs.  I don't really see how that's bad for the middle class/working class who are going to get screwed by outsourcing.



			
				tomahawk6 said:
			
		

> Anyone who thinks socialism is the answer all they have to do is look at Europe.Healthcare and social security is bleeding their budgets dry. Fewer and fewer euros are available to be spent on defense,infrastructure ect. This is what we in the US would have to look foreward to under Obama - another $1 trillion in new spending,tax increases,higher fuel costs,price increases in everything.Higher uneployment from businesses that cut payroll because of higher taxes.Obama is a socialist as is many in his party.This election is a referendum on Obama and whether America is ready to lurch to the left.


----------



## dapaterson (8 Sep 2008)

I think many would agree that the wrong Palin has been nominated for office.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf1y9s73Nos


----------



## Eye In The Sky (8 Sep 2008)

Now *that* was a funny video...and a nice way to wind a Monday down.


----------



## GAP (8 Sep 2008)

love the video.....


----------



## GAP (9 Sep 2008)

*Articles found September 9, 2008*

McCain banks over $4 million at fund-raiser  
September 9, 2008
Article Link

BY ABDON M. PALLASCH Political Reporter/apallasch@suntimescom 
Used to dismissing polls that showed him trailing in the presidential race, Republican nominee John McCain had to switch gears Monday night, now that a USA Today/Gallup Poll shows him leading Democrat Barack Obama by four points among registered voters and 10 points among likely voters.

"We don't pay any attention to polls," when they show him behind, McCain said. "Now we're up in the polls, 5 points up in Gallup. So those polls are always exactly right ... right on the mark, totally accurate. It's funny how life is with polls."

That drew laughs and cheers from donors at Chicago's Hilton & Towers Hotel. The fund-raiser was expected to bring in $4.5 million for Republicans to spend primarily in the swing states of Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

McCain gave much of the credit for his surge to his vice-presidential nominee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

"She's a remarkable person ... I'm very pleased Sarah is on the ticket," McCain said. "The America people want change in Washington, and they want the right kind of change. They are glad that someone like Gov. Sarah Palin has taken on her party and the special interests in Alaska. I have stood up against my party when I had to. And Sen. Obama has never once stood up to his party. You know that very well in the state of Illinois."
More on link

Sarah Palin's Secret Emails
Article Link

The Palin administration won't release hundreds of emails from her office, claiming they cover confidential policy matters. Then why do the subject lines refer to a political foe, a journalist, and non-policy topics?

In June, Andrée McLeod, a self-described independent government watchdog in Alaska, sent an open records act request to the office of Governor Sarah Palin. She requested copies of all the emails that had been sent and received by Ivy Frye and Frank Bailey, two top aides to Palin, from February through April of this year. McLeod, a 53-year-old registered Republican who has held various jobs in state government, suspected that Frye and Bailey had engaged in political activity during official business hours in that period by participating in a Palin-backed effort to oust the state chairman of the Alaska Republican party, Randy Ruedrich. (Bailey has been in the national news of late for refusing to cooperate with investigators probing whether Palin fired Alaska's public safety commission because he did not dismiss a state trooper who had gone through an ugly divorce with Palin's sister.) 

In response to her request, McLeod received four large boxes of emails. This batch of documents did not contain any proof that Frye and Bailey had worked on government time to boot out Ruedrich. But there was other information she found troubling. Several of the emails suggested to her that Palin's office had used its influence to reward a Fairbanks surveyor who was a Palin fundraiser with a state job. In early August, McLeod filed a complaint with the state attorney general against Palin, Bailey, and other Palin aides, claiming they had violated ethics and hiring laws. Palin, now the Republican vice-presidential candidate, told the Alaska Daily News that "there were no favors done for anybody."

But more intriguing than any email correspondence contained in the four boxes was what was not released: about 1100 emails. Palin's office provided McLeod with a 78-page list (PDF) cataloging the emails it was withholding. Many of them had been written by Palin or sent to her. Palin's office claimed most of the undisclosed emails were exempt from release because they were covered by the "executive" or "deliberative process" privileges that protect communications between Palin and her aides about policy matters. But the subject lines of some of the withheld emails suggest they were not related to policy matters. Several refer to one of Palin's political foes, others to a well-known Alaskan journalist. Moreover, some of the withhold emails were CC'ed to Todd Palin, the governor's husband. Todd Palin—a.k.a. the First Dude—holds no official state position (though he has been a close and influential adviser for Governor Palin). The fact that Palin and her aides shared these emails with a citizen outside the government undercuts the claim that they must be protected under executive privilege. McLeod asks, "What is Sarah Palin hiding?"
More on link

Media ferocity toward Palin reveals double standard
Patrick J. Buchanan, Creators Syndicate, Inc. Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Article Link

One wonders: What did Sarah Palin ever do to inspire the rage and bile that exploded on her selection by John McCain as his running mate? What is there either in this woman's record or resume to elicit such ferocity?

What did we know of her when she was introduced?

That she was a mother of five who had brought into this world a baby boy with Down syndrome, thus living her Christian beliefs. That she was a small-town conservative who had risen from mayor of Wasilla (population 9,700) to be governor of a state twice the size of Texas.

That she was a reformer who had dethroned an old boys' network by dumping a sitting Republican governor. That she had taken on Big Oil, taxed the companies and returned the money in $1,200 checks to every citizen of Alaska. And that she had cut a deal with Canada to build a pipeline to bring natural gas to her fellow Americans.

And, oh, yes. She was "Sarah Barracuda" - a fierce high school athlete, a runner-up in the Miss Alaska pageant, a Feminist for Life and lifetime member of the NRA. Introduced by McCain, she praised Hillary Rodham Clinton and pledged to finish her work by smashing through the glass ceiling in which Clinton had made 18 million cracks.

What, in any or all of this, is there to justify the feral attacks within minutes of her introduction? What had she done to cause this outburst? Answer: absolutely nothing.

No. Palin is not resented for what she has done, but for who she is: a Christian conservative who believes unborn children are gifts of God, even those with birth defects, and have a God-given right to life.

Normally, the press is reluctant to rummage into the private lives of public servants, unless their conduct affects their duties or they preach virtues they hypocritically do not practice.

Yet, no sooner was Palin introduced, than the media went berserk over the news that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant. As 1 in 3 births in America is out-of-wedlock and Hollywood celebrates this lifestyle, why did the New York Times and the Washington Post splash this "news" on page one above the fold?

How does Bristol Palin's pregnancy disqualify Sarah Palin to be vice president? Why is it even relevant?

They did it because they thought it would damage Sarah Palin in the eyes of a Christian community they do not comprehend.
More on link

Sarah Palin wins over Bush and Cheney
September 9, 2008
Article Link

The president calls the Alaska governor 'a very dynamic, capable, smart woman.' The vice president says he loved her convention speech.

President Bush hailed Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's executive experience, saying it would serve her well if she becomes the next vice president.

"She's had executive experience and that's what it takes to be a capable person here in Washington, D.C., in the executive branch," Bush said in an interview to be aired this morning on Fox News Channel's "Fox and Friends."


He added that Palin seemed "a very dynamic, capable, smart woman."

Interviewed on the White House lawn after the last T-ball game of his administration, Bush said he did not feel left out of the race. Then he added, "You know, sometimes I long to be out there campaigning, but everything comes to an end."

Earlier, Vice President Dick Cheney told reporters in Rome that he "loved" Palin's speech to the Republican National Convention, especially the line about the only difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull is the lipstick.


Asked if Palin could handle the vice presidency, Cheney -- possibly the most powerful vice president in history -- said: "Everybody brings a different set of experiences to the office, and also has a different kind of understanding with whoever the president is. Each administration is different. And there's no reason why Sarah Palin can't be a successful vice president in a McCain administration."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was more circumspect. In an interview with CNN over the weekend, Rice ducked questions about the Alaska governor's experience in foreign affairs.
More on link

Palin's Star Power Can Outshine McCain
By LAURA MECKLER September 9, 2008; Page A6
Article Link

LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. -- Sarah Palin has become the new phenomenon on the campaign trail, at times overshadowing her workmanlike running mate, John McCain, with a pugnacious, sarcastic speaking style that whips up crowds and wins over voters who had never heard of her two weeks ago.

The Alaska governor's stump persona has been on display in the four days since the ticket took their show on the road after the Republican convention in St. Paul.

While social conservatives have rallied behind Gov. Palin because of her views on abortion and gay marriage, she never mentions those issues, or invokes religion in her speeches.

Gov. Palin's style is easy and comfortable, unlike the man who put her on the ticket, who shines at town-hall meetings but often appears awkward and stiff in formal speeches. She had less than a week to prepare and practice for her convention speech, but it came off like she had been rehearsing for weeks. Sen. McCain practiced his speech many times before delivering it and still didn't match her performance.
More on link

Palin's daughter's hurry-up marriage
Merlene Davis, Lexington Herald-Leader Published: Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Article Link

LEXINGTON, Ky. - I have a problem with some news organizations that have used fiancé when referring to Levi Johnston, the young man being introduced as the father of Bristol Palin's unborn child.

In a statement released by Gov. Sarah Palin, the vice-presidential candidate for the Republican party, and her husband, Todd, announcing their daughter's pregnancy, they said, "Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family."

Johnston's mother, Sherry Johnston, told the Associated Press that Levi and Bristol had talked of marriage before they knew about the pregnancy. "This is just a bonus," she said.
I respect that and don't doubt it.
More on link

Hiding Sarah Palin behind 'deference'
Media access to the Alaska governor and vice presidential nominee will be tightly controlled. Charles Gibson of ABC gets the first shot. There's a long list of questions he could start with.
By JAMES RAINEY, ON THE MEDIA September 9, 2008 
Article Link

John McCain's campaign essentially confirmed over the weekend what some had suspected: Media access to Sarah Palin, would-be vice president of the United States, will be tightly controlled.

Troublemakers need not apply.

And how will we know those troublemakers? They will be the ones unwilling to treat the governor of Alaska with what campaign manager Rick Davis called "some level of respect and deference."

Deference?

The dictionary definitions I find begin with "respectful submission" and "yielding."


That might be the right approach for a reporter lucky enough to interview McCain's 96-year-old mother, Roberta. (If only our politicians were so plain-spoken.)

But it would be wrong -- and, dare I say it, even sexist -- to suggest that Sarah Barracuda is too meek for a little back-and-forth with the denizens of the Fourth Estate.

Early this year, voters (and a certain "Saturday Night Live" skit) rightly smacked news outlets for falling captive to the Barack Obama "rock star" narrative. They demanded to know more about the Democrat than that he had a knack for drawing big crowds and delivering inspiring speeches.

Those complaints and a time-honored primary season tradition -- reporters boring in on candidates after they become front-runners -- helped spur a tougher look at Obama. Stories examined his fundraising, picking over his ties to shady fundraiser Antoin Rezko; detailed his apparent comfort in the bare-knuckle world of Chicago politics; and described his awkward attempts to downplay his opposition to the military "surge" in Iraq, even as it appeared to be having some success.
More on link


----------



## Adamant (9 Sep 2008)

tomahawk6 said:
			
		

> Anyone who thinks socialism is the answer all they have to do is look at Europe.Healthcare and social security is bleeding their budgets dry. Fewer and fewer euros are available to be spent on defense,infrastructure ect. This is what we in the US would have to look foreward to under Obama - another $1 trillion in new spending,tax increases,higher fuel costs,price increases in everything.Higher uneployment from businesses that cut payroll because of higher taxes.Obama is a socialist as is many in his party.This election is a referendum on Obama and whether America is ready to lurch to the left.



You already have severly increasing unemployment and severly increased spending (with completely illogical tax cuts) leading to massive deficit.  And an incumbant party who wants to maintain the status quo.  

The one thing I will give the Dems is some of their increased spending will be on healthcare.  And I'll be honest, before I joined when I got sick I never worried about going bankrupt or losing my house.  Say what you want about public health care, but theres something to be said about the fact that the US is one of the(if not the) only industrialized countries without public health care.


----------



## GAP (9 Sep 2008)

Adamant said:
			
		

> The one thing I will give the Dems is some of their increased spending will be on healthcare.  And I'll be honest, before I joined when I got sick I never worried about going bankrupt or losing my house.  Say what you want about public health care, but theres something to be said about the fact that the US is one of the(if not the) only industrialized countries without public health care.



Actually the US has quite a range of healthcare initiatives, but the main sticking point is that it mainly covers the lower incomes and leaves the lower middle class suffering financial hardship, even when they have some limited health care coverage. 

This situation is not the result of people not wanting the coverage, it is more so the result of powerful lobbyists over the years working to maintain the profitable healthcare status quo.


----------



## Adamant (9 Sep 2008)

GAP said:
			
		

> Actually the US has quite a range of healthcare initiatives, but the main sticking point is that it mainly covers the lower incomes and leaves the lower middle class suffering financial hardship, even when they have some limited health care coverage.
> 
> This situation is not the result of people not wanting the coverage, it is more so the result of powerful lobbyists over the years working to maintain the profitable healthcare status quo.



That's my point, is that there is all kinds of Americans in the lower - lower middle Tax bracket, and those who work for small businesses who just cannot afford to have health insurance as much as they would love to.  But even in listening to the rhetoric it's almost as if the concept of Universal health *care* is alien to them.  As I had heard all through the Democratic primary about their Universal health *insurance* plans.


----------



## GAP (9 Sep 2008)

Adamant said:
			
		

> That's my point, is that there is all kinds of Americans in the lower - lower middle Tax bracket, and those who work for small businesses who just cannot afford to have health insurance as much as they would love to.  But even in listening to the rhetoric it's almost as if the concept of Universal health *care* is alien to them.  As I had heard all through the Democratic primary about their Universal health *insurance* plans.



The Health Care lobby has created and maintained a Universal Health Care BoggyMan and they keep shoving it into the legislator's and voter's faces everytime it comes up....look back at the Clinton approach to expanding heathcare....by the time the lobbyists were finished, nothing had changed.


----------



## tomahawk6 (9 Sep 2008)

How is that universal healthcare working out for Canadians ? The rationing of healthcare is something we dont want here in the US.


----------



## Donaill (9 Sep 2008)

Rationing of health care? Haven't seen it. My mother has been in the hospital for 4 days now, with a broken leg. Several blood transfusions, and an operation later she is getting better. Suffice it to say she will not be loosing her house because she is unable to pay for the medical expenses. Nore will any Canadians have to worry about being turned awy from a hospital because we dont have the correct health insurance. 

  I would echo what one other poster said, many Americans do not understand what socialism means and I would also add that some Canadians do not know what it means. I would rather have the Canada of today with its faults than go back to the Canada of the early 1900's to the 1960's.


----------



## tomahawk6 (9 Sep 2008)

You mean a Canada that was self reliant instead of relying on the government ?


----------



## Snafu-Bar (9 Sep 2008)

Governement sponsored health care.

 We pay taxes to fortify the nations ability to care and heal the sick and wounded without the greed factor of trying to make profits. Health care in Canada is/was a NOT FOR PROFIT industry. Although it's highly lucrative and pays accordingly for it's expertise and massive learning curves,technology and reasearch. It's in the countries best interests to keep it not for profit and ensure all canadians are able to get the same equal care and treatments across the board.

 Socialism. All for one and one for all, equality without restrictions, bias or stature.

Cheers.


----------



## Donaill (9 Sep 2008)

No. There used to be a Canada that existed where people would loose farms because of illness or worse, not be able to get any medical treatment at all bec ause of lack of money.  There was a canada that existed where a striker could be shot or beaten by hired thugs. An unemployed worker and his or her family may end up living in squaler. We still have poverty but no where near the levels of that era and I would say no where near the level of the US.  The US should be the last to speak out against Canadian policies. The farm subsidies in the US are far higher than ours are.  Did the US goverment not recently bail out two of the sub prime mortgage companies?  If people want to draw a line and make socialism wrong than corporate welfare and bailouts should be just as incorrect.


----------



## Donaill (9 Sep 2008)

Snafu-Bar said:
			
		

> Governement sponsored health care.
> 
> We pay taxes to fortify the nations ability to care and heal the sick and wounded without the greed factor of trying to make profits. Health care in Canada is/was a NOT FOR PROFIT industry. Although it's highly lucrative and pays accordingly for it's expertise and massive learning curves,technology and reasearch. It's in the countries best interests to keep it not for profit and ensure all canadians are able to get the same equal care and treatments across the board.
> 
> ...



That is the best post yet.


----------



## George Wallace (9 Sep 2008)

Donaill said:
			
		

> That is the best post yet.



Yeah.   :-\   
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





  It may take a while, but eventually a person's true colours come out.


----------



## Redeye (9 Sep 2008)

tomahawk6 said:
			
		

> How is that universal healthcare working out for Canadians ? The rationing of healthcare is something we dont want here in the US.



Rationing of healthcare?  What the hell are you talking about?!  That sounds like the typical drivel spouted in the US about our healthcare system.  There are supply challenges here - not everyone can get a family doctor, and rural communities lack some services without travel, but when you have only 32,000,000 people spread out over almost 10,000,000 sq. km. that's bound to happen.  Here, I will never, ever have to worry about losing my home if I get sick because I can't pay my medical bills.  I don't have to worry about having to go to court to fight an insurance company who will bend over backwards to get out of paying a claim because doing so will make them more profitable.

With an American wife I hear a lot about her family - a distinctly middle class group - facing health problems and having nightmares about what they can pay for.  They make too much to qualify for state medicaid coverage apparently, but they can't afford adequate insurance either.  You'd have to be a fool to think that system was better.

Americans like to talk big about how evil they thing socialized anything is - but they don't realize that loads of American industries depend on government protectionism to stay afloat - I don't think the US has a better system than anywhere else, and in many ways I think it's worse.  What galls me though is the abject hypocrisy of the Republican Party in particular who talk about how much they hate "tax-and-spend liberals" yet blow trillions they don't have on doing what they claim to oppose!


----------



## Adamant (9 Sep 2008)

Another annecdotal example but Mom with cancer and father with a pacemaker, both would be hundreds of thousands state-side, here nadda.  

And to echo others, is there some places where it could be improved yes...but you want to see rationing of healthcare, look at the US, 47 million people who can't afford health care if thats not rationed I don't know what is


----------



## Redeye (9 Sep 2008)

To get back to Sarah Palin, from the Bill Maher Show...

Jesse Ventura: "New Rule.  Stop comparing Sarah Palin to previous Vice Presidents.  Of course she's no Dick Cheney, she's never shot anyone in the face!"


----------



## GAP (9 Sep 2008)

Redeye said:
			
		

> To get back to Sarah Palin, from the Bill Maher Show...
> 
> Jesse Ventura: "New Rule.  Stop comparing Sarah Palin to previous Vice Presidents.  Of course she's no Dick Cheney, she's never shot anyone in the face!"



We don't know that.....strange things happen under the midnight sun................. ;D


----------



## GAP (9 Sep 2008)

Clinton cool on a Palin showdown
Anne Davies, Tampa  September 10, 2008 
Article Link

IF AMERICANS were hoping for the political equivalent of a roller-derby between the Democrats' leading woman in politics, Hillary Clinton, and Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, they are set to be disappointed.

In Florida for her first campaign events since the conventions, Senator Clinton's response to Palin might have been: "Sarah who?"

Mrs Palin's name passed her lips just twice in one speech, and once in another, as she referred to the McCain-Palin ticket.

"Tell us about Palin," a man yelled at the event in Tampa on Monday evening.

"I don't think this is what this election is about," Senator Clinton said, before resuming her speech urging her activists in the party to consider the fundamental differences between the Republicans and the Democrats — and to take that message to the undecided voters of Florida.

The Democrats are desperate to reclaim the mantle of change and to tie the current economic mess to President George Bush and his friend John McCain.

There were big differences between the parties, Senator Clinton said. Barack Obama had plans to dramatically extend health care and, unlike the Republicans, he would not privatise social security.

And then there is the economy, stupid. "Anybody who believes the Republicans can fix the mess they created probably believes the iceberg will save the Titanic," Senator Clinton said.

But will it be enough to puncture the cult of Palin, the most talked about figure in politics — except by Senator Clinton?

In Tampa, Senator Clinton artfully dodged the Palin question six times. Even this one: "Do you think Sarah Palin is qualified to be vice-president?"

"I am going to stay focused on the issues because I think that is what the American people care about," she replied. "I think the American people are proud that Republicans have a woman on the ticket … But that's not the determinant of who should be president. It comes down to what they would do."

Maybe. But personality also matters. People need to trust and feel inspired by their leaders.

The Obama campaign is hoping the dirty work will be done by the media. But Senator Obama is trying to take the shine off Palin by publicly fact-checking her claims, as she continues to draw unprecedented crowds to Senator McCain's rallies this week.
More on link


----------



## GAP (9 Sep 2008)

I don't believe this thread was ever intended to be a socialism vs thread....split it off if that is what you want to discuss....


----------



## Donaill (9 Sep 2008)

Sorry GAP. I feel safe in saying that topics about US politics have been touching a greater nerve within Canadian society. I see many people questioning who we are and what we stand for.  Personally I would not want a Canada that is based upon a Republican US. I do hope that Obama gets elected, as I see McCain as nothing more than a Bush family puppet.


----------



## a_majoor (9 Sep 2008)

Donaill said:
			
		

> Most of the top countries are socialist based, and have strong militaries and a strong sense of civil rights.



Pick two out of three. (or less)

The EU? Declining population and economic power, virtually non existent military power and civil rights are being overturned by unelected bureaucrats in Brussels. 

Russia? Autocratic government, Strong military (relatively speaking), severely restricted civic rights

China? Notionally Communist, Strong military, severely restricted civic rights


Brazil and India are rapidly transforming to Capitalism, and are thus gaining in military, political and economic power. The key sticking point will be the full support of civic rights, without which the other transformations will be incomplete.

WRT the United States, the ultimate divide is between the "Progressive" ideology, which seeks to restrict civic rights in favor of State control vs "Classical Liberalism", which seeks to maximise individual liberties and rights (as well as have individuals reap the consequences of exercising those rights for good or ill). It is pretty clear where Senator Obama and Governor Palin stand on the divide.


----------



## GAP (9 Sep 2008)

Sarah Palin, who sold Alaska's state plane, gets her own campaign one now
Article Link

For everybody at the Republican National Convention who suspected that the absence of Sarah Palin's name on the John McCain campaign jet was perhaps a sign he wasn't fully behind her, this morning comes proof to the contrary.

Nikki Waller over at the Wall Street Journal Travel blog notes the unveiling of the vice presidential candidate's own chartered campaign jet, an Embraer 190, with Palin's very own name right there in big blue letters.

The plane, chartered from JetBlue, seats about 100 and will be the traveling home for the 44-year-old Alaska Republican governor, her staff and security and accompanying paying media through the Nov. election. She'll likely start campaigning solo later this week
More on link


----------



## gaspasser (9 Sep 2008)

Can I ask a "Dumb" question.  I didn't study politics in school, maybe I should have for all the talk going on here and it's a little above my head.  
But, how is it that the candidates can now name their VP candidate without a convention or vote of that person?  McCain was the only person running so he got in at the Demos guys.  Obama and Clinton had to duke it out and now Obama is the Reps guys.  Now they've named their VP candidates. Palin comes in and some are going, "who is she?" And Obama named someone who I can't recall, all out of the blue.
Can someone please help me understand US politics a bit better?
Thanks, BYTD


----------



## tomahawk6 (9 Sep 2008)

Both candidates named their VP choice and the respective conventions approved Biden and Palin. What could get interesting is if Obama throws Biden under the bus in favor of a VP who might offset Palin's charisma. I am thinking Hillary here.


----------



## GAP (9 Sep 2008)

tomahawk6 said:
			
		

> Both candidates named their VP choice and the respective conventions approved Biden and Palin. What could get interesting is if Obama throws Biden under the bus in favor of a VP who might offset Palin's charisma. I am thinking Hillary here.



Obama would take a huge hit if he did that now....he's stuck with Biden (besides I don't think he want the 2 for 1 deal Hillary offers - he's likely to come into the Oval Office to find Bill with his feet up on the desk while chatting to the newest intern  ;D )


----------



## gaspasser (9 Sep 2008)

Thanks for the quick dumbdown, T6
Is there a chance that Obama will sack Biden for someone prettier and younger?  I figured he'd at least take Hilliary with him seeing as she's got lots of support.  And I don't mean Bill's hands!  
 ;D Sorry, LOL couldn't resist

Not being American and barely understand the politics there, I kind of like the guts of Palin...single mom with a special needs kid...AND is governer of Alaska... 8)  
I think she can handle soem small problems, like running the country!
Couldn't be any worse  ???


----------



## Redeye (9 Sep 2008)

BYT Driver said:
			
		

> Can I ask a "Dumb" question.  I didn't study politics in school, maybe I should have for all the talk going on here and it's a little above my head.
> But, how is it that the candidates can now name their VP candidate without a convention or vote of that person?  McCain was the only person running so he got in at the Demos guys.  Obama and Clinton had to duke it out and now Obama is the Reps guys.  Now they've named their VP candidates. Palin comes in and some are going, "who is she?" And Obama named someone who I can't recall, all out of the blue.
> Can someone please help me understand US politics a bit better?
> Thanks, BYTD



Vice Presidential candidates are not really elected through the convention process.  The candidates identify those in whom they are interested (usually, it's the backroom types that actually draft this shortlist, candidates are really just figureheads in a way), then they go through a vetting process.  I don't know how Sarah Palin made it through the vetting process for the Republicans, but she did.  The nominee is named at the convention and receives the official nomination thereafter by vote - it's usually just a quick vote there's not normally any sort of contention of it.


----------



## GAP (9 Sep 2008)

Correct me if I am wrong, but are not most Presidents picked from the slew of Govenors out there? 

Seems to me the executive experience was good enough for other mandates....


----------



## Bass ackwards (9 Sep 2008)

Not being American and barely understand the politics there, I kind of like the guts of Palin...*single mom * with a special needs kid...AND is governer of Alaska... 8)  
I think she can handle soem small problems, like running the country!
Couldn't be any worse  ???
[/quote]

Palin's been married for 20 years. 
(...sigh)


----------



## gaspasser (9 Sep 2008)

Really?? Where did I get she was single??  My bad, sorry to Mr. Palin.   ;D


----------



## Adamant (9 Sep 2008)

tomahawk6 said:
			
		

> Both candidates named their VP choice and the respective conventions approved Biden and Palin. What could get interesting is if Obama throws Biden under the bus in favor of a VP who might offset Palin's charisma. I am thinking Hillary here.



Hillary as VP wouldn't help.  The PUMA faction is for some reason (read sexism) voting Palin, despite the fact that she is counter to just about everysingle thing that Sen. Clinton stands for, except being a woman.  Obama doesn't need someone to offset her charisma he has Biden, who despite the fact of not being a woman (which appears to be a handicap in this election) is quite charismatic, and can be humourously passive-agressive.  

What would help is if either side tried maybe actually running on policies or facts.  Niether party is leading by example, one side (Rep) is outright running on Personalities, and made the VP pick (Palin) to show it, and the other side is running on Change, and made a VP which is mind boggling to that end.  

PS. To those who are going to say a Hillary VP pick would further the change message, it wouldn't.  All it would further is the Clinton hegemony into a possible 2012 presidential bid, going to a 2020 term (1992 - 2020 of Clintons , minus the Dubya years, is too many)


----------



## Bass ackwards (9 Sep 2008)

Adamant said:
			
		

> Hillary as VP wouldn't help.  The PUMA faction is for some reason (read sexism) voting Palin, despite the fact that she is counter to just about everysingle thing that Sen. Clinton stands for, except being a woman.  Obama doesn't need someone to offset her charisma he has Biden, who despite the fact of not being a woman (which appears to be a handicap in this election) is quite charismatic, and can be humourously passive-agressive.
> 
> What would help is if either side tried maybe actually running on policies or facts.  Niether party is leading by example, *one side (Rep) is outright running on Personalities, and made the VP pick (Palin) to show it, and the other side is running on Change,* and made a VP which is mind boggling to that end.
> 
> PS. To those who are going to say a Hillary VP pick would further the change message, it wouldn't.  All it would further is the Clinton hegemony into a possible 2012 presidential bid, going to a 2020 term (1992 - 2020 of Clintons , minus the Dubya years, is too many)



I fail to see what Obama is running on if not personality. All we heard about for months was how charismatic and what a powerful orator he is. I've heard him compared to both Martin Luther King and Jesus Christ. 
But he hasn't actually done anything. Ever.

The rare time you get him away from a teleprompter and a scripted speech, he usually displayes a stunning ignorance of the Constitution, US History, foreign affairs and he is routinely caught lying about his background. 
I strongly doubt he has any regard for the military and his whole "bringing everyone together" nonsense pretty much ended when he started the "clinging to their guns and God" cracks. 

The Republicans, on the other hand, would most definitely NOT have McCain out front if their only platform was about personalities. 
McCain, naturally, will be stong on defense. Palin, while not as experienced in that regard, is the Commander in Chief of the Alaska National Guard. That might not seem like much but bear in mind Alaska's proximity to Russia and consequent strategic importance to the continental US. Palin will have far more depth of understanding of security and military matters than Obama -and she's the Republicans' second stringer -not their front runner. 
Plus, both of them have children in the military -Track Palin (her son) is heading to Iraq next year. 

McCain and Palin are both in favour of drilling for oil in the US. The only thing I've seen from Obama in regards to the oil crisis was to tap into the US strategic reserves -brilliant that.  
Palin, again as Governor of Alaska, has considerable experience dealing with oil companies. Not always on friendly terms. 

Maybe she'd be more credible if she'd written an autobiography (or two) like Obama has, but she probably simply hasn't had the time.
Unlike Obama.


----------



## Redeye (9 Sep 2008)

Bass ackwards said:
			
		

> I fail to see what Obama is running on if not personality. All we heard about for months was how charismatic and what a powerful orator he is. I've heard him compared to both Martin Luther King and Jesus Christ.
> But he hasn't actually done anything. Ever.



What?!  Obama was a state senator in Illinois from 1997-2004, and a US Senator from 2004 onward.  That's a lot lot of things to do.




			
				Bass ackwards said:
			
		

> The rare time you get him away from a teleprompter and a scripted speech, he usually displayes a stunning ignorance of the Constitution, US History, foreign affairs and he is routinely caught lying about his background.



Please, cite specific examples.



			
				Bass ackwards said:
			
		

> I strongly doubt he has any regard for the military and his whole "bringing everyone together" nonsense pretty much ended when he started the "clinging to their guns and God" cracks.



Granted, that was a dumb thing to say - but he said it once.  And since then he's had a lot better things to say.  He also has the backing of a lot of military and military families, there was a lot of them at the DNC.



			
				Bass ackwards said:
			
		

> The Republicans, on the other hand, would most definitely NOT have McCain out front if their only platform was about personalities.
> McCain, naturally, will be stong on defense. Palin, while not as experienced in that regard, is the Commander in Chief of the Alaska National Guard. That might not seem like much but bear in mind Alaska's proximity to Russia and consequent strategic importance to the continental US. Palin will have far more depth of understanding of security and military matters than Obama -and she's the Republicans' second stringer -not their front runner.
> Plus, both of them have children in the military -Track Palin (her son) is heading to Iraq next year.



What a pile of red herrings.  Sarah Palin is C-in-C of the AK National Guard by virtue of being governor, not because she has any sort of military prowess.  I doubt the job entails all of that much either.  Forgive me for thinking that her experience in that regard is minimal-to-irrelevant.  Children in the military?  Yeah, and?



			
				Bass ackwards said:
			
		

> McCain and Palin are both in favour of drilling for oil in the US. The only thing I've seen from Obama in regards to the oil crisis was to tap into the US strategic reserves -brilliant that.
> Palin, again as Governor of Alaska, has considerable experience dealing with oil companies. Not always on friendly terms.


 The last report I saw on offshore drilling suggested that the US might be able to produce enough oil to meet current demands for perhaps a year or two.  I don't think that included the ANWR, but regardless, US proven reserves are not much.  Drilling for oil will not solve the USA's problem.  Breaking its addiction to oil by expanding research and development of alternatives to oil - from "clean coal" and nuclear to wind and solar, to natural gas (which America seems to have a lot of us) featured prominently in a variety of remarks made by Barack Obama.



			
				Bass ackwards said:
			
		

> Maybe she'd be more credible if she'd written an autobiography (or two) like Obama has, but she probably simply hasn't had the time.
> Unlike Obama.



I'm not going to even start with what a pointless remark that is.  If that's the best that Republican talking points have to offer I guess my wife will be keeping her US passport when Obama wins.


----------



## Adamant (9 Sep 2008)

Obama has already said that he is running mainly on judgement, and judging by the last 8 years where the president was a former governor (read: experience), judgement may have been a nice thing to have.  Might have saved them some problems.  I will fully agree that he is running on personality as well, what I meant is that the Republicans (Steve Schmidt aka: Karl Rove Jr.) are outright saying that this race is about personalities.  I don't think that either side is focusing on facts or issues.

And about Palin not having the time to write, you're correct she was too busy taking kickbacks on the bridge to nowhere, then when the tides turned against it, she turned against it...yet kept the money.  Also i guess trying to abuse her power to remove her state trooper ex-brother-in-law probably took some time too.  Sounds a bit like the Justice department debacle, seems to be the way of the Republican party lately, you don't agree with us we run you out of town, only at least the legislature in Alaska called her on it and is actually investigating it, unlike the Federal legislative branch which has accepted Gonzales' answers of "I can't get into that"

On a final note, having children in the military is not a qualification for being president.  It is something to be proud of, but has nothing to do with running the country.


----------



## tomahawk6 (9 Sep 2008)

> And about Palin not having the time to write, you're correct she was too busy taking kickbacks on the bridge to nowhere, then when the tides turned against it, she turned against it...yet kept the money.  Also i guess trying to abuse her power to remove her state trooper ex-brother-in-law probably took some time too.  Sounds a bit like the Justice department debacle, seems to be the way of the Republican party lately, you don't agree with us we run you out of town, only at least the legislature in Alaska called her on it and is actually investigating it, unlike the Federal legislative branch which has accepted Gonzales' answers of "I can't get into that"



I hope Lt you are more informed about your day job than the topic of Governor Palin. Try looking at web sites other than the Daily Kos or HuffPost. There are alot of smears out there all of them plain lies. By all accounts Trooper Wooten should have been fired just for tasing his 11 year old stepson,he wasnt.Here is an article about Trooper Wooten.
http://www.adn.com/politics/story/476430.html

Palin turned down the bridge to nowhere and also killed the previous Governor's road to nowhere a $350m project from Juneau to Skagway.

Finally Palin beat an incumbent Governor in a primary and then beat the former democrat Governor in the general election.This tells me that the democrat establishment isnt her friend and neither is the Republican establishment.Her 80% approval rating in Alaska 2 years into the job is an indication that the folks are satisfied with her job performance.
http://www.factcheck.org/


----------



## Bass ackwards (9 Sep 2008)

Apologies to all, I'm going to have to do this in sections (I'm just not computer savvy enough to be able to reply to Redeye the way he did my last post).

Obama in the senate:

Can you -or anyone- name one thing that Obama accomplished while in the senate? 

Anything at all? 

He keeps hollerng about change -what change did he even _try _ to effect while there?

Standby...


----------



## tomahawk6 (9 Sep 2008)

Obama did vote for the bridge to nowhere. ;D


----------



## Adamant (9 Sep 2008)

tomahawk6 said:
			
		

> I hope Lt you are more informed about your day job than the topic of Governor Palin. Try looking at web sites other than the Daily Kos or HuffPost. There are alot of smears out there all of them plain lies. By all accounts Trooper Wooten should have been fired just for tasing his 11 year old stepson,he wasnt.Here is an article about Trooper Wooten.
> http://www.adn.com/politics/story/476430.html
> 
> Palin turned down the bridge to nowhere and also killed the previous Governor's road to nowhere a $350m project from Juneau to Skagway.
> ...



The trooper had already been disciplined and the case had been closed, then the governor got involved after the fact.  That is not her job, no matter what way you cut it.  And if you count Foxnews, and Wall Street Journal as smears, I would appreciate an opinion on where I  should be getting my news from.

Jimmy Carter beat an incumbant president, so I guess he's a great guy too?  

And on the $350m  yeah she killed it when it was unpopular, after supporting it, and then kept the money.  

I have said several times, I don't think either of these candidates are a good choice.  But I find lots of people are quick to jump on one candidate and due to party affiliations give the other a free ride.  Obama has no experience to be president, and John McCain has sold his soul to gain the support of the party.  McCain circa 2000, was by far the best candidate.  Due to being unpopular with the party base, he was pre-selected to not win, and instead the race was between Clown #1 (GWB) and Clown #2 (AG). 

Back OT, Palin was a choice made for very Rove-ish reasons.  Maybe she should have said "thanks but no thanks" to the nomination.  I think in time you'll see she's a Dan Quayle VP pick...picked to try and excite the base, which in this instance worked...for now.


----------



## Haletown (9 Sep 2008)

Hey . .  Obama just called her a pig !!

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/obama-says-mc-1.html

 "You know, you can put lipstick on a pig," Obama said, "but it's still a pig." 


Calling a lady, a mother at that, a pig.

Not gentlemanly, not gentlemanly at all.


----------



## Snafu-Bar (9 Sep 2008)

Strike one for Obama...  :


----------



## Eye In The Sky (9 Sep 2008)

Strike 1??

Thats very generous.  I'd say its well past "1".


----------



## GAP (9 Sep 2008)

If Obama really said that he just pissed off 50% of the population......

edited to add.....just read the article, and while he was not talking about Palin, except obliquely, his comment is going to be interpretted as a slam, and he will pay the price.....


----------



## Bass ackwards (9 Sep 2008)

Specific examples of BO showing his ignorance or lying:

Allrighty then:

From the Washington Post:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/08/obama_to_palin_dont_mock_the_c.html

Barack Obama
*Obama to Palin: 'Don't Mock the Constitution'*
By Peter Slevin
FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. -- Sen. Barack Obama delivered an impassioned defense of the Constitution and the rights of terrorism suspects tonight, striking back at one of the biggest applause lines in Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's speech to the GOP convention.

It was in St. Paul last week that Palin drew raucous cheers when she delivered this put-down of Obama: "Al-Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America and he's worried that someone won't read them their rights."

Obama had a few problems with that.

"First of all, you don't even get to read them their rights until you catch 'em," Obama said here, drawing laughs from 1,500 supporters in a high school gymnasium. "They should spend more time trying to catch Osama bin Laden and we can worry about the next steps later."

If the plotters of the Sept. 11 attacks are in the government's sights, Obama went on, they should be targeted and killed.

"My position has always been clear: If you've got a terrorist, take him out," Obama said. "Anybody who was involved in 9/11, take 'em out."

But Obama, who taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago for more than a decade, said captured suspects deserve to file writs of habeus corpus.

Calling it "the foundation of Anglo-American law," he said the principle "says very simply: If the government grabs you, then you have the right to at least ask, 'Why was I grabbed?' And say, 'Maybe you've got the wrong person.'"

The safeguard is essential, Obama continued, "because we don't always have the right person."

"We don't always catch the right person," he said. "We may think it's Mohammed the terrorist, but it might be Mohammed the cab driver. You might think it's Barack the bomb-thrower, but it might be Barack the guy running for president."

Obama turned back to Palin's comment, although he said he was not sure whether Palin or Rudy Giuliani said it.

"The reason that you have this principle is not to be soft on terrorism. It's because that's who we are. That's what we're protecting," Obama said, his voice growing louder and the crowd rising to its feet to cheer. "Don't mock the Constitution. Don't make fun of it. Don't suggest that it's not American to abide by what the founding fathers set up. It's worked pretty well for over 200 years."

He finished with a dismissive comment about his opponents.

"These people."

---Okay, what are we doing here? Giving terror suspects the (highy questionable) right of Habeas Corpus, or killing them on sight? 

Then there's this:
Barack Obama Off Teleprompter - 3 Videos
http://sweetness-light.com/archive/barack-obama-off-teleprompter-two-videos

And this:
Obama Speaks with 'Deep Humility' on Memorial Day
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/05/26/obama_speaks_with_deep_humilit.html

Obama said he suspects that one of the reasons his grandfather seldom spoke of his wartime experience was the trauma he had witnessed. 

"In World War II we didn't have the concept of post-traumatic stress syndrome. People had to basically handle it on their own," he said. Referring to an uncle who had been one of the first U.S. troops into Auschwitz, the concentration camp, Obama said: "The story in the family is he came home and just went up in the attic." 

----Hello? Russian troops liberated Auschwitz. Auschwitz is in Poland. 

Or there's this:
The Politics of Spare Change
Even $85 million wasn't enough to get Barack Obama to keep his promise.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/19/AR2008061903026.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

BARACK OBAMA isn't abandoning his pledge to take public financing for the general election campaign because it's in his political interest. Certainly not. He isn't about to become the first candidate since Watergate to run an election fueled entirely with private money because he will be able to raise far more that way than the mere $85 million he'd get if he stuck to his promise -- and with which his Republican opponent, John McCain, will have to make do. No, Mr. Obama, or so he would have you believe, is forgoing the money because he is so committed to public financing. Really, it hurts him more than it hurts Fred Wertheimer. 

Pardon the sarcasm. But given Mr. Obama's earlier pledge to "aggressively pursue" an agreement with the Republican nominee to accept public financing, his effort to cloak his broken promise in the smug mantle of selfless dedication to the public good is a little hard to take. "It's not an easy decision, and especially because I support a robust system of public financing of elections," Mr. Obama said in a video message to supporters. 

Or this:

Obama: U.S. Troops in Afghanistan Must Do More Than Kill Civilians
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,293187,00.html

I can go on, but all this bouncing from site to site is making my eyes bug out.


----------



## Bass ackwards (9 Sep 2008)

The AK National Guard:

I never said she got there by virtue of any military prowness. 
But she did get there. 
Here's an e-mail forwarded to me a few days ago -it's not a news article, just some food for thought:

"Before anyone dismisses the fact that Sarah Palin is Commander of the Alaska National Guard consider this. Alaska is the first line of defense in our missile interceptor defense system. The 49th Missile Defense Battalion of the Alaska National Guard is the unit that protects the entire nation from ballistic missile attacks. It’s on permanent active duty, unlike other Guard units. 

As governor of Alaska , Palin is briefed on highly classified military issues, homeland security, and counter-terrorism. Her exposure to ---classified material may rival even Biden's and certainly by far exceeds Obama's. 

She's also the commander in chief of the Alaska State Defense Force (ASDF), a federally recognized militia incorporated into Homeland Security's counter-terrorism plans. Palin is privy to military and intelligence secrets that are vital to the entire country's defense. Given Alaska 's proximity to Russia , she may have security clearances we don't even know about. 

According to the Washington Post, she first met with McCain in February, but nobody ever found out. This is a woman used to keeping secrets. 

She can be entrusted with our national security, because she already is." 

---By all means, have at that. I'd love to hear a decent rebuttal. 

And I'll dismiss the children in the military angle as soon as the press stops harping about Bush and Cheney not having loved ones in the fight (ie: Bush's daughters)


----------



## Bass ackwards (9 Sep 2008)

As to drilling:
Palin, an Alaskan, supports drilling in ANWR. And anywhere else there may be oil in the US. No doubt your sources will downplay the amount of oil available -and mine will exaggerate it- but the fact is, there's oil there and we're just not ready yet to replace it with anything else. 
Nuclear? Oh spare me. The same loons that refuse to allow drilling get downright violent over the thought of nuclear. Who does Obama think he's kidding? 

Anyways, I'm no doubt getting tedious (OK, I arrived there long ago   ) so I'll call this a night.

Other than Tomahawk-6, none of us can vote for any of them anyways...


----------



## Adamant (9 Sep 2008)

Bass ackwards said:
			
		

> As to drilling:
> Palin, an Alaskan, supports drilling in ANWR. And anywhere else there may be oil in the US. No doubt your sources will downplay the amount of oil available -and mine will exaggerate it- but the fact is, there's oil there and we're just not ready yet to replace it with anything else.
> Nuclear? Oh spare me. The same loons that refuse to allow drilling get downright violent over the thought of nuclear. Who does Obama think he's kidding?
> 
> ...



I'm all over Nuclear, put the plant in my back yard I'm cool with it.  But I don't think the McCain/Palin view of Drill drill drill is really going to solve anything.  This is because oil is a finite resource, the single largest oil supplier to the states is...Canada. 

But on lies, Palin has lied about the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere," she lied about selling a government jet on ebay, she lied about making a profit on that jet.

She also charged the Alaskan tax-payers a per diem for living in her own home.  

They're politicians, they all lie.  Holding one up as holier than the other is plain and simply false.  Obama lies, Biden lies, McCain lies, and Palin lies.  It's simply a choice between the lesser 2 of 4 evils.    And yes Bass Ackwards, we all have no say, but we will be affected, probably negatively regardless of who will be president-elect.


----------



## tomahawk6 (9 Sep 2008)

Adamant your lies disgust me. If you acre to see the proof its there.Palin did sell the jet on eBay.They dont charge Alaska residents in fact they get $2000 a year in a dividend.


----------



## evil drunken-fool (9 Sep 2008)

Haletown said:
			
		

> Hey . .  Obama just called her a pig !!
> 
> http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/obama-says-mc-1.html
> 
> ...



I don't see where he directly called her a "pig".  He may be alluding to her, but he may not be as well.  You shouldn't assume things.


----------



## tomahawk6 (9 Sep 2008)

Time to lock this one up Mods.


----------



## Redeye (9 Sep 2008)

Since my wife is an American citizen and does have a vote I've found myself taking a fair bit of interest in this debate.  As for nuclear, Americans who don't like it are going to have to give it some more thought because if they want to get off of oil they don't really have a choice.  I was staggered today to hear the size of of the projected US federal budget deficit for Fiscal 2008 - near $500 billion.  Let me write that out for you:

$500,000,000,000.  That's ELEVEN zeroes.  More than $1000 per person, for one year alone.  And McCain thinks the last eight years are a model to follow?

As for the significance of the AK National Guard, I'd be interested to know just how much of a role state governors have in the day-to-day operations of their Guard units - as I understand it they are basically all OPCOM to the Federal Government and so I don't know what the interplay is.  I still don't see it as being any sort of marked advantage for the candidate though.

It'll be an interesting campaign at least.


----------



## Adamant (9 Sep 2008)

tomahawk6 said:
			
		

> Adamant your lies disgust me. If you acre to see the proof its there.Palin did sell the jet on eBay.They dont charge Alaska residents in fact they get $2000 a year in a dividend.



Lies?

See links:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/05/AR2008090503722.html?referrer=digg : Governor's Plane Wasn't Sold on Ebay
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/08/AR2008090803088.html : Palin Billed State for Nights Spent at Home

Thank you for your time Tomahawk6.... ;D


----------



## Fishbone Jones (9 Sep 2008)

Adamant said:
			
		

> I'm all over Nuclear, put the plant in my back yard I'm cool with it.  But I don't think the McCain/Palin view of Drill drill drill is really going to solve anything.  This is because oil is a finite resource, the single largest oil supplier to the states is...Canada.
> 
> But on lies, Palin has lied about the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere," she lied about selling a government jet on ebay, she lied about making a profit on that jet.
> 
> ...



Adamant,

I think it's about time you started posting live links to your research, to back up the allegations you're making.

That will go for the rest of you also.

Milnet.ca Staff


----------



## Eye In The Sky (9 Sep 2008)

Adamant said:
			
		

> Lies?
> 
> See links:
> 
> ...



Do you read you own links though?

*It appears that, as she promised during her bid for governor, Palin did try to sell the plane on eBay, but there was only one serious bid, in December of 2006, and it fell through. The Westwind II was sold about eight months later, achieving her goal of ridding the state of a luxury item.*


----------



## evil drunken-fool (9 Sep 2008)

Redeye said:
			
		

> As for the significance of the AK National Guard, I'd be interested to know just how much of a role state governors have in the day-to-day operations of their Guard units - as I understand it they are basically all OPCOM to the Federal Government and so I don't know what the interplay is.



I believe Sarah Palin has deployed them to help with a forest fire.  I caught it in passing watching CNN one evening after they had asked the campaign any executive decisions she made in regards to the AK National Guard and they couldn't answer the question.  I think CNN figured this out themselves as the campaign wouldn't talk to them for a couple days.


----------



## Adamant (9 Sep 2008)

Eye In The Sky said:
			
		

> Do you read you own links though?
> 
> *It appears that, as she promised during her bid for governor, Palin did try to sell the plane on eBay, but there was only one serious bid, in December of 2006, and it fell through. The Westwind II was sold about eight months later, achieving her goal of ridding the state of a luxury item.*



But thats not what she said, she said she sold it for a profit on ebay...not true.  I'll throw up some obama links to misinformation, but there seems to be no shortage of people willing to do that, while holding Gov Palin and Sen McCain as some how above lying.


----------



## evil drunken-fool (9 Sep 2008)

tomahawk6 said:
			
		

> By all accounts Trooper Wooten should have been fired just for tasing his 11 year old stepson,he wasnt.Here is an article about Trooper Wooten.
> http://www.adn.com/politics/story/476430.html



Even though Trooper Wooten has a questionable background, he has answered all questions concerning his background in television interviews.  There was obviously some wrong doing in this situation, the big question is whether or not Palin had a hand in it or not.  Her people say she was unaware while this investigation is probing to see if that is true or not.




			
				tomahawk6 said:
			
		

> Palin turned down the bridge to nowhere and also killed the previous Governor's road to nowhere a $350m project from Juneau to Skagway.



Let us be clear, during her campaign she was for the "bridge to nowhere", however, when she became governor and after congress said no to the project, did she finally turn it down.


----------



## tomahawk6 (9 Sep 2008)

Obama voted for the bridge to nowhere. ;D
I lived in Alaska and I can tell you that if you take an animal out of season you are screwed. You will lose your car,rifle,tent and anything else you had when you committed the offense.For a Trooper to take an animal out of season is even worse.


----------



## Adamant (9 Sep 2008)

tomahawk6 said:
			
		

> Obama voted for the bridge to nowhere. ;D
> I lived in Alaska and I can tell you that if you take an animal out of season you are screwed. You will lose your car,rifle,tent and anything else you had when you committed the offense.For a Trooper to take an animal out of season is even worse.



Gov Palin was all for the bridge during her run for governor too:

http://www.adn.com/sarahpalin/story/510378.html


----------



## evil drunken-fool (9 Sep 2008)

tomahawk6 said:
			
		

> Obama voted for the bridge to nowhere. ;D



So did 81 other senators.  This is just holding the status quo to not kill other members pet projects.  I agree with John McCain on the issue of earmarks, but you can't hold this one against Obama.



			
				tomahawk6 said:
			
		

> I lived in Alaska and I can tell you that if you take an animal out of season you are screwed. You will lose your car,rifle,tent and anything else you had when you committed the offense.For a Trooper to take an animal out of season is even worse.



And so should be the case, however the current investigation of Governor Palin has nothing to do with this.


----------



## GAP (9 Sep 2008)

Adamant said:
			
		

> But thats not what she said, she said she sold it for a profit on ebay...not true. .



actually, if you check the speeches....she said she put it on Ebay....which is correct...


----------



## evil drunken-fool (9 Sep 2008)

Adamant said:
			
		

> she said she sold it for a profit on ebay.



Also to add to this, I don't believe she has ever stated she sold it for a profit.  She sold it to get rid of it.


----------



## Adamant (9 Sep 2008)

GAP said:
			
		

> actually, if you check the speeches....she said she put it on Ebay....which is correct...



I stand corrected, many thanks GAP, the VP nominee was honest about this one...it was her running mate that made that ridiculous claim. 

http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/05/alaska-state-jet-didnt-fly-on-ebay/

“You know what I enjoyed the most? She took the luxury jet that was purchased by her predecessor and sold it on eBay — and made a profit.”


----------



## Another Mom (9 Sep 2008)

This has nothing to do with Palin, but I believe the saying goes, " You can put lipstick on a hog and call her Lucille, she's still a pig". It sounds best when said with a Southern accent.


----------



## Fishbone Jones (9 Sep 2008)

Adamant said:
			
		

> I stand corrected, many thanks GAP, the VP nominee was honest about this one...it was her running mate that made that ridiculous claim.
> 
> http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/05/alaska-state-jet-didnt-fly-on-ebay/
> 
> “You know what I enjoyed the most? She took the luxury jet that was purchased by her predecessor and sold it on eBay — and made a profit.”



Anyone parsing candidates speeches to that extent isn't really interested in the real issues IMHO. It's too bad some here can't show as much interest in our own political race as they are trying to dig up dirt on something south of the border.


----------



## Kat Stevens (9 Sep 2008)

I've been having a deja vu moment reading this thread but couldn't put my finger on it...then it hit me.  I used to have a big ol' dumbass dog that would endlessly spin around chasing his own tail.  It was amusing for a short time, but didn't provide much entertainment after a while.


----------



## GAP (9 Sep 2008)

Kat Stevens said:
			
		

> I've been having a deja vu moment reading this thread but couldn't put my finger on it...then it hit me.  I used to have a big ol' dumbass dog that would endlessly spin around chasing his own tail.  It was amusing for a short time, but didn't provide much entertainment after a while.



Like the dog.....stop reading... ;D


----------



## Kat Stevens (9 Sep 2008)

Done, and done.


----------



## Redeye (10 Sep 2008)

Eye In The Sky said:
			
		

> Do you read you own links though?
> 
> *It appears that, as she promised during her bid for governor, Palin did try to sell the plane on eBay, but there was only one serious bid, in December of 2006, and it fell through. The Westwind II was sold about eight months later, achieving her goal of ridding the state of a luxury item.*



According to the article, it was not sold via eBay or on the internet, but to a campaign contributor - for less than its cost - making the claims that a) she sold it on eBay and b) that she sold it for a profit both factually incorrect.  That said, it wasn't her that made the claim.

The reality is that to me all of this is detracting from any intelligent debate about policy.  Listening to CNN on my way home from the Armoury tonight there was some people on Larry King talking all about how she seems "like a real person", etc etc all sorts of things that suggest that people will vote on that basis without actually looking into what candidates stand for... and that's the most terrifying thing about democracy.  I remember being down in Georgia just after the 2004 election and hearing lots of people tell me that they voted for George Bush because of his "family values".  They couldn't explain what exactly that meant though.  They didn't seem to understand anything about policy whatsoever in fact.  My father thinks there should be an intelligence test for voters before they get a ballot, and sometimes it seems that mightn't be so bad an idea!


----------



## Adamant (10 Sep 2008)

recceguy said:
			
		

> Anyone parsing candidates speeches to that extent isn't really interested in the real issues IMHO. It's too bad some here can't show as much interest in our own political race as they are trying to dig up dirt on something south of the border.



I am interested in the _real_ issues, and am considerably more interested in our own race.  My point from the beginning has been people around here are bashing the obama/biden ticket with absolute slander and are holding McCain/plain up as if they are alter boys who've never once told a lie.  I just don't really think it's fair to say Palin is the best person in the world and Obama is a liar.  When we can clearly see that McCain and Pailn have both lied as well.   They're politicians, it's what they do, it's how they get elected. 

I don't think either of them are a good choice.  Our race this year, with whats at stake is way more exciting...


----------



## time expired (10 Sep 2008)

Obama picks a long time political veteran for VP and McCain
picks a MILF,good thinking on McCain's part,given the level
and tone of this campaign,just look at the muck raking on 
this thread alone.Adamant if you are really interested in the
issues you would not be following this campaign so closely
as every candidate knows one does not discuss the real issues
in a presidential campaign.
                                  Regards


----------



## Haletown (10 Sep 2008)

Eveyone can believe what they want, but the pig reference was clearly a Palin smear and it is backfiring big time.  It could be the turning point in the election.

It makes a great RNC ad

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZd_Y_D-RaA


----------



## GAP (10 Sep 2008)

*Articles found regarding Sara Palin on September 10, 2008*

Dude Dads
Forget Sarah Palin. The swing voters to watch might look more like her husband, Todd.
By Bruce Reed Posted Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008, at 5:07 PM ET Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008
Article Link

NASCAR on Ice: Every election, pollsters and pundits introduce another voter group whose views are certain to decide the outcome: soccer moms, NASCAR dads, security moms, office park dads, and (three times in the past week) Wal-Mart moms. These categories, while sometimes useful, share an important methodological flaw: On Election Day, when undecided voters finally make up their minds, exit pollsters don't ask them where they work or where they shop, what sports they watch or what games their children play. Exit polls eschew these trendy questions in favor of boring demographic perennials like age, race, gender, education, and income level. 

Precisely because exit poll questions don't change much from one cycle to the next, however, they provide an interesting portrait of how the electorate evolves—or doesn't. Some segments of the electorate are fiercely loyal to one party; others lean toward one party but more dramatically in some years than others.
More on link

Sarah Palin, the pastor and the prophecy: judgment day is not far away
September 10, 2008
Article Link

Alexi Mostrous in Wasilla, Alaska 
At the Wasilla Assembly of God Church, Sarah Palin’s former pastor sees powerful signs that the end of the world is nigh. 

Pastor Ed Kalnins cites conflict in the Middle East, America’s dependence on foreign oil and the depletion of energy reserves as evidence that “storm clouds are gathering”. He told The Times: “Scripture specifically mentions oil instability as a sign of the Rapture. We’re seeing more and more oil wars. The contractions of the fulfilment of prophecies are getting tighter and tighter.” 

He declined to set an exact date for the Rapture, or the “End of Days” – the belief in a time when Jesus will return, raising up believers to Heaven and leaving the wicked to be ruled by the Antichrist – but hopes it will be in his lifetime. “I’m looking out the window and I can see it’s going to rain,” he said. “I’m just looking at the turmoil of the world, Iraq, other places – everywhere people are fighting against Christ.” 

Since Mrs Palin’s nomination as John McCain’s Republican running-mate 11 days ago, her social and religious beliefs have become subjected to intense scrutiny. As a supporter of the teaching of Creationism in schools, an opponent of abortion – even in cases of rape or incest – and a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, she threatens to reopen the culture war that has scarred American politics for a quarter of a century. 
More on link

Did Palin give McCain a boost with women?
SIRI AGRELL From Wednesday's Globe and Mail September 9, 2008 at 9:11 PM EDT
Article Link

Is John McCain experiencing the benefits of a baby bump – or a surge?

A new poll by The Washington Post and ABC News found the Republican candidate has garnered a large increase in support among white women since announcing Sarah Palin as his running mate, putting him ahead of Democratic rival Barack Obama among that demographic for the first time.

But it's unclear whether voters are simply reacting to the novelty of Ms. Palin's personal story and the historic nature of her selection with a fleeting expression of support or whether her choice as vice-presidential nominee has led women to see Mr. McCain in a new light.

Before the Democratic National Convention in late August, Mr. Obama held an 8 percentage point lead among white women voters – 50 per cent to 42 per cent – but after the Republican convention earlier this month, Mr. McCain was ahead by 12 points among white women, 53 per cent to 41 per cent, the poll found.
More on link

Obama Did Not Call Sarah Palin A Pig
09 Sep 2008 07:06 pm
Article Link

The first McCain truthsquadding telephone call is taking place right now, and ex-MA Gov. Jane Swift is complaining about an idiom Barack Obama used today:

Obama poked fun of McCain and Palin's new "change" mantra.
"You can put lipstick on a pig," he said as the crowd cheered. "It's still a pig."
"You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still gonna stink."
"We've had enough of the same old thing."
Suddenly, common analogies are sexist?

The McCain campaign has little respect for Obama, but they don't think he is stupid. And the only way one can conclude that Obama meant to refer to Gov. Sarah Palin as a pig is to have concluded that Obama is as dumb as a doornail.

Obama is fond of this particular phrase. To wit, in 2007:

'I think that both General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker are capable people who have been given an impossible assignment,' Sen. Barack Obama said yesterday in a telephone interview. 'George Bush has given a mission to General Petraeus, and he has done his best to try to figure out how to put lipstick on a pig.

And so is John McCain. Speaking about Hillary Clinton....

McCain criticized Democratic contenders for offering what he called costly universal health-care proposals that require too much government regulation. While he said he had not studied Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's plan, he said it was "eerily reminiscent" of the failed plan she offered as first lady in the 1990s. 
  
"I think they put some lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig," he said of her proposal.
More on link

Media digging for dirt on Sarah Palin
by Jon Henke | September 9, 2008 at 9:52 PM 
Article Link

The media is going after Sarah Palin.  Hard.    Listen to this phone call to Kevin Wall, filling in on Bill Bennett's radio program.  It's an Alaskan process server, who who called in to talk about how many calls she's getting from media organizations trying to get court records on Sarah Palin, her son Trak, and their friends.  She names the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times.  The relevant portion starts about 1 minute in.

This is the stuff that opposition researchers usually do.   I would expect the Obama campaign and the DNC to go after the personal records of Palin's family and friends like this, but the media?  Did they go after Barack Obama this thoroughly on personal history? 

The Left isn't exactly covering themselves in dignity, either.  Randi Rhodes claims McCain was "well treated" in Vietnam.

Of course he became very friendly with the Vietnamese. They called him the Prince. He was well treated actually. And he was well treated because he traded these propaganda interviews for good treatment. So look, it’s a horrible story anyway you cut it, anyway you look at it, any way you you you deal with it.

But, it’s not the story Fred Thompson told. Nor is it the story Rudy Giuliani told. Nor is it the story Sarah Palin told. Nor is it the story anybody. Cindy McCain knew to limit herself to ‘I think what my husband did in Vietnam was heroic’ because she knows the truth too.
More on link

Democrats scrambling as 'Palin effect' hits US polls
Article Link

The McCain campaign has used Sarah Palin's reputation to seize the change mantle. (Reuters: John Gress)
The Republicans' United States presidential nominee, Senator John McCain, and his Democrat opponent Senator Barack Obama are battling it out over who is the authentic change agent.

For months Senator McCain ran on his expertise, his foreign policy experience, while Senator Obama's slogan was and still is "change we can believe in".

But all that changed when Senator McCain chose his running mate, Governor Sarah Palin.

Now, the "Palin effect" on the presidential campaign has led to a huge surge in support in the polls for Senator McCain.

"We're the ones who will change Washington," Senator McCain said. 

"She is the one who's changed Alaska.

"She is the one that took on the old bulls in the Republican Party that cleaned up the state of Alaska and she'll clean up Washington and we'll restore trust and confidence in government and again on the part of the American people."

The McCain campaign has used Sarah Palin's reputation as a reformer in Alaska to seize the change mantle.
More on link

Palin Energizing Women From All Walks of Life
By Anne E. Kornblut Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, September 10, 2008; Page A04 
Article Link

LEBANON, Ohio, Sept. 9 -- Susie Baron is a Republican, a mother of two and a home-schooler. She voted for Mike Huckabee in the Ohio primary, but now -- because of Sarah Palin -- she thinks she is part of something much bigger. 

I wouldn't even call it a Palin movement, I'd call it a sleeping giant that has been awakened," Baron, 56, said at a rally here Tuesday. She described its members as a silent majority of women in Middle America who "are raising our families, who work if we have to, but love our country and our families first." 

"And until now, we haven't had anyone to identify with," Baron said, adding that traditional feminist groups such as the National Organization for Women do "not represent me." 
More on link

Alaska Shrugs Off Palin's Faith
U.S. Election; Religion not a priority for those in Governor's state
Charles Lewis, National Post  Published: Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Article Link

Sarah Palin, the Alaska Governor, may be the most overtly religious candidate for U. S. vice-president in recent memory, but she comes from the state with one of the lowest levels of interest in religion.

John McCain's Republican running mate is a deeply believing Christian with strong evangelical and Pentecostal roots.

"There seems to be a paradox," said Courtney Campbell, a professor of religion and culture at Oregon State University.

"In the Pacific Northwest a politician may have devout religious beliefs, but that is not going to be associated [by the electorate] with a political agenda of reforming the state in accord with the Christian kingdom of God."
More on link

Sarah Palin to star at California fundraising bash
Article Link

A Silicon Valley billionaire is playing Oprah to Sarah Palin's Obama, hosting the Alaska governor at what will likely be a must-attend fundraiser for Republicans later this month. And as was true when Oprah Winfey feted Barack Obama at her 42-acre estate in Montecito last September, getting in to software magnate Thomas Siebel's shindig on the 25th won't be cheap. 

The Associated Press is reporting that for $50,000, contributors become co-chairs of the event, with access to a reception for six people, a couple of seats at the nominee's table, a table for 10 at a lunch and a photo op with Palin. Mere mortals who are invited can cough up $1,000 for a ticket. (Actually this is cheaper than the Obama affair; admission to Oprah's retreat, which she calls "The Promised Land" came with a $2,300 campaign contribution).

When it comes to sheer star power, however, it's hard to imagine the Republican event attracting half the Hollywood dazzle that flocked to Obama's. Stevie Wonder played, Cindy Crawford and Halle Berry, Will Smith, and Sydney Poitier mingled with bundlers and big donors.  
More on link

Palin, And Her Family, Under Scrutiny
September 10, 2008 
Article Link

1 2 next I want to thank Stan Simpson for his insightful, well-written, well-researched column "Palin's Missile Misguided" [ Connecticut section, Sept. 6]. It opened my eyes to the important role community organizers play in bringing about real, positive change to society. It also revealed the leadership skills and sound preparation for effective statesmanship a person can acquire while serving as a community organizer, provided he does his job well, as Barack Obama has done.

The article reinforced my belief that Sen. Obama is best qualified to lead America in the right direction and bring about the change America so desperately needs.

William Beckham 

Hartford Stan Simpson's Sept. 6 column was deeply misguided itself. Simpson disparagingly accuses Sarah Palin of "savaging" Barack Obama and "mocking" his lack of executive experience in her speech at the Republican National Convention. On the contrary, Palin was simply making the highly valid point that Barack Obama has no executive experience, a flaw that makes many American voters nervous.
More on link

Political Wisdom: Democrats Rough Up a Lady (Palin, That Is)
Here’s a summary of the smartest new political analysis on the Web:
by Gerald F. Seib and Sara Murray September 10, 2008, 7:22 am
Article Link

The Democrats, a bit unnerved by the rise of Gov. Sarah Palin, are hoping to blunt that rise by getting a little rough with the lady. Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen of Politico write that “Barack Obama and his Democratic allies are intensifying their attacks on Sarah Palin, as her sustained and surprising central role in this race is upending Obama’s strategy and often overshadowing” the Republican nominee himself, Sen. John McCain. Democratic Congressman Russ Carnahan, they note, introduced vice presidential contender Joe Biden at a Tuesday event by ripping into her record and ending with a “snarky jab. ‘There’s no way you can dress up that record, even with a lot of lipstick,’ he said. Later in the day, Obama used a variation of the lipstick line, though he was clearly talking about the McCain-Palin reform rhetoric. ‘You can put lipstick on a pig,’ he said. ‘It’s still a pig.’” VandeHei and Allen’s analysis: “The Obama campaign is calculating that it must reckon with Palin and the big public boost she has provided McCain in the past week….”More on link

Sarah Palin's impact: Women moved
Sarah Palin: 'Mother, governor, moose-shooter, it's cool'' -- Barack Obama
Posted September 10, 2008 6:15 AM by Mark Silva
Article Link

On the question of what Gov. Sarah Palin is doing for Sen. John McCain's campaign, a new survey conducted by NBC News shows that McCain has drawn virtually even with Democrat Barack Obama with growing support from women.

The NBC take on the "dead heat'' that some national polls are showing: Obama 47 percent, McCain 46 percent, in a poll with a 3.3 percent possible margin of error, a virtual tie.

McCain moved up, NBC's Chuck Todd says, "partially because women moved... Women under 50 moved 11 points in McCain's direction... Thank you, Sarah Palin.''

Of course, this swing of women voters isn't quite the 20 percent shift in white women toward McCain that ABC News had reported the day before. And both McCain and Obama had made some gains of their own in the NBC survey--with McCain's positive rating of 50 percent his highest yet, and Obama's 53 also a personal best in the NBC survey.

Enthusiasm for McCain also had grown significantly - to 34 percent - "again, thank you, Sarah Palin,'' network political director Todd said on the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. Enthusiasm for Obama, however, also was running at a healthy 55 percent.
, 
The national numbers are one thing, Todd notes, counting nine real "battleground'' states - Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, New Mexico among them - and four states that should be considered tossups: Colorado, Ohio, Virginia and New Hampshire.
More on link

‘Bad cop’ Sarah Palin steers GOP ticket far right
 By Peter Gelzinis Wednesday, September 10, 2008  Boston Herald Columnist
Article Link

John McCain’s last true maverick gesture was called Joe Lieberman.

In his heart and in his dreams, the feisty old soldier believed the best way to shake up Washington and re-connect with his maverick roots was to enter the White House accompanied by Al Gore’s running mate.

But that’s about all it was - a dream.

 McCain’s campaign staff quickly slapped him out of his reverie and reminded him he would never make it out of St. Paul with his friend and fellow senator by his side. They told him to wake up and keep to the right - the hard right.

So, this 72-year-old guy, who was never one to foam at the mouth over the so-called wedge issues (see guns, God and gays) hooked up with a beguiling wedge candidate for his final sprint toward the presidency.More on link

'I Am Sarah, Watch Me Act'
Barbara Kay, National Post  Published: Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Article Link

How I wish I'd been the proverbial fly on the wall watching the changing expressions on Barack Obama's face as Sarah Palin delivered her already-legendary speech at the Republican convention last Wednesday.

I imagine his pre-speech expression as alert, but relaxed paternalism, like a chief surgeon set to supervise a lowly resident's clumsy initial attempt at an appendectomy. Then puzzlement as the surgeon realizes that he's to be the patient, and finally horror as, strapped to the table and, before a nation of fascinated onlookers, he is subjected to ... a palinoscopy!
More on link


----------



## GAP (10 Sep 2008)

*Some more that wouldn't fit*

Dems deny Sarah Palin-bashing
By Herald staff Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - Updated 6h ago
Article Link

Spokesmen for Democrat Barack Obama and running mate Joe Biden denied yesterday that hot-button jibes at the Republican opposition were personal attacks on GOP veep candidate Sarah Palin.

In Virginia, Obama said of the McCain campaign’s “change” platform, “You know, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called ‘change,’ it’s still gonna stink after eight years.”

More on link

Sarah Palin had turbulent first year as mayor of Alaska town
By Ken Armstrong and Hal Bernton / The Seattle Times Wednesday, September 10, 2008  Article Link

At last week’s national convention, Republicans fought to turn a perceived weakness of their vice presidential nominee — a lack of experience — into a signature strength, saying Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin had more executive experience than both members of the Democratic ticket combined.

Six years of her executive experience came as mayor of Wasilla, a city north of Anchorage that had about 5,000 residents when she took over. As much of Palin’s hometown rallies with pride around her, 1,400 miles away — in a National Archives warehouse in Seattle — three boxes of documents help capture the quality of her mayoral experience.

These records, from a federal wrongful-termination lawsuit, include the minutiae of municipal governance, with memos to administrators and personnel records stamped "confidential." The documents, combined with accounts from her hometown newspaper, show how Palin’s first year as mayor could easily have been her last.
More on link

Palin’s Candidacy Reignites Feminist Debate
by Cristina Corbin Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Article Link

The feminist debate has come full circle. As Sarah Palin barnstorms throughout the country emphasizing her personal story of being Alaska’s governor and the mother of five children, many liberal commentators are asking whether she can balance the rigor of the vice presidency with the demands of parenting.

Palin gave birth on April 18 to a son with Down syndrome and has a teenage daughter who is five months pregnant. The combination of parenting along with her decision to campaign as John McCain’s running mate has spurred a phalanx of questions from surrogates for her political opponents as well as members of the mainstream media.

“Children with Down’s syndrome require an awful lot of attention. The role of vice president, it seems to me, would take up an awful lot of her time, and it raises the issue of how much time will she have to dedicate to her newborn child?” CNN anchor John Roberts asked during a live segment on Aug. 29, the day McCain announced Palin’s candidacy.
More on link


----------



## GAP (11 Sep 2008)

Sarah Palin: Separating fact from fiction
By DAVID GOLDSTEIN Posted on Wed, Sep. 10, 2008 The Star’s Washington correspondent 
Article Link

WASHINGTON | Since rocketing into political stardom as John McCain’s running mate two weeks ago, Sarah Palin has been dogged by questions.

She will sit down today with ABC for her first interview. While all politicians are attacked on, and boast about, their records, the fact that the governor of Alaska burst so suddenly onto the national stage in the lower 48 states makes it more difficult for voters to separate truth from fiction. So here’s a quick review of the issues:

•Was Palin accurate when she said that she opposed Alaska’s “bridge to nowhere,” which became a symbol of congressional spending gone wild?

Yes, but with an explanation.

“I told Congress, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,’ on that ‘bridge to nowhere,’ ” Palin told the Republican convention last week. “If our state wanted a bridge, we’d build it ourselves.”

The Democrats claim that Palin was for the bridge before she was against it, that she opposed it only when it became a national joke and Congress killed it in 2005.

Palin did support the $398 million project to build a bridge from Ketchikan to Gravina Island’s 50 residents when she ran for governor in 2006.

But Congress had already pulled the plug by that time. However, while it had eliminated the project, the money remained and was still Alaska’s to spend on transportation.

According to Congressional Quarterly, Palin continued to back the bridge “long after it was no longer necessary for Alaska to spend money” on it. She still could have built it, but as governor chose not to.

“Ultimately it was her call,” according to CQ, and “not inaccurate for Palin to say she ‘stopped the bridge to nowhere.’ ”

•Is it true, as Palin said at the convention, that she “championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress?”

Again, yes with an explanation. Earmarking is the practice where lawmakers insert pet projects into bills with little or no oversight.

Before Palin became mayor of Wasilla, her town had never been that involved in seeking earmarks. But by 2000, its 7,000 residents had their own Washington lobbyist, according to several newspaper accounts.

Palin won nearly $27 million in federal earmarks, according to FactCheck.org, a nonpartisan campaign watchdog Web site sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania.

Ironically, McCain, a longtime earmark foe who has called the practice “disgraceful,” criticized several of his future running mate’s requests at the time.

She was elected governor in 2006 and continued to tap the earmark lode. But she asked for fewer earmarks this year — about $200 million worth of requests — than she did her first year in office, according to the Anchorage Daily News.

Palin is on record speaking out against the state relying too much on earmarks. She has told her administration to cut back its requests, drawing praise from Anchorage newspapers.

•Was Palin ever a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, which has supported a vote on whether the state should secede from the union? 

No. A party official erroneously told reporters last week that Palin had been a member. The official retracted the statement. Palin’s husband belonged for several years. Palin did attend one of the party’s conventions when it was held in Wasilla while she was mayor.

•As mayor, did Palin order several books banned from the town library and fire the librarian when she refused? 

No. No books were ever banned. The titles that Palin is said to have wanted tossed included several that at the time hadn’t even been published, according to FactCheck.org.

But she fired the town librarian twice.

Librarian Mary Ellen Emmons, told the Anchorage Daily News that Palin asked her three separate times about the possibility of removing books from the shelves. Each time, Emmons said she wouldn’t.

At a local council meeting, Palin explained that her questions on banning had to do with “understanding and following administration agendas,” according to the Anchorage paper.

But Palin did end up firing Emmons. The first time, she rehired her, as well as several other department heads that she let go. Palin called it a loyalty test since the employees had been there under the previous mayor. The second time, Palin rehired Emmons only after the town got upset, according to several newspaper accounts and Factcheck.org.

•As governor, has Palin asked the state to pay her “meal money” when she was staying in her own home?
More on link

Sarah Palin draws Mayor Menino’s fire
 By Dave Wedge Thursday, September 11, 2008 Boston Herald Chief Enterprise Reporter
Article Link

Wedge is the Herald's Chief Enterprise Reporter and writes Sunday's "Pols & Politics" column. He also covers music for "The Edge" entertainment section.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino yesterday took aim at GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s highly touted National Rifle Association membership, saying it flies in the face of efforts to target urban violence.

Menino said the NRA has blocked attempts by big-city mayors to beef up gun laws. “As a member of the NRA, her position is, ‘The laws are great,’ ” the mayor said. “There’s something wrong with that. We have kids being killed in the streets every day.”

A spokesman for the McCain-Palin campaign responded: “Having raised the point, it’s true that while Barack Obama has said he’d back efforts to ban even law-abiding citizens from possessing guns, John McCain believes the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms.”
More on link

Handlers prep Palin for first TV interview
Two weeks ago, People magazine was granted an exclusive interview with Sen. John McCain's new running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, of Alaska, who spoke about motherhood, her career and the historic nature of her candidacy.
By JIM RUTENBERG and MONICA DAVEY The New York Times
Article Link

Two weeks ago, People magazine was granted an exclusive interview with Sen. John McCain's new running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, of Alaska, who spoke about motherhood, her career and the historic nature of her candidacy.

She has not given an interview since, eschewing the traditional route for a vice-presidential nominee to take to the TV-news interview circuit immediately. Palin will break that blackout today, when she will begin two days of interviews with ABC News anchor Charles Gibson.

She flew back to Alaska on Wednesday, bringing with her a squad of McCain's top policy advisers to help her prepare.

McCain's team hired several veterans from President Bush's campaigns, making them part of a team dedicated to defending Palin from unsubstantiated rumors on the Internet, Democratic claims and potentially damaging news reports about her record.

The McCain campaign is battling news reports that have the potential to undermine the image it has presented of Palin as a reformer who, for instance, shares McCain's unfriendly views toward federally funded pet spending projects known as earmarks.

On Wednesday, a report on Politico.com detailed Palin's requests for federal appropriations as governor, including money for studies on the mating habits of crabs and the DNA of harbor seals, the sorts of projects McCain has lampooned in his own attacks on earmarks.

McCain's campaign sent another team to Alaska to respond more rapidly to such reports. It is headed by Taylor Griffin, who had worked for Bush's 2004 campaign. Another former Bush campaign aide, Tracey Schmitt, is Palin's traveling press secretary. Tucker Eskew, a veteran of Bush's primary campaign against McCain, has been a constant by Palin's side this week.

Among the key people on the Palin plane to Alaska on Wednesday night were Douglas Holtz-Eakin, McCain's economic adviser; Steve Biegun, a former employee of Bush's National Security Council who has taken leave from his day job at Ford Motors to advise Palin; Randy Scheunemann, McCain's senior foreign-policy adviser; and Joe Donoghue, a longtime Senate aide to McCain.

Also on the plane was Nicolle Wallace, a communications director for Bush's 2004 campaign and his White House. Wallace's husband, Mark Wallace, Bush's deputy campaign manager in 2004, is helping prepare Palin for the debate.

For now, prepping for the debate and the Gibson sessions are one and the same, and aides developed a set of presumed questions and answers that they are walking Palin through.
More on link

Jubilant Alaskans welcome Gov. Sarah Palin home
By STEVE QUINN 
Article Link

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — Gov. Sarah Palin arrived home to a chanting, cheering crowd, a blur of smiling supporters eager to embrace her after a whirlwind of national scrutiny since she was named Republican presidential nominee John McCain's running mate.

"It's been an amazing couple of weeks," Palin told the crowd of more than 2,000 gathered inside an airport hanger. They chanted, "Sarah, Sarah," waved signs that said, "Palin Is great."

Palin offered the crowd much of the same campaign speech she's given since McCain named her to the GOP ticket on Aug. 29, including her reference to listing the state plane for sale on eBay after she became governor.

"I say that hopefully not sounding hypocritical as I walk off that," she said, pointing to the McCain campaign jet she now uses.

She received the loudest bursts of applause when promising to push for drilling in this oil-rich state.

"Our state, Alaska, will be a leader in our nation's energy policy and bring us one step closer to energy independence," she told the audience, at one point straying from her prepared speech to say, "I feel like I'm preaching to the choir because you guys already know this."
More on link

Obamamania makes way for Palinmania - US Election 2008
We've been through Obamamania. Now a new phenomenon is sweeping America – Palinmania. 
 By Toby Harnden in Lancaster, Pennsylvania Last Updated: 3:05PM BST 11 Sep 2008
Article Link

Even before Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska had appeared on the stage to introduce Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, the chant went up around the hall: "We want Sarah!" 

A tear rolled down the cheek of a middle-aged woman volunteer who moments earlier had been barking orders to keep the exits clear. 

A mother clutched the hand of her 11-year-old daughter, whose face was made up like a clown with stars and the letters P-A-L-I-N painted across her face. 

Outside, queues which began six hours earlier snaked around the sports hall as more than 9,000 people filed in. Hundreds would be left outside. 

They held home-made signs with slogans like "God, guns, lipstick" and "Read my lipstick - Palin." 

One beaming woman wearing a "USA" baseball cap had scrawled a on a piece of cardboard: "A Real Woman = Governor, mom, CEO, pro-Life, God fearing, happy. GO SARAH!" 

A vendor had run out of badges with Mrs Palin's picture and the legend: "Coldest State, Hottest Governor." 

"I've never seen anything like it," said G. Edward LeFevre, a local Republican committee member. "The crowd, the enthusiasm, the upbeat feel and the emotion is unprecedented. Sarah Palin is quite a lady." 

Then the 44-year-old mother of five appeared, with her husband Todd, also 44, and Mr McCain, 72, alongside her. 

The crowd went wild, the screaming and cheering eventually subsiding into a steady cry in unison of: "Sarah, Sarah, Sarah!" 
More on link


----------



## GAP (12 Sep 2008)

*Articles found September 12, 2008*

Gov. Sarah Palin: 1; ABC News' Charles Gibson: 0  
Article Link

Charles Gibson's much-anticipated interview with Gov. Sarah Palin allowed Palin to shine again while Gibson's transparent attempts to discredit Palin failed miserably and served only to reinforce the already low opinion the American public has of biased network news programs. 

ABC News obtained an exclusive first interview with McCain's selection for his Vice Presidential candidate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska. Charles Gibson, host of ABC's Evening News, conducted the interview in Alaska. With interest in Palin so high across the country, the Gibson interview will likely rank among the highest rated Evening News shows this year. With so much of the American public turned off by the constant bias of major news outlets (ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, MSNBC, AP, New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, etc., etc.), here was an opportunity for ABC News to win back some lost viewers with an interview that was fair, balanced, and civil.

What viewers witnessed was a smug, smarmy superior attitude from Mr. Gibson as he peppered Palin with questions about her foreign policy experience. Without hesitation, Palin responded intelligently and forthrightly to Gibson's questions. Gibson tried to elicit definitive answers to vague questions, apparently in the hope that he could trap Palin into making a policy statement beyond the responsibilities of a Vice President or in conflict with the stated position of McCain. But Palin was too much for Gibson. While providing a clear insight into her command of the topic, Palin impressed with her skillful ability to dodge the traps Gibson set for her.

At one point, while grilling Palin on her thoughts on being asked to join the McCain ticket, Gibson suggested it was "hubris" for Palin to be unhesitating in her belief that she was qualified to take on the position she was offered. Gibson's feeble attempt to denigrate Palin only backfired in his face and he looked foolish in his failed effort to unsettle Palin. It is just this kind of smarmy tactics and snide remarks that have turned the public away from the liberal network evening news programs.

At another point, Gibson asked her whether she agreed with the Bush "doctrine" without defining what he (Gibson) viewed as that doctrine. Palin asked Gibson to clarify which aspect of the Bush "doctrine" he was referring. Gibson parried that he wanted to hear what Palin viewed as the Bush "doctrine" (something he might have asked in the first place). Now the term "Bush doctrine" is one the media have coined to refer to the President's view that the US can act preemptively to protect its interests. So Palin gave him a clear answer based on her view of what constituted the Bush doctrine. To which Gibson responded that he had a different view of the Bush doctrine. Does Gibson really think this kind of confrontational sparring with an interviewee appropriate? Was this a "test" to see whether Palin knew the precise definition of a media term for what would be considered normal policy by any normal person? Is there ever a time when the US should not preemptively defend itself against a planned foreign aggression when there is absolute certainty of the planned aggression? Is there any rationale for the US to not take appropriate action against a country that willfully harbors and assists those who are active enemies of the US?
More on link

Crappy treatmentPublic Forum Letter
Article Last Updated: 09/11/2008 07:25:36 PM MDT
Article Link

The sexism and attacks by the media against Sara Palin and her family are disgusting, including Pat Bagley's recent cartoon mocking her pregnant daughter (Opinion, Sept. 4). The media and the Obama campaign have mocked the size of town where Palin was mayor and the population of Alaska where she has been governor for 18 months. They attacked her for her sarcasm against Obama, when she was simply responding to their criticisms of her. Obama actually compares his experience running his campaign to her executive experience governing Alaska. 
    Attacks from feminist groups show they only support liberal-minded women like columnist Rebecca Walsh, whose "Is Palin a hero or villain?" (Tribune, Sept. 4) shows what a pathetic hypocrite Walsh really is. Accusing Palin of "sacrificing two of her five children . . . to her own political aspirations" is sexist. Saying Republicans have "wrapped Palin in a cloak of phony feminism," calling her their "Trophy Vice," and accusing her of "narcissism" for "surrendering her children's privacy and her own time with them" is total hypocrisy. 
    Palin's been a successful working mother for years. She doesn't deserve such crappy treatment by the press. 
    
    Sheila Thompson 
    Salt Lake City 
End of article

What Sarah Palin tells us about Obama
September 11, 2008
Article Link

Here are a few thoughts of my own on the lipstick on a pig moment (see this earlier post for the views of others).

First, demonstrating that  McCain had used the same phrase before doesn't cut it. 

The reason the pig idea popped into Barack Obama's mouth is that Palin had used the pitbull and lipstick joke in her speech. Can anyone doubt that?

So Obama was using it as a jibe against her. This was monumentally foolish. And this raises questions about Obama's character.

Second, the character question it raises is not that he is a sexist or that he lacks courtesy. It is that he folds under pressure.

Obama has looked amazingly uncomfortable under the pressure that Palin has put him under. He relies on his cool - it is a core part of his appeal. So he looks bad when he loses it. During the Hillary contest he rarely came under any pressure from the media. When he did he reacted badly.

So the problem caused by Palin isn't really about Palin - it's about Obama.

Which brings me to the third point. Obama cannot change how Palin is seen anywhere near as much as he thinks he can. He needs to work on how he is seen.

But, as Jay Cost argues, he hasn't been disciplined enough to do this. 
More on link

Political Wisdom: Would Hillary Have Trumped Palin?
September 11, 2008, 7:14 am
Article Link

Here’s a summary of the smartest new political analysis on the Web:
by Gerald F. Seib and Sara Murray

If only it had been Hillary…Fred Barnes of The Weekly Standard argues that Sen. Barack Obama would be better off right now if he’d only chosen Sen. Hillary Clinton as his running mate instead of Sen. Joseph Biden. “Obama had his reasons,” Barnes writes, “particularly his discomfort with her as his actual vice president if he’s elected. Still, Obama sacrificed a stronger ticket by rejecting Clinton.” The first thing a Hillary pick might have done is prevented Sen. John McCain from picking the rock-star-like Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. 

“Okay, McCain might have picked her anyway. He was looking for a running mate who would help him shake up the campaign. And Palin has delivered spectacularly on that. But choosing her would have seemed far less of a game-changer had Obama picked Clinton.” Biden, in contrast to Palin, has “generated no enthusiasm or excitement.” A Clinton pick, Barnes says, also would have produced more party unity, would have attracted some Republican women, would have put away the big states of Ohio and Pennsylvania for Obama, and would have brought Arkansas into play.
More on link

The Note: Obama, Palin Form Center of Race
 September 10, 2008 8:19 AM
Article Link

ABC News' Rick Klein reports in Wednesday's Note: Perhaps Gov. Sarah Palin is still a normal human politician -- as opposed to a superhero/phenomenon/celebrity (irony alert!) who is immune to the whims of such trivial matters as national media coverage.

But as she returns to her native Alaska on Wednesday -- with swarming Democrats and out-of-town reporters making the landscape a tad less familiar -- she is a full-blown sensation whose appeal seems to grow as the country gets to know her -- good, bad, and everything in between. 

If it’s The Mom vs. The Messiah -- what does recent American electoral history tell you about who might have the edge among the Wal-Mart crowd? One of Us, or One of Them?

(Will a campaign that beat one female candidate because it understood how the Democratic base thinks, wind up losing to another female candidate because it doesn’t understand how the electorate, as a whole, thinks?)

(And will Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Joe Biden fall into tabloid traps at the very time they need to lock down female voters?)
More on link

The Note: Palin Parries as Rollout Reaches Phase Two
 September 12, 2008 8:40 AM
Article Link

ABC News' Rick Klein writes in Friday's Note: So Gov. Sarah Palin is a God-invoking, line-memorizing, superpower-provoking, nuke-u-lar pronouncing, dangerously unprepared Bush-Cheney clone (if she even knew what the Bush Doctrine was) . . . 

Or she is a Lincoln-quoting, homework-doing, Russian-scaring, regular-acting, ready-to-lead energy expert of a hockey mom (and who cares who knows what the Bush Doctrine is, anyway?).

The Palin who sat down with ABC's Charles Gibson Thursday (with more to come Friday, on "World News" and "20/20") was -- in keeping with the phenomenon that has flashed across the political landscape these past two weeks -- pretty much whatever you wanted her to be.
More on link

With Sarah Palin at the plate, Charlie Gibson throws hard
 By Jessica Heslam Friday, September 12, 2008 Article Link

It began with a few softballs, but Charlie Gibson delivered.

During the first of three interviews with Sarah Palin, Gibson pressed the GOP VP candidate on national security, Russia and whether she believes U.S. soldiers are “on a task” from God.”

It is the first time the Alaska governor has met with the media for an extensive interview since John McCain tapped her as his running mate.

Gibson began by asking Palin if she was experienced enough to be vice president - and president - and whether she was ready. Palin, of course, replied, “I’m ready.”

But it got better. Tough but respectful, Gibson pressed her on her recent remarks that “our national leaders are sending U.S. soliders on a task that is from God.”

“Are we fighting a holy war?” Gibson asked.

Palin said she was quoting Abraham Lincoln. But Gibson noted that she went on to say “there is a plan and it is God’s plan.” He then asked, “. . . are you sending your son on a task that is from God?”

Palin’s oldest son was deployed to Iraq yesterday. “I don’t know if the task is from God, Charlie. What I know is that my son has made a decision,” she said.

Gibson interviewed Palin in Alaska. The first of three segments aired last night on ABC’s “World News.”

During the interview, an eager Palin leaned forward, almost like a student seeking to pass a test, as Gibson fired away while peering over his glasses.

Gibson asked Palin if she agreed with the Bush doctrine and Palin appeared confused, and asked for clarification. “The Bush doctrine, as I understand it, is that we have the right of anticipatory self-defense,” Gibson said.

The doctrine, however, includes several other terrorism-related foreign policy principles of the administration formed in reaction to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Gibson asked he if she’s ever met a foreign head of state. “I have not,” Palin said.

He asked what insight into Russian actions “does the proximity of the state give you?”

Palin said “you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska.”

During last week’s Republican convention, Gibson had the only interview with John McCain, and he didn’t ask him about Palin’s family. Let’s hope he does this time around.
More on link


----------



## Retired AF Guy (13 Sep 2008)

Since everyone is commentating as to what Sarah Palin has done/not done I thought I would post this link that is probably one the better links that addresses the various controversy's concerning her. Enjoy:

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/separating-palin-fact-from-palin-fiction/


----------



## a_majoor (13 Sep 2008)

http://www.daybydaycartoon.com/2008/09/12/


----------



## TCBF (13 Sep 2008)

time expired said:
			
		

> Obama picks a long time political veteran for VP and McCain
> picks a MILF,good thinking on McCain's part,given the level
> and tone of this campaign,just look at the muck raking on
> this thread alone.Adamant if you are really interested in the
> ...



- The use of the term 'MILF' is in-advised here. Those who don't get it will miss the connotation and those who do may not be able to think past it to consider the rest of your post.


----------



## GAP (13 Sep 2008)

*Articles found Sept 13 , 2008*

Charlie Gibson's Gaffe
By Charles Krauthammer Saturday, September 13, 2008; Page A17 
Article Link

"At times visibly nervous . . . Ms. Palin most visibly stumbled when she was asked by Mr. Gibson if she agreed with the Bush doctrine. Ms. Palin did not seem to know what he was talking about. Mr. Gibson, sounding like an impatient teacher, informed her that it meant the right of 'anticipatory self-defense.' " 

-- New York Times, Sept. 12 

Informed her? Rubbish. 

The New York Times got it wrong. And Charlie Gibson got it wrong. 

There is no single meaning of the Bush doctrine. In fact, there have been four distinct meanings, each one succeeding another over the eight years of this administration -- and the one Charlie Gibson cited is not the one in common usage today. It is utterly different. 

He asked Palin, "Do you agree with the Bush doctrine?" 

She responded, quite sensibly to a question that is ambiguous, "In what respect, Charlie?" 

Sensing his "gotcha" moment, Gibson refused to tell her. After making her fish for the answer, Gibson grudgingly explained to the moose-hunting rube that the Bush doctrine "is that we have the right of anticipatory self-defense."
More on link

 Justice Barracuda?
Why John McCain should put Sarah Palin on the Supreme Court.
By Dahlia Lithwick Posted Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008, at 7:49 AM ET 
Article Link

If there is a lesson to be learned about Sarah Palin's dizzying political ascent, it's that America really, really loathes Washington insiders, especially those tasked with working inside Washington. The surest way to affront the American voter is to offer up a candidate with an Ivy League education, experience inside the Beltway, and robust D.C. connections. If Palin stands for anything, it's that when it comes to both the presidency and Pixar movies, nothing good ever happens until the stranger comes to town. 

But while our contempt for the Washington life touches everyone in the legislative and executive branches, it's become almost a job requirement at the Supreme Court. This third branch of government is wildly overrepresented by insider lawyers with identical résumés. Sure, you can swap out one Ivy League law school for another, but beyond that, the bench is ever more populated by folks like Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, and Samuel Alito—brilliant legal thinkers whose chief job experience has consisted of work for the executive branch followed by a stint on the federal bench. It's not that these are bad qualities in a jurist. It's just that a court that once included governors and senators and former football stars is now overrun by an elite cadre of mostly male, mostly East Coast lawyers. If ever there were a branch of government crying out for jurists with checkered and varied life experiences, it's the Supreme Court. And if any branch of government is in need of a mother of five who likes shooting wolves from helicopters, the court is it.
More on link

 Sarah Palin: Barack Obama should have picked Hillary Clinton as running mate
Sarah Palin has mocked Barack Obama's decision not to pick Hillary Clinton as his running mate, rubbing salt into an open wound that still haunts many Democrats.  
By Tim Shipman in Wasilla, Alaska Last Updated: 11:13AM BST 13 Sep 2008
Article Link

The Republican vice presidential running mate used the third of her television interviews with ABC News, her first outing with the national media, to make an audacious pitch for the votes of Mrs Clinton's supporters, who commentators say hold the key to the election.

Mrs Palin, who may not have been picked by John McCain if the former First Lady had got the nod over Senator Joe Biden, reflected on the transformation in Republican fortunes since she was selected.

"I think he's regretting not picking her now, I do," she said of Mr Obama. She then praised Mrs Clinton: "What determination and grit, and even grace through some tough shots that were fired her way, she handled those well."

Many senior Democrats are in a state of near despair at Mr Obama's plunge in the polls over the last 10 days, from a comfortable lead to a deficit of around three points to Mr McCain. Many of them wish he had picked Mrs Clinton.
More on link

 Commentary: The Sarah Palin smear-fest
By Glenn Beck CNN
Editor's note: Glenn Beck is on CNN Headline News nightly at 7 and 9 ET and also is host of a conservative national radio talk show.
Article Link

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Campaigns are ugly. Watching the way politicians act makes you long for the respect and self-control of the Sopranos. Throughout, there are legitimate attacks and outright lies. 

Every once in a while, I get a call on my radio show from someone telling me that Barack Obama is secretly a Muslim, who admitted it in an interview with George Stephanopoulos, and has a fake birth certificate. No, no, and no. As I tell them, there are legitimate reasons not to vote for Barack Obama, no need to make them up.

But the newest target is Sarah Palin. Let's take a quick look at just a fraction of what she has faced in her first few days as John McCain's choice for vice president. iReport.com: Do you think Palin is being treated unfairly?

"Sarah Palin believes God told her to go to war with Iraq!"

There has been some hard-core journalistic malpractice on this one. The Associated Press ran this headline about a speech she gave at her church: "Palin: Iraq war 'a task that is from God'"

In the story, they omit the first part of the sentence they're quoting along with the entire previous sentence for good measure. 
More on link

 Sarah Palin shows that the best defense may be a new television ad
Article Link

The best defense is not necessarily a strong offense. It may be a new ad, at least in the view of the ad team behind the John McCain and Sarah Palin campaign.

As they did on Thursday, Democrats today are pouncing on Palin’s apparent missteps, contradictions and flubs in her interview with ABC’s Charles Gibson.

As our colleague Michael Finnegan writes in today’s Los Angeles Times, the Alaska governor may not exactly know that the Bush Doctrine holds that the United States can attack another country first.

But Team Palin certainly is proving that it knows how to launch a preemptive ad attack.

The latest spot is entitled “Disrespectful.” Released by the Republican National Committee, the ad opens with a female narrator slapping at Barack Obama, calling him the “world’s biggest celebrity” but saying his star is fading.

Then the ad takes a line from Obama’s running mate, Joe Biden, and says the Obama-Biden ticket dismisses Palin as “good-looking.” Taking a line from Obama strategist David Axelrod, the ad says “they” claim she is doing “what she is told.” Then “they” called her a liar.

The ad concludes with a shot of Palin on stage with McCain: “How disrespectful. And how Gov. Sarah Palin proves them wrong every day.”
More on link

'She's one of us': Palin wins over Obama women
 September 13, 2008
Article Link

Jessica Goral had pretty much made up her mind two weeks ago: she was going to vote for Barack Obama. Then John McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running-mate. 

“She empowers a lot of women,” said Mrs Goral, a mother of two in Macomb County – a national bellwether in the battleground state of Michigan and an area rich in white, working-class swing voters who will play an important role in deciding the election in November. 

“I like that she’s a brand new mother, and that she has the courage to stand behind her pregnant daughter. She relates to working women. For all of us who have children at home but have to go to work every day – she has given us a sense that we can still do it and can be an excellent mum,” she said. “Sarah Palin is a role model. She’s made me more likely to vote Republican.” 

If Mr Obama should be in any doubt how gravely the vice-presidential nomination of the Governor of Alaska has imperilled his White House ambitions, then a day spent in Macomb County will make this clear: white women who voted for John Kerry in 2004 are suddenly deserting the Democratic Party. 
More on link

 A Palin example
Republicans' v-p pick says the right things, but actions don't follow
Article Link

Tempting as it is to write about imaginary puffins pooping on Stephane Dion, fatuous Tory television ads about how kind and nice Stephen Harper is and that nice old and slightly dotty auntie from the Green Party who has been allowed to debate with the big boys, I have to respond to those who apparently have sent me to hell for daring to criticize Sarah Palin. 

Last week I praised this admirable woman but wondered if she could care properly for a tiny handicapped baby, a seven-year-old child and a heavily pregnant teenage daughter, while being vice president of the most powerful country on earth. 

This, according to various letters, made me either a "raving liberal" or part of the "mainstream media socialist club." Golly, who knew? My Order of Canada must surely be in the mail as we speak. 

Of course the low taxes and low morals types on the political right, who care only about the economy and their right to do whatever they want, couldn't give a flying tax cut about family. 

But others who claim to believe in life and faith should know better. They have been the first to criticize people like Hillary Clinton allegedly for being poor mothers and we know how they would react if a Democrat or liberal woman ran for senior office with the same family commitments as Sarah Palin. 
More on link


----------



## Kirkhill (13 Sep 2008)

This could as easily be posted under a media thread as a cautionary tale for all those dealing with the media.  The redactions represent an interesting expurgation of the candidate's words in order to achieve a desired effect by the interviewer or his editor.




> EXCERPTS: Charlie Gibson Interviews Sarah Palin (September 11, 2008)
> 
> *THE BOLDED & UNDERLINED PARTS WERE EDITED OUT OF THE INTERVIEW  *
> 
> ...




Source: Mark Levin

If this is a true comparison with the actual transcript then it seems to show a lot more about ABC than it does about the Candidate.

I note that the bit about Charlie selectively quoting Palin out of context on the mission from God (the difference between hoping that the right thing is being done vs believing that the right  thing is being done) was apparently re-edited for West Coast viewers so that they got a different image than East Coast viewers.  It seems that between the time that the interview aired in the East and it aired in the West ABC got enough feedback, probably negative, that it cleaned up that portion of the interview a bit and substituted the YouTube version of Palin's exact words.

Here is a reference from Hotair and Huffington Post.



> ....Watch the clip at the link; the money part runs from about 5:30 to 6:15. HuffPo quotes her, accurately:
> 
> “Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God,” she exhorted the congregants. “That’s what we have to make sure that we’re praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God’s plan.”
> 
> ...


----------



## GAP (14 Sep 2008)

*Articles found Sept 14, 2008*

WHY I'M (FINALLY) SUPPORTING SARAH PALIN  
 Saturday, September 13, 2008  by Paulie Abeles
Article Link

Since John McCain announced Sara Palin as his running mate, like many of you I suspect, I’ve been constantly asked: “What do you think of Sarah Palin?” The struggle that I’ve been going through in trying to answer that question honestly, is that all the things I find compelling about her: that she’s attractive and charismatic, has a great personal narrative, is eloquent, a 'breath of fresh air'--yes, even "tokenism" (for lack of a better word) were also true of Obama. And, I, like many Clinton supporters, decided those were not sufficiently strong reasons to support him.

So, in one sense, I would feel like a hypocrite supporting Palin for any of those reasons.

Although I think she is more experienced than Obama—(She, has, after all, directed a budget of over $10 billion, supervised 24,000 employees and negotiated with foreign governments -Russia and China over fishing rights); she is lightly credentialed in terms of the possible field of socially progressive Republican women McCain could have chosen (Snowe, Whitman, Hutchinson etc.).
And, although I respect her integrity, there is virtually no social issue on which I share common ground with Sarah Palin. Unlike John McCain, who has never been ideological; Sarah Palin is, and unabashedly so.

However as I’ve struggled with these issues since her selection, I keep coming back to two points. Of all the basic rights—human rights-- that Democrats have stood for---there are two that seem to me to be the most important: the right to vote (and have that vote counted fairly) and the right to free speech.

The right to vote, it seems to me, is not simply about exercising your franchise—but actually having that exercise tied to a result. Whether we look narrowly at Florida and Michigan, or broadly at caucus and convention intimidation and fraud—what becomes clear—crystal clear—is that the delegates—both in number and composition-- did not accurately represent the ‘will of the people’ that voted for them. And, as a tribute to their organizational skill, if not their integrity, the Obama campaign did everything in their power to ensure that that would be the case. Just as importantly, throughout the nomination process, the Obama campaign did everything possible to curtail the free speech of those who opposed him. Whether it was as simple as harassing supporters at the local metro, or as brazen as intimidating delegates at state conventions and threatening members of the Black Caucus---opposition to Barack Obama put people at risk—to be taunted, insulted and harassed in a way I’ve never before experienced in a political campaign.
More on link

 Dick Morris: Prepare for Sarah Palin versus Hillary Clinton in 2012
Sarah Palin is an "authentic model of feminism" and her vice-presidential candidacy "could well" lead to an historic all-female White House race in 2012 against Hillary Clinton, according to a former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton. 
 By Toby Harnden in New York Last Updated: 10:04AM BST 13 Sep 
Article Link

Dick Morris, who was a top aide to Bill Clinton from 1994 to 1996 and has since become a harsh critic of the former president and his wife, said that a John McCain victory in November would make the two women the front-runners for 2012.

"McCain will be 76 in 2012," he said. "I wonder if he'll even run for re-election. And Obama has put Joe Biden on the ticket this time. It's very hard to imagine Biden [who would be 69] running in 2012 with any chance of success, particularly after being drowned out by Palin like he is now.

"So I think that Hillary would have as easy a shot at the Democratic nomination as she did this time - but she blew it this time. You can't take these things to the bank."

The 2008 US presidential election could force a realignment of how women vote, Mr Morris said. 

"In Palin, you have an authentic model of feminism and in Hillary you have a counterfeit one.
More on link

 Why the attacks on Sarah Palin are the best argument for voting for her
September 14, 2008 by Violet Socks, EditorcloseAuthor: Violet Socks, Editor Name: Violet Socks, Editor
Article Link

NOTE: The New Agenda is non-partisan and does not endorse any candidate. The following is Violet Socks’s personal opinion.

The treatment of Hillary Clinton this year showed us that sexism is far more acceptable and more endemic than racism in this country. Naysayers liked to claim that the hatred was for Hillary alone, not for all women; but they were wrong. 

Just look at Sarah Palin. She’s different from Hillary in almost every respect, yet she’s being assaulted just as Hillary was, only to an even more intense degree. It’s a virtual lynching. A burning in effigy. The hysteria of it, the ferocity of it, terrifies me.

Every day, almost every hour, another frantic hater chimes in. It’s not enough for them to disagree with Palin’s policies or complain that Republicans are wrong-headed. The Sarah-haters aren’t even interested in her actual policies; if they were, they could easily spend a few minutes with Google and learn the facts, instead of feverishly repeating lurid rumors (no, she’s not anti-contraception; no, she doesn’t believe in abstinence-only sex ed; no, she doesn’t think rape victims should have to pay for their own rape kits; no, she doesn’t think the dinosaurs were here 4000 years ago; no, she doesn’t reject evolution; no, she didn’t ban books; no, she isn’t against equal rights — in fact she is very much in favor of gender equality and is raising her kids that way; no, she doesn’t deny that sexism exists — in fact she’s spoken at length and with intelligence on the obstacles faced by women politicians; and on and on and on.) 
More on link

 For Palin, political issues still unresolved in Alaska
Likely to share ballot with two GOP stalwarts
By Sasha Issenberg Globe Staff / September 14, 2008 
Article Link

ANCHORAGE - The signs said "Welcome Home." The brooch on Sarah Palin's black suit glimmered "Alaska." The Wasilla High School pep band in which she once played flute added Sarah-specific lyrics to its version of Offspring's "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)."
"I thank you for what you have instilled in me. There is no better place to come from than Alaska," Governor Sarah Palin told a morning rally yesterday, suggesting that she might not return before November.

Despite the exuberant sendoff, Alaska might not be done with her yet. The governor leaves behind several unresolved issues that could force her in coming weeks to renegotiate the tenuous political divorce from the state's Republican establishment that she has used to cast a "maverick" silhouette as a vice-presidential candidate.

"What she's saying on the national stage is not at all what she'd say in Alaska," said Ivan Moore, an Anchorage pollster unaffiliated with any state or national campaigns.

While Palin brags outside Alaska that she battled the state's "old politics-as-usual . . . big good-old-boys network," she will likely share a ballot in November with two of its charter members: Senator Ted Stevens and Representative Don Young, erstwhile rivals both struggling in their bids for reelection due to related corruption scandals.

Palin has so far not said whether she would endorse - or even vote for - either of her fellow Republicans. A McCain campaign spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment on the subject. When asked yesterday if he expected that Palin would back Stevens and Young, state party chairman Randy Ruedrich said only that "we've talked to the governor about the election. . . . 
More on link

 Experts gauge Palin: Can her star power last?
BY TOM BRUNE | tom.brune@newsday.com  September 13, 2008 
Article Link

WASHINGTON - Sarah Palin has so far taken the country by storm, giving a needed boost to Republican John McCain's bid for the White House, but over the next few weeks both the McCain and Obama campaigns will be watching closely to see if she has staying power.

Palin, a surprise and historic pick as the first female GOP vice-presidential candidate, has unexpectedly added a new dimension to the presidential race, as well as some unpredictability in the role she will play over the next 51 days before the Nov. 4 election.

"I don't think we have ever seen a situation like this," said veteran GOP strategist Bill Lacy, director of a University of Kansas political think tank.

Several factors will affect what happens to Palin's current star power, including her performance as a national candidate, new disclosures about her, the political calendar and her position as No. 2 on the GOP ticket, experts in politics and public relations said
More on link


----------



## Kirkhill (14 Sep 2008)

Pehaps this should go into the Guns superthread


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoIdhCL928I


----------



## tomahawk6 (14 Sep 2008)

http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080913/NEWS19/80913022/1321/news

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has arrived at Carson City's Pony Express Pavilion fro her campaign stop as the GOP's vice presidential nominee.

She was accompanied by her husband Todd Palin on the official campaign plane with "McCain-Palin" painted on the side. She was met by Reno Mayor Bob Cashell and airport officials before quickly leaving in a motorcade.

An estimated 10,000 people were waiting at the Pony Express Pavilion in Carson City to see Palin at 6 p.m., according to Carson City Sheriff's Office estimates.

However, only 3,500 will be let in to see Palin speak in her first Nevada campaign stop. Everyone else will have to be content with watching outside the pavilion on big screens with amplified speakers.

About 50 to 75 protesters have shown up with signs saying such things as "There is no higher god than truth" and "McCain-Palin no way." 

A sheriff's deputy broke up an argument between a protester and a Palin supporter, and other protesters told the first one to go away if he's going to start trouble. 

Republican volunteers said her speech has been delayed till 6 p.m.

The line of people snakes through Mills Park to the east entrance near Saliman Road. Deputies on horseback are monitoring the crowd.

In the afternoon heat, the crowd is calm but occasionally breaks into the wave or chants of "Sarah, Sarah!" They also sang "Johnny B. Goode" with Palin's name substituted.

One fan is carrying a sign showing a rifle and saying "Sarah killed my apathy." 

There have been no signs of protesters yet. A lot of candidates are taking advantage of all the Republicans gathered and have stuck their campaign signs all over the grass.


----------



## GAP (15 Sep 2008)

*Articles found September 15, 2008*

Democrats resurge as Obama becomes $66-million man
JOHN IBBITSON From Monday's Globe and Mail John Ibbitson September 15, 2008 at 4:00 AM EDT
Article Link

WASHINGTON — Desperate to change the election narrative, the Democrats released a breathtaking number yesterday: $66-million(U.S.).

That's how much Barack Obama's supporters donated in August. No politician, not even Mr. Obama himself, has ever come close to raising that kind of money in one month. In August, 500,000 new donors joined the two million who already have contributed to the presidential nominee's campaign.

Republican nominee John McCain raised $47-million (U.S.) during the same period - by far his most successful effort. But because he has accepted public financing for his campaign, Mr. McCain is prohibited from spending more than $84-million (U.S.) during this fall election season.

Why does this matter? For two reasons: First, it suggests that Mr. Obama will be able to outspend Mr. McCain by something approaching two to one over the coming weeks.

Second, it reminds us that the fundamentals in this election continue to favour the Democrats, despite the euphoric frenzy among social conservatives over Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

This is still Mr. Obama's election to lose. Just ask Iowa. 

A Des Moines Register poll has Mr. Obama ahead of Mr. McCain in Iowa 52 per cent to 40 per cent - an impressive lead in a state that went narrowly Republican in 2004 and narrowly Democrat in 2000.

Iowa's seven electoral college votes will hardly deliver victory to either side. 

But it does suggest that Mr. Obama's strategy of targeting swing states by flooding them with field workers, advertising and voter-registration drives is having an effect.

Assume - and yes, it is a debatable assumption - that the Palin Effect is at its zenith, that the Republicans cannot expect a further strengthening in the polls simply by virtue of her presence on the ticket.

If so, then Mr. McCain has established something like a two-percentage-point lead over Mr. Obama, according to the RealClearPolitics compendium of polls. But Mr. Obama is still holding onto a narrow two-point lead in the key toss-up states of Michigan and Pennsylvania.
More on link

Young evangelicals are up for grabs
With Alaskan in the equation, some energized, others skeptical
By ERIC GORSKI Associated Press Sept. 14, 2008, 9:44PM
Article Link

When Jessica Stollings learned on Facebook that John McCain had named Sarah Palin as his running mate, the 26-year-old from Bristol, Tenn., took the day off and picked up some campaign yard signs. Just like that, she went from "just a voter" to a McCain evangelist.

"He's a lot more visionary than I thought," said Stollings, an evangelical activist for her generation who believes God has raised up Palin "for such a time as this."

Similar excitement built on the Virginia campus of conservative Christian Patrick Henry College, where busloads of students went on a road trip to a McCain-Palin rally.


Culture wars revisited?
The mood was darker on blogs and social networking sites that connect more center-left young evangelicals. There, McCain's choice has been greeted as a cynical political ploy, a depressing return to the culture wars and damaging to efforts to broaden the evangelical dialogue. 

Polls have yet to measure Palin's effect on younger evangelical voters, whose shifting political allegiances put the demographic in play.

But a portrait emerges through interviews with more than a dozen pastors, authors and others who either belong to that generation or track it: Conservatives are energized much like their elders, progressives are unimpressed, and many undecideds are gravitating toward McCain-Palin.

"I think the jury is still out on young evangelicals," said Cameron Strang, editor of Relevant magazine, an influential publication for this group. "Both parties have the opportunity to address issues of deep concern for this voting bloc."
More on link

The Clinton Factor versus the Palin Effect  
By Carlo Osi INQUIRER.net First Posted 12:19:00 
Article Link

Close this PHILADELPHIA, Pa – The U.S. Presidential elections is turning very sour these days by lies overstretched and peddled as truth. With the choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as running mate, and with the flurry of absolutely negative ads, Republican John McCain is garnering attention and votes. Democrat Hillary Clinton should actively pitch in to quell the Republican storm.

It all started in the historic run-up between Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. Clinton won in many states, particularly the big ones like New York and California. Obama, through calm rhetoric and promises of change, swept other smaller states and got more superdelegate votes.

The result could have been the first woman to ever run for President; but it turned out to be the first Afro-American candidate to be nominated by a major political party. Pundits wrote that loyal Hillary Clinton voters would either stay at home or vote for the Republicans. But the two patched things up during the Democrat National Convention.

Then all of a sudden, like the ferocious Hurricane Ike that swept across Texas, the political game abruptly changed. McCain chose little known governor Sarah Palin, sparking intrigue, media coverage and interest. Palin is a good-looking, gun-supporting, abortion-opposing and controversy-riddled candidate who immediately pulled up the support base of the “old candidate” McCain. They call it the Palin Effect.

The Palin Effect is so strong in the U.S. that it has attracted many Hillary Clinton supporters. There are dolls of her likeness with three different dress styles being hawked in the streets. The hip and trendy Sarah Palin glasses are currently out of stock in major department stores. Her movie star face is plastered on conservative newsmagazines and tabloids. Just behind Obama, she is the best new American political star.
More on link

Sarah Palin on feminist issues
September 15, 2008 by Violet Socks, Editor
Article Link

Sarah Palin calls herself a “pro-life feminist.” Basically, that’s feminism minus abortion rights. 

Obviously that puts her at odds with modern American feminism on a crucial issue. But to hear tell from the many feminist writers now publishing furious editorials, Sarah Palin isn’t just out of step on that one issue. She is, according to them, the antithesis of everything feminism means. 

Really?

I thought I’d start a collection of Palin’s own statements on feminist issues. I post these for now without comment; that’ll come later. From what I can tell, the feminist writers who are attacking Palin are doing so with an astonishing disregard for the truth. I’m still trying to sort out why.
More on link


----------



## GAP (16 Sep 2008)

*Articles found September 16, 2008*

Are the Media Treating Sarah Palin Fairly?  
Posted on: Tuesday, 16 September 2008, 07:00 CDT By Margaret Sullivan 
Article Link

Is Sarah Palin suffering from sexist treatment by a vicious media horde? 

"Why would we want to throw Sarah Palin into a cycle of piranhas called the news media that have nothing better to ask questions about than her personal life and her children?" McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said last week, explaining why, at that point, Palin hadn't given any interviews except one to People magazine. He added: "Until we feel like the news media is going to treat her with some level of respect and deference, I think it would be foolhardy to put her out into that kind of environment."

Media people, of course, are not known for their deference, whether to old men or to young women. (Palin is 44, a generation younger than John McCain at 72.) 

Nor is deference -- which may be defined as "a yielding" -- something most journalists think is appropriate when dealing with a candidate who could be, in the overused expression, "a heartbeat away from the presidency."

The McCain campaign's biggest complaint is that too much attention is being directed, by the media old boys club, to Palin's personal life. The specifics include the revelation that her unmarried 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, and that the demands of Palin's young family, including a months-old baby with Down syndrome, may make her an unwise choice as a prospective vice president. 

I offer the following thoughts, informed by my own experience as a woman in a largely male business, as someone who may have been, at age 42, the youngest female editor of a metropolitan newspaper at the time I was appointed; and as a mother who has struggled to balance a challenging job with raising a son and daughter who were 11 and 6 when I became editor: 
More on link

Conservative writers defend Palin, distract readers
Article Link

A media "backlash" against ABC news interviewer Charlie Gibson in the wake of his series of question and answer sessions with Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin has largely failed to develop, save reflexive criticism from conservative columnists who leapt to insulate Palin from questions about her competence.

Charles Krauthammer wrote in the Washington Post Saturday that Gibson's query about Palin's views on the "Bush Doctrine" was misleading because no consensus exists about what the "Bush Doctrine" is. He wrote:

Yes, Sarah Palin didn't know what it is. But neither does Charlie Gibson. And at least she didn't pretend to know -- while he looked down his nose and over his glasses with weary disdain, sighing and "sounding like an impatient teacher," as the Times noted. In doing so, he captured perfectly the establishment snobbery and intellectual condescension that has characterized the chattering classes' reaction to the mother of five who presumes to play on their stage.

This morning, William Kristol in the New York Times wrote of the media reaction to the Palin pick:

The media establishment was horrified. Its members expressed their disapproval. Palin became more popular. They got even more frustrated. And so we had the spectacle last week of ABC's Charlie Gibson, one of the most civil of the media bigwigs, unable to help himself from condescending to Palin as if he were a senior professor forced to waste time administering a Ph.D. exam to a particularly unpromising graduate student.

I have to disagree with Kristol's assertion that the "media establishment was horrified" and "expressed their disapproval". The media establishment was surprised at the unconventional pick, not horrified. And it was not "disapproval" that the establishment expressed, but puzzlement about the wisdom of the pick, doubt about Palin's credentials, and appropriate cynicism about the motivation for the pick. These are appropriate reactions.
More on link

Palin, like Rove before her, stayed off government e-mail servers
2008.09.15 • 13:05 EDT 
Article Link

One of the best revelations that has come out about Sarah Palin's governorship is not only the fact that she's kept her e-mail off of public, taxpayer-funded, subpoena-able servers, but that she's doing so on a Yahoo e-mail account. 

That's right, the governor of Alaska is conducting state business from something that's just a step above the ridiculousness of an e-mail address like palinpower907@yahoo.com. Her actual e-mail address (although most probably by now it's been overrun with spam and hate mail) is gov.sarah@yahoo.com. 

This e-mail address was discovered last week by an Anchorage female Republican government watchdog, Andrée McLeod. She had filed an open records request with the governor's office. She then received four boxes of correspondence, and a 78-page list of 1,100 e-mails (with the subject line revealed) that it was not releasing
More on link

Sarah Palin is Barack Obama's first 'real' Republican foe  
Friday, September 12, 2008, 07:52 PM GMT [General] 
Article Link

So after a non-partisan down day for the 7th anniversary of 9/11, Barack Obama has come out swinging. 

His campaign was already struggling on the message front before it was blind-sided by the double-whammy impact of Palinmania on the Republican ticket and a slew of aggressive McCain attack ads.

In his latest mem to "Interested Parties", campaign manager David Plouffe pledges:  "We will respond with speed and ferocity to John McCain's attacks and we will take the fight to him, but we will do it on the big issues that matter to the American people. We will not allow John McCain and his band of Karl Rove disciples to make this big election about small things."

But if you think the pledge to fight back more aggressively sounds familiar, you'd be right. As ABC's Jake Tapper observes in his Political Punch blog, this is at least the fourth time that the Obama camp has declared that it's "gloves off" time for their man.

And the New York Post's Mark Cunningham has an interesting take on why Mr Obama and his chief strategist David Axelrod suddenly seem to be flailing so badly - they have never run campaigns against "real Republicans" from the heartlands.

Mr Obama has spent his whole adult life in urban and/or academic settings. And when he won the Illinois senate contest in 2004, he was up against Alan Keyes, a carpet-bagging showman rather than a typical Republican. Likewise, Mr Axelrod's expertise has been in city politics and solid Democrat states such as Massachusetts, New York and Illinois.
More on link

Palin Cash Rush
Stephanie Balogh September 16, 2008 12:00am
Article Link

SARAH Palin has been a gift for both sides when it comes to raising dollars, energising Democrats as much as revving up her own Republican fans.

Democratic candidate Barack Obama yesterday revealed a record-breaking $US66 million cash haul in August, smashing the $US55 million he collected in February. 

Senator Obama's haul has been bankrolled by 2.5 million donors, including 500,000 new contributors who gave money over the internet last month. 

Since launching his historic bid to be the first African-American president, Senator Obama has raised more than $US400 million in 19 months. 

Senator McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, also did well in August, raising his best ever amount of $US47 million. 

His aides estimate about $US10 million of that was the result of Sarah Palin, who joined his ticket two weeks ago as the Republican vice-presidential nominee. 

He now has $US77 million cash on hand to spend for the November 4 election. 

Karl Rove, the mastermind of US President George W. Bush's two electoral victories, told Fox News he believed the Democrats would end up with a $US100 million cash advantage over the Republicans.
More on link

Hillary Clinton on Sarah Palin? She's keeping her cards close to the vest  
Article Link

Perhaps Amy Poehler, in the much-anticipated opening skit on the season premiere of "Saturday Night Live," truly channeled Hillary Clinton's innermost feelings toward Sarah Palin.

   But as for the actual senator from New York, if she shares the angst and anguish so comically expressed by Poehler, she's steadfastly keeping it to herself.

The media entourage that once breathed down Clinton's neck has long since moved on. But Elizabeth Moore, our colleague at Newsday, was on the scene this past weekend as Clinton campaigned in Ohio on behalf of Barack Obama, that fellow who bested her in the Democratic presidential race.

As the Palin phenomenon has taken much of America by storm -- and clouded Obama's presidential prospects -- some Democrats have spotlighted Clinton as the party figure best able to stem that tide. They envision her vigorously taking Palin to task in a way that a male politician dare not.

So far, Clinton has carefully avoided going that route. She took a pass at a large partisan gathering earlier this month in New York. And in her two Sunday stops, Moore relates, she "continued to play it cool," delivering "what is becoming her standard vote-for-Obama rally speech."
More on link

Palin aide says Obama backers politicizing Alaska investigation
Article Link
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNN) --

 Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will not cooperate with a legislative investigation into the firing of her public safety commissioner, the McCain-Palin presidential campaign announced Monday, accusing supporters of Democratic rival Barack Obama of manipulating the inquiry for political motivations.

Gov. Sarah Palin is fighting allegations she improperly tried to force the firing of her former brother-in-law.

 Former Palin Press Secretary Meg Stapleton told reporters in Anchorage that the investigation has been "hijacked" by "Obama operatives" for the Democratic presidential nominee -- namely, Alaska state Sen. Hollis French, the Democratic lawmaker managing the investigation and an Obama supporter. French has denied working on behalf of the Obama campaign.

The Obama campaign described Stapleton's charge as "complete paranoia." It has denied sending campaign staff to Alaska to work with the legislative committee's investigation.

McCain campaign spokesman Ed O'Callaghan said Palin will not cooperate with "that investigation so long as it remained tainted and run by partisan individuals who have a predetermined conclusion," referring to a comment by French earlier this month that the case could produce criminal charges or an "October Surprise" for the GOP ticket.

Palin, the Republican nominee for vice president, is battling allegations that she and her advisers pressured then-Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan to fire a state trooper going through a bitter custody dispute with her sister -- and that Monegan was terminated when he refused. Palin says she fired Monegan over budget issues and denies wrongdoing.

Monegan has said that while no one directly demanded Trooper Mike Wooten's dismissal, he felt pressured to do so by Palin, her husband and staff. He said he believes his refusal to fire the trooper led to his own firing. Upon the dismissal, Monegan was offered a position as executive director of the Alcohol Beverage and Control Board, but turned it down.

Palin's lawyers say the investigation -- which the Legislature commissioned on a bipartisan basis in July -- belongs before the state Personnel Board, which met to consider the request Thursday. On Friday, Alaska lawmakers voted to subpoena Palin's husband, several aides and phone records in their investigation.
More on link

McCain's stump speech more about Palin than self
By JENNIFER LOVEN – 6 hours ago 
Article Link

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two things jump out from John McCain's standard campaign speech: Sarah Palin and change. Mostly Sarah Palin bringing change.

It's a new pitch for McCain, and that's something that sets him apart from rival Barack Obama. The Democratic nominee settled early on what's known in the business as his stump speech and has varied it only a little since.

McCain's choice of Palin as his running mate injected an unexpected and enormous burst of energy into his White House bid, and now he tries to tap into that dynamic in his campaign speeches. Nearly unprecedented for presidential contenders in recent history, McCain's stump speech now is often almost as much about his No. 2 as it is about him.

In fact, McCain is expected to do few rallies without Palin through the fall. With McCain's uneven delivery and stiff stance on the stage, big events and formal addresses have never been a staple of his campaigns. He prefers roundtables and town-hall settings where he is more apt to shine. For a long time, he was content to leave the glitzy auditorium-filling events and smooth speechmaking to Obama.
More on link


----------



## tankie (16 Sep 2008)

Call me Mr. Cynical...is this the same Sarah Palin that wants to exploit the oil fields in the manner of the Oil giants under the polar ice cap to the detriment to the wild life and the indigenous population?  Or have i read this wrong, and this is the same person whos' family have had a gagging order placed on them by John McCain?


----------



## GAP (16 Sep 2008)

tankie said:
			
		

> Call me Mr. Cynical...is this the same Sarah Palin that wants to exploit the oil fields in the manner of the Oil giants under the polar ice cap to the detriment to the wild life and the indigenous population?  Or have i read this wrong, and this is the same person whos' family have had a gagging order placed on them by John McCain?



Not Cynical.....just not a fan. From your comments you too have an agenda....


----------



## tankie (16 Sep 2008)

Nope no adgenda Gap, I've spent the last 20 years over hear listening to the British Politiburo and forming my own opinion...so it's once bitten ect ect...


----------



## Redeye (16 Sep 2008)

I don't know if too many of you have seen this piece, but it's pretty thought-provoking - and happens to cover a lot of what we've bantered about...  I personally don't agree with a lot of what Tim Wise advocates (like affirmative action programs, etc), but I do think he kind of hits home with this...

=========================================================

This is Your Nation on White Privilege

By Tim Wise

9/13/08

For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is when you can call yourself a “f**kin’ redneck,” like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you’ll “kick their f**kin’ a**,” and talk about how you like to “shoot sh*t” for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.


White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re “untested.”

White privilege is being able to say that you support the words “under God” in the pledge of allegiance because “if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it’s good enough for me,” and not be immediately disqualified from holding office–since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the “under God” part wasn’t added until the 1950s–while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.

White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you.

White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was “Alaska first,” and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you’re black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful.

White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do–like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor–and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college–you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist.

White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a “second look.”

White privilege is being able to fire people who didn’t support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.

White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God’s punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you’re just a good church-going Christian, but if you’re black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America.

White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a “trick question,” while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O’Reilly means you’re dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.

White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a “light” burden.

And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren’t sure about that whole “change” thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.

White privilege is, in short, the problem.


----------



## Fishbone Jones (16 Sep 2008)

Sounds like someone besides Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton is worried about the white man not feeling guilty anymore, if Obama wins. :


----------



## Kirkhill (16 Sep 2008)

Too many years.  Too many replays.  Same old.  Same old.  Fed up.  Water.  Duck's Back.


----------



## GAP (16 Sep 2008)

Ohhhh.....that's what the black card looks like....... :


----------



## GAP (17 Sep 2008)

*Articles found September 17, 2008*

Just Over One-Third Say Palin, McCain, Obama More Ethical Than Most Politicians
Wednesday, September 17, 2008  Article Link

Despite both sides running campaigns aimed at changing a climate of special interest corruption in Washington, just over one-third of voters find three of the four major-ticket candidates more ethical than most politicians. 

The Republican ticket fares marginally better than Democratic standard-bearer Barack Obama, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. 

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate and a newcomer in the race, comes out on top, viewed as more ethical that most politicians by 39% of voters. Palin is slightly ahead of her running mate, John McCain, and Obama who are viewed that way by 37% and 34% respectively (see demographic crosstabs). 

The fourth candidate – Democratic vice presidential nominee Joseph Biden – is viewed as more ethical – and less ethical – than most politicians by the identical number (22%). Nearly half (46%) say the Delaware senator is about as ethical as his political peers. 

Twenty-seven percent (27%) say Palin, who is running in part on her willingness to confront corruption in her own party in Alaska, is less ethical than most politicians. Nearly as many (25%) believe that of Obama who has been running for months as an agent of change in Washington. McCain seems to benefit from his image as a maverick Republican because only 18% see him as less ethical than other politicians. 

The GOP presidential candidate, like Biden a longtime member of the Senate, is viewed as about as ethical as most politicians by 41%. Thirty-five percent (35%) feel that way about Obama, the junior senator from Illinois since 2005, while 28% say that of Palin. 
More on link

Palin Online: Staggering Numbers
By Jose Antonio Vargas
Exactly how broad is the reach of this online political earthquake known as Sarah Palin?
Article Link

Check out the numbers: More than 1.1 million people read the Alaska governor's Wikipedia article within the first 36 hours following her introduction as Sen. John McCain's running mate, according to the online metric site Compete.com. In fact, Palin's Wikipedia article clocked in as the most popular on the site in the month of August. Michael Phelps, the 14-time Olympic gold medalist, placed second. 

YouTube has been flooded with Palin videos -- some of them snarky and mean, others equally effusive and elated. Before her announcement on Aug. 29, there were about 300 Palin-oriented videos on the site. Now it's more than 130,000, ranging from television clips spliced and uploaded countless times, to serial parodies that mock the Republican vice presidential candidate. 

And in her first two days in the national spotlight, U.S. Internet searches on all things Palin -- her photos, her biography, her family, anything -- outnumbered any other politician in the past three years, says Hitwise.com, which also monitors Web data. In many cases, her name was searched alongside the word "hot." 
More on link

Palin imitators flood YouTube with mocking videos
Article Link

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) — YouTube is being flooded with mocking videos by Sarah Palin imitators, attracting millions of viewers and triggering stormy online debate between the aspiring vice president's fans and critics.

Snippets of a sketch featuring actress Tina Fey mimicking Palin and comedian Amy Poehler playing former White House contender Hillary Clinton have rocketed to fame on the video sharing website just days after airing on the television show "Saturday Night Live."

"I believe diplomacy should be the cornerstone of any foreign policy," Poehler's Clinton character asserts in the sketch.

"And I can see Russia from my house!" Fey's convincing version of the neophyte governor of Alaska chimes in response with a beauty pageant smile.

The web, and in particular file sharing sites like YouTube, is notoriously fertile ground for US political satire; Clinton, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama are routinely made fun of.
More on link

Electoral Vote Predictor Obama 247 McCain 257 Ties 34
Wed, Sep. 17
Article Link

In a hypothetical matchup for President, Sara Palin defeats Joe Biden 47% to 44%. Palin has considerably less experience than Obama and Biden has much more experience than McCain so the gulf between neophyte and graybeard couldn't be ...
More on link

A Sarah Palin Double Billing
September 17, 2008 at 6:03 am 
Article Link

While the media diligently fact checks everything Sarah Palin says — fair enough — it’s interesting to see when the media gets its own facts wrong about Sarah Palin.

Consider today’s Washington Post corrections box: a rare double-correction for one subject matter.

This:

CORRECTIONS:  A Sept. 7 Page One article incorrectly identified a mother and daughter who were in the maternity ward at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center at the same time Sarah Palin was there delivering her baby, Trig. The mother is Jennifer Krueger of Wasilla, Alaska, who gave birth to daughter Haylee Davison.

And this:

CLARIFICATION: A Sept. 12 Page One article quoted Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin as telling a brigade of Iraq-bound soldiers that they would “defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans.” The report linked Palin’s comments with the idea that Saddam Hussein was connected to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Tracey Schmitt, a spokeswoman for the McCain-Palin campaign, said Palin was referring to al-Qaeda in Iraq, a terror group that formed after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and claims to be allied with the global al-Qaeda organization.

Whether it’s a maternity ward in Alaska or the fight against al-Qaeda in Iraq, it’s good to see fact-checking working both ways. 
More on link

The Palin file: It had to be said  
BY MICHAEL SNEED Sun-Times Columnist September 17, 2008
Article Link

I do have an opinion. Really. I rarely write about my life, except for occasional references to my family and growing up in the grasslands of North Dakota.

And rarely, as a columnist, do I write about issues . . . although I have the cachet to do so.

Then Hillary Clinton ran for president and was hit with more sexist barbs than St. Sebastian had arrows. 

And when John McCain chose (gulp!) a good-looking woman from Alaska named Sarah Palin as his running mate, the liberal pundits threw every red shoe at her they could find -- and tossed as many hair pins at her as they could muster. 

That frosted my cake. 

Being first and fair was my journalistic baptism in the tumultuous 1960s.

Unfortunately, fairness keeps getting redefined. 

Our reporters are fair and unbiased, but it's no secret Obama adoration is overflowing in our columns. 

My colleagues have a right to their opinions, but I've decided to interject a little balance in the column trade.

I've been in the newspaper business a hell of a lot longer than most of our columnists, but that doesn't mean I'm wiser and smarter. But I do have history.

Covering the return of nine Marine POWs to Camp Pendleton from Vietnam's Hanoi Hilton -- where McCain was imprisoned for more than five years -- gives me an intimate perspective.

Words barely describe his bravery and valor. I heard it first hand. 

There is also no excuse for the way McCain deserted his wife, who waited for him to come home. But as with every tortured mind there is a reason -- and McCain has never tried to hide what he did or make an excuse for it.
More on link


Palin, Sexism and Women in Politics
September 16, 2008 · 
Finally, a few more words about the presidential campaign. 
Article Link

Yesterday, I talked about how hypocritical, not to mention destructive, I thought the Republicans were being by trying to portray Obama as an elitist at the same time as they are steadily pushing education as the cure for all social ills. I said that — at a time when education is more important than ever before, and millions of young people, especially black and brown young men, are as turned off from school as they can be — the Republicans are dealing the country a very bad hand if they keep attacking one person who might be able to persuade at least some of these kids that studying is okay. That, my friends, to paraphrase John McCain, is not putting "Country First."

But now I want to tell you how the Democrats are getting on my nerves, and to do that I'm going to tell you a story. A true story, one that takes place when I was a White House correspondent for the Wall Street Journal covering the first Bush administration — Bush Forty ONE as we now say — and there was a high stakes political fight brewing over extending the Civil Rights Act.

Because I worked for one of the big papers and was spending a lot of time covering the bill, I was invited to one of those so-called background briefings with a senior administration official and a couple of aides who were supposed to give me the inside dope on the administration's position and reasoning. At one point, I asked the official why the bill made a distinction between discrimination based on gender and race discrimination? He looked at me sort of, I don't know, pityingly and said, "I don't expect you to understand."

Can I Just Tell You? ... what I was thinking is not repeatable here, but because I liked my job, all I said was 0"try me." Thankfully, the official's younger and smarter aide gave me a real answer, which was that case law on race discrimination was far more extensive and more settled than on gender discrimination. Now what was so hard about that? I'll tell you what was hard: Mr. Senior Administration Official did not take me seriously. His aide saw a reporter for one of the most prominent and, I would say, best newspapers in the country. But all Mr. Senior Official saw, evidently, was a black girl who somehow couldn't shake the twin pillars of her identity long enough to write down a simple sentence.
More on link

5 legislators sue to end inquiry into Palin firing safety commissioner
Article Link

JUNEAU, Alaska - Five Republican legislators sued yesterday to end the bipartisan investigation into Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's firing of the state's public safety commissioner.

A bipartisan oversight committee had unanimously approved an inquiry into whether Palin, now the Republican vice presidential nominee, dismissed Walt Monegan because he wouldn't fire her former brother-in-law, a state trooper.

But in their lawsuit, three state representatives and two state senators called the investigation "unlawful, biased, partial, and partisan." The suit seeks to either delay the investigation until after the Nov. 4 election or remove the Democratic senator overseeing the investigation and the one who heads the Legislative Council that authorized it.

Though Palin said in July that she welcomed the probe and wanted to be held accountable, she and John McCain's presidential campaign have sought to distance her from the controversy and have taken actions that could slow its resolution until after the November election.

The McCain campaign late Monday released e-mails supporting Palin's contention that she dismissed the commissioner over budget disagreements. Calling the investigation "tainted," the campaign also said that Palin is unlikely to speak with an investigator hired to look into the matter and report on Oct.
More on link


----------



## tomahawk6 (17 Sep 2008)

Leftist hackers broke into Palin's yahoo email account posting emails from Sarah and her hubby,plus cell phone number of Bristol. As Palin is under Federal protection the FBI and Secret Service will no doubt start a criminal investigation. Charges could be filed against the hackers,web site owners ect.


----------



## GAP (18 Sep 2008)

*Articles found September 18, 2008*

Palin Derangement Syndrome: Obama's Worst Enemy?
Cinnamon Stillwell Wednesday, September 18, 2008
Article Link

There's a new affliction sweeping the nation, and it's known as Palin Derangement Syndrome. The phenomenon is similar to Bush Derangement Syndrome, a term coined by political columnist Charles Krauthammer to describe the personal animosity and irrational hatred directed at President Bush by his leftist opponents. But this time, Republican presidential candidate John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, is the object of wrath. 

The feeding frenzy began with the news of Palin's selection, but it was her electrifying speech at the Republic National Convention last month that really set it off. In one fell swoop, Palin managed to energize the Republican base, breathe life into the McCain campaign, launch some very effective jabs at Barack Obama, and quite possibly, attract the support of the 18 million Hillary Clinton voters. 

The attacks on Palin have ranged from patronizing to vicious to fantastical. She has been caricatured as an inexperienced rube, a baby-making automaton, an uneducated underachiever, a bad mother, trailer-park trash, a rightwing religious fanatic, a sexual fantasy, and of course, a fascist. No subject has been deemed taboo in the effort to take Palin down. 

What her detractors don't seem to realize is that in the process of insulting Palin, they are insulting the majority of the country. If being a self-made success story, a working mother, a church-going member of a small-town community, and a believer in moderate to conservative political viewpoints disqualifies Palin, what does that say about mainstream America? The inherent condescension at the heart of the anti-Palin campaign is coming across loud and clear and it may actually be boosting her popularity. 
More on link

Palin reaffirms support for Arctic drilling
Article Link

Sarah Palin, in her second national interview since becoming the Republican vice presidential nominee, said last night that she and running mate John McCain disagree on oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but that she's "going to keep working on him."

"He is not asking me or anybody else to check our opinions at the door," the Alaska governor said on Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes." "He wants that healthy deliberation and debate with it.

"John McCain knows, more so than any other leader in our nation today, that for national security reasons we must be an energy-independent nation," Palin added.

In the wide-ranging interview, whose second part is scheduled to air tonight, Palin also downplayed the effectiveness of attacks on her. "You can't underestimate the wisdom of the people of America," she said. "They're seeing through the rhetoric, and they're seeing through a lot of the political cheap shots, also. And they're getting down to the facts and the voting records that are going to show that stark contrast."

FOON RHEE


Clinton pulls out of event after learning Palin's plans
The only joint appearance by Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin any time soon will apparently be by their comedic alter egos in a "Saturday Night Live" skit.

Clinton pulled out of a protest being organized by several Jewish groups outside the United Nations on Sept. 22 against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when she found out that Palin planned to attend. Clinton aides were furious at organizers, saying they first learned from reporters. "Her attendance was news to us, and this was never billed to us as a partisan political event," Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines said. "Senator Clinton will therefore not be attending."
More on link

Sarah Palin Attends First Town Hall
The New York Times's Michael Cooper reports on Sarah Palin's first town hall appearance, which took place in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 
Article Link

Some excerpts:

As she took questions from voters for the first time since she was tapped as Senator John McCain’s running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin was asked here Wednesday about her “perceived lack of foreign policy experience.’’

She responded with an invitation for people to play “stump the candidate” with her.

“As for foreign policy, you know, I think that I am prepared,’’ Ms. Palin said at an enthusiastic town-hall-style meeting she held alongside Mr. McCain. “And I know that on Jan. 20, if we are so blessed as to be sworn into office as your president and vice president, certainly we’ll be ready. I’ll be ready. I have that confidence. I have that readiness. And if you want specifics with specific policy, or countries, go ahead and you can ask me. You can even play stump the candidate, if you want to.’’

But before anyone could take her up on the offer, Mr. McCain stepped in to praise Ms. Palin’s qualifications, saying that she understands energy issues, had led negotiations for a new gas pipeline, and, as governor of Alaska, was the commander of the Alaska National Guard. “So I think she understands our national security challenges,’’ he said. ...

Governor Palin showed herself to be a crowd-pleaser, and it was clear that she and Mr. McCain – who had only met once before offering her a spot on the ticket – have begun to develop an easy rapport. (She no longer called him “Senator John S. McCain,” as she sometimes did right after she was picked, calling him “John.’’) Ms. Palin highlighted her breezy style, as with her remark that energy independence was “going to be my baby” in a McCain administration, but sometimes seemed less sure-footed on other issues. ...

Ms. Palin got her biggest cheer of the night when a woman who identified herself as a mother asked her to rebut the false suggestion that she would have difficulty balancing her role as a mother with being vice president.

“Well, let’s prove them wrong!” Mr. Palin said, to huge applause.
More on link

How Palin caught Obama off-guard
Andrew Stephen Published 18 September 2008
Article Link

Because she is a mum who shops at Wal-Mart and disembowels moose many Americans, suspicious of intellectuals or elitism, have granted her celebrity status

The Democrats have finally chosen their woman. The stand-in for Sarah Palin who will tussle with Joe Biden in closed-door rehearsals for the vice-presidential debate on 2 October will be 49-year-old Governor Jennifer Granholm of Michigan - a brilliant Democrat who would undoubtedly be a presidential contender herself, had she not been born in Canada and thus constitutionally ineligible to occupy the White House. She will undoubtedly give Biden a hard time, but will Palin?

Three weeks ago, just the thought of this year's vice-presidential debate would have made most Americans yawn. But the sudden emergence of Governor Palin on the world stage on 29 August has electrified this election and turned just about every previous assumption upside down. Biden's little finger, for example, probably knows more about foreign policy than Palin. However, I can easily visualise him patronising or bullying her - which would be catastrophic. Palin, just as easily, could reveal her ignorance or extremism in some equally disastrous way.

The very fact that it is the vice-presidential debate that is suddenly the hottest ticket in America - far more so than any of the three presidential confrontations between Barack Obama and John McCain - is indicative of the disaster that Palin has been for the Democrats so far.
More on link

Sarah Palin's accent explained    
Posted September 18, 2008 7:30 AM by Jason George
Article Link

Have you noticed Gov. Sarah Palin's accent?

If so, you're not alone. Ever since U.S. Sen. John McCain added the Alaska governor to the Republican presidential ticket, Palin's speech pattern and pronunciation have prompted Web and water-cooler conversations.

Some keyboard critics enjoy the sound of Palin's voice; many don't. Fans and foes alike describe it with colorful phrases, such as "a little Minnesota, a little Valley Girl," "an interesting mix of Minnesota, and Mississippi" and "bush-like," as in Native American accents heard in Alaska's bush or remote areas. Many commentators wonder if Palin's voice reflects a true "Alaskan accent."

It does--at least it's one Alaskan accent, said William Labov, a University of Pennsylvania linguistics professor and co-author of the "Atlas of North American English."

"She's a good example of the Northern speech with a Western influence," he added, pointing to several examples, such as Palin's dropping of "g's" from word endings and pronunciation of "terrorist" as two syllables instead of three.

Also, "that 'O' sound is a character in the 'Fargo'-like speech influenced by the German and Scandinavians," he added.

Of course, Alaska's isolation and its large population of transplants from the lower 48 mean that there's not just one state accent. Palin herself was born in Idaho before moving to Alaska as a young child. Except for her infancy, and college stints in Hawaii and Idaho, Palin has lived her whole life in the nation's 49th State.
More on link


----------



## Redeye (18 Sep 2008)

The clips I saw of the town hall meeting were incredible.  I've never seen anyone dodge questions like Sarah Palin can - at least in the parts I saw.

Better, though, was Larry King last night, I didn't catch the name of the Republican talking head, Andrea something I think...?  She was brilliant.  Everything she said was patently nonsense, and just foolhardy smear attempts that were roundly hammered on by the other participants in the discussion.  She came off as rude and unable to debate, it left me shocked and a little embarrassed for the GOP.

Best line of the night was on Palin's "I can see Russia..." statement.  "I can see the moon from my backyard, that doesn't make me an astrophysicist."  It later came up again from another one of the people on - "I can see a freeway from my porch, so I'm qualified to be Secretary of Transportation."

What really gets me is that they call John McCain a "maverick".  That's the best selling point they can come up with.  How, exactly, is he a maverick though when he went with the party line some 90% of the time, that strikes me as a good obedient Republican.


----------



## GAP (19 Sep 2008)

Exclusive: Gov. Palin on 'Hannity & Colmes,' Part 2
Friday, September 19, 2008
  Article Link

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity & Colmes," September 18, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: Senator McCain's son has served in Iraq, as we move to national security. You just said good-bye to your son, who is off. He's going to serve in Iraq.

First off, on the personal side, what did you say to him as he was leaving for Iraq? And what did he say to you?

GOV. SARAH PALIN, VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Well, as a mom, you know, he's heading to Iraq, taking a fifth of my heart with him, you know. And I'm just so extremely proud of him. He's independent and he's strong and he's serving for the right reasons. I'm just as proud of every man and woman in uniform serving our country and trying to usher in democratic values to the rest of the world, protecting our freedoms.

Very, very proud of these guys and these gals. They are America's finest and I think that, you know, the Army is lucky to have my son.

What my son said to me, though, was — it was an awakening for me to realize that he knows what he is doing in this and he knows that he has chosen the right reason to serve. I was just being mom to him just a few weeks ago — no V.P. talk even then — but just as mom I was probably getting on his nerves, asking him a whole lot of question about the deployment and about he and his Stryker brigade, what his job will be and he's like, Mom, I belong to the Army now. I belong to America.

HANNITY: He said that to you?

PALIN: He did. And he was telling me, Mom, it's going to be OK and I've chosen to do this. And you know, I'm like, man, thank God for this voluntary military that we have with America's finest. These young men and women, they just — they just make me so proud.

HANNITY: Why do we need to win in Iraq? Just get right to the bottom line. Why is losing not an option?

PALIN: Losing is not — retreat is not an option. Retreat is defeat in Iraq. Al Qaeda, they're acknowledging even, along with General Petraeus, that Iraq is the central front on the War on Terror and the violent Islamic extremists who hate America would love that stronghold to be built in Iraq.

If we were to lose there, we're not going to be any better off when we fight in Afghanistan either, nor the other areas where terrorist cells are growing across our world.

HANNITY: What countries today pose the most danger, in your view, to America?

PALIN: Any country that is going to house violent Islamic terrorists. We have to keep our eye, of course, on Iran. We've got to keep our eye on some of the ongoing activities in Russia, also. North Korea under the leadership of Kim Jong Il — certainly there is a lot of concern there.

What we have got to commit to, also, especially when we talk about Russia, no Cold War. We have got to know that our mindset needs to be opportunity for pressure and diplomacy and sanctions if need be, as we keep our eye on a country like Russia.

HANNITY: You don't want to start a war with Russia —

(CROSSTALK)

PALIN: We do not want to start a war with Russia. No Cold War. That's got to be off the table. And — opportunity comes with new leadership being ushered in, being elected in into our democracy where we can start forging even better relationships and strengthening the allies that we have. That's the opportunity that John McCain is going to make sure happens.

HANNITY: What do you view — and I know this came up in your interview with Charlie Gibson, as it relates to the Bush Doctrine — what do you view as the Bush Doctrine and what do you view as America's role in the world? What is our role as a country, as it relates to national security?

PALIN: That's a great question and being an optimist I see our role in the world as one of — being a force for good and one of being the leader of the world when it comes to the values that — it seems that just humankind embraces the values that encompass life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And that's not just in America, that is in our world.

And America is in a position, because we care for so many people, to be able to lead and to be able to have a strong diplomacy and a strong military. Also at the same time to defend not only our freedoms but, to help these rising, smaller democratic countries that are just — you know, they're putting themselves on the map right now, and they're going to be looking to America as that leader. We being used as a force for good is how I see our country.

HANNITY: When you were first announced as Senator McCain's running mate, the Obama campaign put out a statement and here's what it was. It said, "Today, Senator McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000, with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat from the presidency." Perhaps they forgot you got promoted.

But how did that make you feel?

PALIN: Oh, you know, it's motivating to me, Sean. Because it's, OK, not only personally, well, I have opportunity to prove what the capabilities are here. But I so respected John McCain, his maverick streak in him there really being made manifest in choosing someone who has a track record of that commitment to reform, of being able to share the examples of the reform, the practices that have been implemented and have been good for the people whom I have been serving. I've been working for the people of Wasilla and Alaska. And in my job also in overseeing such a healthy portion of the U.S. domestic production of oil.

Those things that I add to the ticket, certainly our opponents are going to ignore all that and they're going to send their opposition researchers up to Alaska. They've got dozens of them up there now.

HANNITY: They called it a mini-army in "The Wall Street Journal."
More on link


----------



## GAP (21 Sep 2008)

Republican VP candidate Palin to meet Afghanistan's Karzai
Article Link

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Republican presidential candidate John McCain's running mate Sarah Palin will meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai next week in New York, a McCain campaign spokesman said Saturday.

Karzai will be in New York with leaders from around the world to participate in the United Nations General Assembly meeting.

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds confirmed the meeting.

Palin, the 44-year-old first time governor of Alaska, is seen as a novice in the key area of foreign policy -- especially when measured against her Democratic counterpart Joseph Biden, with 36 years' experience on the Senate foreign affairs committee.

Palin got her first passport in 2007 when she traveled to visit Alaska National Guard -- of which she is commander in chief -- in Kuwait and Germany
More on link

 Obama Tries to Stop the Palin Effect
by Bonney Kapp 
Article Link

CORAL GABLES, FL - “It is good to see so many so many women in the house! You can feel that women power,” Obama exclaimed to a crowd of some 8,000 in South Florida, waving signs reading “Women for Obama” and “Moms for Obama.”

The candidate is hoping to attract women voters - despite, or perhaps because of recent polls that have shown the McCain/Palin ticket drawing support from women. Sarah Palin has complicated matters for the Democratic candidate in the race, so Obama is busy touting his record on issues he considers important to women, such as equal pay, health care, and a woman’s right to choose.

“You’d think that solving these problems would be a high priority for anybody running for president in this country. Well, you haven’t met my opponent, John McCain,” Obama said to cheers.

Careful not to mention Sarah Palin’s name during his speech, Obama accused McCain of not understanding what’s gong on in the lives of women in this country. “Why else would he oppose legislation to help women get equal pay, and suggest that the reason why women aren’t paid fairly isn’t because of discrimination on the job, but because they need more education and training? … Why else would he say that Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision and run away from a platform, and run on a platform to outlaw abortion – even in cases of rape and incest? Why else would he propose a health care plan that actually taxes your health care benefits for the first time in history and gives insurance companies free reign to discriminate against women with histories of breast cancer and heart diseases and other illnesses? He must not know!”
More on link


----------



## GAP (23 Sep 2008)

*Articles found September 23, 2008*

Wake up, America
Susan Kerins, North Pole Published Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Article Link

To the editor:

Thank you to Ken Peterson! He has stated what I have been trying to tell people all along. You all believe so much in Obama. He is not for America, he is for himself and he will turncoat on America the first chance he has.

If you live in Alaska, then you know that Alaska is bigger than any state in the Lower 48. So I would say Sara Palin has plenty of experience governing a large area. And yes, Bush was wrong, but I will not blame McCain for that. If you had one bad waitress, would you blame all of them?

Obama is racist, in his own words. From his book. He is merely telling you all what you want to hear!

A true American will, in fact, want someone in office that is for our country. He has not once that I have seen (and this is my opinion) thanked our men and women in the armed forces enough for their duty and sacrifice.

He is constantly, like McCain, talking about energy and reform. Our economy is crumbling and everyone is worried about the first female vice president or first black American president. Has he mentioned one thing about our issues with Russia? So far, I only have heard Sarah Palin’s input on them. Russia is landing jets in Venezuela right now. Did he comment on our safety for that? When confronted about his books, he changes the subject. When asked about everything he states by his own mouth in these two books, he denies, and this is someone you all want as the president of our country?
More on link

Hunt for Palin hacker shaping up to be simple case
 23. September 2008, 10:10 Uhr 
Article Link

The hunt for the hacker who broke into Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s personal e-mail account is shaping up to be a remarkably simple investigation, by the standards of major cybersecurity whodunits.
U.S. investigators figure the hacker claimed responsibility in a detailed accounting that included his own personal e-mail address and that he tried to cover his trail using a U.S. Internet anonymity service that has been surprisingly cooperative 
More on link

Palin 'ready to cooperate' in firing probe, lawyer says
Article Link

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNN) -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's lawyer met Monday with the independent counsel hired by the state to discuss the investigation into Palin's firing of Alaska's public safety commissioner, campaign officials said

Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, has been battling allegations she fired Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan for improper reasons in July.

Palin's attorney, Thomas Van Flein, met with special counsel Timothy Petumenos to discuss documents and witness interviews, campaign spokeswoman Meg Stapleton said. 

Stapleton was asked whether Palin would agree to be interviewed by the special counsel. "If necessary and Mr. Petumenos wants it, absolutely," Stapleton replied.

"We believe and expect Mr. Petumenos has demonstrated that he is fair and impartial and is searching for the truth and facts behind Monegan's reassignment," Stapleton said. "The governor stands ready to cooperate."
More on link

Sarah Palin Takes Manhattan
Sits down with Foreign Leaders, Policy Experts and a Rock Star
By KAREN TRAVERS and RIGEL ANDERSON  September 22, 2008 
Article Link

Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's coming out party on the world stage kicks off tomorrow with a series of meetings with the types of foreign leaders she would regularly interact with as vice president, ABC News' Imtiyaz Delawala reports. 

Palin sits down with foreign leaders (and one rock star) in New York this week for the United Nations General Assembly. 

Sarah Palin will be in New York to have meetings with world leaders.
More on link

The speech Sarah Palin would have given today
Never again will we risk another Holocaust. And this is not a wish, a request, or a plea to Israel's enemies. This is a promise that the United States and Israel will honor, against any enemy who cares to test us. It is John McCain's promise and it is my promise." -- Sarah Palin, 22 September 2008 
Article Link

I am honored to be with you and with leaders from across this great country — leaders from different faiths and political parties united in a single voice of outrage.

Tomorrow, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will come to New York — to the heart of what he calls the Great Satan — and speak freely in this, a country whose demise he has called for.

Ahmadinejad may choose his words carefully, but underneath all of the rhetoric is an agenda that threatens all who seek a safer and freer world. We gather here today to highlight the Iranian dictator's intentions and to call for action to thwart him.

He must be stopped.

The world must awake to the threat this man poses to all of us. Ahmadinejad denies that the Holocaust ever took place. He dreams of being an agent in a "Final Solution" — the elimination of the Jewish people. He has called Israel a "stinking corpse" that is "on its way to annihilation." Such talk cannot be dismissed as the ravings of a madman — not when Iran just this summer tested long-range Shahab-3 missiles capable of striking Tel Aviv, not when the Iranian nuclear program is nearing completion, and not when Iran sponsors terrorists that threaten and kill innocent people around the world.

The Iranian government wants nuclear weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency reports that Iran is running at least 3,800 centrifuges and that its uranium enrichment capacity is rapidly improving. According to news reports, U.S. intelligence agencies believe the Iranians may have enough nuclear material to produce a bomb within a year.

The world has condemned these activities. The United Nations Security Council has demanded that Iran suspend its illegal nuclear enrichment activities. It has levied three rounds of sanctions. How has Ahmadinejad responded? With the declaration that the "Iranian nation would not retreat one iota" from its nuclear program.

So, what should we do about this growing threat? First, we must succeed in Iraq. If we fail there, it will jeopardize the democracy the Iraqis have worked so hard to build, and empower the extremists in neighboring Iran. Iran has armed and trained terrorists who have killed our soldiers in Iraq, and it is Iran that would benefit from an American defeat in Iraq.

If we retreat without leaving a stable Iraq, Iran's nuclear ambitions will be bolstered. If Iran acquires nuclear weapons — they could share them tomorrow with the terrorists they finance, arm, and train today. Iranian nuclear weapons would set off a dangerous regional nuclear arms race that would make all of us less safe.

But Iran is not only a regional threat; it threatens the entire world. It is the no. 1 state sponsor of terrorism. It sponsors the world's most vicious terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah. Together, Iran and its terrorists are responsible for the deaths of Americans in Lebanon in the 1980s, in Saudi Arabia in the 1990s, and in Iraq today. They have murdered Iraqis, Lebanese, Palestinians, and other Muslims who have resisted Iran's desire to dominate the region. They have persecuted countless people simply because they are Jewish.

Iran is responsible for attacks not only on Israelis, but on Jews living as far away as Argentina. Anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial are part of Iran's official ideology and murder is part of its official policy. Not even Iranian citizens are safe from their government's threat to those who want to live, work, and worship in peace. Politically-motivated abductions, torture, death by stoning, flogging, and amputations are just some of its state-sanctioned punishments.

It is said that the measure of a country is the treatment of its most vulnerable citizens. By that standard, the Iranian government is both oppressive and barbaric. Under Ahmadinejad's rule, Iranian women are some of the most vulnerable citizens.

If an Iranian woman shows too much hair in public, she risks being beaten or killed.

If she walks down a public street in clothing that violates the state dress code, she could be arrested
More on link


----------



## GAP (28 Sep 2008)

Tina Fey As Sarah Palin: Amy Poehler As Katie Couric SNL Skit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNFpAPyq4fA


----------



## Sheerin (29 Sep 2008)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8__aXxXPVc

An interesting clip, however with all the cut shots of Curic I wonder how many edits were made to it.  Either way, Palin's answer reminds me of Miss South Carolina from a couple years back http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww


----------



## Redeye (29 Sep 2008)

I wish I could find the link, but there are even conservative pundits calling on Palin to withdraw.  She's in so far over her head.  While there surely was a lot of edits in the CBS interview, and I'd love to see the transcripts of the entire thing, it seems clear to me that Palin can't stray much from talking points.  In the Presidential debate I think Barack Obama came off a lot better than McCain, but it was fairly equal (and as a sidenote, I wish our debates were as dignified and pleasant to watch as that was), but I think Biden is just going to take Palin right to school.  It's going to be ugly, I think.


----------



## GAP (2 Oct 2008)

The Struggles of Sarah Palin
02 Oct 2008 10:33 am
Article Link

What's been interesting - in a watching-from-behind-your-hands sort of way, if you're a conservative who wishes her well - about Palin's interviews with Charlie Gibson and especially Katie Couric is the way they've provided examples of almost every single way that an inexperienced politician can struggle in the media spotlight. Most of the attention has focused, justly, on Palin's flat-out incoherent answers to some of Couric's questions, and her difficulties deflecting obvious "gotcha" situations (Gibson on the Bush Doctrine, Couric asking what newspapers she reads and asking her to name non-Roe Supreme Court decisions with which she disagrees, etc.). But there are other, more subtle dynamics at work as well. In the Gibson interview, as a number of people pointed out, there was her tendency to answer directly in situations where a more practiced pol would obfuscate a bit. (Her response on whether bringing Georgia into NATO would require going to war with Russia, for instance, was a classic case of giving a straightforward answer where a little "the goal is to make sure it wouldn't come to that, Charlie" would have gone a long way - even if her straightforwardness was a refreshing reminder of why putting Georgia into NATO might not be such a hot idea.) And in both interviews, there was an inability to make the talking points she's obviously been forced to memorize in a hurry sound smooth and spontaneous, rather than rote and overrehearsed - or in the case of the whole "Russia is close to Alaska" fiasco (and whichever McCain aide is responsible for that piece of idiocy should never, ever work in politics again), to make deeply stupid talking points sound semi-plausible, rather than, well, deeply stupid. 

But her struggles with Couric's questions about Roe and the right to privacy are perhaps the most telling - not just because of how Palin answered them, but because of how Biden answered a similar question. As Ramesh and Yuval point out, judged purely on substance, Biden's answer was much more of a hash than Palin's statement that she believes in a right to privacy but opposes Roe. (This is not, repeat not, an inconsistent position.) But Biden couched his answer in terms that made it sound like he possessed deep knowledge on the issue (as I'm sure he thinks he does), whereas Palin's response made it clear that she did not. And where media appearances are concerned, that makes an enormous difference.

For those conservatives who claim to see no problems with Palin's performance, of course, this is precisely what's so outrageous about the anti-Palin backlash: She's being judged, they complain, less on her record and her positions than on her ability to BS her way through "gotcha" questions from hostile interviewers, and she's being found wanting because she isn't as practiced in the art of the on-air dodge as more experienced politicians. (Thus Joe Carter's pro-Palin complaint, for instance, that he "cannot make the leap in logic required to believe that proficiency on television is evidence of capable leadership.") 

I think this view is wrong for several reasons: Because Palin's relatively limited record in politics magnifies the importance of her public comments for anyone who's trying to get a handle on who this woman is and whether she's ready for high office; because her performance has been so comprehensively lousy that it has to reflect, to some degree, on her knowledge base and her understanding of policy as well as on her TV chops; and because like it or not, "proficiency on television" is simply a prerequisite for capable leadership in a mass democracy. But there's a sense in which the apologists for her performance are getting something right: In the process of performing very, very badly on national television, Palin is holding up a mirror to the rest of the political world, and revealing how the mix of talking points, bluster, obfuscation and BS that nearly all national politicians traffic in as a matter of course sounds when it's filtered through someone who isn't practiced in it, and isn't ready for the spotlight. Her performances reflect badly on her readiness for the vice presidency, no question - but they reflect badly on our whole compromised, spin-happy political class as well.
More on link


----------



## OldSolduer (2 Oct 2008)

I think she's hot. There!! :


----------



## Mike Baker (2 Oct 2008)

Can someone help me with this? Do you say her last name as Pay-Lin, or Pal-lin?


Beav


----------



## Redeye (2 Oct 2008)

The Beaver said:
			
		

> Can someone help me with this? Do you say her last name as Pay-Lin, or Pal-lin?
> 
> 
> Beav



Pay-lin.


----------



## mariomike (10 Oct 2009)

Hasn't this guy already had his 15 minutes? 
Levi Johnston, best known as “the guy who knocked up Sarah Palin’s daughter,” will be posing nude ( showing off his "Johnson" ) in a photo shoot for Playgirl magazine. 
http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://yeeeah.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/sarah-palin-porn-08.thumbnail.jpg&imgrefurl=http://yeeeah.com/tag/sarah-palin/&usg=__CcNUqnHcnTAGp0eK-SUAta47FDM=&h=795&w=530&sz=55&hl=en&start=6&um=1&tbnid=VhqakZrXtfTiqM:&tbnh=143&tbnw=95&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dold%2Bman%2Blisa%2Bporn%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GBfficial%26hs%3DCrn%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1


----------



## mariomike (10 Oct 2009)

mariomike said:
			
		

> Hasn't this guy already had his 15 minutes?
> Levi Johnston, best known as “the guy who knocked up Sarah Palin’s daughter,” will be posing nude ( showing off his "Johnson" ) in a photo shoot for Playgirl magazine.


http://cdn.buzznet.com/media-cdn/jj1/headlines/2009/09/levi-johnston-slams-sarah-palin.jpg


----------



## a_majoor (7 Feb 2010)

Governor Palin speaks at the TEA party convention in Nashville:

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/MarkTapscott/Saran-Palin-is-miles-ahead-of-every-other-polician-in-America-83751452.html



> *Sarah Palin is miles ahead of every other politician in America*
> By: Mark Tapscott
> Editorial Page Editor
> February 7, 2010
> ...


----------



## OldSolduer (8 Feb 2010)

The hottest politician on the planet.  ;D


----------



## observor 69 (8 Feb 2010)

Convention Brews Tea Party Tension

The first-ever national convention for the Tea Party movement takes place next week in Nashville, Tenn., and Sarah Palin is the keynote speaker. 

But the event has become mired in controversy, with most of the criticism coming from Tea Party activists who complain that the event's organizers are charging too much and trying to make a profit. 

What's more, two prominent conservatives in Congress and heroes of the movement — Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) — withdrew Thursday as speakers at the convention. Neither was to get a speaker's fee, but each said the for-profit nature of the convention raised questions about compliance with Congressional ethics rules.

Still, organizers of the event say it will go on. 

More at LINK.


----------



## Fishbone Jones (8 Feb 2010)

Baden  Guy said:
			
		

> Convention Brews Tea Party Tension
> 
> The first-ever national convention for the Tea Party movement takes place next week in Nashville, Tenn., and Sarah Palin is the keynote speaker.
> 
> ...



The article is dated. The convention already took place. See the above post by Thucydides, posted yesterday at 11:12:06.


----------



## observor 69 (9 Feb 2010)

Yes RG you are right, the article was written before the Tea Party convention was held.
But the point I was trying to show is that the movement has internal conflicts as mentioned in the article,
I will happily provide links to post convention stories on these tensions if you would like.


----------



## Fishbone Jones (9 Feb 2010)

Baden  Guy said:
			
		

> Yes RG you are right, the article was written before the Tea Party convention was held.
> But the point I was trying to show is that the movement has internal conflicts as mentioned in the article,
> I will happily provide links to post convention stories on these tensions if you would like.



Nope. Just didn't know why you posted a dated article. Now we do.


----------

