Tag: Sarah Palin (page 12)

The Washington Post gives four Pinocchios to Gov. Sarah Palin for her claim that as Governor of Alaska, she oversees 20% of the U.S. oil and gas supply. First, the claims:

Gov. Sarah Palin "knows more about energy than probably anyone in the United States of America." (Sen. John McCain, NBC interview, Sept. 10)

"My job has been to oversee nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of oil and gas." (Gov. Sarah Palin, Golden, Colo., Sept. 15 )

The truth: [More...]

Well I used to be disgusted

Now I try to be amused

That's my reaction to Gov. Sarah Palin's offer in Michigan to have voters play "Stump the Candidate."

This is an open thread.

The National Jewish Democratic Council is calling on the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations to rescind its invitation to Sarah Palin to participate in the protest rally against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:

Monday’s protest against Ahmadinejad is too important to be tainted by partisanship. Unfortunately, the campaign of Senator John McCain is much more interested in scoring political points than insuring there is bipartisan solidarity around the anti- Ahmadinejad efforts. Therefore, we call upon the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations to withdraw the invitation to Governor Sarah Palin and we applaud Senator Hillary Clinton’s decision to not attend the rally after the attendance of Palin was announced.

By withdrawing Palin’s invitation, the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations will be able to return the focus to America’s outrage towards the genocidal musings and nuclear ambitions of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

My earlier post on Hillary's refusal to appear with Palin is here.

CNN just aired the McCain Palin Michigan town forum live here. (Link no longer working since it's over.) I caught the last ten minutes or so.

Question by young woman on health care. McCain answered that Government run health care is not in the best interest of Americans.

He favors a $5k refundable tax credit for people to get the health plan they, not their employer, chooses. He favors Community health centers, outcome- based treatment, instead of paying for evey conceivable test, we cover people for a year. Stresses wellness and fitness, citing an increase in child obesity. He will reward you when you succeed.

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Former federal prosecutor Edward O'Callaghan, now working for the John McCain campaign, is actively involved in fighting the subpoenas issued in TrooperGate, the investigation into whether Gov. Sarah Palin abused the power of her office.

O'Callaghan resigned as co-chief of the terrorism and national security unit of the U.S. attorney's office in New York in July to work for McCain. Newsweek reports:

He told NEWSWEEK that he and another McCain campaign lawyer (whom he declined to identify) are serving as legal "consultants" to Thomas Van Flein, the Anchorage lawyer who at state expense is representing Palin and her office in the inquiry. "We are advising Thomas Van Flein on this matter to the extent that it impacts on the national campaign," he said. "I'm helping out on legal strategy."

And, it appears a conflict of interest may have arisen. Palin's lawyer is no longer representing the Office of the Governor -- as of last week, he is only representing Palin and her husband. [More...]

The press will not ignore TrooperGate. The Alaska Attorney General informs us that Gov. Sarah Palin's employees won't honor the subpoenas to testify about TrooperGate.

In a letter to state Sen. Hollis French, the Democrat overseeing the investigation, Republican Attorney General Talis Colberg asked that the subpoenas be withdrawn. He also said the employees would refuse to appear unless either the full state Senate or the entire Legislature votes to compel their testimony.

Colberg, who was appointed by Palin, said the employees are caught between their respect for the Legislature and their loyalty to the governor, who initially agreed to cooperate with the inquiry but has increasingly opposed it since McCain chose her as his running mate.

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An anti-Iran rally in New York City will not feature Hillary Clinton:

Clinton backed out of a protest scheduled for Monday in New York against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's attendance at the opening of the UN General Assembly after learning that organizers also invited the Republican vice presidential nominee without informing her.

Organized by American Jewish groups, the "Rally to Stop Iran Now" sent out a media advisory billing the joint appearance in their headline: "SEN. HILLARY CLINTON AND GOV. SARAH PALIN AT “RALLY TO STOP IRAN NOW,” AT UNITED NATIONS, MONDAY, SEPT. 22nd, 11:45 A.M."

Good for Hillary.

PPP's latest Virginia poll (pdf) is out, showing Obama, for the 4th month in a row, continues to have a 2 point lead over John McCain.

One reason: Biden is far more popular there than Gov. Sarah Palin:

Virginia is the only battleground state PPP has polled in where Joe Biden gets better overall reviews than Sarah Palin. Biden has a net 11 point favorability rating with 38% of respondents saying
that his selection made them more likely to vote for Obama while just 27% say his choice made them less likely to choose the Democrat.

Palin has just a two point net favorability,
with 42% saying they are more likely to vote John McCain because of her and 40% saying they are less likely to do so.

40% of those polled say they are less likely to vote for McCain because of Palin. 42% say the opposite. Sarah Palin = Polarizer in Chief.

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Even David Gergen on CNN tonight said John McCain's campaign ads are false. He says the media is beginning to pushback against Palin and McCain and it may spread to the public.

CNN also had a long review of McCain's ads with reporter Randi Kaye and Factcheck.org. The upshot:

• Sex education ad: false Obama was trying to get kids to learn about recognizing improper touching.

• The Bridge to Nowhere: Palin never told Congress "no thanks", Congress had already killed it.

• Earmarks: McCain lied on The View today and said Palin didn't ask for earmarks while Governor. This year alone she asked for 197 million. She vetoed some earmarks but also asked for others.

• Palin claims Alaska produces 20% of the energy produced in US. It's 3.5%. It matters because they are using this in a claim that Palin is some kind of energy expert.

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Sen. John McCain's campaign today announced Gov. Sarah Palin will not meet with the investigators in TrooperGate. Previously she said she welcomed the investigation and would cooperate.

The fired public safety official, Walter Monegan, is speaking out.

"She's not telling the truth when she told ABC neither she nor her husband pressured me to fire Trooper Wooten," said Walt Monegan, the Alaskan official whose dismissal by Sarah Palin is the focus of a state investigation known as "Troopergate". "And she's not telling the truth to the media about her reasons for firing me."

He'll be on Rachel Maddow's show tonight. (Update below the fold)

CNN's Randi Kaye had a great taped segment on Campabell Brown's show tonight with FactCheck.Org on Palin's distortion of her record and accomplishments. I'm going to try and find a video of it, it was one of the most comprehensive exposing of the untruths I've seen yet. Hopefully they may replay it.

Salon has an article about Alaska Baptist Minister Howard Bess who says he is frightened by Gov. Sarah Palin's injection of her evangelical views into her governing. He says as Mayor she tried to ban his book about gays from the public library, ban abortion at a local hospital in the valley and get creationists on the school board.

On abortion:

In 1996, evangelical churches mounted a vigorous campaign to take over the local hospital's community board and ban abortion from the valley. When they succeeded, Bess and Dr. Susan Lemagie, a Palmer OB-GYN, fought back, filing suit on behalf of a local woman who had been forced to travel to Seattle for an abortion. The case was finally decided by the Alaska Supreme Court, which ruled that the hospital must provide valley women with the abortion option.

At one point during the hospital battle, passions ran so hot that local antiabortion activists organized a boisterous picket line outside Dr. Lemagie's office, in an unassuming professional building across from Palmer's Little League field. According to Bess and another community activist, among the protesters trying to disrupt the physician's practice that day was Sarah Palin.

On her attempt to get creationists on the school board:

The Denver Post has more on Gov. Sarah Palin's campaign event in Colorado today: She repeated her lie about opposing the Bridge to Nowhere and was heckled by a woman in the back who sporadically yelled "You're Not Qualified."

The audience response to the heckler: It turned to her and shouted "U.S.A., U.S.A."

Colorado Rep. Ed Perlmutter, a long-time Obama supporter, has this terrific response to Palin:

"If Governor Palin wants to represent 'change' in Washington," U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Golden, said in a statement, "she could try something like telling the truth about her record of support for the bridge to nowhere or for other pork-barrel earmarks, her outdated and extreme positions on women's issues, her heaping of millions of dollars in debt upon the small town of Wasilla, Alaska, or her abuse of power investigation.

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