Tag: Sarah Palin (page 16)

Here's to Gov. Palin and her PTA experience. Can someone please tell her she's running for the Vice Presidency of the United States, not Cheerleader in Chief for John McCain.

For her cheap shot at Miranda rights, my gloves are coming off.

Oh, and her praise of the line item veto? Her first use of it cut funding for homes for unwed mothers.

More speech thoughts?

The pre-scripted, ready made for prime time Sarah Palin is beginning her speech.

Live blog in comments.

Updates below.

Here's an interesting article on Gov. Sarah Palin from CQ that posits Palin would be more like Spiro Agnew than Dick Cheney on foreign policy.

What about on the other issues, from health care to social security to prisoners' rights to reproductive rights to global warming, energy and the economy.

Dick Cheney fortunately will soon be history. It's up to us, the voters, who we get next.

Gov. Sarah Palin will give her speech tonight to the Republican National Convention. CNN provides punditry on what she is expected to say and what she should say.

The time to listen to Gov. Palin for clues as to who she is and what she believes has passed. That was last week, before the McCain campaign professionals took control to remake her in their image.

Whatever Palin says tonight is practiced, scripted and reflective of the Repubicans, not her. They would no more send her out there to speak on her own than they would their surrogates. In fact, as I reported the other day, the McCain campaign acknowledged pre-scripting her speech:

[McCain spokesman Rick]Davis said a generic, "masculine" speech was being prepared before the pick was made and, now that Palin is the choice, she is adapting the speech to her own needs and personality.

That's why its so important to review what she said and did and who she was before becoming a VP candidate. She's the product of image makers now, not reality.

Moving on to issues closer to home for us, I was wondering about Governor Sarah Palin's record on prisons and prisoners. As Governor, the Alaska Department of Corrections is within her purview.

Alaska's prisons are sorely overcrowded. Since I don't have access to Alaska state court pleadings, I searched PACER for federal lawsuits against Palin on civil rights violations. Palin has been sued at least twice in federal court in Alaska during her year and a half term, once by a prisoner named Berry Jack who claimed he was raped for 3 days, treated at a medical facility, and then denied recommended therapy thereafter. His complaint is here (pdf.)

The Court ordered him to file an Amended Complaint. In his Amended Complaint (pdf), he said he wrote to Gov. Palin and she wrote back, saying she stood behind Anchorage Correctional Complex Superintendant Debbie Miller's decision to refuse him therapy. He states he wrote her again and "she called Alaska State troopers on me." He put in another request for treatment after which, he alleges, the Department of Corrections destroyed all his records. [More...]

Cindy McCain was interviewed by Katie Couric this morning on CBS about Gov. Sarah Palin's views on abortion:

COURIC: Some, even Republicans seem surprised that Senator McCain picked a running mate who opposes abortion even in-- in the cases of rape and incest and believes creationism should be taught in schools. And I'm just curious, do you believe--or do you agree with that?

More...

On Sunday, before the news about Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter was announced, I initiated a ban on TalkLeft prohibiting mention of her personal or family matters. I was one of the only, if not the only, liberal blog instituting this policy.

I was determined that my criticism of her, which has been limited to her lack of experience and preparedness to take over the Presidency if the need arises, her record and her lack of record while in Government service, the pending allegations of misuse of power while in office, and her position on issues, not be misconstrued by others as an attack on her gender or her personal life. By never mentioning her personal and family issues, I thought that it would be clear that gossip, rumor and innuendo of a personal nature were not related to my criticism.

Readers on both sides were upset with my decision. Some wanted to praise her, others want to point out her hypocrisy given her adverse positions on teaching sex-ed and making birth control available, even in her state which has one of the highest rates of sexually-transmitted diseases in the country. I have spent hours deleting comments and banning commenters who violated my ban over the past few days. That's fine. Almost all of the comments were objectionable under any standard, and I refuse to have a site that bears my name be associated with them.

Now, I feel tooled. [More...]

This is the most boring convention ever. I'm just waiting for Big Brother 10 to start.

Just now, former Law and Order Actor Fred Thompson said of Obama: What has he done besides give "a teleprompter speech designed to appeal to America's critics abroad?" It brought the greatest applause and some stood.

Thompson said Obama was the most inexperienced candidate ever, or something like that.

Obama is refusing to fight back on the inexperience ground. He needs to get out there and hit hard. They are not just the radical right and wrong on the issues, 1/2 of their ticket, by any standard, lacks even a modicum of the skills and experience necessary to lead the country if need be.

Since Obama's unlikely to do that, the MSM and blogs will have to do it for him.

Clueless Donna Brazile said Thompson "gave a great speech." Huh? What side is she on?

Via Politico, in the 2006 Alaska Governor's race, Sarah Palin ran against former Alaska Governor Tony Knowles. Knowles campaign put together this oppositon research document on Palin, outlining her position on issues.

One of Barack Obama's aides worked on that campaign. It will not be distributing the document. It's positon:

We’re running against John McCain — the issues raised around his decision and the fact that he clearly bowed under to the right wing of his party and let them exercise veto power over his vice presidential pick,” Dunn said, suggesting the Obama campaign wouldn’t be recycling the 2006 Democratic criticism of Palin.

I'm watching a Pledge of Allegiance video being narrated by a Republican teenager with a wonderful speaking voice.

Then I read this, about Sarah Palin and the Alaska Independence Party, with which she was affiliated (although not a member) for many years. The party founder, Joe Vogel, in 1991 said:

"But you get to thinking. Why the hell do I owe them anything? And then you get mad. And you say the hell with them. And you renounce allegiance, and you pledge your efforts, your effects, your honor, your life to Alaska, that's how I do--I'm an Alaskan see. And they know it. I've told them so-- to go to hell every way I can and then I sway. I took a case to the Supreme Court believing in the Supreme Court. And I'd rather be tried in a wh*rehouse with a madame as a judge--there's more justice! And if they don't like it they know where they can go.

I tried it. I believed in my country. I believed in the court system and it stinks. . . .

[More...]

The AP evaluates John McCain's claim that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is as experienced as Sen. Barack Obama and says it falls short.

Straight from the mouth of the John McCain campaign:

Rick Davis, campaign manager for John McCain's presidential bid, insisted that the presidential race will be decided more over personalities than issues during an interview with Post editors this morning.

"This election is not about issues," said Davis. "This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."

And Gov. Sarah Palin's Wednesday speech was pre-written.

Davis said a generic, "masculine" speech was being prepared before the pick was made and, now that Palin is the choice, she is adapting the speech to her own needs and personality.

More support for the suggestion that McCain was hoping for Lieberman or Ridge, got the nix from the radical right, and hastily decided on Palin instead. [More...]