McCain’s Folly: Keeping up with the Palin debacle
I’m trying very hard to keep up with all the news, but it seems to be endless. Let’s see what we have so far.
Governor Sarah Palin…
1) Was a member of (and still supports) the Alaska Independence Party, which believes that Alaska’s statehood is “illegal” and its admission the United States was made possible by “occupational troops.”
2) Opposes sex education and supports abstinence-until-marriage education. The same education that failed her pregnant unwed teenage daughter. The same education that has had disastrous effects in sub-Saharan Africa and has cost countless lives.
3) Cut funding for a group that helps teen mothers (like her daughter).
4) Sat in at a Jews For Jesus sermon two weeks ago, sponsored by her church, where the speaker said that anti-Israeli terrorism was “God’s Judgement.”
5) Was vetted over the course of almost an entire day for the position as McCain’s running mate.
6) Hired a lobbyist with ties to Jack Abramoff, and was for Ted Stevens before she was against him.
7) Thinks an oil pipeline is “God’s will”.
8 ) Has no experience with lawmaking or national government, but has misrepresented her experience with the national guard.
9) As mayor, increased government expenditures by 33%, and increased taxes collected by the city by 38%.
10) Is an alarming example of the kind of judgment that McCain and his people would exercise when choosing a Secretary of State or Secretary of Defense.
#11 Oh dear. Just after I published this, another story broke. Palin claimed last week to be a “reformer” who worked to end the “abuses of earmark spending in Congress.” And yet, as governor she proposed 31 earmarks totaling $197 million – more, per person, than any other state.
To paraphrase a bit from Andrew Sullivan’s blog:
What her selection reveals about McCain is that he is a risk-taker who makes snap decisions “from the gut.” He liked Palin. She looked like a maverick and a bit like himself. He didn’t invest the time or resources to look into her deeply. This isn’t about Palin’s readiness to be president, it’s about McCain’s readiness to be president. His first real executive decision, and he made it a shallow, incompetent, and reckless one.
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Whatever, VP’s have no constitutional power.
I feel safer with McCain/Palin than I do with Obama/Biden. Free Markets, no regulation. I also do not believe in Obama’s taxing policy.
I hate it when people bring up useless dirt against canidates. Oh well.
Ah, yes the bright eyes of youth! Read the “Limits of Power” by a guy named Bacevich. He is closer to the truth. All politicians are Republicrates, there isn’t a dime’s difference between most of them and the ones that are different get subverted by the majority.
So, I am not surprised by Palin, or Obama. They all lie to get in office. They follow their own agenda. Some time in the 50’s the industrial military complex took over Washingtion, as a matter of fact the President at the time made a speech about this crisis and no one listened. Now Washington is owned by lobbyists, at least with the “spoils” system you got a change of faces with a change in patronage.
Remember, those that pay the piper get to call the tune.
Couldn’t agree more. Well put. And don’t forget, Palin is a Creationist that doesn’t believe in evolution. She’s a female version of W. That’s why they like her. But like W she’s stupid and dangerous.
Let’s see what we have with Biden, the way I look at it all lies. Here are just 14 from the debate alone!
1. TAX VOTE: Biden said McCain voted “the exact same way†as Obama to increase taxes on Americans earning just $42,000, but McCain DID NOT VOTE THAT WAY.
2. AHMEDINIJAD MEETING: Joe Biden lied when he said that Barack Obama never said that he would sit down unconditionally with Mahmoud Ahmedinijad of Iran. Barack Obama did say specifically, and Joe Biden attacked him for it.
3. OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING: Biden said, “Drill we must.†But Biden has opposed offshore drilling and even compared offshore drilling to “raping†the Outer Continental Shelf.â€
4. TROOP FUNDING: Joe Biden lied when he indicated that John McCain and Barack Obama voted the same way against funding the troops in the field. John McCain opposed a bill that included a timeline, that the President of the United States had already said he would veto regardless of it’s passage.
5. OPPOSING CLEAN COAL: Biden says he’s always been for clean coal, but he just told a voter that he is against clean coal and any new coal plants in America and has a record of voting against clean coal and coal in the U.S. Senate.
6. ALERNATIVE ENERGY VOTES: According to FactCheck.org, Biden is exaggerating and overstating John McCain’s record voting for alternative energy when he says he voted against it 23 times.
7. HEALTH INSURANCE: Biden falsely said McCain will raise taxes on people’s health insurance coverage — they get a tax credit to offset any tax hike. Independent fact checkers have confirmed this attack is false
8. OIL TAXES: Biden falsely said Palin supported a windfall profits tax in Alaska — she reformed the state tax and revenue system, it’s not a windfall profits tax.
9. AFGHANISTAN / GEN. MCKIERNAN COMMENTS: Biden said that top military commander in Iraq said the principles of the surge could not be applied to Afghanistan, but the commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force Gen. David D. McKiernan said that there were principles of the surge strategy, including working with tribes, that could be applied in Afghanistan.
10. REGULATION: Biden falsely said McCain weakened regulation — he actually called for more regulation on Fannie and Freddie.
11. IRAQ: When Joe Biden lied when he said that John McCain was “dead wrong on Iraqâ€, because Joe Biden shared the same vote to authorize the war and differed on the surge strategy where they John McCain has been proven right.
12. TAX INCREASES: Biden said Americans earning less than $250,000 wouldn’t see higher taxes, but the Obama-Biden tax plan would raise taxes on individuals making $200,000 or more.
13. BAILOUT: Biden said the economic rescue legislation matches the four principles that Obama laid out, but in reality it doesn’t meet two of the four principles that Obama outlined on Sept. 19, which were that it include an emergency economic stimulus package, and that it be part of “part of a globally coordinated effort with our partners in the G-20.â€
14. REAGAN TAX RATES: Biden is wrong in saying that under Obama, Americans won’t pay any more in taxes then they did under Reagan.
That’s quite a list of lies and half-truths you have copy-and-pasted there. I assume you got that from McCain’s campaign newsletter? Perhaps you should have watched the debate and done some research yourself. Or at least gone to an independent source for such an analysis.
Please visit FactCheck.org, whom you misquoted on one of your points, and you’ll find that both candidates voiced inaccuracies during the debate. The most egregious of which were clearly from Palin, not Biden. Palin said that Obama voted “against funding the troops” yet did not characterize McCain’s identical “No” votes the same way. Biden didn’t say that they voted the same on any specific bill, he CLEARLY called Palin out on the fact that McCain voted No on one funding bill and Yes on another, while Obama voted Yes on the first and No on the second. They were both “for the troops” and both “against the troops” if you use the McCain camp’s idiotic verbage. The truth is, a specific Yes or No vote doesn’t mean the candidate was for or against one particular line item of that bill, and tells you nothing about other bills with similar measures that they voted differently on.
Biden has always, always support clean coal. A confusing statement he made to a voter (about clean coal and China) was used to say that he didn’t support it, but he has ALWAYS voted in favor of it and says he will continue to in the future. Please, read FactCheck.org and not McCain.com.
However Barack’s answer about meeting with foreign leaders may have sounded to you, he has many times come out and clarified that he would NOT meet with Ahmedinjad without appropriate diplomatic proceedings happening first and proving to have traction. Anyone can play the game of quote mining to misrepresent a candidate’s views or intentions. But it isn’t productive. That’s the kind of politics we want to END.
McCain voted “against alternative energy” just as many times as Biden stated, using his definition (voting against alternative energy funding or mandates, or voting for exceptions to existing mandates). Whether this is a useful metric is debateable, but he didn’t “lie.”
McCain’s healthcare plan WILL absolutely, positively raise taxes for employers. It’s a ridiculous plan and EVERY independent analysis of it has shown that it will be incredibly expensive, despite Palin’s lie that it would be “budget neutral.” Again, FactCheck.org is against you on this point.
Palin absolutely supported windfall taxes against oil companies in Alaska, and has bragged about this point several times. Many of her supporters LIKE this about her, but dislike that she has changed her mind due to McCain’s position. Personally I don’t like the idea of windfall profit taxes.
You’re also wrong about McKiernan’s comments and what Biden said about them. Biden said our commander in AFGHANISTAN (not Iraq, as you claimed) said that the surge would not work. Again, FactCheck.org gave this point to Biden.
Here is McKiernan’s quote:
“The word I don’t use for Afghanistan is ‘surge,’ ” McKiernan stressed, saying that what is required is a ‘sustained commitment’ to a counterinsurgency effort that could last many years and would ultimately require a political, not military, solution.”
On Regulation, as FactCheck.org points out, McCain was against it before he was for it. He did vote for more regulation of Fannie and Freddie in 2006, after it became obvious that a crisis was inevitable.
The rest of your points, like the Reagan tax claim, need more evidence than your word – especially given your track record of inaccuracy throughout this post.
No politician is worth talking about. Being a politician means they have made it. They can do whatever they want to when they have achieved that status. Look at George W. Bush. A murderous felon by all legal counts yet receives more than we can imagine every year as a retired politician free from the confines of civil law. They are all felons, they all steal and none are worth talking about except dragging them out of office by the hair and scalping them in public. They have caused us enough harm that is for sure!