Which is: she is no reformer. She is as corrupt as the rest of the Republicans. And she is about to get caught for it big time.
And McCain is about to get caught with his own pants down for not vetting her properly before he made that desperate late night phone call, after Obama blew even Republicans away with his Thursday night speech at the Democratic National Convention.
Some more things McCain is going to have to deal with:
Palin hired one of Alaska’s most connected lobbying firms and received nearly 27 million dollars in earmarks for the tiny town of Wasilla (population under 7,000) when she was mayor. This was the same firm that Ted Stevens' son worked for. She also campaigned for Ted Stevens, who is now under federal indictment.
The “bridge to nowhere” that everyone talks about her opposing? She supported it first. Campaigning for governor just two years ago, she actually asked for quick action on the more than $200 million bridge but changed her tune when the public opinion went against it.
She just hired a lawyer to defend herself against charges that she used her influence to get her former brother-in-law fired from his job in the state trooper’s office.
And, notwithstanding John McCain’s America First sloganeering, Palin and her husband were, in the 1990s, members of the Alaskan Independence Party, an organization that supports Alaska seceding from the United States. Read it and weep.
Each of the links above makes its own good case why Palin is a bad choice. All the evidence together makes it clear she is a very bad choice.
The fact is that his vetting team is still in Alaska, reading newspapers that are not online. McCain defends this as normal, but it sounds like there may well be more discovery. This story is not going to go away for awhile. And it’s going to draw attention away from whatever it is McCain would really like to talk about. Meanwhile, he still has a lot of splainin’ to do.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Cannonshop
no comments? this has been up since before I got home tonight-and I left work early!
Lisa-good shot with the crack about Abstinence-Only education. Do ya got a link or something about the AIP thing? It might be interesting to read about this. (if no link, a paper source I can dig up at the Library-it looks like it's going to be a Strike at Boeing for sure now, and I'll have the time...)
2 - Jonathan Scanlan
Ya know, I have a theory that John McCain would have made a good choice had he decided to take a break when Obama did.
The fact that he spent that time campaigning has meant he had no time for deep reflection and appraisal of his strategy.
3 - Arch Conservative
"Sarah's responsibilities as a mother?"
How come no one has ever asked Barack how he plans to spend time with his children if he is elcted President?
"Not even that she has not a smidgen of foreign policy experience and didn’t even own a passport until recently"
Excuse me but Obama's foreign policy experience consists of giving a speech to 200,000 drunken Germans and stopping to say hi to Nicolas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown on the way home.
Obama and Biden both voted for the bridge to nowhere.
Palin has executive experience Obama has none.
It's always amusing watching some moonbat tear down Palin who is the VP nominee over her supposed lack of experience while lauding Obama who is himself grossly inexperienced for the position of President.
Palin's not going anywhere. She will give her little speech at the convention. This pregnancy hoopla will die down as most people find it grossly disatasteful and then we will go back to actually talking about the candidates and not their sidekicks.
Then we can talk about how friendly Obama gas been with Bill Ayers. How Obama has promised billions of dollars in spending while claiming he will only raise taxes on the super rich.
How Obama actually has no foreign policy experience and bungled his response to the Russia/Georgia brouha. How Obama opposed drilling until he saw a poll that showed most Americans favored it and then had a miraculous epiphany and changed his mind on the issue.
Obama's opposition to nuclear power even though his buddies in France use it, we have over 100 plants in operation now and not one single person has ever been harmed in this nation from the use of nuclear power.
Obama's repeated claims that it was such a hard decision for him to oppose the war but he wasn't actually in Congress at the time of the vote.
Obama opposing the Born Alive Infant Protection Act when even NARAL supported it.
Obama claiming unions were special interest groups during the Dem primaries when Edwards was getting all the union support and money and then when Edwards was out of the picture taking all that union money.
Obama's change of mind on public financing.
Obama's pledge to debate McCain anywhere, anytime but then not agreeing to do townhalls with McCain.
Yeah all this hoopla over Palin is just a distraction created to get people to ignore hwat an empty suit not ready for primetime hack Barack Obama is.
4 - Condor
A great rah-rah piece. You need to go national. I am moved to tears.
Have you read the candidates ecomonic stimulus plans yet? At 800 billion trade deficit, you would think some economic stimulus package discussion would the nice.
It's obvious you have issues with Palin. I just don't see a lot of red meat in the discussion. Except perhaps the Levi whatshisname really just wanted to get laid, and so did Bristol. They are teenagers. Hormonal, always right, brought up with all the "cultural" noise from a bunch of sources. Of course they are going to have sex. How many teenagers have unprotected sex? And STDs? We all know those answers, there are polls and studies galore.... yet you didn't mention one.
It's not about abstinence only discussions. It's about society. Peer pressure, media pressure...And teenages gettin-it-on. That's all it is.
What's a parent to do? Are we talking sound proof rooms and straight jackets until teens are considered adults? Is 18 old enough to drink? Or vote? I know some very mature teens, who are model citizens... and have babies. It's more than just the "mom talk" -- yet you are hung up on the "mom talk" as the cure all. It's not. There are forces more powerful than the "mom talk" swaying teens into making decisions like unprotected sex. Let's get-it-on SEX. Sex is okay, it's easy, it feels good... media shouts the slogans 24/7... the "mom talk" isn't the potion... it's just noise coming from that familiar something that nags you all the time. Why would a teen listen to their parents... they don't even like them from age 14 to 25....
5 - Christopher Rose
Lisa, I had to delete the two comments you made with the links in because you forgot both the anchor text and the closing tags on them.
Please repost if you understand this or contact me through the Blogcritics group and I'll explain it to you.
6 - Andy Marsh
I love it when you put up links that shoot your own positions in the foot. This is from the link to Palin and the AIP...Gail Fenumiai, director of the Alaska Division of Elections, tells ABC News that regardless of the impression given to members of the Alaskan Independence Party, "Gov. Sarah Palin first registered to vote in the state in May 1982 as a Republican, and she has not changed her party affiliate with the Division of Elections since that time."
Read that and weep! Do you actually read the links you put up, or just the headlines of the links?
7 - Lisa Solod Warren
Andy, She attended their meetings and supported their policies.
But...that is not the point:
Condor: There is plenty of red meat in the story. If you can't see it, then that is your problem.
And now the story is all over the press. I will let you all look it up yourselves.....
The link to MySpace is just to show that perhaps her family is a little more dysfunctional than all of you who believe it to be supportive.
The MAIN thing is that McCain did not vet his candidate properly. Her links to Ted Stevens, to financial improprieties (today's New York Times among others), her lack of experience (just because she has executive experience does not mean she has been a good or effective executive, her total lack of foreign policy experience do not make her the BEST person for the vice presidency, which is what the Republicans keep saying, over and over, no matter what the question. (Just like the answer to any question about McCain is that he was a P.O.W,)
McCain keeps arguing that she is a reformer. She isn't. Just like he is not a maverick, if he ever once was. It is all spin. Smoke and mirrors.
Here is my bet. Tonight, her speech will be all about her family. Which, as many of you seem to argue, has nothing to do with her ability to be veep and should not be relevant. But I bet that is what she will talk about.
McCain has his explaining to do because he did not take the time to make the best choice. He panicked, followed Rove's advice to pander to the religious right, did not vet Palin, and all of this is going to come back to hurt him.
(re the links....yeh, it was WAY to early in the a.m. and I knew I got it wrong. Will work on it later... I have to run to an appointment. Thanks.)
8 - Andy Marsh
Okay, she went to a few meetings of a group that has a few members that think a revote on secession might be a good idea. Can you pointto one position paper that shows she supported their ideas or policies?
Does that mean we can hold Barry responsible for everything that gets spewed on the DailyKos? I mean, come on, he went to their convention and spoke didn't he?
9 - Joanne Huspek
No one is perfect, and a smart voter will realize that before casting his/her ballot, not afterward.
I wonder why the scrutiny isn't as intense on the other side?
10 - Arch Conservative
The Palin Bashers are grasping at straws.
Does any reasonable person believe that a potential VP should receive more speculation that a potential president?
The moonbats are trying to keep the focus on Palin and off Obama because they know that if people figure out who Obama really is he loses the election. It's just that simple.
The way they are going about it is downright bizzarre though. Attacking Palin, a VP nominee over her lack of foreign policy experience when Obama, the pres nominee, has a sum total of foreign policy experience that includes giving a speech to two hundred thousand drunk Germans following a free concert, and making a couple of pitstoops for photo ops with European leaders on the way home.
Attacking Palin over her associations? Can you say Bill Ayers, Tony rezko, and Jeremiah Wright?
Caliming Palin has ties to lobbyists? So doesn't every other plitician, including Obama.
Making an issue of the bridge to nowhere? Both Obama and Biden voted for it.
Savaging her family for something that has happened to thousands of other families in this nation?
It's obvious that the Obamabots are scared shitless of Sarah Palin and they're doing all that they can to slime her and keep the focus off of Obama. I don' think it can work because many Americans are finding it distasteful and realize that it is more appropriate to be focusing on those who would actually be president ratehr than VP.
11 - Clavos
So much BS, so little time...
...just because she has executive experience does not mean she has been a good or effective executive...
An 80% approval rating from the state's voters is a pretty good indication that she's an excellent executive.
...her total lack of foreign policy experience...
You mean like Obama's? Palin has actually negotiated agreements with the Canadian government. Obama has spoken to a large crowd of inebriated Germans. Palin is slated for the number two slot; Obama for the top spot. You Dems have your ticket upside down.
McCain keeps arguing that she is a reformer. She isn't.
That's just plain wrong. She has successfully run several corrupt officials out of the Alaskan government, including her own party's state chairman, and she killed Stevens' bridge to nowhere.
You just keep repeating the same empty Democratic talking points. Repeat the lies long enough, and people will start to believe them, huh?
12 - Matthew T. Sussman
You know, I heard when McCain croaks and Palin is left in charge of the presidency, they're going to remove the entire Cabinet, Congress, Supreme Court, White House maids, and other interns, and it's just going to be her running the country. Well, her and her pregnant daughter. Did you know her daughter's pregnant? What a family!
13 - Lisa Solod Warren
Look, my argument was, is and will be that she was not the best pick for the job. She got the nod because the conservative Christians pressured McCain to choose her over his first pick. She wasn't vetted properly because she was a rush job and now the stuff is just starting to come out and the team is having to play catch up. They have a team on the ground in Alaska and reporters are swarming all over the state.
I have made my case, as have others.
Some of you disagree, some of you don't. But all that I said needed to be said, as the New York Times, ABC, the Washington Post, CNN, the BBC (today) and many, many others agree.
It's clear if she were a man she never would have been picked.
Ultimately, of course, the voters will decide. Meanwhile, there has been very little attention paid to McCain himselfor or his issues for five days and Palin's background is just starting to be uncovered. And this isn't going to go away for quite awhile.
I will watch her speech, as I am sure many of you will, too. It should be, at the least, good television.
If anyone still wants to talk about abstinence education and whether it works or doesn't, I have links and am happy to discuss it. I have raised two teenaged kids myself so I have some experience in this.
14 - Andy Marsh
Boys or girls Lisa?
15 - Lisa Solod Warren
One of each. Neither pregnant or impregnated anyone else. Yet.
16 - Arch Conservative
Now the mainstream media is debating wether or not Palin should take a DNA test and what the odds are that she will be pulled as VP.
Is there anyone that still wanst to deny the MSM is in the tankf or Obama?
17 - Matthew T. Sussman
Abstinence education does work. Just make sure your kids are sexually undesirable and/or losers.
18 - Lisa Solod Warren
Now THAT'S funny, Matthew. Tasteless, but funny.
19 - Lisa Solod Warren
Here is some fun for all you news junkies.
And also, go bloggers!
20 - Andy Marsh
I've never been a fan of abstinence only training for teens, but I'm also not a fan of anyone else telling me how to raise my kids! I've seen plenty of parents in action with their kids that I've wanted to smack in the head for being stupid (the parent, not the kid). But it's mostly the ones that let their children throw temper tantrums in the supermarket and things like that. I'm not saying you need to swat a kid on the butt everytime they act up, but let me tell you, a cold glass of water in the face will stop a tantrum in it's tracks!
I have two...daughters...so, like the saying goes, if you have a son, you only have to worry about one penis, when you have a daughter, you have to worry about all of them!
My daughters know the scoop. They're 22 and 19 and I'm not a grandpa and don't wanna be anytime soon.
But on another note...this is Sarah Palin's family and they really have no place in this discussion. They're not the ones running for office. Just like the fact that her husband had a dui 22 years ago, what happens in the Palin household is nobody's business but the Palin's themselves. Come on, even Barry said so!
21 - Jordan Richardson
I'm not saying you need to swat a kid on the butt everytime they act up, but let me tell you, a cold glass of water in the face will stop a tantrum in it's tracks!
So that's how we shut you up? ;)
22 - Lisa Solod Warren
Now EVERYONE'S a comedian!
Last comic standing, please turn off the lights:)
23 - Lisa Solod Warren
(it would not let me post url so i cut and pasted. just a little more on the secession thing, for Andy)
Founder Of Group Palin Courted Professed "Hatred For The American Government"; Cursed "Damn Flag"
By Greg Sargent - September 2, 2008, 6:10PM
The founder of the Alaska Independence Party -- a group that has been courted over the years by Sarah Palin, and one her husband was a member of for roughly seven years -- once professed his "hatred for the American government" and cursed the American flag as a "damn flag."
The AIP founder, Joe Vogler, made the comments in 1991, in an interview that's now housed at the Oral History Program in the Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
"The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government," Vogler said in the interview, in which he talked extensively about his desire for Alaskan secession, the key goal of the AIP.
"And I won't be buried under their damn flag," Vogler continued in the interview, which also touched on his disappointment with the American judicial system. "I'll be buried in Dawson. And when Alaska is an independent nation they can bring my bones home."
At another point, Volger advocated renouncing allegiance to the United States. In the course of denouncing Federal regulation over land, he said:
"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."
You can listen to audio of the relevant section of the Volger interview here. Bill Schneider, curator of oral history at the library, verified the authenticity of the interview and the quote to me a few moments ago.
Palin has courted the group over the years.
Three years after the controversial interview, in 1994, Palin attended the group's annual convention, according to witnesses who spoke to ABC News' Jake Tapper. The McCain campaign is disputing her presence there, but Tapper found two people to attest to it.
The McCain campaign today produced Palin's voting registration records, and said they proved she was never a member of the party.
But she has repeatedly reached out to the group. The McCain campaign has confirmed she visited the group's 2000 convention, and she addressed its convention this year, as an incumbent governor whose oath of office includes upholding the Constitution of the United States.
Palin's husband, Todd Palin, was a member of the party from 1995-2002 with a brief exception in 2000.
It's worth noting that Vogler isn't just some figure from ancient history. He is still being hailed on AIP's site this year, the same year Palin addressed the group's convention.
It's worth pondering how big a deal it would be if Obama had ever courted the support of a group whose head had said this kind of thing about America and her flag. Oh, wait...
24 - Joanne Huspek
Lisa: "Look, my argument was, is and will be that she was not the best pick for the job." (Sorry, I'm too much of a dinosaur to learn html. Plus I'm trying to pay 85 people today.)
I agree. However, the more I look at it, the more I happen to think that NONE of the candidates are the best pick for the job. Which may lead me to once again "voting my conscience" this year.
I also checked out the links you provided. I have no comment for the blogger article. However, the CNN article caught my attention, only because last Friday as I went home for lunch, I happened to be channel surfing and caught Wolf Blitzer's scathing "reporting" on the Palin choice. Honestly, I thought the top of his head was going to blow off. For a journalist to be so transparent really gave my stomach a turn.
25 - Arch Conservative
Don't worry Lisa....the convention will end soon. Palin will still be standing and then we can get back to talking about what an inexpereienced hack that Barry is.