tagged w/ Half-baked Alaska
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Republican VP candidate says Obama is running as though his opponent is President Bush and its a strategy that's 'wearing pretty thin.'Republican VP candidate says Obama is running as though his opponent is President Bush... more
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And just when I thought that she couldn't get any dumber....
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Palin mistakes fans for protesters at Va. rally
By BOB LEWIS
Associated Press Writer
Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin mistook some of her own fans for hecklers Monday as a rally that drew thousands.
A massive crowd of at least 20,000 spread across the parking lot of Richmond International Raceway, and scores of people on the outer periphery more than 100 yards from the stage could not hear.
"Louder! Louder!" they began chanting, and the cry spread across the crowd to Palin's left. Some pointed skyward, urging that the volume be increased.
Palin stopped her remarks briefly and looked toward the commotion.
"I hope those protesters have the courage and honor to give veterans thanks for their right to protest," she said.
Some in the crowd tried to shout toward her what was really being said, but she couldn't hear them.
Some in the crowd had stood in place for more than three hours on a sunny day without shade. Paramedics provided aid to several people who passed out in the press of people. The exact nature and number of the ailments was not immediately clear from Henrico County authorities.
Palin had campaigned earlier Monday with John McCain in Virginia Beach, only the second time the GOP ticket has campaigned in Virginia since June. Democrat Barack Obama or his running mate, Joe Biden, together have visited the state eight times over that span.
Virginia has been solidly Republican for 40 years but is now an electoral battleground with both sides locked in a very close race for the state's 13 electoral votes.
Addressing the crowd, Palin largely steered clear of her recent criticisms of Obama. Instead, she acknowledged the emotion that has built up on both sides, particularly since the financial collapse.
"There is a lot of anger. There is anger at the inside dealing and anger at lobbyists and anger at the greed on Wall Street. There is anger at the Washington elite and there is anger at voter fraud," she said.
She promised a spending freeze if she and McCain win, and evoked cheers of "Drill, Baby, Drill!" in calling for greater domestic mining and oil drilling. The crowd roared when she criticized Biden for remarks he made in Ohio that the United States had little interest in coal-fired electrical power.
The afternoon's loudest ovation came when country music star Hank Williams Jr. offered a rendition of his hit "Family Tradition" that opened by assailing "the left-wing liberal media."And just when I thought that she couldn't get any dumber....
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Palin... more
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I as a woman would love to see a woman in the White House! However I do have my standards. We do not need a backward thinking woman to represent us. We need a forward thinking woman.I as a woman would love to see a woman in the White House! However I do have my... more
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Funny Sarah Palin video, by theBamFactory. I dont want her to bow out, I want Barack Obama and Joe Biden to beat John McCain and Sarah Palin.
For the past 8 years we have had a 'decider' instead of a leader. John McCain wants us to accept a cheerleader. Cheerleaders cheer for the team, but they dont really play in the games. They cheer for the basketball teams, but they dont play basketball. They cheer for football teams, but they dont play football. Sarah Palin can cheer, but she has not proven she can lead. In Alaska, she abused her power as Governor. What would she do to US?
Does she understand the Constitution, or does she think "Its just a piece of paper"? We need to know. Funny Sarah Palin video, by theBamFactory. I dont want her to bow out, I want Barack... more
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Knowing that anti-abortion rhetoric turns off women and independent voters, Sarah Palin was out on the stump again today trying to blame Barack Obama for abortion rights in this country. This woman is a disaster.Knowing that anti-abortion rhetoric turns off women and independent voters, Sarah... more
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Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin denied Saturday that she had abused her power as Alaska's governor, a conclusion reached by a state investigator in a report released the day before.
"If you read the report, you will see that there was nothing unlawful or unethical about replacing a cabinet member," Palin said as boarded her campaign bus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. "You got to read the report."
Palin violated state ethics law by trying to get her former brother-in-law fired from the state police, a state investigator's report for the bipartisan Legislative Council concluded Friday.
"Gov. Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda," the report states.
Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan's refusal to fire State Trooper Mike Wooten from the state police force was "likely a contributing factor" to Monegan's July dismissal, but Palin had the authority as governor to fire him, the report by former Anchorage prosecutor Stephen Branchflower states.
The investigator's report states Palin's efforts to get Wooten fired broke a state ethics law that bars public officials from pursuing personal interest through official action.
Monegan said he felt vindicated by the findings.
"I believed and had the opinion that I was terminated because I did not fire Wooten," he told CNN. "Now these findings say that that's what happened, so I feel relieved."Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin denied Saturday that she had abused... more
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I wonder if the $150 I might get for bringing in a wolf paw would cover the cost of a rape kit...I wonder if the $150 I might get for bringing in a wolf paw would cover the cost of a... more
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lauz
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added this
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1 year ago
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This is yet another example of pure sexism. Why is it acceptable to photograph Sarah Palin in this manner? Imagine if this were to happen to Hillary Clinton?This is yet another example of pure sexism. Why is it acceptable to photograph Sarah... more
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dabne
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1 year ago
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Sarah Palin's debate performance should signal the beginning of the end of her fad. But for the moment it is worth looking at the meaning of her nomination, without the protective varnish of what conservatives usually dismiss as political correctness.
Why should we pretend not to notice when Gov. Palin's ideas make no sense? Having said last week that "it doesn't matter" whether human activity is the cause of climate change, she said in debate that she "doesn't want to argue" about the causes. It doesn't occur to her that we have to know the causes in order to address the problem. (She was very fortunate that moderator Gwen Ifill didn't ask her whether she truly believes that human beings and dinosaurs inhabited this planet simultaneously only 6,000 years ago.)
Why should we ignore her inability to string together a series of coherent thoughts? As a foe of Wall Street greed and a late convert to the gospel of government regulation, along with John McCain, Palin promised to clean up and reform business. But when her programmed talking points about "getting government out of the way" and protecting "freedom" conflicted with that promise, she didn't notice.
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Why should we give her a pass on the most important issues of the day? Supposedly sharing the fears and concerns of the average families who face the burdens of mortgages, healthcare and economic insecurity, Palin simply refused to discuss changes in bankruptcy law and proved that she didn't know the provisions of McCain's healthcare plan.
All the glaring defects so blatantly on display in her debate with Joe Biden -- and that make her candidacy so darkly comical -- would be the same if she were a hockey dad instead of a "hockey mom." In fact, the cynical attempt to foist Palin on the nation as a symbol of feminist progress is an insult to all women regardless of their political orientation.
There was a time when conservatives lamented the dumbing down of American culture. Preservation of basic standards in schools and workplaces compelled them -- or so they said -- to resist affirmative action for women and minorities. Qualifications mattered; merit mattered; and demagogic appeals for leveling were to be left to the Democrats.
Not anymore.
Actually, the Palin phenomenon is the culmination of a trend that can be traced back to Dan Quayle, the undistinguished Indiana senator whose elevation onto the Republican ticket in 1988 had nothing to do with intellect or experience and everything to do with the youthful appeal of a handsome blond frat boy. (That was how Republican strategists thought they would attract female voters back then, which must be why they believe Palin represents progress.) Quayle too was unable to articulate, let alone defend, the policy positions for which he was supposed to be campaigning. He too had to undergo the surgical stuffing of stock phrases into his head as a minimal substitute for knowledge and thought. And in the same sad way, he too benefited from the drastically reduced expectations applied to anyone whose inadequacy is so obvious.
Quayle deserved more pity than scorn, however, because he seemed to know that he was fighting far above his weight class. Palin evokes no such sympathy, with her jut-jawed, moose-gutting confidence in her own overrated "common sense" and her bullying insistence that only "elitists" would question her expertise.
As Biden showed quite convincingly when he spoke about his modest background and his continuing connection with Main Street, perceptive, intelligent discourse is in no way identical with elitism. Palin's phony populism is as insulting to working- and middle-class Americans as it is to American women. Why are basic diction and intellectual coherence presumed to be out of reach for "real people"? Sarah Palin's debate performance should signal the beginning of the end of her fad.... more
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Now that Sarah Palin has given a series of disasterous interviews, both conservative and liberal columnists have started weighing in on how bad they feel for her. But Palin is a powerful woman with executive experience, and she should have known exactly what she was getting into. Now that Sarah Palin has given a series of disasterous interviews, both conservative... more
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Palin reads from her notes in the debate. word for word in most instances. None of her answers were her own and all planed and thought out. Many viewers did not see this because there was not a split screen. Many did see her glance down when she responded.Palin reads from her notes in the debate. word for word in most instances. None of her... more
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Well you aren't invited to the wedding anyways so....She smiles when she lies.
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Slight nuance in the use of the word between us and our US cousins by the look of things.
dSlight nuance in the use of the word between us and our US cousins by the look of... more
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Sarah Palin attacked Obama's patriotism today over his association with former Weatherman Bill Ayers -- a move that makes it perfectly legitimate to raise questions about the Palins' associations with a group founded by an Alaska secessionist who once professed his "hatred for the American government" and cursed our "damn flag."
In Colorado today, Palin seized on the big front-page New York Times story about Ayers and Obama, which concludes that the two men "do not appear to have been close," to launch her most vicious attack yet on the Illinois Senator -- a harbinger of what's to come.
"This is not a man who sees America as you and I do -- as the greatest force for good in the world," Palin said. "This is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country."
If Palin is going to say this, it is now perfectly legitimate to point out that she repeatedly courted a secessionist group founded by someone who openly professed hatred of the American government, cursed our flag, and wanted to secede from the Union. Sarah's husband, Todd Palin, was a member of this group, which continues to venerate that founder to this day, for years.Sarah Palin attacked Obama's patriotism today over his association with former... more
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BuddyP
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1 year ago
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Sen. Joe Biden and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin have taken the stage for the first and only scheduled vice presidential debate of the election season.
Sen. Joe Biden and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin have taken the stage for the first and only... more
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TaniaK
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1 year ago
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It was creepy to watch Sarah Palin ignore Gwen Ifill's questions and repeat the same scripted answers over and over, as if she were oblivious to her physical surroundings. Even creepier was the fact that so many Republicans interviewed afterward seemed to do the same thing, each robotically repeating the same stock phrases. It was like that scene in Children of the Damned where their eyes start glowing and they all speak in unison.
Instead of "straight talk" we got "straight talking points," from Pat Buchanan on down. Here are some of the buzzwords that spinmeisters in Greater Roveland apparently distributed to any Republican likely to wander within 500 feet of a microphone:
* She was "terrific."
* Joe Biden is "slick."
* She's "younger" and "attractive" and "that represents change."
* Biden and Obama are "looking back" by discussing the last 8 years, and John McCain's role in them. We want to "look forward." (That one's classic Rovian Bushspeak, as is McCain's "let's not place blame" routine.) It was creepy to watch Sarah Palin ignore Gwen Ifill's questions and repeat the same... more
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BuddyP
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1 year ago
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Friday October 3, 2008 10:03 EDT
How Sarah Palin blew it
Joe Biden and Sarah Palin were talking to two different Americas Thursday night. Actually, that's unfair to Joe Biden; he was trying to talk to everyone. I can say for certain, though, that Sarah Palin was talking to -- and winking at -- her own private Idaho, and for long stretches of the debate, it was an unnerving experience.
We could be in for a few days of pro-Palin commentary, since her subjects and verbs corresponded. For at least the first hour, she held her own; she was funny sometimes, occasionally charming. Still, the Obama-Biden ticket will survive it. Biden was stronger on every single substantive point, and that's the impression that will last.
But the pit bull in lipstick was back. After her disarming "Hey, can I call you Joe?" Palin was vicious, with a winning smile. After a passionate Biden plea to "walk with me in my neighborhood," in Delaware and Scranton, where "the middle class has gotten the short end," she ridiculed him: "Say it ain't so, Joe, there you go again! Pointing backwards again!"
There were two key moments for me when Sarah Palin blew it badly. One was substantive, one was symbolic. The substantive was her bizarre statement about being happy that Dick Cheney had expanded the powers of the vice-presidency, and wanting to expand the powers more. I think that's what she said, it was one of many moments I didn't entirely understand her point, but I got her overall meaning. Biden came back with a decisive: "Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president in American history," and he defended the existing limits on vice-presidential power. Point: Biden. Big time.
The symbolic moment Palin flubbed was subjective, of course. But I instant-messaged a friend that she lost the debate when Biden choked up over losing his wife and child in a car accident in which his sons were critically injured -- and she went straight back into "John McCain is a maverick." I truly expected her to express human sympathy with Biden, and her failure to do so showed me something deeply wrong with her. But maybe that's just me.
She made other mistakes that others have already caught: She called the top commander in Afghanistan "General McClellan"; his name is David McKiernan. She said the troop levels in Iraq are down to pre-surge levels; they're not. She simply didn't answer a lot of the questions. Moderator Gwen Ifill tried to pull her back, but Palin is stubborn; she had her talking points, and she stuck to them.
I thought Biden and Palin tied for the first third of the debate, that Palin actually won the second third on moxie and charisma, not policy (Biden looked visibly angry at a few points, and that's never good), but Biden cleaned her clock in the last third. He quoted his dad telling him, "Champ, when you get knocked down, get up!" -- and he listened to his father. Biden got up, and he won the debate.
We'll see how it plays out in the days to comFriday October 3, 2008 10:03 EDT
How Sarah Palin blew it
Joe Biden and Sarah Palin... more
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Sarah Palin is coming to the Los Angeles area today and we need your help. We'll have a giant, electronic billboard outside of Palin's rally where we'll be displaying questions for the McCain-Palin campaign from Californians across the state.
To submit a question for our electronic billboard, text the keyword ASK then the question to the number 69866
For example, send to 69866: ASK You said you'd run a respectful campaign on the issues, what happened?
Keep your questions under 160 characters including spaces and remember to keep them family friendly since we're showing them in public.
They have live streaming video of the billboard..hope my question goes up!
What would you want to ask Sarah Palin??Sarah Palin is coming to the Los Angeles area today and we need your help. We'll have... more
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lulu81
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1 year ago
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Palin says, "whatever Todd and I can do in realizing what their challenges in that state are, as we can relate to them and connect with them ..."
Golly gee wilakers, it is she who's dumping McCain, gosh darn ! Palin says, "whatever Todd and I can do in realizing what their challenges in that... more
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Raven6
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1 year ago
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Vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin didn't report thousands of dollars in state travel reimbursements that she collected while living at home last year, according to her tax return for 2007.
As governor of Alaska, Palin collected per diems for scores of nights spent in her own home and working at a state office in Anchorage rather her office in faraway Juneau, the state capitol. The patterns varied, but the state paid her, on average, $890 a month, according to The Washington Post, which first reported the payments.
Although Palin and her husband paid 20 percent of their income in taxes last year, the per diems don't appear on their 2007 tax return.
The McCain-Palin campaign, which released her 2006 and 2007 returns, said Palin was in compliance with state policies and the reimbursements weren't taxable income.
Critics insist the reimbursements are taxable income because the Anchorage office is just 45 miles away from her home. Under IRS rules, that could be considered just commuting.
Palin spent less time in the Juneau office, but didn't claim per diems when she was there.
The tax return also shows that the Palins didn't make the optional $3 contribution for presidential public financing, the fund that is financing the McCain-Palin campaign. Vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin didn't report thousands of dollars in state... more
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BuddyP
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added this
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1 year ago
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