Palin and the librarian scandal
Okay, so sometimes satellite radio is more useful than 24 hour trance music… This morning as I drove into the office and was listening to XM’s POTUS08, they had a guy from PolitiFact.com on to talk about some of Palin’s issues. The issue that I am most interested about was the librarian scandal, because banning books and censorship is NOT a quality I look for in a person looking for a job in the White House.
The link to PolitiFact’s article on the scandal is here. The facts remain, though:
- Palin did, on 3 different occasions (including one before she took office) ask about the possibility of banning books
- The one book that IS recalled as being in question (to be banned) is “Pastor, I am gay” by a local Wasilla author
- Palin did ask people to resign in a loyalty oath test, and was sued for it
So basically the story IS true, based on PolitiFact’s investigation. Snopes went and found that the circulating list of books (which include some published after Palin took office, some after Palin left office) is totally false. But the facts show there was at least one book she wanted banned, and that book tells you a lot about how she feels about gay people!
The best “Democrat versus Republican” compare and contrast list ever!
You gotta love DemocraticUnderground.com. There are some awesome posts over there, but nothing compares to the list found here. To quote a couple of my favorites:
* If you grow up in Hawaii you’re “exotic.”
* Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, you’re the quintessential “American story.”* If you are a Democratic male candidate who is popular with millions of people you are an “arrogant celebrity.”
* If you are a popular Republican female candidate you are “energizing the base.”* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you’re a Christian.
* If you have been married to the same woman with whom you’ve been wed to for 19 years and raising 2 beautiful daughters with, you’re “risky.”
This is why Republicans are wrong (and racist) most of the time
There’s a story out about a leader of college Republicans who let a racial slur slip about Obama, and got fired. Yeah, well, he should. I mean racism has absolutely no place in 2008, honestly. But you have to read the entire story and get to the very final paragraph when you get this guy’s REAL feelings. This is that paragraph:
“In hindsight, when you read it a second time, it’s like, ‘oops,’” he said. “It was just a dumb move on my part to make a statement like that public.” (emphasis mine)
Ooh, so it is okay to make racist jokes and remarks in private, as long as those remarks don’t make it out to the public. Is that right? Douchebag!
Two things about the Palin’s latest child
Reading a story about Trig Paxon Van Palen, there were two things that really stood out at me. They were:
“I said I am going to stay for the day. I have a speech I was determined to give,” Palin said. She gave the luncheon keynote address for the energy conference. (emphasis mine).
Okay - so you know you having some labor pains, but they aren’t labor. And you say you “leaked” amniotic fluid, which any OBGYN is going to equate as the same as your water breaking. And yet, you were determined to give a speech? The speech was more important than your child, which you already know has special needs?
Okay - so you know you have a special needs child, you know you are getting into the last few weeks of your pregnancy (when most doctors, and airlines, say you should not fly) and you do not even go for the medical advice before travelling the almost 3000 miles away from your home? What kind of “family values” is that? And is this the kind of judgement that we want for someone in the Vice Presidents job?
Keeping things secret in Wasilla
Man, this just gets better and better…
First of all, Alaska politics has always been interesting. Being an Alaskan myself (I grew up there, before moving out of the state in 1990), I’ve always loved it. It’s always open and interesting to watch. But that wasn’t so about Wasilla under Palin. They were critiziced for not recording and offering the city council meetings for the public, like the city school board was directed to. Palin apparently wasn’t for it, though I cannot quite decipher what the hell she means when she said she liked it that her city was going “huckity buck”.
A leader who doesn’t want meetings to be public? She IS Dick Cheney with a vagina!
Update on Palin’s per diem scandal
When you go through Alaska’s FY2008 budget, there is a nice little section that talks about travel. Specifically, the State is trying to save money on Medicaid, and has put into the budget this statement:
It is the intent of the legislature that the Department continues to aggressively pursue
Medicaid cost containment initiatives. Efforts should continue where the Department
believes additional cost containment is possible including further efforts to contain travel expenses. (emphasis mine)
Bridge to nowhere: Palin kept the money, so what did she do with it?
Just doing a cursory search, there is an article on the New York Times website that states about the “Bridge to Nowhere”, which Palin is trying to say she killed:
So, Governor… You killed the project, but pocketed the money anyway? I know that you, Sarah Palin, PERSONALLY pocketed per diem money when you were on “state business” but slept in her own bed. (Um, if I did that, not only would my client throw me off the project, but I would probably be fired!). But lying about the bridge to nowhere money in highly televised campaign events, yet secretly keeping it - and even doing some of the bridge work? Outrageous…
Back home in Oregon
First of all, there’s a website that I need to add to my blogroll, and that’s SenateGuru. They are pretty awesome - and this makes it much more so! First off, there is an extensive interview with Oregon Dem Jeff Merkley, who is going up against Bush scapegoat/apologist Gordon Smith. Merkley is up in recent polls - hopefully he will retire the only West Coast Republican Senator.
And speaking of Gordon Smith, read the “Weekend Catchup” article that SenateGuru put out. This is pretty telling! Liberal media my ass… Smith basically says that he didn’t go to the Republican convention during his last election. Um, like SenateGuru points out, that was 2002. Senator Smith, that’s kind of a low blow seeing as how there wasn’t a convention that year. But make no mistake, he was at the 2000 and 2004 conventions!
Obfuscate much, Senator?
If I were doing political commercials…
…then this is the first type of commercial that I would be putting out right now. You can click here to find it on YouTube.
Come on, Palin!
Oh man. Sarah, you and I are both Alaskans. Both of us moved to Alaska and grew up there. And though I moved out, I still consider Alaska to be where my family is from, where a majority of my family still is, and holds a special place in my heart.
One thing about Alaskans. We are a strong bunch. ”Whiner” is not a way to describe an Alaskan, unless you want your ass kicked. But hell, Sarah. What the frick is up with you? You’re whining and complaining that Democrats are spreading lies? That sure a hell of a stretch.
But while we are on the subject, how about YOU answer some questions about why YOU are lying, Sarah? Or are you so much of a politician that you’ve forgotten your Alaskan roots, so the whining comes easy?
