Should John McCain be elected at the next POTUS, Sarah Palin would sit half a heartbeat from being President.
Here’s what I know thus far:
* most of what she’s told us about herself is utter bullshit worthy of a Penn & Teller episode.
* most of what the McCain campaign tells us about her is utter bullshit not even worthy of a Penn & Teller episode.
* she was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it before she was for it before she was against it. But she kept the federal earmark money and the concept alive.
* there is a Road to Nowhere out there that is going to cost us taxpayers in the Lower 48 over $27 million. But we don’t know about it yet because the large media corporations have yet to tell us about it.
* Fox News has turned into the McCain/Palin advertising channel. There is such a lack of fair and balanced coverage with that company that they should simply file themselves as a 527 Political Action Committee (PCA) with the Federal Election Commission.
* Alaska-based bloggers – some of whom personally know Sarah Palin – are about 2 weeks ahead of the mainstream media in providing real information on who she is and what she’s done during all these years that she’s made a living on the taxpayer’s dime.
* Sarah Palin has fluffed her resume. She’s been the governor for less than 2 years. During that time, she spent most of her days at home. We know this because she put in for over 300 days worth of per diems for time she spent at the house from which she can see Russia. This time out-of-office means that she had very little time to put into learning energy policy, or any other policy for that matter. She claims to have national security experience because Alaska borders Russia (see next entry) and because she holds the title of head of the Alaska National Guard (see entry after next entry).
* Sarah Palin cannot see Russia from her house. Fact! Most Alaskans cannot see Russia from any part of Alaska with one very small exception: the Diomedes Islands out in the middle of nowhere (aka Bering Straits) between Wales on the Seward Peninsular, AK, and Uelen on the Chukon Peninsular, Russia. Remember Diomedes and nowhere because Palin still has some ideas about building a bridge no nowhere (as well as the road to nowhere).
* Sarah Palin claims to be the head of the Alaska National Guard. Technically, she is correct. As a practical matter, it’s just another case of her fluffing her resume. The guy who runs the Alaska National Guard, General Craig Crawford, was kind enough to tell us right after the convention that Palin really doesn’t have much to do with the National Guard and that when it comes to deployment overseas, she has nothing to do with orders eminating from the Department of Defense. Shortly thereafter, the general changed his tune. He also started sporting a 3rd star. Sure sounds like someone bought his silence. Oh, and Sarah Palin makes reference to how the Alaska National Guard was sent to New Orleans shortly after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. But Palin did not even run for the office of governor until late 2006…
* Although the state coffers were overflowing, Sarah Palin raised corporate taxes.
* As mayor of Wasilla, Sarah Palin raised the sales tax by 25% to pay for a hockey arena that ended up in lawsuits and cost far more than bid. Just prior to approving the sales tax increase for the hockey arena, she refused to increase that same tax to fully fund the Wasilla police department. Oh, and she also fired the police chief because he looked at her sternly and because he wanted bars to close earlier than 4 am. But she’s never mentioned how Alaska has a huge alcoholism problem.
* As mayor of Wasilla, Sarah Palin charged the victims of sexual assault for the cost of conducting rape tests. The state legislature had to step in and put an end to this nefarious practice of twice victimizing raped women – some of whom were billed for $1200!!! Palin did not want Wasilla to have to pay for the rape kits because the kits contained emergency contraceptives. To top this off, Sarah Palin opposes abortion for the victims of rape. Chaulk this up to Sarah Palin’s radical religious beliefs. There is a special place in hell for jerks who twice victimize a woman who has been raped. It’s not called the White House. see http://suzieqq.wordpress.com for more on this very important issue.
* As mayor of Wasilla, Sarah Palin collected a nice annual salary – something in excess of $60,000. Wasilla’s population at the time was 5,500. Her only repsonsibility was to carry out the day-to-day operations of that very small municipality. Sarah Palin lent her ear to Jack Abramoff’s lobbyist and listened when he told her to hire an administrator to carry out her duties. Despite having someone do most of her work (consisted of overseeing 53 employees and a $6 million budget), Sarah Palin somehow managed to leave Wasilla $20 million in the hole when she left that position.
* As mayor of Wasilla, Sarah Palin required all department heads to submit their resignations as a “sign of personal loyalty.” She accepted all the resignations. When challenged on this, she said it was no big deal. With the librarian, she had to relent to the objections of Wasilla’s residents. What also came out later was that she tried to pressure the librarian into removing certain books which confliced with her (Palin’s personal religious beliefs).
* The gas pipeline which Sarah Palin claims to have under construction is years away from actual construction. A Canadian company has been hired at the cost of $500 million to further explore the idea. If the pipeline is not built, the taxpayers of the State of Alaska will be out to the tune of the full $500 million. Those of us who live in the Lower 48, plus Hawaii, will likely pick up that tab.
* Sarah Palin is the governor of the largest welfare state in the USA. This despite Alaska having a smaller population than New Hampshire. Yet, each and every resident of Alaska is being given government “rebate” checks averaging $3269. As those checks have been arriving in mailboxes during the past week, the bars and Wal-Mart have been hopping.
* Sarah Palin has never seen a federal earmark she dislikes. She pursued federal funding to the tunes of millions as mayor of the small municipality of Wasilla and pursued (and continues to pursue federal earmarks to the tune of $200 million for this fiscal year) large chunks of federal funds. Despite her claims to have reduced the amounts of federal earmark dollars, Alaska still receives more per capita than the next few states combined.
* Sarah Palin has used her elected offices to pursue personal vendettas. Troopergate is but one example. Sarah Palin claims to understand states rights issues, but in the case of Troopergate, she has allowed the McCain campaign to interfere in what is strictly a state issue. How do you spell political cover-up? That’s right…
* Sarah Palin is no reformer. The only people she has helped usher out of office are those who have personally insulted her or have gotten in the way of her personal ambition. Alaska is essentially a one-party state that is filled with corrupt elected and unelected government officials at just about every level. No one rats out no one else unless they desire to be ratted out in turn. Palin has no such concerns. Why should she? She’s a good looking woman who can spin the best lies. She’s the mother of several kids (now up to 5) who are usually left in the care of her mother. Her kids sometimes get into trouble, but we won’t talk about that. Not even the pregnant Bristol who faces the same shotgun wedding that her mother faced. Ooopsss… said I wasn’t going to talk about that! And I am also not going to talk about the stories about how eldest son Track Palin was shipped out to a private hockey school in Michigan after allegedly vandalising a large number of buses back in Alaska!
* Sarah Palin has been strangely silent on matters related to the economy. Oooopppsss… looks like she forgot to take Econ101 at any of the 6 colleges she attended before getting her degree. One the bright side of this, she doesn’t know any less about the economy or economics than does John McCain. Oh vey!
* And then there’s Todd. Todd Palin. First Dude. Big dud. Likes to drink. Likes the working women up on the North Shore. Wants Alaska to be independent of the United States. Possibly serves as proxy to Sarah’s Alaska separatist inclinations. Likes snomobile races. Rumored to be the power behind Sarah’s throne. The guy who pulls her strings. Don’t believe me? Look at all those emails and witness statements about his involvement in Troopergate and other matters. He’s not even a state employee. He’s employed by a foreign corporation. OOOooopps!
There’s more, but this is all I want to type for now.
7 Comments
September 19, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Thank you thank you THANK YOU for posting this.
September 19, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Reminds me that I’ve been remiss in making my rounds to the non-political blogs I like best.
September 20, 2008 at 12:58 am
It’s like take a deep breath time.
They have suffered a precipitous drop in polling in a very short time. McCain is playing the game of telling the people what they want to hear instead of he truth. It has always been our downfall only this time I’m hoping the people are thinking.
We need to start exposing him. The elite “non-elitist”, with absolutely no clue on the economy, or foreign policy.
Voter Registration, only a couple weeks left at most….
September 20, 2008 at 11:12 am
Doing a voter registration at a local high school this week and another next week. Deadline for registering to vote is October 6.
One thing about McCain’s campaign that’s caught my attention is how little time and effort he spends in getting out the message about his proposed policies. He spends so much time attacking “my oponent” and in putting out the Palin fires that his effort is bordering laughable.
I wonder how much of “the base” is laughing right now as more and more of Palin’s record is coming off the blog pages and onto the headlines?
January 18, 2009 at 9:02 pm
It’s time to expose the blatant unethical leadership of the Alaska Guard Generals. There is a cover up and Guardsmen fear for retaliation if they speak out. There should be an investigation and I can’t understand why there isn’t. Who is protecting them?
[Ed note: care to provide a bit more of what you mean, RMW? What is this "unethical leadership" of which you write?]
February 2, 2009 at 2:41 pm
What I mean by unethical leadership is this: Alaska Guard Generals cater to their cronies They force true leaders out and surround theirselves with people who can’t outshine them. The proud members of the Alaska Guard need leaders, not self serving politicians.
[Ed note: but Sarah Palin isn't really a military leader; indeed, she's not even in the military (nor would she make it through basic training if she had ever tried to join.)]
June 2, 2009 at 10:11 pm
Neither would Generals Campbell and Kacus make it through basic training. They are not military leaders but self proclaimed politicians. Like Sarah Palin, they cater to their cronies. The Alaska Guard needs strong leaders with integrity.