Palin Speaks!

[Speed55]

Two democratic lawyers as running mates, i'll pass on there idea of change.

Oh, and i really enjoyed watching Palins speach. She did well in bringing to light  someone i know very little about.

[lazs2]

yep.. reminds me of the way the democrats say they only want "reasonable" gun laws.. they just want to keep guns out of the wrong hands....

Turns out.. we all have the "wrong" hands.  The devil is in the detail.. I love that the dems are so desperate that they are trying to bribe us with more and more and more of our own money... but. they are more trying to bribe those who earn nothing with the horrible "earned income credit"  a total socialist redistribution of wealth thing.

the math doesn't add up.. you can't give everyone more and more and more.. free everything curtesy of the saintly and efficient government and then charge us less and less and less and.. somehow.. make only the evil rich pay for it all.

I am not sure who is still buying this bitter class warfare stuff or this poor.. downtrodden low income "worker" crap.

lazs

[Hap]

"I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town. I was just your average hockey mom, and signed up for the PTA . . . because I wanted to make my kids' public education better," said the former mayor of Wasilla, Alaska (population 8,471). "And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-rnc-04sep04,0,1078669.column

Good essay from the Chicago Trib.  Really great!

And from The Telegraph -- another great essay comparing Palin to Thatcher:  "Like Margaret Thatcher before her, Mrs Palin is coming in for both barrels of Left-wing contempt: misogyny and snobbery. Where Lady Thatcher was dismissed as a "grocer's daughter" by people who called themselves egalitarian, Mrs Palin is regarded as a small-town nobody by those who claim to represent "ordinary people".  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/09/04/do0404.xml

And lastly,  "There is, however, one area where we might have seen real change. The Democrats could have not nominated another lawyer. This may partly explain why former military officer John McCain and working-mom Sarah Palin are polling near even with Obama and his running mate, Joe Biden, in a year that otherwise favors the Democrats."  http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/09/want_real_change_quit_nominati.html

If you want lawyers running things vote Obama/Biden.

[moot]

[...]
If you want lawyers running things vote Obama/Biden.

I can't believe my eyes

[Eagler]

I am not sure who is still buying this bitter class warfare stuff or this poor.. downtrodden low income "worker" crap.

lazs

The young, the dumb and the poor .. you know the dumbarsecrat base...

Sad thing is, if the dems don't fool enough voters this time round, they will the next..

We have an entire generation who have more credit card debt than they have in savings and still they feel they "deserve" more and don't think they have to pay for it.

[Casca]

Beautiful speech.  The hacks at MSNBC looked like they had just received a cancer diagnosis.  Mrs. Smith & Wesson goes to Washington.

[Toad]

I found this bit of commentary the most disheartening. How did we let it happen? No matter which side of Rep/Dem you are on this says a lot about how our system really works.

John McCain is hoping that after two decades of elections dominated by aristocrats -- the first election in 28 years without a Bush or a Clinton on either ticket -- America is ready for a shake-up, but the establishment doesn't think an outsider could ever handle it -- and shouldn't be given the chance to try.

28 YEARS! WTH? How asleep at the switch can we get?

[Hangtime]

I found this bit of commentary the most disheartening. How did we let it happen? No matter which side of Rep/Dem you are on this says a lot about how our system really works.

28 YEARS! WTH? How asleep at the switch can we get?

Yup. It's official... last night was the opening salvo in the class/culture war. The welfare based urban crawler social engineers just ran into small town american values and concerns. The battle lines are being drawn..

I'm impressed, surprised and heartened... seems I'm not alone anymore.

[Ack-Ack]

That has to be a first for Republican politicians.

]
McCain's son is a Marine that has already done a tour or two in Iraq.


ack-ack

[Toad]

BTW, Palin did so well overall that the monkey is now on McC's back.

He has to hit a grand slam tonight, otherwise she looks like the one that should be at the top of the ticket. Plus, he has to somehow articulate "that vision thing" if he hopes to have a chance of winning.

He's not the greatest speaker; not nearly as good as Palin was last night. If he pulls a George-I-have-my-tongue-wrapped-around-my-shoe-Bush, McC is toast. Game over.

[Hangtime]

BTW, Palin did so well overall that the monkey is now on McC's back.

He has to hit a grand slam tonight, otherwise she looks like the one that should be at the top of the ticket. Plus, he has to somehow articulate "that vision thing" if he hopes to have a chance of winning.

He's not the greatest speaker; not nearly as good as Palin was last night. If he pulls a George-I-have-my-tongue-wrapped-around-my-shoe-Bush, McC is toast. Game over.

Yup. Tonight, he's gotta be 'John Wayne McCain'. Tall, proud, determined and larger than life. If he doesn't deliver... game over come November.

[Yeager]

game over come November.

On Novemebr 3rd we will find out about Biden and the male Paige right after we find out about Obama and the underage prostitute.

Obviously conjecture on my part but hey..........anything is possible.

Lots of things could happen bewteen the proverbial "now and then" and the depravity that is politics in America will find new lows in the 21st century.

[Holden McGroin]

THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."

As mayor of Wasilla, it was Paliin's job to look out for the citizens of Wasilla.  Getting 27 million in federal dollars for Wasilla was looking out for the taxpayers of Wasilla.

Alaska has a population of 670,000 as of 2006.  California, 36,457,549

Spend 1 billion in Alaska, $1,492 per capita spend 1 billion in California, $27 per capita.

[Holden McGroin]

Here I'd like to note that incumbents usually do pretty well at getting re-elected. A two-term McCain presidency would have him going into it at 76-77. That's getting up there.

Reagan was 69 when he first got elected to the White house. If you go by that, then RPM's right. If you go by re-election, Warspawn's correct; We can't assume that McCain would get/persue re-election, but if you count the fact that most president's do get a second term, then McCain will potentially be the oldest by a fair margin.

Wilson FDR Ike Reagan Clinton   (5) 2 full term presidents in the 20th century.

McKinley, TR, Taft, Harding, Cooledge, Truman, JFK, Johnson, Nixon*, Ford, Carter, GHWBush, (12) less than 2 full term presidents in the 20th century.


Since George Washington, the average time in the white house is only 5 years, 1 month, 3 1/2 days


*was re-elected

[crockett]

Wow the hits keep on coming.. now that the fact checking starts happening from her speech..

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/04/politics/animal/main4414049.shtml

Some notable quotes...

First was about her claim to support disabled children.. (actions speak louder than words it seems)

Palin: "To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House."


Sarah Palin might have changed her mind on this one recently. However, a comment here notes that Palin actually slashed funding for schools for special needs kids by 62%. Budgets: FY 2007 (pre-Palin), 2008, 2009 (all pdfs).

Next is more info on the bridge to no where... Seems she supported it before she was aginst it and she actually had nothing to do with turning the money down.. (she wasn't even Govenor at the time the money was approved to be used for something else, so she didn't tell congress a damn thing)

Palin: "I told the Congress "thanks, but no thanks," for that Bridge to Nowhere. If our state wanted a bridge, we'd build it ourselves."


Just to reiterate what others have said: Congress' requirement that funds be spent on that bridge (aka the 'earmark') were removed before Sarah Palin became governor. She was therefore in no position to tell Congress anything about the bridge, one way or the other. During her campaign, she said she supported funding for the bridge. Brad Plumer, citing the Anchorage Dialy News via Nexis:

"5. Would you continue state funding for the proposed Knik Arm and Gravina Island bridges?

Yes. I would like to see Alaska's infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later. The window is now--while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist."


Later, she accepted the money -- now not restricted by an earmark -- and used it for other infrastructure projects. Here's her statement about why she wasn't building the bridge (also via Plumer.) Decide for yourselves what role a principled opposition to earmark funding plays in it. Hint: here's what residents of Ketchikan AK said when they heard her recent remarks:

"In the city Ketchikan, the planned site of the so-called "Bridge to Nowhere," political leaders of both parties said the claim was false and a betrayal of their community, because she had supported the bridge and the earmark for it secured by Alaska's Congressional delegation during her run for governor. (..)

"People are learning that she pandered to us by saying, I'm for this' ... and then when she found it was politically advantageous for her nationally, abruptly she starts using the very term that she said was insulting," Weinstein said."

There are a few other quotes from her speech that didn't ring true either. It's looking more and more like this woman is nothing more than a hot air bag and full of BS.