LIVE coverage of the Republican National Convention, including Gov. Sarah Palin’s headlining speech.
Alan’s guests in St. Paul include:
• Former Vice Presidential Candidate Jack Kemp
• Actor Jon Voight
• Actor Stephen Baldwin
Wake up people,our country is in this situation because of the republicans, palin is not qualified to run our country,if something happens to mccain. And she is already in white house politics with that degrading speech, that was written for her by someone else. She was rude,arragant,nasty and worse of all mocked middle class, blue collar people, along with the entire room laughing about it, knowing these people are so cruicial in our communities, and do so much to help people. By the way I use to watch fox, now I watch cnn, no wonder cnn was the most watched station during the conventions, you can thank hannity for that. He has beaten up on barack and michelle for months everyday he is on, cuts everyone off that trys to tell him the truth on issuse, unless its about mccain and now palin. Why isn’t hannity beaten her up on her issuse,beliefs, and flip flops now that she is a canidate.
“Gore Vidal is speaking and he keeps talking about how the Bush administration got rid of the Magna Carta about 6 months ago. Does anybody know anything about this?”
Vidal is referring to Bush and his radical rightists throwing people into prisons without due process of law, and thereby trampling habeas corpus and the US constitution.
And if this is news to you, then you need to start paying attention.
Sorry, wrong html at 2:07. Only meant to emphasize “all the dough paid in.”
Many thanks to Fox for letting Alan do this gig and allowing him to keep Jay on the line.
The voice doesn’t scrape like fingernails on the board for everyone, but the concepts do for me.
Palin’s life has been a full one. The archetype I’d guess is mother/activist. Many struggles in a land of rugged individualism.
She tries to remind us of where heroes are made outside our borders…remind us of Vietnam as if we’d forgotten. Americans sacrificed there bravely, nobly, existentially…but for what? There are answers in Neil Sheehan’s “A Bright Shining Lie.” The sacrifice is her focus. The crowd forgets the for-what element. Sadly, that’s one of the things for sure that defines them today as Republicans.
http://www.amazon.com/Bright-Shining-Lie-America-Vietnam/dp/0679724141
The crowd thinks of her record and nerve only in terms of the Alaska saga…a classic and idyllic setting. She disassociates from any bravery or extraordinary smarts involved in organizing the messier terain of the hood. Lingle too. Sorry, too many of us common folk down here know about that http://www.drugcrazy.com/chapter1.htm
It looks as though she should get some credit for trying in her own way, but she hasn’t yet turned Alaska into nirvana.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9803207
The woes of the hood don’t seem to be on her mind. The woes of Southeast Asia today, South Asia today, and Central Asia today don’t seem to be items she comprehends (shock doctrine X 3), but then again the Republican schtick today doesn’t encourage such comprehension for any of its fold. IIRC she said she knows the North Slope, and that there’s lots of oil and gas there. But does she have a sense of the consumption goin on down here? By itself, how many years of America’s oil consumption could Alaska’s reserves support?
“So here’s the bad news at the pump: The inability of the global energy industry to keep pace with rising demand is only likely to become more pronounced as, in the years ahead, the world reaches maximum sustainable daily petroleum output and commences what just about all energy experts now agree will be an irreversible decline.” Michael Klare http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174904/michael_klare_the_permanent_energy_crisis_hits_home
It’s good she put aside the jet, but she has had a few rewards. McCain has more houses than he can keep track of. For those of us who aren’t governors at this particular juncture of strange inflation and for those of us who don’t own that many houses…the Republican attitude is exactly as Obama described it. Food’s up, rent’s up, healthcare’s up, and wages are down. [and folks with press passes are get'n beat up outside this Republican Convention] All this came about as a result of Reagan’s trickle down (Romney’s got things backwards). Anyway, as Obama said: Ownership Society = you’re on your own. Plain and simple and we all know it. Transfer payments from down to up as in all the dough paid in that you get none of after foreclosure. Palin might have been another Erin Brockovich in regard to a few issues in Alaska, but when it comes to global econ and global Realpolitik she’s just as out of it as all the other Republicans.
Why struggle to learn all those ropes on one continent, and then ignore everything that’s gone down between ours and the one right across the water?
Only registered user allowed |
Alan,
I called from Anchorage, Alaska last night, and I mispoke about Palin (sorry I can be accused of digesting the conservative talking points up here in Alaska) she didn’t say no two seperate times on an abortion bill, she said no to TWO SEPERATE BILLS, one being for parental consent for abortions, which they say goes on up here alot more than we can imagine, and one banning “late term” abortions. There was never a bill passed allowing minors not to let their parents know about the abortion because thats the way it’s always been, so the bills, which were from Senate President Lydia Green were never brought up during the regular session, which in fact did piss off alot of conservatives, then once Palin had the chance to “right the wrongs” and allow it to be in the special session for the Trans Canada Pipeline, AGIA, ACES, (terms and conditions for the building of the pipeline)the conservatives, spearheaded by Lydia Green, made it very public of their dis-taste for Palin not allowing it, and Palin going on the public airwaves to not only say no to their request, but to publicly show her dis-taste of Lydia Green. So to re-cap, I was wrong about the veto of a bill, seeing how it’s always been “ok” for minor to get abortions without their parents knowing in the state of Alaska, and she (Palin) had a huge chance to appease the conservatives, which she didn’t, and if you can look into the Palin/Green feud, you might be able to find something with some traction, maybe call Kerry Karagan (a progressive talkshow host on KUDO 1080am) to get a perspective, or Dan Fagan (Huge conservative talkshow host, I think the number 1 talkshow host in Alaska) to get the conservative perspective. Also look into her statement of “being bias to Wasilla is she becomes Governor” also look into the wolf control problem, and her swaying people how to vote on “Prop 4″ in the elections we just had, she was in commericals saying “I’m Gov. Palin, and I am voting no on Prop 4″ it was a clean water intinative, if you have any questions please e-mail, and sorry again
Chris
Anchorage, Alaska
September 3rd, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Chris, Heard your call last night & just read your post. So are you saying she did not vote no to banning late term abortions & also allowed abortion without parental consent to go on without her opposition? Clarify?
Personnaly, I am pro-choice, but
this would be interesting news to the fringe evangelicals who have so enthusiastically adopted her without knowing much about her except that McCain has touted her as supporting his agenda.
Her involvement in attempting to ban books speaks volumes about what I suspect: she’s an out of control control freak who will do whatever she can to mind-manage us into the neo-con nightmare.
Hope you will continue to participate in Alan’s show! Nice to hear someone who brings in pertinent info & honest enough to correct what is really a very minor error! Go Chris!
September 3rd, 2008 at 7:49 pm
This site has been infected by conservative bacteria…
September 3rd, 2008 at 7:51 pm
I love how cons use the bible to hit people over the head with their beliefs, and then ignore all that “turn the other cheek” happy stuff that gets in the way of their unending hate and disdain for everyone in the country that doesn’t drink their kool-aid. I’m looking forward to the meltdown of the McCain/Palin ticket. I hop it starts tonight…
By the way, have you noticed how the repubs have been calling Palin a rock star? Getting dangerously close to celebrity…
September 3rd, 2008 at 7:55 pm
oh wait I’m sorry. I forgot. The right can say whatever they want. Even if it’s hypocritical because they have little itty bitty baby jesus on their side…
September 3rd, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Ok I will try my best, I am still at work, and must be brief, the right wingers have been pounding into everyone’s head that because there was never a law banning late term abortions and parental consent for minors to have abortions that it goes on unchecked by our state goverment, and since they (the state) didn’t and don’t do anything to stop it, that the practice can be done freely by doctors, so the right has been going around saying that 12,13,14 year old girls can and are getting abortions right now without their parents knowing. So much so that the right want to make laws against it, Senator Lydia Green had two seperate bills to outlaw them, which they never got to in the regular session this year, but when the special session started for the pipeline (in which Palin calls the Trans Canada Company “TC” or “TC Alaska” because no one was happy about state money going to a foreign country, I never thought Canada was that foreign but people up here do)the right got revved up again, and wanted to vote on the two bills, Palin responded by going on the “Bob and Mark Show” morning radio show, which is huge in Alaska, trust me everyone knows Bob and mark, which are two “Palinbots” which means, the governor can no wrong, and anyone who says otherwise are “Haters” as Palin herself once described well I guess me and everone else, sorry veering alittle here, trying to crunch a book’s worth of info into this, so she goes on the show, and publicly tells Lydia “NO” after she ran on and got elected for her strong pro-life beliefs in turn pissed off the right, alot of them it was the final straw for her,and they think she is just a liar. so they are turning their backs, and want nothing to with those liberals (Palin/McCain)and the public feud continues to this day, so last night when I called I was misquoting from Dan Fagan, (talk show host) who hates Palin, also look up Andrew Halcro, he is a bitter blogger who ran for office, and lost to Palin, and now is an attack dog like Dan Fagan, I guess Dan will be on the “Dennis Miller Show” tomorrow at 1:00pm AKST please listen if you can, though I suspect his higher ups are muzzling him now, based on his flip flop today on his show, sorry it’s almost quitting time, and the sun is poking out of the clouds, maybe a nice walk with the dog is in order tonight, I am recording her speech, and would love to continue the thread later
Chris
Anchorage, Alaska
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Does Mike Huckabee and the Republican party think that the it is there party that is putting Americans through hell on earth. Last I checked this all started when the Republican party had control of the Senate, House, and Bush was president. It about made me throw up the Taco Bell I was eating to hear Mike Huckabee talk about how Obama was going to basically do everything that there party has done to America over the past 8 years. I hate to be the bearer of bad news to the Republican party but it wasn’t Senator Obama that has agreed with President Bush it was John McCain. I am amazed that the Republicans are standing up talking about being the party of change. They are talking about all the things that they are going to fix in America as if it was a Democratic Governor that has caused this mess. I don’t care if you are Republican or Democrat but really how can you not laugh when you hear them talking about how the same beliefs that has got us into the mess we are currently in is going to get us out? I mean it didn’t take a rocket scientist to see that electing oil big wigs was going to make our oil prices go through the rough and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the same policies we currently have isn’t going to change anything.
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:46 pm
“How do you tell if a black chic has class?”
How do you tell one chucklehead from another? Just read the post.
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Rudy G is on the radio and speaking to the faithful. Is he wearing man clothing or a dress tonight? Like I just said, I’m listening on the radio and I can’t tell.
It’s always sad to listen to the Republican elites make jokes about the “Democrat celebrity elites”.
USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!
This is too close for comfort to what a Party convention in 1930s Germany must have been like.
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:15 pm
clinton road the wave that former President Ronald Reagan started. Econimic growth low unenployment strong defence world peace. Clinton and the democrats destroyed everything he started. President Bush had the attacks on sept. 11 then a terrible natural disaster,Katrina. Congress now is controlled by the Democrats with the worst approval rating in history. You tell me Kory who started the problem
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Listening to Palin is like … listening to fingernails scratching across a chalkboard.
Or, a train screeching to a halt.
Or, a jungle bird taunting you from the treetops.
Screeching. Shrieking. Shrill.
Palin just made another 911 – Iraq connection.
I met Harry Truman once (when I was in grade school, and my grandparents had business dealings with his mother) and believe me, Sarah Palin is no Harry S Truman.
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:42 pm
OH!!!! Another Obama slam, from the shrill hockey mom/beauty queen.
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:44 pm
“Quaylin” is using phrasing lifted directly from other speeches given tonight, i.e. “being mayor is sort of like being community organizer.” Apparently, Rep speechwriters can’t avoid plagiarizing each other.
Rudy-9/11 was his usual mean self.
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Quaylin raised corporate taxes in order to bribe citizens into liking her – how is this good conservative policy?
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:52 pm
OW MY HEAD! I agree Anonymouse, not a pleasant sound.
I’ve got to hand it to the Republicans though, definately the NASTIER party! When her speech is over, for an encore, Ms. Palin will return to the stage and bite the head off a bat. Ozzy Osbourne has nothing on her…
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:52 pm
“Terror must be broken by terror!!”
“All opposition must be stamped into the ground!!”
Remember that? Red meat for the faithful?
It’s not funny, is it. History repeats.
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:53 pm
They said on TV (MSNBC or CNN?) the Palin speech was written before she was chosen, only softened some to better fit a female voice.
I’d like to see what the first version read like. How nasty would this have been before it was “softened”? Geez, Palin sounds like a psycho.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Wow! She lies AND she’s mean-spirited.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:03 pm
“our candidate doesn’t run with the Washington crowd”… no, he’s run BY the Washington crowd. Is there anyone at the top of his campaign who isn’t a lobbyist?
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:04 pm
I really wish Dems would start hammering the FACT that it’s parliamentary maneuvering by the Republicans that has kept the Senate from making more progress.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:05 pm
John McCain has said, on more than one occasion, that he “knows how to get Bin Laden.” But he hasn’t shared this info with our military or intelligence community, only implies that he’ll do so when (if) he’s elected.
Apparently, winning an election is more important to him than catching Bin Laden.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Sarah Palin – a typical pompous right winger.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Two nauseating speechs in a row. I need to take a shower.
McCain: Don’t you think we made the right choice for the vice president of the United States?
Uhhh no. And some of the people who support you Senator McCain agree. But they’ll only admit it “off mike”.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Did anybody find it funny when Huckabee talked about preserving our Freedoms. Does he not know President Bush and the Republican Party have been taking them away from us in the name of security?
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Having just watched Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech, all I can say is… mee-yow! If McCain was looking for a bitch to do his dirty work, he’s no doubt feeling great this evening.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:22 pm
MK 97 have you looked at President Bush’s approval rating. Also President Bush failed miserably when faced with anytime type of adversity. He failed miserably in helping the poor people in LA during hurrican Katrina. He failed miserably by using 9/11 as an excuse to go to a country we shouldn’t be in and as an excuse to begin taking freedoms away. Are you one of those Republicans that believe that the country is in good shape after 8 years of President Bush?
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:25 pm
Palin is only a freaky, rightwing beauty queen.
That’s all she brings to the table. Placing her “one heartbeat away from the Oval Office” should scare the daylights out of all of us.
Scarier yet, are the people trying to defend and promote her.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:29 pm
“But they’ll only admit it “off mike”.”
Does that make them better Americans or better Republicans?
Pretty sad.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Voight is a crazy old man.
Sometimes that happens when we get old. It’s tough, but that’s life.
I can see Jon in his front yard yelling at the neighborhood children to, “GET OUT OF MY YARD YOU DAMN KIDS!!!”
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:46 pm
To quote the great spiritual & social philosopher, Snoopy, my reaction to Palin is in one word “Arrgh”!
September 4th, 2008 at 12:10 am
Stephen, God doesn’t need help. We do!
September 4th, 2008 at 12:13 am
Did anyone else notice how uncomfortable Quaylin was when she had to embrace Johnny after the speech?
September 4th, 2008 at 12:13 am
“We live in a democracy where anyone can be elected?”
Really?
September 4th, 2008 at 12:17 am
TCNY, Yeah I noticed that!
September 4th, 2008 at 12:21 am
In my Christian house I have earned my wife’s trust as a leader by being a loving leader who puts the needs, welfare, and desires of my wife first; and not a ruthless dictator who demands my wife to be my servant and cater to my every desire.
September 4th, 2008 at 12:23 am
“Country First” & “Service” is newspeak for…get ready for the draft to be re-implemented.
September 4th, 2008 at 12:27 am
Baldwin is a crazy not-so-old man.
Bible thumpers are never wrong because they always arrange to have it both ways before hand. They cover themselves in advance and will therefore be “right” no matter which way the wind blows. You can’t win with them because they “won” before the argument ever began.
Baldwin is kind of bawdy for a bible thumper.
Homey. Homeboy. An inner-city youth. Color’d. Negro. A black guy.
Racist, as you thought but you didn’t call him on it.
CNBC SquawkBox this morning had two cardboard cutouts on their back wall. One of Obama and one of McCain. They stretched the legs on McCain to make him taller than Obama. They had McBush looking like John Wayne and towering over Obama. I’m pretty sure McCain is kind of a short, bowlegged guy and Obama is rather tall in real life. You can’t make this juvenile/propaganda stuff up.
It’s lonely in here tonight.
September 4th, 2008 at 12:29 am
Sarah Quaylin.
Excellent.
September 4th, 2008 at 12:31 am
McCain already agreed with the supporter who said we need the draft in order to have the troops to “follow Bin Laden to the gates of Hell.”
September 4th, 2008 at 12:32 am
McSame-Quaylin 08… yeehaw!
September 4th, 2008 at 12:33 am
Anyone know of any good freeware for making bumper stickers?
September 4th, 2008 at 12:34 am
Wow ! The GOP really did the trash talking, gutter walking tonight. I doubt that Obama and Biden are going to let “Community Organizers” insults slide. Perdict that Palin will choke when it comes time to talk the real issues at the VP debate and as she’s interviewed.
September 4th, 2008 at 12:45 am
Alan, Palan isn’t the ‘flash in the pan’ Obama is. In fact it will be quite exciting watching Hillary and Sarah go at it in four years when Obama isn’t much more than an afterthought.
Ps-Why does Jay Diamond cackle like a little girl every time you say anything?
September 4th, 2008 at 12:48 am
I was a little scared before Palin’s speech, but she is just another lying hypocrite of a kool-aid drinker. She spent more time trashing Obama than telling her life story. Real mature. I’m glad the Republicans are acting like spoiled children. They are finished. This monstrosity of a convention has proven that.
What?
There’s still mcCain’s speech? Yeah I’ll try to stay awake during it. Will it be actual sentences? Or just catch phrases…
September 4th, 2008 at 12:53 am
I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah
since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing
special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our
children have attended the same schools. Her father was
my child’s favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a
first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I
attended more City Council meetings during her
administration than about 99% of the residents of the
city.
She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the
most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think
she is a poor choice and won’t vote for her can’t quit
smiling when talking about her because she is a “babe”.
It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can
keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a
secret from her children and parents for seven months.
She is “pro-life”. She recently gave birth to a Down’s
syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here;
Trig is her baby.
She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked
out at the gym.
She is savvy. She doesn’t take positions; she just
“puts things out there” and if they prove to be
popular, then she takes credit.
Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP
and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin’s kind
of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule
and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can
fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in
summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing
their major source of income. Nor has her life-style
ever been anything like that of native Alaskans.
Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.
She’s smart.
Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population
of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as
governor of a state with about 670,000 residents.
During her mayoral administration most of the actual
work of running this small city was turned over to an
administrator. She had been pushed to hire this
administrator by party power-brokers after she had
gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous
firings which had given rise to a recall campaign.
Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative”.
During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general
government expenditures by over 33%. During those same
6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City
increased by 38%. This was during a period of low
inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property
taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed
even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited
large corporate property owners way more than they
benefited residents.
The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral
administration weren’t enough to fund everything on her
wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She
inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with
indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin
encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the
infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage
treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library?
No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a
multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to
build on a piece of property that the City didn’t even
have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs
later–to the delight of the lawyers involved! The
sports complex itself is a nice addition to the
community but a huge money pit, not the profit-
generator she claimed it would be. She also supported
bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been
done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.
While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and
her office redecorated more than once.
These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small
city.
As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a
budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this
surplus in technology that will make us energy
independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she
proposed distribution of this surplus to every
individual in the state.
In this time of record state revenues and budget
surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond
for road projects, even while she proposed distribution
of surplus state revenues: spend today’s surplus,
borrow for needs.
She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open
to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought
ideas that weren’t generated by her or her staff. Ideas
weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of
who proposed them.
While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our
highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian
refused to consider removing from the library some
books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied
to the defense of the City Librarian and against
Palin’s attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin
backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People
who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her
enemies list to this day.
Sarah complained about the “old boy’s club” when she
first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A
new set of “old boys”. Palin fired most of the
experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as
Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced,
obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on
her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely
loyal–loyal to the point of abusing their power to
further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged
happened in the case of pressuring the State’s top cop
(see below).
As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla’s Police Chief because he
“intimidated” her, she told the press. As Governor, her
recent firing of Alaska’s top cop has the ring of
familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she
had every legal right to fire him, but it’s pretty
clear that an important factor in her decision to fire
him was because he wouldn’t fire her sister’s ex-
husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse
of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen
contacts were made between her staff and family to the
person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her
ex-brother-in- law. She tried to replace the man she
fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for
sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she
withdrew her support.
She has bitten the hand of every person who extended
theirs to her in help. The City Council person who
personally escorted her around town introducing her to
voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council
became one of her first targets when she was later
elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City
Administrator; even people who didn’t like the guy were
stunned by this ruthlessness.
Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from
saying anything publicly about her.
When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political
plums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and
Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not in
Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background
in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this
great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining
in the press about the high salary. I was told that she
hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the
work. Sarah became aware that a member of this
Commission (who was also the State Chair of the
Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the
job. In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned
her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her
problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she
hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the
patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against
the “old boys’ club” when she dramatically quit,
exposing this man’s ethics violations (for which he was
fined).
As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone
for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has
castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly
humiliated him. She only opposed the “bridge to
nowhere” after it became clear that it would be unwise
not to.
As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and
budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display
of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork.
Public outcry and further legislative action restored
most of these projects–which had been vetoed simply
because she was not aware of their importance– but
with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as
“anti-pork”.
She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The
State party leaders hate her because she has bit them
in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the
party object to her self-description as a fiscal
conservative.
Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school
with Sarah. They call her “Sarah Barracuda” because of
her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness.
Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories
circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to
be made point guard on the high school basketball team.
When Sarah’s mother-in-law, a highly respected member
of the community and experienced manager, ran for
Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.
As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put
together of package of legislation known as “AGIA” that
forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her
drum.
Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the
loss of sea ice is linked to global warming. She
campaigned “as a private citizen” against a state
initiative that would have either a) protected salmon
streams from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the
courts all mining in the state (depending on who you
listen to). She has pushed the State’s lawsuit against
the Dept. of the Interior’s decision to list polar
bears as threatened species.
McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President;
Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President.
There has to be literally millions of Americans who are
more knowledgeable and experienced than she.
However, there’s a lot of people who have
underestimated her and are regretting it.
CLAIM VS FACT
*”Hockey mom”: true for a few years
*”PTA mom”: true years ago when her first-born was in
elementary school, not since
*”NRA supporter”: absolutely true
*social conservative: True. Opposes gay marriage, and
voted in a bill to deny benefits to
employees in same-sex relationships (said she did this
because it was constitutional) .
*pro-creationism: True. Supports it, and did everything
as Governor to promote it.
*”Pro-life”: True. Knowingly gave birth to a Down’s
syndrome baby.
*”Experienced”: Some high schools have more students
than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more
residents than the state of Alaska. No legislative
experience other than City Council. Little hands-on
supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a
city administrator to run town of about 5,000.
*political maverick: not at all
*gutsy: absolutely!
*open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not
good at explaining actions.
*has a developed philosophy of public policy: no
*”a Greenie”: no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of
big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-
drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
*fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
*pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and
park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or
storm drainage system. Built streets to early 20th
century standards.
*pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses,
increased tax burden on residents
*pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion
of city government in Wasilla’s history.
*pro-labor/pro- union. No. Just because her husband
works union doesn’t make her pro-labor. I have seen
nothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro-
union.
WHY AM I WRITING THIS?
First, I have long believed in the importance of being
an informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years
I put on student voting programs in the schools. If you
google my name (Anne Kilkenny + Alaska), you will find
references to my participation in local government,
education, and PTA/parent organizations.
Secondly, I’ve always operated in the belief that “Bad
things happen when good people stay silent”. Few people
know as much as I do because few have gone to as many
City Council meetings.
Third, I am just a housewife. I don’t have a job she
can bump me out of. I don’t belong to any organization
that she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she is immensely
popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me
somehow in the future: that’s life.
Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was
one of the 100 or so people who rallied to support the
City Librarian against Sarah’s attempt at censorship.
Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else
was afraid to say anything because they were somehow
vulnerable.
CAVEATS
I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for
the increase in spending & taxation 2 years ago (when
Palin was running for Governor) from information
supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of
Wasilla, and I can’t recall exactly what I adjusted
for: did I adjust for inflation? for population
increases? Right now, it is impossible for a private
person to get any info out of City Hall–they are
swamped. So I can’t verify my numbers.
You may have noticed that there are various numbers
circulating for the population of Wasilla, ranging from
my “about 5,000″, up to 9,000. The day Palin’s
selection was announced a city official told me that
the current population is about 7,000. The official
2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000
because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city
was growing rapidly in the mid-90’s.
September 4th, 2008 at 12:56 am
Is that it?
September 4th, 2008 at 12:57 am
How ’bout some more info…
September 4th, 2008 at 12:58 am
“… she is a “babe” …”
For many Republicans, this is apparently enough. They might alter it slightly to, “she is a gun totin’ babe”.
These are the same people who still think George W Bush is a wood cuttin’ Texas cowboy who would be good to have a beer with.
It’d be interesting for someone to put together a list of how many times we’ve heard “my friends” and “POW” by the close of this Republican convention.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:05 am
Anne, Very much appreciate your courage in sharing this information. I believe you.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:20 am
I am watching a youtube video that author Gore Vidal is speaking and he keeps talking about how the Bush administration got rid of the Magna Carta about 6 months ago. Does anybody know anything about this?
September 4th, 2008 at 1:21 am
Habeus Corpus was in the Magna Carta. Around since 1217 abolished by Georgie boy in the name of fighting terror…
September 4th, 2008 at 1:34 am
President Bush is making up wars so he can be a war time president and warp the constitution so that he can make what he does legal. I really hope when this is all said and done he and his administration will be prosecuted on a world level.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:39 am
I’m listening to the rerun of Palin and I swear her screeching voice is cutting right through my head. MAKE HER STOOOPPPPPP!!!!!
She’s bringing up Harry Truman again. I’m pretty sure Harry wouldn’t think much of anything she stands for. Pretty sure? I’m positive. It’s an insult to Harry she would bring him into her speech.
Stolen from somewhere else:
“Leave it to Republicans to transform themselves into the party that vows to go to Washington and kick out Republicans.” (Spencer: Wonkettes)
September 4th, 2008 at 1:44 am
The Republican party is the cause for our Countries decline they stole two elections. President Bush should of never been elected first in Florida then in Ohio. I am really worried about our country and if McCain Palin get elected and we have to suffer through another 4 to 8 years of this we might see America fall so far we will never be able to dig our way out of it. The Republican party is a group of rich Americans who don’t want to pay any taxes and feel the burden should be placed upon the middle and poor class.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:52 am
That’s true, but there are lower middle Pubs and poverty Pubs too. It all seems to be over who tried to steal whose resources first as far back as any given electorate can remember. Now, how do we go about relating the real history of all that?
September 4th, 2008 at 2:00 am
The voice doesn’t scrape like fingernails on the board for everyone, but the concepts do for me.
Palin’s life has been a full one. The archetype I’d guess is mother/activist. Many struggles in a land of rugged individualism.
She tries to remind us of where heroes are made outside our borders…remind us of Vietnam as if we’d forgotten. Americans sacrificed there bravely, nobly, existentially…but for what? There are answers in Neil Sheehan’s “A Bright Shining Lie.” The sacrifice is her focus. The crowd forgets the for-what element. Sadly, that’s one of the things for sure that defines them today as Republicans.
http://www.amazon.com/Bright-Shining-Lie-America-Vietnam/dp/0679724141
The crowd thinks of her record and nerve only in terms of the Alaska saga…a classic and idyllic setting. She disassociates from any bravery or extraordinary smarts involved in organizing the messier terain of the hood. Lingle too. Sorry, too many of us common folk down here know about that http://www.drugcrazy.com/chapter1.htm
It looks as though she should get some credit for trying in her own way, but she hasn’t yet turned Alaska into nirvana.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9803207
The woes of the hood don’t seem to be on her mind. The woes of Southeast Asia today, South Asia today, and Central Asia today don’t seem to be items she comprehends (shock doctrine X 3), but then again the Republican schtick today doesn’t encourage such comprehension for any of its fold. IIRC she said she knows the North Slope, and that there’s lots of oil and gas there. But does she have a sense of the consumption goin on down here? By itself, how many years of America’s oil consumption could Alaska’s reserves support?
“So here’s the bad news at the pump: The inability of the global energy industry to keep pace with rising demand is only likely to become more pronounced as, in the years ahead, the world reaches maximum sustainable daily petroleum output and commences what just about all energy experts now agree will be an irreversible decline.” Michael Klare http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174904/michael_klare_the_permanent_energy_crisis_hits_home
It’s good she put aside the jet, but she has had a few rewards. McCain has more houses than he can keep track of. For those of us who aren’t governors at this particular juncture of strange inflation and for those of us who don’t own that many houses…the Republican attitude is exactly as Obama described it. Food’s up, rent’s up, healthcare’s up, and wages are down. [and folks with press passes are get'n beat up outside this Republican Convention] All this came about as a result of Reagan’s trickle down (Romney’s got things backwards). Anyway, as Obama said: Ownership Society = you’re on your own. Plain and simple and we all know it. Transfer payments from down to up as in all the dough paid in that you get none of after foreclosure. Palin might have been another Erin Brockovich in regard to a few issues in Alaska, but when it comes to global econ and global Realpolitik she’s just as out of it as all the other Republicans.
Why struggle to learn all those ropes on one continent, and then ignore everything that’s gone down between ours and the one right across the water?
September 4th, 2008 at 2:07 am
Many thanks to Fox for letting Alan do this gig and allowing him to keep Jay on the line.
September 4th, 2008 at 2:08 am
Sorry, wrong html at 2:07. Only meant to emphasize “all the dough paid in.”
September 4th, 2008 at 2:13 am
“Gore Vidal is speaking and he keeps talking about how the Bush administration got rid of the Magna Carta about 6 months ago. Does anybody know anything about this?”
Vidal is referring to Bush and his radical rightists throwing people into prisons without due process of law, and thereby trampling habeas corpus and the US constitution.
And if this is news to you, then you need to start paying attention.
September 4th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Wake up people,our country is in this situation because of the republicans, palin is not qualified to run our country,if something happens to mccain. And she is already in white house politics with that degrading speech, that was written for her by someone else. She was rude,arragant,nasty and worse of all mocked middle class, blue collar people, along with the entire room laughing about it, knowing these people are so cruicial in our communities, and do so much to help people. By the way I use to watch fox, now I watch cnn, no wonder cnn was the most watched station during the conventions, you can thank hannity for that. He has beaten up on barack and michelle for months everyday he is on, cuts everyone off that trys to tell him the truth on issuse, unless its about mccain and now palin. Why isn’t hannity beaten her up on her issuse,beliefs, and flip flops now that she is a canidate.
September 4th, 2008 at 4:24 pm