I figured the time was ripe to say it again. Biden. Palin. Medical records please.
Tag: palin
SNL VP Debate
The crew at Saturday Night Live has, I think, outdone themselves again. If the Palin/Clinton speech and Couric interview skits were comedy gold, their take on the VP debate went to a whole new level. They parodied both Biden and Palin mercilessly.
The Alaskan Independence Party and Palin
There’s been much hoopla around the blogosphere in recent days about Barack Obama’s questionable associations with domestic terrorist William Ayers. Seems that there is bad judgment there at best.
But what about Sarah Palin’s associations with the Alaska Independence Party? Is her various levels of association with them not just as bad judgment?
Check Those Facts!
I haven’t given myself enough opportunities to visit the tireless researchers at factcheck.org, but I think that may change as the election draws near. Most especially, the debates will provide plenty of material on both sides for them. Here’s a few “facts” used by McCain or Obama that have been checked.
Education: First, an ad McCain released yesterday, entitled “Education.” The ad claims that Obama is undistinguished on education, and would like sex ed taught to kindergarteners. Sounds bad, right? However, it doesn’t tell the whole story. As FactCheck says:
The ad refers to a bill Obama supported in the Illinois state Senate to update the sex education curriculum and make it “medically accurate.” It would have lowered the age at which students would begin what the bill termed “comprehensive sex education” to include kindergarten. But it mandated the instruction be “age-appropriate” for kindergarteners when addressing topics such as sexually transmitted diseases. The bill also would have granted parents the opportunity to remove their children from the class without question.
And the crux of the ad? Well, the bill wanted to teach them how to respond to pedophiles:
The bill also called for all sex education course materials to include information that would help students recognize, among other activities, inappropriate touching, sexual assault and rape.
These accusation began back when Obama was running for the Senate against Alan Keyes. They were repeated earlier this year by Mitt Romney, and then Obama said Romney supported the same policy, which is also untrue.
Fact Check: The newest ad from the McCain campaign quotes FactCheck themselves as saying that Obama’s attaks on Palin were “misleading” and “absolutely false.” FactCheck did say these things, but not about Obama. The FactCheck report (which I’ll get to later) is about an email being sent around by someone completely unconnected to the Obama campaign. FactCheck:
Our article, posted two days earlier, debunked a number of false or misleading claims that have circulated in chain e-mails and Internet postings regarding Palin. There is no evidence that the Obama campaign is behind any of the wild accusations that we critiqued. There is no more basis for attributing these viral attacks to the Obama campaign than there is for blaming the McCain campaign for chain e-mail attacks falsely claiming that Obama is a Muslim, or a “racist,” or that he is proposing to tax water. The anti-Palin messages, like the anti-Obama messages, have every appearance of being home-grown.
Obama
Never: Proving that two can play the “link them to bad guys” game, this Obama ad tries to link McCain to Jack Abramoff-connected Christian Coalition exec Ralph Reed. The ad says McCain never called Reed to testify, and that Reed is now fundraising for McCain. FactCheck says the fundraising thing is true, but misleading:
The ad says that Reed is “now raising money for McCain’s campaign.” That is true. The Hill newspaper reported that Reed sent out an e-mail to friends and associates urging them to contribute to McCain’s campaign and attend a fundraiser for him. But there isn’t any formal connection between McCain’s campaign and Reed’s activities. McCain flatly told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that, “I neither seek nor want his support.” Reed appears to have gotten the message. He didn’t even appear at the fundraiser he told friends to attend.
On not testifying and being part of the Abramoff scandal:
That’s all true, but what’s not said is that McCain’s report caused Reed political embarrassment, making public evidence that contradicted Reed’s claim that he hadn’t known that his lobbying activities among anti-gambling Christian activists had been paid for by casino-owning Indian tribes who wanted to suppress competition.
Basically, Reed drummed up anti-gambling sentiment amongst anti-gambling Christians to oppose operations that would have competed with Abramoff’s Native American clients (who got scammed, too).
Fix the Economy: In an ad from a few weeks ago, Obama uses old and out of context quotes to portray McCain as out of the loop on the economy:
The ad opens with video of McCain saying, “I don’t believe we’re headed into a recession.”
Trouble is, McCain said this in January, and as part of a bigger explanation. Says FactCheck:
McCain’s quote is followed by a clip of a man from Ohio saying, “I think we’re absolutely in a recession.” While that man and others shown in the ad are talking about economic conditions now, this quote from McCain and another in the ad are from seven months ago, a fact that may not be apparent to viewers if they miss the fine print.
Here’s more of what McCain said in January:
McCain, Jan. 10: … And by the way, I don’t believe we’re headed into a recession. I believe the fundamentals of this economy are strong, and I believe they will remain strong. This is a rough patch, but I think America’s greatness lies ahead of us.
Another quote used portrays McCain as saying the economy is just peachy. Not so fast! McCain really said
I think if you look at the overall record and millions of jobs have been created, et cetera, et cetera, you could make an argument that there’s been great progress economically over that period of time. But that’s no comfort. That’s no comfort to families now that are facing these tremendous economic challenges.
Though he does think conditions are better overall, he says that times are tough right now.
So, excuse me while I sneeze. I’m allergic to lying politicians, see?
Unrelated to McCain or Obama
- As noted above, FactCheck looked into some of the smears being spread about Sarah Palin. They’re all either exaggerations or outright lies.
- And indisputable proof at last that Obama is a natural-born citizen. They’ve seen, touched, and smelled the real thing.
Palin’s Reverend Wright?
I’ve seen a couple stories flying around the blogosphere regarding one of the pastors at Gov. Sarah Palin’s current church, the Wasilla Bible Church. Up until six years ago, Palin was part of the Wasilla Assembly of God, a Pentecostal church.
The stories that have gone around largely involve Larry Kroon, the Senior Pastor at WBC. The two passages I’ve noticed today were brought up by Max Blumenthal, who’s a left wing journalist and blogger. I know right that’ll be enough for many people to disregard this entry, but hear me out.
Of the two passages, I think at least one is of no concern.
Palin Speech
For the most part, I found it comparable to Joe Biden’s speech. It did what it was meant to do, attack the other side’s candidate. Although, Palin also had to introduce herself, which I think she did well.
McCain is about to speak, so I can’t get into specifics right now, but I have two nitpicks I’ll expand on after an entry on McCain’s speech. The first is that she faltered a little when she got to foreign policy. You could hear it in her voice; she was clearly uncomfortable there, though she did make a partial recovery, and made it quickly. The other was her statement on opposing the “bridge to nowhere.” That one was…incomplete.
Welcome to 2008, Liberals
Welcome to 2008, where gender roles have broken down. Where women can become businesspeople and Vice Presidential candidates. Where men can cook and clean the house. A year and in a country, where if you try hard enough, you can do anything.
My point? Todd Palin can take care of Trig when Sarah is doing Vice Presidential duties! Sometimes tells me he won’t be doing much oil work on the North Slope of Alaska or commercial fishing at Bristol Bay while the two are hunkered down 4,000 miles away in Washington.
It’s time to cut it out with the sexism and preconceived gender roles. Welcome to 2008.
The One Who Has Been Executive Most
Am I the only one who thinks John McCain has to be cringing every time a Republican speaks about how much executive experience Sarah Palin has? You know, considering that he, like Barack Obama and Joe Biden, have none of which to speak?
Stretching the Resume
Gov. Palin doesn’t have to even speak about her political experience; fellow Republicans do it for her. However, some could find themselves with foot-in-mouth syndrome.
The Unknown Factor – Palin
Depending on who you support, John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin for his Vice Presidential running mate is either the best or worst thing since sliced bread. The truth, I think, may not be so clear cut.
It’s been about 36 hours since John McCain made his announcement that he chose Palin. While she definitely has pros and cons, I’m not sure we know enough to make an educated decision yet (sound familiar?). We’ve had 18 months to get to know Obama, and while you can make the argument that we still don’t know enough, I think we do. This just isn’t the case with Palin.
I’ve think I’ve pretty much read every argument for and against Palin that is out there from bloggers and news sources left, right, center, and outer space. I’m not sure that’s enough. Therefore, I will reserve my judgement until after she makes her speech (hopefully) next week. That means Gustav, you can go ahead and dissipate now so the Republicans can have their convention as scheduled.
As if.
(Cross-posted from Poligazette)