-----Original Message-----Subject: FW: Sarah Palin comments from people who know herAbuse of Power maybe in the eyes of the beholders…… Sarah Palin First, comments by a political cynic and Second, those of a Palin relative that lives in Alaska gives us her feelings toward McCain's running mate And from a Alaska man who is a very serious cynic about all things political here is my take on Sara.I met and spoke with Sara Palin about two years ago at our downtown Park Strip. It is a place for walking, carnivals, political outdoor things and such. She was cooking hotdogs at a fund raiser and introducing herself to the public as a Governor hopeful.She came by and said the usual "Hi, I'm Sara Palin and I am running for Governor"...and I expected her to keep on to the next person but she asked me who I was and what I did in Alaska and we ended up talking for 15 minutes about me, Air America (she was all agog!) and my career in the Army and AAM. She is a pilot (Super Cub) I'm told although all she told me about that was that she loved flying.As I watched her over the next six months as she successfully ran for Governor I was really impressed. I was impressed greatly even before that after she resigned a good position (Alaska Gas and Oil Regulatory Commission) because a fellow Commission member (Chair of the Alaska Republican Party) misused their office and position. He was using the FAX, computers, printing room and all to promote the Republican endeavors while in a State job. That is a huge no-no in any government employment position.She resigned and made her point and within weeks Randy Ruderich (the above bad guy) found his ass out on the street and a subsequent investigation found him guilty and he was fined $12,000. Small change actually but a giant point was made.Next she went after our most horrible Governor ever, Governor Murkowski, and damned if she didn't beat him! All of us here in Alaska , except the Democrats, are sick of our State's corruption. That fact was shouted to the heavens after she was elected with an overwhelming point spread.After she got into office she started after corrupt legislators and with the FBI's help we've put four of them in prison, indicted six more and the "Corrupt Bastard's Club" as they arrogantly called themselves (even had hats made with CBC on the front!) suddenly found it no fun anymore. Club membership is now in the toilet!!The current flap which has cost her a ten point loss of popularity (she's still 82%!) was over firing a popular Commissioner of Public Safety who is responsible for our Alaska State Troopers. She fired him for no STATED reason which was her prerogative as the Gov. He served entirely at her option. She and her whole family had a bad, bad experience with a rogue Trooper who was married to Sara's sister. His name is Trooper Wooten. This dimwit Trooper had threatened Sara's father (death threat!), threatened Sara ("I'll get you too"), tasered his 12 year old stepson, drove drunk in his AST cruiser, got a pass by a fellow Trooper who stopped him for erratic driving a second time while in civvies and just a host of other things not yet released to the public. He got away with it and got another pass by the Commissioner's appointed AST Trooper Internal Affairs investigator with a tiny slap on the wrist. Five days off without pay to be exact!!This maverick Trooper is still on the payroll but only just. The Union intervening saved his malcontent ass. He'll yet get his I'm sure. Incredible heat is being heaped on the Troopers. Public heat, not the Governors office.The Democrats had the audacity to appoint a obviously biased investigator, Rep. "Gunny" French (so called because he lied about being in the USMC while running for the Legislature) is a staunch liberal and under the orders of Senate President Lyda Green who hates Sara. She hates Sara because after being elected Governor Sara told the whole Legislature in one of her first meetings with them that, quote; "All of you here need some Adult Supervision!!!". Sara was seriously pissed and not afraid of anyone there.That played wonderfully well with Alaskan's after all of our corruption and after all of her successful battles against a seriously entrenched corrupt government here in Alaska . It pissed off the whole Legislature though! They have stayed pissed but also afraid of her because of her popularity.She reminds me personally of our Alaska wolverine which will fight anything in it's path if it see's fit to do so. No respect at all for size or position. Wife Cindy is in this category too. Unfortunately.In closing I must tell you that she is the best, most moral and most focused leader I've seen since President Reagan. I feel, really strongly, that like Alaska the rest of our country will love her within a few weeks. Put simply, she represents middle America like NO leader we've ever had. I think McCain made a totally brilliant move in choosing her. She's a maverick who is probably tougher and more focused than McCain himself....and she won't be a total "Yes Man" or more appropriately, woman. McCain will love her.In 2012 she will be President.My best to all of you in the hurricane belt. I hope you are all OK. We just had another mini Air America reunion here in beautiful Soldotna , Alaska along the Kenai river. Milt Olson, Mike Seal and Ernie Brace (McCains POW buddy) were all here. Ernie's wife, Nancy, is a class act and a wonderful gal. I wish you'd come up and see us. We'll be doing this every year now I guess. Like our Flying Tiger pal's before us there are not that many Air America guys left. I'm 71 myself this September 16. Where the hell did the years go so fast?My best to you old buddy.Semper Fi from the friend of a friend A relative that lives in Alaska gives us her feelings toward McCain's running mate.We were excited to hear Sarah was McCain's choice.... She is an awesome candidate.... She has proven herself a strong leader in AK and Alaska girls are pretty tough.... Around here their favorite bumper sticker is that " Alaska Girls Kick Ass" and they aren't kidding....Sarah is known for being "common folk" ... she refused her security detail, and picks up her own dry-cleaning. She lives in her own home instead of the Governor's mansion so her kids can go to their regular schools.... He husband is an Alaska Native (Indian) her kids are named after Alaska things... "Trap" is the oldest, Bristol (Bristol bay), Willow and baby Paxon are named for places, and Piper for an airplane (AK's primary transportation) She and her husband Tod still net salmon commercially during the fishing season, and she is an avid hunter, and respects the state's traditions...One of the favorite recent stories concerns the birth of her last baby... She was scheduled to speak at a big conference of Governors in the Southwest and shortly before going on stage her water broke, and she went into labor with her 5th child... She still gave the speech which was 20 minutes long and no one knew she was in labor... she was then whisked to a plane and flew back to AK because she said it just wouldn't do for the Gov. of AK to have her baby out of state!She is also a strong leader, and managed to push through a LNG pipeline contract that the men had been talking about for 20 years without action and she has only been Governor for 2 years.... She has given the good old boys a run for their money, in a state where politics are pretty rough.... She has cut spending, and believes that the PEOPLE own the resources and not the government... remember AK has no income tax, and we actually get paid to live here.... this year we will get about $3300 apiece to compensate for gas prices and our usual share of government oil revenue... She is smart, practical and Real! She also cleans up well and has a good sense of decorum in addition to speaking well and being comfortable in crowds.... Overall we are thrilled by this choice and optimistic that the McCain/Palin ticket will bring the change that the country needs... Can you tell we approve?
I’ve posted my take on the extraordinarily dishonest GOP convention on my personal blog, which includes lots of links to sources debunking as many lies as I had the energy to counter (admittedly, the supply is almost inexhaustible).Please drop in & see if any of it is of use in your efforts to register, convince and/or motivate potential voters.
On another note, Obama and Biden were on fire today.
The republican convention last weekend in St. Paul was a phenomenon. We saw thousands of people cheering to politicians that really did not reveal any points of their agenda, but based their entire strategy on patriotism, old values, and attacks on the democratic nominee for President. After watching most of the GOP convention, I came to the conclusion that this event was indeed a “bridge to nowhere.”
The slogan of the convention was “country first,” a slogan that implies that someone else does not put his country first and a very hypocritical statement. Is McCain arguing that Obama does not put his country first? Is he saying that the only reason Obama is running for President is for his own personal benefit? Well, it sure seems that he does, but even if not, Sarah Palin definitely did explicitly say that “there is only one candidate in this race that puts in country first, and that is Senator John McCain.” Not only is this an insult to a man that went into community service after graduating from Harvard and having a lot of opportunities to make ten times as much money somewhere else, it is also controversial. If anybody in this race does put himself over his country it would have to be John McCain. First of all, he changed a dozen of his personal agendas to fit those of the Republican Party in order to get support from traditional republican voters. He used to be against offshore drilling, he used to favor the Hurricane Katrina Investigations, and he changed his position on social security privatization. On almost every major issue he now stands with the republican strategies, which is a clear indicator that he puts his career first.
Furthermore, McCain’s campaign used to base all of their arguments on the theory that Obama is just too inexperienced to lead. McCain also said that he would pick a Vice President that is most capable of leading in case of his death. He picked a two year governor, who is younger and has less experience than Obama does. Either McCain was wrong about Obama being too inexperienced, or he did not pick the most capable leader for his VP ticket. Republicans are now arguing that Palin has more experience than Obama because she is a governor. Palin, however, has been dealing only with issues of the state of Alaska, and she has done so only for the last two years. Obama has been dealing with nationwide and international issues for the last twelve years. The republicans are trying to escape this logical fallacy in a very cheap manner.
Every speaker at the convention was talking about change. The idea to bring change to Washington by electing the Republicans is not only ridiculous, the slogan is simply stolen. Obama’s campaign slogan has been “Change” ever since he started campaigning in the primaries. So now the Republicans bring about change? Repeatedly it has been said that the liberal government is responsible of the mistakes made in the past years. Well, the Executive has been conservative since 2000, our Supreme Court has a conservative majority, and until 2006 Congress was conservative as well. Who are those liberals in the government? Seriously, bringing change to Washington by electing the party that has been running Washington for the last eight years is as ridiculous as using the wrong size wrench on a car and refusing to change the wrench. “If I try long enough, it might just change and fit.”
“It’s not that Obama doesn’t care, he doesn’t get it” was another stolen slogan from republican speakers at the convention. Word by word this is exactly what Obama said about McCain at the democratic convention in Denver. Every college would consider such an act plagiarism and reward it with an “F.” Untrue statements about Obama wanting to raise taxes for most Americans, never reaching across the aisle to work with republicans, and giving oil companies social welfare benefits are supposed to attract voters? It is very easy to research these issues and find out that they are sheerly not true.
Change will only come if we elect a new government. How can McCain’s campaign expect people to believe in them bringing change to the White House when they started lying now already? How can we think anything will change if we pursue the same old policies and the same old agenda? How can we believe McCain’s slogan “country first”, which to me is a self evident requirement for any politician, when he changes his position to comply more with republican strategies in order to get their support? Whereas Sarah Palin was using her refusal to have the federal government build a bridge to a local community in Alaska in order to advertise her strength to the American Public, she was actually supporting that bridge when she was running for Governor. She simply ‘changed’ her position after she was elected. So with this considered her only “bridge to nowhere” would have to be her appearances in public as well as the entire republican national convention.
Palin acceptance speech is a cynical message painting a world in which we are supposed to cow down to high school bullies who want the world to be just as it was. Teleprompter reading by Palin of the fed lines was a well-rehearsed high school-level show. “Congrats” to the speech writers and the choreographers who puppeteered the show on sending one of the most cynical, smug, insulting messages ever in politics. By mocking Obama, you succeeded in making the rest of us feel inadequate and evoked the thoughts of school-yard bullies waiting for us after school on our way home. Now that we know that we are all complete failure, as we are told so in no uncertain terms, and that there is no hope for us and no place for us in your world, what are we supposed to do? Roll over, cry uncle, and pony up the money the bully wants so we can go home and hide? I think that the American people will chose to stand up to the high school bullies, once they realize what this show is all about. Funny, how some people never grow up…
Lieberman and Thompson make misleading claims about Obama on Day Two of the party in St. Paul.
Summary
Joe Lieberman and his former Senate colleague Fred Thompson both made misleading claims about Obama in their prime time GOP convention speeches on Tuesday. We've heard two of them before – many times.
Lieberman: In the Senate, during the three-and-a-half years that Senator Obama has been a member, he has not reached across party lines to get accomplish anything significant. ...
Tax Policy Center: The Obama plan would reduce taxes for low- and moderate-income families, but raise them significantly for high-bracket taxpayers. ... By 2012, middle-income taxpayers would see their after-tax income rise by about 5 percent, or nearly $2,200 annually. Those in the top 1 percent would face a $19,000 average tax increase — a 1.5 percent reduction in after-tax income.
The first day of the GOP convention has just ended. What surprised me most was the lack of diversity among those in attendance, though I did see an African-American security person tell people to move aside. Lots of cowboy hats and an Abraham Lincoln look-alike.
CNN has a live stream if you don't want to have commercials nor hear any commentary.http://www.cnn.com/video/live/live.html?stream=stream4
I am concerned with the actions of the Republican National Convention, a very important media event being rescheduled and many of the actions taken in anticipation of Hurricane Gustav's impending blow. Might the revamping of the GOP National Convention be an attempted diversion from the policy positions and recent concerns surrounding the appointment of Pulin, masquerading as a Compassionate Conversativism?
Why, if not for this reason won't GOP convention, as planned, with live shots and commentary from candidates through out the day and during planned speeches?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/31/gop-cancels-convention-op_n_122808.html
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