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Thread: McCain Picks Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as Running Mate

  1. #16
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    Re: McCain Picks Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as Running Mate

    Quote Originally Posted by Tom_Turner
    I wish we could get a few more economists in the Senate instead of lawyers..
    Smartest political idea I've heard in months...

  2. #17
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    Re: McCain Picks Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as Running Mate

    Quote Originally Posted by adam613
    Quote Originally Posted by Tom_Turner
    I wish we could get a few more economists in the Senate instead of lawyers..
    Smartest political idea I've heard in months...
    Phil Gramm was an economist. He's considered the father of the "Enron Loophole", where his wife was a member of the board of directors. This law is probably what's responsible for oil doubling the last year...

    He also lobbied for less regulations for easing restrictions on predatory lending tactics, which is how we got into the subprime crisis.

    For an economist, he sure did a lot of good! *sarcasm*

  3. #18
    Senior Member moose135's Avatar
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    Re: McCain Picks Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as Running Mate

    You know, she might do better not to lie to the American public right off the bat...

    From her remarks after being introduced by John McCain:
    And I've championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. In fact, I told Congress thanks, but no thanks, on that "Bridge to Nowhere." If our state wanted a bridge, I said, we'd build it ourselves.
    Yet, this NY Times story shows that in November 2005, more than one year before she became governor, Congress cut funding earmarked for that bridge:
    WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 - Congressional Republicans decided Wednesday to take a legislative wrecking ball to two Alaskan bridge projects that had demolished the party's reputation for fiscal austerity.

    Straining to show new dedication to lower spending, House and Senate negotiators took the rare step of eliminating a requirement that $442 million be spent to build the two bridges, spans that became cemented in the national consciousness as "bridges to nowhere" because of the remote territory and small populations involved.

    The change will not save the federal government any money. Instead, the $442 million will be turned over to the state with no strings attached, allowing lawmakers and the governor there to parcel it out for transportation projects as they see fit, including the bridges should they so choose.
    It was only after it became clear that Congress would not fund the bridge did she decide to cancel the project, as seen in this statement from Alaska state news archive
    September 21, 2007, Juneau, Alaska - Governor Sarah Palin today directed the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities to look for the most fiscally responsible alternative for access to the Ketchikan airport and Gravina Island instead of proceeding any further with the proposed $398 million bridge.

    “Ketchikan desires a better way to reach the airport, but the $398 million bridge is not the answer,” said Governor Palin. “Despite the work of our congressional delegation, we are about $329 million short of full funding for the bridge project, and it’s clear that Congress has little interest in spending any more money on a bridge between Ketchikan and Gravina Island,”
    So I guess she was for the bridge, before she was against the bridge.

    Speaking of earmarks in the Federal budget, here's what Governor Palin had to say in March, 2008:
    I am not among those who have said "earmarks are nothing more than pork projects being shoveled home by an overeager congressional delegation." I recognize that Congress, which exercises the power of the purse, has the constitutional responsibility to put its mark on the federal budget, including adding funds that the president has not proposed.

    Accordingly, my administration has recommended funding for specific projects and programs when there is an important federal purpose and strong citizen support. This year, we have requested 31 earmarks, down from 54 in 2007. Of these, 27 involve continuing or previous appropriations and four are new requests. The total dollar amount of these requests has been reduced from approximately $550 million in the previous year to just less than $200 million.
    Seems that puts her at odds with John McCain, champion of the fight to end all earmarks, as noted in his Campaign Press Release in March 2008:
    ARLINGTON, VA -- U.S. Senator John McCain today issued the following statement calling for a stop to earmarks:

    "I am proud to have fought against the practice of earmarking and wasteful pork-barrel spending. It has often been a lonely fight, but one I know is worth winning. I am encouraged by some of my Democratic colleagues' new-found enthusiasm for suspending this practice for a year. I hope their recent commitments do not wane once they step off the campaign trail. I believe we must end this process, which has diverted billions in taxpayer dollars to needless projects, once and for all. If voters give me the pen, I will veto every single pork-barrel bill Congress sends me.
    In fact, McCain tells Fox News during a televised debate earlier this year, that he has never asked for or received earmarks while in Congress:
    And I’m proud to tell you, Chris, in 24 years as a member of Congress, I have never asked for nor received a single earmark or pork barrel project for my state and I guarantee you I’ll veto those bills. I’ll ask for the line item veto and I’ll veto them and I’ll make the authors of them famous.
    Apparently, McCain has a short memory. In 2006, he sponsored a $10 million appropriation for the University of Arizona to fund an academic center honoring late Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist. That came just three years after another project McCain championed, $14 million to purchase land as a buffer around Luke AFB. Interestingly, the largest single landowner who sold to the Air Force in that deal was a company that has contributed to McCain's campaigns for the past 10 years.

    I guess McCain was for earmarks before he was against earmarks. I guess the two of them aren't that different after all.

    By the way, according to Anchorage Daily News:
    Meanwhile, [Ketchikan Mayor Bob] Weinstein noted, the state is continuing to build a road on Gravina Island to an empty beach where the bridge would have gone -- because federal money for the access road, unlike the bridge money, would have otherwise been returned to the federal government.
    That sounds like sound fiscal policy to me.

  4. #19
    Moderator mirrodie's Avatar
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    Re: McCain Picks Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as Running Mate

    Quote Originally Posted by moose135
    You know, she might do better not to lie to the American public right off the bat...
    Why not? At least she'd be putting it out there that she's honestly a liar. A true politician. :borat:

    Quote Originally Posted by Midnight Mike
    She is a very impressive lady and has a rep. of being a change-maker and a reformer. McCain has threw down the gavel at Obama.

    Personally, I like the MILF, er, um, VPILF. :mrgreen: She caters to a younger audience.

    What I find disturbing about McCains choice is how he blasts Obama for lack of experience and yet choses an inexperienced VP, and hence, spare president, Godforbid something happen to McCain. And Obama picks an experienced VP. At this point, McCain shot himself in the foot regarding his allegations of Obama's inexperience.


    Lastly,
    Quote Originally Posted by moose135
    I still don't see it, unless they are going to blindly vote for any ticket with a woman on it.

    Let's hope that is not the case. If women would now blindly vote McCain simply because the veep has breasts, it would forever seal the notion that women are indecisive dumb creatures with funbags who do not know what they want.

    I just asked the woman that I love and spend my life with if she'd vote accordingly. "Hell no. There are issues at hand" was the answer.


    McCain-Palin.....You think McCain would hit it?
    And I, I took the path less traveled by
    and that has made all the difference......yet...
    I have a feeling a handle of people are going to be very interested in what I post in the near future.

    http://www.jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?userid=187

  5. #20
    Senior Member Mateo's Avatar
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    Re: McCain Picks Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as Running Mate

    Last time I checked most Hillary supporters were Democrats, and are unlikely to be moved by a female candidate who's a bit further to the right than McCain is. Soft Dems and independent women (the 2s and 3s, as they're known), may take a look at the ticket that includes a woman, but then when they look at the woman, they'll gravitate towards the Democrats. Palin is more a move to shore up the base and energize the (somewhat-deflated) religious right rather than play towards independents.

    EDIT: My apologies; she was not Buchanan's chair in Alaska in 2000, it appears she was only a supporter.

  6. #21
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    Re: McCain Picks Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as Running Mate

    Quote Originally Posted by mirrodie
    What I find disturbing about McCains choice is how he blasts Obama for lack of experience and yet choses an inexperienced VP, and hence, spare president, Godforbid something happen to McCain. And Obama picks an experienced VP. At this point, McCain shot himself in the foot regarding his allegations of Obama's inexperience.
    Well, this is a what the Democrats lose, as Gov. Sarah Palin was a Mayor & a Governor, while Obama's main accomplisment is barely 3 years in the US Senate......

    So, yes, McCain can continue to attack Obama on his lack of experience, now, the Democrats have a problem in that they can not attack Gov. Palin on her lack of foreign policy experience.....

    Forget picking an experienced VP to run with an inexperienced President, I want an experienced President! Biden should be on top of the ticket, with Obama as the inexperienced VP.....


    Senator Obama -
    US Senate
    Elected in November - 2004


    Gov. Palin -
    2 terms as Mayor (1996-2002)
    Elected in as Governor on December 04, 2006

    Another person that thinks Senator Obama does not have experience
    The problem with socialism is that you eventually,
    run out of other people’s money.
    ” - Margaret Thatcher

  7. #22
    Senior Member moose135's Avatar
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    Re: McCain Picks Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as Running Mate

    You can't make this stuff up. When running for governor, she gave the following response in a candidates' questionnaire:

    Are you offended by the phrase “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance? Why or why not?

    SP: Not on your life. If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its good enough for me and I’ll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance.
    Except that the Pledge of Allegiance wasn't written until 1892 (I don't think many of the Founding Fathers were around by then) and the words "Under God" were added in 1954 in response to Communism in the Soviet Union.

  8. #23
    Moderator Matt Molnar's Avatar
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    Re: McCain Picks Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as Running Mate

    Last night I was chatting with my upstairs neighbor, a native Alaskan, and more importantly her mom who is visiting from Juneau..and as it turns out she's Alaska's state travel manager! She had some dirt, sort of...

    Pros:
    She says Palin has been a great governor, in large part thanks to a number of pretty large tax rebate checks she's been mailing out which always makes people happy.
    She likes her story, apparently she toppled some pretty big names in the Alaskan Repub party on her way to becoming governor.
    She was in favor of Palin's stance on the "Bridge to Nowhere", which Palin originally supported but later scrapped after the Feds cut funding in half.

    Major con:
    Palin has been quietly moving more and more state offices from the capitol in Juneau to Anchorage. Why? Because Palin never actually moved to the capitol! She still lives with her family in Wasilia, which is about a 40 minute drive from Anchorage...an 18 HOUR drive from Juneau. There was actually a ballot referendum to move the capital to Wasilia in the mid 90s, but it failed. Rather than move, or launch another attempt to officially move the capitol, she's simply been moving more operations closer to her home. Juneau doesn't have much going for it other than being the capitol, so if too many operations are shifted, the city is going to have a rough time, according to my new friend.
    Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem.
    All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them under control.
    I trust you are not in too much distress. —Captain Eric Moody, British Airways Flight 9

  9. #24
    Moderator mirrodie's Avatar
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    Re: McCain Picks Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as Running Mate

    Hey, MidnightMike, you want experience? Looks like Palin's daughter is a frontrunner. :borat:
    And I, I took the path less traveled by
    and that has made all the difference......yet...
    I have a feeling a handle of people are going to be very interested in what I post in the near future.

    http://www.jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?userid=187

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