Sarah Palin Background Check

[molson_golden2002]

I don't see how they could have missed this story.

 

 

As if we needed another sign that Sarah Palin has decided to stonewall the Trooper-Gate investigation, ABC News reports this afternoon that lawyers for her aide Frank Bailey have cancelled Bailey's scheduled deposition in the investigation .

 

Bailey is central to the case. In phone recordings released last month as part of a parallel probe by the state Attorney General, Bailey suggested that Palin and her husband wanted trooper Mike Wooten -- who has been embroiled in a messy family dispute with the Palins -- removed from his job.

 

"The Palins can't figure out why nothing's going on," Bailey told a trooper official. "I mean he's declared bankruptcy, his finances are a complete disaster, he's bought a new truck. All kinds of crazy stuff. He doesn't represent the department well. The community knows it, but no action is being taken."

 

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/...troopergate.php

 

He has a new truck??? Yes! Fire him for the good of Alaska!

[Kelly the Dog]

Here's another good one. Three times in the last several years, Palin's requests for earmarks were on McCain's lists of unnecessary ones. She got $12 mil for her little town (which when she was mayor has less than 5000 people) after she hired the lobbyist for Ted Stevens. She said that the earmarks were the only way her town could get stuff done, but apparently, they only started once she became mayor. And the article shows the completely disingenuous remarks of Palin herself about the "bridge to nowhere."

 

But records show that Palin -- first as mayor of Wasilla and recently as governor of Alaska -- was far from shy about pursuing tens of millions in earmarks for her town, her region and her state.

 

This year, Palin, who has been governor for nearly 22 months, defended earmarking as a vital part of the legislative system. "The federal budget, in its various manifestations, is incredibly important to us, and congressional earmarks are one aspect of this relationship," she wrote in a newspaper column.

 

In 2001, McCain's list of spending that had been approved without the normal budget scrutiny included a $500,000 earmark for a public transportation project in Wasilla. The Arizona senator targeted $1 million in a 2002 spending bill for an emergency communications center in town -- one that local law enforcement has said is redundant and creates confusion.

 

McCain also criticized $450,000 set aside for an agricultural processing facility in Wasilla that was requested during Palin's tenure as mayor and cleared Congress soon after she left office in 2002. The funding was provided to help direct locally grown produce to schools, prisons and other government institutions, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog group.

 

Wasilla received $11.9 million in earmarks from 2000 to 2003. The results of this spending are very apparent today. (The town also benefited from $15 million in federal funds to promote regional rail transportation.)

 

The community transit center is a landmark: a one-story, tile-fronted building with a drive-through garage. Its fleet of 10 buses provides service throughout the region. Mat-Su Community Transit Agency officials say the building was made possible with a combination of federal money and matching gifts from a private foundation.

 

Taylor Griffin, a McCain campaign spokesman, said that when Palin became mayor in 1996, "she faced a system that was broken. Small towns like Wasilla in Alaska depended on earmarks to take care of basic needs. . . . That was something that Gov. Palin was alarmed about and was one of the formative experiences that led her toward the reform-oriented stance that she has taken as her career has progressed."

 

Palin, he said, was "disgusted" that small towns like hers were dependent on earmarks.

 

Public records paint a different picture:

 

Wasilla had received few if any earmarks before Palin became mayor. She actively sought federal funds -- a campaign that began to pay off only after she hired a lobbyist with close ties to Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who long controlled federal spending as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He made funneling money to Alaska his hallmark.

 

Steven Silver was a former chief of staff for Stevens. After he was hired, Wasilla obtained funding for several projects in 2002, including an additional $600,000 in transportation funding.

 

That year, a local water and sewer project received $1.5 million, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, which combs federal spending measures to identify projects inserted by congressional members.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/la-na-e...0,5932587.story

[molson_golden2002]

If they let her debate Biden they either want to make her suffer or are just living in a completely different world from 90% of America.

[X. Benedict]

I like this one. Peggy Noonan and Mike Murphy, off camera saying the choice of Palin "political bullschitt", "cynical" and "gimmicky". Noonan also said "it's over" (meaning the race) and she's as conservative as it gets.

Gotta love the Youtube age.

 

 

Listen to them here:

Politcal bullschitt

 

Wow. Coming from Noonan, that is saying something.

 

That is an amazing exchange.

 

Palin is going to have to give a hell of a speech tonight to get America to buy into the reform narrative.

[Gene Frenkle]

I think we can now put to rest the rumor that she was not vetted properly per article below just released. John McCain knew about the pregnancy and everything else (I'm sure including anything else that pops up) and still chose her. Its up to you whether you agree with his decision or not on choosing her, but he clearly made a choice knowing all the facts.

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/09/02/po...ry4408656.shtml

 

In my opinion, having a 17 year old who is pregnant, a husband who had a DUI when he was 22, and her having a fishing fine doesn't disqualify her for the VP spot. The McCain camp obviously feels the Troopergate situation is going to turn out in her favor. With that, I feel its a little risky but don't know the facts, and none of us do other than the McCain camp.

Well, let me just say that they did a bang-up job of vetting her.

[X. Benedict]

I think Newsweeks Fineman is being fair when he makes a short list of things she has to attend to in the near future:

 

* her continuing duties as governor of Alaska

* a legislature-funded investigation into questions of whether she has abused her office in a vendetta against her former brother-in-law, a probe that prompted her to hire a personal attorney

* the care of her fifth child, Trig, born this spring with Down syndrome—a condition that requires close parental attention and care, especially in the first year of the child's life

* the pregnancy and pending marriage of her teenage daughter Bristol, who is planning to wed the father before Election Day

* learning the routines and rituals of the national campaign trail, which she will be required to traverse on her own plane, with her own staff

* getting a sense of the Lower 48 states, most of which she has never visited

* figuring out how to deal with McCain, whom she barely knows

* handling whatever national press interviews the McCain campaign allows her to do—and she will have to do some to prepare herself for later events

* prep for the nationally televised vice-presidential debate with Sen. Joe Biden, a legislator with 36 years of seniority, who is personally acquainted with the rulers of nations Palin may never have even heard of

[John Adams]

Even if it is less, it is a gross over statement.

 

So you think he counted all the towns, or was just making the point that there are a lot of small towns?

 

Ever heard someone say, "There are a zillion___s in the world." Maybe he was making a point. Or maybe he's a guy who can't count. Or maybe he's an evil Republican shill who lied to overexaggerate a point that will help him take over the world.

[John Adams]

blah blah blah

 

The real story here is that you're back. How awesome.

[Kelly the Dog]

So she really never did make any decision for the Alaska National Guard. Strong credentials as an executive.

 

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/51665.html

However, the governor has no command authority overseas or anywhere in the United States other than Alaska, said Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell, the service commander of the Alaska National Guard.

 

"When members of the National Guard are federalized, they work for the president," Campbell said Wednesday. "It's not just overseas. They could be federalized to go to other states or they could even be federalized in the state."

 

Occasions in which Palin retains command authority over the 4,200-member Alaska National Guard are whenever the Guard responds to in-state natural disasters and civic emergencies, said Campbell, who also serves as the commissioner of the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

 

Some examples?

 

"We've deployed individuals in state service all over the state under Sarah Palin," he said. “We had defense men down in Seward for the (Mount) Marathon run doing security.

 

"Out west and northwest we had erosion problems, and the National Guard was involved in some of the protection out there. About three days ago, the Army National Guard picked up a lady from Little Diomede (Island) . . . at the request of state troopers."

 

Did Palin directly approve each of those activities?

 

No, Campbell said. The governor has granted him the authority to act on his own in most cases, including life-or-death emergencies — when a quick response is required — and minor day-to-day operations.

 

"Some authorities have been given to me that she has acknowledged that I can execute," he said. "For others I have to ask her each time."

 

The recent decision to deploy a C-17 cargo plane from the Alaska Air National Guard to Louisiana to assist during the Hurricane Gustav response was an occasion in which Campbell briefed the governor's office and sought its approval, he said. Chief of Staff Mike Nizich signed off on it.

 

The flooding that occurred in Fairbanks in late July — for which the Guard sent trucks north to provide clean drinking water — didn't require the governor's approval, Campbell said.

 

Natural disasters are fairly sporadic, said Jeremy Zidek, the public information officer for the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, which is part of Campbell's department.

 

Last year, during Palin's first year as governor, there wasn't much action, Zidek said. “Thankfully, we didn't have any major disasters."

[KD in CA]

So she really never did make any decision for the Alaska National Guard. Strong credentials as an executive.

 

I'm really having a hard time understanding the 'executive experience' argument from the Obama crowd.

 

Being a governor of anywhere is strong credentials as an executive. Especially when compared with a guy whose sum total of executive experience was running his college newspaper.

 

Oh yeah, and you all keep forgetting that she's the VP, not leading the ticket.

[Gary M]

I'm really having a hard time understanding the 'executive experience' argument from the Obama crowd.

 

Being a governor of anywhere is strong credentials as an executive. Especially when compared with a guy whose sum total of executive experience was running his college newspaper.

 

Oh yeah, and you all keep forgetting that she's the VP, not leading the ticket.

 

SHhhh, let them continue to think that Obama is running against her.

 

What a surprise it will be election day.

 

I laugh every time some one compares BO and Sarah's experience.

[buckeyemike]

SHhhh, let them continue to think that Obama is running against her.

 

What a surprise it will be election day.

 

I laugh every time some one compares BO and Sarah's experience.

 

I have a friend who wants to make some t-shirts..."Just say NO to BO".

[Gene Frenkle]

I have a friend who wants to make some t-shirts..."Just say NO to BO".

Wow, that's very creative and will probably tip the balance for McCain!

[molson_golden2002]

Police union now going after her

 

 

http://deepbackground.msnbc.msn.com/archiv...04/1347737.aspx

 

The GOP candidate for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin, may be facing yet another ethics investigation back in her home state of Alaska. An ethics complaint obtained by NBC News was filed Wednesday by the police officers union in Alaska, requesting a probe into possible wrongdoing by the governor or her office. It was brought on behalf of state trooper Mike Wooten, an ex-brother-in-law of Palin who is at the center of the "Troopergate" scandal.

 

The complaint alleges that the governor or her staff may have have improperly disclosed information from Wooten's personnel records. The complaint alleges "criminal penalties may apply."

[ExiledInIllinois]

I have a friend who wants to make some t-shirts..."Just say NO to BO".

 

 

Too late... They already have:

 

NoBama

 

[YellowLinesandArmadillos]

So you think he counted all the towns, or was just making the point that there are a lot of small towns?

 

Ever heard someone say, "There are a zillion___s in the world." Maybe he was making a point. Or maybe he's a guy who can't count. Or maybe he's an evil Republican shill who lied to overexaggerate a point that will help him take over the world.

 

It was because she made a follow up statement that majority of American's do not live in cities.... Oh? Really? Have you seen the latest census numbers lately. Of the ten largest cities, not even including the ten largest metro areas, population totaled 135+ million, more than a third of our population. 50.13% of the population lived in the 40 most populas metro areas in the country. There are over 500 metro areas totaling at least 54,000 people. I haven't yet added up this total, but I am willing to guess that two thirds of the population of the U.S. lives in a metropolitian area. Check it out:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_Unit...atistical_Areas

 

America is no longer rural folks, as much as we want to romanticize about it.