McCain's VP pick announced.....

yep..

a candidate that admits he doesn't understand economics and a veep with almost no experience and absolutely zero foreign policy exposure.

good luck with that.

eight is enough.
 
shortBoarder said:
yep..

a candidate that admits he doesn't understand economics and a veep with almost no experience and absolutely zero foreign policy exposure.

good luck with that.

eight is enough.
Click to expand...

Oh come one,:whistle: I heard she was a three time mayor of a town of nearly six thousand people...in Alaska.:rofl:
 
What a joke. I see this pick as a pop at Hillary's supporters. Qualified???? Experienced???? Isnt that what Mccain has been blasting Obama about???? Huh....... Gov. of alaska, a state with a total population of 637,000 people. Here in the triangle (Raleigh,Durham NC) we have more people than that. This is funny. :rofl::rofl:
 
I hate that anyone thinks this will snag all of the Hillary supporters just because he chose a woman. That's offensive to women to assume that we'll vote for her based on gender alone.

She has only slightly more experience than I do. I also have a special needs child. Although I wasn't a beauty queen, I am a black belt and could at the very least kick her a$$. So, why didn't McCain pick me? It would make about as much sense.

But, as stated before, votes aren't decided based on the veep. Hell, George Sr. got elected and his running mate had the IQ of a pencil.
 
Coupla articles and source links


JUNEAU, Alaska - In her first year as governor, Sarah Palin has plunged ahead with the fearlessness of a polar explorer.

The populist Republican has raised taxes on the oil industry. She has pushed through ethics legislation amid a burgeoning corruption investigation of Alaska lawmakers. She has bucked her party's old guard. And she has ordered her administration to seek fewer congressional earmarks after Alaska's so-called Bridge to Nowhere became a national symbol of piggish pork-barrel spending.

The 43-year-old governor also has emerged as a national figure and a media darling, posing recently for Vogue magazine.

Alaska's first female governor says it is her responsibility to be available even to fashion magazines if it can help change the state's reputation for graft and gluttony at the public trough.

"We've got to make sure the rest of the United States doesn't believe the only thing going on in Alaska is FBI probes and corruption trials," Palin said.

Breaking stereotypes

Palin has dismissed speculation she might leave Juneau for higher office before her term expires in 2010, saying, "My role as governor is where I can be most helpful right now unless something drastic happens, and I don't anticipate that right now."

Nevertheless, John Pitney Jr., a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College in California and former analyst for congressional Republicans, said Palin could be an ideal presidential running mate.

"What separates her from others is that at a time when Republicans have suffered from the taint of corruption, she represents clean politics," Pitney said.

"The public stereotype of Republican is a wrinkled old guy taking cash under the table," he said. "One way for Republicans to break the stereotype is with a female reformer."

Party labels seem to mean little to Palin. Her revenue commissioner is a Democrat. Her husband, Todd, a blue-collar worker on Alaska's oil-rich North Slope, is an independent.

Tackling her agenda

The former mayor of the Anchorage suburb of Wasilla ran on ethics reform in trouncing Gov. Frank Murkowski in the GOP primary. In the general election, she handily beat the Democrat, former Gov. Tony Knowles.

She immediately took on the state's most lucrative industry, questioning whether Alaska - which gets about 85% of its revenue from big oil - is getting its fair share of the oil companies' billions of dollars in quarterly profits.

She got what she wanted from the GOP-controlled Legislature. Relying heavily on Democratic votes, she won approval last month to boost taxes on oil company profits from 22.5% to 25%. That could bring in an additional $1.6 billion annually for the state.

On the same day a former Alaska lawmaker was convicted on federal bribery charges, Palin signed an ethics reform bill into law.

Since then, two more former lawmakers have been found guilty of bribery related to VECO Corp., an oil field contractor. Another former lawmaker awaits trial, and U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens and U.S. Rep. Don Young, both Republicans, are under investigation.

Stirring the pot

Palin's climb is happening without the backing of the state Republican Party, led by Randy Ruedrich. In 2004, as chairwoman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, Palin exposed Ruedrich for ethics violations when he was a fellow commissioner.

She also has made trouble for the party's establishment by calling on Stevens to give the public an explanation of why federal agents have raided his Alaska home in the investigation of his ties to VECO's founder.

"I don't sweat it at all that the partisanship isn't playing a big part of my agenda," Palin said. "What that tells me is this: that I'm on the right track, and that it hasn't stopped us."


http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...EWS15/80829045




I call this the European soccer move, buy the player and put him on the bench.



She has been a pain for oil companies so they are going to get her replaced as Alaskan Governor..........

It's not like they were going to win the election anyway.
 
__________________________________________________________________________________________________



Shadow Governor?


In the aftermath of the Walt Monegan firing, one question keeps surfacing over and over again; why does the governor's husband, Todd Palin appear to hold so much power?

After all, Nancy Murkowski or Susan Knowles were never accused of pressuring a commissioner or inappropriately sitting in on meetings that should have been private.

The stories started last year when Representative Ralph Samuels told me about going into a meeting, he thought would be private, with Governor Sarah Palin. Much to his surprise, Todd Palin was there and proceeded to sit through the entire meeting.

Other lawmakers have shared similar stories and were shocked at how inappropriate Todd's presence was at meetings with the governor. Yesterday on the Dan ***an Show, Representative Jay Ramras mentioned that Todd was working lawmakers offices during the ACES debate.

But more importantly, Todd's fingerprints on trying to impact personnel decisions appear to go beyond the current scandal revolving around State Trooper Mike Wooten.

Consider the story of one of Governor Palin's former trusted advisors, John Bitney.

Bitney grew up with the governor, often telling the story of being in the same band class. He served as her Issues Coordinator during her successful gubernatorial campaign in 2006, spokesman for her transition team after the election and on December 1, 2006 he was named her Legislative Liaison.

Bitney was respected as a hard worker by people who knew him and worked with him. In six months, Bitney guided the governor's policies through the legislature, including her hallmark legislation; AGIA.

But John Bitney made the fatal employment mistake; he got on the bad side of Todd Palin.

In June of 2007, it became known that Bitney was dating the soon to be ex-wife of Todd Palin's good friend. Palin reportedly began demanding that Bitney be fired.

After a short time, Bitney realized that he couldn't remain in the governor's office due to the constant pressure and he worked out a deal with Chief of Staff Mike Tibbles to take a transfer to another department.

On July 3, Bitney was in the process of driving his vehicle back to Juneau when he couldn't get his state issued Blackberry to work. When he arrived in Tok he called his office and was told that his Blackberry had been turned off and that his name had been removed from the state employee directory.

His call was then transferred into Tibbles who told him the proposal they talked about was a no deal and the governor ordered him fired immediately. John Bitney was never given a reason why he was fired and never given a chance to make a graceful exit.

However reading the press statements from the Palin administration, you'd think otherwise.

According to the APRN on July 9, 2007, Governor Palin's spokeswomen Sharon Leighow said Bitney left for "personal reasons" and the departure was "amicable."

The Associated Press reported on July 10, 2007, "A spokeswoman for the governor says Bitney and Palin mutually agreed he would leave his post for personal reasons."

Bitney didn't leave his post, he was unfairly and unceremoniously fired and even after serving as a loyal employee was never given an answer as to why he was dismissed by the governor.

According to Bitney, "Todd's words have so much weight".

Confidential Emails

The most alarming indication of Todd Palin's reach into state government came just yesterday.

Last month, a group of Alaskans filed a freedom of information act for emails sent from the computers of both Frank Bailey and Ivey Frye. Along with several boxes of documents, they received a cover letter along with 78 pages detailing the emails that were not released due to "Deliberative Process and Executive Privilege". (Privilege log attached)

Page 1 of the list showed seven emails from both Governor Sarah Palin and Lt. Governor Sean Parnell within a three hour time frame on Feburary 1, 2008 that were described as "Email re Andrew Halcro".

The serious concern about these emails is that they were prohibited from being released to the public due to executive privilege, even though Todd Palin was copied on these same emails.

Todd Palin is not a member of the executive branch, nor is he even a government employee. Todd Palin is a member of the general public.

So why in the world is Todd Palin getting copied on emails that his wife's administration is classifying as confidential?

Furthermore there is something incredibly suspicious about these emails.

The first email was sent on Feburary 1 at 7:41am from Lt. Governor Sean Parnell to Governor Sarah Palin. Obviously something was burning Parnell to make him fire off an email to the governor so early in the morning about Andrew Halcro. This in turn set off a flurry of email activity that spanned the next three hours and encompassed five different people including Todd Palin.

Judging from the blogs I posted on January 31, the night before, this very well could be about the 2004 TransCanada proposal that Parnell help negotiate when he was an attorney in the oil & gas division that has been kept sealed ever since. TransCanada has insisted to this day that it remain confidential.

These emails should be released to the public...after all Todd Palin has no standing to claim executive privilege. By including him in the email loop, the Palin administration has arguably breached any claim of executive privilege.

After all, government can't pick and choose what private citizens get to see confidential material, that is exactly why freedom of information laws exist.

The attached print out clearly shows that something drove this administration into overdrive, hence the seven emails in under three hours. Since the executive privilege has been breached by sending them to Todd Palin, this administration should release those emails so all Alaskans can see them.

This is yet another example of why we need to get to the facts about how power is being used in the governor's office.

(To see the complete email Privilege Log detailing the flow of emails click attachment)

Press Archives of John Bitney's firing:

http://www.ktuu.com/global/story.asp...Type=Printable

http://aprn.org/2007/07/09/john-bitn...ernors-office/
 
Palin's responses on radio talk show very unbecoming
Palin's responses on radio talk show very unbecoming: Comment | adn.com

DAN ***AN
COMMENT

(01/27/08 01:12:54)
The governor's appearance on KWHL's "The Bob and Mark Show" last week is plain and simple one of the most unprofessional, childish and inexcusable performances I've ever seen from a politician.

Anchorage DJ Bob Lester unleashed a vicious, mean-spirited, poisonous attack on Senate President Lyda Green last week while our governor was live on the air with him.

When we played the tape on my show the day after it happened, we received 130 calls. Even some Palinbots were disgusted.

The Daily News posted the recording on its Web site and it fired up bloggers.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner editorial writers demanded the governor apologize. The Juneau and Ketchikan papers also ran the editorial.

The Daily News opinion page addressed the governor's gaffe. They wrote "She came off looking immature herself, almost high-schoolish. It was conduct unbecoming a governor."

It was conduct unbecoming a human being, never mind a governor.

The governor's office eventually tried to spin the public relations disaster, releasing a statement reading, "Governor Palin was caught off guard by Bob Lester's reference to Senate President Lyda Green."

I don't buy it. Early on in the conversation before Palin started to crack up, Lester referred to Sen. Green as a jealous woman and a cancer. Palin, who knows full well Lyda Green is a cancer survivor, didn't do what any decent person would do, say, "Bob, that's going too far."

But as the conversation moved on, Lester intensified his attack on Green.

Lester questioned Green's motherhood, asking Palin if the senator cares about her own kids. Palin laughs.

Then Lester clearly sets the stage for what he is about to say by warning his large audience and Palin. He says, "Governor you can't say this but I will, Lyda Green is a cancer and a b----." Palin laughs for the second time.

What were teenage boys thinking when they heard the governor laugh at someone being called a b----? How about the teenage girls who look up to Palin. What did they think when they heard her laugh?

But there is more. Lester then describes Green's chair as big and cushy. A clear reference to the senator's weight. Palin laughs a third time. She's just having a grand old time.

Palin was clearly enjoying every second of Lester's vicious attack on her political rival.

But it gets worse.

Lester asks Palin point blank: "Do you have any idea of what you did, to make Lyda Green dislike you, hate you?" How does Palin respond? Does she do the right thing? What you would expect from a mature leader, a governor and say, "Bob, Lyda doesn't hate me."

No, she responds like a 13-year-old and says, "Um, you know once and a while I try to figure that out but I can't figure that out."

The Palin camp says the governor did call Green and apologize. That was the right thing to do. But the governor's statement shows the apology a half-hearted one.

The statement in part reads: "The Governor called Senator Green to explain that she does not condone name-calling in any way and apologized if there was a perception that the comment was attributed to the Governor."

But there's strong evidence Palin did condone Lester's name-calling. At the end of Lester making fun of Green as a mother, calling her a cancer, twice, and saying she has to go; after calling the senator a b----, making fun of her weight, and accusing Green of being jealous and hateful; after all of that, Lester ends the conversation offering to visit Palin.

How does Palin respond? "I'd be honored to have you."

The statement released by the governor's office also called Palin's action bad judgment.

But bad judgment is when you stay up late the night before a big test, order steak at a Chinese restaurant or wear blue jeans to a black tie affair.

What the governor did was wrong.

Not only did she sit by and watch a decent public servant get thrashed in front of tens of thousands of people, she actually enjoyed it.

This is our governor, for goodness sake.

Our leader. I wonder.
 
Daily Kos: Sarah Palin and Wasilla Sports Complex land deal

Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla from 1996 to 2002. Her record during that time can tell us a lot about her. The biggest deal during her tenure is perhaps the construction of the sports complex that was built on someone else's land. She had to raise sales taxes to pay for it. The whole episode of incompetence, arrogance, and lack of respect for the law is exactly the style of governance that we've seen from Bush and co in the past seven years.

The $15 million multi-use indoor ice arena was supposed to be her legacy as the mayor. This was a very big deal for a city that had a budget of $3.9 million in 96 (increased to $5.8 million in 2002). Although the city subsidy has gone down from the initial $600k per year to about $125k per year, the sports complex still does not break even.

The biggest problem, however, was the process of how the land was acquired. The whole thing was handled with exceptional incompetence and arrogance, ultimately costing the city an extra $1.7 million in settlement and court cost for a piece of land that would have costed only $125k if they had handled it right from the beginning in 1998.

This involved a developer by the name of Gary Lundgren. Here is the whole scoop:

Lundgren negotiated with the national office of The Nature Conservancy to buy the land. Meanwhile, Wasilla city officials decided they wanted the land too, and began negotiating with the Alaska office of The Nature Conservancy. Offers were extended to both parties. Lundgren closed the deal.

Without the title in their hands, the city went ahead with the sales tax increase and started the construction. Then in typical Bush fashion, as Palin was leaving office in 2002,

Wasilla sued both Lundgren and The Nature Conservancy for title to the land. The case went to a federal appeals court, where Lundgren won rights to the property.

The court case was finally settled several years after Palin left.

The real legacy is, that the city is still paying for this today, while having to cut budget in library service, postponing capital improvement projects, and raising fees.

Can we afford this kind of incompetence on the national level?



— Mayoral performance. Palin, who portrays herself as a fiscal conservative, racked up nearly $20 million in long-term debt as mayor of the tiny town of Wasilla — that amounts to $3,000 per resident. She argues that the debt was needed to fund improvements.

— Stevens and Young, redux. Palin has distanced herself from the state’s two most popular politicians, but both appeared at Palin fundraisers during her 2006 gubernatorial bid.



______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



Gov. Palin and Iraq - War Room - Salon.com

Friday, Aug. 29, 2008 17:26 EDT
Gov. Palin and Iraq
Presumably, John McCain would only select a candidate for vice president who shared his supposedly clear-eyed vision about Iraq, who had also called for -- or at least thought it was a good idea -- to push more troops into Iraq in 2007.

Well, maybe Sarah Palin thought the surge was great, or maybe she didn't. It's hard to tell what, if anything, Palin thinks or thought about the surge of troops in Iraq, or the decision to invade Iraq in the first place, for that matter. A clip search doesn't show any substantive comments from Palin about Iraq during her short term as governor of Alaska, in 2007 or 2008, or at any point prior to that. That includes instances when she was specifically asked about the war.

In an interview with Alaska Business Monthly shortly after she took office in 2007, Palin was asked about the upcoming surge. She said she hadn't thought about it. "I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq," she said. "I heard on the news about the new deployments, and while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place; I want assurances that we are doing all we can to keep our troops safe."

Seven months into the surge, she still either had not formed any opinion on the surge or the war or just wasn't sharing. "I'm not here to judge the idea of withdrawing, or the timeline," she said in a teleconference interview with reporters during a July 2007 visit with Alaska National Guard troops stationed in Kuwait. "I'm not going to judge even the surge. I'm here to find out what Alaskans need of me as their governor."

That's a little weird, since Fort Richardson, near Anchorage, has dispatched countless soldiers to Iraq, including many who did not make it back. And Palin's own son, Track, is an infantry soldier who could go there any time.

? Mark Benjamin
 
That is quite a read, Frosty. The next couple of weeks could be very interesting.
 
Governor Sarah Palin — then Sarah Heath — covering basketball, hockey, Tommy Lasorda and "lots of dogs" in 1988 for KTUU-TV in Anchorage, Alaska.

[URL="
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I didn't know anything about her when the announcement came, but the more I learn the more I like her!
 
I read quite a bit about her when her youngest was born. Thought it was awesome that she didn't take the easy way out. Have also read about her and her lawsuit against the Fed Govt on behalf of Alaska

I was planning on voting for McCain before, but now that she is his running mate I am definately voting for him. I mean come on, she's a good lookin woman. Isn't that enough?

McCain kinda stole Obama's thunder.:laugh:
 
I'm not a huge McCain fan but being from IL I know how closely tied obama is to chicago politics and it's a no brainer for me. obama is an empty suit that will be indebted to corrupt chicago politicians, no different than our current democrat governor who will be facing federal indictment once he is out of office, if not sooner. Nobody asked why the democrat governor from obama's home state wasn't invited to speak at the DNC did they??

From what I have read about Palin over the past couple days it has only solidified my choice to vote McCain.

Dems want to say she's inexperienced, have they looked at their front runner?? Freshman senator from IL, I'm sure Governor of Alaska has given her much better executive experience. And let's not forget all that obama has done in his first term as senator is to campaign for president.
 
This is for CT...

small_723978.jpg
 
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