Monday, September 29, 2008

Monday: Call to Stop Paulson's Plunder

Monday: Call to Stop Paulson's Plunder

(1) Call your Representatives and Senators at 800-473-6711 or 202-224-3121 and say No Bailout!

(2) Email them too and tell your friends:
http://democrats.com/stop-paulsons-plunder

After a week of high-drama negotiations, Congress and Hank Paulson issued Bailout version 1.1, which is just the original Paulson pig with a lot of lipstick.

Republicans say the deal will be profitable for taxpayers, but they are lying - just as they did about the invasion of Iraq producing lower gas prices. It's a lie because Paulson has full power to pay too much for the securities and he will because his real goal is a bailout of bank executives and shareholders with our money - a massive ($2,333 per person!) transfer of wealth from the poor and middle class to the rich.

Democrats say they got oversight, accountability, and limits on executive compensation but each of these provisions is so full of Republican-written loopholes that they are meaningless - just like all other restrictions imposed on the Bush Administration, from Iraq to wiretapping. And that's before Bush simply negates any restrictions he doesn't like with one of his unconstitutional (and hence impeachable) signing statements.

So our answer remains ABSOLUTELY NOT.

The House will vote on Monday and the Senate will vote on Wednesday.

So call your Senators and Representative right now to say "No $700 Billion Bailout for Wall Street" - dial the Capitol switchboard at 800-473-6711 or 202-224-3121 or dial direct using the instant phone lookup on the right side of http://usalone.com

And if you have not e mailed your Senators and Representative , please do it now:
http://www.democrats.com/stop-paulsons-plunder

Find more information and comment here:
http://www.democrats.com/still-no-bailout

Thanks for all you do!

Sunday, September 28, 2008

The disappearing article: Conservatives Begin Questioning Palin's Heft

Note: The original article was at this FOX address, but is no more. I am posting this article in full, as it has all but disappeared from the Internet:

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/28/conservatives-begin-questioning-palins-heft/

------------------------------------------------------------

Conservatives Begin Questioning Palin's Heft

America's Election HQ Fox News - Sep 28, 2008 9:11:42 AM

A growing number of Republicans are expressing concern about Sarah Palin's uneven - and sometimes downright awkward - performances in her limited media appearances.

Conservative columnist Kathleen Parker, a former Palin supporter, says the vice presidential nominee should step aside. Kathryn Jean Lopez, writing for the conservative National Review, says "that's not a crazy suggestion" and that "something's gotta change."

Tony Fabrizio, a GOP strategist, says Palin's recent CBS appearance isn't disqualifying but is certainly alarming. "You can't continue to have interviews like that and not take on water."

"I have not been blown away by the interviews from her, but at the same time, I haven't come away from them thinking she doesn't know s-t," said Chris Lacivita, a GOP strategist. "But she ain't Dick Cheney, nor Joe Biden and definitely not Hillary Clinton."

There is no doubt that Palin retains a tremendous amount of support among rank-and-file Republicans. She draws huge crowds, continues to raise a lot of money for the McCain campaign, and state parties report she has sparked an uptick in the number of volunteers.

Asked about Palin's performance in the CBS interview, a McCain official briefing reporters on condition of anonymity said: "She did fine. She's a tremendous asset and a fantastic candidate."

But there is also no doubt many Republican insiders are worried she could blow next week's debate, based on her unexpectedly weak and unsteady media appearances, and hurt the Republican ticket if she does.

What follows is a viewer's guide to some of Palin's toughest moments on camera so far.

Speaking this week with CBS's Katie Couric, Palin seemed caught off-guard by a very predictable question about the status of McCain adviser Rick Davis' relationship with mortgage lender Freddie Mac. Davis was accused by several news outlets of retaining ties - and profiting from - the companies despite his denials.

Where a more experienced politician might have been able to brush off Couric's follow-up question, Palin seemed genuinely stumped, repeating the same answer twice and resorting to boilerplate language about the "undue influence of lobbyists."

These missteps could be attributed to inadequate preparation and don't necessarily reflect more deeply on Palin's ability to perform as vice president. But when reporters have tried to probe Palin's thinking on subjects such as foreign policy, she's been similarly opaque.

In an interview with ABC's Charlie Gibson, Palin gave a muddled answer to a question about her opinion of the Bush Doctrine.

And given the chance to describe her foreign policy credentials more fully, Palin recited familiar talking points, telling Gibson that her experience with energy policy was sufficient preparation for dealing with national security issues.

In the same interview, Palin let Gibson lead her into saying it might be necessary to wage war on Russia - a suggestion that most candidates would have avoided making explicitly and that signaled her discomfort in discussing global affairs.

Then, asked this week by Couric to discuss her knowledge of foreign relations - in particular, her assertion that Alaska's proximity to Russia gave her international experience - Palin tripped herself up explaining her interactions with Alaska's neighbor to the west.
Watch CBS Videos Online

On the economy, too, Palin has avoided taking clear stances. In a largely friendly interview with Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity, Palin spoke in tangled generalities in response to a question about a possible Wall Street bailout - and even preempted her campaign by coming out against it.

On Thursday, Palin finally took questions from her traveling press - but shut things down quickly after Politico's Kenneth P. Vogel asked her whether she would support Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, who has been indicted for corruption, and Rep. Don Young, who is under federal investigation, for reelection.

Unlike her other interviews, at least this time Palin had the option to walk away.

Read the original article here:
Conservatives Begin Questioning Palin's Heft

The article was tracked down at this URL:

http://election.swiftmob.com/content.html?page=1040&content=3655824&pageNum=-1

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Anti-Palin rally draws about 1,000 protesters

Anti-Palin rally draws about 1,000 protesters
By KYLE HOPKINS - Anchorage Daily News
Published: September 27th, 2008 05:35 PM

A protest rally blasting Gov. Sarah Palin's handling of the state's so-called Troopergate investigation -- and calling for the attorney general to resign -- drew 1,000 or more people to the Delaney Park Strip in Anchorage on Saturday.



Protesters chanted "recall Palin!" as organizers told the crowd to push state legislators to keep after their investigation into the governor's firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.

The investigator hired by the Legislature is scheduled to present his report on Oct. 10.

"This report needs to be released. Not just for us ... it needs to be released for all those people in the Lower 48 who are going to make a decision on Nov. 4," Democratic blogger Linda Kellen Biegel told hundreds of protesters gathered on the Park Strip grass.

Earlier, hundreds of people lined I Street, waving signs that said "Steady on her heels, wobbly on her words" and "Tina Fey would do a better job" at passing cars. A group calling itself Alaskans for Truth organized the event, which at times resembled a Barack Obama campaign rally.

Read the rest of the story:
Anti-Palin rally draws about 1,000 protesters

Please check out the new Mudflats blog for a first hand account of the rally:
http://www.themudflats.net


The New Mudflats Blog

To check out the new mudflats, please go here:

http://www.themudflats.net

NYT: McCain and Team Have Many Ties to Gambling Industry

McCain and Team Have Many Ties to Gambling Industry
By JO BECKER and DON VAN NATTA Jr. - NYTimes
Published: September 27, 2008

Senator John McCain was on a roll. In a room reserved for high-stakes gamblers at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, he tossed $100 chips around a hot craps table. When the marathon session ended around 2:30 a.m., the Arizona senator and his entourage emerged with thousands of dollars in winnings.

A lifelong gambler, Mr. McCain takes risks, both on and off the craps table. He was throwing dice that night not long after his failed 2000 presidential bid, in which he was skewered by the Republican Party’s evangelical base, opponents of gambling. Mr. McCain was betting at a casino he oversaw as a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, and he was doing so with the lobbyist who represents that casino, according to three associates of Mr. McCain.

The visit had been arranged by the lobbyist, Scott Reed, who works for the Mashantucket Pequot, a tribe that has contributed heavily to Mr. McCain’s campaigns and built Foxwoods into the world’s second-largest casino. Joining them was Rick Davis, Mr. McCain’s current campaign manager. Their night of good fortune epitomized not just Mr. McCain’s affection for gambling, but also the close relationship he has built with the gambling industry and its lobbyists during his 25-year career in Congress.

Read the rest of the story:
McCain and Team Have Many Ties to Gambling Industry

Palin's Endorsement of Mine Leaves Many Feeling Burned

Palin's Endorsement of Mine Leaves Many Feeling Burned
By Alec MacGillis - Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 28, 2008

For months, the confrontation mounted, a face-off that arguably held in the balance the fate of two of Alaska's biggest industries. On one side were companies hoping to open Pebble Mine at a huge gold and copper reserve adjacent to one of the world's largest salmon runs, Bristol Bay. On the other side were fishermen and environmentalists pushing a referendum that would make it harder for the mine to open.

The two sides spent more than $10 million -- unprecedented for such efforts in Alaska -- and throughout it all, the state's highly popular first-term governor, Sarah Palin, held back. Alaska law forbids state officials from using state resources to advocate on ballot initiatives.

Then, six days before the Aug. 26 vote, with the race looking close, Palin broke her silence. Asked about the initiative at a news conference, she invoked "personal privilege" to give an opinion. "Let me take my governor's hat off for just a minute here and tell you, personally, Prop. 4 -- I vote no on that," she said. "I have all the confidence in the world that [the Department of Environmental Conservation] and our [Department of Natural Resources] have great, very stringent regulations and policies already in place. We're going to make sure that mines operate only safely, soundly."

Palin's comments rocked the contest. Within a day, the pro-mining coalition fighting the referendum had placed full-page ads with a picture of Palin and the word "NO." The initiative went down to defeat, with 57 percent of voters rejecting it.

Three days later, Palin was named Republican Sen. John McCain's running mate, throwing Alaska into a media frenzy. But the fallout has lingered from an episode that may stand as one of the most consequential in Palin's 21-month tenure. The state ethics panel is examining whether Palin's comments violated the law against state advocacy on ballot measures, after having already ruled that a state Web site was improperly slanted toward mining interests.

Read the rest of the story:
Palin's Endorsement of Mine Leaves Many Feeling Burned

McCain is 72. He's had cancer 4 times.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Michael Palin For President

Just for fun!

Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran

Palin Problem: She’s out of her league

Palin Problem: She’s out of her league
By Kathleen Parker
September 26th, 2008

If at one time women were considered heretical for swimming upstream against feminist orthodoxy, they now face condemnation for swimming downstream — away from Sarah Palin.

To express reservations about her qualifications to be vice president — and possibly president — is to risk being labeled anti-woman.

Or, as I am guilty of charging her early critics, supporting only a certain kind of woman.

Some of the passionately feminist critics of Palin who attacked her personally deserved some of the backlash they received. But circumstances have changed since Palin was introduced as just a hockey mom with lipstick — what a difference a financial crisis makes — and a more complicated picture has emerged.

As we’ve seen and heard more from John McCain’s running mate, it is increasingly clear that Palin is a problem. Quick study or not, she doesn’t know enough about economics and foreign policy to make Americans comfortable with a President Palin should conditions warrant her promotion.

Yes, she recently met and turned several heads of state as the United Nations General Assembly convened in New York. She was gracious, charming and disarming. Men swooned. Pakistan’s president wanted to hug her. (Perhaps Osama bin Laden is dying to meet her?)

And, yes, she has common sense, something we value. And she’s had executive experience as a mayor and a governor, though of relatively small constituencies (about 6,000 and 680,000, respectively).

Finally, Palin’s narrative is fun, inspiring and all-American in that frontier way we seem to admire. When Palin first emerged as John McCain’s running mate, I confess I was delighted. She was the antithesis and nemesis of the hirsute, Birkenstock-wearing sisterhood — a refreshing feminist of a different order who personified the modern successful working mother.

Palin didn’t make a mess cracking the glass ceiling. She simply glided through it.

It was fun while it lasted.

Palin’s recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.

Read the rest of the story:
Palin Problem: She’s out of her league

The question is, can Palin give a coherent answer?

The question is, can Palin give a coherent answer?
DAVID USBORNE - SYNDICATED COLUMNIST
September 26th, 2008

The reviews of Sarah Palin's latest television appearance tumbled in yesterday and they were ugly. In only the third major broadcast interview since she was selected by John McCain as his running mate at the end of August, she seemed at times lost for words and not all those she spoke fitted together.

The financial crisis means less attention will be paid to it than might otherwise have been the case. It could be, meanwhile, that Palin's unhappy performance will lower expectations ahead of her encounter with Sen. Joe Biden at the vice-presidential debate in St. Louis next Thursday.

It remains possible that the CBS interview will be known as the moment when the high gloss that Palin wore upon her selection before the Republican convention -- burnished by her performance in St. Paul -- began to fade.

Even as members of the American media strive to avoid appearing snobbish or elitist in their treatment of Palin, most commentators seemed unable to disguise their sheer consternation at a performance that at times seemed worthy less of a candidate for vice-president than for school president.

"Marginally responsive," was the gentle verdict of the Los Angeles Times after watching the interview of Palin by Katie Couric, the anchor of the CBS Evening News, shown on Wednesday and Thursday. The influential blogger Andrew Sullivan complained that the governor was skittering not between "talking points" but "babbling points."

Read the rest of the story:
The question is, can Palin give a coherent answer?

Palin gets media savaging after faltering interview

Palin gets media savaging after faltering interview
AFP - September 26th, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Republican running mate Sarah Palin, after again laying claim to foreign policy expertise because Alaska is near Russia, suffered a media roasting Friday with one conservative calling on her to quit.

Pro-Republican columnist Kathleen Parker, writing in the National Review, said the Alaska governor was now such an embarrassment to the party that she should step down as John McCain's vice presidential nominee.

"Palin's recent interviews with Charles Gibson (ABC News), Sean Hannity (Fox News) and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League," Parker said.

In her third session with a television interviewer, this time with CBS News anchor Couric, Palin struggled to offer examples of McCain's claim to regulatory zeal at a time when Wall Street is reeling from financial crisis.

In the interview, which aired in two parts on Wednesday and Thursday nights, Palin also said that US forces had already secured "victory" in Iraq, a bolder assertion than McCain himself has offered.

Pressed on why Alaska's geographic location enhanced her world knowledge, Palin said: "Well, it certainly does, because our, our next-door neighbors are foreign countries, there in the state that I am the executive of."

She said that when Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin "rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America, where do they go? It's Alaska."

"It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right next to, they are right next to our state," Palin added.

Read the rest of the story:
Palin gets media savaging after faltering interview

McCain Wins Debate!

McCain Wins Debate
washingtonpost.com's Politics Blog



Although the fate of tonight's presidential debate in Mississippi remains very much up in the air, John McCain has apparently already won it -- if you believe an Internet ad an astute reader spotted next to this piece in the online edition of the Wall Street Journal this morning.

"McCain Wins Debate!" declares the ad which features a headshot of a smiling McCain with an American flag background. Another ad spotted by our eagle-eyed observer featured a quote from McCain campaign manager Rick Davis declaring: "McCain won the debate-- hands down."

Read the rest of the story:
McCain Wins Debate

Screen shot here

A Question Reprised, but the Words Come None Too Easily for Palin

A Question Reprised, but the Words Come None Too Easily for Palin
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY - The TV Watch
September 25, 2008

On the “CBS Evening News” on Thursday, Katie Couric asked Ms. Palin, Senator John McCain’s running mate, what she meant when she cited Alaska’s proximity to Russia as foreign affairs experience. Ms. Palin could have anticipated the question — the topic of their interview, pegged to her visit to the United Nations, was foreign affairs. Yet Ms. Palin’s answer was surprisingly wobbly: her words tumbled out fast and choppily, like an outboard motor loosened from the stern.

“That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side, the land — boundary that we have with — Canada,” she replied. She mentioned the jokes made at her expense and seemed for a moment at a loss for the word “caricature.” “It — it’s funny that a comment like that was — kind of made to — cari — I don’t know, you know? Reporters —”

Ms. Couric stepped in. “Mocked?” Ms. Palin looked relieved and even grateful for the help. “Yeah, mocked, I guess that’s the word, yeah.”

Ms. Couric pressed her again to explain the geographic point. “Well, it certainly does,” Ms. Palin said, “because our, our next-door neighbors are foreign countries, there in the state that I am the executive of.”


Read the rest of the story:
A Question Reprised, but the Words Come None Too Easily for Palin

Momsrising Letter to Members

Dear MomsRising.org Member,

Yesterday, MomsRising.org members tried to deliver our letter--signed by over 21,000 people--to Governor Sarah Palin's office in Washington, D.C. The letter simply asked, "Where do you stand?" on key issues of importance to moms and families.

But, we were turned away at the door.

When pressed, Palin's staff told the group to drop the letter in the mail, refusing to acknowledge the crowd of moms (and adorable baby) who were in the office to hand deliver it.

Snail mail can take a while, and we want to make sure that this election covers more than moose burgers and body surfing. All candidates--male, female, Democrat, Republican, and other--should speak to these issues. Some are, and others aren't (1). So, we're bringing our questions to the next level: getting our questions front and center in the Vice Presidential Debate on October 2nd.

Email PBS Senior Correspondent Gwen Ifill, who will be moderating the debate, to tell her you want these important questions asked: http://www.momsrising.org/VPDebateQuestions

The MomsRising.org team has written five questions we'd like to see posed to both Palin and Biden in that debate (see the questions below (2)). Let's get these questions to the debate moderator so the American public gets a chance to hear both candidates, side-by-side, answering the same questions.

When you click the link above, you'll send a message to Gwen Ifill and cc both of the presidential campaigns to let them know that over 21,000 voters want to hear them talk about these issues (which impact millions of Americans) at the debate.

Tell your friends to email Gwen Ifill, too! She needs to know how deeply important these issues are for millions of Americans--and that we demand they be addressed now!

Thank you!

--Kristin, Joan, Mary, Katie, Laura, Roz, Ashley, and the entire MomsRising.org Team

1. MomsRising members are tracking all of the candidates' speeches, tallying any mention of issues that impact moms. See their tallies at www.momsrising.org/candidatesbingo. If you plan to watch the presidential debate tomorrow, September 26th, you can tally the issues, too! Get your scorecard at www.momsrising.org/bingocard -- and keep an eye out for opportunities to get involved as the campaigns continue!

2. Our questions:

* Right now, the birth of a child is the number one cause of a "poverty spell" in America, and 1/4 of families with young children are living in poverty. Do you support a policy to provide paid family and medical leave to parents following birth or adoption of a new child?

* Nearly 1/2 of all full-time, private sector workers in the U.S. have no paid sick days. Do you support a policy to provide paid sick days for workers to use when they or their children get sick?

* In most American families, both parents work outside the home. Please tell us what your administration would do to help parents secure excellent, affordable childcare?

* Studies show that moms are paid 73 cents and single moms are paid about 60 cents to the dollar for doing the exact same job as men. Do you support the Fair Pay Restoration Act and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act?

* A child is born every 41 seconds without healthcare. What kind of Health Care Policy could Americans expect in your administration?

Palin to return donations from tainted politicians

Palin to return donations from tainted politicians
By STEVE QUINN and JUSTIN PRITCHARD
The Associated Press - 9/26/2008

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin says she will give to charity more than $1,000 in campaign contributions from two Alaska politicians who were implicated in a sprawling public corruption scandal.

Palin's campaign announced late Thursday it will give back the $1,030 donated to her successful 2006 campaign for Alaska governor. It also will return another $1,000 from the wife of a once-powerful state senator, according to a spokesman for the presidential campaign of John McCain.

Palin has cast herself as a reformer who holds herself to the highest ethical standards. Campaign spokesman Taylor Griffin said he did not know which charity the money would go to, but expected the return to take place as early as Friday.

Read the rest of the story:
Palin to return donations from tainted politicians

Thursday, September 25, 2008

War Crimes!

McCain and the politics of mortality

McCain and the politics of mortality
By ALEXANDER BURNS

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Since John McCain announced Friday that first-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would be his running mate, Democrats have been quick to point out that the 44-year-old governor could soon be just “a heartbeat away from the presidency.” The veiled reference to McCain’s advanced age is hard to miss.
It’s a macabre point to raise on the night when Palin will speak to the convention here — but a look at the actuarial tables insurance companies use to evaluate customers shows that it’s not an irrelevant one. According to these statistics, there is a roughly 1 in 3 chance that a 72-year-old man will not reach the age of 80, which is how old McCain would be at the end of a second presidential term. And that doesn’t factor in individual medical history, such as McCain’s battles with potentially lethal skin cancer.

“For a man, that’s above the expected lifetime at the present,” said Michael Powers, a professor of risk management and insurance at Temple University’s Fox School of Business.

The odds of a 72-year-old man living four more years, or one full White House term, are better. But for a man who has lived 72 years and 67 days (McCain’s age on Election Day this year), there is between a 14.2 and 15.1 percent chance of dying before Inauguration Day 2013, according to the Social Security Administration’s 2004 actuarial tables and the authoritative 2001 mortality statistics assembled by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Going by the Social Security Administration’s tables, that’s nearly ten times the likelihood that a man aged 47 years and 92 days (Barack Obama’s age on Election Day this year) will die before Jan. 20, 2013.

Read the rest of the story:
McCain and the politics of mortality

Palin: Bailout is about healthcare!

Palin: Living near Russia gives me foreign policy experience

Olbermann Discusses McCain Canceling On David Letterman

Check the Video Here

McCain, Obama debate question still uncertain

McCain, Obama debate question still uncertain
Obama says he'll be there; McCain says he's hopeful, but bailout comes first
Associated press - September 25th, 2008

WASHINGTON - Prospects were questionable at best that John McCain and Barack Obama would meet Friday for their first presidential debate as progress appeared to dissolve between Congress and the Bush administration on a $700 billion financial industry bailout.

McCain didn't plan to participate in the debate unless there was a consensus. Obama still wants the face-off to go on, arguing that Americans need to hear from the candidates. The Democrat was scheduled to travel to the debate site in Oxford, Miss., on Friday.

"I believe that it's very possible that we can get an agreement in time for me to fly to Mississippi," McCain said late Thursday. "I understand how important this debate is and I'm very hopeful. But I also have to put the country first."

Read the rest of the story:
McCain, Obama debate question still uncertain

Bailout Talks Go On Amid Presidential Scuffle

Bailout Talks Go On Amid Presidential Scuffle
Dems Rip McCain, McCain Rips Obama as Leaders Try to Revive $700B Bailout
By JAKE TAPPER, CHARLES HERMAN and Z. BYRON WOLF - Sept. 25, 2008
ABC News

Members of Congress and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson returned at the Capitol tonight to try to revive a $700 billion bailout plan that became the focus of partisan finger pointing and attacks on the presidential nominees after a meeting today at the White House.
Result of bipartisan meeting on bailout seems intensified partisan infighting.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said bipartisan negotiators at an 8 p.m. ET session at the Capitol were trying to "put this train back on the tracks." The meeting broke up after 10 p.m. with no agreement

Reid continued to cast blame on Republicans, and specifically Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Reid said McCain was "not helpful" by suspending his campaign and heading to Washington, claiming it was difficult to "understand what John McCain said at the [White House] meeting." He said McCain spoke last and only for several moments, and did not contribute anything.

"McCain only hurt this process," Reid said.

Asked if McCain expressed interest in taking part in negotiations on Capitol Hill, Reid said, "No."

Soon after Reid's attack, which followed another blast at McCain by House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., the McCain campaign suggested Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was at fault.

Read the rest of the story:

Bailout Talks Go On Amid Presidential Scuffle

Palin Accepted $25,000 in Gifts, Alaska Records Show

Palin Accepted $25,000 in Gifts, Alaska Records Show
By James V. Grimaldi and Robert O'Harrow Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, September 26, 2008

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who has made a crackdown on gift-giving to state officials a centerpiece of her ethics reform agenda, has accepted gifts valued at $25,367 from industry executives, municipalities and a cultural center whose board includes officials from some of the largest mining interests in the state, a review of state records shows.

The 41 gifts Palin accepted during her 20 months as governor include honorific tributes, expensive artwork and free travel for a family member. They also include more than $2,500 in personal items from Calista, a large Alaska native corporation with a variety of pending state regulatory and budgetary issues, and a gold-nugget pin valued at $1,200 from the city of Nome, which lobbies on municipal, local and capital budget matters, documents show. of moms that once was thrilled with her.

Read the rest of the story:
Palin Accepted $25,000 in Gifts, Alaska Records Show

Deal May Be Dead: Democrats Blaming McCain

Deal May Be Dead: Democrats Blaming McCain
Obama, McCain Leave White House Without Deal on $700 Billion Bailout
By JAKE TAPPER, CHARLES HERMAN and Z. BYRON WOLF
Sept. 25, 2008

After days of bipartisan negotiations and meetings today at the White House, the deal to bail out staggered investment banks may be dying amid partisan finger-pointing.

Republicans blamed Democrats. Democrats blamed Republicans. And a key Democrat even pointed an accusatory finger at Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Result of bipartisan meeting on bailout seems intensified partisan infighting.

House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., told Democratic colleagues that McCain's sudden heightened involvement in the negotiations has destroyed the chance of an agreement, sources told ABC's George Stephanopoulos.

Frank compared McCain's involvement to "Richard Nixon blowing up the Vietnam peace talks in 1968."

A senior McCain adviser told ABC News' David Chalian, "It is clear that there is not yet an agreement, but we're working with all parties with the common goal of getting an agreement. When we have an agreement, we'll have a debate."

Other Democrats pointed fingers at House Republicans, who they said were reneging on matters they thought had been settled, such as on the issue of helping homeowners with foreclosures.

House Republicans are saying Democrats never included them in negotiations and were trying to jam the agreement's "principles" down their throats. And many are concerned about the U.S. government purchasing apparently toxic assets.

Sources tell ABC News' George Stephanopoulos that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson fears the deal is falling apart.

As Democrats met in the White House's Roosevelt Room after the meeting with Bush, Paulson told them, "Please don't blow this up," according to sources.

Sources say Frank was livid, saying, "Don't say that to us after all we've been through!"

Read the rest of the story:
Deal May Be Dead: Democrats Blaming McCain

A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words


Moms are rising up thanks to Sarah Palin

Moms are rising up thanks to Sarah Palin
Opinion - LA Times - September 25, 2008

Even if she doesn't have any foreign policy experience, John McCain probably thought that at the very least he could count on Sarah Palin to nurture the mothers-who-vote niche. But that's not going so well either. HerSarah Palin, John McCain, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Momsrising, moms, mothers campaign has managed to tick off a group of moms that once was thrilled with her.

MomsRising, which in two short years has amassed a membership of 140,000 citizens and counts 85 affiliated groups nationwide, yesterday tried to hand-deliver a letter signed by thousands of its members to Palin's office in Washington. In its letter, the group says it was dazzled to see a mom on stage at the Republican convention, accepting the nomination for vice president, but that it has some questions for her. MR wants to know where she stands on issues such as healthcare, afterschool programs, paid sick days and equal pay for working women.

The smart thing, of course, would have been for Palin's staff to take the letter and thank the 15 mothers (and one baby) for showing their devotion to their country and interest in the Alaska governor. Instead, Palin's people actually turned them away and told them to drop it in the mail.

Dismayed at the rebuff, MomsRising is rallying its troops. Winding its way across the national mothersphere today is an e-mail alerting its membership, and an Internet petition with the group's questions. Its ultimate destination is Gwen Ifill, the PBS moderator for the debate scheduled for Tuesday between Palin and Delaware Sen. Joe Biden. In her weekly live chat over at the Washington Post today, Ifill says she is open to including questions from the public.

Accepting the letter seems like a no-brainer, but who knows? Maybe the Palin camp didn't realize this group is accustomed to much better treatment...

Read the rest of the story:
Moms are rising up thanks to Sarah Palin

McCain quiet on debate despite bailout plan

McCain quiet on debate despite bailout plan
Candidate doesn't announce change of mind despite agreement in principle
Associated Press - September 25, 2008

WASHINGTON - John McCain’s campaign welcomed news of an agreement in principle on Thursday between congressional Republicans and Democrats on a bailout of the financial industry.

But the Republican wasn’t yet ready to say he would attend the presidential candidates’ first scheduled debate on Friday.

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said: "There’s no deal until there’s a deal."

He said McCain was optimistic an agreement between Congress and the Bush administration would be completed but that the afternoon developments had not changed his plans not to debate.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, whose state is hosting the debate between McCain and Barack Obama, set for Friday, said planners were moving forward with the first televised match. "This is going to be a great debate," Barbour said.

Read the rest of the story:
McCain quiet on debate despite bailout plan

Sarah Palin and the Witch Hunter

Palin pastor prayed for 'witchcraft' protection

Palin pastor prayed for 'witchcraft' protection
YouTube video shows McCain running mate being blessed at church service
Associated Press - September 25th, 2008

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A grainy YouTube video surfaced Wednesday showing Sarah Palin being blessed in her hometown church three years ago by a Kenyan pastor who prayed for her protection from "witchcraft" as she prepared to seek higher office.

The video shows Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate, standing before Bishop Thomas Muthee in the pulpit of the Wasilla Assembly of God church, holding her hands open as he asked Jesus Christ to keep her safe from "every form of witchcraft."

"Come on, talk to God about this woman. We declare, save her from Satan," Muthee said as two attendants placed their hands on Palin's shoulders. "Make her way my God. Bring finances her way even for the campaign in the name of Jesus. ... Use her to turn this nation the other way around."

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Palin pastor prayed for 'witchcraft' protection

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Palin Probe Takes New Track

Palin Probe Takes New Track
By JOEL MILLMAN Wall Street Journal
SEPTEMBER 25, 2008

An official probe into allegations that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin abused the powers of her office has broken into two tracks, complicating an issue that has become central to the presidential election.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in New York Wednesday after she and Republican Sen. John McCain met Ukrainian and Georgian presidents.

The Alaska legislature, which has been investigating whether Gov. Palin had improperly fired a state official over a personal matter, could issue results of its probe as early as mid-October, even though some key witnesses have declined to cooperate. A second investigation, sanctioned by the governor, is on a longer track, and could extend past the November election.

Since Gov. Palin was relatively unknown when Republican presidential nominee John McCain picked her as his running mate, the investigation has taken on added importance for voters. Gov. Palin had originally said she would cooperate with the legislative investigation, but appeared to backtrack after her vice-presidential nomination.

The McCain-Palin campaign on Tuesday pledged to fully cooperate with Tim Petumenos, an Anchorage, Alaska, attorney who was selected this week by the state executive branch's Personnel Board to head the second investigation. The governor's legal team argues that the ethics-oversight body has statutory jurisdiction over the case.

"The governor is an open book," said Taylor Griffin, a McCain-Palin campaign spokesman in Anchorage. "Gov. Palin has agreed to produce all documents, such as emails, and is working to schedule meetings" with Mr. Petumenos. Gov. Palin's husband, Todd Palin, is also willing to speak with the new investigator, as are other witnesses, he said.

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Palin Probe Takes New Track

Barack Obama Speech at 2004 DNC Convention

David Letterman Reacts to John McCain Suspending Campaign

Sarah Palin Katie Couric Interview

BREAKING NEWS! McCain seeks to delay Friday's debate

McCain seeks to delay Friday's debate
Candidate plans to return to Washington Thursday to deal with credit crisis

BREAKING NEWS
NBC, MSNBC and news services
September 24th, 2008

NEW YORK - Republican John McCain said Wednesday he is directing his staff to work with Democrat Barack Obama's campaign and the presidential debate commission to delay Friday's debate because of the economic crisis.

Obama's campaign says he is inclined to go ahead with Friday's presidential debate, even though his rival is calling for a delay.

In a statement, McCain said he will stop campaigning after addressing former President Clinton's Global Initiative session on Thursday and return to Washington to focus on the nation's financial problems.
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Meanwhile, the University of Mississippi, which is slated to host Friday's debate, issued a statement saying they are going forward with preparation.

"We expect the debate to occur as planned," university officials said.

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McCain seeks to delay Friday's debate

Economic fears give Obama a clear lead in poll

Economic fears give Obama a clear lead in poll
Survey gives Democrat a 9-point edge over McCain among likely voters
By Dan Balz and Jon Cohen - Washington Post

Turmoil in the financial industry and growing pessimism about the economy have altered the shape of the presidential race, giving Democratic nominee Barack Obama the first clear lead of the general-election campaign over Republican John McCain, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News national poll.

Just 9 percent of those surveyed rated the economy as good or excellent, the first time that number has been in single digits since the days just before the 1992 election. Just 14 percent said the country is heading in the right direction, equaling the record low on that question in polls dating back to 1973.

More voters trust Obama to deal with the economy, and he currently has a big edge as the candidate who is more in tune with the economic problems Americans now face. He also has a double-digit advantage on handling the current problems on Wall Street, and as a result, there has been a rise in his overall support. The poll found that, among likely voters, Obama now leads McCain by 52 percent to 43 percent. Two weeks ago, in the days immediately following the Republican National Convention, the race was essentially even, with McCain at 49 percent and Obama at 47 percent.

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Economic fears give Obama a clear lead in poll

Sydney: Alaskan pit-bull turns into yesterday's moose

Alaskan pit-bull turns into yesterday's moose
Sydney Morning Herald
September 25, 2008

The emails from American friends were despairing in the days after the Republican Party convention. Some were from Democratic Party workers who felt 2008 was starting to look like 2004, when John Kerry lost an election many considered he should have won.

Sarah Palin had dramatically changed the dynamics of the presidential campaign. She was the star of the convention, a pit-bull with lipstick - her self-description - who would vanquish the corrupt culture of Washington and install small town American values.

The more the media focused on her inexperience, on the failings of her governorship of Alaska, on her ignorance of foreign policy and on her kooky "family values" and biblical literalism, the more it seemed her popularity grew, and the more likely it seemed, once again, Democrats were heading for defeat.

In Europe, where Obama enraptured tens of thousands of people in Berlin and charmed leaders in France and Britain, commentators grew hysterical at the prospect of an Obama defeat.

Jonathan Freedland in The Guardian reacted with fury and despair at the Sarah Palin phenomenon and the apparent boost she gave the McCain campaign. He warned that if Americans rejected Obama, really bad things would happen.

"If Americans choose McCain, they will be turning their back on the rest of the world, choosing to show us four more years of the Bush-Cheney finger," he wrote. "And I predict a deeply unpleasant shift."

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Alaskan pit-bull turns into yesterday's moose

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Republican lawmaker says Palin inquiry should go on

Republican lawmaker says Palin inquiry should go on
CNN - September 23, 2008

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNN) -- The legislative investigation into Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's firing of her public safety commissioner needs to go ahead despite the increasingly heated opposition of the McCain-Palin campaign, a leading Republican said Tuesday.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is being investigated for the possibly improper firing of a state official.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is being investigated for the possibly improper firing of a state official.

Since becoming the Republican vice presidential candidate in August, Palin has halted her previously promised cooperation with the Legislature's investigation of the July dismissal of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.

Campaign aides have attacked the state senator managing the investigation, Hollis French, as a Democratic partisan running a "tainted" inquiry, and Palin's husband, Todd, and several top aides have refused to comply with subpoenas from French's committee.

But Rep. Jay Ramras, the Republican chairman of the Alaska House Judiciary Committee, said Tuesday that he still has confidence in the Legislature's investigation and said it should go forward.

"I think it's going to be benign in the conclusions that it reaches, anyway," he said. "But I think it's important to reach a conclusion."

Ramras called himself "a conservative, pro-life Republican" who is supporting GOP presidential nominee John McCain's ticket. But, he added, "We all took an oath of office, and this is an important report to come out."

The investigation was commissioned by a bipartisan committee of the Legislature in July, after Monegan's dismissal.

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Republican lawmaker says Palin inquiry should go on

McCain aide’s firm was paid by Freddie Mac

McCain aide’s firm was paid by Freddie Mac
The disclosure contradicts a statement Sunday night by McCain
New York Times, September 23, 2008

WASHINGTON - One of the giant mortgage companies at the heart of the credit crisis paid $15,000 a month to a firm owned by Senator John McCain’s campaign manager from the end of 2005 through last month, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement. The disclosure contradicts a statement Sunday night by Mr. McCain that the campaign manager, Rick Davis, had no involvement with the company for the last several years. Mr. Davis’s firm received the payments from the company, Freddie Mac, until it was taken over by the government this month along with Fannie Mae, the other big mortgage lender whose deteriorating finances helped precipitate the cascading problems on Wall Street, the people said.

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McCain aide’s firm was paid by Freddie Mac

Monday, September 22, 2008

Palin lawyer meets with investigator in probe

Palin lawyer meets with investigator in probe
Associated Press - By MATT VOLZ
September 22, 2008

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Less than a week after balking at the Alaska Legislature's investigation into her alleged abuse of power, Gov. Sarah Palin on Monday indicated she will cooperate with a separate probe run by people she can fire.

An attorney for the GOP vice presidential nominee met with an investigator for the state Personnel Board to discuss sharing documents and schedule witness interviews, McCain spokeswoman Meg Stapleton said. Neither she nor McCain spokesman Ed O'Callaghan had further details about the meeting and said they did not know if the governor or her husband would be interviewed.

Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein did not respond to telephone and e-mail messages.

Both the Legislature and the personnel board have hired investigators in separate inquiries of whether Palin abused her power when she fired Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan this summer. Monegan refused to dismiss a state trooper who went through a bitter divorce with her sister before Palin's became governor.

Palin has refused to participate in the Legislature's investigation since becoming Sen. John McCain's running mate.

The other investigation is overseen by the state Personnel Board, a three-member panel that serves at the governor's will. Two members are holdovers from the previous governor and Palin reappointed the third.

Separately, two Alaska Democrats said they may bring witness tampering allegations against the McCain-Palin campaign. The two state lawmakers, Rep. Les Gara and Sen. Bill Wielechowski, said they are evaluating Alaska's criminal code to see if it applies in what's become known as the Troopergate probe...

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Palin lawyer meets with investigator in probe

Sunday, September 21, 2008

5 days to first debate, Obama climbs in polls

5 days to first debate, Obama climbs in polls
His rise comes amid a $700 billion bailout plan to save the U.S. economy
Associated Press - September 20, 2008

WASHINGTON - Five days from their first presidential debate, Democrat Barack Obama has climbed in the polls as Republican John McCain fumbled his response to a looming U.S. economic cataclysm — one that threatened to match the financial catastrophe of the 1930s Great Depression.

The U.S. Congress and the administration of President George W. Bush were grappling with a proposed $700 billion bailout plan to save the U.S. economy from full collapse, feeding anxiety among voters who already were far more concerned about their financial futures than any other issue in the 2008 presidential campaign — including the intractable U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

After withholding his response while the Bush administration put together its program, Obama on Sunday placed seven conditions on the rescue proposal which he said came with a "staggering price tag" but no plan to guarantee the "basic principles of transparency, fairness, and reform" to taxpayers who will pay for the huge bailout.

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5 days to first debate, Obama climbs in polls

5 days to first debate, Obama climbs in polls

5 days to first debate, Obama climbs in polls
His rise comes amid a $700 billion bailout plan to save the U.S. economy
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Five days from their first presidential debate, Democrat Barack Obama has climbed in the polls as Republican John McCain fumbled his response to a looming U.S. economic cataclysm — one that threatened to match the financial catastrophe of the 1930s Great Depression.

The U.S. Congress and the administration of President George W. Bush were grappling with a proposed $700 billion bailout plan to save the U.S. economy from full collapse, feeding anxiety among voters who already were far more concerned about their financial futures than any other issue in the 2008 presidential campaign — including the intractable U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

After withholding his response while the Bush administration put together its program, Obama on Sunday placed seven conditions on the rescue proposal which he said came with a "staggering price tag" but no plan to guarantee the "basic principles of transparency, fairness, and reform" to taxpayers who will pay for the huge bailout.

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5 days to first debate, Obama climbs in polls

McCain's YouTube Problem Just Became a Nightmare

Lose your house, lose your vote

Lose your house, lose your vote
Michigan Messenger
By Eartha Jane Melzer 9/10/08

Michigan Republicans plan to foreclose African-American voters

The chairman of the Republican Party in Macomb County, Michigan, a key swing county in a key swing state, is planning to use a list of foreclosed homes to block people from voting in the upcoming election as part of the state GOP’s effort to challenge some voters on Election Day.

“We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren’t voting from those addresses,” party chairman James Carabelli told Michigan Messenger in a telephone interview earlier this week. He said the local party wanted to make sure that proper electoral procedures were followed.

State election rules allow parties to assign “election challengers” to polls to monitor the election. In addition to observing the poll workers, these volunteers can challenge the eligibility of any voter provided they “have a good reason to believe” that the person is not eligible to vote. One allowable reason is that the person is not a “true resident of the city or township.”

The Michigan Republicans’ planned use of foreclosure lists is apparently an attempt to challenge ineligible voters as not being “true residents.”

One expert questioned the legality of the tactic.

“You can’t challenge people without a factual basis for doing so,” said J. Gerald Hebert, a former voting rights litigator for the U.S. Justice Department who now runs the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington D.C.-based public-interest law firm. “I don’t think a foreclosure notice is sufficient basis for a challenge, because people often remain in their homes after foreclosure begins and sometimes are able to negotiate and refinance.”

As for the practice of challenging the right to vote of foreclosed property owners, Hebert called it, “mean-spirited.”

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Lose your house, lose your vote

Exclusive: New Doubts Over Palin's Troopergate Claims

Exclusive: New Doubts Over Palin's Troopergate Claims
Internal Government Document Contradicts Sarah Palin, Campaign
By JUSTIN ROOD - ABC News
Sept. 19, 2008

An internal government document obtained by ABC News appears to contradict Sarah Palin's most recent explanation for why she fired her public safety chief, the move which prompted the now-contested state probe into "Troopergate."

An internal government document obtained by ABC News appears to contradict Sarah Palin's most recent explanation for why she fired her public safety chief Walt Monegan, the move which prompted the now-contested state probe into "Troopergate."

Fighting back against allegations she may have fired her then-Public Safety Commissioner, Walt Monegan, for refusing to go along with a personal vendetta, Palin on Monday argued in a legal filing that she fired Monegan because he had a "rogue mentality" and was bucking her administration's directives.

"The last straw," her lawyer argued, came when he planned a trip to Washington, D.C., to seek federal funds for an aggressive anti-sexual-violence program. The project, expected to cost from $10 million to $20 million a year for five years, would have been the first of its kind in Alaska, which leads the nation in reported forcible rape.

The McCain-Palin campaign echoed the charge in a press release it distributed Monday, concurrent with Palin's legal filing. "Mr. Monegan persisted in planning to make the unauthorized lobbying trip to D.C.," the release stated.

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Exclusive: New Doubts Over Palin's Troopergate Claims

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Is Sarah Palin a Narcissist?

Narcissistic DSM IV Criteria

A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

(1) has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)

(2) is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love

(3) believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)

(4) requires excessive admiration

(5) has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations

(6) is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends

(7) lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others

(8) is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her

(9) shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes

McCain's Temper

Former POW says McCain is "not cut out to be President"

Sarah Palin and the preaching witch hunter

Thank John McCain For The Last 8 Years!

Poll: Racial views steer some away from Obama

Poll: Racial views steer some away from Obama
One-third of polled white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks
Chris Carlson - AP September 20, 2008

WASHINGTON - Deep-seated racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House if the election is close, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll that found one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks — many calling them "lazy," "violent" or responsible for their own troubles.
The poll, conducted with Stanford University, suggests that the percentage of voters who may turn away from Obama because of his race could easily be larger than the final difference between the candidates in 2004 — about two and one-half percentage points.

Certainly, Republican John McCain has his own obstacles: He's an ally of an unpopular president and would be the nation's oldest first-term president. But Obama faces this: 40 percent of all white Americans hold at least a partly negative view toward blacks, and that includes many Democrats and independents.

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Poll: Racial views steer some away from Obama

Huge suicide blast at hotel in Pakistan capital

Huge suicide blast at hotel in Pakistan capital
At least 40 killed at Marriott, which is popular with foreigners
September 20, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A huge suicide truck bomb devastated the heavily guarded Marriott Hotel in Pakistan's capital Saturday, killing at least 40 people and engulfing the building in flames in a sickening reminder of the threat in a country vital to the U.S.-led war on terror.

The White House condemned the attack, calling it a "reminder of the threat we all face."

"The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack that took place in Islamabad, Pakistan," said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe. "The United States will stand with Pakistan's democratically elected government as they confront this challenge."

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Huge suicide blast at hotel in Pakistan capital

Friday, September 19, 2008

Where Are Sarah Palin's Tax Returns?

Where Are Sarah Palin's Tax Returns?
Vice Presidential Candidate Has Yet to Share Her Filings
By JUSTIN ROOD and MARCUS BARAM- ABC News

As election day comes ever nearer, Democrats and open-government advocates are pressing for the GOP vice presidential candidate to release her tax filings, a campaign tradition that extends at least to the post-Watergate era.

Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has to date declined to share her tax returns, becoming part of an ever-more-select historical group of candidates who waited until this late in a campaign year to release their filings.

Instead, Palin has to date declined to share the documents, becoming part of an ever-more-select historical group of candidates who waited until this late in a campaign year to release their tax filings.

Since 1976, every major-party presidential and vice-presidential candidate has provided that information to the public, according to an analysis by ABC News. Until Palin, only three hopefuls have held onto their tax returns this late:

In 1984, George H.W. Bush, then the Republican presidential candidate, held onto his tax returns until Oct. 3. Bush said he had set up "the biggest blind trust possible" to prevent conflicts of interest, and said he was concerned releasing information on the trust's holdings would violate its terms. He relented under pressure and after receiving assurances from government ethics experts.

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Where Are Sarah Palin's Tax Returns?

McCain Campaign Helps Todd Palin Refuse Subpeona

CNN:Todd Palin Refuses To Testify

Sarah Palin's Foreign Policy Credentials

The Bush/McCain/Palin contempt for subpoenas and the rule of law

The Bush/McCain/Palin contempt for subpoenas and the rule of law
Friday Sept. 19 - Salon.com

Bill O'Reilly, Wednesday night, calling for the arrest of Gawker's owners and managers:

The website knows the law, and says "you know -- I'm going to do it anyway. I dare you to come get me."

Associated Press today, on Todd Palin's refusal to comply with the Alaska State Senate's subpoena:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's husband has refused to testify in the investigation of his wife's alleged abuse of power, and key lawmakers said Thursday that uncooperative witnesses are effectively sidetracking the probe until after Election Day.

Todd Palin, who participates in state business in person or by e-mail, was among 13 people subpoenaed by the Alaska Legislature. Palin's lawyer sent a letter to the lead investigator saying Palin objected to the probe and would not appear to testify on Friday. . . .

Ignoring a legislative subpoena is punishable by a fine up to $500 and up to six months in jail under Alaska law. But courts are reluctant to intervene in legislative matters and the full Legislature must be in session to bring contempt charges, Wielechowski said. The Legislature is not scheduled to convene until January.

It is illegal in the State of Alaska to fail to comply with legislative subpoenas. But Todd Palin has announced he will do exactly that which the law prohibits for one simple reason -- because nothing can be done about it until after the election, and even then, it's unlikely much will be done to punish him for breaking the law. Sarah Palin has similarly ordered all of her aides to refuse to comply with these subpoenas even though doing so is illegal, because she, too, doubts there will be consequences for this illegal behavior. Or, as Bill O'Reilly put it in his righteous Rule of Law tirade: "I'm going to do it anyway. I dare you to come get me."

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The Bush/McCain/Palin contempt for subpoenas and the rule of law

The Aussie View of Sarah Palin

The Aussie View of Sarah Palin
To those who live Down Under, Palin is Middle America incarnate — for better and for worse.
September 19, 2008 by Arthur Chrenkoff

Native critics of Australia’s alleged foreign policy subservience to America, as well as of the prevalence and popularity of American popular culture, often refer to Australia in contempt and exasperation as the 51st state. That’s not quite accurate; should Australia join the United States (of Oceania? if you excuse the Orwellian undertone), she would add six new states to the Great Republic. Throw in Puerto Rico, and Obama would actually get his 57 states.

There’s no prospect of that (though I can’t speak for Puerto Rico). Australians are happy how and where they are, equal but separate: conflicted friends, allies and trading partners. I would hope that an average Australian knows more about America than an average Brit (though I can’t guarantee that he or she would necessarily better like what they know). Certainly a lot of Australians, particularly the globe-trotting Generation Xs and Ys, have “done” the East and West Coasts and had their pictures taken with the Statue of Liberty or the Hollywood sign in the background. However, many parts of the U.S. still remain off the beaten track and off the mental map for us here Down Under...

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The Aussie View of Sarah Palin

Australia: Palin's husband will not testify

Palin's husband will not testify
From correspondents in Anchorage
September 19, 2008
Article from: Agence France-Presse

THE husband of the US Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is refusing to comply with a subpoena issued in an abuse of power probe of his wife, the family's lawyer says.
Todd Palin, father of five children with John McCain's running mate, was among 13 people ordered to testify in the potentially explosive "Troopergate" investigation of his wife, who is the Alaska governor.

In a letter to independent investigator Stephen Branchflower, lawyer Thomas van Flein described the legislature's investigation into whether Palin improperly removed a commissioner for refusing to fire a state trooper who was her former brother-in-law as politically biased and lacking legal authority.

"We maintain our general objections that the legislative council investigation, besides being pursued for partisan purposes, is being conducted in violation of all accepted norms of due process," Mr van Flein wrote.

He also argued that the subpoena was "unduly burdensome" because of Todd Palin's travel schedule with his wife ahead of the election.

The probe is being overseen by the head of the Alaska state Senate judiciary committee, who is a Democrat.

But shortly after Governor Palin was tapped to join John McCain's ticket she called for a formal review of her actions by the Alaska Personnel Board, a panel which is under her authority...

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Palin's husband will not testify

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Sarah Palin's dead lake

Sarah Palin's dead lake
Salon.com
September 19, 2008

By promoting runaway development in her hometown, say locals, Palin has "fouled her own nest" -- and that goes for the lake where she lives.


Sept. 19, 2008 | WASILLA, Alaska -- Every morning she's at home here, Sarah Palin wakes up to a postcard view from her lakeside home. Out the windows of her two-story wood-framed house stretch the serene, birch-lined waters of Lake Lucille. Ducks go gliding by the red-and-white Piper Cub floatplane docked outside. With the snow-frosted Chugach and Talkeetna mountains looming in the distance, the scene seems to define the Alaska that Palin celebrates: rugged, majestic, unspoiled.

And, yet, the lake Sarah Palin lives on is dead.

"Lake Lucille is basically a dead lake -- it can't support a fish population," said Michelle Church, a Mat-Su Valley borough assembly member and environmentalist. "It's a runway for floatplanes."

Palin recently told the New Yorker magazine that Alaskans "have such a love, a respect for our environment, for our lands, for our wildlife, for our clean water and our clean air. We know what we've got up here and we want to protect that, so we're gonna make sure that our developments up here do not adversely affect that environment at all. I don't want development if there's going to be that threat to harming our environment."

But as mayor of her hometown, say many local critics, Palin showed no such stewardship.

"Sarah's legacy as mayor was big-box stores and runaway growth," said Patty Stoll, a retired Wasilla schoolteacher who once worked in the same school with Palin's parents, Chuck and Sally Heath. "The truth is, Wasilla is just plain ugly, it's not a pleasant place to live. It's not thought out. And that's a shame.

"Sarah fouled her own nest, and I can't understand why. I hate to think it was simply greed or ambition."

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Sarah Palin's dead lake

Sarah Palin And Magical Thinking

Sarah Palin And Magical Thinking
Andrew Sullivan.com
18 September 18, 2008

A reader writes:

"Regarding the "odd lies" of Sarah Palin. I grew up in a deeply evangelical family, and through the lens of evangelical thinking the world is magical, populated with demons and angels, devils and gods. You are taught not to believe your eyes or your senses, that the wisdom of man is foolishness to god. That belief is Truth. That belief is Truth before reality is truth. What comes out of this is what I'll call magical thinking."

"You feel the presence of God, feel Him talking to you, feel the mission of your life, the purpose the plan the direction given to you by God. So everything becomes like a mythic fairy tale. You get in the habit of fitting the day to day realities into a 'story' the life story of God's purpose in your life."

"This is how Sarah becoming Governor is destiny."

"Her memory is constantly rewriting the reality to fit her proscribed vision within an evangelical Christianity that has direct contact with god. If you see all of her 'lies' through this lens they begin to make perfect sense."

"Thought I would share: I can totally feel what she is feeling. And if you look at those leaked emails, the prayer talk, and faith talk and god talk, it completely fills your thoughts every moment of every day."

The question is simply whether this magical thinking is what we need to address the financial crisis, the terror war and the Iraq occupation. If you want a president who doesn't believe in empirical reality, you know who to vote for.

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Sarah Palin And Magical Thinking

Palin's husband refuses to testify in probe

Palin's husband refuses to testify in probe
By MATT VOLZ – Associated Press
September 18, 2008

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's husband has refused to testify in the investigation of his wife's alleged abuse of power, and key lawmakers said Thursday that uncooperative witnesses are effectively sidetracking the probe until after Election Day.

Todd Palin, who participates in state business in person or by e-mail, was among 13 people subpoenaed by the Alaska Legislature. Palin's lawyer sent a letter to the lead investigator saying Palin objected to the probe and would not appear to testify on Friday.

"The objections boil down to the fact that the Legislative Council investigation is no longer a legitimate investigation because it has been subjected to complete partisanship and does not operate with the authority that it had at the time of its initial authorization," McCain-Palin presidential campaign spokesman Ed O'Callaghan said.

Sarah Palin initially welcomed the bipartisan investigation into accusations that she dismissed the state's public safety commissioner because he refused to fire her ex-brother-in-law, a state trooper. "Hold me accountable," she said.

But she has increasingly opposed it since Republican presidential candidate John McCain tapped her as his running mate. The McCain campaign dispatched a legal team to Alaska including O'Callaghan, a former top U.S. terrorism prosecutor from New York to bolster Palin's local lawyer.

In the letter, Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein lists nine objections to the Legislature's investigation into Gov. Palin. Van Flein also argues the subpoena is "unduly burdensome" because Palin has travel plans that require him to be out of the state.

Earlier this week, Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg said the governor, who was not subpoenaed, declined to participate in the investigation and said Palin administration employees who have been subpoenaed would not appear.

State Sen. Bill Wielechowski, a Democrat, said the McCain campaign is doing all it can to prevent the Legislature from completing a report on whether the GOP's vice presidential nominee abused her power as governor.

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Palin's husband refuses to testify in probe

Protesters Interrupt McCain-Palin Event

Protesters Interrupt McCain-Palin Event
Washington Wire - Wall Street Journal
September 18, 2008

Laura Meckler reports from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on the presidential race.

Republican vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin got a new, less friendly reception today: protesters loudly chanting and interrupting her remarks. She didn’t seem to know how to handle it.

As Palin spoke, three young women began chanting, “Palin, Palin, get off our backs! Women’s rights are under attack!” They barely got the first round out of their mouths before the crowd drowned their words with shouts of “USA! USA!” and “We want Sarah!”

Things took an angry turn as the crowd closed in on the protesters. One man stepped within inches of one of the women, shouting “USA! USA!” to her face and appearing to shove her toward the exit.

“He was kind of pushing me. We were nonviolent so we couldn’t do anything about it,” Laura Kacere, a senior at the nearby University of Iowa, said later.

Meantime, Palin awkwardly tried to continue with her remarks even as the crowd continued its chants and police escorted the women out.

Later, while John McCain spoke to the crowd, another set of protesters—Kacere said they were from the university, too–again interrupted. The audience again responded with loud chants. But McCain, more experienced at the art of protest, paused and suggested that what Americans really want is for people to listen to one another.

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Protesters Interrupt McCain-Palin Event

First Clinton, now Palin out of NYC rally

First Clinton, now Palin out of NYC rally
By DEVLIN BARRETT – Associated Press
September 18, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) — Organizers of an anti-Iran rally next week have dropped Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin from the event, days after Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton pulled out.

The National Coalition to Stop Iran Now said Thursday that it will put on a rally without "American political personalities" and Palin won't be there.

The move angered Republican presidential nominee John McCain, who accused Democratic rivals of having his running mate disinvited. All Americans should agree on the need to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, he said.

"Governor Palin was pleased to accept an invitation to address this rally and show her resolve on this grave national security issue," McCain said in a statement. He blamed "Democratic partisans" and Barack Obama's campaign for pressing organizers to dump Palin.

A number of American Jewish organizers are staging the rally in New York City against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. They had announced earlier this week that the event would feature both Clinton and Palin.

Clinton aides fumed over what they saw as a slight by organizers, because they had no idea until told by reporters that Palin was supposed to attend as well...

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First Clinton, now Palin out of NYC rally

Sarah Palin struggles through another interview, this time with friends

Sarah Palin struggles through another interview, this time with friends
Sheldon Alberts - National Post Canada
September 18, 2008

WASHINGTON • Ever since Sarah Palin sat down with ABC News anchor Charlie Gibson last week, Republicans have complained that the venerable newsman was unforgivably condescending and aloof.

Gibson’s sin? Asking Palin, insistently, whether she supported and could describe “the Bush doctrine.” The Alaska governor simply couldn’t answer.

“In what respect, Charlie?”

Gibson: “What do you interpret it to be?”

Palin: “His world view?”

Umm, okay.

Conservative commentators – notably syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer – rushed to Palin’s defence. Krauthammer pointed out there have been “four distinct meanings” of the Bush doctrine.

They include America’s willingness to unilaterally withdraw from international treaties, the president’s post-9/11 ‘with-us-or-against-us’ ultimatum to nations harbouring terrorists, the use of pre-emptive war to protect the United States from imminent threats, and his second-term ‘freedom’ agenda.

Krauthammer chastised Gibson for practicing “gotcha” journalism and said the anchor “captured perfectly the establishment snobbery and intellectual condescension” elitists feel toward Palin.

Or, maybe, Gibson was just asking...

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Sarah Palin struggles through another interview, this time with friends

Shocker: Palin Cancels Big California Swing

Shocker: Palin Cancels Big California Swing
Carla Marinucci - San Francisco Chronicle
September 18, 2008

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who was to star at two major California fundraisers and an Orange County rally for 15,000 next week, has canceled her two-day swing through the Golden State, campaign sources said.

The change is a shocker, because Palin's presence had electrified the GOP base in California. Party insiders were distributing 15,000 tickets to her Sept. 26 rally in Orange County -- and fundraisers reported an almost instantaneous sell-out of her two $1,000-a-head Sept. 25 fundraising events in Orange County and Santa Clara.

Both fundraisers had generated such high ticket sales that the OC Lincoln Club event was moved to the Orange County Performing Arts Center, and the Bay Area event was moved from the Woodside home of Tom Siebel to the huge Santa Clara Convention Center.

The change comes in the same week a new Field Poll showed that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama still leads Republican presidential candidate John McCain in California by a whopping 16-point margin.

So Palin's pullout from her Western state swing is sure to ramp up chatter that the GOP ticket -- which has insisted it will compete here -- may be reassessing its Golden State presence. (Team McCain says it's just a scheduling issue.)

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Shocker: Palin Cancels Big California Swing

Bush says he’s worried about financial crisis

Bush says he’s worried about financial crisis
President cancels fundraising trips to focus on continuing market meltdown
September 18, 2008

WASHINGTON - Eager to show that he feels people’s pain, President Bush scuttled a political fundraising trip Thursday to tell the country his administration is working feverishly to calm turmoil in the financial markets.

Bush was supposed to spend the day in Alabama and Florida raising money for Republicans and talking energy policy. He canceled his trip and sent Vice President Dick Cheney to sub for him at the fundraisers to focus on the worst financial meltdown since the Great Depression.

“The American people are concerned about the situation in our financial markets and our economy,” Bush said. “And I share their concerns.”

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Bush says he’s worried about financial crisis

Palin excitement levels off as Democrats regain lead

Palin excitement levels off as Democrats regain lead
September 18, 2008

(CNN) -- Is America's honeymoon with Sarah Palin over? Polls suggest that might be so.

Sarah Palin and John McCain are now behind the Democratic ticket in the polls.

Palin appears to be losing some of her initial appeal as Democrats make gains in the polls.

The Alaska governor came out swinging at the Republican National Convention, energizing her party's base and shifting the momentum to John McCain's favor.

At rallies in the week following the convention, the McCain-Palin duo saw their best attendance and a newfound zeal, and the Republican ticket took the lead in national polls for the first time.

But polls show the momentum has shifted once again.

Palin's favorable rating is at 40 percent, according to a CBS News/New York Times poll. That's down 4 points from last week. Her unfavorable rating is at 30 percent, rising eight points in a week.

The poll was conducted September 12-16 and has a sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

Former Bush adviser Karl Rove predicted Wednesday that Palin's star power would wear off.

"Nothing lasts for 60-some-odd days," Rove told The Associated Press. "Will she be the center of attention in the remaining 48 days? No, but she came on in a very powerful way and has given a sense of urgency to the McCain campaign that's pretty remarkable."

But this week, the Democrats recaptured the headlines and Obama regained his lead in the national polls.

CNN's latest poll of polls, out Thursday afternoon, shows him ahead of McCain by two points, 47-44 percent...

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Palin excitement levels off as Democrats regain lead

Records reveal Palin's push for earmarks

Records reveal Palin's push for earmarks
Posted on Wednesday, September 17, 2008 6:31 PM ET
Filed Under: Politics

By Jim Popkin, NBC News Senior Investigative Producer
As a vice presidential candidate, Gov. Sarah Palin has railed against federal earmarks, or congressional funding for pork-barrel projects. "In our state, we reformed the abuses of earmarks," Palin recently boasted to a rally in Lancaster, Pa. "We championed earmark reform up there," she said, "to stop Congress from wasting public money on things that didn't serve the public interest."

But musty records culled from the archives of the Wasilla, Alaska, city government reveal that Palin was directly involved in soliciting millions of dollars in earmarks for Wasilla when she was mayor. And she got help from a well-connected Washington lobbyist.

In a monthly status report to the city on March 7, 2000, newly hired "City Lobbyist" Steve Silver describes how the Palin administration had requested $6.6 million in federal earmarks for water and sewer improvements for Wasilla, and another $1 million for police equipment. Mayor Palin reviewed and signed the lobbyist's report, dated April 5, 2000.

Those earmark requests have not previously been disclosed, said Keith Ashdown, chief investigator for the non-profit Taxpayers for Common Sense, a budget watchdog group. Ashdown said the lobbyist's report offers a rare window into a normally closed-door process. "The document you've found is a peek behind the curtain of how earmarks get approved in Washington," he said....

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Records reveal Palin's push for earmarks

O'Reilly: Economic crisis is the end of Pres. Bush's legacy'

Link to Bush still hurting McCain, poll finds

Link to Bush still hurting McCain, poll finds
Candidates back to where they were before conventions, and Palin pick
September 18, 2008

WASHINGTON - Despite an intense effort to distance himself from the way his party has done business in Washington, Senator John McCain is seen by voters as far less likely to bring change to Washington than Senator Barack Obama. Mr. McCain is widely viewed as a “typical Republican” who would continue or expand President Bush’s policies, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.

Polls taken after the Republican convention suggested that Mr. McCain had enjoyed a surge of support — particularly among white women after his selection of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate — but the latest poll indicates “the Palin effect” was, at least so far, a limited burst of interest.

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Link to Bush still hurting McCain, poll finds