As troubling as Sarah Palin’s lack of experience is, it’s more troubling that John McCain apparently selected her as his running mate without thoroughly vetting her background. If so, what does that say about McCain’s management style?
The team assigned to vet Palin in Alaska reportedly didn’t arrive there until last Thursday, the day before McCain’s announced Palin as his pick. And there are no indications that key people in Alaska were contacted about Palin, the Anchorage Daily News reported. Lyda Green, Alaska Senate president, who lives in Wasilla, where Palin served as mayor, told the New York Times: “They didn’t speak to anyone in the Legislature, they didn’t speak to anyone in the business community.” McCain’s campaign said that Palin was vetted, including an FBI background check. But an FBI official said Monday that the bureau didn’t vet potential candidates.
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104 Comments
What does McCain think about his running mate calling a total of 2,000-acres (a little over 3 square miles) of gravel, scattered in small sections across 1.5 MILLION acres of tundra a “little 2,000 acre plot of land”?
That’s what McCain’s running mate called those widespread, scattered sections of gravel.
Palin also falsely claimed that exploration would only be allowed on 2,000-acres.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/427xjuoj.asp
“One of the pieces of a solution is allowing exploration on that little 2,000 acre plot of land out of the 20 million acres up there in the coastal plain.”
———-
The truth: “exploration” would be allowed on nearly all of the 1.5 MILLION acres of the coastal plain.
2,000-acres is a “limit” on the total amount of tundra that can be buried under gravel for “production” oil facilities.
Roads and gravel mines are exempt from that “limit”.
‘Drilling in the Arctic Refuge: The 2,000-Acre Footprint Myth
Oil development would stamp a spiderweb of industrial sprawl across the whole of the refuge’s 1.5-million-acre coastal plain.’
http://www.nrdc.org/land/wilderness/artech/farc2000.asp
————-
Was Palin misinformed, or confused. . . or just LYING?
I believe McCain said…
” My choice was thoroughly vetted and I am delighted with the result.”
ONE 15 minute phone call and ONE day of operatives in Alaska checking her out the day before?
As much a story as Palin is, this unbelievably impulsive decision by McCain should give anyone pause.
I can picture him with his finger on the button. “Call the Joint Chiefs? Nah. I’m gonna go with my gut!”
Looks like we’ve got another bush ‘decider’ to contend with.
Go with your gut, justify it later.
It must’ve been like when mccain saw his second wife for the first time, and thought to himself “that’s the One”.
The environmental terrorist cosmos, has spoken.
Phillip Brownlee: The title of your thread, “How much did McCain vet Palin?” implies that something is akilter with the pregnancy of Sarah Palin’s 17 year old daughter. I suspect your thinking and perhaps mine also is far behind the times. Unfortunately, the numbers for this situation are growing if not yet the norm.
I can think of many couples back in my history that started out this way. Some lasted only a short time; others for many years. A couple of my high school friends started out this way at ages 17. They returned to our high school reunion a couple years ago looking better than ever … it was great to see them again.
So the best way to handle this is to step back, don’t criticize from every mountain top, let the family handle it in their own way, give the young couple time to come to grips with the situation over the next several months. Actually they aren’t obligated to marry although most outsiders would probably like to see a happy transition.
So, the world needs to move on with selecting a president and vice president at the Republican convention. And watch out for the next hurricane to come calling.
Hearing this makes me wonder even more if McCain had been turned down by every other qualified Republican woman in the Senate, House or other top ranking Republican women? There are so many more qualified Republican women to choose from or perhaps they didn’t want to be associated with the Republican ticket this time around?
Multi-nic’d Regular posted September 2, 2008 at 2:04 pm
“The environmental terrorist cosmos, has spoken.”
———-
The WE Blog’s infamous liar, multi-nic’d Regular, has spoken.
Incidentally, where does the words “vet” and “vetted” come from? What words are they derived from if any? If this is a recent media or government production, please save us from it.
Another term that bothers me is “went missing.” I think this term was invented by Larry Hatteburg at KAKE 10 TV and spread like a pasture fire.
Its now being used as far away as Emporia and Pratt.
“Hunkered down” is another phrase in the latest journalistic repertoire.
I don’t think the only thing making people wonder how much Gov Palin was vetted is her pregnant 17-yr-old daughter.
For the first thing, Gov Palin is not exactly a household name. Second, she is under investigation for firing that official for not firing her ex-brother-in-law.
McCain took a risk in naming Palin to the ticket. But the choice is now made and McCain and the Republicans will have to live with whatever comes out.
What vetting? It was damn near impossible as it was to find a woman candidate who shares McCain’s voiced and demonstrated low opinions on women and women’s rights.
JWink,
There’s nothing in the header about her 17-year old daughter.
And IIRC, it’s been reported that McCain already knew about the daughter’s pregnancy when he decided on Palin.
If the young lady is being or feeling pressured to marry the father, and wasn’t thinking before the pregnancy that he was the one for her, then they are trying to correct one mistake by committing another blunder.
Not knowing the specifics of the relationship, can’t say one way or another.
My wife was 17 when we married, 35 yrs. later we’re just as in love as then.
I think he chose Palin, after Paris turned him down’
He’d gotten great traction and response by playing on Paris, and thought he was on a streak!
So far the only folks I hear squirming about vetting Palin are Libs.
Keep squirming. It’s funny
Keep squirming. It’s funny
You’re right, Heck: it is funny!
Too bad you can’t see us laughing!
Rage
Posted September 2, 2008 at 2:44 pm | Permalink
Keep squirming. It’s funny
You’re right, Heck: it is funny!
Too bad you can’t see us laughing!
==================================================
Yes, sounds like the same laughter of relief I remember my sons making as toddlers after straining and making poopey in their pants.
Rage
Sounds like a nervous laugh to me.
“As troubling as Sarah Palin’s lack of experience is, . . .”
and what about Obama’s lack of experience?
Looks like he’s getting a bit defensive. http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/01/obama-defends-natural-disaster-experience/
And what about Obama’s mother, who was 18 when she gave birth to the new messiah?
Heckler
Posted September 2, 2008 at 2:33 pm | Permalink
So far the only folks I hear squirming about vetting Palin are Libs.
Keep squirming. It’s funny
—
Sorry to burst your bubble there buddy but there are alot of Republicans scratching their heads about this decision. Not all Republicans are Social Conservatives and Evangelical Christians who are delighted with Palin.
There are alot of Republicans who are worried about our country’s national defense, budget, weak dollar, good-paying jobs being outsourced, high gas prices, high food prices, high health care costs, schools that need fixing, infrastructure that needs repairing and our borders needing to be secured.
What about those issues? The only thing we hear is that she has foreign experience because Alaska is next to Russia. Palin has PTA experience which is equivalent to what? Palin was a mayor of small town and has been the Governor of Alaska for a total of 18 months and the state has the population of under 700,000.
The pick of Sarah Palin was a direct pandering to the Religious Right and to try to sway the Hillary Clinton voters to cross over to Republican.
Meanwhile, our country needs a wise leader and is Palin really the one the Republicans want to answer that phone at 3AM (if McCain does not survive his presidency). And with McCain’s age and health, that would be a concern for some people.
I’m just disappointed McCain could not or maybe did not have the option of choosing another more qualified Republican woman to run with him.
Looks like he’s getting a bit defensive. http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/01/obama-defends-natural-disaster-experience/
—————————————————-
He’s comparing running a campaign to a nation, state or municipality?
That can’t be good. By those qualifications I could be President. I was Recording Secretary of the Student Body in elementary school. I ran a helluva campaign and would like your vote…..
A great report,
‘PALIN’S PROBLEMS WITH THE TRUTH! Palin pretty much lied about that bridge – and about that tax rebate:’
http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh090208.shtml
Mr_Kia posted September 2, 2008 at 2:58 pm
“He’s comparing running a campaign to a nation, state or municipality?
That can’t be good. By those qualifications I could be President. I was Recording Secretary of the Student Body in elementary school. I ran a helluva campaign and would like your vote…..”
———
Did you have 2500 employees in your elementary school campaign? A budget of about $36 MILLION a month?
Sounds like a nervous laugh to me.
Well, I don’t think anyone is saying the election is over (keeping in mind Dan Quayle).
With nearly the entire cost of Alaska govt. being funded by oil taxes, what’s going to happen to the budget of Alaska, now that oil prices have fallen?
Having passed Alaska’s largest ever budget, I’d say they will be running deficits soon.
cosmos_originally
Posted September 2, 2008 at 3:06 pm | Permalink
Did you have 2500 employees in your elementary school campaign? A budget of about $36 MILLION a month?
—————————————————-
No but we both had a singular purpose. Getting us elected.
If he can’t even properly investigate his own VP- how can he lead the country?
<i.Did you have 2500 employees in your elementary school campaign? A budget of about $36 MILLION a month?
More generally, I question this “executive experience” argument. It boils down to this argument; can (s)he manage people?
It comes down to the ability to understand and operate a myriad of agencies. Simply claiming elected experience–legislative or executive–tells us nothing.
George W. Bush had 6 years as governor of Texas, and several more years running oil companies and baseball teams into the ground.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
“As troubling as Sarah Palin’s lack of experience is,”
And Obama’s lack of experience is better than her’s in what way?
Liberal article
Liberal source
Liberal posters
Political_mama
Posted September 2, 2008 at 3:10 pm | Permalink
If he can’t even properly investigate his own VP- how can he lead the country?
—————————————————-
Nothing that has come out has been noted as a revelation to the McCain campaign.
The left is pissing itself trying to make an issue of things that were not to the campaign.
If you want to argue that they should be, that’s fine.
Palin was vetted 4 months ago. Mittens was the expected so Palin was ignored.
And what about Obama’s mother, who was 18 when she gave birth to the new messiah?
Do you really want to step into this?
In Dayton, Ohio, Sarah Palin announced that she and her husband are celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary, which means they married on or around August 29, 1988.
[From the transcript of that speech]
And Todd and I are actually celebrating our 20th anniversary today…
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94118910
Their first son, Track, was born on April 20, 1989, eight months after Sarah and Todd eloped.
Hey, you brought it up.
Nothing that has come out has been noted as a revelation to the McCain campaign.
Like he’d announce it to the nation that he hadn’t bothered to find out the details about his chosen VP?
Yeah, right.
McCain believes like so many other ‘Pukes that one need not get vetted if one is Republican.
It’s a variation on IOKIYAR.
As I said before, I give her two weeks.
The hypocrites defending her now will be attacking her then . . .
Mr_Kia
Posted September 2, 2008 at 2:58 pm | Permalink
Looks like he’s getting a bit defensive. http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/01/obama-defends-natural-disaster-experience/
—————————————————-
He’s comparing running a campaign to a nation, state or municipality?
That can’t be good. By those qualifications I could be President. I was Recording Secretary of the Student Body in elementary school. I ran a helluva campaign and would like your vote
__
This is no sillier than McCain stating that Palin’s experience in the PTA was equivalent to Obama’s neighborhood organizing on the South Side of Chicago when he was younger. I didn’t know the PTA was in the business of finding jobs for unemployed people.
Both sides had better watch what they say and how they say it. Both sides are being analyzed word by word.
When mccain vets someone, it must mean they were driven to the vet. Or, since mccain’s a vet, maybe he vetted her himself.
If one wondered about McCain’s decision-making ability before, one can rest easy now–it sucks.
His first Presidential decision, and he mucked it up royally.
Heck of a job, Brownie.
vet noun, verb, vet·ted, vet·ting. Informal.
–noun
1. veterinarian.
–verb (used with object)
2. to examine or treat in one’s capacity as a veterinarian or as a doctor.
3. to appraise, verify, or check for accuracy, authenticity, validity, etc.: An expert vetted the manuscript before publication.
–verb (used without object)
4. to work as a veterinarian.
But you can’t entirely blame McCain.
Sarah Barracuda is kind of good looking in that smug, tarted up “I’m really wealthy” way that Republican women have.
See also, Susan Wagle.
mom
Posted September 2, 2008 at 3:37 pm | Permalink
Both sides had better watch what they say and how they say it. Both sides are being analyzed word by word.
—————————————————-
You’re right about that Mom and it really shouldn’t be.
It needs to be about problems and solutions.
The Federal Government will never be in the solution business imho.
I really hope Obama’s supporters take this issue of experience further.
Obama has recently felt the need to compare himself to the VP slot on the Republican ticket. How the GOP must jump with joy. The only basis for executive experience that Obama can muster is that he ran his own devoted slavering campaign.
This compares exactly HOW with the experience of being a state Governor and running a bipartisan government with a 20 billion dollar budget?
Yeah, we agree. Experience matters Phillip! Which is why your presidential candidate is fighting simply to compare himself even with the Vice presidential candidate on the opposing ticket! Ha!
CON women have that freshly “buffed and waxed” look, like a Lexus that just got detailed.
You can tell without looking–her toenails are painted, they are always painted, and painted professionally.
You know what’s funny?
Hearing RepubliCONs who profess to hate government (and they do) then talk about the importance of “experience” in having served in government.
Why? So they can more easily “drown it in the bathtub” like NeoCON Grover Norquist once proclaimed.
Was Biden “Vetted” properly?…….They sure are lucky Palins daughter got pregnant….
In addition to Biden’s lobbyist campaign cash, Obama and Biden are under fire over $3.4 million in congressional earmarks that went to clients of Biden’s lobbyist son, Hunter. The younger Biden helped secure $192,000 for St. Xavier University in Chicago, the Washington Post reported.
Who wants to read about some boring old lobbyist any way….whats a lobbyist….
There are unavoidable contradiction sin using Palin to attack Obama’s experience.
If his 11½ years of legislative experience makes him to unqualified to be president, what can we say about a smalltown mayor who has only 1 state budget under her belt.
If it’s about “executive experience,” then McCain and Obama are equally unqualified, and it thus becomes an argument over whether, if necessary, an executive with less than 10 years in that capacity (and less than 2 at the state level) is more qualified to be president than a legislator who’s been there for 35 years.
It’s all quite rhetorical and ridiculous. If Sarah Palin is some undiscovered organizational genius, the proof of that pudding needs presented posthaste, pending her positioning proximate to the presidency.
Austrian_Economist
Posted September 2, 2008 at 4:18 pm | Permalink
Just wanted to let everyone know that I changed my username from Objectivist to Austrian_Economist.
While I enjoy Ayn Rand and agree with a lot that she has to say, I still have some issues close to my heart that her and I could never fully agree on.
Just wanted people to know who I was when I started commenting on stories under my new name.
Take it easy.
Fair enough, Austrian Econ.
There’s nothing wrong with changing one’s nic.
The problem is with post-ers who attempt to pass themselves off as different people.
You’re not doing that, so you’re fine.
SAY EAGLE, what YOU afraid of?
That’s T W O attack topics on Palin today!
PLEASE, going forward, limit your attacks to ONE PER DAY!
(That will save room for more Tiahrt Amendment attacks by you guys!)
Deja vu …
Eagleton.
“As troubling as Sarah Palin’s lack of experience is,”
And Obama’s lack of experience is better than her’s in what way?
Liberal article
Liberal source
Predominately liberal posters
Anyone to the left of Atilla the Hun is a Liberal.
What experience qualifies anyone to serve as President? All I can think of that has relevance is actually being the President.
Deja vu …
Eagleton.
Not sure what you’re talking about, Ben. What’s an Eagleton?
Last I heard, McCain was 1000 percent behind her! :)
avtolle
Posted September 2, 2008 at 4:41 pm | Permalink
What experience qualifies anyone to serve as President? All I can think of that has relevance is actually being the President.
Running a MASH unit? Surving the Cuckoos Nest?
;)
Vaughn, do you think knowing the differences between Sunni and Shia would be useful?
1000 percent – just before McGovern threw the Senator from MO under the bus.
:(
KandiSue–
Covers her ears and goes, “I can’t hear you, I can’t you, I can’t hear you.”
More bad news for the CONs:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/109960/Gallup-Daily-Obama-Hits-50-First-Time.aspx
PRINCETON, NJ — Gallup Poll Daily tracking from Aug. 30 through Sept. 1, finds Barack Obama leading the race for president with his highest share of support to date. Fully half of national registered voters now favor Obama for president, while 42% back John McCain.
*****
Even more demoralizing for the Republic Party, this happened after McCain announced Palin and during their CONvention.
Sucks to be you, CONs.
Do you think seeking counseling would have the same affect today? Have we come a little ways toward recognizing the validity of all health issues?
Vaughn, do you think knowing the differences between Sunni and Shia would be useful?
Or that that Czechoslovakia is no longer a single country?
Linda and Rage, it would be indeed helpful, as would a plethora of other facts; but knowledge of such facts is not experience, correct?
Linda and Rage, it would be indeed helpful, as would a plethora of other facts; but knowledge of such facts is not experience, correct?
Indeed. I think knowing what to do and how to do it–correctly–is the ultimate criteria, and it helps to at least have worked within the federal government for a while.
Whether that makes the president of Lockheed Martin qualified is unclear. :)
Predestined: Your definition from a dictionary, at 3:41 PM above, of the words “vet” or “vetting” seems to hit the target. The third choice, “To appraise, verify, or check for accuracy, authenticity, validity, etc.” sounds good to me.
I was thinking perhaps “vet” was a media abbreviation of the word “investigation.”
Now if we could validate the media term “went missing.” Somehow I think it’s a colloquilism from the Gyp Hills cowboys of Barber and Commanche counties of southern Kansas: “Hey, there’s the steer over yonder in the gulch that WENT MISSING after sundown.”
#
Rage
Posted September 2, 2008 at 4:49 pm | Permalink
Vaughn, do you think knowing the differences between Sunni and Shia would be useful?
Or that that Czechoslovakia is no longer a single country?
—————–
I’ll take foreign Capitols for $1000, Alex.
To quote Mom: “The pick of Sarah Palin was a direct pandering to the Religious Right and to try to sway the Hillary Clinton voters to cross over to Republican.”
McCain might have been better off to have picked Hillary as his running mate! I think it would have set better with the voting public, it would have balanced the ticket (liberal and conservative), the question of experience wouldn’t have been an issue, and it would have taken a strong Democrat out of a voting position in the Senate (although still in a strong position of appointing committees, etc.)
Besides, he doesn’t seem to get along well with women. Maybe it would be better to have a war between the president of the US and vice president of the US than to have a war between the president of US and the president of Iran!
Ok, technically that’s not T W O attacks on Sarah Palin today.
That’s O N E attack on Sarah Palin, AND
O N E attack on Bristol Palin.
I stand corrected.
it would be indeed helpful, as would a plethora of other facts; but knowledge of such facts is not experience, correct? — VT
——
Can you imagine the cram sessions that have been going on? Bet she has been working very hard to learn a few facts!
Please do NOT discuss EXPERIENCE on the WE Blog.
Experience is overrated.
HELP WANTED. PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA. No Experience Required, Will Train.
I wonder if KandiSue is one of those paid trolls the RNC trots out before the elections.
Man, they’re sure NOT getting their money’s worth, are they.
The ‘publicans’ real insult to the women of this country is that they assume that ANY woman, no matter how inexperienced or lacking between the ears (in fact, preferably so) would be an acceptable nominee to the former supporters of Hillary Clinton. All they need is a pretty face and vapid smile to round out the ticket and buy off the women voters.
It’s hard to laud Palin’s decision regarding her daughte’s pregnancy, or in fact even for hear (allegely) bearing her defective child.
She’s been and is a rw politician, how could she have done any differently and kept her political ambitions?
JWink,
I was thinking the same thing about the phrases mentioned. There’s probably something on the ‘net. I’ll check the urban dictionary, but I’m not sure if phrases, even two-word, are included.
hear=her
Jed
Posted September 2, 2008 at 5:23 pm | Permalink
The ‘publicans’ real insult to the women of this country is that they assume that ANY woman, no matter how inexperienced or lacking between the ears (in fact, preferably so) would be an acceptable nominee to the former supporters of Hillary Clinton. All they need is a pretty face and vapid smile to round out the ticket and buy off the women voters.
=====================================================================
Well Jed for you, any Black Man will do.
Phantom
Posted September 2, 2008 at 5:26 pm | Permalink
It’s hard to laud Palin’s decision regarding her daughte’s pregnancy, or in fact even for hear (allegely) bearing her defective child.
She’s been and is a rw politician, how could she have done any differently and kept her political ambitions?
===================================================================
If she was a lying SOB like Obama, she could have.
Those women who never would have voted for Obama, still won’t, and perhaps will “feel” better about their vote for McCain as a result of his running mate. The other group McCain may have motivated were those social conservatives who were going to sit this one out.
Those women who would have voted for Hillary Clinton are not going to vote for McCain. Palin on the ticket won’t help with those women voters. Speaking only for myself, this line of thinking that women will vote for any woman is insulting.
And, the independents who hadn’t made up their mind (is there really such an animal?) aren’t enamored of the social conservative platform. They may sit this one out or take a closer look at Obama, but aren’t going to be more convinced by adding Palin to the McCain candidacy.
I love seeing the DemLibs sweating and squirming over the prospect of Sarah Palin.
They know that girl could dress them out and hang them up just like she’s done the Moose she’s shot and harvested to eat.
This is great, a real live person who accepts responsibility for herself and her family and doesn’t just take the selfish and easy way out.
lindainks55
Posted September 2, 2008 at 5:33 pm | Permalink
Those women who never would have voted for Obama, still won’t, and perhaps will “feel” better about their vote for McCain as a result of his running mate. The other group McCain may have motivated were those social conservatives who were going to sit this one out.
Those women who would have voted for Hillary Clinton are not going to vote for McCain. Palin on the ticket won’t help with those women voters. Speaking only for myself, this line of thinking that women will vote for any woman is insulting.
===============================================================
Hmmm….then why is it 95% of blacks vote for Obama?
I haven’t seen the Libs this afraid of a candidate since Ronald Reagan!
How much did Obama vet Biden? He has a history of plagiarism and his son and his brother are mixed up in a Hedge Fund Scandal. Biden himself pulled strings to get his son and his brother their jobs (with NO experience at all) at the Hedge Fund in fact. Read about Biden’s family mess: http://tinyurl.com/623955 The interesting part is one of the people involved is the son-in-law of the leader of the infamous ‘Moonies’.
As for Obama, how much experience can you get organizing people to vote in elections as while working for ACORN, the group that signs up dead and fictitious people to vote.
Does Palin have any less experience than Hillary did? Does she have any worse scandals that Hillary or Bill have had?
But why is a 17 year old girl more newsworthy than things happening on the demo side? Oh yeah, its the media who is trying to help elect the demo’s.
I find it interesting in it appears the media has been doing much more research in the past week on Palin and her family than they ever did on Obama, his preacher, his priest, or his 1970’s terrorist neighbors who as part of a domestic terrorist group blew up federal buildings.
I really found the story on Palin faking the pregnancy of her Down Syndrome Son to protect her daughter quite interesting. Only a bunch of goofballs wearing aluminum foil hats would come up with that one.
As for Palin getting married and possibly being pregnant herself with Track at the age of 24, is that really all that unusual? How many couples marry either while pregnant or after a child is born these days? Why does it matter at all?
As for whether Wooten should have been fired or not, would any of you think someone should be a cop who threatens to ‘cap’ the parents of their spouse if they help to get her an attorney? Makes threats regularly to other people and more? There are several news stories in the past on this incident. Here is one of them to read http://tinyurl.com/6lez4v
As for anyone squeaky clean… Are any of you like that on this blog? Do you really think there is anyone that is? Do you think they would want to run for President?
I think it’s the cons who should be afraid. If McCain thinks he’ll entice women to vote for him because of her..then he’s delusional.
Exactly why would women vote for her? Please enlighten me because I can’t see it.
As for Palin getting married and possibly being pregnant herself with Track at the age of 24, is that really all that unusual?
No, it isn’t. But I didn’t open up that can of worms.
Do you all think you can attack someone, whether now or in the past, and the Libs will just duck their heads? What I posted was in response to another post regarding Obama’s mother. If not for that (and a “bastard” comment by someone else), I wouldn’t have bothered. It’s completely irrelevant to me.
The media’s interested in Palin, for the same reason mccain selected palin, she’s the wild card. So don’t cry when the logical happens, and the wild card is put under a microscope.
Ronald Who?
This is starting to look like “careful what you wish for” episode for mccain!
I was going to try to post a truncated version of this, but it’s getting so confusing, my head (and I suspect the heads of some Alaskans) is spinning. *And there’s more, but I’ll save it for later.
Attorney challenges Monegan firing inquiry
The state has hired a private lawyer to represent Gov. Sarah Palin’s office in the Legislature’s investigation into the firing of former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. The lawyer already has challenged whether lawmakers even have authority to oversee the inquiry.
The state Department of Law hired Thomas Van Flein, an Anchorage attorney with expertise in employment law and professional liability, because Attorney General Talis Colberg has a potential conflict of interest and shouldn’t represent the governor, Van Flein said Monday.
His work started Aug. 21. He’s being paid $185 an hour, lower than his usual rate, to represent Palin and others in the governor’s office, he said. He is initially authorized to spend up to $95,000.
The state’s Legislative Council, a bipartisan panel of senators and representatives, authorized the investigation last month and approved spending of $100,000. They’ve hired a special counsel, retired state prosecutor Steve Branchflower.
The investigation concerns whether Palin or others in her administration abused their power or improperly pressured Monegan to fire a state trooper who is Palin’s ex-brother-in-law. Palin and her father have said Trooper Mike Wooten was a “loose cannon” who made threats against them. The investigation has received national attention since Sen. John McCain, the apparent Republican nominee for president, chose Palin as his running mate Friday.
A four-page backgrounder on the Wooten matter put out Monday by the McCain/Palin campaign says that Palin’s husband, Todd, and members of her staff had made inquiries “about the appropriate Department of Public Safety procedures for dealing with someone they considered a dangerous person and rogue trooper.”
Palin has denied pressuring Monegan. The campaign says she only recently became aware of efforts by Todd and others.
http://www.adn.com/monegan/story/513137.html
Experience and qualifications? How about the ability to do simple?
Area 1002 in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is approximately 1,549,000 acres.
Bills in the U.S. Congress would open ALL of Area 1002 to oil exploration, except possibly a maximum of 45,000 acres designated as special areas.
“The Secretary, after consultation with the State of Alaska, the North Slope Borough, Alaska, and the City of Kaktovik, Alaska, may designate not more than 45,000 acres of the Coastal Plain as a special area if the Secretary determines that the special area would be of such unique character and interest as to require special management and regulatory protection.”
1,549,000 – 45,000 = 1,504,000 acres (or approx 1.5 million acres)
But according to McCain’s VP choice: 1,549,000 – 45,000 = 2,000 acres
And Palin also seems to believe that 1,549,000 acres = “20 million acres”.
http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2008/09/how-much-did-mccain-vet-palin/#comment-415026
Someone who is that math-challenged and/or confused is NOT qualified to be a VP.
Prediction markets place bets on Palin’s permanence
The online prediction market Intrade sees a 12 percent chance that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be withdrawn as the Republican vice presidential nominee before the U.S. presidential election on November 4.
The market opened at 3 percent that she would have to withdraw as McCain’s running mate and climbed as high as 18 percent before settling down to 12 percent on 632 trades as of noon EDT. The markets are priced from zero to 100, with zero meaning investors see no chance an event will happen and 100 meaning it already has happened.
More and a graph:
http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/2008/09/02/prediction-markets-place-bets-on-palins-permanence/
Now on with the story…
Some wonder why the state Attorney General (Talis Colberg) isn’t handling Sarah’s case. Well, it seems he’s the one she hired to do some pre-emptive sleuthing to find out what the Legislature would find. Colberg has been talking to everybody and has been called as a witness.
Sarah claims she knew nothing about her husband’s and members of her administration’s inquiries “about the appropriate Department of Public Safety procedures for dealing with someone they considered a dangerous person and rogue trooper.” Did she not know they’d been filing complaints by the bucketload? Do Todd and Sarah not talk as husband and wife about a family matter? Hmmmmm….
Van Flein is now saying the state legislature shouldn’t be handling this investigation–the state Board of Personnel should be. That’s the 3 person state Board of Personnel that Sarah appointed. ;)
Hollis French (state senator and former state prosecuter) who is heading up the investigation says NO.
Van Flein says, “Our concern is that Hollis French turns into Ken Starr and uses public money to pursue a political vendetta rather than truly pursue an honest inquiry into an alleged ethics issue.”
French says, “How does Van Flein explain the unanimous vote (to pursue the investigation of Palin) by the Republican-dominated Legislative Council?”
‘THE PALIN CHURCH VIDEO’
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/09/02/1327574.aspx
Did you read the comments on your link (THE PALIN CHURCH VIDEO), Cosmos? This is a trainwreck and someone somewhere has to be adult enough to clean it up!
lindainks55
Posted September 2, 2008 at 7:23 pm | Permalink
Did you read the comments on your link (THE PALIN CHURCH VIDEO), Cosmos? This is a trainwreck and someone somewhere has to be adult enough to clean it up!
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Cosmos doesn’t read his own links? What? Your kidding!
Linda that is some weird video. Written down on the page I read ”
The church runs a number of ministries providing help to poor neighborhoods, care for children in need, and general community services. But Pastor Kalnins has also preached that critics of President Bush will be banished to hell; questioned whether people who voted for Sen. John Kerry in 2004 would be accepted to heaven; charged that the 9/11 terrorist attacks and war in Iraq were part of a war “contending for your faith;” and said that Jesus “operated from that position of war mode.”
Some scary shit for someone that could become president at the drop of a hat (old man).
Well and then there is the book banning:
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1837918,00.html
as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. “She asked the library how she could go about banning books,” he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. “The librarian was aghast.” That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn’t be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving “full support” to the mayor.
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Gee that sounds like a theme. Do as I want, or I’ll fire you.
I’ve concluded from the video that Palin is a Freak!
Campaign money hurts Palin’s outsider
WASHINGTON – GOP vice presidential pick Sarah Palin accepted at least $4,500 in campaign contributions in the same fundraising scheme at the center of a public corruption scandal that led to the indictment of Sen. Ted Stevens.
The contributions, made during Palin’s failed 2002 bid to become Alaska’s lieutenant governor, were not illegal for her to accept. But they show how Palin, a self-proclaimed reformer who has bucked Stevens and his allies, is nonetheless a product of a political system in Alaska now under the cloud of an ongoing FBI investigation.
It’s the latest in a string of revelations that have forced John McCain’s campaign to defend his choice and the thoroughness of the background check of Palin, 44, a little-known governor who is new to the national stage. Palin stunned delegates at the GOP convention Monday when she announced through the McCain campaign that her unmarried 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is five months pregnant.
With the convention still abuzz, the list of potentially embarrassing details grew Tuesday:
_Palin sought pork-barrel projects for her city and state, contrary to her reformist image.
_Her husband once belonged to a fringe political group in Alaska with some members supporting secession from the United States.
_A private attorney has been authorized to spend $95,000 to defend her against accusations of abuse of power.
_She has acknowledged smoking marijuana in the past.
And this: Bristol Palin’s boyfriend, Levi Johnston, plans to join the family of the Republican vice presidential candidate at the GOP convention, the boy’s mother said. He left Alaska on Tuesday morning to join the Palin family in St. Paul, Minn.
Defending his choice and the team that helped pick her, McCain said Tuesday that “the vetting process was completely thorough.” Campaign advisers at the convention in St. Paul, Minn., said Palin filled out a survey with 70 questions, including: Have you ever paid for sex? Have you been faithful in your marriage? Have you ever used or purchased drugs? Have you ever downloaded pornography?
McCain’s aides maintained that Palin was a finalist from the start
But a senior Republican familiar with the search, who requested anonymity when speaking without authorization, said Palin had all but fallen from the radar until late in the summer when McCain — apparently unsatisfied with his working list — asked for more alternatives. Suddenly, she was a finalist.
When she was introduced as McCain’s running mate last week, Palin portrayed herself as a political maverick in McCain’s mold: “I’ve stood up to the old politics as usual, to the special interests, to the lobbyists, the big oil companies and the ‘good old boy’ network,’” she said.
But Alaska’s first female governor has at times benefited from Alaska’s entrenched political system.
As Palin campaigned unsuccessfully in 2002 to become lieutenant governor, she received contributions from executives at VECO Corp., a powerful Alaska oil field services company. Company founder Bill Allen has admitted the company steers its donations through a “special bonus program” in which executives received money and the company instructed them to donate it to favored politicians.
Allen pleaded guilty to bribery and corruption charges. He admitted the program violated federal tax laws and said it was used to keep his political allies flush with cash.
“If they’re working with the oil industry, I’d like to help with their campaigns,” Allen testified last year in the corruption trial of a former state lawmaker.
Steve Schmidt, senior adviser to the McCain campaign, dismissed the idea that a few campaign contributions years ago in any way diminished Palin’s record as a reformer. “Gov. Palin’s record fighting corruption and taking on these issues in Alaska speaks for itself,” he said Tuesday.
Since Palin’s nomination last week, these issues also are raising eyebrows:
_In her earlier career as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, Palin hired a lobbyist to help the tiny town secure at least 14 earmarks, worth $27 million between 2000-2003. McCain has touted Palin as a force in his long battle against earmarks.
_Her husband, Todd, twice registered as a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, a fierce states’ rights group that wants to turn all federal lands in Alaska back to the state. Sarah Palin herself never registered as a member of the party, according to state officials, though party members said she attended a 1994 convention with her husband.
_The state legislature is investigating whether she had Alaska’s public safety commissioner fired after he refused to dismiss a state trooper who had divorced Palin’s sister. Lawyer Thomas Van Flein said he is representing Palin both personally and in her official capacity as governor. He can bill the state up to $95,000.
_Palin opposed the U.S. government’s listing of a variety of animals as endangered, including the polar bear and the beluga whale, both of which inhabit areas also rich in oil and natural gas.
_Palin previously acknowledged she smoked marijuana but said in a 2006 interview she no longer used the drug. “I can’t claim a Bill Clinton and say that I never inhaled,” she said.
• Palin’s management style has come under scrutiny. When taking over as mayor of Wasilla, she asked top officials to submit resignation letters, resulting in several departures, including that of the police chief. The chief claimed it was because he supported her opponent in the mayor’s race.
_Under her leadership this year, Alaska asked for almost $300 per person in requests for pet projects from Stevens, one of McCain’s top adversaries. That’s more than any other state received, per person, from Congress.
Max,
“Well Jed for you, any Black Man will do.”
From your past posts, I assume that your prime qualification for any nominee would be whiteness.
I don’t give a rat’s ass about a person’s pedigree, skin color or gender; those are completely meaningless distinctions. I will vote for the candidate that stands the best chance of getting the country out of the incredible mess the bush with the pedigree got us into. The guy who says he wants to do more of the same is just planning to dig the nation a deeper grave!
Good snag Cosmos!
Here’s what Jeremiah Wright . . . uh . . . I mean, Palin’s pastor a Rev. Brickner said not too long ago while she was sitting there in the pews.
Re: Israeli Jews are victims of terrorism because they don’t accept Christ
“Judgment is very real and we see it played out on the pages of the newspapers and on the television. It’s very real. When I was in Jerusalem I was there to witness some of that judgment, some of that conflict, when a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment — you can’t miss it.”
Palin was in church that day, Kroon said, though he cautioned against attributing Brickner’s views to her.
–from Andrew Sullivan’s blog
Hmmm…. 22 years ago Palin’s husband was arrested for a DUI…
and his book, Obama tells us he was doing cocaine, crack, marijuana, and other stuff 22 years ago…
does one trump the other?
nunya…sure you’re not talking about George Bush?
I tried to get to the church’s web site to watch her video, it’s been pulled already.
Here’s a link to the Palin Pentecostal speech on the Huffington post, I tried the old link and it didn’t work. Glad it’s elsewhere:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/02/palins-church-may-have-sh_n_123205.html
#
cosmos_originally
Posted September 2, 2008 at 6:59 pm | Permalink
‘THE PALIN CHURCH VIDEO’
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/09/02/1327574.aspx
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The power of DOS (snap)
Capn,
My apologies to Rev. Brickner, but the problems of the middle-east are not the product of judgement, they are the result of far too little judgement being used all around by people who should know better, but have placed their political carreers above the long hard work it’s going to take and the difficult concessions that will have to be made all around to overcome the centuries of hatred and get the middle-east on the road to stability. It can be done, but not with the current crop of bozo negotiators we keep sending over.