Did Palin change your mind?

[ccsd157]

we see it's really just a relabeled 2000 Bush.

I see what your saying....its sorta like the CVPI, each year they just put a new year on it, change some minor things, but its still the same old car.

but its a DAMN GOOD CAR!

[Southflaguy]

Yes and No...I was going for McCain once he got the nomination...Sarah Palin was a great move, not only for McCain but also for Republican party...The Republicans are starting to think/plan for the future...It won't be surprised if she eventually becomes the president one day...Oh and lets no forget the fact that she HOT!!!...

BTW Rudy Giuliani's speech at the RNC was classic...
McCain/Palin...

Had Obama picked Hillary he might of won, or at least tied the lose ends (ie: Hillary supporters)...Just wait till the debates...

Is Obama going to debate Sarah?

[Chit2001]

Obama defeated more experienced candidates in primary elections. Palin was essentially appointed, and never had to face such challenges.

Reeeeally?

Might want to do some research before you make yourself look silly.....errrr......sillier.

[ccsd157]

http://www.eyeblast.tv/Public/Video.aspx?rsrcID=2036

[GrndPnd0311]

Reeeeally?

Might want to do some research before you make yourself look silly.....errrr......sillier.

Murkowski was who she beat:

Mr. Murkowski’s office tried to obtain money from the Homeland Security Department to buy the jet, saying it would help “defend, deter or defeat opposition forces.” He was denied. Later, in 2005, against the wishes of the Legislature, Mr. Murkowski used state money to buy it for $2.7 million.

Ms. Palin, a former mayor of an Anchorage suburb, was among many critics who said the move showed that Mr. Murkowski was arrogant and out of touch after decades as a top Alaska official, including more than three terms in the United States Senate. Ms. Palin defeated Mr. Murkowski soundly in the Republican primary and won the general election last November.

Real tough decision.

Anne Kilkenny in Wasilla:

Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000
(at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with
about 670,000 residents.

During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running
this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been
pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she
had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which
had given rise to a recall campaign.

Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a "fiscal conservative." During her 6
years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over
33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the
City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-
2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a
regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she
promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they
benefited residents.

The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration
weren't enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed
money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left
it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin
encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure
that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city
lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for
construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through
to build on a piece of property that the City didn't even have clear
title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later -- to the delight
of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition
to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she
claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road
projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.

While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office
redecorated more than once.

These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.

As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget
surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology
that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as
Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every
individual in the state.

In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she
recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while
she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today's
surplus, borrow for needs.

She's not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside
ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren't
generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren't evaluated on their
merits, but on the basis of who proposed them.

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly
respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider
removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City
residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against
Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and
withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to
oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.

Sarah complained about the "old boy's club" when she first ran for
Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Palin
fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as
Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people,
creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and
eternally grateful and fiercely loyal--loyal to the point of abusing
their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged
happened in the case of pressuring the State's top cop (see below).

As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla's Police Chief because he "intimidated"
her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska's
top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her
pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty
clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was
because he wouldn't fire her sister's ex-husband, a State Trooper.
Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that
more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to
the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-
law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew
had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public
furor, she withdrew her support.

She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in
help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town
introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council
became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She
abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn't
like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.

Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything
publicly about her.

When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah
got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation
Commission: one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best
paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of
scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in
the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job:
the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that
a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the
Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a
gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political
suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of
the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron
saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the "old boys' club"
when she dramatically quit, exposing this man's ethics violations
(for which he was fined).

As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from
Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel
politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the "bridge to
nowhere" after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.

As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget
guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing
projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative
action restored most of these projects--which had been vetoed simply
because she was not aware of their importance--but with the
unobservant she had gained a reputation as "anti-pork".

She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party
leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated
them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a
fiscal conservative.

Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah.
They call her "Sarah Barracuda" because of her unbridled ambition and
predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly
stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be
made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah's mother-in-
law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced
manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.

As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of
package of legislation known as "AGIA" that forced the oil companies
to march to the beat of her drum.

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campa...ers?pid=354444

[sinned]

Murkowski was who she beat:


Real tough decision.

Anne Kilkenny in Wasilla:

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campa...ers?pid=354444

Well we should certainly discount anything Palin says since this letter written with no bias what so ever and of nothing but complete and total fact has surfaced. I suggest finding a new source of information.

[GrndPnd0311]

Well we should certainly discount anything Palin says since this letter written with no bias what so ever and of nothing but complete and total fact has surfaced. I suggest finding a new source of information.

Like your youtube video on the other post? OR maybe a Fox news article?

[DOAcop38]

Me neither. Loved her before she was nominated - love her even more now.

OH come on now, "10-42" ! Nothing exists outside of the windswept plains of Wyoming for you !!!!

More executive experience than Obama and Biden COMBINED!

you getting HIGH on that smoked deer meat again ??

A proven and victorious reformer

"of WHAT"????

A proven and victorious fighter

of "what"????? Won a mayors race in a town that came out to vote 'cause she baked cookies?Ran up the cities budget into the red, then split and claimed how great she was to get into the Lt govs position,then a mere 20 mos,counting the last 2mos,as gov? where the entire population of inuits rarely VOTE or get to participate in the state politics that leave them impoverished and disenfranchised?

A practice what you preach pro-lifer

great if its your family, but MEANINGLESS if its the other woman whose stuck in poverty trying to care for a child she isn't capable to raise.don't see alot Palin or any of you "right to lifers" breaking your necks to adopt all these UNWANTED kids ( screw'em ,right? manna from heaven will fall down and feed them ,huh?)

A great and natural speaker

given a stump or whiskey box, or crate of moose meat to stand on, ANYBODY can talk sh*t !!! Palin pulled the same old tired game that every demigogue does-nothing more, nothing less.Lets see how "tough" she is when she gets clowned by Biden.

An avid sportswoman, gun owner and 2nd ammendment proponent

could care less about that angle as I'm more worried about the people who CONTROL the production and sales of the guns,than the legislators.the canned video clips of her with a gun in her arms ( Palin on a range sighting in an M-16) showed me she can't even hold a rifle,and probably rarely has.but according to alot of you "ditto heads" , anyone other than a republican is going to turn this country into a commie nation( but you say nothing when the corporatists take your gov't by the nose and do whatever they want to the american public.READ my lips- no one ever took a nations guns away BEFORE they took away the right to "free speech"-, Palin has already shown intolerance toward freedom of speech (book banning) and religion; why would it be a hard step toward burning jews(they DON'T believe in Christ like she does), putting the poor in 19th century style "workhouses",and taking the rights of minorities away becuase they "don't fit the model of real Americans"???

I am happy for the country - she wil compliment McCain quite well. As for the women's vote - why not? The democrats obviously didn't want it when they had it in the bag - why not give them a friend in Washington?

PUL -LEESSSSSEEEEEE !!! the republicans haven't supported womens ' rights since the turn of the century. This is an insult and a "sucker punch" in picking Palin ,and will only be cheered on by the Ivy league .closed door republican overlords and their vodka and valium addled sorority dolls,or the "trailer park sallies" that love to box on jerry springer, swill burgie beer,and can't remember the lyrics to the national anthem as they sing it badly before the next nascar race..........

[sinned]

Like your youtube video on the other post? OR maybe a Fox news article?

Pretty tough to argue with words that actually came out of the candidates mouth vs. someones opinion of the actions taken by their governor. Do you even have a clue what "troopergate" was about?

[officerdotcomm]

Just waiting for the reports to start rolling in as this thread grows. Remember - discussion doesn't include personal insults.

[DOAcop38]

I know many of those on the left say that Palin is more of a political chess move than anything, and frankly, I have to agree. I mean, politics, presently, are pretty much just that; a big game of chess. It was a smart, well-played gambit, in my opinion. McCain was being viewed by many more hardened right-ists as being less conservative, and especially (from what I was told/heard, not that I researched it myself) less spiritually inclined with the typical right-ist thinking. Therefore, picking her, a "breath of fresh air", a woman, and a more conservative based spiritualist, he makes himself more friendly to his party, and evens the playing field with "race" vs "gender" rather than the "race" vs "old whitey". Just my two cents worth of political analysis .

First off- only the republicans keep interjecting RACE into it !! people are voting for Obama becuase they are ( probably foolishly) hoping for the NEXT thing to a Kennedy dream again. IF sen. edwards was the candidate, what would anyone say ( other than the republicans trying to slam him on infidelity ,and "How moral" they are!) If it were Hillary now,she'd be screamed on as the the next thing to bring this country down ,shy of hurrican Katrina ( ooohh, excuse me- a national tragedy brought ineptly to us by bush jr /cheney who though it was MORE important to save iraqis,and have the Louisiana Nat'l guard OVER THERE,while their homes and family members washed away!)

Love your republican short term memory-alot of you were grinding your teeth and grousing about how UNREPUBLICAN and a "loser" McCain would be as a candidate. I personally like some things about "old whitey",but its the "old" I'm worried about and NOT the fact he's a white man (NOT like we haven't gone for nearly 230 + yrs with old white men leading us and have gone down the tubes becuase of it; well that WAS before coke sniffing ,party drunk Dum'ya sh*tted on us!)

sadder that you simplify this issues as "race",or "gender"- folks are voting Obama 'cause,like they supported hillary and edwards, they are F*^King SICK of the last 8 yrs under Bush Jr !!1 Republicans are voting for McCain becuase they feel they have NO choice,and the "republican masters" ( corporate oil, anti union companies, the weapons industry) HOPE he'll be pressured by his own party to do their bidding like bush and cheney did......

stanf by to standby- got a feeling that IF McCain gets the nod- old Palin will be little more than a "pretty face" in DC( McCain has no problem with teling a woman to STFU,or calling them the "c word" when the disagree with him),and that the mostly Dems controlled congress will probably get alot of support and compromise on certain issues that will make old guard ,money lusting republican party bosses ANGRY...........

[FNA209]

Hasn't changed my mind at all. Obama will definitely not get my vote, in fact he never had a chance to. The choice as I see it is either having Obama or McCain as President; there is no third-party candidate with a chance to make it. I have no problem choosing between them.

The VP is generally picked for political reasons and a VP is generally not all that powerful in their own right. Palin may have simply been picked so some votes can be diverted from Obama. If it works, great. Even if Palin gets her butt handed to her in some silly debate, I will still vote for the Republician slate. Anyone who complains about Palin being picked for political reasons and doesn't believe Biden was picked based on similar reasons is fooling themselves and needs to stop smoking whatever wacky weed they've been using.

VPs are picked to enhance the Presidential candidate. It's been that way for years. We always see several possible VP candidates before the pick. The one that usually gets it is the one that can deliver the most votes. It's rarely the pick of the litter.

[Chit2001]

First off- only the republicans keep interjecting RACE into it !! people are voting for Obama becuase they are ( probably foolishly) hoping for the NEXT thing to a Kennedy dream again. IF sen. edwards was the candidate, what would anyone say ( other than the republicans trying to slam him on infidelity ,and "How moral" they are!) If it were Hillary now,she'd be screamed on as the the next thing to bring this country down ,shy of hurrican Katrina ( ooohh, excuse me- a national tragedy brought ineptly to us by bush jr /cheney who though it was MORE important to save iraqis,and have the Louisiana Nat'l guard OVER THERE,while their homes and family members washed away!)

Love your republican short term memory-alot of you were grinding your teeth and grousing about how UNREPUBLICAN and a "loser" McCain would be as a candidate. I personally like some things about "old whitey",but its the "old" I'm worried about and NOT the fact he's a white man (NOT like we haven't gone for nearly 230 + yrs with old white men leading us and have gone down the tubes becuase of it; well that WAS before coke sniffing ,party drunk Dum'ya sh*tted on us!)

sadder that you simplify this issues as "race",or "gender"- folks are voting Obama 'cause,like they supported hillary and edwards, they are F*^King SICK of the last 8 yrs under Bush Jr !!1 Republicans are voting for McCain becuase they feel they have NO choice,and the "republican masters" ( corporate oil, anti union companies, the weapons industry) HOPE he'll be pressured by his own party to do their bidding like bush and cheney did......

stanf by to standby- got a feeling that IF McCain gets the nod- old Palin will be little more than a "pretty face" in DC( McCain has no problem with teling a woman to STFU,or calling them the "c word" when the disagree with him),and that the mostly Dems controlled congress will probably get alot of support and compromise on certain issues that will make old guard ,money lusting republican party bosses ANGRY...........

Off your meds again, DOA?....or just p*ssed like you always are?

Just vote for Obama.... if enough of you do it, he'll show you the way to the rainbow and you can taste the colors all day long.

[GrndPnd0311]

Pretty tough to argue with words that actually came out of the candidates mouth vs. someones opinion of the actions taken by their governor. Do you even have a clue what "troopergate" was about?

Thing is sinned, I can sit here and spew fact until I am blue in the face and all you will do is rebut it with talking head regurgitation and youtube videos.....I have yet to see fact in any of your posts.... WAIT..I bet you are one that believes she is great for foreign policy because Russia is in her "back yard". If that is the case...then I dont believe ANY debate with you will be lucrative for either of us.

[velobard]

McCain's choice of Palin has changed my mind about the need to hold my nose while I vote for him. Still not wild about the guy, but considering the alternative....