McCain puts politics ahead of country

[RunInRed 16,991]

The Cynicism Express

By Eugene Robinson

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Has anyone noticed that Sarah Palin's central claim to political fame is a fraud? She represents herself as a fiscal conservative who abhors pork-barrel projects and said no thanks to the "bridge to nowhere" -- a $398 million span that would have linked Ketchikan, Alaska, to its airport across the Tongass Narrows. But as mayor of Wasilla (pop. 9,780), she hired a Washington lobbyist to bring home the bacon. And just two years ago as a candidate for governor, she supported both the Ketchikan bridge and the congressional earmark that would have paid most of its cost.

I know, we're not supposed to pay attention to such inconvenient details. We're supposed to be dazzled by how unaffected she is, how plain-spoken, how "genuine."

Indeed, if you don't get hung up on her actual record, Palin simply is who she is. It's not her fault that she's a former Miss Wasilla with a campy "Northern Exposure" vibe, doctrinaire social-conservative views and no discernible qualifications for being vice president. It's undeniable that people in Alaska apparently like her well enough, though they seem to have been even more shocked than the rest of us when she was named to the Republican ticket. In any event, she's not the one who created this farcical situation.

We learned last week that John McCain is not who he is -- not, at least, who he claims to be. The steady, straight-talking, country-first statesman his campaign has been selling is a fictional character. The real McCain is either alarmingly cynical or dangerously reckless.

You will recall that McCain gave the same prime criterion for choosing a running mate that every presidential candidate gives: someone who is ready to step in as president if, heaven forbid, the need arises. Barack Obama echoed those words before picking Joe Biden, who is about as prepared as a vice presidential candidate could ever be.

You will also recall that McCain and his supporters have been lecturing us about the grave and urgent dangers our country faces -- Islamic fundamentalism, the resurgence of Russia and other geopolitical threats. In a menacing world, McCain says, he will keep America safe.

So, at 72 and with a history of cancer, how could McCain choose a vice presidential nominee who has, let's face it, zero experience in foreign affairs? Being the nominal commander in chief of the Alaska National Guard doesn't count, unless you think Vladimir Putin is about to order an invasion across the Bering Strait.

At a time when the nation also confronts enormous challenges at home, Palin has, um, slightly more than zero experience in domestic affairs. The reason most people move to Alaska is that it's different from the rest of the country. Salmon fishing and snowmobile racing are not front-page news in Ohio, Pennsylvania or Florida.

McCain's political calculation in choosing Palin is obvious. Social conservatives, who had been unexcited by his candidacy, are ecstatic that he has picked a running mate who staunchly opposes abortion, favors the teaching of "intelligent design" in the public schools and generally embraces the agenda of the religious right.

I have my doubts about the other objective of McCain's gambit: to win the votes of blue-collar women who supported Hillary Clinton. For one thing, these voters disagree sharply with Palin on most of the issues. For another, initial indications are that many women were insulted at the notion that they would automatically swoon over any candidate who happened to have two "X" chromosomes. Republicans tend to have a comically simplistic view of how "identity politics" works. They should recall how African-Americans reacted when Clarence Thomas was named to the Supreme Court.

Whatever the political impact, so much for the John McCain we thought we knew. In choosing Palin, he cynically did what his party is always accusing Democrats of doing: He selected a running mate based on her potential ability to appeal to targeted segments of the electorate, rather than for her honestly assessed ability to lead the nation should the occasion arise.

The other thing we learned about McCain is that he is willing to take an enormous gamble based on limited information. He only met Palin once before summoning her for a final interview. He realized he needed to shake up the presidential race, and that's what he did. But we are reminded, if we did not realize it before, that the three things not to expect from a McCain presidency are caution, prudence and a willingness to always put the nation's interests above his own.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/...tics_ahead.html

[RunInRed 16,991]

And it gets better...

Earmarks

Palin's small Alaska town secured big Federal funds

ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 1 -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin employed a lobbying firm to secure almost $27 million in federal earmarks for a town of 6,700 residents while she was its mayor, according to an analysis by an independent government watchdog group.

There was $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, $900,000 for sewer repairs, and $15 million for a rail project -- all intended to benefit Palin's town, Wasilla, located about 45 miles north of Anchorage.

In introducing Palin as his running mate on Friday, Sen. John McCain cast her as a compatriot in his battle against wasteful federal spending. McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, hailed Palin as a politician "with an outstanding reputation for standing up to special interests and entrenched bureaucracies -- someone who has fought against corruption and the failed policies of the past, someone who's stopped government from wasting taxpayers' money."

McCain's crusade against earmarks -- federal spending sought by members of Congress to benefit specific projects -- has been a hallmark of his campaign. He has said earmarks are wasteful and are often inserted into bills with little oversight, sometimes by a single powerful lawmaker.

Palin has also railed against earmarks, touting her opposition to a $223 million bridge in the state as a prime credential for the vice presidential nomination. "As governor, I've stood up to the old politics-as-usual, to the special interests, to the lobbyists, the big oil companies, and the good-ol'-boy network," she said Friday.

As mayor of Wasilla, however, Palin oversaw the hiring of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh, an Anchorage-based law firm with close ties to Alaska's most senior Republicans: Rep. Don Young and Sen. Ted Stevens, who was indicted in July on charges of accepting illegal gifts. The Wasilla account was handled by the former chief of staff to Stevens, Steven W. Silver, who is a partner in the firm.

Palin was elected mayor of Wasilla in 1996 on a campaign theme of "a time for change." According to a review of congressional spending by Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog group in Washington, Wasilla did not receive any federal earmarks in the first few years of Palin's tenure.

Senate records show that Silver's firm began working for Palin in early 2000, just as federal money began flowing.

In fiscal 2000, Wasilla received a $1 million earmark, tucked into a transportation appropriations bill, for a rail and bus project in the town. And in the winter of 2000, Palin appeared before congressional appropriations committees to seek earmarks, according to a report in the Anchorage Daily News.

Palin and the Wasilla City Council increased Silver's fee from $24,000 to $36,000 a year by 2001, Senate records show.

Soon after, the city benefited from additional earmarks: $500,000 for a mental health center, $500,000 for the purchase of federal land and $450,000 to rehabilitate an agricultural processing facility. Then there was the $15 million rail project, intended to connect Wasilla with the town of Girdwood, where Stevens has a house.

The Washington trip is now an annual event for Wasilla officials.

In fiscal year 2002, Wasilla took in $6.1 million in earmarks -- about $1,000 in federal money for every resident. By contrast, Boise, Idaho -- which has more than 190,000 residents -- received $6.9 million in earmarks in fiscal 2008.

All told, Wasilla benefited from $26.9 million in earmarks in Palin's final four years in office.

"She certainly wasn't shy about putting the old-boy network to use to bring home millions of dollars," said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense. "She's a little more savvy to the ways of Washington than she's let on."

Silver, reached by phone at his Vienna home, declined to comment. Wasilla's town offices were closed Monday for the Labor Day holiday.

Maria Comella, Palin's campaign spokeswoman, said Palin sought the Wasilla earmarks because she was "working in the best interests of Alaska, working within the confines of the current system."

Palin became a staunch reform advocate after her 2003 appointment to the state's Oil and Gas Commission. She accused another commissioner -- Alaska Republican Party Chairman Randy Ruedrich -- of raising campaign contributions from industries he was regulating. "She realized that the environment around her was no longer what it once was, and elected officials were abusing their power," Comella said.

Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, used to secure earmarks for public nonprofits in Illinois, but he announced last year that he would no longer seek earmarks for any entity. Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.), Obama's running mate, co-sponsored $85.6 million in earmarks for 2008, according to one study.

The Palin earmarks came when Stevens was chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Young was a senior member of the House transportation committee.

In hiring Silver, Wasilla found someone who was a member of each lawmaker's inner circle. Silver has donated at least $11,400 to Stevens's political committees and $10,000 to Young's reelection committee in the past decade, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Sliver's firm employed Stevens's son, Ben Stevens, in the late 1990s as a federal lobbyist, according to multiple media accounts. Ben Stevens was not listed on lobbying disclosure forms as having worked on Wasilla earmarks.

The firm became ensnared in the wide-ranging federal investigation of corruption by Alaska Republican officials. Federal agents reviewed records about its other municipal clients, as well as fishing companies represented by Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh that were close to Ben Stevens.

The investigation has increasingly focused on Veco, a now-defunct energy services company whose chief executive, Bill Allen Jr., pleaded guilty in May 2007 to bribing Alaska officials.

Ted Stevens is awaiting trial on charges that he accepted more than $250,000 in unreported gifts from Allen. Ben Stevens, who has not been charged, has been identified in court documents as having accepted more than $240,000 in consulting payments in exchange for legislative favors while he served in the state Senate.

A Veco executive testified last year in a criminal trial that Allen had ordered him to arrange annual fundraisers for Young. The congressman has not been charged with any crimes.

After becoming governor, Palin became a critic of Young and the Stevenses. She endorsed Young's opponent in a Republican primary last week that is still too close to call, and last year she demanded Ben Stevens's resignation as Alaska's member of the Republican National Committee. She has also criticized Ted Stevens.

In addition, Palin has reversed course on at least one major earmark: After initially supporting the $223 million bridge, which was to connect the town of Ketchikan with a remote island, she reversed course last year and canceled the project because of cost overruns. Critics have dubbed the project the "Bridge to Nowhere."

But her administration remains eager for many other earmarks.

In February, Palin's office sent Sen. Stevens a 70-page memo outlining almost $200 million worth of new funding requests for Alaska.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...ml?hpid=topnews

[bigsixfive 336]

Whoa. Breaking news. A governor asking for money for her state. Stop the presses, there must be something corrupt going on.

[Tigermike 3,425]

Whoa. Breaking news. A governor asking for money for her state. Stop the presses, there must be something corrupt going on.

But there was absolutely nothing wrong in action or appearance when Obama provided several very large earmarks for Michelle's employer and Michelle subsequently got a big fat raise. Or so rr said. rr has also argued that earmarks are good great absolutely necessary for funds to get to the areas where they are needed.

[AFTiger 282]

Eugen Robinson is a old hate filled liberal who has not written a coherent column in years.

[LegalEagle 22]

Eugen Robinson is a old hate filled liberal who has not written a coherent column in years.

I don't care what he's filled with. All I want to know is whether the information in his column is true.

She's no Condi Rice. Why didn't he choose her?

[RunInRed 16,991]

Whoa. Breaking news. A governor asking for money for her state. Stop the presses, there must be something corrupt going on.

But there was absolutely nothing wrong in action or appearance when Obama provided several very large earmarks for Michelle's employer and Michelle subsequently got a big fat raise. Or so rr said. rr has also argued that earmarks are good great absolutely necessary for funds to get to the areas where they are needed.

It's not about Obama. It's not about asking for money for your state. It's about the fairy tale that Palin is a reformer, a maverick, a fiscal conservative, that she is opposed to earmarks, that she opposed the bridge to nowhere.

Has anyone noticed that Sarah Palin's central claim to political fame is a fraud? She represents herself as a fiscal conservative who abhors pork-barrel projects and said no thanks to the "bridge to nowhere" -- a $398 million span that would have linked Ketchikan, Alaska, to its airport across the Tongass Narrows. But as mayor of Wasilla (pop. 9,780), she hired a Washington lobbyist to bring home the bacon. And just two years ago as a candidate for governor, she supported both the Ketchikan bridge and the congressional earmark that would have paid most of its cost.

All told, Wasilla benefited from $26.9 million in earmarks in Palin's final four years in office.

"She certainly wasn't shy about putting the old-boy network to use to bring home millions of dollars,"

AFTiger - When you can't dispute the facts, you attack the source. This seems to be a commmon tactic on this board. How about you debate the piece on its merits?

[CCTAU 3,369]

Too bad for you guys that whatever McCain is doing....it's working.

Hot under that collar, there?

[autigeremt 6,970]

Sorry RR.....after the reports came out from the left of the downs baby being the daughters........UNREAL!!!! Can't see the truth for all the lies.

The left is a bunch of hypocrites who make charges about the right, then act in ways that mirror their charges. Ya'll are scared of Palin, and it shows.

[RunInRed 16,991]

Sorry RR.....after the reports came out from the left of the downs baby being the daughters........UNREAL!!!! Can't see the truth for all the lies.

The left is a bunch of hypocrites who make charges about the right, then act in ways that mirror their charges. Ya'll are scared of Palin, and it shows.

What? I made zero posts about the Downs baby. What part of the above article is a lie? How about you debate on the facts and quit with the bloviating.

[Tigermike 3,425]

It's not about Obama. It's not about asking for money for your state. It's about the fairy tale that Palin is a reformer, a maverick, a fiscal conservative, that she is opposed to earmarks, that she opposed the bridge to nowhere.

Nothing is ever about Obama is it? But I see where you are coming from. When McCain choose Palin, you guys started your "experience doesn't count!" "McCain lost his talking point of experience." Now since Palin as mayor and governor sought earmarks, earmarks are a bad thing. "But you can't bring up Obama's long record of earmarks!" It took a while bit I now see how you are looking at things.

[RunInRed 16,991]

Obama is not the candidate railing on earmarks.

[Tigermike 3,425]

Obama is not the candidate railing on earmarks.

No, he loves them and so do you. BTW: How much was that raise Michelle got? That helped buying the property from

Rezko didn't it?

[RunInRed 16,991]

1) Not all earmarks are bad. This has been pointed out to you before (AU example: Shelby Center for Engineering Technology). Many projects, a lot research, and a lot of jobs and opportunities are the result of Federal funding.

2) The real question is, if JM is so opposed to earmarks, then why does he choose a candidate who requested over $200MM worth of funding just this year? Not too mention, her earmark history.

3) Quit with the Rezko nonsense - you have been proven to be wrong on this time and time again: http://www.aunation.net/forums/index.php?s...21&hl=rezko

4) If you have proof that Michelle Obama received improper compensation, I would like to see it

[AFTiger 282]

Whoa. Breaking news. A governor asking for money for her state. Stop the presses, there must be something corrupt going on.

But there was absolutely nothing wrong in action or appearance when Obama provided several very large earmarks for Michelle's employer and Michelle subsequently got a big fat raise. Or so rr said. rr has also argued that earmarks are good great absolutely necessary for funds to get to the areas where they are needed.

It's not about Obama. It's not about asking for money for your state. It's about the fairy tale that Palin is a reformer, a maverick, a fiscal conservative, that she is opposed to earmarks, that she opposed the bridge to nowhere.

Has anyone noticed that Sarah Palin's central claim to political fame is a fraud? She represents herself as a fiscal conservative who abhors pork-barrel projects and said no thanks to the "bridge to nowhere" -- a $398 million span that would have linked Ketchikan, Alaska, to its airport across the Tongass Narrows. But as mayor of Wasilla (pop. 9,780), she hired a Washington lobbyist to bring home the bacon. And just two years ago as a candidate for governor, she supported both the Ketchikan bridge and the congressional earmark that would have paid most of its cost.

All told, Wasilla benefited from $26.9 million in earmarks in Palin's final four years in office.

"She certainly wasn't shy about putting the old-boy network to use to bring home millions of dollars,"

AFTiger - When you can't dispute the facts, you attack the source. This seems to be a commmon tactic on this board. How about you debate the piece on its merits?

I think the last two days have demonstrated quite sufficiently that the Democrat/MSM smear machine does not deal in facts. You guys deal in source dismissal quite frequently, often referring to those sources as hate mongers. I have read Eugene Robinson for years and long ago dismissed him as a racist hack writer who has no regard for facts or truth.

You regularly source KOS, Media Matters, and Moveon in your arguments, which are three of the more hate filled and factually challenged sources available.

I don't think you are interested in the facts or the truth. You have your agenda and use anything to attack those of us who oppose you.

[RunInRed 16,991]

Another hot air response that includes no rebuttals of the facts stated within the article. I'm not asking you to provide a rebuttal for an opinion - I'm challenging your opposition based on the factual statements in the article (re: pork earmarks), which you continue to refuse to comment on because the truth does not appear to support your positions/candidate.

[Tigermike 3,425]

4) If you have proof that Michelle Obama received improper compensation, I would like to see it

Did she get the raise before the first earmark or after? Did she get another raise after the second earmark?

[AFTiger 282]

The Media Descend to a New Low

The smearing of Sarah Palin gets uglier.

by Stephen F. Hayes

09/02/2008 6:25:00 PM

Time's Mark Halperin has posted an advance copy of the cover of US Weekly magazine, the tabloid published by Rolling Stone's Jann Wenner. That cover shows a smiling Sarah Palin, holding her youngest son Trig. The screaming headline: "Babies, Lies and Scandal: John McCain's Vice President."

Wenner has contributed $5300 to Obama's campaign since 2007.

The cover was sent to select news organizations by Mark Neschis, the head of corporate communications for Wenner Media and former director of television in the Clinton White House. An email from Neschis that accompanied the cover read: "Thought I would send over our Us Weekly/Sarah Palin cover story, on stands Friday, if helpful in your coverage. Might be useful as an illustration of how the news is playing out. (Us Weekly has 12 million, mostly female readers)"

"How the news is playing out." That's an interesting way of putting it. In one sense, it's accurate. The mainstream media have been focused on pseudo-scandals about McCain's running mate. Does it really matter at all that Palin's husband, Todd, had a DUI in 1986? Who cares? And yet I've seen and heard news organizations mention -- even discuss -- the issue several times over the past couple of days.

The "news is playing out" that way because irresponsible journalists publish cover stories promoting "Babies, Lies and Scandal," without any evidence of an actual "scandal." Maybe US Weekly will publish news of an actual "scandal" by Friday, when the magazine is scheduled to hit

the newsstands. But the three it mentions on its cover are not scandals. ("Under attack, admits daughter, 17, is pregnant" and "Investigated for firing of sister's ex-husband" and "Mom of Five: New embarrassing surprises.")

There are legitimate questions about how Palin was vetted. But many news organizations are using the vetting issue as an excuse to make insinuations about Palin's family and her role as a mother. Instead of asking whether McCain knew that Palin wanted "an exit plan" from Iraq in December of 2006, for example, reporters are obsessing about Bristol Palin's fiancé and whether Sarah Palin can serve as vice president and be a good mother.

It's ironic, of course, that the same establishment news organizations consumed by such tabloid issues not long ago refused to investigate reports that John Edwards was having an affair and had a child out of wedlock. Why? The story was originally broken by the National Enquirer and deemed too tawdry to touch. And, perhaps as important, Edwards was running for the Democratic nomination for president, with an agenda favored by the liberal media establishment.

[OldNewby 27]

Has Eugene Robinson vetted Barack Obama? Have supporters vetted Barack Obama? Has ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNCB, NYT, LAT, WP vetted Barack Obama?

[AFTiger 282]

Obama's Earmarks. Let's face it, Palin is an amatuer compared to Obama.

Link

Here's one highlight: Obama sought money for the University of Chicago Hospitals. Wife Michelle works for the University of Chicago Hospitals, appointed in spring 2005 as vice president for community and external affairs at the University of Chicago Hospitals. She is now on leave from the job to campaign for her husband. Top campaign adviser and friend Valerie Jarrett is the Chair of the University of Chicago Medical Center Board and also Chair of the Executive Committee of that board. She has also been named Vice-Chair of the University's Board of Trustees. Obama taught at the U. of Chicago law school and the Obama's two daughters attend school there

Officials at the University of Chicago Hospitals say a promotion and large pay increase given to Sen. Barack Obama's wife shortly after the Democrat was elected to Congress were well-deserved boosts for an executive who is "worth her weight in gold." The Chicago Tribune has the story.

"She's terrific," added Michael Riordan, who was president of the hospital in March 2005, when Michelle Obama was promoted to vice president for external affairs and had her annual salary increased from $121,910 to $316,962.

Hospitals spokesman John Easton told the Tribune that Michelle Obama's salary is in line with those of the 16 other vice presidents at the not-for-profit medical center.

Riordan told the Tribune that the promotion and salary increase had nothing to do with Obama's husband becoming a U.S. senator. "She was hired before Barack was Barack," Riordan said.

link

[RunInRed 16,991]

4) If you have proof that Michelle Obama received improper compensation, I would like to see it

Did she get the raise before the first earmark or after? Did she get another raise after the second earmark?

Again, if you have proof that funding directed by Obama to the hospital caused Michelle to get a raise, I and I'm sure a lot of other people would like to see it.

[AFTiger 282]

She got the promotion and raise after he was elected to the Senate and before the earmark. Did the promotion help get the earmark? Only Obama and Michelle know for sure.

[AFTiger 282]

While on the subject of earmarks, let's see how Biden and his lobbyist son did.

Obama, Biden's Son Linked by Earmarks

Candidate Got Funding for Nursing Program

By James V. Grimaldi and Kimberly Kindy

Washington Post Staff Writers

Wednesday, August 27, 2008; A16

Sen. Barack Obama sought more than $3.4 million in congressional earmarks for clients of the lobbyist son of his Democratic running mate, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, records show. Obama succeeded in getting $192,000 for one of the clients, St. Xavier University in suburban Chicago.

Obama's campaign has taken a hard stance against the world of lobbying in the nation's capital. Obama said he limits his own efforts to get money for pet projects -- a process known as earmarking -- to those that benefit the public. He has posted his earmark requests on his presidential campaign Web site to encourage transparency.

Since Obama announced his selection of Biden on Saturday, attention has focused on Biden's lobbying connections as well as his son's lobbying activities. R. Hunter Biden is one of many relatives of members of Congress who work as lobbyists.

The younger Biden started his career as a lobbyist in 2001 and has registered to represent about 21 clients that have brought in $3.5 million to his Washington firm, according to lobbying disclosure forms.

Sen. Biden has collected more than $6.9 million in campaign contributions from lobbyists and lawyers since 1989, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

A spokesman for the Obama campaign said that Hunter Biden himself has never lobbied his father. Another lobbyist in the firm successfully sought an earmark from the senator for the University of Delaware. But Hunter did not work on the account, the spokesman said.

Campaign spokesman David Wade also said Hunter Biden never appealed directly to Obama.

"Hunter Biden met with the Obama Senate office, not with Senator Obama," Wade said. "It's hardly surprising that a Senator from Illinois would fight for investments in Mercy Hospital, Thorek Hospital and St. Xavier University right in Illinois, or that he'd be joined in that effort by a Republican colleague, Representative Judy Biggert."

Hunter Biden, a 38-year-old Georgetown graduate and Yale-trained lawyer, is a name partner in the firm Oldaker, Biden & Belair, founded by William Oldaker, an election lawyer and lobbyist who worked on Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's 1980 presidential campaign and has been a fundraiser and campaign adviser for Sen. Biden.

extracted go here for the rest

[DKW 86 7,726]

Obama was the bag man for Biden's son with a $3.4M earmark. Nah, nothing suspicious here at all.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2603894_pf.html

[Tigermike 3,425]

Don't want to answer the question I see.

4) If you have proof that Michelle Obama received improper compensation, I would like to see it

Did she get the raise before the first earmark or after? Did she get another raise after the second earmark?

Again, if you have proof that funding directed by Obama to the hospital caused Michelle to get a raise, I and I'm sure a lot of other people would like to see it.

But someone did. Thanks AFTiger.

She got the promotion and raise after he was elected to the Senate and before the earmark. Did the promotion help get the earmark? Only Obama and Michelle know for sure.

David, David, David.

Obama was the bag man for Biden's son with a $3.4M earmark. Nah, nothing suspicious here at all.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2603894_pf.html

That info has been posted and the dims didn't want to discuss or comment on it.

I'm thinking they should ditch the donkey and go with this.