Debate Opportunities

Perhaps stung by (unfounded) allegations from the mainstream media, right-wing blogs, pundits sympathetic to the GOP, and Repub politicians that unnamed "Democrats" have been unfairly attacking Sarah Palin, the Biden-Obama ticket appears to be ignoring John McCain's running mate.

In the presidential debate on Friday, 9/26/08, Barack Obama was given at least two openings, which he chose to bypass, to respond effectively to John McCain by invoking the name of the Alaska governor.

Early in the debate, McCain criticized earmarks and pork-barrel spending and quipped:

You know, we spent $3 million to study the DNA of bears in Montana. I don’t know if that was a criminal issue or a paternal issue, but the fact is that it was $3 million of our taxpayers’ money. And it has got to be brought under control.

This gave Obama an opportunity to respond "not the $3 million to study the DNA of bears in Montana, nor the $3.2 million in part to study the genetics of harbor seals in Alaska, as Governor Palin requested."

In another instance, McCain had been asked about Afghanistan and replied in part:

Now, on this issue of aiding Pakistan, if you’re going to aim a gun at somebody, George Shultz, our great secretary of state, told me once, you’d better be prepared to pull the trigger.
I’m not prepared at this time to cut off aid to Pakistan. So I’m not prepared to threaten it, as Senator Obama apparently wants to do, as he has said that he would announce military strikes into Pakistan.

Obama's response was reasonably effective but he could have added: "Apparently Governor Palin disagrees with you because when asked whether we have the right to go across the border, with or without the approval of the Pakistani government, she stated "we must do whatever it takes." So before you take off after me for wanting to go after terrorists on the Pakistani border, Senator, you may want to debate your running mate."

Sure, McCain is at the top of the ticket and the debate was with him. But pointing out a major difference between the presidential and the vice-presidential candidates probably would have been effective, and at worse highlighted John McCain's decision to select someone unfocused, unformed, and with few clues about foreign policy in a dangerous world.

For Government Before She Was Against It

The hypocrisy just keeps coming.

At an appearance today in Colorado, Governor Earmark of Alaska appeared to channel Ronald Reagan:

We became part of the fastest growing area of the state because businesses wanted to be there. They also knew that they would have elected leaders knowing that government isn't always the answer. In fact, too often government is the problem.

The vice-presidential nominee neglected to mention her recent lust for big government: the $450,000 set aside for an agricultural processing facility in Wasilla that was requested during Palin's tenure as mayor and was approved by Congress soon after she left office in 2002; or the $500,000 for a community transit center in Wasilla; or the $1 million for a communications center in town.

Nor did Mrs. Palin remember any of the $256 million in earmarks she requested in 2008. She didn't mention the $1 million (which was refused by Congress) which she requested to investigate rockfish fisheries or the $3.2 million requested in part for researching the “genetics of harbor seals.” Or any of these projects noted by Politico:

• $400,000: Alaska Invasive Species Program: Continues to comprehensively prevent, identify, and respond to the threat of invasive species on the Alaska environment.

• $494,900: Assessment of Recreational Halibut Harvest in Alaska: This is an ongoing effort to collect data on the recreational halibut fishery that is conducted by federal agencies though relying on the state for data.

•$2 million: Bering Sea Crab Research and Management: Researches Bering Sea crab productivity and sustainability as necessary to restore crab stocks.

• 3.2 million: Seal and Steller Sea Lion Biological Research: Funds monitoring of ice seal populations in Native villages, research on the species delineation and genetics of harbor seals to understand the declines in population and provide for population restoration, and continues research into Steller Sea Lion population decline.

And then there is the infamous $223 million Governor Earmark supported for a bridge linking Ketchikan to Gravina Island with its airport and 50 residents. She continues to lie about it-today for the tenth time.

As mayor, Sarah Palin was all for big government. As governor, she was all for big government. And now as candidate for national office, Sarah Palin tells her adoring right wing audiences that she's against big government. Sarah Palin is a champion- a champion hypocrite.

John McCain, Stranger To The Truth

John McCain continued his campaign of lies and deception today on ABC's "The View."

Courtesy of Political Punch, the blog of ABC News' Senior National Correspondent, Jake Tapper, comes transcript of this portion of the discussion:

BARBARA WALTERS: What is she going to reform, specifically?
JOHN MCCAIN: Well, first of all, earmark spending, which she vetoed half a billion dollars worth in the state of Alaska.
WALTERS: She also took some earmarks.
JOY BEHAR: A lot.
MCCAIN: No, not as governor, she didn't. She vetoed –- Look, well, the fact is she's a reform governor.

John McCain denies that as governor, Sarah Palin "took some earmarks." But last year (fiscal year 2008), the Governor requested $254 million in earmarks and this year (fiscal year 2009) slightly less than $200 million, both the highest per capita figure in the nation. And USA Today reported earlier this year that Alaska "is set to receive $506.34 per capita, the highest in the nation, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group which tracks earmarks."

Michael Kinsley points out:

As if it couldn't support itself, Alaska also ranks No. 1, year after year, in money it sucks in from Washington. In 2005 (the most recent figures), according to the Tax Foundation, Alaska ranked 18th in federal taxes paid per resident ($5,434) but first in federal spending received per resident ($13,950). Its ratio of federal spending received to federal taxes paid ranks third among the 50 states, and in the absolute amount it receives from Washington over and above the amount it sends to Washington, Alaska ranks No. 1.

Will Alaska start paying its own way? Will John McCain start speaking the truth? Very likely, no, and no.

That Bridge, Again

The Anchorage Daily News has (8/31/08) an objective article summarizing Sarah Palin's record as governor in the context of her claims on the campaign trail. Approximately $398 million had been designated for the Gravina Island bridge ($223 million) to Ketchikan and for a crossing ($150 million) at Knik Arm at Anchorage. It appears Palin turned against the "Bridge to Nowhere" proposal sometime in 2007, after her election as governor (for which she had campaigned), shortly after Congress "had removed the earmark but allowed the state to keep the money and direct it to other transportation projects."

When the projected cost of the Ketchikan bridge project rose to nearly $400 million, the Palin administration began to turn against it. Ultimately, Palin officially nixed the bridge idea, construction of which obviously would have cost the state well over $150 million. But the state still had the money and $25 million has been appropriated for a three-mile road on
Gravina Island, meant to connect the airport and the bridge which no longer is going to be built.

Still, Governor Earmark, caught in the lie she first told when John McCain appeared with her to introduce his new running mate, keeps repeating the falsehood. Thinkprogress.org notes these seven (7) occasions in which Palin pushes the myth in which she stood up against the big, bad federal government:

"I told Congress, ‘Thanks, but no thanks’ for that bridge to nowhere.” [Rally in Lancaster, PA, 9/9/08]
“I told Congress, ‘Thanks, but no thanks’ for that bridge to nowhere.” [Rally in Lebanon, OH, 9/9/08]
“I told Congress thanks but no thanks for that bridge to nowhere. If the state wanted to build a bridge we would built it ourselves.” [Rally in Lee’s Summit, MO, 9/8/08]
“I championed reform of earmark spending by Congress, and I told the Congress thanks but no thanks on that ‘Bridge to Nowhere.” [Rally in Albuquerque, NM, 9/6/08]
“I told the Congress ‘thanks, but no thanks,’ for that Bridge to Nowhere.” [GOP Convention, 9/3/08]
“And as the senator said, I told the Congress thanks but no thanks for that bridge to nowhere. If our state wanted to build a bridge, we would build it ourselves.” [Rally in O’Fallon, MO, 8/31/08]
“And I championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. In fact, I told Congress — I told Congress, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,’ on that bridge to nowhere.” [Nomination speech, 8/29/08]

Of course, the presidential nominee and the campaign surrogates have been on message, pushing the same discredited narrative. Nevertheless, Governor Earmark's persistence does provide some insight into her character, what little there is of it.

Palin's Fertile Imagination

As someone who predicted prior to Governor Earmark Palin's speech to the Repub convention that it would be viewed afterward as something akin to Moses as Mount Sinai, Timothy Noah can credibly analyze the Vice-Presidential nominee in light of her speech.

Palin complained that Barack Obama's "answer is to make government bigger- take more of your money- give you more orders from Washington...." But Noah explains

The woman who made this complaint about big government taking your money is the governor of Alaska. Please take a moment to look at this U.S. Census chart showing federal-government expenditures, per capita, in the 50 states. You will observe that Alaska receives about $14,000 per citizen from the federal government. That's more than any other state, and a good $4,000 more than every other state except Virginia, Maryland, New Mexico, and North Dakota. The chart is from the Census Bureau's Consolidated Federal Funds Report for Fiscal Year 2005. I skipped over the 2006 report, the most recent one available, because Hurricane Katrina put Louisiana and Mississippi ahead of Alaska that year. But that's an anomaly. Alaska held the per-capita record for sucking on the federal teat in 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, and 2000. According to the nonprofit Tax Foundation, Alaska gets back $1.84 for every dollar it pays into the U.S. Treasury—even though Alaska enjoys a higher per-capita income than 34 of the 50 states. This is a state that preaches right-wing libertarianism while it practices middle-class socialism.

Everyone knows that Governor Palin supported the "bridge to nowhere" pushed by the recently-indicted Senator Ted Stevens until Congress stood up against it, whereupon she opposed the bridge because it would have to have been paid by state funds. Ironically, this is nearly the reverse of her claim "I told the Congress "thanks, but no thanks," for that Bridge to Nowhere. If our state wanted a bridge, we'd build it ourselves." Less well known is her success at receiving federal earmarks ($27 million over four years) after she hired Stevens' former chief of staff to lobby congress- and that earlier this year she "sent Stevens a memo outlining $200 million in new funding requests." (Or that she was tight with the Alaska Independence Party, whose founder proclaimed "the fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government.")

Noah concludes that Mrs. Palin is less a pit bull with lipstick than "a hog who recommends diet books while feeding at the trough."

More Palin

Two do not make a pattern. Still....

In her coming out speech on Friday in Dayon, Ohio, Sarah Palin boasted

I championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. In fact, I told Congress — I told Congress, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,’ on that bridge to nowhere. If our state wanted a bridge, I said we’d build it ourselves.

Thanks to thinkprogress.org, we know a little about the veracity of that statement. When Mayor Palin was interviewed by the Anchorage Daily News during her campaign for governor in 2006, she stated

Yes. I would like to see Alaska's infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later. The window is now--while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist.

She was, it appears, supportive of the bridge when it looked like money would be coming from the federal government, then changed her tune when Congress rejected funding- almost the opposite of what she claimed when she appeared with McCain in Dayton, Ohio.

It gets worse. On Friday, Pat Buchanan told Chris Matthews on Hardball that Palin "was a brigader in 1996 as was her husband, Chris, they were at a fundraiser for me, she's a terrific gal, she's a rebel reformer." Bad enough- but the Mayor reversed herself the next day, for McCain-Palin spokesman Michael Goldfarb explains

Governor Palin has never worked for any effort to elect Pat Buchanan -- that assertion is completely false. As Mayor of Wasilla, Sarah Palin did attend an event with Mr. Buchanan in her home town where reports described her wearing a Buchanan for President button. She wore the button as a courtesy to Mr. Buchanan and in an effort to make him feel welcome during his visit, but immediately sent a letter to the editor of her local paper clarifying that the button should not have been interpreted as an endorsement of any kind.

And even worse. ABC's Jake Tapper notes in his blog, The Punch, that Goldfarb states that in 2000, Palin supported neither Buchanan, Bush, or McCain, but rather the "Empower The Rich" (made up, but accurate) campaign of Malcolm Forbes Jr. (name not made up). Tapper says

And indeed, another AP story from August 7, 1999 -- one month after the Buchanan trip to Wasilla -- states that joining state sen. Mike Miller of Fairbanks on the Forbes campaign's Alaska "leadership committee will be Wasilla Mayor Sarah Palin, and former state GOP chairman Pete Hallgren, who will serve as co-chairs."

Dishonest, two-faced, or simply a sharp politician. It's still fewer than 48 hours since the announcement and there is no telling what we're going to learn from the person John McCain wants us to believe is a credible vice-presidential candidate.