Palin to Zing Obama’s ‘Community Organizer’ Days

http://www.santamonicadispatch.com/?p=572
THis is the Real Sarah Palin

part 2:
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 seven years 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 ecommended 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.

part 3
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’tfire her sister’s ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigationfor abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than two 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 andgarnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as 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 a package
of legislation known as “AGIA” that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum.
Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to global warming. She campaigned “as a private citizen” against a state initiative that would have either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State’s lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior’s decision to list polar bears as threatened species.

The media has changed from a news source to a bias tabloid.
Democrat for Palin/McCain

Smear job? This is factual and documented. YOu would have had to know this if Palin was vetted.

Can you provide more information against Obama? I bet you can’t. Do you know Why he voted present instead of yes and no? or Why he took house from Rezko when there were so many real estate agents in the market?

–revealed– Do you live in Alaska or have any real knowledge of Alaska. I believe most of your spewing is none sense.
I lived in Alaska and know Wailla quite well. These projects were not her ideas but were voted on by the residents, OK. Get your facts straight and get off the Obama band wagon.

Diamond Lou,
Revert back to passages 1, 2, and 3.
This is the real Palin, and noone knows her better than the folks from her home town and state, no like someone blowing smoke in some London crap.

Sarah has EXECTUTIVE experience *running a government* (something NONE of the other candidates can actually boast, even John McCain as Governor of Alaska and got there by defeating the *incumbent* Republican Governor, who was definitely part of the “old school” and who WAS very much in the pocket of the big oil companies. We in Alaska wanted change – and we got it in the person of Sarah Palin!
Sarah Palin is everything she looks to be and more. Her approval rating as Governor of Alaska has been as high as 95% and is currently leveled out consistently in the upper 80 percentile throughout the state (and in both parties) – the HIGHEST approval rating of ANY sitting Governor.

These are all documented. The Alaskan Democratic Opposition Research team had released a 67 page report that had been done on Palin.
Should tell your candidate that he should have made a wise judgment call and vetted his pick so she would not have to be vetted in front of the world.

Jack Cafferty is a closet homo and total sexist….stopped watching CNN because of him…they need to sack him.
Palin Rocks, so did Hillary and McCain the Maverick GOT IT RIGHT…..DEMS DIDN’T!

I think maybe she should have been careful about all the backs she stabbed or stepped on, because it seems like a lot of humming birds are beginning to sing.
Be careful how you treat people.

More stuff on Palin which outlines information that I have document on this blog for the world to see:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13084.html

Debra—-Interesting that you refer to someone as a “closet homo” while calling others sexist. Bigot.

Debra, I never was a fan of Hillary primarily because of her policies. However, what the Obama campaign and their surrogates did to her was absolutely unforgivable. Now we’re witnessing an even more vicious character assassination attempt on Palin. It’s disgusting and beyond the pale. And even more disturbing, this provides us with a preview of the types of thug tactics we Americans can expect during an Obama administration. It’s Chicago-style politics on a national scale. Obama has clearly demonstrated his brand of “change.” That should send chills down all our spines.

I would like for Revealed to google American Issues Project and please copy the whole articles about OB’s camp pressured the Dept of Justice to prosecute the donors of the AIP for supporting the freedom of speech regarding Wllliams Ayres, the unrepented terrorist and OB relationship.

Please tell how figuring out how many light poles the town needed or man hole covers replaced or whether to put in a sewer system instead of using septic tanks, must have been monumental decision making on Palin’s part. Enough to make her qualified to be VP. She is as significant as a fart in a space suit.

Tim, don’t blame it on Obama,
he wasn’t in Alaska when she was f’ing up the city and government. He didn’t tell her to lie about being for the bridge to nowhere before she was against it, oh, i can go on and on…

Jim in OH…Sarah Palin knowingly walked her family into arena with the lions. I feel bad for her children because they had no choice. I have no pity for her. She knew what was coming.

It was bloggers from Alaska that brought all this information on Palin to the attention of the rest of the country not the news media FYI.

Republican woman, stay away from me. Republican woman, mama let me be. Don’t come hangin’ around my door. I don’t wanna see your face no more. I got more important things to do. Than spend my time growin’ old with you. I don’t need your war machines. I don’t need your beauty queens. Northern lights can hypnotize. Sparkle someone else’s eyes. Goodbye, Republican woman. Goodbye, Republican chick. Goodbye, Republican broad … (Adapted from The Guess Who’s American Woman)

Character witnesses for McCain -almost everyone who speaks including former Dem VP candidate Lieberman and current Dem VP candidate Joe Biden (I would be honored to run with John MCCain).
How many character witnesses did Obama have at his convention.-zero. Even Hillary talked about a generic Democrat.

bhrandon, you can’t be serious. Do you know anything about Chicago politicians and their tactics? I spent time in that city. They have a long history of regularly smearing opponents and destroying them. They plant smears in ways that can’t be traced. You can bet Obama’s campaign was and continues to be involved in smearing Palin through their surrogates. And I’m not a conspiracy theorist. It’s the way those thugs operate.

Jim in Ohio,
do you really want to talk about voter registration fraud? Your party? the Republican party that stole the presidency from Gore? The party that evolved from old time “Southern Democrats” in the 60′s who were mad as hell that “nig***” were getting a right to vote so they beat them and instituted literacy tests, and poll taxes to block them from voting that they switched parties and declared themselves the Republicans that we have today??
Go sit down, dude

We can talk about Wright also or we can talk about Michelle Obama who was not proud of America. I forgot to metntion these earlier. Smearing can be done.

revealed, Palin’s political enemies, some of whom she probably helped take down, write opposition research on her to smear her. And you post it and actually believe it as truth. Wow, you must be new to politics.

Cafferty has lost his ability to judge properly. So, don’t take him seriously. Let him jump up and down and let him say what he want to say.

Media is not the “Complete Truth”. These things can be brought again and hammered to people the same way Obama will try to do with Palin.

Watch who you step on, the media is not “vetting” her. She is a threat to their ideology and they are smearing her via character assasination and vicious personal attacks on her family, including her children. Many of these details are immaterial regarding her ability to govern and they go way beyond the norms of decency. Fair-minded Americans across the country are rightly outraged. I’d love to see your reaction if they did this to Obama and his family. You’d scream bloody murder.

Obama should jump up and down if the Mc Cain has selected unVice Presidential candidates and move on. The truth is you Obama folks and Media thinks that she is trully a VP candidate and she eclipsed the Obama’s experience and trying hard to get rid of her the same way you folks did with Clinton.

Put a neocon script in front of Palin and watch her lips move. God help us.

Palin isw not fit to be VP.

1.If Washighton is broken, why hasn’t McCain fixed it in all his years there?
2.Neither a woman or a man ‘has it all’when they work, have families,have homes/apartments – children need a parent – Is Mr. Palin going to be the full-time parent of 5 children? Can Mrs. Palin be away from all her children – one newborn with special needs and one having a child of her own? on a regular basis?
3. Do politicians really believe women are so shallow and stupid to vote for someone just because their is a female candidate?
4. What political party has provided ‘welfare’ to corporations? (
chrysler, Fannie Mae?? Left a budget deficit when he had a balanced budget to start with? What political party keeps using
5. Who of the candidates would qualify for the CEO of GE? Exon? GMC? Microsoft?

if washington is broke why is the hell will we want to elect 90% of the problem again.
sorry
8 is enough

john mccain really knows about foreign policy. he is so out of touch with america its like he a foreign citizen.

ronnieraygun, who are “my people”? You don’t even know my politics or background. Have you seen ANY group openly attacking Obama’s children or questioning Obama’s ability to effectively father his children on 24/7 news cycles? It is absolutely disgusting what the radical left has done this week. There is no justification for it. None. I don’t care what you think of Palin’s politics. There is a thing called human decency. There is a line. And people across the political spectrum are outraged. Don’t believe me? Read the online Hillary forums.

Thank you, Omentum, for watching the next Vice President of the United States!!!!!
McCain/Palin 08!
Country First!

MAN, SHE IS RIPPIN OBAMA A NEW ONE!!!!!

Wow! I bet Obama’s ass is as raggedy as a bowl of Chinese spaghetti right about now!
LMAO!!! :D
PUMA!
McCain/Palin 2008 – In lieu of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Kyle
It’s over. Sarah and Rudy just knocked Obama out of the box!!!

No wonder loons are doing their best to trash Gov. Palin!!! AFTER TONIGHT THEY GOTTA BE SCARED!! BYE, BYE, Obama. Looks like it’s over!!!!!

MAN, SHE IS RIPPIN OBAMA A NEW ONE!!!!!
*******************
Yes she is. So did Giuliani. But they left out all the facts and lied about everything. Ya know, Obama turned down a big money Wall Street job to be a community organizer. They make Obama look like he’s a community organizer running for president. It’s funny she mentioned terrorists because she don’t know anything about it. If you look at Obama’s education you can see he’s pretty smart.
====== Education ======
===== Undergraduate =====
**Occidental College**, Los Angeles, CA\\
Undergraduate, 1981-1983
**Columbia University**\\
B.A. Political Science with specialization in international relations \\
Thesis topic: Soviet nuclear disarmament
===== Graduate =====
**Harvard Law School** \\
J.D. //magna cum laude//
1988-1991
President, Harvard Law Review
====== Organizing and other work experience ======
* **1983-1984** Writer/Researcher for Business International Corporation. Helped companies understand overseas markets in the “Financing Foreign Operations” service and wrote for the “Business International Money Report”
* **1984-1985** Community Organizer for New York Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), promoting personal, community, and government reform at City College in Harlem.
* **1985-1988** Director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Greater Roseland on Chicago’s South Side. While director grew the DCP staff from 1 to 13 and their budget from $70,000 to $400,000.
* **1992** Led Chicago’s Project Vote! push. This effort resulted in a record number of voter registrations, over 600,000 in Chicago. ((http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/January-1993/Vote-of-Confidence/))
====== Teaching ======
* **1993-2004** Visiting Law and Government Fellow, then Senior Lecturer, in Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago Law School. Taught courses on the due process and equal protection areas of constitutional law, on voting rights, and on racism and law. Helped develop a casebook on voting rights.
====== Law Practice =====
* **1993-2002** Worked as an associate attorney with Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland. Represented non-profits and private individuals in urban development projects, voting rights cases, and wrongful firings. Filed major suit that forced the state of Illinois to enforce the Motor Voter Law and successfully argued a wrongful firing case before the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
====== Illinois Senate 1996-2004 ======
* chairman, Health and Human Services Committee
* Spearheaded a successful bipartisan effort in Illinois to pass the broadest ethics-reform legislation by any state in 25 years, and also gained bipartisan support for his successful bills reforming death penalty interrogations and ending racial profiling by police. Worked with the Republican-led effort to reform welfare
* Also sponsored successful bills expanding tax credits and child-care subsidies for low-income working families, protecting overtime pay for workers, expanding health care for children, and providing job skills training for juveniles
===== ====== Sponsored Bill Statistics ====== =====
* Number of sponsored bills: 65
* Number of sponsored bills passed: 0
* Number of co-sponsored bills 364
* Number of co-sponsored bills passed: 5
http://www.opencongress.org (9/3/2008—-dankster keeps taking this out for some reason)
====== United States Senate 2004-present ======
* Member, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
* Chairman, Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European Affairs
* Member, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
* Member, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
* Member, Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
* Shares responsibility for the bipartisan __Coburn-Obama Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006__, requiring full online disclosure of all entities receiving federal funds, and the bipartisan __Lugar-Obama Cooperative Proliferation Detection, Interdiction Assistance, and Conventional Threat Reduction Act of 2006__, deepening non-proliferation work with WMD and including surface-to-air missiles, land mines, and other weapons that may be used by terrorists

Observations about Palin’s speech tonight:
1. Good job in front on friendly audience. Needs to keep it up.
2. Doesn’t really understand how Washington works – like you can’t line item veto things you don’t want – but who cares.
3. She was gonna tell me what the Alaska governor does then forgot. Don’t bring up ‘bridge to nowhere’ – that’s Ted Stevens’ mess.
4. Like the hockey mom vs. pitbull joke.
5. Too many frickin Obama-like platitudes. They basically lifted one of his dumb speeches from early on and added a few jabs.
6. I think she has minimal understanding of how the economy works outside of Alaska.
Overall a nice job, but I’m left feeling that she’s hopelessly underprepared and unready to be #2 on the ticket. She’s polarizing the left a bit too much in a way that will make them more likely to vote. She’s also a little to cavalier distorting facts considering that she’s only been on the scene for a few days.
Still should’ve picked Romney, Hutchinson or someone with more experience.

I love what Palin said about Obama in this statement:
“The American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of ‘personal discovery.’ This world of threats and dangers is not just a community, and it doesn’t just need an organizer,” Palin said, a clear reference to Obama’s time as a community organizer in Chicago.
McCain/Palin 08!
Country First!

attention fanboys/girls: remember the whole argument against obama was speeches? she just gave one speech that was relieving but also demonstrated that she’s not ready. i think i was groaning like everyone there when she listed the PTA as qualifying experience to be second-in-line to the Presidency.
imagine for a moment what happens if someone more experienced actually gave the VP speech. it would’ve been over. instead it’s a roll of the dice…

1percenter
Sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself!!

I am trying to convince myself that she’s not ruinous. yes.

David/TX
Agree, ‘Prepared’ beats ‘personal discovery’ all day long. It’s over!!

Libs hate two major groups: Strong conservative women and strong conservative blacks. WHY? Libs have a very difficult problem admitting that they even exist AND…. given a chance, members of those two groups will win converts, cutting into the lib base. THAT’S WHY THEY ARE HATED AND EXPLAINS THE IRRATIONAL, HATE POSTS AS ON A SITE LIKE THIS – EXPLAINS A LOT!!

Daisy Mae, Hockey Mom, President of the PTA and folksy cutesy are an insult as a role model to Women. She bats her eyes, swoons and laughs just like a little girl does when she’s trying to borrow the car from Daddy. Get this bimbo out of here.

seenitallx9.
Honey, It’s going to take a lot more than your low life garbage to bring this little lady down.

HemiHead.
“Sarah and Rudi lied about everything.”
Typical lib response – you knew they were going to hit home runs so your prepared that piece of junk to post. Sad – looks bad for your man. Sorry.
*************************
I didn’t prepare nothing. I cut that from Obama’s resume. Here’s something else I just cut.
Mr. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, began making the argument early Wednesday. “Barack Obama has never governed a city, never governed a state, never governed an agency, never run a military unit, never run anything,” Mr. Giuliani said on the CBS “Early Show” in an interview the McCain campaign sent to reporters.
If his formulation sounded a little familiar, it is because it was one of the few criticisms that Mr. Giuliani aimed at Mr. McCain during the heat of their primary fight, saying that he had “never run a city, never run a state, never run a government.” So, is this typical liberal bull. Or republican lies.

Manitu
You said it little lady. I rest my case.

seenitallx9
If that is your best put-down of Gov. Palin, from what I saw and heard tonight you are going to have to expand your arsenal – LIKE MAYBE ACTUALLY DISCUSSING SOME REAL ISSUES!!

here’s what worries me: i think the attacks on Palin thus far have not come from the dems, but rather conservatives who were hoping to scare her out of the race. obviously that didn’t happen. the dems are gonna have a lot of ammo on her and i’m not sure she’ll come off too well without the teleprompter (Obama-itis). likewise, the dems are too smart to have the men attack her – you’re gonna see every woman democrat in the next few weeks start knocking Palin and she won’t be able to say ‘sexism sexism sexism’ (isn’t that a democrat line anyway?)

Do you really want the president of the PTA running our country when the old guy kicks the bucket? Yes, there will be issues and it won’t be whether the town needs the 11th traffic light or should they use the the town hall for the Christmas party instead of the new sports complex. Running Mayberry is much different than running our country. Known facts: McCain is 72 and a heartbeat away from dementia as we’ve seen. POW’s life span is shorter than most people for the abuse they suffered. He’s had cancer in the recent past. He’s hot headed and doesn’t care how long a war lasts. He’s Republican just like GW and got us into this mess. She’s his soulmate…need I say more. I work in a senior park and 72 year olds around here are scared for him to be elected. He’ll be 80 if he gets reelected. His decision for running mate shows his stupidity. There were other women he could have asked. Pawlenty also would have been wonderful. But leaving the country in his hands…you have to be kidding.

Jesus was a community organizer.

Manitu
You made the put down calling Sarah “little lady”
I didn’t.

HemiHead.
Notice that Rudi NEVER SAID THAN MCCAIN HAD NEVER RUN A MILITARY UNIT!! Just a MINOR. point. Sorry, Hemi, you lost me when you stated that “Rudi and Gov. Palin lied about everything.” You libs have buchered the word ‘Lie’, so much that it has really lost meaning on sites such as this one.’

Go back to Alaska and gut a moose. I don’t want you to represent me.

I loved the part of the speech tonight where she said that the special needs children will have an advocate. Then why didn’t she mention if she supports te 08Repub platform which does not recognize pre-school and kindergarten as
as a necessity(page 16 of Platform). You can bet when cuts are made by this group it will programs here in the US
and not abroad. Steward and Colbert seem to announcing the policies of all these guys better than the cable or mainstream media.

I so love the world that I send my only daugther to save the world.

I am a retired teacher AND I DO NOT SUPPORT FEDERAL GOVEDRNMENT PARTICIPATION IN PRESCHOOL AND KINDERGARTEN EITHER. ARE YOU SAYING THAT ALL CHILDREN OF THAT AGE GROUP ARE SPECIAL NEEDS? I DOUBT IT!

BTW:
She diminished Obama’s accomplishments, and elevated, exaggerated or straight-out lied about her own accomplishments tonight. For example, the idea that she killed the Bridge-to-Nowhere.
That works in a speech, but this speech will be picked apart tomorrow in all the media. Not clear why she is setting herself up for a fall.

John McCain could have picked a blind bassett hound for VP and put it on stage. Once it started to bark, the translation would appear, “Obama is nothing” and the whole audience would have had their trained pasty smiles showing with laughter. Hey how do you trick a Republican to actually vote against their best interest after 8 years of pure hell? Answer: do the same thing you’ve always done. Don’t talk about the economy, health care, veterans’ issues, middle class, and they’ll suck it up every time.

Repubs are the biggest masochistic ideologues in the world. They are a slave to their own thinking and liked to get whipped with the outcome of their own elections. For example, they say “Obama’s going to expand government” all the while knowing that Bush did not veto (or line item veto) one freaking bill. Now they say, “We want change!” Change from what? How about change from your idiotic voting patterns. I hope all you folks looked out in the crowd in that convention arena. Did you really get a sense that this was “REAL” America? Looked like a country club full of elitists to me.

This constant obsession with Palin’s “imperfect” experience is bordering on the ridiculous. It’s a VP slot. She will be mentored by McCain. She’s already a proven executive. She’ll learn fast. Everyone in that position is trained on the job.
How much did Democrats worry about the suitability of Bill Clinton’s experience as Arkansas governor and the depth of his foreign policy experience before he became PRESIDENT (not VP!)? I’ll tell you because I remember. Not at all. Apparently people have short memories.
Alaska is a strategic state and Palin has proven she can run it effectively and responsibly. In fact, she’s run Alaska better than Bill Clinton ran Arkansas. So please, give it a rest.

The convention hall that shows the most flag waving wins. And let’s turn the convention hall into a good old fashion Chrisitan revival. I thought that Sarah Palin was about to break out any second and speak in tongues. Afterwards, the surrogates would translate it for them into Obama bashing and the crowd would shout “Four more years!” Talk about drinking the kool aid? Man, they’re freebasing the powder!!

This constant obsession with Palin’s “imperfect” experience is bordering on the ridiculous.
=================================
One reason why people focus on experience is because McCain made it THE THEME of his campaign until last Friday.
Apparently, he thought it was important.
Democrats never thought experience was such a big issue, they thought Obama’s superior judgement, policies, intelligence, thoughtfulness, and ability to understand the complex problems facing the country made him the better candidate.
McCain kept harping on the importance of experience, he promised – given his advance age – that he would appoint a candidate with experience, who was qualified to replace him.
To many of us, the question is not who has more experience, Obama or McCain, Obama or Palin, Biden or McCain, etc.
The question is why McCain did a complete 360.
Does he even know his own mind?

After seeing and hearing Sarah Palin and her wonderful speech and known abilibities to make the changes, I wonder why Obama is still in the running. Obama runs his mouth. She runs the largest state in the union.
I also loved Rudy’s speech.

Let’s face it; We are all lost here – Democrat and Republican alike. Never has the presidential election appeared to be such a farce. Obama, Palin, McCain, Biden, Oh My! Hillary, please forgive us in our hour of need! Now we know better. Romney, we hardly knew ye. Now we will all suffer needlessly no matter who wins. Change – sure, like I change my socks every day – they are still socks… Maverick – yeah, OK – I drove one in 1975 – let’s just say that it was nice for a few miles, but it aint around today. We are all in trouble. The patients are now running the sanatorium!

Google “Clean Break” and then you’ll start to get a sense of the policy that’s driving the Republicans. Look at the document that is considered the neo-con manifesto. It’s up to Sarah Palin to complete the checklist of the goals? Oil, Israel, and the good old Military Industrial Complex are driving this country. Not old-fashioned values or morals. Let’s be clear, fear and hatred get you stupid Republicans to act more than anything else. The xenophobia drives you to make irrational decisions. This is exactly what they want you to do and you behave just as they plan on you behaving. They don’t care about you one bit. Let me quote Col. Lawrence B. Wilkerson, retired United States Army Colonel and former chief of staff to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell, about the speech Powell made before the United Nations on Feb. 5, 2003, laying out a case for war with Iraq, included falsehoods of which Powell had never been made aware. He said, “My participation in that presentation at the UN constitutes the lowest point in my professional life. I participated in a hoax on the American people, the international community and the United Nations Security Council.”
This administration lied to you along with John McCain enforcing it with “My friends, I will have an energy policy which will eliminate our dependence on oil from Middle East that will then prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East.”
Give me an effing break!!!

Obama galvanized the nation, and sutained its attention for two years.
McCain of 2008 has lost the Democrats, Independents and moderate Republicans who loved him in 2000. His last Democratic friend is Joe Lieberman – someone who has lost his own bearings.
Palin galvanized the evangelical-wing of the Republican base – this weekend.
We’ll see who appeals to a broader constituency. Who really offers policies that can change the disastrous course Bush, his party, and his cronies have set this nation on.

Posted by: Bob | Sep 4, 2008 1:22:14 AM
I feel reassured. Your comments convince me that there is a least one other citizen out there in cyberspace who is still sane.

Posted by: Jim in OH | Sep 4, 2008 1:31:57 AM
O.K. I’ll grant you, I’m making light of the cries of “for shame” on the part of some defenders of Gov. Palin right now. But McCain, Hillary, Obama have been subjected to just this sort of vitriol from the MSM and bloggers for months running now. It goes with the territory, and is to be expected. This kind of intense scrutiny is a normal part of the “hazing” that goes with running for president.
Why is it necessary? Why can’t we all just get along? Well, for one because we want our Presidents and Vice-Presidents to be able to stand up for themselves.
I don’t think the MSM or “liberal” media are being any harder on Palin than the MSM or “conservative” media have been on Obama (Rev. Wright, Reznik, Ayres, his inexperience, his arrogance, etc.) or McCain (the Keating five, his messy family divorce, his seeming morphing from an independent into someone to the right of Bush, etc)
Lets not even start with how hard the media left, right, and mainstream have been on the Clinton’s.
The road to the most powerful office in the world SHOULD be punishing.
To quote someone wise (Gov. Palin commenting on Sen. Clinton a couple of months ago) “to whine about media scrutiny, or harsh treatment by the media is unbecoming, you should just try harder and prove your critics wrong.

HemiHead.
Notice that Rudi NEVER SAID THAN MCCAIN HAD NEVER RUN A MILITARY UNIT!! Just a MINOR. point. Sorry, Hemi, you lost me when you stated that “Rudi and Gov. Palin lied about everything.” You libs have buchered the word ‘Lie’, so much that it has really lost meaning on sites such as this one.’
*******************
McCain never did run a military unit. He finished something like 897 out of 900 in his class, crashed 5 plane’s, and sat out the war as a POW. If it wasn’t for his Old Man he would’ve been tossed out long before getting shot down in the last plane. John McCain can’t even turn on a computer. If he’s country and troops first why did he vote against health care for our troops 4 years in a row. Why have our troops given more money to Obama’s campaign than McCain’s by a margin of 6 to 1. If Obama wants our troops to lose what’s the deal.

WOW REPUBLICANS!!!!
I am watching the CNN reply of the convention tonight. I got home only in time to watch the Palin speech…
It sounded thin and PLAIN to me…
BUT ROMNEY WOW!!! That guy should be the VP!!!! Shoot, I would vote for him as a Democrat for President!!!
Gee, your guy McCain sure made a BIG mistake with that VP pick, YA THINK??

Overall, Palin’s speech was interesting though some of her jabs at Obama were a little rough, especially the one on Obama being a Community Organizer. MLK was also considered to be a Community Organizer. Does anyone want to try to degrade MLK’s experience???

i was impressed. Ms. Palin proved her ability to read the prompter and follow the script(ure).
She is devout…no doubt…but about what?
Her best joke was off the prompter and resonates with any true ice hockey fan…note carefully the word ICE. there is no other hockey. Indeed there are few other true sports (apology…and all the best to Mr. Phelps…i taught blind kids swimming…so I understand your passion).
Michigan has 2 sports. Sorry Pistons & Tigers & Lions…I love you)…but true Michigan sport involves water.
Michigan is my home…where I grew up. Michigan is in deep trouble. The heart of America, indeed the entire mid-west is in trouble…and has been for 7+ years. Recession? Hell NO! It Is DEPRESSION. Thank You Bush Republicans.
Hey America! You can raise chickens…and rabbits in your backyard…and the former foreclosed neighbors’ backyards. And rabbit tastes like chicken! Just don’t let your children witness butchering of their pets. Welcome to the mid-west.
I swim. i love to swim. My mother tells of my very young gravitation to any puddle and my need to splash and play. But my true love is hard water.
There is no adrenaline sense of speed like an ice boat on a wide open lake. And there is no adrenaline rush like violence on a pair of skates limited to control of a tiny puck by the ballet skill of a skater with a broomstick to move that puck.
I skated before i walked. I played ice hockey in college. I taught figure skating. I coached PeeWees. I know HockeyMoms.
So I know the joke about pittbulls wearing lipstick. And I laughed my butt off. My mom is just such. Then again…meet my dad. Pittbulls with lipstick have no clue. Never-the-less my respect for Ms. Palin soared.
BUT
Her joke about “community organizers” proved and defined the people we witnessed as republicans.
That crowd…that RNC crud laughed…and says it all.
I have devoted my life to community organization. I have fought for teaching swimming to blind kids and ice skating to all. And this is only part of my life as a licensed professional community planner and landscape architect.
I am ashamed that there are Americans so filled with hate…for other Americans. You witnessed that hatred on the RNC floor…and the empty seats in the RNC gallery…despite the programmed cheerleading and “hand painted” signs of Ms. Palin’s scripted RNC audience.
You witnessed the “profile” of the republican America. It was right there…up front on camera.
How many of those people broke manicured fingernails scraping their Bush/Cheney and W stickers off the bumpers of their gas-sucking SUVs?
You witnessed the Americans(?) who voted for DUBLOON twice.
NOTE: You cannot script an audience fully occupying some open air stadium.

HEATHER!
thank you

NPR (national public radio) reported that the RNC had 36 black delegates and less than 2% other…the rest White…This is not america…America is a UNITED country of all race.

PLEASE,
WILL SOMEONE ON CAMERA ASK THE FOLLOWING SIMPLE QUESTION OF FORMER NYC MAYOR RUDY G:
“What progress has been made toward identifying, arresting, indicting and convicting those who looted the underground mall (including banks, and jewelers, as well as sunglasses kiosks) during and within 24 hours of the wtc towers collapse?”

This convention has become so hateful and uninspiring. The RNC has gone way too far to the right for my taste. I feel like the Republicans are saying that they are America and anyone who doesn’t agree with the extremely socially conservative platform put forth by the RNC this year isn’t truly American and doesn’t put their country first. I’m not gay, I don’t have any gay family or friends, but it bothers me when a major political party has a speaker (Mitt Romney) talk about discriminating against a group of Americans and it’s received with cheers by a crowd of thousands. I’m pro-choice, and it’s clear that unless you agree with their stance on abortion, you are not fully welcome in the Grand Old Party. Otherwise, Lieberman would be the VP candidate. McCain has buckled to the angry right.
As a moderate, I’m sick and tired of the lunatic fringes that have come together in St. Paul this week (left and right, both the anarchists and the GOP).
I teared up in frustration tonight watching the speeches. I’m tired of a Republican party that embraces ignorance and tells me that I’m not a hard worker because I went to college, or that I’m not authentically American because I’m not from a small town. My grandfather was a janitor who worked hard to put my mother through college so she could have a better life for herself (of course, it would be much harder for him to do that today).
I want our country to move beyond these divisive politics and work together to solve the critical issues facing us all like the economy, healthcare, energy and jobs. I watched Obama’s speech and I was excited that between Obama and McCain, we would have an election about the issues and bipartisanship. Then McCain made a cynical pick with Sarah Palin and now the GOP is holding a hateful convention, trying to incite another culture war. I think it’s wrong for anyone to attack Palin’s daughter, and I have so much respect for Obama that he spoke out against it. At their convention, the Democrats did not belittle McCain or his service, but tonight speaker after speaker has belittled Obama in a way that is simply disrespectful, and I feel insulted as an American and a voter. I hope Obama will work to keep the election from sinking into that same old politics!
ENOUGH!!!! I WANT POSITIVITY!!!! I WANT CHANGE!!!! I’M VOTING OBAMA!!!!

lol…abc edited my question re rg and ntc wtc. so guys….anyone investigating?????????
hmmmmmm??????

I can understand why McCain’s five years as a P.O.W. would be relevant if we were sending him to a prison cell in Guantanomo Bay.
But how does it qualify him to be President of the United States?
How, in God’s name, does spending five years in a prison cell in the Hanoi Hilton prepare you for any decision you will have to make over four years in the Oval Office?
What’s McCain going do when things continue to go from bad to worse, give the nation a thumbs up?

ahhh..heck with it. i’ll try again.
HEY!
WILL ANYONE PLEASE ASK MR. GULLIANNI:
WHAT PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE TOWARD IDENTIFYING, ARRESTING. INDICTING, CONVICTING THOSE WHO LOOTED THE UNDERGROUND MALL (INCLUDING BANKS AND JEWELERS, AS WELL AS SUNGLASSES KIOSKS) DURING AND WITHIN 24 HOURS OF THE WTC TOWERS COLLAPSE???

Oh dear, now that Palin has humorously exposed Obama as a do-nothing Senator with a pathetic resume (not even one bill with his name on it), Obama has unleashed the “Community Organizer” minons to pile on Palin. It is to laugh. I welcome extensive inquiries into Obama’s community organizing activities. Has anyone noticed how few details about these activities are out there? There’s good reason for this. His connections to radical groups will be fully exposed. Let’s hear all about it!

The GOP has made a terrible mistake on Palin. In spite of her great speech last night, how could they not pick someone like Kay B. Hutchinson or even Meg Whitman, who I thought gave a wonderful sppech. Palin, governs a state that has more moose than people, and zero foreign policy experience. Isn’t this lack of foreign policy experience a red flag in today’s trying world? Time to wake up people.

John McCain and Sarah Palin have brought change to America turning the stale old politics on it head. Now the MSM is falling over themselves trying to catch up with what happened. Sarah is a threat to the old same-old-same-old who will do their best to defend the old status quo – we see this with the smears. I am going to love watching Sarah break down plugs in a debate. I love the way she stabs those *daggers* with a smile. Wow!!!
Country first, McCain/Palin 08

Wasn’t the first night of the RNC all about “Service” to your country? Was there a change of thinking after one night? Why was there so much mockery made of community organizers? Doesn’t make much sense. Shorty memory or hypocrisy?

Great Speech…. Just that a speech,
somebody pissed her off…..
what is funny to me is that she spent a lot of time bashing and not a lot of time on the real issues….

It’s over obamites. Quit whining and wring your hands.Splash some cold water on your faces and wake up. It’s over for Obama.
Your boy sucks, it’s over.Sarah will stomp his skinny tail into the ground in every sense of the words.
Wait until O”reilly gets ahold of the liar tonite!!!

how does community organizer compare with sports caster?

Americans will never vote black. Just like they will never vote Jewish (just ask Lieberman and Gore). By default, the white Christians will always win (let’s face it, we didn’t let the South secede when they wanted to and now we carry their legacy…).
Does anyone honestly think that redneck, six-packin’, gun-toting white men will ever vote otherwise? Their wives will follow suit.
No Republicans will ever be swayed to the Democratic ticket on this election either.
That leaves 12 – 17% of the vote left for the Dems.
God bless America!

I was willing to give Gov. Palin the benefit of the doubt. I was hoping she would come out to introduce herself and provide substance solutions to America’s problems – economic and national security.
I was hoping she would put forth her vision for America and how to effectively assist in leading us in this 21st century.
But instead she was a let down. Her answer to defending her accomplishments was to try and diminish Sen. Obama’s strong legislative record and accomplishments. She stayed on the attack, lying and using vicious, divisive, gutter attacks. Basically, she proved and defined herself as someone who’s deeply rooted in the old failed and dirty politics America have seen year after year.
She has no real plan to make the American people lives better on the very serious issues we are facing – education, health care, mortgage crisis, poverty, energy crisis, job losses, etc.
She has proven, as have McCain, that she is committed to continuing the failed policies of Bush. And this is a shame since Bush has the lowest approval rating ever – 26%. …this is a shame since 80 % of the American people believe the country is on the wrong track and people are desperately seeking a new and better direction. This is a shame since America has lost it’s creditability abroad and neither McCain nor Palin has any solutions to offer the American people and our allies around the world. They are so “out-of-touch” on the needs that this nation is facing right now in this defining moment in history. They just don’t get it. They truly don’t have real solutions to fix this nation’s serious problems.
It’s time for the American people to get it right and NOT vote for McCain-Palin, instead vote for change. It’s time for this country to turn the page and seek a new and better future for ourselves and our children. It’s time for REAL change in Washington, it’s time to elect Barack Obama for president !
It’s the Obama-Biden ticket that’s needed at this defining moment in our history because this team is wiser and stronger to meet the challenges this nation faces at home and abroad.

Palin’s speech was well recited and eloquently delivered. However, the content was mere rhetoric and was an outright attack, not on Barack Obama, but on the heart of America. It is the community organizers that make America great. It was the community organizers that declared their independence and made America. And for Palin-McCain to attack America-to attack the ordinary American person- in this way is very un-American. What happen to changing your community to change America? It takes community organizers to do this.
What about Martin Luther King, Jr.? He was one of the greatest community organizers of our generation. According to Palin, he had no responsibilities. According to Palin, Martin Luther King, Jr. was unimportant. I believe Martin Luther King, Jr. would have made an excellent President, even though he was just a preacher turned community organizer. Except for Martin Luther King, Jr., I would not be where I am today. America would not be where it is today. He believed he could change America by changing his community; without him standing up first in his community; I would not even be able to ride in the front of the bus.
Enough is enough! Palin’s speech showed me the continued elitist nature of the Republican Party and for this reason we must support the Barack-Biden ticket. The Republicans-at least McCain-Palin- don’t care about the ordinary American. No! Palin made that very clear in her speech. She only cares for those who already have the strength, the financial capability, and the know how to build their bridges. But what about the ones who desire to build but can’t or don’t know how? Thank God for the community organizers.
I believe McCain-Palin owe the American people an apology for attacking community organizers. This was not just an attack on Barack Obama-he was a community organizers,- but on every current community organizer who just wants to make a difference in his or her community. For the community organizer who has the strength to stand up when others either do not care or do not have the courage or the know how to stand. God Bless America! God Bless the everyday American who believes he can change his America for the better one community at a time. God Bless the community organizers who declared independence and decided to become America. God Bless the Community Organizer.

Sadly, unfortunately – Palin words discredited and disservices all the community organizers who work exceedingly hard each day to be hopeful and helpful in changing the lives of all Americans faced amongst serious issues not excluding food, clothing, water and shelter as constitutional; fundamental necessities of any society.

Even in this short piece, the writers (ABC News’ Teddy Davis and Imtiyaz Delawala) have inserted their personal bias when referencing Gov. Palin’s hometown. They include the adjective of “tiny” when describing her hometown and cite the town’s population of 6,700.
However, when they reference Sen. Obama’s community organizing and state senate days there is never any mention of the size/population that he represented. Do “community organizers” know how big their community is? If not, then at the very least, there should be a population figure associated with the district he represented as a state senator. Is this population also “tiny?” We can’t judge because we are never given the comparative information.
On another issue I have is that the media never questions what Sen. Obama did or accomplished as a community organizer. They are as quick to cite this experience as they are to deride Gov. Palin’s experience as a mayor. In fact, the article quotes the senator’s own reference to this experience, “When I listen to another worker tell me that his factory has shut down,” Obama said at last week’s Democratic National Convention, “I remember all those men and women on the South Side of Chicago who I stood by and fought for two decades ago after the local steel plant closed.” — This last sentence should be a starting point for a “tiny” bit of journalistic investigation. He “fought for two decades. . .” what does this mean? Did he get anyone of these folks a job? Did he work to attract capital to the area to create new jobs? If so, how may jobs? How many were lost and how many did his efforts create? It would seem to me these are pretty basic questions.
I hope this is at least food for thought.
Julio

thank you Lostrax and Heather for your giving back. I too work with at risk youth in addition to my regular day job, I volunteer at the school, am a PTA president, Girl Scout troop leader and an advocate for teaching literacy to adults.
It bothered me the most that she could be that . . . HARD. The fact that the spectators found her comments about community organizing funny sealed it for me.
We simply cannot afford to have a McCain/Palin ticket in the White House.

Jesus was a Community Organizer.
Pontius Pilate was a Governor.

This will absolutely blow your mind. One more reason why you never hear the details of Obama’s “community organizing” activities in the mainstream media. People, we are being duped on an unimaginable level.
Michelle’s Boot Camps For Radicals
http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=article&id=305420655186700

Disparaging community organizing disparages all of the people who need help making their voices heard. Perhaps Palin and McCain are not interested in hearing these people’s voices–they are often poor and minority.

Jesus Christ and his disciples were community organizers. Pontius Pilate was a governor.