I Think Sarah Palin Is Against Another Stimulus Package...

...but, I'll let you decide:

"I say, you know, when is enough enough of taxpayer dollars being thrown into this bill out there?" she asked. "This next one of the Democrats being proposed should be very, very concerning to all Americans because to me it sends a message that $700 billion bailout, maybe that was just the tip of the iceberg. No, you know, we were told when we've got to be believing if we have enough elected officials who are going to be standing strong on fiscal conservative principles and free enterprise and we have to believe that there are enough of those elected officials to say, 'No, OK, that's enough.'"

Notes Ahead of the Vice-Presidential Debate

The vice-presidential debate tonight between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden starts at 9 p.m. Eastern Time and will run for 90 minutes.

It will be carried live by all major networks, and video streamed at a variety of internet sites.

The format is changed somewhat from the presidential debate last week. The candidates will have shorter time periods in which to speak. They will have 90 seconds each in which to answer questions (It was two minutes during the presidental debate) from the moderator and the moderator will guide a two-minute discussion on each topic.

Gwen Ifill will be the moderator. She is the managing editor and moderator for Washington Week (PBS) and a senior correspondant for The NewsHour (PBS). Sha also appears frequently on a number of Washington-based talk shows.

On October 5, 2004, she moderated the vice-presidential debate between Republican candidate Dick Cheney and Democratic candidate Senator John Edwards.

Ifill is writing a book with the title The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama, which is scheduled to be released January 20, 2009, Inauguration Day.

The Battle for Sarah Palin's Soul

Pat Buchanan writes:

Heading home to Alaska to prepare for her interview with Charlie Gibson, Palin was escorted by Randy Scheunemann, McCain's foreign policy guru and, until March, a hired agent of the Tbilisi regime.

Scheunemann's lobbying assignment: Bring Georgia into NATO, so U.S. troops, like 19-year-old Track Palin, will be required to fight Russia to defend a Saakashvili regime that has paid Randy and his partner $730,000.

Reportedly, a phone conversation was held between Saakashvili and Palin, in which Palin committed herself to the territorial integrity of Georgia, though South Ossetia and Abkhazia have declared independence and been recognized by Moscow, which now has troops in both.

Also on Palin's plane was Steve Biegun, formerly of Bush's National Security Council, and Scheunemann's choice to tutor her. Of Biegun, Steven Clemens of the New American Foundation says, "He will turn her into an advocate of Cheneyism and Cheney's view of national security issues."

During her interview with Gibson, Palin often took a neocon line. Three times she said that, should Israel decide to attack Iran, the United States should not "second guess" Israel's decision or interfere.

This contradicts U.S. policy. Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs, has warned Israel not to attack Iran, as the United States does not want a "third front." And the Pentagon is withholding crucial weapons the Israelis want and need to carry out any such attack.

Palin also volunteered that the Russian invasion was "unprovoked," though Georgia attacked South Ossetia first. She followed up by saying that Georgia and Ukraine should be brought into NATO.

Would that mean America would have to go to war with Russia on behalf of Georgia in any new conflict, asked Gibson.

"Perhaps so," said Palin.

Scheunemann should get a fat severance check from Saakashvili for that one.

One ex-White House aide at American Enterprise Institute, asked by Tim Shipman of the Daily Telegraph if AEI sees Palin as a "project," replied: "Your word, not mine. ... But I wouldn't disagree with the sentiment. ... She's bright, and she's a blank page. She's going places, and it's worth going there with her."...

But make no mistake. Sarah Palin is no neocon. She did not come by her beliefs by studying Leo Strauss. She is a traditionalist whose values are those of family, faith, community and country, not some utopian ideology.

Wasilla, Alaska, is not a natural habitat of neoconservatives...

Palin may disappoint many conservatives in the next seven weeks by having to parrot the McCain-neocon line on NATO expansion, NAFTA and a "path to citizenship" for illegal aliens. But the battle for Sarah's soul is not over.

For, again, the lady is no neocon. Nor is the husband Todd, First Dude of Alaska and former member of the "Alaska First" Independence Party.

Willie Brown: It's Between Brother Barack and Sistah Sarah

Says former San Francisco Mayor Wille Brown:

Right now, the best shot Obama has of winning is to get out and register 12 million or so unregistered blacks, especially in the South. But he has got to do it without anyone noticing.

Palin will have no problem signing up new voters in her group. She can go to the Mountain Dew 250 in Talladega, Ala., and pitch for votes, and no one will bat an eye.

But Obama can't go to a meeting called by Al Sharpton to get out the black vote, because if he does there will be a backlash.

He's got to do it under the radar.

>
HTlrc

Straight Talk From Alaksa

Rep. Les Gara’s take on John McCain’s spin and interference with the bi-partisan “Troopergate”/Sarah Palin Investigation is here.

On Wads of Cash and An 80% Approval Rating

Mudflats reports on Sarah Palins return to Alaska, and her speech upon landing at the airport:

Palin also made reference to the $1200 energy rebate that’s about to land in the bank account of every Alaskan man, woman and child. This amount is in addition to the $2069 permanent fund dividend check from oil profits in the state that also goes in to the bank account of every man woman and child. As you can imagine, handing out wads of cash to people doesn’t hurt your approval ratings. The Permanent Fund Dividend (pfd) is something Alaskans have gotten every year since 1980, and has ranged from a few hundred dollars to this years biggest check ever. The energy rebate, though, is something new....

She talked about how this type of energy rebate is “unheard of in other states”. That one had to be for the national media, because, of course it’s unheard of in other states… the only reason we’re getting it is because the price of oil is so high, and as the oil companies make more money, so does our permanent fund, and so do we. We all know that. It got applause anyway - it’s cash. She went on to say:

“But we believed that you believed you could spend that money better than government could spend it for you.”

Also a bit strange, because Palin’s original idea was to give Alaskans an energy debit card that would have a certain amount each month and had to be used for energy expenses. Eventually, she was talked out of it, and just decided to stick with cold hard cash… which means many Alaskans are probably going to be getting big screen TVs and freezing their butts off this winter. But that’s another story.

Matt Damon Rips Sarah Palin

The actor, Matt Damon, asks what is known and unkown about Sarah Palin, and presents some logical questions about Palin that every citizen should be asking.

-Robert Wenzel

The Debate I Would Like To See

Sarah Palin versus Michelle Obama

-Robert Wenzel

Palin Is Just Another Awful Candidate

We already know how bad Obama, McCain, and Biden are because they are familiar. Palin is a new one. She's awful too, and I mean downright awful, says Michael S. Rozeff here.

Fund: Dems Air Drop Mini-Army Into Alaska

WSJ's John Fund reports:

Democrats have airdropped a mini-army of 30 lawyers, investigators and opposition researchers into Anchorage, the state capital Juneau and Mrs. Palin's hometown of Wasilla to dig into her record and background. My sources report the first wave arrived in Anchorage less than 24 hours after John McCain selected her on August 29

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Report: McCain Has Serious Undisclosed Ailments

Heavy weight Canadian-based reporter Eric Margolis writes in his most recent column:

One of McCain’s old friends in Washington told me the senator has serious but so far undisclosed ailments. Americans had better think hard about President Palin from Alaska.

Margolis' report should not be taken lightly. He is a regular commentator for CBC TV (Canadian Broadcast Television), CNN, CNN International, FOX and CTV (Canadian Television).

He has appeared on 'Good Morning America', ABC TV News, CBS TV News, PBS New York, Sky News Britain.

He is a graduate of:

School Of Foreign Service, Georgetown University

University of Geneva, Switzerland

New York University

He does not report matters, unless he has the goods.

Nonsense Talk From Sarah Palin

Expect more of this kind of talk, whenever she isn't speaking with the help of a teleprompter, since she doesn't have a clue.

This weekend, speaking before voters in Colorado Springs, Palin claimed that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had "gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers."

At the time of her comments, Fannie and Freddie were not under conservatorship and thus far from being "too expensive," the cost to taxpayers at that point was zero.

The Economics of Digging Up Dirt On Sarah Palin

The chart below shows the Quantcast traffic estimates for National Enquirer's web site through July 31, when they first started to break news on the John Edward's story. Traffic more than tripled to 906,000 per month. With rumors and interest brewing all around Sarah Palin right now, traffic has to be approaching, if not exceeding, 1.5 million visitors for them. And, keep in mind, National Enquirer's web presence is minor compared to its print publication.

Did Sarah Palin Have Affairs With Two Of Her Husband's Business Partners?

As reported earlier, John McCain’s campaign threatened legal action against the National Enquirer for running a story about McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin, allegedly having an affair with her husband’s business partner.

Speculation by some immediately turned to Brad Hanson as the man she may have had an affair with. According to Alaskan Abroad, sources in Alaska say the incident occurred in mid 1990s, right around the time she became mayor of Wasilla. Todd Palin's partner in a Polaris snowmachine dealership in Wasilla, Brad Hanson, and Sarah were reportedly in some kind of relationship, but they denied it was consummated.

Whatever went on, Todd found out enough so that he dissolved the partnership and sold the dealership.

But there's another more recent former business partner where Sarah's flirtatious ways may have gone to far. One, Scott Richter, filed an emergency motion on Wednesday to have his divorce papers sealed. Richter is another Todd Palin former business partner. Richter's motion to seal his divorce records has been denied.

The questions being asked now are "What's in the divorce files that Richter suddenly wants them sealed?" And some bloggers are asking "Did the very flirty Palin have affairs with two of her husband's business partners?"

Since the court has denied Richter's motion to have the files sealed , the first question should be answered shortly. And with more investigative reporters now in Alaska, than moose, no doubt the second question will also be answered soon.

UPDATE: Looks like we are down to one business partner. Smoking Gun reports:

So why did an associate of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's husband file an emergency court motion Wednesday to seal all the documents in his divorce case? As followers of the Palin feeding frenzy know, the National Enquirer this week reported the "incredible allegation" that Palin had an extramarital affair with an unnamed former "business partner" of her husband. Once the politician's husband Todd learned of the purported affair, an Enquirer source claimed, he "quickly dissolved his friendship and his business associations with the guy." So when the blogosphere discovered today (via an online court docket) that Scott Richter, a Palin associate, personally filed a sealing motion in Alaska Superior Court, well, conclusions were jumped to. Was Sarah Palin named as the other woman in a messy divorce action? Well, since Richter's September 3 motion, a copy of which you'll find below, was denied yesterday, his divorce filings remain open to the public. And a TSG review of the 98-page file shows that the Palins are only mentioned in Richter's sealing request. According to the filing, Richter wanted the documents deemed confidential in a bid to cloak details about his home, workplace, and phone numbers because "reporters and news agencies" were using that information to contact him. Richter, a 39-year-old contractor, noted that he is "friends and land owners in a remote cabin" with the Palins and, as a result, journalists were intruding on the "cabin life and private life" of him and his 11-year-old son. The petition to dissolve the marriage was filed jointly last July by Richter and his ex-wife, who were not represented by lawyers. A judge granted the dissolution less than two months after the couple filed to end their marriage

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Behind Sarah Palin's Support of Israel

A picture has been circling on the internet which highlights the fact that John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, has a flag of Israel in her office.

Prior to her big acceptance speech at the Republican Convention, she had cancelled all appearances except for a meeting with the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC.

The obvious questions then become "What is Palin doing with an Israeli flag in her office when there does not seem to be any natural Israeli or Jewish constituency in Alaska, since there are few Jews in Alaska?", " Why is  AIPAC the first an only group she  met with before her big speech?"

The answer is likely in Palin's religious beliefs.

The McCain campaign has said Gov. Palin was baptized as an infant in the Catholic Church. At some point she converted to fudamnentalist Christian beliefs and as a junior high schooler, Palin was baptized at a Pentacostal church, the Wasilla Assembly of God. She worshipped for more than two decades there. According to WSJ, the congregants speak in tongues and are part of a faith that believes humanity is in its "end times" -- the days preceding a world-ending cataclysm bringing Christian redemption and the second coming of Jesus.

For the last seven years she and her family have attended the Wasilla Bible Church ,a nondenominational church in Wasilla. The church is evangelical, though not Pentecostal or charismatic, and believers don't speak in tongues. While in Juneau, the state capital, Palin attends the Juneau Christian Center, an Assemblies of God church. The continued Assemblies of God connection is key.

What does all this have to do with Israel?

The Wasilla Assembly of God, the Juneau Christian Center and the parent denomination -- the three-million member General Council of the Assemblies of God -- espouse core beliefs not widely ascribed to by major Christian factions, accordng to WSJ. The denomination's Web site says some scholars believe that the "end times" to the Holy Land, fulfilling a Biblical prophecy. The Assemblies of God is part of a Pentecostal movement that numbers 80 million people world-wide.

"Historically, the Assemblies of God have been dispensationalists, which means they believe in 'the rapture' of Christians that takes them out of the world. Central to that position is a very strong support for Israel. It's integral to their view of both prophecy and politics. Denying Israel is almost like denying the faith, " Merrill Matthews, an evangelical Christian specialst told the Washington Times.

In 2000, Dr. Gary North wrote an article, The Unannounced Reason Behind American Fundamentalism's Support for the State of Israel. In part of that article, North wrote:

The dominant premillennial view says that Jews will suffer the Great Tribulation. Born-again Christians will have flown the coop – literally. This is the doctrine of the pre-tribulation Rapture.

According to pre-tribulation premillennialists, who are known as dispensationalists, Jesus will come secretly in the clouds and raise deceased Christians – and only Christians – from the dead. Immediately thereafter, every true Christian will be transported bodily into the sky, and from there to heaven: the Rapture event...

The belief continues that all of the Christians, in the Rapture event, will have been removed from this world three and a half years prior to the beginning of a 42-month period of tribulation where two-thirds of all Jews will be killed. "The one third that are left will be refined and be awaiting the deliverance of God at the second coming of Christ," according to John F. Walvoord in his book, Israel in Prophecy.

North again:

The Rapture-based escape from history is now universally believed by fundamentalists to be imminent. Generations of fundamentalists have believed that they will escape bodily death. They will be transported into the sky, like Elijah, though without benefit of chariots...

But when? That has been the great question. The answer: "Soon"...

But how can they be so sure? Because of the events of 1948. In that year, the crucial missing piece of the prophetic puzzle – the restoration of the nation of Israel – seemed to come true. Critics of the dispensational system could no longer say, "But where is Israel in all this?" The answer, at long last: "In Palestine, just in time for the Great Tribulation."...

It should be clear why they believe that Israel must be defended at all costs by the West. If Israel were militarily removed from history prior to the Rapture, then the strongest case for Christians’ imminent escape from death would have to be abandoned. This would mean the indefinite delay of the Rapture. The fundamentalist movement thrives on the doctrine of the imminent Rapture, not the indefinitely postponed Rapture...Fundamentalists really do believe that they probably will not die physically...The presence of Israel validates the hope of fundamentalists that Christians, and Christians alone, will get out of life alive.

UPDATE: Details emerge of the Palin/AIPAC meeting from WaPo:

Joe Lieberman, who was the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee but is now an independent, has helped introduce Palin to officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the leading pro-Israel lobby. In a meeting Tuesday, the day before she delivered her prime-time address at the Republican National Convention here, Palin assured the group of her strong support for Israel, of her desire to see the United States move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and of her opposition to Iran's aspirations to become a nuclear power, according to sources familiar with the meeting

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Palin's Convention Speech Brings in Cash for Obama

Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin is bringing in campaign cash for the Democrats as well as her own party.

Barack Obama reported raising at least $10 million from more than 130,000 donors today after Palin, the Alaska governor, addressed the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, yesterday.

The money followed an e-mail solicitation campaign manager David Plouffe ``You know that despite what John McCain and his attack squad say, every day people have the power to build something extraordinary when we come together,'' he wrote.

McCain raised $10 million after Palin was selected as his running mate Aug. 29.

Source: Bloomberg via Yahoo

Is Phil Gramm a Behind the Scenes McCain Advisor?

John McCain threw Phil Gramm under the bus as an advisor, when Gramm got into hot water in July for telling a newspaper that Americans are a “nation of whiners,” and that the United States only suffers from “a mental recession.”

But is Gramm really gone?

According to Bloomberg, Gramm excluded McCain elite supporters from his description of Americans as ``a nation of whiners.''

``If you're sitting here today, you're not economically illiterate and you're not a whiner, so I'm not worried about who you're going to vote for,'' the former Texas senator told attendees at a Financial Services Roundtable event in Minneapolis on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention.

Supposedly at the roundtable, Gramm also defended the campaign’s vetting of Sarah Palin to be McCain’s running mate by saying, “We went through a process of vetting all possible candidates.”

"We"? Is Gramm still provding Gramm sideline advice?

Gramm is beyond doubt the best tutor McCain could have as far as an economic advisor. The man knows economics. But as evidenced by his "nation of whiners" and "a mental recession" comments, though economically accurate at the time, they were politically tone deaf comments.

If the tone deaf Gramm was advising McCain on his vice-presidential that resulted in the pick of the daffy Palin, it explains a lot.

Ben Stein Rips Sarah Palin's Economic Knowledge

Robert Reich On Being Vetted

Robert Reich doesn't believe Sarah Palin was vetted the way he was. Reich, who served as Labor Secretary in the Clinton Administration, explains what his vetting process was like:

Having been through the process of “vetting” prospective cabinet members, I can tell you it’s time-consuming, detailed, and thorough. I’d like to think the vetting of a vice presidential nominee would be more so – especially one whose odds of becoming president, should she be elected, are somewhat higher than that of the normal vice president.

Sixteen years ago, Bill Clinton’s “vetting” team asked me and other prospective cabinet members for (1) our tax returns, going back at least five years, (2) our bank records, (3) a detailed listing of our assets, (4) the names and places of everywhere we had lived, and the names and phone numbers of neighbors whom they could call about us, (5) a description of every job we had ever had, every client we had ever served, and the names of employers and clients with whom they could check, (6) the names of our family members, their ages, their occupations (if any), (7) a description of any civil or criminal investigations or prosecutions in which we had been involved (8) and – perhaps most importantly – “anything we should ask you about, the answer to which might cause you or the administration any embarrassment.”

It didn’t stop there. Investigators checked our answers, interviewed our friends and neighbors and former employers, asked for more records if uncertain. Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation did their own background checks. Staff members of the relevant congressional committees, representing both parties, looked over the files and added questions of their own.

It didn’t even stop there. I recall two large, three-ring black binders containing passages from books and articles I had written that might prove troubling to some of the Senators. My vetting team suggested I be prepared to answer questions about them.

The process took well over a month, not including the Senate confirmation hearing. I don’t recall doing anything during that interval except responding to questions from the vetting team, the FBI, and oversight committee staffers, both Republican and Democrat.

McCain Camp Threatens Legal Action Against the National Enquirer

CBS News' John Bentley reports:

John McCain’s campaign threatened legal action against the National Enquirer today for running a story about McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin, allegedly having an affair with her husband’s business partner.

“Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin look forward to discussing the issues that Americans care about, fixing broken government, creating jobs, making our country energy independent and securing the peace for the next generation by bringing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to a victorious end,” said Schmidt.

“Legal action will be considered with regard to this disgraceful smear.”

The National Enquirer responded via Drudge:

The National Enquirer's coverage of a vicious war within Sarah Palin's extended family includes several newsworthy revelations, including the resulting incredible charge of an affair plus details of family strife when the Governor's daughter revealed her pregnancy. Following our John Edwards' exclusives, our political reporting has obviously proven to be more detail-oriented than the McCain campaign's vetting process. Despite the McCain camp's attempts to control press coverage they find unfavorable, The Enquirer will continue to pursue news on both sides of the political spectrum.

UPDATE: Did Sarah Palin Have Affairs With Two Of Her Husband's Business Partners? Details here.

Sarah Palin Appearances Cancelled; Meets With AIPAC

Except for a meeting with the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, Sarah Palin appearances have been canceled, according to WSJ. "She has to familiarize herself with every position John McCain has held over a number of years. That takes work and briefing," one McCain aide said. She has been kept from contact with the media and others by Republican operatives. Palin spent Tuesday in her hotel suite meeting with campaign aides and working on her speech.

She had private sessions with Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman and members of the pro-Israel group AIPAC. An AIPAC spokesman said Gov. Palin told its members she would "work to expand and deepen the strategic partnership between the U.S. and Israel."

Gov. Palin met with the campaign's top political advisers, including McCain campaign manager Rick Davis, senior strategist Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter, Sen. McCain's closest aide. The campaign released a photo of her sitting with Laura Bush and Cindy McCain, the wife of her running mate, but didn't provide any other details.

She also met with Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who handles domestic policy for the McCain campaign, and Randy Scheunemann, who directs foreign policy.

According to WSJ, beginning next week, Gov. Palin will travel to battleground states, starting with Florida, a McCain aide said, and including a heavy dose of visits to rural areas. She has 16 fund-raisers scheduled for this month in swing states.

Intrade Starts Market On Sarah Palin Being Dropped

Online prediction market Intrade has launched a contract on the probability of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin being dropped as John McCain’s running mate ahead of the November presidential election, here.

The Myth of Sarah Palin as Tax Cutter and Budget Cutter

Anne Kilkenny reports from Alaska:

During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%.

She inherited a city with zero debt, but, despite the increase in taxes,left it with indebtedness of over $22 million.

What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later--to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be...While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once.

And as governor, as I have already pointed out. Palin proposed a $750 million oil tax increase (bad enough). But it came out of the legislature at over $1.5 billion. According to Alaskan Andrew Halcro, "she signed it saying she thought it was close enough."

Palin signed into law a $6.6 billion operating budget—the largest in Alaska's history.

Palin proposed giving Alaskans $100-a-month energy debit cards. Of course, basic economics teaches the last thing you want to do, when a commodity is rising in price, is to encourage consumption. She also proposed providing grants to electrical utilities so that they would reduce customers' rates, again the last thing you want to do. She subsequently dropped the debit card proposal, and in its place she proposed to send Alaskans $1,200 directly.

In October 2007, Palin called a 30-day special session to raise the state's oil tax rate.

The governor's plan is called Alaska's Clear and Equitable Share, or ACES. Clear and equitable share? Doesn't sound very free market oriented--and it isn't.

It raises the state's current net profits tax on North Slope oil from a 22.5 percent to 25 percent base. There's also a "progressivity" surcharge where generally, when oil prices rise above roughly $50 a barrel, the tax rate increases by another .2 percent for each additional dollar a barrel. Thus, at $100 per barrel the tax jumps to 35 percent.

The bill also has a tax floor, at $40 per barrel. Palin said of her bill:

Progressiveness is the additional share we capture when oil prices and profits are high. I chose to set the progressiveness knob [i.e., the windfall profits tax] at a relatively low level in exchange for more security when prices are low. We accomplished this through a gross tax floor at our legacy fields. If the Legislature chooses to discard that floor, then the knob on progressiveness needs to be set higher — to make sure we capture a more equitable share when prices are high and profits extraordinary.

No tax cutter or budget cutter here.


Kilkenny report via Andrew Sullivan

Palin Hires Lawyer For Troopergate

The Alaskan Legislature is investigating whether Sarah Palin fired public safety commissioner Walt Monegan after he refused to fire a state trooper who had divorced Palin's sister.

The Legislature's investigating committee disclosed today that Palin hired an attorney. The committee released an e-mailed letter it had received from the lawyer on Friday, the day McCain announced she would be McCain's running mate.

"We have been hired to represent the Governor and the Governor's Office" in the investigation, Anchorage attorney Thomas V. Van Flein wrote. "We fully welcome a fair inquiry into these allegations. ... Please know that we intend to cooperate with this investigation."

Palin Versus Biden...

...if she lasts that long.

The vice-presidential debate is October 2nd.

ACES Up, Way Up: More On Palin's Tax Increase

In October 2007, Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin called a 30-day special session to raise the state's oil tax rate.

The governor's plan is called Alaska's Clear and Equitable Share, or ACES. Clear and equitable share? Doesn't sound very free market oriented--and it isn't.

It would raise the state's current net profits tax on North Slope oil from a 22.5 percent to 25 percent base. There's also a "progressivity" surcharge where generally, when oil prices rise above roughly $50 a barrel, the tax rate increases by another .2 percent for each additional dollar a barrel. Thus, at $100 per barrel the tax jumps to 35 percent.

The bill also has a tax floor, at $40 per barrel. Palin said of her bill:

Progressiveness is the additional share we capture when oil prices and profits are high. I chose to set the progressiveness knob [i.e., the windfall profits tax] at a relatively low level in exchange for more security when prices are low. We accomplished this through a gross tax floor at our legacy fields. If the Legislature chooses to discard that floor, then the knob on progressiveness needs to be set higher — to make sure we capture a more equitable share when prices are high and profits extraordinary.

Great discourage oil drilling when prices are high, and encourage (by lowering the tax burden)when prices are low. Plain is clueless.

Get a load of this comment:

Keep in mind that the original oil tax rate recommendation was 25 percent. That's the same rate we are recommending in ACES. It has been reviewed by numerous economists with worldwide oil and gas experience. There is no dissension -- 25 percent is the right number.

No dissension? Off the top of my head, I can think of a dozen economists that would disagree with the tax. But she presents it as a fait accompli that there is no dissension. Any economic conservative or libertarian who backs this woman is displaying more a sign of a willingness to jump on a bandwagon, before knowing all the facts, than anything else.

Did I Say Daffy...

Sarah Palin is in way over her head. It sounded daffy to me that Palin had a fifth child at 44, as I pointed out in my post Sarah Palin: Daffy With A Touch of Igloo Trash , just this morning:

Then, of course, there is the curious fact that, though she already has four children, is the Governor of Alaska and is in her 40's, she has another child.

Also, in looking over pics, to find one of Sarah Palin with the baby, I noticed that most of the pictures of the McCain-Palin public announcement of the Republican ticket had Bristol in the background lovingly holding the baby. My thought at that point, and there was no reason to then blog it, was that Bristol wanted a baby real bad. She just had that look of care about the baby.

Now, the theory has broken that the most recent baby may not be Sarah's but that of her daughter, Bristol.

From the Alaska Daily News March, 6, 2008 via the Daily Kos:

JUNEAU -- Gov. Sarah Palin shocked and awed just about everybody around the Capitol on Wednesday when she announced she's expecting her fifth child.

The governor, who recently turned 44, told a handful of reporters as she was leaving work to expect a new member of the first family, then headed to a reception at the Baranof Hotel to feast on king crab.

Palin said she's already about seven months along, with the baby due to arrive in mid-May.

That the pregnancy is so advanced astonished all who heard the news. The governor, a runner who's always been trim, simply doesn't look pregnant.

Even close members of her staff said they only learned this week their boss was expecting.

Daily Kos:

Apparently her teenage daughter was out of school, unseen, for months, because she "had mono".

You really have to blame John McCain for this. He plucked a woman, literally out of the wilderness, to be his running mate, without properly vetting her. Supposedly, the McCain camp didn't even know that Palin was under investigation for ethics violations for trying to get her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper. Though she has high, albeit declining, approval ratings in Alaska, my guess is she was almost in over her head in Alaska, never mind a heartbeat away from the presidency.

UPDATE: Who would have figured? There are TWO pregnancies outside the middle of the bell curve, in the Palin family. We now have a very plausible explanation of "pregnancygate”. Sarah delivered a baby, Trig, and according to Sarah and Todd Palin in the following statement:

Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned.

We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support.

UPDATE 2:

This may not be over. Stay tuned. McCain and Palin might be off the charts nutty with what they are trying to pull off.

Sarah Palin In Profile: The View of An Alaskan Politician Who Ran Against Her

Andrew Halcro, a Republican turned independent, who ran against Sarah Palin for governor in 2006, provdes some insights into the woman who will join John McCain on the Republcan ticket:

Palin is a fighter and is has an amazing way of filling a room with her presence. During the gubernatorial race in 2006, it was an amazing sight to behold at every debate. No matter what she said, if anything, people would just gush at her optimism and her compelling story.

While I and others criticized her glittering generalities during the campaign, the more she spoke them the more people fell in love. That is the significant power she has of making voters forget about the policy and focus on the person.

Palin should never, ever be underestimated. Far too many seasoned politicians have doubted her ability due to her appearance that she lacks any grasp or vision about public policy challenges.

I recall during a late night flight back from a Fairbanks campaign event in 2006, sitting next to former Governor and Democratic opponent Tony Knowles on the plane, talking about Palin's uncanny popularity.

I remember Knowles saying that what was most surprising to him regarding his polling was that Palin scored off the charts with well educated moderate and liberal women. This seemed counter intuative given Palin's inability to articulate public policies and her very conservative postion on issues such as abortion...

Another weakness is Palin's habit of tailoring the facts of a situation to meet her political needs.

Yesterday in her Dayton acceptance speech, Palin stated, "...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."

This was not true.

Not only did the state keep the money that was earmarked for the bridge to be used on other transportation projects, but Palin had been a strong supporter of the bridge during her gubernatorial run in 2006, claiming Alaska needed to seize upon the seniority of its congressional delegation...

As a close observer of her administration, Palin has had a habit of holding press conferences surrounded by the crutch of her staff.

When questions get too detailed, she anxiously looks around the room for someone to save her...

She has also exhibited a quick temper with those who question her...

In April of 2006, Palin and I shared a cup of coffee together in the Captain Cook coffee shop. We had just been at a debate up at the University of Fairbanks the night before and she said although the was impressed with my ability to state policies and figures, when looking out over the audience, she wondered to herself if having a grasp of that really mattered.

In October of 2006, at a health care debate at UAA late in the campaign, while Tony Knowles and I waited backstage to go on, Palin sat in the corner with two of her aides trying to force feed her health care information. She ended up walking on stage with an arm load of health care reports.

The fact was that having a grasp of policies and figures didn't matter. Because at the end of the day, policies and figures didn't win the election; Palin won the election by being the candidate that people liked the most, not the candidate that knew the most.

Raising Taxes: The Sarah Palin Method

Palin proposed a $750 million oil tax increase (bad enough). But it came out of the legislature at over $1.5 billion. According to Alaskan Andrew Halcro, "she signed it saying she thought it was close enough."

Sarah Palin: Balancing BlackBerries and Baby

Via Meghan McCain

Sarah Palin: Daffy With A Touch of Igloo Trash

Maybe John McCain thinks he needs the vote of southern California's notoriously clueless Valley Girls to put him over the top, otherwise the choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate makes little sense.

Let's put it this way, Sarah Palin appears, well, Valley Girlish, on the issues. Last year, Alaska Business News asked her about the war in Iraq.:

Alaska Business Monthly: We've lost a lot of Alaska's military members to the war in Iraq. How do you feel about sending more troops into battle, as President Bush is suggesting?

Palin: I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq. I heard on the news about the new deployments, and while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place; I want assurances that we are doing all we can to keep our troops safe. Every life lost is such a tragedy. I am very, very proud of the troops we have in Alaska, those fighting overseas for our freedoms, and the families here who are making so many sacrifices.

I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq. I heard on the news about the new deployments... WTF?

According to Mark Benjamin at Salon:

Seven months into the surge, she still either had not formed any opinion on the surge or the war or just wasn't sharing. "I'm not here to judge the idea of withdrawing, or the timeline," she said in a teleconference interview with reporters during a July 2007 visit with Alaska National Guard troops stationed in Kuwait. "I'm not going to judge even the surge. I'm here to find out what Alaskans need of me as their governor."

That's a little weird, since Fort Richardson, near Anchorage, has dispatched countless soldiers to Iraq, including many who did not make it back. And Palin's own son, Track, is an infantry soldier who could go there any time.

Next to Palin, Dan Quayle begins to look like Henry Kissinger.

Then, of course, there is her support of Pat Buchanan:

Pat Buchanan brought his conservative message of a smaller government and an America First foreign policy to Fairbanks and Wasilla on Friday as he continued a campaign swing through Alaska. Buchanan's strong message championing states rights resonated with the roughly 85 people gathe.red for an Interior Republican luncheon in Fairbanks. … Among those sporting Buchanan buttons were Wasilla Mayor Sarah Palin and state Sen. Jerry Ward, R-Anchorage.

Buchanan on Hardball also said of Palin and her husband that "They were at a fundraiser for me." He called her a "terrific gal" and a "rebel reformer."

But this isn't your run-of-the-mill Buchanan supporter. Buchanan supporters aren't sending their children off to fight in Iraq.

And, though she wore a Buchanan button, she responded to the AP story in a letter to the editor, saying that "the article may have left your readers with the perception that I am endorsing this candidate, as opposed to welcoming his visit to Wasilla. As mayor, I will welcome all the candidates in Wasilla."

Just having some fun with buttons, I guess. It's all a bit daffy.

Then, of course, there is the curious fact that though she already has four children, is the Governor of Alaska and is in her 40's that she has another child.

Daffy times 2?

Walt Disney couldn't think this up for movie plot. A 40-something, former beauty pageant contestant and governor of Alaska, still nursing her infant son and clueless about foreign affairs and economic issues, is chosen as a vice-presidential running mate of an old man who has had more bouts with cancer than she has had babies.

There is, also, the trailer trash Jerry Springer angle to the story, though this is Alaska, so, perhaps, it is more like an igloo trash story. Palin's divorced sister is in a nasty custody battle with her ex, who happens to be a state trooper. Naturally, in what can only be described as a hell hath no fury Jerry Springer moment, sis, the Governor Sarah, uses her office to try to get said state trooper fired--with all the attendant investigations and ramifications.

And, oh yeah, the ex-husband-in-law trooper apparently tasered his son. It was supposedly because the kid wanted to know what it felt like and dad swears it was on "test mode".

There's more, Jerry Springer would really be proud, there is a rumor that the Governor's husband has a "John Edwards problem times ten zillion."

Palin Will Be Ready

"Palin will be ready for that 3 a.m. phone call: She’ll already be up with her baby. "- Kate O'Beirne via Rames Ponnuru

The Sarah Palin Ethics Probe

Mudflats reports, one would guess, from the mudflats:

...if McCain had made his selection six months ago, the squeaky-clean governor meme would have made a little more sense. But, Sarah Palin is currently under an ethics investigation by the Alaska state legislature. The details of this investigation read like a trashy novel, and I suspect that the players will soon have newfound celebrity on the national stage. I’ll try to explain for all you non-Alaskans who suddenly have good reason to want to know more about Sarah Palin. For those of you not interested in trashy novels, feel free to skip ahead. Here it is…what we in Alaska call “TrooperGate”.

Sarah Palin’s sister Molly married a guy named Mike Wooten who is an Alaska State Trooper. Mike and Molly had a rocky marriage. When the marriage broke up, there was a bitter custody fight that is still ongoing. During the custody investigation, all sorts of things were brought up about Wooten including the fact that he had illegally shot a moose (yes folks this is Alaska), driven drunk, and used a taser (on the test setting, he reminds us) on his 11-year old stepson, who supposedly had asked to see what it felt like. While Wooten has turned out to be a less than stellar figure, the fact that Palin’s father accompanied him on the infamous moose hunt, and that many of the dozens of charges brought up by the Palin family happened long before they were ever reported smacked of desperate custody fight. Wooten’s story is that he was basically stalked by the family.

After all this, Wooten was investigated and disciplined on two counts and allowed to kept his position with the troopers. Enter Walt Monegan, Palin’s appointed new chief of the Department of Public Safety and head of the troopers. Monegan was beloved by the troopers, did a bang-up job with minimal funding and suddenly got axed. Palin was out of town and Monegan got “offered another job” (aka fired) with no explanation to Alaskans. Pressure was put on the governor to give details, because rumors started to swirl around the fact that the highly respected Monegan was fired because he refused to fire the aforementioned Mike Wooten. Palin vehemently denied ever talking to Monegan or pressuring Monegan in any way to fire Wooten, or that anyone on her staff did. Over the weeks it has come out that not only was pressure applied, there were literally dozens of conversations in which pressure was applied to fire him. Monegan has testified to this fact, spurring an ongoing investigation by the Alaska state legislature. But, before this investigation got underway, Palin sent the Alaska State Attorney General out to do some investigative work of his own so she could find out in advance what the real investigation was going to find. (No, I’m not making this up). The AG interviewed several people, unbeknownst to the actual appointed investigator or the Legislature! Palin’s investigation of herself uncovered a recorded phone call retained by the Alaska State Troopers from Frank Bailey, a Palin underling, putting pressure on a trooper about the Wooten non-firing. Todd Palin (governor’s husband) even talked to Monegan himself in Palin’s office while she was away. Bailey is now on paid administrative leave.

As if this weren’t enough, Monegan’s appointed replacement Chuck Kopp, turns out to have been the center of his own little scandal. He received a letter of reprimand and was reassigned after sexual harrassment allegations by a former coworker who didn’t like all the unwanted kissing and hugging in the office. Was he vetted? Obviously not. When he was questioned about all this, his comment was that no one had asked him and he thought they all knew. Kopp, defiant, still claimed to have done nothing wrong and said to the press that there was no way he was stepping down from his new position. Twenty four hours later, he stepped down. Later it was uncovered that he received a $10,000 severance package for his two weeks on the job from Palin. Monegan got nothing.

After extensive news coverage about all this nasty behind-the-scenes scandal, which is definitely NOT squeaky clean, Palin’s approval ratings fell to 67%, still high, but a far cry from the 90% number that’s being thrown around so glibly by the Republicans today. Alaskans are quickly becoming disillusioned once again.

University of Colorado Sophmore Put Sarah Palin On The VP Map

Adam Brickley, who on his blog profile lists his interests as "politics, Zionism, and 'fighting socialism'," may be largely responsible for getting Sarah Palin on the Republican ticket.

Brickely started a "Draft Sarah Palin for Vice President" blog last year and, according to the Anchorage Daily News, has relentlessly promoted the idea ever since.

The Daily News continues:

Brickley has never been to Alaska or met Palin. But while researching potential vice presidents, he stumbled on Palin and thought she would be a good No. 2 to just about all of the major Republican candidates in the race at the time. …The "Draft Palin" movement picked up momentum in more mainstream media, including a column last summer by Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard.

Others followed, including talk over the past couple weeks from conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

According to Brickley's blog, tonight:

Just so that you all know, I did receive a brief phone call tonight from Todd and Sarah Palin. Thanks to them for being so kind.

What The Hell Are Lew Rockwell, Thomas DiLorenzo and James Ostrowski Thinking?

Rockwell, DiLorenzo and Ostrowski are all ga ga, here, here and here, over John McCain's VP pick, Sarah Palin. They write she's a Paulian, she's a Buchanaite, in fact, she probably would jump on any bandwagon that has wheels and is looking to stir up trouble.

As we have already pointed out, Palin signed into law a $6.6 billion operating budget—the largest in Alaska's history.

Palin proposed giving Alaskans $100-a-month energy debit cards. Of course, basic economics teaches the last thing you want to do, when a commodity is rising in price, is to encourage consumption. She also proposed providing grants to electrical utilities so th