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.