Sarah Palin. And McCain's lack of class!

John McCain was always ready to decry any untoward criticism of Barack Obama and he should have been. It is the right thing to do when valid. But now, when Sarah Palin is under attack from his disloyal political hacks, he is completely silent. It is sad in a way because it shows that he is now done with conservatives and is more than happy to put them back under the bus where he feels they belong. But his crew still needs to get past the "facts". This is from the Corner on National Review:

Palin and Africa, Etc. [Rich Lowry]


I talked to Steve Biegun, the former Bush NSC aid who briefed Sarah Palin on foreign policy, and he considers the leaks against her on the international stuff "absurd."

He says there's no way she didn't know Africa was a continent, and whoever is saying she didn't must be distorting "a fumble of words." He talked to her about all manner of issues relating to Africa, from failed states to the Sudan. She was aware from the beginning of the conflict in Darfur, which is followed closely in evangelical churches, and was aware of Clinton's AIDS initiative. That basically makes it impossible that she thought all of Africa was a country.

On not knowing what countries are in NAFTA, Biegun was part of the conversation that led to that accusation and it convinces him "somebody is acting with a high degree of maliciousness." He was briefing Palin before a Univision interview, and talking to her about trade issues. He rolled through NAFTA, CAFTA, and the Colombia FTA. As he talked, people were coming in and out of the room, handing Palin things, etc. She was distracted from what Biegun was saying, and said, roughly, "Ok, who's in NAFTA, what's the deal with CAFTA, what's up the FTA?"—her way, Biegun says, of saying "rack them and stack them," begin again from the start. "Somebody is taking a conversation and twisting it maliciously," he says.

In general, according to Beigun, Palin had a steep learning curve on foreign issues, about what you would expect from a governor. But she has "great instincts and great core values," and is "an instinctive internationalist." The stories against her are being "fed by an unnamed source who is allowed by the press to make ad hominem attacks on background." Biegun, who spent dozens and dozens of hours briefing Palin on these issues, is happy to defend her, on the record, under his own name.

The entire article is here.

Mr McCain. Will you finally disavow the comments of your hacks? Or will you just let silence make your case. This situation has made me realized that Barack Obama and his organization has far outclassed the McCain organization and how wrong these people are both for Sarah Palin and for our country.

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Now Palin gets it from "friendly" fire.

We just finished a historic election. John McCain literally got his clock cleaned by a better run and better financed operation. And McCain's staff clowns have now decided to go after Sarah Palin. Michelle Malkin has the story here.

But the real issue is that a pack of losers who let down John McCain are now telling stories behind the scenes to media outlets to trash Sarah Palin. And many outlets are trying to blame Palin for McCain's loss.

Here is the deal.

1. Sarah Palin was the only breath of life in McCain's pathetic campaign.
2. Palin absorbed more garbage than any politician I have seen in my adult life. And yet she showed class and calm through it all.
3. McCain was incoherent and frankly never really made the case for himself.
4. McCain's staff should go down in history as the most disorganized, disloyal and incompetent in the history of Presidential campaigns.
5. McCain's crew speaking out of school is frankly poetic justice. While I supported him, I am now glad he did not win if this is the kind of people he has put in positions of authority.
6. If McCain doesn't come out and tell these people to grow up, it will say a lot.
7. Honor applies to politics as well as the military.

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Sarah Palin on Flyers Coatesy's Corner!

Sarah Palin was in Philadelphia tonight to help the Flyers name the local winner of the area "Hockey Mom". It was very interesting to see how the team handled the situation. First off, they didn't allow anyone to disrupt the show. They played very loud music to ensure that the "Hockey Mom" took center stage rather than politics. No matter what your politics, if you are a hockey fan (am I am in the big way), the fact that Sarah Palin mentioned it in her convention speech and showed up tonight was a big deal.

At the first intermission, Steve Coates interviewed Sarah Palin. She talked about her son Track suggesting that she tone down the enthusiasm and I frankly believe it. All in all it was good news about hockey.

And for the freaks in the audience either left or right. If you had a problem with this or you went to the game to disrupt this hockey specific tribute-you are a moron. Grow up. Sarah Palin is a great ambassador for hockey. And she will continue to be. But those of you who hate her have probably never even seen a hockey game. You are probably much more into your own world than into what she has already done for the game. Politics aside.

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McCain Camp Documents 14 Biden Lies in the debate!

Even though this came from the McCain campaign, it is still worthy to check the record. While I prefer to create my own talking points, I noticed last night that Joe Biden was a bit fast and loose with the truth. From the McCain campaign blog:

1. TAX VOTE: Biden said McCain voted “the exact same way” as Obama to increase taxes on Americans earning just $42,000, but McCain DID NOT VOTE THAT WAY.

2. AHMEDINIJAD MEETING: Joe Biden lied when he said that Barack Obama never said that he would sit down unconditionally with Mahmoud Ahmedinijad of Iran. Barack Obama did say specifically, and Joe Biden attacked him for it.

3. OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING: Biden said, “Drill we must.” But Biden has opposed offshore drilling and even compared offshore drilling to “raping” the Outer Continental Shelf.”

4. TROOP FUNDING: Joe Biden lied when he indicated that John McCain and Barack Obama voted the same way against funding the troops in the field. John McCain opposed a bill that included a timeline, that the President of the United States had already said he would veto regardless of it’s passage.

5. OPPOSING CLEAN COAL: Biden says he’s always been for clean coal, but he just told a voter that he is against clean coal and any new coal plants in America and has a record of voting against clean coal and coal in the U.S. Senate.

6. ALERNATIVE ENERGY VOTES: According to FactCheck.org, Biden is exaggerating and overstating John McCain’s record voting for alternative energy when he says he voted against it 23 times.

7. HEALTH INSURANCE: Biden falsely said McCain will raise taxes on people's health insurance coverage -- they get a tax credit to offset any tax hike. Independent fact checkers have confirmed this attack is false

8. OIL TAXES: Biden falsely said Palin supported a windfall profits tax in Alaska -- she reformed the state tax and revenue system, it's not a windfall profits tax.

9. AFGHANISTAN / GEN. MCKIERNAN COMMENTS: Biden said that top military commander in Iraq said the principles of the surge could not be applied to Afghanistan, but the commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force Gen. David D. McKiernan said that there were principles of the surge strategy, including working with tribes, that could be applied in Afghanistan.

10. REGULATION: Biden falsely said McCain weakened regulation -- he actually called for more regulation on Fannie and Freddie.

11. IRAQ: When Joe Biden lied when he said that John McCain was “dead wrong on Iraq”, because Joe Biden shared the same vote to authorize the war and differed on the surge strategy where they John McCain has been proven right.

12. TAX INCREASES: Biden said Americans earning less than $250,000 wouldn’t see higher taxes, but the Obama-Biden tax plan would raise taxes on individuals making $200,000 or more.

13. BAILOUT: Biden said the economic rescue legislation matches the four principles that Obama laid out, but in reality it doesn’t meet two of the four principles that Obama outlined on Sept. 19, which were that it include an emergency economic stimulus package, and that it be part of “part of a globally coordinated effort with our partners in the G-20.”

14. REAGAN TAX RATES: Biden is wrong in saying that under Obama, Americans won't pay any more in taxes then they did under Reagan.

Of course, they missed one that I consider the most indicative. Biden claimed that he was at Katie's on Union street in Delaware recently and heard....blah blah blah.

Funny thing is that restaurant has been closed for over 20 years. And it was never on Union street. When you lie when the truth will do, you are worse than a fool.

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My own letter to the Presidential Debates Commission

There is a lot of outrage over tonights Vice Presidential Debate and specifically over the selection of an obviously biased moderator Gwen Ifils. What did she do? She has written a book praising Obama which has a scheduled release date of Inauguration Day. Forgetting how she feels about Obama, does it not sound like she has a financial interest in seeing him elected? Will he book party not be a flop if he and Biden are not elected?

Below is a letter I sent to Janet Brown, the Executive Director of the Commission on Presidential Debates. Her email is jb@debates.org.


To Janet Brown:

I am confused how the Debates Commission could sponsor a debate of the Vice Presidential candidates that features a “moderator” that has a financial interest in one side to the detriment of the other. From your own mission statement:


The organization, which is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) corporation


I surely do not have to explain to you what the words in your own organization’s mission statement mean. But I would expect that most independent observers would define a moderator who:

1. Has a clear financial interest in one candidate winning over the other
2. Has had formal complaints lodged against her in the past for
unfair treatment of both parties in a debate
3. Has recently received formal complaints about her actions involving one of
the participants of THIS debate


It is incumbent upon the Debates Commission to ensure that Gwen Ifill be removed as the moderator fo the Vice Presidential debate on Thursday. It would demonstrate that the Debates Commission actually believes in non-partisan basic fairness.


Regards

Dennis

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Palin hubby's DUI. What about Obama and cocaine?

The Palins have been subjected to a tremendous amount of negative piling on by the media. I think this is probably because the mainstream media has never bothered to ask a single difficult question of Barack Obama. For example, Obama said in his book "Dreams from my father":

"Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though."

I suppose the political experts saw his book as an "inoculation" against future attacks. But I don't think so if the candidate was a Republican. For example, was is just powdered cocaine or crack? Did he ever deal drugs in addition to using them? The amazing thing is that these questions have never been asked, much less answered.

Yes, Sarah Palin's husbands DUI is relevent. Hmmm. A candidates spouse's misdemeanor DUI is relevent but a candidate for President of the United States felony is not. What does this say about the NY Times, Washington Post and NBC News? Nothing good.

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