Palin's an interesting choice for VP. On one hand she really solidifies the GOP base but on the other she completely undermines McCain's own campaigning on experience and earmarks.
That's the problem with being governor. All that tax money is leaving your state. You have the responsibility of getting it back in your state.
The Palin fans are saying that earmark stuff is all bullshit. That Palin was always on the up and up. But more and more agencies are reporting this earmark business in Alaska and they all say the say thing. Palin is slightly full of shit on this matter.
All that tax money? is that what you said? All those taxes that those less than a million residents pay? Palin is looking for way more than they put in the kitty. Way more.
Alright. I want someone to name one politician who has zero earmarks on their record. Someone in the last 30 years. McCain and Palin disagreed about earmarks....somehow that doesn't seem to be as bad as... [YT="Biden and Obama's difference of opinion..."]RDVUPqoowf8[/YT]
Pretty sure some form of oil money goes to the Federal government. Otherwise, the Governor is responsible to submit requests for numerous projects that she thinks needs attention. Congress in turn is supposed to decide which funds get approved, and which ones get pushed off. Goddamn her for looking out for her state.
How do you think she undermines his own campaigning on experience and earmarks Ryan? Because she is willing to represent her constituents in a manner that most of the Democrats you love and support do not?
And yet a few weeks ago, Obama also touted Alaska's natural gas pipeline as an instance of international cooperation. By admitting the project is an example of working with the Canadian government, Obama admits that Governor Sarah Palin has experience in international cooperation. Obama loved the idea so much that he was going to add it to his own energy policy. However, now that she is McCain's running mate, people from Obama's campaign are saying that Palin has no experience in foreign policy?? What is going on here?? This is not consistent.
Someone once asked Ron Paul why was he stuffing earmarks for his own district into spending bills. He simply answered that cutting earmarks doesn't cut federal spending at all as the funds are already appropriated. The earmark system merely allocates the money directly into specific projects instead allowing the federal agencies to decide where to spend the money. While it can be argued that the earmark system places local interests more than the interest of the country however its affect on the increase in government spending is miniscule at best. The total congressional earmark for 2007 was at most 1% of the Federal outlay. Assuming all that earmark is pork then it's still only 1%. Medicaid and Social Security gobbled up more than 40% typically. Military expenditure probably takes up another 20%. To actually cut back federal spending would require the drastic slashing of departments created during the New Deal and LBJ eras. Or of course the military.
There is no such thing as two politicians who agree on every point, nor is there any such thing as a candidate with which an informed voter will agree on every point. such observations are thus largely trivial.
I gotta say, I don't really hold the earmark stuff against her. Is it distasteful? Sure, but it's hard to point fingers when almost everyone is getting in on the action. If she wasn't taking full advantage of opportunities to help her people, then she wouldn't have been doing her job properly.
Its the hypocrisy of Palin and the McCain camp that is at issue here. So far they have show that they both lied on the subject.
What do you expect from a thug? This is a guy that pretends to understand local government retirement systems and claims they are the same as someone working for a private company such as a bank or something like that.
And yet we've seen hypocrisy out of the Obama camp for praising the Alaska Gasline effort, hailing it as in instance of cooperating with Canada when Palin wasn't McCain's running mate, and then saying she has no experience working with other countries once she became his running mate. Where do you draw the line?
The interesting part of all this is early polls seem to indicate a rather favorable response to Palin. She appears to be far more of a benefit to McCain at this point than Obama's choice in Biden. A man who over the years has demonstrated some disdain for the troops of this country and the work they are ordered to do by their country.
The funny thing is, one of the companies I've dealt with in the oil industry was involved in the Alaska Gasline operation, and according to the people I've talked too, Palin is a straight shooter, and very nice to work with. Carry on though. Its much more fun to lie about her position on the 'bridge to nowhere.'
They very often are. When my wife was a teacher, she had a 401K style account. Now she works in the private sector, has another 401K and it is managed by the same institution. Both the local government funded pension and her private sector pension are defined contribution plans held by Fidelity. Maybe you should find something that you understand if you intend to use it as a club against somebody.
