BlogHer - Sarah Palin?! OMG! - Comments

PALIN FOR VP- I DONT THINK SO! DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH PEOPLE

LTMONROE2 — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:47:12 -0500

Sarah Palin knows that most people don't know what a small-town mayor does - and doesn't do. So she has, so far, been allowed to show her best Rethug qualification - her ability to lie easily and completely without conscience - as she vomits forth her false and insulting claims of leadership credentials. (blue in NC's diary :: :: )Other diarists on dKos are right: we need to shift our foucs back to Barack Obama and Joe Biden and the positive direction our country must turn toward if we as a people are to survive the next four years.
We need to shift our focus away from Sarah Palin's daughter and her mooseburgers and her snowmobiles. But we can't let her get away with whitewashing her governmental failures: failures so abject, so major, so complete, that the fact that she accomplished so much failure in a 12-year political career is amazing in and of itself.
If she's going to use her stint as small-town mayor as a prop for her vice-presidential aspirations, then we need to remind the voters exactly what she did as mayor. Let's use her own words against her. As she said in that verbal spew that passed for a "speech" last night, as mayor she was "like a community organizer" but with "actual responsibilities".
The voters need to be reminded - every day - how badly she failed at exercising those responsibilities. Because we small-town mayors do have actual responsibilities. Chief among them is the responsibility to exercise fiscal responsibility with the citizens' money. Sarah Palin has demonstrated complete failure at that basic responsibility. She took a town of ~7,000 people that was debt-free in 1996 and ran it over $18 million into debt by 2003.
And, while we theoretically do not have sole authority to do such things - only the town council has such authority - a bad and dishonest and self-serving mayor can, and frequently does, accomplish such glaring misfeasance by either intimidating of misleading her town council.
Sarah Palin has done both.
She implemented a 25% increase in the most regressive tax possible - the sales tax - to finance her hockey rink project. Yes, the Queen of the Common Man sure likes to stick it to the common man...every man, woman and child in Wasila is still paying for her self-promoting delusional expenditures. She was taking a $68,000 per year salary in 1996 for her job as mayor, and yet used additional taxpayer funds to hire an "administrator" to do her job for her while she enjoyed her "regal" salary for a sinecure job. Most mayors of towns less than 10,000, nationwide, are practically volunteers with salaries generally below $10,000 per year. In fact, the job of the Wasilla mayor, according to the city code, is as follows (this is typical for most small-town mayors). The Mayor shall preside at Council meeting, act as ceremonial head of the city and sign documents on the city’s behalf upon authorization by the council. Pretty easy work for $68,000/year, isn't it? In 2002, Pailn used city employees (on the clock), city equipment, and city facilities to work on her campaign for Lt. Governor. I mean, come on...this is small-town government 101: Thou shalt not use municipal assets for personal campaign purposes. By 2003, the city of Wasilla owned $741,599 worth of office furniture and equipment (from the city's own Comprehensive Annual Finance Report; I assume that is net of depreciation). Now that's a whole lot o' desks and staplers for a town of 7,000 folks. Well, the town only owned $342,449 worth of that stuff when Palin started in 1996. More than double! Word among locals has it that she had her office lavishly redecorated at least twice while mayor. So much for her stupid story about selling the governor's jet on ebay.
After our almost-sacred fiduciary responsibilty, we mayors are responsible for ensuring the safety of the people who have entrusted us with the office. Palin placed the financial success of campaign-donor cronies above public safety. She opposed an ordinance changing the closing time of bars in Wasilla from 5:00 AM to 3:00 AM. The Wasilla police chief at the time, Irl Stambaugh, supported the change as a public-safety measure. Palin, who had accepted numerous campaign contributions from local bar owners and the liquor lobby, fired Stambaugh immediately upon taking office.
Palin opposed adopting basic building codes within the city. In 1997, she broke a tie in a city council vote to kill building codes. Even some area homebuilders supported the building codes.The bottom line is: yes, we small-town mayors do have responsibilities...and Palin demonstrated a complete lack of ability or inclination to handle these limited responsibilities.
Meanwhile, I'd be the first to say that I don't consider my own experience as a small-town mayor to in any way qualify me to serve as vice president of the United States, much less serve in a situation where the president is a doddering old man bordering on dementia who may well cause invocation of the 25th amendment.We preside over council meetings...the VP theoretically presides over the Senate. There's a world of difference.Our responsibilities are limited. Very limited.And, we're not a mere heartbeat away from the US presidency. I have known small-town mayors like Sarah Palin and, trust me, it ain't purty. They exemplify ego-gone-wild, are uncannily susceptible to corruption and influence peddling, and are notorious for abuse of power. The Sarah Palins in the small-town mayors' offices are, unfortunately, all too common.
These United States of America do not need one in the office of the vice president.Palin is now, in true Rethug fashion, attempting to distort people's concerns with her lack of experience, accusing us of "insulting small towns" and being "elitist". Nothing could be further from the truth. We're not criticizing small towns; I've live d in one and serve as mayor in one and love and respect small towns.What we are criticizing is, first: Palin's lack of national experience and, second: her complete failures at exercising responsibility and integrity during what limited "executive" experience she has.
She is the worst of both worlds: she is corrupt and incompetent. The voters need to know that.
ANYONE CAN READ A SPEACH WRITTEN BY OTHERS. DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH PEOPLE. IF ANYTHING HAPPENDS TO MCCAIN DO YOU THINK THAT WITH PALIN'S TRACK RECORD THAT SHE CAN LEAD OUR GREAT NATION?LTMONROE

Why, what is wrong with you all?

Marc4Christ — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 19:55:46 -0500

I am a Republican but I can't vote for this woman. Electing her would be telling my daughter that marriage doesn't matter, God's teachings don't matter. And if she can't run her family why do people think she can run the country? This is a disappointment, a HUGE disappointment. Don't my fellow republicans understand what a mistake this is, the kind of role model this will be for our daughters? What this will do to marriage? We might as well legalize gay marriage because apparently nothing is sacred to us anymore except getting our team elected. I'm on God's team, not this one and usually I'd go Republican because of the values they share but that is no longer the case.

Welcome and hi!!!! I would

grlygrl77 — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 10:10:04 -0500

Welcome and hi!!!! I would love to hear your views! Happy blogging!!!! -April

... Oops. / I pressed the

ChangeGal — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:56:25 -0500

... Oops. / I pressed the post button too soon ...

I like the last comment. Freedom to speak feels VERY relevant these days. And I have enjoyed the diversity of views here, too.

I do want to start concentrating on issues, though, rather than get stuck on McCain's pick. So I will look at other threads: 'just want to hear what all four of these people (Pres and VP picks) are saying about the things that will affect my life. That's where the rubber will hit the road big time.

Over and Out, ChangeGal

ChangeGal

ChangeGal — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:48:20 -0500

ChangeGal

the only good thing

Papergeist — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:32:55 -0500

The good thing that will come out of this is seeing more Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live doing Palin skits!

Susan
Papergeist

Do you want...

Papergeist — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:31:29 -0500

If you vote for Palin, you'll get McCain and 100 more years in Iraq.

Susan
Papergeist

Signing up to blog...

grlygrl77 — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:33:38 -0500

Dear Military Wife,

I too was once a military wife. I will say that I applaud you for being who you are and I applaud and thank your husband for doing what he does- defending our country. But as far as blogging- it is all opinions- good and bad. And I find it challenging after my day of working medical denials and playing Hannah Montana with my 6 year old... I enjoy all of these women and their opinions whether I agree or not. This is the only place I can voice my opinion without being interrupted or being asked for a glass of milk or another book to read... So I welcome you... I hope you stay and add some of your own opinions... God Bless...

-me

In response to Um, actually.........

Giggle On — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:25:52 -0500

Oh-veh! Semantics.

I wasn't going to bother to comment but my crazy uterus is in an uproar today.

I'm feeling a bit, well, agitated. Aunt Flo arrived with a vengeance this month and I’m so pissy I want to send the b**** packin’ for good! Perhaps I should hold all comments on the board until she leaves. Naaaaaaaaaw!

I didn't say Palin was the first woman to be on the Presidential ticket, I said “having a-n-o-t-h-e-r woman on the presidential ticket is historic”.

I didn’t say first!

You might be able to only break your cherry once (omg, is that sexist or true?), e.g. first ever VP candidate, Ferraro (how could I forget, I’m Italian) but historic moments can be like orgasms. Good ones multiply.

I’m just sayin’……….

Pass the Midol pulease!

And I signed up why?

ArmyWife529 — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:43:55 -0500

I just recently joined BlogHer, thinking maybe my experience as a military wife of 12 years could possibly help out other spouses. Now I'm rethinking ever coming back to this Web site.

It seems to me that a lot of women will say how much they love a blogger, then totally turn around and tell them how wrong they are for thinking a certain way. It has not happened to me, but I have been surfing through the Politics blogs and reading comments. I don't find that these women are supportive of each other's opinion, and will re-post and re-post to try to drive their point home, like it's going to change the original poster's mind.

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I am just missing most Republican and Conservative blogs, because there seems to be an abundance of Democrats, which is fine, because I actually do respect other's opinions without trying to change them. Like my husband always says, opinions are like a**holes, everyone has one.

I really don't know what else to say or how to get my point across but I will say I was hoping BlogHer was different.

I'll go with that last

ChangeGal — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:02:03 -0500

I'll go with that last comment. Well spotted!

Also to "Very Excited" and your mom's dancing around her house with excitement, which is how this started, I think ... with that and OMG, OMG, etc.:

If all it takes to excite us is just any woman, or a pretty one with a right wing profile (for the McCain camp), than this country would be FULL of dancing women. It is not. It is full of women with enough intelligence to see the difference between Sara P & Hillary C and Barack O & John McC. i.e. intelligent women, on both the Left and the Right.

So, I'm glad for dancing in general; but please, let's slow down.

ChangeGal

Seriously? Someone from

miteegirl — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 18:29:23 -0500

Seriously?

Someone from the Republican party--the party of Rove, Cheney, Coulter, Nixon, Novak, Swift Boat, Ingraham, O'Reilly, and Limbaugh--calling someone else a bully?

Seriously?

The party that has told Democrats for YEARS that if it were too damn hot to get out of the kitchen?

That would be hilarious, if it weren't so damn sad.

Um, actually, it was

miteegirl — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 14:09:46 -0500

Um, actually, it was historic when Ferraro was the first woman candidate on the ticket.

In 1984.

There is more than who picked who for VP...

grlygrl77 — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 13:33:32 -0500

I have read all of these posts and it stills amazes me how close-minded many Americans still are! Especially the women! Many supporters of Mccain and Palin seem to be successful republican business type Americans. But have you noticed the LARGER problem with America today? It's not who is going to be best for the oil industry or who will be best to represent your pockets.... Jeese! THE MAJORITY of Americans are people who are classified as middle-class or below. They are blue-collar workers and typically have families. These are people who are worried not about the oil industry but about the price per gallon that they need to pay to put gas into their tanks just to get to and from work and to and from school for their kids. These are Americans who have been hit hard in the financial gut of what has been going on for the last several years! Yes, there has been problems in the middle east. Yes, there are bad things going on that need our attention and yes, the oil industry is important, but the MAIN problem does not lie within each of these things. The MAIN problem lies within how the AVERAGE AMERICAN has been taken care of and what resources are available for US or rather HOW THE AVERAGE AMERICAN HAS BEEN IGNORED. I am sorry to say this and the Mccain supports can disagree with me until they are blue in the face, but Mccain IS just MORE OF THE SAME- and that WAS said by Biden, or "the puppet" as one of you referred to him as... When have we strayed away from AMERICA???? GOD! There are children IN OUR OWN CITIES and maybe even down the street from YOU that are hungry, need clothes, need help. There are parents who can't take off from work to take their kids to the doctor because that will be one day less on their pay checks! There are people working hard everyday who will NEVER see any of their social security money and who will NEVER experience the benefits of where their own taxes are going! Most American's are not worried about where they will be going on their next vacation or what color is going to be the color of their new BMW- MOST Americans are worried about how they will be able to pay the bills, pay for groceries, gasoline, medical bills and then maybe JUST MAYBE have a little left over so they can take their kids to the beach or on a picnic or to a movie... WELCOME TO AMERICA MCCAIN!!! PLEASE open up YOUR eyes to the AVERAGE AMERICAN! I mean, how many Mccain/ Palin supporters have multiple children and two working parents? How many postponed a bill because they NEEDED to buy a gallon of milk that just went up? How many have wanted to buy healthy groceries for their families but couldn't afford it when it got right down to it? I would have to say NOT MANY.... And the ones that have REALLY need to stop voting for the party their parents have been voting for- THIS IS YOUR FUTURE AND YOUR ELECTION TOO! Just go to the Obama home page and the Mccain home page and compare the two!!!! It's Black and White- Literally!

April Claxton

Great Comment CRosberg!

forliving — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 12:32:11 -0500

Your absolutely right out of all the comments on the page you hit out the ball park. It is Publicity and marketing ploy all designed to take the flax off McCain for awhile. He was slipping in the polls in the last 3 weeks so strategically that was the best play. It's like playing a Chess Game. The question is, "Will this help him win the election now or will it hurt him?" I believe he made a bad calculation. McCain thought that if he waited a week or two for Obama to annouce his V.P Choice he would get the upper hand and switch gears on Obama BUT OF COURSE--The weather changed now for the next 1week-2weeks CNN will be reporting on the hurricane and lets just hope some other news doesn't dominate the airways. He was expecting 50,000 people at the convention now it will be less because people lost money when they booked their flight, hotel stay etc.

There is movie with Eddie Murphy and a Guy who was a thief/killer and he kinapped Eddie Murphy's girlfriend and eventually ended up having Eddie Murphy holding a button--which if he were to let go of it, it would kill is girlfriend because she's laying on table with a blade going around the edge--Her neck be would gone. Anyway, the Guy (the killer) said in the movie---WHEN YOU THINK YOU SCREWING THEM---THEY SCREWING YOU.

John McCain yes made a Gutsy Move but that bold move just bit him in the A** because now instead of working on the convention he's working on nothing. I predict that in another 2 weeks he still won't have much air time because there is another hurricane coming out at sea and something else will dominate the airways.

Sarah Palin?! OMG!

American Princess — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 08:59:02 -0500

MCCAIN'S OFFICE CONFIRMS!

Okay, so I lost ten bucks on Joe Lieberman, BUT WHAT A WAY TO LOSE TEN BUCKS!!! I don't even have pants on and I am running around blogging because I AM SO EXCITED OMG PLEASE LET THIS NOT BE A HEAD FAKE OMG. I have resisted blogging on the whole McCain Veep thing because they kept faking everyone out and telling us that this guy was clearing his schedule and this guy had the Secret Service creeping out and NOW there's a CHARTERED JET that is landing from ALASKA and OMG SARAH PALIN OMGOMGOMGOMG!

P.S. If this is not a head fake (they are saying she's still in Dayton), and it had BETTER NOT BE, that ten bucks is being donated to McCain's campaign.

P.P.S. I now have pants on.

P.P.P.S. On the train, I got a message that it was Lindsay Graham, and I almost threw up AND broke the "no f-word on a blog rule."

P.P.P.S. CNBC is confirming...I think. At this point, anything else would be a disappointment.

P.P.P.P.S. I'm hearing more confirmations, and that the only person who was saying she was still in Alaska was her spokeswoman. Now, Palin's staff is saying they don't know WHERE she is! LOL!

Major props to the McCain campaign for stealing Obama's morning after glow. CNN is practically choking on their desire to keep it all Obama all the time.

P.P.P.P.P.S. Palin's parents were told to wait by the radio...how adorable!

Okay, I'm done with the PS'es...A gun toting pro-lifer...hilarious. She's not a run of the mill pro-lifer, though. She's a feminist for life, so honestly, she's about making abortion unnecessary, which is right in line with me. I have to admit. I have a girl-crush at the moment.

* She takes the stage in 20 minutes....

Okay, now that I've calmed down, I can write normally again. I am just so excited. I called Sarah at the start of the campaign, and I am so glad to have her on board. My office just took down our Bob Barr hat and I joined my first Palin-centric Facebook group.

Why do I like her? She's young, she's vivacious...five kids (one in the army who enlisted on 9/11 and one with Downs Syndrome), and she's not just a solid conservative, but she lives it...and she's cool. Most of all, though, she's strong on energy policy, not just because she's experienced with it, but because she lives with energy policy every day of her life, being the governor of Alaska. She's not experienced the way some choices would be, but she's more experienced than Obama and he's running for the top office, and as far as foreign policy is concerned, very few people can say that they lived within a hairsbreadth of being Russian or Canadian every day of their life. I do like that she's young (a clear contrast to McCain), beautiful and that she's a Washington outsider. Now, the only ticket with two insiders is the Obama-Biden ticket.

I have to hand it to McCain. CNN and others were choking on the story, trying desperately to hang on to last nights Obama b-roll.
Whoever McCain had picked, he did a fantastic job with PR and I'm impressed. I still don't like him, but I am with Sarah all the way.

Also cool...Geraldine Ferraro just praised her on Fox. :)

Okay, guys...I have to get work done today, but its been fun. I'll see you all later with my take on the DNC and HOPEFULLY I'll see you all next week with an interview with Sarah.

Be well, BlogHers!