BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: CarolC
Date: 17 Sep 08 - 12:34 PM

People are probably learning that most of what she says about herself is a lie. And they're also probably learning that her governing style is almost identical to that of Bush and Cheney.

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Stringsinger
Date: 17 Sep 08 - 12:29 PM

The Gallup poll has always been conservative in it's bias. It is not reliable.
Nor really are any of the other media-driven polls.

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Stringsinger
Date: 17 Sep 08 - 12:28 PM

Not according to some polls which shows Palin has dropped ten points from her
bubble boost.

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: CarolC
Date: 17 Sep 08 - 12:28 PM

Her approval numbers went down and her disapproval numbers went up yesterday.

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Amos
Date: 17 Sep 08 - 12:12 PM

Nope. Whil I agree the present fluff-cloud of PR surrounding the RNC bump has that pizazzy flavor to it, the facts on the ground will rule, particularly the fact (if I may call it that) that the McCain Squad really has nothing to offer--no vision, no program, no policy except serpentine adaptation to whatever good idea someone else offers, no reall position.

A

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Claymore
Date: 17 Sep 08 - 11:59 AM

This weeks Washington Post OutLook section had an article from a black professor (didn't get name or affiliation) in which he mentioned the idea that blacks would riot if Obama was not elected. The picture topping the article said it all, with Obama going up a plane gang plank with his coat over his stooped shoulders. (I'm sure someone could link it; WP 9/14, first page of Outlook above the fold). While this race will probably turn on the debates, I think that McCain could win this thing, and that the fact (as one pundit put it) "he threw a Hail Mary pass and Palin caught it perfectly, and spiked it in the end zone", will be eventually seen as the cause.

I suspect that Obama will be seen as losing an "unlosable race", perhaps by not selecting Hillary (assumming he didn't ask her and she refused). He has been seen lately not as the author of politics of change, but as a standard attack politician, whether goaded or not by the Republicans. Yesterdays WashPost Ad Check calls Obama a liar on his ad that McCain cannot email, which convienently left out the reason that he can't type was that his arms were re-broken by the gooks during John Kerry's congessional testimony in '71.

But some where in America there is a sinking feeling in the minds of
Democrats, that McCain should be nowhere this close in the polls; that the Bradley effect is still there; and that those 18 million votes for Hillary were not just women (only 57 percent were) and McCain has more that picked up the extra 7 percent of women...

She skates, she shoots, she SCORES...

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 12 Sep 08 - 03:33 AM

Hey Amos, The trooper confessed he used a taser on the child....don't tell anyone though.......
And could you make your posts more succinct?

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: pdq
Date: 11 Sep 08 - 09:53 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Riginslinger
Date: 10 Sep 08 - 01:40 PM

It will be nice when we finally get presidential cadidates who aren't addicted to this sort of thing. Rational thinking would be nice for a change.

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Amos
Date: 10 Sep 08 - 12:30 PM

God and the Vice-Presidential Candidate
By Alexander Schwabe (Der Spegel)

Sarah Palin's Pentacostalist past explains a lot about what she says in public, but the McCain campaign wants to play it down. Can a gas pipeline really be a manifestation of God's will?

More than once, vice presidential candidate and current governor of Alaska Sarah Palin has shown a habit of investing secular matters with religious meaning. A $30 billion gas pipeline in Alaska was "God's will," the war in Iraq was a "task that is from God." She's argued for creationism to be taught in schools, alongside evolutionary biology, and she'd rather do away with sexual education completely.

Now the real reason for Palin's fixation on God -- obscured in official biographies -- has emerged: For more than two decades, she was a practicing Pentecostal. Until 2002 she belonged to the Wasilla Assembly of God, a Pentecostal community in Wasilla, Alaska, the city of 10,000 where Palin also served as mayor. Since leaving the Assembly of God, Palin has attended the non-denominational Wasilla Bible Church.

The Pentecostal movement emphasizes "expressions of the Holy Spirit" in the form of "spiritual gifts" such as the ability to speak in tongues, prophesize or heal. Assembly of God members also believe in faith healing and "end times," a massive upheaval that will supposedly herald Jesus' second coming.

Tim McGraw, Palin's pastor until 1998, told American broadcaster CNN that the Wasilla Pentecostal community has members who adhere to these beliefs and who speak in tongues, although he has never seen Palin herself in that trance-like state. Caroline Spengler, a member of the Pentecostal community, described the experience as follows: "When the spirit comes on you, you utter things that nobody else can understand ... only God can understand what is coming out of our mouths."

The Republican Party, hoping John McCain and Sarah Palin will bring home a win in the November presidential election, has played down this religious background of the 44-year-old mother of five. Through spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton, McCain has freely admitted that Palin is deeply religious. That fact should be well received by conservative American voters, especially in the so-called Bible Belt. At the same time, campaign strategists have been careful not to let their candidate's religious enthusiasm loom too large. Biographies of her online and the McCain campaign itself avoid too much detail about her past. Governor Palin does not consider herself a Pentecostal, is the succinct and official word.

McGraw told CNN he could imagine why the Republican Party was trying not to emphasize Palin's Pentecostal leanings: "I think there may be issues of belief that could be misunderstood or played upon by people that don't know."

But what is so difficult to understand? Hasn't Palin already gone far too far for her political views not to be seen as a consequence of her beliefs? And can her faith truly be judged only by those who believe the same?

McGraw tries to allay these fears. He says he's sure Palin's religious convictions don't influence her political decisions in office.

Until recently, though, Palin was returning to her original congregation, where she attended discipleship classes to strengthen her Pentecostal beliefs and to become a better leader, McGraw says. By then she was already mayor of Wasilla. And when Palin returns to the Pentecostal flock, it is by no means only in a personal capacity, but also as a government official.

Just this June, Palin attended a graduation ceremony for ministry students at the Wasilla Assembly of God. The governor didn't just offer a few edifying words. Instead, she spoke to these students in Alaska about the war in Iraq. "Pray for our military men and women who are striving do to what is right," said Palin, whose son had voluntarily enlisted to join the U.S. army and be deployed to Iraq. The graduates were encouraged to pray "for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending them out on a task that is from God. That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for -- that there is a plan, and that plan is God's plan."

Palin acts as though all political decisions emanated directly from a divine resolution -- and as if the Republican understanding of this resolution were the only one that could be correct.

On the issue of the gas pipeline as well, Palin linked political and economic business with her personal concept of divine providence, calling on her audience to pray for the controversial planned $30 billion pipeline project. "I think," Palin told the audience at the Wasilla Assembly of God, "God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas pipeline built."

And there's more. On August 17, shortly before she entered the wider public spotlight as vice presidential candidate, according to CNN Palin attended an event at her current congregation, the Wasilla Bible Church. One of the preachers there was David Brickner, founder of the "Jews for Jesus" movement. He made clear to the assembled that in his opinion, terrorist attacks in Israel revealed God's judgment on Jews who had not found Christ. "When a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people," according to Brickner, he was unmistakably an instrument of God's judgment.

The McCain camp tried to de-emphasize attitudes in Palin's religious circle, making it clear that Brickner's comments didn't reflect the vice presidential candidate's views. Palin, they said, is pro-Israel.

Pastor Ed Kalnin, one of the congregation leaders at Palin's former Pentecostal church, comes from the same circle. Four years ago he campaigned against John Kerry, then the Democratic candidate for president. Whoever voted for Kerry, Kalnin told his congregation, wouldn't go to heaven.

The Assembly of God later released a statement: They apologized, saying Kalnin had meant it as a joke.

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Sep 08 - 11:00 AM

BB, your argument skills are so pathetic. Accusations, mis-representations, smears.

So, SRS, you are saying that Bobert is lying when he says

"As for cooperation between an Obama asministartion and Congress I'll predict that should be be elected you will see unprecidented cooperation on his part.."

I didn't say anything about Bobert. You did. You fight your own battles with Bobert. We have different views of the level of congressional cooperation when Obama is elected. No one is calling names except you.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Amos
Date: 10 Sep 08 - 10:55 AM

An Anchorage judge three years ago warned Sarah Palin and members of her family to stop "disparaging" the reputation of Alaska State Trooper Michael Wooten, who at the time was undergoing a bitter separation and divorce from Palin's sister Molly.

Allegations that Palin, her husband Todd, and at least one top gubernatorial aide continued to vilify Wooten—after Palin became Alaska's governor and pressured state police officials to take action against him—are at the center of "Troopergate," a political and ethical controversy which has embroiled Palin's administration and is currently the subject of an official inquiry by a special investigator hired by the state legislature.

Court records obtained by NEWSWEEK show that during the course of divorce hearings three years ago, Judge John Suddock heard testimony from an official of the Alaska State Troopers' union about how Sarah Palin—then a private citizen—and members of her family, including her father and daughter, lodged up to a dozen complaints against Wooten with the state police. The union official told the judge that he had never before been asked to appear as a divorce-case witness, that the union believed family complaints against Wooten were "not job-related," and that Wooten was being "harassed" by Palin and other family members.

Court documents show that Judge Suddock was disturbed by the alleged attacks by Palin and her family members on Wooten's behavior and character. "Disparaging will not be tolerated—it is a form of child abuse," the judge told a settlement hearing in October 2005, according to typed notes of the proceedings. The judge added: "Relatives cannot disparage either. If occurs [sic] the parent needs to set boundaries for their relatives."

(Newsweek)

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Amos
Date: 10 Sep 08 - 10:34 AM

My grandmother always said, "You can't tell time on someone else's clock." Judgments about people's personal lives are better left unsaid and unrealized.

So why then do I think that Sarah Palin would be a terrible vice president? Because I also think that John McCain would be a terrible president.

I don't care about how Sarah Palin or John McCain take care of their families. I care about how their policy choices affect my family and millions of other Americans.

McCain and Palin get their health insurance paid for by the government (hers in Alaska and his in Washington). Yet they oppose giving the nearly 46 million uninsured Americans the same access to affordable health care.

John McCain's kids don't have to worry about paying for college. Yet he has opposed every single education support program to help others.

McCain and Palin say they will stand up to oil companies. Yet the only energy policy they support gives millions of dollars in tax breaks to oil companies to do more drilling and he has opposed every piece of federal legislation to explore alternative fuel sources.

McCain and Palin say they will revamp how Washington does business. Yet his campaign is filled with lobbyists and she has cooperated with Sen. Ted Stevens in funneling federal money for useless projects in Alaska for years. And McCain and Palin have no solutions for Americans worrying about their jobs in a fragile economy. iReport.com: Is Palin the right choice for you?

McCain and Palin want us to leave their families alone. Yet they want to make rules for our families by eliminating our right to make our own choices over abortion, eliminate our access to family planning education or domestic partner benefits, and our freedom from discrimination.

They want to control what our kids learn in school about sex and about science. In short, through the policies they promote and the judges they support, they want the government to have more control over our private lives than at any time in history.

McCain and Palin now say their campaign is about change, too. Yet the only real change they have proposed is a change from a suit to a skirt in the vice president's office and one man fighting a misplaced war for another in the Oval Office.

That seems to me to be the right reason to oppose them in November. It's not the process or the people, it's what they represent. This unconventional choice of a vice presidential nominee by John McCain won't result in a win in November, because McCain and Palin are the wrong choice for the country.

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 10 Sep 08 - 05:43 AM

Oh my gosh!!!Gasp!!...You mean its wrong to deduct your home, if you are using it in the line of your work???..like anyone else who does it, legally.....How naughty!!!..Perhaps the Palin's should think like the Clintons....and rent out rooms in the White House....for cash, and political favors!..........What short memories these 'emotion-cats' have!!!
Your "Made for prime time liberal consumption" petty issues, to drag up any quasi dirt, has caused some of you(as planned) to be chasing the distractions, and focusing on them, as if you are the willingly confused, nit pickers, you're programmed to be! Talk about mind control working wonderfully......there you are!!!!

Actually I'm ALMOST surprised McCain didn't pick Hillary for HIS running mate!!...and you scratch your butts, and think, 'Huh?..He wouldn't do that,...I don't get it!"

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Amos
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 08:43 PM

From The Progress Report

Lies To Nowhere
On August 29, when Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) introduced Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) as his running mate, he touted her as "someone who's stopped government from wasting taxpayers' money." Following McCain on the stage, Palin claimed that she "told Congress, 'Thanks, but no thanks,' on that Bridge to Nowhere." "If our state wanted a bridge, I said we'd build it ourselves," said Palin. Since her debut on the national stage, the McCain campaign and its surrogates have reiterated this claim at least 19 times, even featuring it in a new TV ad. But the problem is that Palin's claim to be the the great bridge killer doesn't stand up to scrutiny. As The New Republic's Brad Plumer first noted, Palin "was fine with the bridge in principle, never had a problem with the earmarks, bristled at all the mockery, and only gave up on the project when it was clear that federal support wasn't forthcoming." "We need to come to the defense of Southeast Alaska when proposals are on the table like the bridge," Palin said in August 2006, "and not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project or any other into something that's so negative." In fact, not only did Palin support the project while running for governor in 2006, but when she finally redirected funds away from the bridge, she lamented the fact that Congress had "little interest in spending any more money on a bridge between Ketchikan and Gravina Island." Afterwards, Palin "did not return the federal money. She just allocated it elsewhere."

RUNNING FOR THE BRIDGE: As the Associated Press wrote recently, "Palin was for the infamous bridge to nowhere before she was against it." In September 2006, while campaigning in the city that would benefit from the bridge, Palin spoke in favor of the bridge. "The money that's been appropriated for the project, it should remain available for a link," said Palin, according to the Ketchikan Daily News. "I think we're going to make a good team as we progress that bridge project." She also told the residents that "she felt their pain when politicians called them 'nowhere.'" In fact, Palin was so supportive, that she was even photographed displaying a pro-bridge t-shirt that proclaimed, "Nowhere, Alaska 99901." Asked by the Anchorage Daily News in Oct. 2006 if she would "continue state funding for the proposed Knik Arm and Gravina Island bridges," Palin replied, "Yes," adding that she "would like to see Alaska's infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later. The window is now -- while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist."

'A NATIONAL EMBARRASSMENT': Funds for the project, which would build "a bridge nearly as long as the Golden Gate Bridge" to connect an island populated by 50 people to the mainland, were appropriated by Alaska's congressional delegation in a 2006 transportation bill. Soon after it gained infamy as the epitome of excessive pork-barrel spending. In October 2005, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) tried to "redirect the money" to a bridge damaged by Hurricane Katrina, but following Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) threat to resign, the Senate kept the project with an 82 to 15 vote. Coburn's failed effort "became a cause celebre on the left and the right." The conservative Heritage Foundation released a paper calling the bridge earmark "a national embarrassment." The Sierra Club issued a statement declaring that "widespread public outrage over such wasteful spending is understandable." A month later, Congress finally relented by killing funding for the bridge and another Alaskan bridge project. In a press conference with Stevens earlier this year, Palin appeared to admit that the political winds made support for some earmarked projects like the Bridge to Nowhere politically untenable, saying she could see "the writing on the wall."

OTHER PROJECTS TO NOWHERE: Though the Bridge to Nowhere has been abandoned, Alaska is still using excessive federal funds to build infrastructure projects that only benefit a limited number of citizens. In fact, after Congress removed funding for the Bridge to Nowhere, then-Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski approved the construction of a $24 million gravel "access" road, known as the Gravina Island Access Highway, that would lead to the nonexistent bridge. In a 2006 gubernatorial debate, Palin was asked whether she supported the earmarked project, or whether she would pledge to cancel it as governor. Rather than responding with "thanks but no thanks" to federal funding for the "access" road, Palin replied that she "wouldn't" cancel the project because she was "not going to stand in the way of progress." To this day, the state of Alaska "is continuing to build a road on Gravina Island to an empty beach where the bridge would have gone -- because federal money for the access road, unlike the bridge money, would have otherwise been returned to the federal government." As CQ recently noted, there is also "a second bridge, more than twice as expensive and just as controversial" as the canceled Bridge to Nowhere, but Palin hasn't tried to kill it. Palin also supports a $375 million "mega-project" known as the "road to nowhere," that connects a town of 2,400 to a town of 870.

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: GUEST,murrbob
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 06:18 PM

Just what the country needs -- another anti-science, pro-creationism, anti-gay bigot. I'm getting ready to come to Canada, or Scotland, or -- hell, anywhere that intelignece rules.

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Sorcha
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 06:01 PM

Don, you know this HOW? Are you inside the Palin org? Get secret messages from them about how she is being 'prepped'? Inquiring minds need to know.

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Donuel
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 05:19 PM

Amos,
This is how Palin is being prepped for the debate:

She is not cramming years of foreign policy knowledge into her head in 3 weeks, rather she being given rhetoric to shame Biden for asking her anything.

She will make the claim that her expertise is in energy supplies which is what America needs now and not some cowardly talks with Iran.

If you know the Biden people they should be alerted so they can make some antibodies.

Its the same technique as condemning anyone who merely had questions about the greatest american patriot of all time "ta da" The honorable 10 star General Petraous! (its not like he was even well known like McArthur)



In short the Palin people hope to score by calling Biden silly and insulting and pointing out that he is not putting the country first but himself.

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Peace
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 05:19 PM

I read that in the article I think. Read it in some article anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Ebbie
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 05:07 PM

Well, my fingers stumbled and the post just took off.

As I was saying, my friend is a lawyer for NOAA, the ocean monitor, and when she was sent to Norway and another time to southern Florida, they had to pay her husband's way.

In state, that is also the norm.

Maybe if you're high enough on the pole, taking family members along is one of the perks.

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Ebbie
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 05:03 PM

Color me naive. I was not aware that a governor can take family members along on official junkets on the government dime.

In Alaska, both on the state and the federal level, if a spouse trails along with a worker, the spouse pays his/her own way.

A friend of mine is a lawyer for NOAA

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Donuel
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 05:02 PM

Great Union song emma


Maybe its better not to dig too deep
http://usera.imagecave.com/donuel/PalintoddJohn.jpg

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Peace
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 05:01 PM

boeing makes the 707. Ask Boeing . . . .

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Amos
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 05:00 PM

"...OLBERMANN: This is more about campaign tactics to start with rather than issues. But it seems sometimes like tactics have replaced issues altogether. "He fights pork barrel spending," said this new McCain/Palin ad, "she stopped the 'Bridge to Nowhere.'"

I mean, it sounds a little like "Remington Steele," but I'm confused otherwise. As late as October of 2006, Mrs. Palin insisted to voters in Alaska that not only would she defend that infamous bridge, but she also said — and here's the quote — "She would not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project or any other into something that's so negative."

What are Sen. McCain and Governor Palin doing in this new commercial, do you think?

OBAMA: They're not telling the truth. You know, I mean, it's —I think we've all gotten accustomed to being able to spin things in politics. But when you've got somebody who was for a project being presented as being against it, then that, you know, stretches the bounds of spin into new areas.

And you know, as far as John McCain is concerned, you know, I think that Sen. McCain has, on occasion, broken with his party, but this notion that, as he said at his convention, that he would tell the lobbyists that they're not going to be running Washington anymore, who is he going to tell, his campaign chairman, Charlie Black, his campaign manager, Rick Davis, two of the largest corporate lobbyists in Washington with client lists that extend into every major industry?"

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 04:58 PM

No.


1. There is no indication that they had the actual forms, just totals.

2. A hotel can say it charges anything: The question is what was charged to the per diem.

When I traval, it is often to hotels that charge $300-500 PER ROOM- But I pay only the authorized government rate ( $149 - $200 , usually) when I am on a government contract. If I chose to pay more, I have to pay it myself - only the allowable amount can be reimbursed.

Until the ACTUAL charge is shown ( from the receipts that the state has) it is incorrect to assume that she paid that amount, or that she was reimbursed for it.

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: CarolC
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 04:53 PM

Biden isn't trying to create an image of himself as a cost-cutting reformer. Palin is, so her finances are relevant in a way that Biden's are not.

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: CarolC
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 04:46 PM

Since they're getting their figures from Palin's expense reports, I think it's safe to say the room cost $707 a day.

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: CarolC
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 04:44 PM

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26616212

"One event was in New York City in October 2007, when Bristol accompanied the governor to Newsweek's third annual Women and Leadership Conference, toured the New York Stock Exchange, and met local officials and business executives. The state paid for three nights in a $707-a-day hotel room."

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Emma B
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 04:25 PM

David Bernstein, professor at the George Mason University School of Law also looks at
The New Washington Post "Expose" on Palin:

'You have to read the article carefully to figure this out, but what the story ultimately reveals is that Palin

(a) billed the state for most expenses allowed by law, including per diem when she stayed in her own home (her "duty station" was the state capitol of Juneau) in Wasilla;

(b) didn't bill the state for other expenses, when she could have done so lawfully, such as per diems for her children; and

(c) spent a lot less money on expenses than did her predecessor, especially on travel and by ridding herself of the state's personal chef. [FWIW, she apparently maintained two residences, the governor's mansion in Juneau, which by state law is her official work "base" and where assumedly she didn't get a per diem (but where her predecessor had a personal chef whom she let go), and Wasilla, from where she commuted to Anchorage for work when the legislature wasn't in session.

Saintly to take the per diem she was legally entitled to when in the second residence? No.

Worthy of the lead headline on Washingtonpost.com? Please!

Not illegal, not unethical, and not a scandal!

Meanwhile, I have to wonder whether the Post has several reporters looking over Joe Biden's expense reports. Does he bill the government for his daily roundtrip to Delaware? How many "fact-finding missions" has he participated in annually during his Senate career? Inquiring minds want to know?

UPDATE: The Post doesn't do the math for us, but the total per diem claimed was $16,951 divided divided by 312 days, or $54.33 per day (the per diem is $60, so there were some partial days).


Also, the article headline, "Palin Billed State for Nights Spent at Home," and some related content, is very misleading.

A glance at the expense report reproduced on the Post's website makes it clear that she requested per diem for her daily expenses, but not for lodging, and that she apparently wrote "lodging--own home" only to explain why she wasn't requesting hotel expenses.
One almost wonders whether the author of the story understands what a "per diem" is; the story notes that Palin rarely charged the state for meals when in Wasilla and Anchorage, but of course she didn't, because she instead just asked for the per diem!'

Look at her policies and argue on those - not on these maufactured 'scandals' that simply don't hold up to any scrutiny

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 04:11 PM

"in a $707-a-day hotel room"

Is that what she paid? The hotel I last stayed at had a sign saying the room was $350 a night- yet I only had to pay $98 and change ( plus tax, of course.

Can you substantiate this number? ($707)

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Bobert
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 04:10 PM

Wow!!! That's a lot of dough!!!

The amount that shr husband and kids got is probably more than the state's average family income...

Okay, it might be legal in Alaska and if it is then somethin' smells real fishy with their laws...

No matter, legal or notm a straight talkin' maverick wouldn't have taken the taxpayers money for doing a job fir which she was allready being paid to do...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 04:05 PM

So, SRS, you are saying that Bobert is lying when he says

"As for cooperation between an Obama asministartion and Congress I'll predict that should be be elected you will see unprecidented cooperation on his part.."

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: CarolC
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 04:05 PM

The state paid for three nights in a $707-a-day hotel room.

:-0

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Peace
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 03:57 PM

Thanks, Ebbie.

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Ebbie
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 03:56 PM

Try This One


From what I understand, Peace, the practice started with Murkowski, just about the most unpopular governor could have.

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 03:54 PM

BB, you got called on your form of argument, using the old saw of "congress will do everything Obama wants once he's elected" as a scare tactic--suggesting that all sorts of far-flung liberal antics are in store. It doesn't work that way (alas).

Sarah Palin has billed taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home . . .

Keep digging, folks!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Peace
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 03:44 PM

Ebbie, I read that article yesterday and she was within her rights and within the law to use that expense money the way she did. Even when it involved taking her husband and kid(s ?).

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Bobert
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 03:33 PM

The operative word there is "has"... That was when McCain was the maverick he claims to still be... That McCain died a long, long time ago...

BTW, bb... As someone pointed out you aren't keeping up with facts... One of folks who Obama has met with and had in depth conversations about foriegn policy is none other than Colin Powell who last I heard was a Repub???

But even his style is different... When both he and McCain appeared with Rev Warren at Saddleback, it was McCain who was interupting Warren's questions before Warren finuished them with quick fire, fist pounding responses... That is not thoughtful... That is reactionary...

Yo, Eb,

That link ain't workin' fir me...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 03:04 PM

"should be be elected you will see unprecidented cooperation on his part"

Which was my point, denied by SRS.





"he listens to every possible point of view before making decisions... That is called "thoughtfull"..."

Every possible point???? Has he ever listened to the Republicans? McCain has listened ( and voted with!) Democrats before. Looking at Obama's posted voting record ( on Obama's site, as I have referenced before) I do not see any indication that his claims are anything more than words...

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Ebbie
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 03:01 PM

Here is a new twist. It appears that Palin has learned well from Frank Murkowski.

Palin as Reformer


"ANCHORAGE - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has billed taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a "per diem" allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business.

"The governor also has charged the state for travel expenses to take her children on official out-of-town missions. And her husband, Todd, has billed the state for expenses and a daily allowance for trips he makes on official business for his wife.

"Palin, who earns $125,000 a year, claimed and received $16,951 as her allowance, which officials say was permitted because her official "duty station" is Juneau, according to an analysis of her travel documents by The Washington Post."

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Bobert
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 02:51 PM

In reality the Obama strategy is to swat at Palin now and then as one might a pesky fly but keep the cannon aimed at McCain...

As for cooperation between an Obama asministartion and Congress I'll predict that should be be elected you will see unprecidented cooperation on his part... One thing that the NcCainites don't want people to internalize about how he works is that, unless it is a crisis, he listens to every possible point of view before making decisions... That is called "thoughtfull"...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: GUEST,number 6
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 02:36 PM

And don't forget the soccer / hockey mom is also a wife of a fisherman, who also is a card carrying member of the United Steel workers of Amerika. Man, and this chick could be president of the U.S. !!

OMG ... but then again there has been a haberdasher, a clown, a 'B' rate actor, a peanut farmer, so what the hell, what is there to fear!!!

and oh yeah, she is also a former mayor of a small town in a very big state that has the less amount of peeple ... now there are arguments gooing around that a mayor is not as important as a community activist, ooops I mean organizer (there is a difference ya know)... but basically ..... is it worth arguing about.

Amyway ... just thought I'd throw that in to the quagmire.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 02:34 PM

Vote for the ones that you think will be best for the country- recalling that Congress is ( and has been for two years) under the control of the Democrats. With McCain, Congress will serve to act as a brake on any "extremes" ;, With Obama, there will be NO limit as to what he can do.

BB, you always leave out the important part of the story--the facts.

The majority in the House and Senate are too slim for any change to speak of in the last two years. Clinton had the majority with him for a while in the beginning and it didn't go the way you say, and it won't when Obama is elected, either. But maybe Obama will manage to keep them with him, not insult their intelligence as Dubya has done, and he'll get more done through discourse, persuasion, and compromise. It's time to retire Bush's bludgeon.

And once again, I will note, that Hillary doesn't need to "go after" Palin in any way, shape, or form--why would people presume that one woman candidate needs to vet or take out the other? They are separated by levels of magnitude, and Hillary is in the top tier through hard work, brains, and stamina. Palin landed nearby through sheer luck (McCain's gamble), and while she may be a pushy and ambitious politician, that doesn't qualify her to pass jail and go directly to the Naval Observatory. She has been a great big fish in a tiny little pond. It's different down here in the contiguous states.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 02:14 PM

Well, he should have seen the strong possibility of a woman running as VP..I am sure he took it into account..everyone was bringing up the possibility, with Palin in particular, although no one really expected it. Anyway, his first choice was supposedly Sebelius, who was short on international experience and long on abortion problems. It would be a different ballgame had he picked her (I know some would say Hillary but oh what a mess that would have been)...so you can at least partially attribute some of Biden being chosen to the PUMA threats and every pundit saying oh he can't have another woman besides HIllary. He could have had a woman who was not Hillary. Maybe not Sebelius. Maybe one with more foreign experience. Who knows. mg

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 01:47 PM

He'd never do that, BB. The greatest fantasy in American life is becoming president. Anyone who aims for that spot and gets there will not surrender it of his own free will, he will only leave when he has no choice left, like Nixon did.

A more likely scenario is that McCain (if elected) won't live out his first term for medical reasons, and then Palin will become president.

If that were to happen, well....it would be unusual, that's for sure. And Hillary wouldn't like it one bit, of course, but that is a minor thing to consider from other people's point of view.

In the meantime, the circus goes on. My, my. What hype! What mudslinging! What amazingly incredible BS. You have to see it happening to believe it.

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: beardedbruce
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 01:18 PM

McCain has at least picked someone from the other end of the political spectrum within his party- Obama was the MOST liberal Democrat, and Biden was the third most.


I was surprised that Obama selected such a far-left-wing type as running mate. I had agreed with the conventional wisdom that he needed to appeal to the "base" (hard core liberals) to win the primaries, but that he should now be moving/leaning toward the center for the general election.


So, we have the choice of a Moderate Republican and a Conservative one, or two far left Liberal Democrats.

Vote for the ones that you think will be best for the country- recalling that Congress is ( and has been for two years) under the control of the Democrats. With McCain, Congress will serve to act as a brake on any "extremes" ;, With Obama, there will be NO limit as to what he can do.



Just a note: If McCain is elected, and decides to resign one day before the next president takes office, Palin becomes the first woman president. I have to wonder what Hillary thinks about that, since she was reserving that for herself.

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Bobert
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 01:04 PM

I agrre, P-Gator...

She was packaged as this maverick, hockey (soccer) mom sho stood up to this interest and that interest... Problem is that her packaging is very much like an onion and the layers are going to come of one at a time and with each one she is going to lose some support...

Right now the McCain camp is trying to get as much of a lead as possible before heading into the debates and hope that they can hold on at the end...

Palin is not going to do well against Biden unless the moderators throw it... If it's fair and real, she is toast...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: PoppaGator
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 12:57 PM

I think Ms Palin's popularity has already peaked, and has nowhere to go but down. At least, so I hope.

I was surprised that McCain selected such a far-right-wing type as running mate. I had agreed with the conventional wisdom that he needed to appeal to the "base" (hard core social conservatives) to win the primaries, but that he should now be moving/leaning toward the center for the general election.

Looks for now as though the running-mate's gender (not to mention her youth and cuteness) is trumping, or at least obscuring, her ideological positions. Can this last?

I think McCain's chances, in the long run, would have been better served by anointing his buddy Joe Lieberman as VP candidate. That would have strongly underscored his contention that he is able to trsanscend party politics and be the "uniter" we didn't get last time around.

Of course, McCain has shown us that he is not so free of partisanship as he'd like us to believe.

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 11:46 AM

If you're going to quote Adlai Stevenson, remember his most famous quote.."By the time a man is nominated for President, He's no longer fit for the job"!..Boy, in this election, does that ring true!(on both sides).

The Dems(along with MSNBC) have been personally attacking Palin, in her personal life...If this goes to a political cat fight, All the Republicats have to utter, is 'How can Hillary lead a country, if she can't even lead her husband to bed?', and she will be discredited, and the laughing stock of the general public. As I said, before, Hillary attacking Palin is far more dicey that you might think on the surface.

Btw, that quote is not mine, but was used before, so don't get your knickers in a twist. Whether you agree, or disagree with Palin, for Hillary to take her on, she would be risking a lot, and I'm sure she will be considering that!

Subject: RE: BS: President Soccer Mom Surges in Polls....
From: Bobert
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 11:09 AM

Obama supporters "shaking in theior boots"???

Hardly, GtS... Time and the issues are on our side... Playing firt politics, while entertaining to many voters, isn't what the Dems need to be doing... That would represent an about-face in the strategy...

There will be four debates that will draw alot of voters who haven't had much opportunity to zero in on the issues as the McCain campaign has been making so much negative noise that people really can't consentrate...

But four debates from now this negative noise will at least be centered around issues that the voters understand...

Taxes is the biggie... John McCain has been lieing thru his teeth about Obama's tax plan telling *everyone* that Obama will raise their taxes when in reality Obama will be giving a tax break to 95% of the people and raising then taxes only on folks making over $250,000 a year...

Yeah, it will be interesting when McCain is confronted in the debates for not telling the truth... I'm kinda lookin' forward to his reaction... If it's anything like when he almost attacked a reporter on his plane then McCain will cook himself... I'm really not sure just what the McCain braintrust has in mind for how he will handle, in essence, being called a liar??? Especially seeing as Obama has him dead to rights on it...

B~