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Originally Posted by WhiplashDug
LOL... like Joe Biden is any better??? LOL
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Yeah he most certainly is.
Thinking him and Palin are equal in any way is absurd.
It's incredible she's made it this far, here's a little list of the many lies she's told on the national stage since the conventions:
She lied about Alaska's contribution to America's oil and gas production.
She told ABC's Charles Gibson, during her first nationally televised interview that her state produced "nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy." This was a lie. Alaska is the ninth-largest energy supplier in the U.S., accounting for a modest 3.5 percent share of the nation's total energy production. Source: The Washington Post. September 17, 2008.
She lied about the actual progress in constructing a natural gas pipeline from Alaska.
During her nationally televised convention address she said: "And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence." This was a lie. The pipeline exists only on paper. The first section has yet to be laid, federal approvals are years away and the pipeline will not be completed for at least a decade. In fact, although it is the centerpiece of Ms. Palin?s relatively brief record as governor, the pipeline might never be built. Source: The New York Times. September 10, 2008
She lied about her alleged pay-cut as mayor of Wasilla.
One thing Sarah Palin cites as proof of her reform credentials is a pay cut she says she took when she became Mayor of Wasilla in 1996. "As mayor I took a voluntary pay cut, which didn't thrill my husband; and then as governor I cut the personal chef position from the budget, and that didn't thrill my hungry kids." This was a lie. While Palin did appear to get a pay cut ordinance passed upon entering, her salary had actually gone up to the point where it ended up thousands of dollars higher than it was just before she took office, local press reports at the time show. Source: TPM Election Central. September 18, 2008
She lied about the Bridge To Nowhere.
In her speeches, she routinely and repeatedly uses the phrase: "I told the Congress 'thanks, but no thanks,' for that Bridge to Nowhere." In the McCain-Palin ads, the claim is that she "stopped the Bridge to Nowhere." This is a lie. She ran for office favoring it, wore a sweatshirt defending it, and only gave it up when the federal congress, Senator McCain in particular, went ballistic. She kept the money anyway, twice the cost of the original bridge. The Associated Press reported "Palin did abandon plans to build the nearly $400 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents. But she made her decision after the project had become an embarrassment to the state, after federal dollars for the project were pulled back, and after she had appeared to support the bridge during her campaign for governor." Source: The Associated Press. September 8, 2008
CBS Reported on this, on September 23, 2008:
?Congress' requirement that funds be spent on that bridge were removed before Sarah Palin became governor. She was therefore in no position to tell Congress anything about the bridge, one way or the other. During her campaign, she said she supported funding for the bridge.
Brad Plumer, citing the Anchorage Daily News:
PLUMER: Would you continue state funding for the proposed Knik Arm and Gravina Island bridges?
PALIN: Yes. I 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."
She lied about pressuring Alaska's public safety commissioner to fire her ex-brother-in-law.
ABC recently released a statement that "Governor Sarah Palin Did Not Tell the Truth to ABC" regarding the fired official. Palin told ABC's Charles Gibson she dismissed Monegan for poor job performance and that neither she nor her husband pressured Monegan to fire State Trooper Wooten. "We never did. I never pressured him to hire or fire anybody." This was a lie. After ABC proved Sarah Palin lied she told reporters "pressure could have been perceived to exist, although I have only now become aware of it." Source: ABC News. September 18, 2008
She lied about her firing of the town librarian and police chief of Wasilla, Alaska.
Back when she was increasing the long-term debt of the town of Wasilla by 69 percent, Mayor Palin also fired the town's police chief and librarian, Irl Stambaugh and Mary Ellen Emmons. The accusation was that they were fired because they had supported her opponent in the previous election. Palin denied any political motivation. But whatever the merits of the firing, what is salient is that Palin's reflexive instinct was to lie in public about it. "There's been no meeting, no actual terminations" Palin told the Anchorage Daily News. This was another odd lie - easily disproven. Stambaugh's response was to read part of the letter given to him. "Although I appreciate your service as police chief, I've decided it's time for a change. I do not feel I have your full support in my efforts to govern the city of Wasilla. Therefore I intend to terminate your employment". Source: Anchorage Daily News. September 4th, 2008
She lied about asking her daughters for their permission for her to run for vice-president.
During a recent interview with Fox News Palin said "Well, I found out about the actual selection just a couple days before you guys all did." She told him that she took that time to consult with her family about the decision before accepting the job. "So I asked the girls what they thought and they are like, absolutely, let's do this, mom." Was this a lie? Because during her first interview with ABC's Charles Gibson he asked "And you didn't say to yourself, 'Am I experienced enough? Am I ready? Do I know enough about international affairs?', she replied "I didn't hesitate, no.. I didn't blink then even when asked to run as his running mate." She didn't blink, yet she had 2 days to talk it over with her family. Oh, and she lied about having a 2 day head start, the McCain campaign has since revealed she was offered the job 1 day before it was officially announced. Source: Fox News. September 17, 2008
She lied about her opposition to wasteful federal earmarks.
NBC reports: As a vice presidential candidate, Gov. Sarah Palin has railed against federal earmarks, or congressional funding for pork-barrel projects. "In our state, we reformed the abuses of earmarks," Palin recently boasted to a rally in Lancaster, Pa. "We championed earmark reform up there," she said, "to stop Congress from wasting public money on things that didn't serve the public interest." But musty records culled from the archives of the Wasilla, Alaska, city government reveal that Palin was directly involved in soliciting millions of dollars in earmarks for Wasilla when she was mayor. And she got help from a well-connected Washington lobbyist. Steve Silver, the Wasilla lobbyist, is a former top staffer for Sen. Ted Stevens, (R-Alaska), who now is under federal indictment for allegedly failing to disclose thousands of dollars in services he received from a company that helped renovate his Alaska home. Under Palin, the city paid Silver about $40,000 a year to lobby on behalf of Wasilla. John McCain used his appearance on ABC's "The View" to lie about Sarah Palin's record on earmarks. McCain claimed that Palin had never requested earmarks for pet projects. In fact, as governor of Alaska, Palin requested $200 million in earmarks this year alone, more than any other state in the country. Source: NBC News. September 17, 2008
Lindsay Beyerstein of The Campaign Silo wrote on September 12, 2008:
?It's good to call out McCain and Palin on their hypocrisy, but I'm concerned that this discussion reinforces the idea that earmarks are inherently shameful.
Earmarks are not intrinsically frivolous or scandalous. They're riders on appropriations bills that allow members of Congress to set aside money for a particular organization, project, region, or program.
It's nonsensical for Palin to claim to have opposed earmarks as governor. Not only is she lying, she's saying something that, if true, would establish her incompetence as a governor. It is Palin's job to work with the Alaska's congressional delegation to get the best possible deal for Alaska.
McCain likes to claim that we could save tens of billions of dollars by eliminating earmarks. Like so many of his claims, this one is false. Most earmarks aren't even new spending. Usually they're just more specific directions for spending money that has already been allocated for a particular purpose. Let's say $100 million has already been set aside for bridge repairs. A member of Congress might add an earmark stipulating that $2 million of that money will go to widen a specific bridge in greater Peoria. Without the earmark, bureaucrats in the executive branch would have divvied up the bridge money. It's not clear that they would have made a better, or less politically motivated, decision.
We're all familiar with flagrant earmark abusers like Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) who use earmarks to fund boondoggles like the Bridge to Nowhere and pay off their cronies at public expense. However, we should be careful not to conflate earmarks with pork or corruption.?