McCain/Palin v. Obama/Biden

[Zhaun's_Shade]

Originally Posted by Smocca

Not a Kerry fan really but he has a nice little rant here (mainly the last 30s):

Why do Democrat ex-Candidates (Gore, Kerry) seem to look so much better 4+ years after the elections they are in?

[Khorum]

Originally Posted by Etoille

Wait im confused she has been a governor for longer than 2 years?

oh you must mean the time since 2003 (making it less than 5 years) after she LOST 2002 for lt. gov. that she served on the commission in a NON executive role.

got it now.

was this the same stretch of time she was doing advocacy on the board of Ted Stevens 527?

As much as I hate repeating myself and.... OK no, I LOVE repeating myself.

But here, I'll just cut and paste mmmkay?

Then DON'T believe it.

Don't listen to the opinion and hyperbole on EITHER side. Why don't you look at the record, instead. It's easy (and let's face it, FUN) to debate based on the innuendo and between-the-shoulderblades daggerplay that both parties revel in, but if you REALLY wanna "put the partisanship down for a second" then simply take a look at the facts:

BEFORE she was even in any political office, Sarah Palin had made some kind of freaky mission out of calling out and tackling corruption in government. I don't know if you've been to Alaska (the oil pipeline was maintained by my old employer so I've been there way more than I liked) but the people who actually live there voluntarily are---well---different.

They're like paleo-Americans, some kind of wild-west museum exhibit that escaped into modern life. You hear about how the pioneers on the Oregon trail must've been some kind of homespun supermen, then you meet rural Alaskans and realize that there's a reason how such people marched from sea to shining sea with their lives in a wagon and children in their arms and destroyed whatever opposition happened to be in the way: they fear absolutely nothing.

The fact that Sarah Palin was born to these people (and married a Yupik Eskimo to boot) goes a long explaining why the hell she thought she could get away with what she DID get away with. And she got away with dismantling a decades-old "old-boy" political network from her hometown of Wasilla, to the main Government Energy Commission in the state, all the way to her Governorship.

She started her political career by unseating a corrupt mayor by promising to cut taxes and curb public spending as a fiscal conservative. And as soon as she took office she CUT her salary by 60%, cut property taxes by 40% as she had promised in her campaign.

She was then appointed (by state Republicans) to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission wherein she refused to play by the script that the Republicans who appointed her expected her to play. They may have thought she was just another ditzy beauty queen with more ambition than decency. Or maybe they just thought she understood that that was how the Alaskan public oil regime worked. Either way, they were wrong and what they actually got was the woman who REFUSED to take part in their corruption, resigned in protest, then promptly sued and pursued the corrupt Republicans out of their jobs.

"Oh but Khorum, those were just minor nobody Republicans, they couldn't have harmed her!" Wrong, they were the Alaska RNC Chief Randy Ruedrich and Republican Attorney General Gregg Renkes. But in case you feel like imagining that Palin would escape by switching to the Democrats, she implicated them too.

But the AOGCC was still in the grip of multinational corporate interests (not to name names but it starts with E and ends with xxon-Mobil), Palin decided to Challenge the powerful Republican Governor Frank Murkowski (who had APPOINTED his daughter Lisa Murkowski to replace him in the Senate when he decided he wanted to be governor. I shit you not). She won the governorship in the Republican _PRIMARY_, unseating the patriarch of the most connected political dynasty in the state's history.

"But but Khorum, it's about EXPERIENCE reforming the largest corporate entities in human history, not, um, being pretty." As soon as she took office Sarah Palin enacted some of the most dramatic ethics and regulatory reforms in State and US history. She created a cabinet-level authority whose sole mission is to control greenhouse gas emissions by Alaska's substantial gas industry. Against the loud and obvious protest by some of the most powerful corporate interests the world has EVER seen. She then promoted and signed the Alaska Gas Inducement Act against the wishes of BP (her husband's bosses!) and then allowed contractor bidding to award the contract to a CANADIAN company to save the State's taxpayer dollars. As part of the deal TransCanada would build the gas pipeline from Alaska to the 48 states and develop roads, rail and housing communities for indigenous Alaskans along the way!

Then she sued George Bush for being an asshat and trying to kiss ass with an environmental lobby who somehow missed the fact that the Polar Bear population was in a boom and that their entry as an endangered species would bar Alaska from utilizing its resources for generations to come.

What experience does Barack Hussein Obama have that compares with that, exactly?

The woman is a boy-scout (and some would say a FANATIC) about reducing waste in government and pursuing government corruption. I'm not entirely comfortable with a lot of her politics, but she and Bobby Jindal represent a new wave of young republican leaders who have this giant crusading chip on their shoulders. And as great as Jindal has been, he's been focusing on DEMOCRATS in Louisiana.

Palin sent her own Party Chairman out of office and disgraced the state's REPUBLICAN attorney general for working in cahoots with Big Oil.

[Gurgeh]

Originally Posted by Itzena

Forgot to reply to this one.

Despite what's claimed in the bizarre world of American politics, Socialism is not far left. At least, not until you start hitting the extreme fringes that border on communism.

Yeah he might be unconceivably far left for the US, but in Europe that would be just regular left, he'd be SPD or PS I guess, he's not even "somewhat" far left like Die Linke in Germany or the PC in France it seems.

[Zhaun's_Shade]

Damnit Khorum! Fix that shit, she was born in Idaho!

Also, anyone who is against polar bears is a bad person.

[Chips]

Biden: ‘Children Are Off Limits’ - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com

[Khorum]

Originally Posted by Zhaun's_Shade

Damnit Khorum! Fix that shit, she was born in Idaho!

Also, anyone who is against polar bears is a bad person.

That's true, but let's just look at the facts man. In the thirty years since the insane left voted AGAINST the Trans-alaskan pipeline on some imaginary alarmist handjob about the Caribou herds and the condition of the permafrost which is the basis of that ecology....

...the caribou herds have grown tremendously, the permafrost has actually expanded and the Trans-alaskan oil pipeline has pumped 15 BILLION barrels of oil into the economy, helping America heave itself out of Carter's energy debacle, re-energize the economy and win the cold war.

Palin's objection to Polar Bear protection is based on the fact that Bush had thoughtlessly approved of it without considering the limitation it would incur on developing the remote rural communities in Alaska, which find food, work, schooling for their kids and ROADS chiefly because of resource development. It doesn't necessarily mean she hates cute wittle powar beaws, in fact she has resisted hunting rights legislation for them, but it confirms her meticulous and somewhat anal-retentive pursuit of constitutional state powers.

In fact, Sarah Palin, more than ANY OTHER chief executive in state history, has enacted more sweeping environmental measures including creating a cabinet-level agency with sweeping powers to limit greenhouse gas emissions from Alaska's substantial oil and gas industry. The ONLY such state body in the union.

[Tuco]

Khorum makes some good points about how Palin has been able to take out some corruption and do some whistle blowing.

The thing that concerns me most, though, Khorum, is how the McCain/Palin duo would compete with OBama/Biden with bringing us away from dependence on oil?

I am also looking forward to your response for why would should praise Palin for her executive experience when she took a debt-free town and used $27million in earmarks for that town to leave it with a $20million debt.

[Chips]

Also some news you liberals will love. Don't worry, I think you guys should be as miserable as the rest of us married people.

Gay Republicans endorse McCain - Yahoo! News

[Badass]

Originally Posted by Khorum

Yeah, that's gonna work out.

Because the public's objection to Jeremiah Wright and Barack Obama's vision is because they're BLACK? It's not because Wright's career was a vicious America-hating parody of a Christian Clergyman?

Does Palin's pastor hang out with and give "lifetime achievement awards" to Louis Farrakhan? Did Palin write two books proclaiming her fervent dedication to her pastor's naked hatred of America? Did Palin hire TWO Nation of Islam activists to serve as her treasurer and Director like Obama did?

Yeah, REAL similarities there.

That pastor's message is no more radical than any you would hear in an evangelical homily (as insane as those tend to go) but the public's rejection of Wright and Obama's creed isn't because they're BLACK, but it's because they're ANTI-AMERICAN.

Unless you're angling for some argument where Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam is something OTHER than a hate group who remains barred from visitting places like the UK to this very day.

What could be more ANTI-AMERICAN than being part of a political organization intent on having Alaska succeed from ...... AMERICA.

[Zhaun's_Shade]

Originally Posted by Khorum

That's true, but let's just look at the facts man.

Palin's objection to Polar Bear protection is based on the fact that Bush had thoughtlessly approved of it without considering the limitation it would incur on developing the remote rural communities in Alaska, which find food, work, schooling for their kids and ROADS chiefly because of resource development. It doesn't necessarily mean she hates cute wittle powar beaws, in fact she has resisted hunting rights legislation for them, but it confirms her meticulous and somewhat anal-retentive pursuit of constitutional state powers.

Polar bear numbers are healthy in Alaska because they are moving from up north. The reluctance to acknowledge global warming as an issue helps fuel this lax attitude towards the enviorment.

I'm all for constitutional state powers but this doesn't seem like much of an issue in that area. Many Alaskans seem happy to convert the entire state into oil pumps since it puts cash into their pockets.

[Manseed]

God I wish she was running for President.

[aychamo_aycono]

I think Sarah Palin is a badass. We should just elect her president and vice-president at the same time.

[Dokomo]

Project Vote Smart - Governor Sarah Heath Palin - Governor Palin Urges Feds to not list Belugas as Endangered

She also hates Beluga Whales, as well as Polar Bears.

[Tuco]

Originally Posted by Badass

What could be more ANTI-AMERICAN than being part of a political organization intent on having Alaska succeed from ...... AMERICA.

Would you stop being ridiculous and misleading, you're looking like a damn fool.

And it's seceding.

[Khorum]

Originally Posted by Badass

What could be more ANTI-AMERICAN than being part of a political organization intent on having Alaska succeed from ...... AMERICA.

Succeed? LOL.

Alaska has SUCCEEDED in being the richest energy resource in the US. Alaska has SUCCEEDED in providing millions of jobs and almost 10% of the energy needs of the country. Alaska has SUCCEEDED in all the promises the Alaskan Statehood movement promised they would succeed in fulfilling in exchange for modernization, roads, railways, jobs, education, and just overall civilization.

The "SECESSION" movement you think you're alluding to, expresses the frustrations at the Federal government failing to deliver their side of the bargain. Even the trans-alaskan pipeline was challenged by liberals thirty years ago on the premise that it would harm the environment, which the Alaskans had insisted it wouldn't and that time has shown it hasn't.

The folks who mention that Alaska should SECEDE are those bodies who have given so much to the United States but have been left out of the American side of the bargain: that the government would encourage resource development in the remote regions of the state where there are no roads, no rails, no schools, no business and no jobs: EXACTLY the sort of people who fought so hard to include the Alaska into the union but have gotten shit for their loyalty.

The secession sentiment in Alaska is expressed more as frustration at a federal government that esteems the opinion of distant elitists over the conditions of poor indigenous families that actually LIVE in Alaska. I've seen communities move wholesale because contracts were cancelled due to some EPA ruling, it's kinda sad. I can't really blame them, and apparently, neither does Sarah Palin.