PrintSeptember 4, 2008
Rebutting the Democrats' Fearful and Intolerant Attacks on Sarah Palin
Since the first article on American Thinker warning about the forthcoming types of attacks on Sarah Palin was posted last Friday (Defending Against the First Attacks on Sarah Palin), the assault has come fast and furious from both the media and the Democrats. Perhaps the only surprising thing about it has been, however, the depravity of the attacks.
While the campaign against Governor Palin has been viscious, certainly more so than any I can remember previous, it has managed to expose the soft underbelly of the Democratic Party, including the mainstream media. The Left is, at its heart, a movement of fear and intolerance -- despite its loud and frequent proclamations that it is exactly the opposite.
Here's a blue-collar woman from a blue-collar family living a comfortable blue-collar life. She's able to be successful in a career while raising a family, and her spouse is also hard-working and successful in a blue-collar job. Her life is not perfect -- her family has to deal with serious issues that normal families have to deal with from time to time, such as a husband's old DUI conviction, a sister's divorce from a lunatic that Tasers the sister's ten year old son, and a daughter's unplanned pregnancy and forthcoming marriage. But they deal with it with love, respect, and mutual support. In short, she is exactly the type of woman that the media and the Democrats should champion.
Which is precisely why they are so afraid of her: she isn't one of their own.
And so we have all the usual suspects launching abhorrent personal attacks on her and her family. It doesn't matter if what they report, allege, or insinuate is even slightly factual. The point is to get these stories out in public, where they can develop a life of their own. That's why you have a supposedly honorable liberal such as Alan Colmes writing a blog post that essentially blames Sarah Palin's pre-natal regimen for her baby's Down Syndrome (which is scientifically impossible since the malady is chromosome-based). He took his disgraceful piece down after a while, but his objective was achieved. He got people talking about it, and in some intolerant and uneducated circles it's become the new conventional wisdom. And bless Colmes' little, cold heart -- he's been rationalizing writing the post ever since.
The Democrats have even gotten so desperate that one of their party operatives has released the first five numbers of Sarah Palin's Social Security number to the public as part of a Democratic opposition research file. That means, by the way, that they have the whole number, and have previously used it as part of their research against her. And it's probably not too difficult for some lefty hacker to figure out the remaining four digits if it hasn't already been released -- it's a simple permutation equation with just 10,000 solutions. The Politico has helpfully posted the entire opposition report, including the partial SS number, here. Is this a surprise? Not really -- Chuck Schumer did the same thing to Michael Steele in 2006. Make no mistake about it; the media and the Dems are out to destroy Palin and her family by any means necessary.
As usual, the DailyKos has been in the forefront of the attacks on Palin. Many of the more despicable attacks, such as the story that it was Palin's daughter Bristol who gave birth to Trig, have been removed from DailyKos' site -- not because they were inaccurate (which they were), but because they were becoming embarrassing to DailyKos and its owner and chief propagandist, Markos Moulitsas.
But DailyKos still has 51 lines of attack against Governor Palin up on their website, and to show you how depraved the mainstream media has become, many of them have been embraced by outlets such as CNN (embracing Kos Attack #4).
I first thought that DailyKos had received a copy of the aforementioned opposition research file, and used it to develop their lines of attack. But after reading the report, I realized that it was not so, since much of the opposition research can be used to rebut many of DailyKos' attack points.
So let's revisit the original lines of attack on Sarah Palin that was predicted last Friday, and assess how they're going. And then let's expand it by going through the 51 DailyKos attack directives issued to the drive-by media, with admissions and rebuttals where appropriate. It'll be done in order, keeping all original misspellings and grammatical errors, skipping (and noting) only those attacks that were first covered in last Friday's post and updated in today's.
"Palin has no experience": (Also Daily Kos attack #32) The first line of attack was, as expected, one on Palin's experience. The media has declared that her "lack" of experience now immunizes the attacks on Barack Obama's lack of experience. In fact, it does the opposite. The Obama campaign, by publicly comparing Democrat Presidential nominee Obama's experience to Republican Vice-Presidential nominee Palin's, tacitly concedes the experience issue to the Republican Presidential nominee John McCain. Memo to the Obama campaign Part 1 - it doesn't help your image when you spend time trying to argue, unsuccessfully, that your Presidential candidate has more executive experience than your opposition's Vice-Presidential candidate. Palin still has more executive experience that either Obama or Joe Biden. Obama is left having to claim that running his Presidential campaign is executive experience, which is ridiculous. Memo to the Obama campaign Part 2 - as you well know, David Plouffe runs Obama's campaign and David Axelrod writes most of Obama's words. All Obama has to do is show up. That's how Presidential campaign run. Stop suggesting otherwise.
"Palin's part of the corrupt GOP establishment in Alaska": (Also Daily Kos attack point #1, #16, #39) The thrust of the Democrats' complaints seem to be based on the fact that Sarah Palin belongs to the same political party as Republicans now either under investigation or indictment for ethical and criminal misdeeds. When faced with evidence of wrongdoing, Governor Palin went after the wrongdoers in her own party. She publicly opposed top Alaskan GOP establishment figures involved in nepotism and possible malfeasance - including Lisa Murkowski, Frank Murkowski, Don Young and Ted Stevens - and actively supported their GOP primary opponents once issues were raised (in Frank Murkowski's case, she was his primary opponent, and beat him). DailyKos' alleged "Abramoff" problem (#1) is just plain silly - a mailer supportive of Palin was sent out by an outside group associated with Jack Abramoff during her successful gubernatorial run. That's a tenuous link, at best.
Furthermore, this line of attack by the Democrats and the media sheds light on one of the main differences between the Republican ticket and the Democratic ticket. Both John McCain and Sarah Palin have aggressively gone after and investigated corrupt figures in their own party. Name one corrupt Democrat that either Barack Obama or Joe Biden has investigated during their long careers. The answer to that is simple - none.
As for the Obama campaign's suggestion that Sarah Palin is corrupt because she hired lobbyists to represent her city when she was Mayor? That attack shows the breathtaking ignorance of how municipalities and states actually run. Cities need representatives that show up at the state capital to represent the city's interests. States need those same types of representatives in Washington. To not do so would be irresponsible to the taxpayers. Forget about the elected representatives who are supposed to be filling that role - they have their own interests at stake. There are two ways for cities and states to accomplish this. The first is by having an office in either the state capitol or Washington staffed by locals. But many cities and states can't afford such an undertaking, much less staff it with effective people, so they hire professional lobbyists to do the job - because it's more often than not less expensive and more effective.
As for Palin's "deep" connections to the "Bridge to Nowhere", which both the Obama campaign and the DailyKos (#13) call into question? As another post at DailyKos clearly states: "Palin reported to the crowd in Dayton, Ohio. 'If our state wanted a bridge, I said, we'd build it ourselves.'". So she's in favor of the idea of the bridge, but opposed to the method of funding - a secret earmark bestowed in the middle of the night.
Her real "sin" in the eyes of the Democrats is that Alaska kept the money for the "Bridge to Nowhere", but allocated it elsewhere. No Governor in their right mind would refuse a check from Washington of over $300 million that can be used for any project that the state desires - again it would be irresponsible to the state's residents to send it back.
The rhetoric from the left on this issue conveniently masks the real issue over earmarks. Earmark opponents are not suggesting that all earmark projects are either bad or unnecessary. They're objecting to the way the money is surreptitiously inserted into the legislative process - in the dead of night, with no debate over the merits of each item. Individuals like McCain and Palin say go ahead and propose these projects - just do it in a fashion that allows each spending measure to be publicly vetted and debated. Submit such a project as the "Bridge to Nowhere" to the appropriations process. And allow earmarks only in very rare and emergency circumstances.
"Palin used her position as Governor to get back at the man whom her sister was divorcing, and fired the man who refused to fire her sister's ex-husband": The media and the Democrats are being very cute with this one (Also DailyKos #47 and #48). They report the issue - that there is an investigation headed by Democrats into whether or not a former Public Safety Commissioner was fired because he didn't cave-in to Palin on the firing of a state police trooper that was divorcing Palin's sister - without offering upfront the pertinent facts about the case. Tapes exist that show that some members of Palin's office contacted the Commissioner's office about this issue, but those same tapes record the people involved admitting that Palin herself didn't know of or approve the contacts. And once voters are made aware of the facts underlying the issue, the Democrats and the media will be surprised at the response.
Here's one way that Sarah Palin can permanently turn the tables on the media and the Dems on this issue. She could come out in public and say something along the following: "It's true that I was deeply upset that my sister's ex-husband, who is on record as threatening my father's life and my family's safety, and who also has publicly admitted that he Tasered my ten year old nephew, wasn't fired from his position as an Alaskan State trooper. It seems that the nature of the offense would indicate that it is the trooper, along with the union and former Public Safety Commissioner who are protecting him, should be the ones answering most of the questions. As for members of my office making inquiries about this affair, I appreciate them looking out for my family's safety, even if they might have been technically wrong. As for the rest, I always put the safety of my family first, and offer no apologies for that."
Game, set, match...Palin.
Here's the rest of the rebuttal against the media's the Democrats' DailyKos' anti-Palin talking points, in the order in which they have been offered on DailyKos' website:
#2 She advocated AGAINST mine safety / pollution control: From the article linked by DailyKos: "Ballot Measure 4 would prohibit new large mines from discharging toxins that could harm salmon or humans." Note the absolutist wording of DailyKos' attack. In fact, Palin was only against a specific ballot measure (Ballot Measure 4) that was simply unnecessary, as there existed federal and state law that already regulated such discharges. This was a ballot measure meant to stop one particular new mine near Pebble, Alaska. The initiative was intentionally worded so that the project would be tied up for years in the courts trying to figure out exactly what the new law meant - a crude form of lawfare often used by environmentalists and their legal allies. The initiative was voted on last Tuesday, August 26th, and was overwhelmingly voted down by Alaskans 57% to 43%.
#3 She has an ANTI-ENVIRONMENT RECORD and is on the wrong side of global warming and doesn't think polar bears should be listed as endangered because it interferes with her drilling plans: Remember, if you're against anything proposed by the environmental movement you're an evil and corrupt individual, and probably should be put to death! Last I heard, the human species' sole responsibly for "global warming" was a theory, not an established fact. And listing polar bears as an endangered species was a tactic that the environmentalists were using to restrict drilling - all Sarah Palin did was call them on it. Which is again, apparently, wrong and evil.
#4 She's against sex education - abstinence only: This is a difficult one to assess, since the link that DailyKos provides goes to a Boston Globe article that doesn't even mention abstinence. I guess it's just one of those "As DailyKos says, so it shall be" moments. Further Googling shows that that Palin has stated her support on teaching students about abstinence (after all, it's the only method of birth control that is guaranteed to work, at least amongst us mortals), and that the ultimate source for this information can be found (somewhere) on Phyllis Schlafly's website, Eagleforum.org. In fact, CNN reports that the actual quote from Sarah Palin on this issue is "Explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support" - and that can be interpreted in several different ways. But note that it is her personal view, and nowhere can be found evidence that while she was a City Councilor, Mayor, or Governor did she try to replace sex education with abstinence-only education.
(It was also disturbing to note how many Democrats and media organizations are enjoying the pregnancy of Palin's daughter Bristol, claiming that Palin deserves it for supporting abstinence. Alaskan schools do currently teach sex education, and it did not prevent this particular pregnancy.)
#5 She appears to oppose windfall taxes on oil companies at the national level but supported them to benefit her state: The very article linked to by DailyKos disproves this attack. The windfall profits tax on oil companies is designed by the Democrats and Obama to confiscate profits and hinder further oil exploration and development. Ultimately, such taxes will harm all of us by making oil and gasoline more expensive, and it would diminish dividends and share value that belong to the real owners of the oil companies - you, me, and our elderly's retirement and pension funds. That's why McCain and Palin both oppose them. What Palin did do was establish a "state-based graduated tax" on oil companies, because she felt that the previous Governor had been much too generous to those companies. That position has, ironically, earned her the reputation in Alaska as being "anti-oil". But at the same time she offers support for those taxes, she also offers unquestioned support for the expansion of oil and natural gas production. That ultimately results in more money for everyone from the Alaskan state government to the residents of the state to the oil companies themselves. Governor Palin clearly does not believe in punitive taxation, which is what the DailyKos and the media are trying to insinuate.
#6 Believes Creationism should be taught in science classes: Guilty as charged, although the way this is worded seems to suggest that she would replace Darwinism with Creationism. In fact, Palin supports the teaching of both, as reported in the article DailyKos links to:
Next, Carey asked about teaching alternatives to evolution - such as creationism and intelligent design - in public schools.
PALIN: "Teach both. You know, don't be afraid of information. Healthy debate is so important and it's so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both. And, you know, I say this, too, as the daughter of a science teacher. Growing up with being so privileged and blessed to be given a lot of information on, on both sides of the subject -- creationism and evolution. It's been a healthy foundation for me. But don't be afraid of information and let kids debate both sides."
Again, this points out the fear that the Left has of any theory that doesn't fit into their world-view. Palin's position seems perfectly reasonable to most, if not all, Americans.
#7 Don't believe the whispers that she supportive of the GLBT community. She's opposed to state health benefits for same-sex partners and only vetoed a resolution that would have ended state benefits because the Supreme Court had already declared it unconstitutional: Stretching quite a bit, and linking to a gay activist blog for proof doesn't pass the smell test. She chose this resolution to be her very first veto after becoming Governor, which sends a strong message that regardless of what her personal opinion is, the law is the law - and unconstitutional is unconstitutional. According to an article from 2006 in the Anchorage Daily News, her opposition had nothing to do with how she felt personally about gays, but with preserving the traditional family structure. In the end, if she wanted to veto it and fight the issue she could have, and since the veto was of a resolution passed and forwarded to her by Alaska's state government, a majority of the state would have been behind her. She chose not to, which obviously disappoints DailyKos.
#8 She's opposed to universal health care and stem cell research: DailyKos throws a big lie in there. She is opposed to federally funded universal health care - she believes that a market-based system is still the best solution. That's the same conclusion now being reached by many citizens in countries that do have universal health care, who are finding that if they want good health care they have to travel to the United States and pay for it to get it. The stem cell research claim is an outright lie. She opposes the expansion of only one small segment of stem cell research - embryonic stem cell research, which happens to be the overwhelming research favorite of abortionists and liberals.
#9 No foreign policy experience? According to the folks at FOX think she has foreign policy experience because "Alaska is near Russia." Oh, and she didn't even have a passport until last year: Barely even worth mentioning. She has about as much foreign policy experience as any current governor save Bill Richardson, and she has dealt with Russia on fishing issues. As for the passport - I never knew that summering in Europe was a prerequisite for the Vice-Presidency.
#10 She doesn't know what the Vice President really does: The Democrats are a bit schizophrenic about this issue. If you follow the link, it's obvious that Palin was talking about what she'd be doing everyday, as opposed to her constitutional role as being the President of the Senate and breaking ties. Democrats like to see Vice-Presidents of their own party, such as Al Gore, be co-presidents (something that is not in the Constitution). Democrats like to see Republican Vice-Presidents, like Dick Cheney, do nothing except wait for the President to die (something that is in the Constitution). Bottom line - Palin will do whatever John McCain asks her to do.
#11 This choice is NOT helping McCain's polling numbers, especially with women: Polls change, as the Democrats are soon to find out. But thanks for worrying for us!
#12 McCain only met Sarah Palin ONCE and talked to her TWICE making this a purely cynical and desperate political appointment by HIS CAMPAIGN not by him! She's not really HIS VP choice: That's the story that the Democrats and the media are promoting and want people to believe. It is also a lie. Sarah Palin was a very astute pick and was thoroughly vetted, as more and more articles are proving. Former Reagan Administration official Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr. has led the VP vetting process for McCain, and it has gone on for the past four or five months. That vetting process first resulted in a semi-finalist group of 21 candidates, then was more recently whittled down to 7. The "no vetting" storyline is a total fabrication by the Democrats, the Obama campaign, and certain partisans in the media.
#14 She stated that she would force her own daughter to have a rapist's child: This is really stretching it and very low, even for DailyKos and the Democrats. The article eventually linked to, via another DailyKos page, does not say what DailyKos claims Palin said - that she would "force her own daughter to have a rapist's child". That is the wishful thinking of the Kossites. In fact, the context of the response makes it clear that she is not answering for her child - she refused to take the interviewer's bait:
The candidates were pressed on their stances on abortion and were even asked what they would do if their own daughters were raped and became pregnant. Palin said she would support abortion only if the mother's life was in danger. When it came to her daughter, she said, "I would choose life."
DailyKos wants you to think that Sarah Palin would lock her baby up in a house and force her to give birth. As Alaska no longer has a parental consent law regarding abortion, there's no way for Palin to do this - no would she ever have. The most obvious (and correct) interpretation of Sarah Palin's response is that if she were in that situation she would have the baby, and she would counsel her daughter to do the same. She wasn't answering for her daughter - she wasn't going to play that game with the interviewer. Pro-abortion supporters cannot seem to grasp the fact pro-lifers believe that an unborn life is always the ultimate innocent - the child did not have any choice in how it was conceived.
#15 She has 3 houses: In the Democrats' world, no one should strive to be successful, and all families should be limited to one house. Sheesh...
#16 Terre pointed out that she's connected to VECO - the company at the heart of Ted Stevens' troubles. She also received an endorsement from Ted that has suddenly disappeared from her webpage: Yep. People who worked for VECO donated $5000 to her various election campaigns over the last seven years. Lock her up and throw away the keys. As for the Ted Stevens endorsement, DailyKos didn't provide a link to that, so I found the story via Google. There apparently was an ad showing Stevens endorsing Sarah Palin during her 2006 gubernatorial campaign that has been taken down from her now defunct 2006 governors campaign site. But the endorsement was made at the very last moment, and since then Sarah Palin has been quite critical of Stevens and his travails, actually endorsing his rival in last week's primary. Believe it or not, MSNBC's "First Read" has the best and most accurate info on the relationship between Stevens and Palin, and it's certainly not the relationship that DailyKos is claiming it is - or was.
#17 She called candidate Clinton a whiner. Why does everyone in the McCain campaign think others are whiners?: Because you are whiners, silly!
#18 She apparently hasn't taken a stand on most major political issues: Yep. Another DailyKos page is reporting that OnTheIssues.org doesn't have any of Sarah Palin's positions up yet. Palin wasn't even a national figure until this past weekend. Just because a website hasn't completed their homework yet, doesn't mean she has no opinions on these issues, and it's insulting to suggest otherwise.
#19 Her selection has created a major rift among the Republicans, especially Romney & Pawlenty: Really? The sources for this particular gem? Another DailyKos page, and a Washington Post blog post by Anne E. Kornblut that uses unnamed sources. If Romney and Pawlenty - and their associates - didn't feel bad about not being picked, I'd be surprised - that's human nature. The people at National Review were Romney supporters (as was I), and they're now strongly behind Palin. And the fact that Pat Buchanan is upset about McCain's pick of Palin is a plus in most people's books, including my own. But a rift? That's obviously what the DailyKos and the media wants people to think, but it just isn't so.
#20 Past quotes by Rove make Palin's selection look like desperation: Ah, living in the past again. The linked DailyKos page wasn't even about Palin, it was about Rove's opinion on the possibility that Obama would choose Tim Kaine for VP. In fact, Karl Rove is very enthused about Palin - he thinks that it's a bold pick by McCain, admittedly with some chance for a downside, but with huge upside potential. Check out this post and video from the LA Time's "Top of the Ticket" today. DailyKos and the Democrats are grasping at non-existent straws here.
#21 Palin may have been scrubbing her own wikipedia page: Good one. So silly it's not even worth responding to, other than to recognize that the source is yet another DailyKos page. I suppose they would rather have Palin's enemies control her Wikipedia entry? Which reminds me - the site isn't locked, so accurate corrections can be made and will be allowed. I wonder why a full rewrite of Palin's page isn't happening?
#22 Sarah Palin, Buchanite - Palin supported Pat Buchanan in 2000, a fact which may alienate certain Florida voters. Hat tip to misslotus: No, no, a thousand times no! A thinly disguised anti-Semite attack by DailyKos, the media, and the Obama campaign. As a Republican Mayor, she once greeted Pat Buchanan when he stopped in Alaska in 1999, and wore a Buchanan button while doing so. But published contemporary articles prove that she never supported him. Again - and I can't say this strongly enough - this is a pathetic attempt by the media, Democrats, and the Obama campaign to create a Jewish problem for McCain-Palin. The facts are this - Sarah Palin wrote a letter to the Anchorage Daily News in 1999 after Buchanan's visit correcting any possible misconception, stating the following about a picture and article published showing her wearing Buchanan's campaign button:
As mayor of Wasilla, I am proud to welcome all presidential candidates to our city. This is true regardless of their party, or the latest odds of their winning. When presidential candidates visit our community, I am always happy to meet them. I'll even put on their button when handed one as a polite gesture of respect.
Though no reporter interviewed me for the Associated Press article on the recent visit by a presidential candidate (Metro, July 17), the article may have left your readers with the perception that I am endorsing this candidate, as opposed to welcoming his visit to Wasilla. As mayor, I will welcome all the candidates in Wasilla.
Later that year, the Associated Press ran a story announcing Sarah Palin as the co-chair of Steve Forbes 2000 campaign in Alaska. Thus, the Palin-Buchanan story is a bald-faced and easily disproven lie being distributed by DailyKos and the Obama campaign to the major media outlets, many of who are buying it wholesale without doing even a little bit of homework on their own.
This particular and cutely worded DailyKos attack ("a fact which may alienate certain Florida voters") is much more insidious than just promoting a false story. As this piece at the "Volokh Conspiracy" proves, this is part of a blatant and false attempt by many, including the Obama campaign itself, to allege that Sarah Palin is, of all things, a Nazi sympathizer - in order to scare away Jewish voters:
"Palin was a supporter of [MSNBC analyst] Pat Buchanan, a right-winger or as many Jews call him: a Nazi sympathizer," Obama spokesman Mark Bubriski wrote in an email.
These people know what they're doing, and it's evil. And they don't care.
#23 She was vetted too quickly and McCain only picked her the night before making the announcement: Nice try, but as I've discussed above in #12 the real story is finally coming out.
#24 She's still focused on Alaska not the fact the she would be Vice President for the whole nation: Silly. All I'll say about this is that this DailyKos attack item was written just hours after Palin was named as McCain's VP pick, and she is still, in fact, the Governor of Alaska. Don't worry, Kossites, she'll be plenty focused come November!
#25 She participated in a profane on-air attack against the Alaskan State Senate President and giggled at the word b*tch..: DailyKos complaining about vulgarity? Be still my heart...
#26 Like Bush and McCain, she can't admit when she's wrong: No. DailyKos and the media are upset because Bush, McCain and Palin never cower before them. In fact, all three of them are quite candid about the mistakes they've made.
#27 She's linked to the Dominionist movement and Joel's Army: The source is again another DailyKos page that seems to be just a simplistic anti-religious screed and attack. Heavens no! Those Pentecostal groups, out to destroy America!
If people want to be really shocked, I suggest they look into Obama's particular brand of Christianity - black liberation theology. Then get back to me on which is more frightening. Somehow I don't think that DailyKos and the media really want to go there...
#28 The United Steelworkers have already spoken out against her: What's this? A union whose coffers serve as part of the Democratic Party's campaign war chest is speaking out against a Republican? Stop the presses!
#29 She was a bad mayor who left her town's economy in tatters: The sources for this - more DailyKos pages. All I say is this - she was elected Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska for two consecutive terms, and was prevented from running for a third term because of term limits. In her first election, she beat the incumbent. In her re-election, she received 74% of the votes compared to 21% for her opponent. After leaving office, the candidate she endorsed won. Not too shabby for a "bad mayor". If she did such damage while she was in office, it certainly comes as a surprise to her constituents, who still love her.
#30 She supported Obama's energy plan, but suddenly these references are disappearing: Hey, people make bad choices every once in a while...
#31 Some of the PUMA's believe that John McCain is patronizing them: In a surprise, DailyKos finds one woman that feels this way, who also happens to post on DailyKos! After all, liberal women always feel that Republican males are being patronizing to them, don't they? I'm surprised that more haven't surfaced...
#33 This choice raises the issue of McCain's age (Is Palin ready to take over if he keels over): Leads me to wonder what, exactly, the Left has planned for President McCain...
#34 It also raises the issue of McCain's past unfavorable statements against women. Yep. McCain hates women. That's why he picked one for his running mate!
#35 Additionally, this choice reminds us that McCain is an adulterer and raises the spectre that he is just a dirty old man with wandering eyes: Hold it! How does this reconcile with #34? Either he loves them or he hates them - make up your mind! This is getting silly...
#36 Palin's husband is on BP's payroll creating a possible conflict of interest: Let's see, Sarah Palin's husband is a union steelworker (not a high-ranking executive) and the steelworkers union has already attacked her (see #28). So Governor Palin should therefore be promoting less work for steelworkers, not more? Just trying to follow the logic.
#37 She made extremely poor use of Eminent Domain during her time as mayor: This has to do with "fair value" of property seized by the City of Wasilla under Eminent Domain, and it appears as if the city did try to steal the land at a very low price. According to the article in the Anchorage Daily News, it's now going to cost the city more than the land was valued when the city took over the property in 2002, due to court costs. I'll give this one to the DailyKos, but I'll also note that not many Republicans, conservatives, or independents are going to be too upset that Palin got her clock cleaned on an Eminent Domain case. I, for one, can't believe that the city couldn't have found another piece of property to build on, although I admittedly am not familiar with all of the aspects of this case. But I'll also note in Palin's defense that according to the article, it was a decision by all city leaders to go after this thing, not just her.
#38 She favors censoring library books (Alert your local librarian!): Lie, lie, lie! According to the Politico, Palin once asked a rhetorical question to a librarian - if she "could live with censorship of library books". I'm certain that the answer from the librarian was pretty clear. There is no evidence anywhere of Palin supporting or proposing censorship of any kind. Any allegation otherwise is a lie.
#39 Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young (both under investigation) campaigned for her in 2006: Already covered above in #16, and I again point you to MSNBC's "First Read" piece on the subject. As for Palin and Young, the relationship isn't exactly close. Palin endorsed Young's opponent in the 2008 Alaska primary, Sean Parnell. And Ted Stevens is under federal indictment, not "under investigation". Since becoming aware of the pre-indictment federal investigations of both Young and Stevens, Palin has done everything in her power to get them out of office.
#40 She didn't support McCain in the primaries: Join the club. And thanks for showing such concern for the Republican Party! This fact helps to prove that Palin is just as advertised - an independent thinker, not a sycophant. But I guess the DailyKos doesn't want a woman on the ticket who thinks on her own.
#41 The top 2 ALASKAN newspapers question her fitness for the job: Again, this is just plain silly. Not only for the fact that the DailyKos uses a piece by Greg Mitchell of E&P as an unbiased source of information, but also for the fact that the media in her own state isn't supporting Sarah Palin. Don't they know that the media is all supporting Obama?
#42 She supports aerial hunting of wolves even though it was outlawed by Congress. She's using a loophole.. Hat tip to Scarce: Where to start... First, the DailyKos attack uses as its source a Raleigh, N.C.'s news station blog post. How a blogger from a North Carolina TV station has any expertise in Alaskan wildlife management is left unexplained. That blogger then links to the true source of this attack, a story from the beginning of 2007 at the Defenders of Wildlife website: Defenders of Wildlife Asks Judge to Shut Down Palin's Wolf Bounty Program. But why is there a bounty on wolves? Because Alaskan wildlife management has been trying to protect the moose and caribou population! Wolves are a predator species, and if their population is allowed to expand too fast, they will wipe out Alaska's population of moose and caribou. The state needs to keep close track of the wolf population, which is why they are offering a bounty for each head.
Because of Alaska's vast topography, aerial hunting is the quickest and most efficient way of thinning the wolf packs. This is not sport hunting, it is a necessary part of wildlife management. Congress, in its infinite wisdom, didn't take efficient wildlife conservation in mountainous areas the size of half the continental United States into account when it decided to ban aerial wolf hunting, hence the dispute.
#43 and UPDATED- She's part of Feminists for Life and is AGAINST BIRTH CONTROL. It would be awesome if someone asked her McCain's now famous "should insurance companies cover viagra/birth control" question: Yes, Sarah Palin is member of Feminists for Life, and she is proud of it. It's a shame that the Left is so intolerant of such people. As for DailyKos' claim that she's "AGAINST BIRTH CONTROL", that's a lie that even a cursory review of one of the articles that DailyKos itself links to while trying to prove another point (#14) will show. Here's the relevant quote from the Anchorage Daily News article:
Palin said last month that no woman should have to choose between her career, education and her child. She is pro-contraception and said she's a member of a pro-woman but anti-abortion group called Feminists for Life.
Nice try, but DailyKos should really read its own source material.
#44 Undecideds apparently don't like the Palin pick. Thanks marabout40!: Ah yes, link to an Andrew Sullivan post on a Rasmussen Poll put up less than 12 hours after Palin's selection as McCain's VP as the definitive answer on undecideds during an election that's going to be held in November. When Rasmussen conducted the poll, most people didn't even know who Sarah Palin was. Oh well, we'll see how that pans out...
#45 More environmental problems - She fighting to prevent Belugas from being listed as endangered. Thanks again Terre!: Let's see, according to the information at the link supplied by DailyKos to support this attack, the National Marine Fisheries Service determined seven years ago that the Beluga whale was not an endangered species. Since then, Beluga whale numbers have expanded dramatically. Listing the Beluga whale as endangered would itself endanger Alaska's fishing industry, upon which many Alaskans depend on for their living. What's the problem with this, again?
#46 In addition to polar bears, belugas, and wolves, for the first time in Alaskan history she is supporting hunting black bear sows and cubs. Thank you for the information Bodean: For this we go back to the Defenders of Wildlife website, last seen in #42. Here's the relevant quote, from the link provided once again by DailyKos:
Meanwhile, for the first time in Alaska's history, the Board of Game approved the hunting of black bear sows and cubs in an 11,000-square-mile area northwest of Anchorage where the goal is to kill 60 percent of the black bear population. Prior to this only male black bears could be hunted. The board also approved the trapping of wolverines in Chugach State Park, a popular recreation area on the doorstep of Anchorage.
It wasn't Palin's plan - it was the plan of Alaska's Board of Game, which I would assume has its own reasons for ordering the change - which I would again assume involve basic wildlife management. Off the top of my head, I would guess that the thinning of the black bear population is due to food supply reasons. It's more humane to kill the bears now than to let them grow and starve to death because there isn't enough food for all of them to survive. Wildlife Management 101.
#49 MEME: Palin's selection provides a clear example of John McCain's hasty decision-making and poor judgement on important issues (like who would be best qualified to take his place if he could not complete his term): Refuted, refuted, refuted. See #12 and #23. In fact, just re-read all of the above!
#50 She wants to destroy 1.5 MILLION ACRES of ANWR, not the 2000 acres she has lied about on the news: Now this is just getting silly again. DailyKos links to a NRDC map to support this accusation. One problem with that, though. The map, produced by an ANWR drilling opponent, shows nearly all of the development within the 2000 acres! What lies outside of the 2000-acre development you ask? According to the legend, a few roads, a few pipelines, and eight gravel mines at 150 acres each. Assuming that an ANWR opponent can be trusted (a big if, and there is a disclaimer on the bottom of the map stating that it's not drawn to scale), those roads, pipelines, and gravel mines in no way represents the "destruction" of 1.5 million acres of ANWR. Does DailyKos even read their source material?
#51 Palin stated "I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq..": Well, you know what, Palin's been a little bit busy the past few years running Alaska. But her son is being deployed to Iraq shortly. And she's still smart enough to align herself with the man and the party who wants to win in Iraq, not lose!
Well, that's that. As you can clearly see, the attacks on Palin are mainly sophomoric and without basis. Except for the complaint about "Eminent Domain" (#37) - I like that one.
The problem is that the drive-by media has accepted all of what DailyKos has written as gospel (the only kind that it recognizes). Because of that, it's up to the rest of us to refute these fifty-one (ugh) lines of attack, since most members of the media won't even bother to take the time to educate themselves enough to correct the Democratic Party talking points.
What have I learned from this? That it takes very little time to make up lies, but a lot of time to effectively refute them. I've spent just about as much time in the bowels of DailyKos as I can stand right now. I feel dirty - covered in the kind of filth that bathing doesn't get rid of.
I think I'm going to have to go to Confession..
