Things one Can Glean from Palin’s 2006 candidate Questionaire

Here are things we can learn, or confirm, from Palin’s 2006 candidate questionaire that she filled out in her race for governor:

1. She is indeed in against abortion in all cases except for cases where the life of the mother is in danger, but not for rape or incest, putting her in the minority of the minority of Americans.

2. She is for abstenince-only education, which has proved itself to be utterly ineffective at actually preventing teen pregnancy.

3. She opposes hate crimes law since “all crimes are based on hate.”

4. She opposes giving benefits to same-sex couples

5. She thinks the founding fathers wrote the pledge of allegience (they didn’t, and the words “under god,” which was the topic of the question, wasn’t even orgionally in the pledge).

6. She sees defending the 2nd Amendment as one of her top 3 priorities in relationship to familes.

McCain to visit Mississippi to Get in the Way

I agree with most of my blogging brethren when I see this and think that McCain is an opportunist bastard:

Presumptive GOP nominee John McCain, his wife, Cindy, and ticket-mate Sarah Palin were heading to Jackson, Miss., Sunday for a briefing at the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, which will monitor hurricane response.

I’m not sure why McCain needs a briefing.  President Bush, sure, but why McCain? He isn’t president yet.  Isn’t he being rather presumptuous by sending his lackies to Georgia to stir up trouble and to act like he’s actually in charge of anything by getting briefings like this?

And I also agree with Will Thomas on this:  McCain could potentially do a lot more good in his abandoned-since-April Senate seat than by going down to Mississippi and sucking up local police which will be required for security, instead of letting them do things like…evacuate people.

P.S. John McCain found a way to have neither Cheney nor Bush speak at his convention as well, though it probably ended up being a choice they had to make (though they could reschedule them for like Thursday or something)

DC Appeals Court: Bush can PREVENT Mad Cow Testing

Yes, you read that right:

A federal appeals court says the government can prohibit meat packers from testing their animals for mad cow disease.

Emphasis mine.

By the way, I think this would make a good ad for Obama.  Judges appointed by Republicans outnumber judges appointed by Democrats 9 to 3 on in this court, making it theoretically one of the most conservative courts in the nation – and McCain wants to appoint more judges which made the decision above.

Lackluster

The choice of Palin was clearly a ploy by McCain to steal Obama’s thunder from last night and to try to make a splash and a play at women voters who might like to switch their vote just because there is a woman on the ticket.

As a result, I think the Obama campaign should have hit back, and hit back hard, stressing her utter lack of experience on national security (Obama has at leas served on the Foreign Relations committee and has at least made his views known about numerous international issues over the years.  Meanwhile, even when given the opportunity to comment about Iraq, Palin refused), the fact that she’s currently being investigated, and the fact that she’s an extremist on almost every issue which we do know her position.

Now, I realize they have to release their “this is historic, bla bla bla” comments out as well, but I think they’re needlessly giving this day, and thus probably the weekend and thus the entirety of the next week, over to McCain.

I was happy with the campaign’s first release, but since then, the’ve softened up.  Maybe they’re just going to let McCain have his week in the sun and then go on the attack, but his is a serious issue of judgement on McCain’s part, and so fr Obama is letting him get away with it.

Ted Stevens now part of the Presidential Election

I’m sure this isn’t the kind of endorsement McCain was looking forward to:

Senator Stevens said: “It’s a great day for the nation and Alaskans. Governor Palin has proven herself as a bright, energetic leader for our State and will bring the same energy to the Vice Presidency. She will serve our country with distinction – the first Alaskan and first woman on the Republican ticket. I share in the pride of all Alaskans.

“I have known and worked with Sarah for over a decade – from her service as Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, in her role as president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors, and most recently as our Governor. She is attentive to her job and family, brings people together, and is able to make tough decisions.

So the indicted Senator of Alaska has now admitted that he and Palin have a good relationship that spans “a decade.”  Not exactly very changish.

Palin rejected Bridge to Nowhere because Congress wouldn’t fund ENOUGH of it

This kind of damages her “Thanks, but no thanks” comment for the bridge to nowhere:

“Ketchikan desires a better way to reach the airport, but the $398 million bridge is not the answer,” said Governor Palin. “Despite the work of our congressional delegation, we are about $329 million short of full funding for the bridge project, and it’s clear that Congress has little interest in spending any more money on a bridge between Ketchikan and Gravina Island,” Governor Palin added.

She also favored the bridge in her 2006 election campaign.

I’m starting to wonder whether McCain ever actually vetted Palin.

Sarah Palin: Extremist

Here are some extremist positions by Palin:

• She’s against abortion, even in cases of rape and incest.
• She supports teaching creationism in schools.
• She denies global warming and opposed listing polar bears as an endangered species because it might prevent off-shore drilling.
• Speaking of drilling, she supports drilling in ANWR.
• I guess not surprising, Palin is in big oil’s pocket.

Update

More on Sarah Palin from a native Alaskan.

Palin respects Clinton, but think’s she’s a whiner

Apparently Clinton is part of the nation of Whiners according to Palin:

Palin talked about what women expect from women leaders; how she took charge in Alaska during a political scandal that threatened to unseat the state’s entire Republican power structure, and her feelings about Sen. Hillary Clinton. (She said she felt kind of bad she couldn’t support a woman, but she didn’t like Clinton’s “whining.”)

I’m sure the PUMAs will completely ignore this.

McCain Veep Merry-Go-Round. Is it Palin? Apparently Not.

I think the press is totally stumped now.

First, last night, word came that Romney thought he was out. (Though Marc Ambinder now says that Romney will be in Ohio today, though that doesn’t mean he’s the pick.)

Now, this morning, the default pick after word came out that it probably wasn’t Romney was Pawlenty.  However, this morning he said he was out.

For Kay Bailey Hutchinson fans, she says she’s not it as well.

Drudge seems to think McCain has chosen Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, even though she is currently embroiled in a scandal.  Does McCain really want a scandal-ridden Alaskan on his ticket and thus risk being tied not only to Bush, but Ted Stevens and Don Young as well?

Update

I should note that Rob Portman, Joe Lieberman, and Tom Ridge are all out there as well.  However, there is also a rumor that Palin flew from Alaska to Ohio last night, which one wouldn’t expect her to do just to cheerlead McCain today.

Update 2

I should note that, if inexperience is a big issue for McCain, then picking Palin is about the worst choice he could make.  She appears to have a grand total of 2 years of signficant elected experience, as Governor of Alaska since 2006, unless you want to count the Wasilla City Council and mayor of that city (pop. 5,470).

Update 3

Apparently it is not Sarah Palin.  Reports say that she’s still in Alaska this morning.

Update 4

Now CNBC is saying that it is Palin.  Make up your mind, people.

McCain Health Care Guru: There are no uninsured Americans

I sense another out of touch ad coming:

But the numbers are misleading, said John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a right-leaning Dallas-based think tank. Mr. Goodman, who helped craft Sen. John McCain’s health care policy, said anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance, albeit the government acts as the payer of last resort. (Hospital emergency rooms by law cannot turn away a patient in need of immediate care.)

“So I have a solution. And it will cost not one thin dime,” Mr. Goodman said. “The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American – even illegal aliens – as uninsured. Instead, the bureau should categorize people according to the likely source of payment should they need care.

“So, there you have it. Voila! Problem solved.”

So the guy who crafted John McCain’s health care plan is saying that effectively, everyone is already insured, and the way to eliminate the “uninsured” is to just stop counting them as uninsured.

Well, isn’t that nice.  While we’re at it, we can eliminate poverty just by stopping counting poverty figures, and we can eliminate job losses by refusing to record the unemployment rate too.