The FashionGrinder Forum

[carolan56]

WASHINGTON – Sarah Palin's new book reprises familiar claims from the 2008 presidential campaign that haven't become any truer over time.

Ignoring substantial parts of her record if not the facts, she depicts herself as a frugal traveler on the taxpayer's dime, a reformer without ties to powerful interests and a politician roguishly indifferent to high ambition.

PALIN: Says she made frugality a point when traveling on state business as Alaska governor, asking "only" for reasonably priced rooms and not "often" going for the "high-end, robe-and-slippers" hotels.

THE FACTS: Although travel records indicate she usually opted for less-pricey hotels while governor, Palin and daughter Bristol stayed five days and four nights at the $707.29-per-night Essex House luxury hotel (robes and slippers come standard) overlooking New York City's Central Park for a five-hour women's leadership conference in October 2007. With air fare, the cost to Alaska was well over $3,000. Event organizers said Palin asked if she could bring her daughter. The governor billed her state more than $20,000 for her children's travel, including to events where they had not been invited, and in some cases later amended expense reports to specify that they had been on official business.

___

PALIN: Boasts that she ran her campaign for governor on small donations, mostly from first-time givers, and turned back large checks from big donors if her campaign perceived a conflict of interest.

THE FACTS: Of the roughly $1.3 million she raised for her primary and general election campaigns for governor, more than half came from people and political action committees giving at least $500, according to an AP analysis of her campaign finance reports. The maximum that individual donors could give was $1,000; $2,000 for a PAC.

Of the rest, about $76,000 came from Republican Party committees.

She accepted $1,000 each from a state senator and his wife in the weeks after the two Republican lawmakers' offices were raided by the FBI as part of an investigation into a powerful Alaska oilfield services company. After AP reported those donations during the presidential campaign, she said she would give a comparative sum to charity after the general election in 2010, a date set by state election laws.

___

PALIN: Rails against taxpayer-financed bailouts, which she attributes to Obama. She recounts telling daughter Bristol that to succeed in business, "you'll have to be brave enough to fail."

THE FACTS: Palin is blurring the lines between Obama's stimulus plan — a $787 billion package of tax cuts, state aid, social programs and government contracts — and the federal bailout that Republican presidential candidate John McCain voted for and President George W. Bush signed.

Palin's views on bailouts appeared to evolve as McCain's vice presidential running mate. In September 2008, she said "taxpayers cannot be looked to as the bailout, as the solution, to the problems on Wall Street." A week later, she said "ultimately what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy."

During the vice presidential debate in October, Palin praised McCain for being "instrumental in bringing folks together" to pass the $700 billion bailout. After that, she said "it is a time of crisis and government did have to step in."

___

PALIN: Says Ronald Reagan faced an even worse recession than the one that appears to be ending now, and "showed us how to get out of one. If you want real job growth, cut capital gains taxes and slay the death tax once and for all."

THE FACTS: The estate tax, which some call the death tax, was not repealed under Reagan and capital gains taxes are lower now than when Reagan was president.

Economists overwhelmingly say the current recession is far worse. The recession Reagan faced lasted for 16 months; this one is in its 23rd month. The recession of the early 1980s did not have a financial meltdown. Unemployment peaked at 10.8 percent, worse than the October 2009 high of 10.2 percent, but the jobless rate is still expected to climb.

___

PALIN: She says her team overseeing the development of a natural gas pipeline set up an open, competitive bidding process that allowed any company to compete for the right to build a 1,715-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from Alaska to the Lower 48.

THE FACTS: Palin characterized the pipeline deal the same way before an AP investigation found her team crafted terms that favored only a few independent pipeline companies.

[elmoor]

sssssshhhhhh shhhxxx

[cheston]

Compare her stats to Obamas, i dare you.

[maxfield]

I read that article today. To make the case that she is being dishonest in any way is an effort.

[cumhea43]

a lot of pent up gonad envy there, you betcha

[eachann]

I read the whole thing !
and I feel as if my eyes were raped !

[malloy35]

Excelent...with a little practice, she could be just as corrupt as the rest of our leaders...but better looking...she gets my vote.

[cumhea43]

Sorry, I am not reading your little book there. When will we see the liberal media turn this same spotlight on liberal women and politicians? The double standards are so deplorable I will support anyone almost automatically who becomes a pariah in the media like this.

The same media wouldn't investigate one criticism of Obama. He was the media darling without question. Can you not see the double standard?

[elmoor]

Every polititian lies about everything, this country is imperfect...

I mean look at our own president, and all of the people that support him... What has he done that he said he would do since he came into office? No jobs have opened, the economy is not fixed, the troops are still in the Middle East, and more and more people lost their jobs every day, people with masters degrees are applying to work at walgreens! Who are we supposed to support? Everyone currently in the office are all just professional liars, we can probably bring up crap about every single one of them...

But what are us as the people as the nation doing to fix it? That is the real issue, if the people are good, the government cannot be bad. It is up to those of us living in this country to fix it, not the guys sitting in the white house. If we want somthing to change, we need to find others that want to support our cause, rise up, and do somthing about it, were not supposed to just sit around and wait for polititians to do it, because nothing will get done if we just sit down and criticize them, and do nothing ourselves.

[farnham]

Quite a rant you got going there.
I tell ya what, next time your in Alaska and Sarah is running for something...........
Don't vote for her.
I can assure you that you won't be missed.