Man, I never post in the D&D, but this was one even I couldn't resist. Pre-Couric interview I thought she was a terrible, terrible choice. Then I watched the interview. I was actually cringing in my seat.
She is a walking argument that we need to have a different way of picking VP's. It is an obvious danger to let an unqualified person be a heart beat away from the presidency. Aside from the bizarre way we pick VP running mates it is inconceivable that Palin could be so close to being president. I think that she is sufficiently intelligent and now that she has reason to think about national and international issues, she could conceivably be qualified in another 10 years or so.
to me, it depends on what you mean by ready. i won't be voting for that ticket, and i don't think that they're going to win. but can/will she be ready? sure.
Weslinder thinks she has a similar dislike of government, is a libertarian or a follower of the Norquist school of conservatism trying to radically defund government. I think Weslinder is wrong. Palin is a power freak and will be for government spending if that is popular and to the economic advantage of her and her friends. She was a big fan of earmarks before she discovered the political advantage of claiming to be a "reformer" and opponent of earmarks. Despite the initial hockey mom, fundi church start, in her short time in politics she has proven to be quite adaptable to whatever increases her power.
I knew that part. What I don't understand is why he still thinks that despite the enormous evidence to the contrary.
As mayor (didn't pay any attention then, but still): 60% property tax cut, paid for with a tiny sales tax increase. Made huge improvements to a growing city and left bond payments low enough to not raise property tax rates. In two years as governor: $286MM cut from a $2.7BB budget. Turned down half the earmarks offered her state. Major corruption clean-up in oil contracts and government service contracts. Presiding over record surpluses, even while making major infrastructure improvements and making record oil lease payments back to the taxpayers. Controversial obedience to rule of law even when it goes against her personal beliefs (gay partner benefits issue). Took out her own corrupt party chairman. The most approved-of governor in the country, by far. Rave reviews from co-workers from Alaska who had dealings with her. All of this "evidence to the contrary" is spun way out of proportion. She's been one of the two most active freshman politicians (Jindal's up there with her). Palin has done more in 2 years as Governor than Obama has in 4 years as Senator, or John Kerry (for example, there's plenty of followers in the Senate) has in decades. She's made some mistakes, but her overall record is overwhelmingly positive. I couldn't care less if she doesn't know McCain's talking points well enough yet. We'd be a lot better off if McCain were learning from her instead of the other way around. She might not be ready to be McCain's Vice-President. There's no question in my mind that she's ready to be President.
During her term in office, Palin cut property taxes and other small taxes on business. But as the Anchorage Daily News points out, “She wasn’t doing this by shrinking government.” During her tenure, the budget of Wasilla (population 5,469 in 2000) “apart from capital projects and debt, rose from $3.9 million in fiscal 1996 to $5.8 million.” Palin also successfully pushed through a sales tax increase in Wasilla, which went to fund a $15 million sports complex. However, a land dispute over the sight of the complex led to “years of legal wrangling” and cost Wasilla almost $1.7 million, “a lot more than the roughly $125,000 the city would have paid in 1998 if it had closed a deal to buy the property outright.” Wasilla is still facing budget shortfalls from the case today. When Palin left office in 2002, Wasilla had “racked up nearly $20 million in long-term debt,” or roughly $3,000 of debt per resident. Link I'd call that incompetent, to say the least. And definitely NOT fiscally conservative. More like bush-esque fiscally r****ded. All the stuff I've read seems to indicate that she gave the legislature no guidance on the budget, and then reamed them for pork after the fact - only to subsequently refund most of those programs after it turns out they were useful and she was just uninformed about them. YMMV. Still by FAR the most earmarks of any state. $34/person is the average - Alaskans milked $300/person even AFTER her cuts - which she made at the behest of Bush. Acknowledged. That was ballsy. Via a handy oil tax, but I'll acknowledge this as well - as a whole, a reasonably good argument here. Good points here too. Utterly immaterial, irrelevant, and not at all indicative of anything.
She's getting some sage advice and training from the experts: Kissinger Instructs Palin On Finer Points Of Clandestine Carpet Bombing September 24, 2008 | Issue 44•39 WASHINGTON—In preparation for her debate with Sen. Joe Biden next week, Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin met with seasoned statesman and Nobel Peace Prize–winner Henry Kissinger yesterday to take advantage of his extensive foreign policy knowledge and expertise in carpet-bombing innocent civilians in nations with which the U.S. is not officially at war. "Dr. Kissinger has given Gov. Palin thorough instructions for launching deadly covert military operations in tiny Southeast Asian countries in blatant disregard for human life and international law," said McCain campaign spokesperson Tracey Schmitt of Palin's brief consultation with the Nixon and Ford administrations' former secretary of state and national security adviser. "In addition, the governor now feels completely confident that, if she is ever required to step in for Sen. McCain to mastermind the toppling of a democratically elected but left-leaning South American government without congressional consent, she will be fully prepared." Sources close to the campaign said that Palin's meeting with Vice President Cheney about how to claim executive supremacy for the purpose of bypassing constitutional limits on torture has been canceled since advisers feel she already has enough personal experience with the subject. http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/kissinger_instructs_palin?utm_source=slate_rss_1
Nice post Wes. I think she's painfully shy on national and world issues...she could possibly be 'ready' in 4 to 8 years. Just not there yet. I guess it depends on where you place your priorities. On Earmarks -- it's not surprising Alaska's #1 per capita given the terrain, population, hash conditions and demographics. That a governor for a state campaigns for them -- again not surprising. The $20M debt is such red herring given the type of debt and what it was used for. Arenas and cap projects are rarely funded from operating budgets. But I like Rhads 3 'i's methodology. And...on national and international issues, I just don't see her as having an extensive enough public record of ideas. Her VP role could be structured around accomodating her weaknesses. Ready for president? Not on day one .
Somebody log in for John Mccain. He votes NO (at least during the primary). <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/CzhFDQIgGSg&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CzhFDQIgGSg&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
not gonna argue about what it was used for, but you're going to the other extreme and its paid back with taxes.
I don't know enough about her term as mayor to defend the debt or not. I do know that supposedly she inherited a town with bad infrastructure and that growing towns, especially those that double in size in a few years, have to go into debt to build the infrastructure and services. I also don't know how city governments are set up in Alaska. In Texas, for capital projects, a mayor or county judge has just one vote. Then they have to execute whatever the council/commissioner's court decides. As I understand it, in Alaska, the "coalition majority" of moderate Republicans and Democrats in the legislature have shut the conservative Republicans out of all dealings on the budget and most laws. And that "coalition majority" are lined up against Palin and her Lieutenant Governor. I would suspect (don't know) that she wasn't asked about the budget until it was sent for her signature. This isn't the rhetoric that she used to defend it, but as I understand it, this oil tax was to make up for lost revenue from contracts that she thought were entered into with favoritism, etc. And she was on the commission that regulated that.
most of that debt wasn't used for infrastructure and services, it was for a hockey rink, you know she's like a pitbull i don't know if it was for a hockey rink but it was for a sports facility
As all of the Obama supporters have said all along, no one has the experience necessary to be President. Governors and Generals tend to be better prepared than others, but they're still not prepared. Judgment is more important than experience. Palin called Iraq a war for oil, and supported Buchanan in 1996. I think that shows a lot better judgment on foreign policy than McCain or Biden. (Although I'm sure Kissinger is doing his best to fix that.)
They are. Buchanan says that she supported him. (Buchanan won the Alaska straw poll.) I believe Buchanan over McCain. Apparently American Jews don't generally like Buchanan for consistently calling Israel on their propaganda, and it's bad to be connected with him. He's still one of the most consistently correct political figures on foreign policy in the US today. He predicted Russia's invasion of Georgia a year before it happened.
