Political Jackass

I think we all need a little bit of humor, especially since the election is less than two weeks away and John McCain keeps getting more and more shameful with his remarks and his robocalling. So, if you’re up for a laugh, make sure you watch this video by Russians Vlad and Boris about their favorite Alaskan, Sarah Palin. It’s kind of sad that Sarah Palin is now the laughing stock of foreign countries and she’s not even been elected to a national position. You really think the world would respect her as the leader of the free world? Yeah, right. She’d be a bigger joke than Bush. (A scarier one too)

I found this bit of information interesting.

The Republican National Committee appears to have spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September. The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.

Does Joe Sixpack spend that much money on clothes, hair, and makeup? Do the Palins really represent normal people? Hardly. It’s a gimmick and unfortunately there are stupid people who fall for it.

Yes, you read that right. Sarah Palin wants to charge $15 million for her personal emails, that were used to conduct official state business. Some reformer she is. I can’t believe people actually trust her. She is no different from the other corrupt politicians that she claims to have battled and won. God help the United States if she ever serves in higher office. From MSNBC:

Sarah Palin’s office has discovered a renewable resource to bring millions of dollars into Alaska’s economy: the governor’s e-mails.

The office of the Republican vice-presidential nominee has quoted prices as high as $15 million for copies of state e-mails requested by news organizations and citizens. No matter what the price, most of the e-mails of Palin, her senior staff and other state employees won’t be made public until at least several weeks after the Nov. 4 presidential election, her office told msnbc.com on Thursday.

How did the cost reach $15 million? Let’s look at a typical request. When the Associated Press asked for all state e-mails sent to the governor’s husband, Todd Palin, her office said it would take up to six hours of a programmer’s time to assemble the e-mail of just a single state employee, then another two hours for “security” checks, and finally five hours to search the e-mail for whatever word or topic the requestor is seeking. At $73.87 an hour, that’s $960.31 for a single e-mail account. And there are 16,000 full-time state employees. The cost quoted to the AP: $15,364,960.

And that’s not including the copying costs. Although the e-mails are stored electronically in Microsoft Outlook and on backup servers, and although a blank CD-ROM costs only 41 cents at Capital Office Supply in Juneau, the governor’s office says it can provide copies only on paper.

Thankfully, in Missouri, we have something called the Sunshine Law, which was made to make the interactions of the government more transparent. Our governor, Matt Blunt, recently handed over emails from his office under the Sunshine Law. He also tried to charge the state a ridiculous amount of money, but that amount was later reduced a great deal.

Even though the official report regarding Troopergate came out last Friday, it is not the last we’ll hear of it. Remember when Sarah Palin agreed to answer questions, then didn’t, then insisted that the investigation had no jurisdiction and wanted her own investigation, by her own people? Well, she’s getting exactly that. The catch is, the state personnel board has hired someone who will most likely not make the Governor appear to flattering. Their gamble may have backfired on them, as the new investigator is also charged with the task of investigation all ethics complaints, not just from Troopergate. According to Newsweek:

[T]he board ended up hiring an aggressive Anchorage trial lawyer, Timothy Petumenos, as an independent counsel. McCain aides were chagrined to discover that Petumenos was a Democrat who had contributed to Palin’s 2006 opponent for governor, Tony Knowles. Palin is now scheduled to be questioned next week, and the counsel’s report could be released soon after. “We took a gamble when we went to the personnel board,” said a McCain aide who asked not to be identified discussing strategy. While the McCain camp still insists Palin “has nothing to hide,” it acknowledges a critical finding by Petumenos would be even harder to dismiss.

Sarah Palin: Bad for America.

The first words from the Troopergate report are surfacing. It seems that the bi-partisan investigation revealed that Gov. Sarah Palin “abused her power” in violation of Alaska law. That’s the key finding. It also finds that while the refusal to fire Palin’s former brother in law was not the sole reason Palin terminated her public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, it was a “contributing factor.” Download the report here.

“Gov. Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda,” the report states. CNN

Is this really the type of person you want to be your VP and possible President? Didn’t we see enough abuses of power under Bush/Cheney? When are people going to wake up and see what a bad person she is for this country and what a dishonorable man John McCain has become?

The Alaska Supreme Court has rejected the effort by Republican legislators to quash the Trooper-Gate investigation, affirming the decision of a lower court last week.

The Alaska Legislative Council, a bipartisan committee of 14 lawmakers that conducts business when the Legislature isn’t in session, voted unanimously on July 31 to investigate Palin’s July 11 firing of Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. The commissioner said he was dismissed for refusing to fire state trooper Mike Wooten, who was involved in a divorce and custody battle with Palin’s sister.

The governor has said she didn’t pressure Monegan and dismissed him because of budgetary disagreements.

The state Supreme Court said it will issue an opinion later explaining its dismissal of the Republican lawmakers’ challenge to the investigation.

The Legislative Council’s independent investigator is scheduled to deliver his findings tomorrow morning in Anchorage. The council includes 10 Republicans and four Democrats.

Here is a great segment by Keith Olbermann refuting Sarah Palin’s bogus claims and turning the tide on her.

Sarah Palin lies yet again. During the debate Thursday night she stated how she dropped assets that were tied to the Sudan’s brutal regime. This of course, isn’t true. According to legislators and public records:

“The [Palin] administration killed our bill,” said Alaska state representative Les Gara, D-Anchorage. Gara and state Rep. Bob Lynn, R-Anchorage, co-sponsored a resolution early this year to force the Alaska Permanent Fund – a $40 billion investment fund, a portion of whose dividends are distributed annually to state residents – to divest millions of dollars in holdings tied to the Sudanese government. Continue Reading

Is there nothing this campaign won’t lie about for political gain? This is ridiculous. Why isn’t the mainstream media calling them on their blatant lies? They are an embarrassment to our country.