DISTRACTIONS WILL BE THE BASIS OF WHO YOU VOTE FOR UNLESS YOU EXERCISE YOUR BRAIN CAPACITY

A Rose by any other name is still a rose.

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Barack Obama responds to phony perception of "Lipstick on a Pig" analogy

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Pigs and lipstick discussed

And John McCain is a hypocrite...
The following is worthy of outrage:
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Uploaded by VOTERSTHINKdotORG
This is a joke that John McCain told:
"Did you hear the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly and left to die? When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, 'Where is that marvelous ape?' "


I am voting for Barack Obama and Joe Biden. I was raised in a Republican family.

I wish I believed that the USA voters voted on the policies of the candidates. But overall, I don't believe that is true. We have had nearly eight years of Bush and Cheney and to vote for McCain and Palin would be more of the same.

I feel with my internet access and time spent googling Sarah Palin that I am more informed about who she is than the author of the article, An Apostle of Alaska, which is linked to below. John McCain already had my attention in who I think he is and what he will do for this country which is ailing.

I believe we have a responsibility to learn about the candidates. It is not enough just to like them or want to have a beer or lunch with them. I want my President to be smart, intellectual, knowledgeable about science and the environment, and interested in the world, as well as the country.

I have watched very closely how Barack Obama has run his campaign since he announced running. Based on how Barack Obama has operated, I would put my house at stake that he never meant that Sarah Palin is a pig. If you haven't heard, the McCain campaign is claiming Barack called Sarah a pig.

Now, I like pigs. But, that is a separate issue.

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McCain-Palin Distorts Fact Check.org Finding
This is worth a look:
www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/mccain-palin_distorts_our_finding

There is an entire book about the meaning of: Lipstick on a Pig: Winning in the No-Spin Era by Someone who Knows the Game by Torie Clarke

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An opinion of Sarah Palin by someone who worked for Governor Palin

An article of Newsweek: An Apostle of Alaska ~ We know the outlines—the moose-hunting mom who juggles BlackBerrys and kids. But what does she believe? The real Sarah Palin. Read the article

Beware the Barracuda
Sarah Palin could be an elusive target for Democrats.
Read the article at Newsweek

Sarah Palin's Alaska aides will be forced to reveal her office secrets in Troopergate inquiry

Senior aides to Alaska governor Sarah Palin are to be compelled to reveal the inner workings of her state office in an ethics probe that could be highly embarrassing for the new Repbulican vice-presidential candidate.

Source of the article: www.telegraph.co.uk

By Philip Sherwell in Wasilla, Alaska

10 Sep 2008

Mr Wooten's police union has filed an ethics complaint
against Mrs Palin and her administration

Alaskan legislators have raised the stakes in their investigation of John McCain's newly anointed running mate by declaring their intention to subpoena key members of her staff, obliging them to give evidence.

Mrs Palin, 44, who has electrified the race for the White House, denies claims that she abused her powers by dismissing an official who refused to fire her former brother-in-law, Mike Wooten, as a state trooper.

The cross-party judiciary committee also said it was bringing forward the date for its report into the woman who has electrified the by three weeks, to October 10. That is seen as a rebuff to attempts by the governor's newly-hired legal team to stall an inquiry which she had said she welcomed before her surprise nomination to the Republican ticket.

Separately, Mr Wooten's police union has filed an ethics complaint against Mrs Palin and her administration, claiming that his personnel files were viewed unlawfully.

"Troopergate" has its roots in a long-standing and bitter feud between the Palin family and Mr Wooten, who underwent a messy divorce and custody battle with Mrs Palin's sister. In his first public comments on Friday night, Mr Wooten denied allegations that he threatened to shoot his then father-in-law during the acrimonious split.

The controversy is among many elements of Mrs Palin's life in Wasilla that is now under the political and media microscope after her stunning debut on the national stage.

In the last few days, video footage of her describing the Iraq war as "a task from God" and urging trainee pastors to pray for a new gas pipeline as "God's will" has been unearthed and posted on YouTube. As a fundamentalist Christian who advocates the teaching of intelligent design (a form of biblical creationism) in schools and opposes abortion even when a mother was raped or her life is at risk, her beliefs certainly appeal to the hardline Religious Right but may deter more mainstream swing voters.

Although she enjoys an 80 per cent approval rating in Alaska for tackling corruption and taking on her own party hierarchy and "Big Oil" companies, Democrats are contesting her claims to be a fierce foe of fiscal excess and are highlighting an allegedly abrupt management style and "body count" of dismissed staff.

Left-wing blogs are meanwhile buzzing with further unsubstantiated personal claims about the Palin family following last week's disclosure that the governor's 17-year-old daughter Bristol was pregnant.

The welter of publicity may only bolster Mrs Palin's support among conservatives and some independents if she seems the victim of a witch-hunt. But it also illustrates the merciless scrutiny that the once-obscure governor of America's least densely populated state now faces.

Significantly, Mrs Palin has avoided taking reporters' questions since her nomination and there are no plans for any press conferences as McCain aides leave her to rev up the conservative faithful on the stump.

The governor's former public safety commissioner Walt Monegan claims that she fired him in July because he ignored pressure to sack Mr Wooten for prior misdemeanours and the alleged threat against her father.

The claims are denied by Mrs Palin who insists that she never pressured Mr Monegan to dismiss Mr Wooten or asked her staff to do. She counters that her husband and aides merely raised concerns about the trooper's record with the commissioner, and says she dismissed him over budgetary and policy issues.

Mr Wooten was suspended in 2006 for five days for using a Taser on his stepson in a home trial and illicitly killing a moose under his wife's permit. But he denies claims that he drank on duty or said that his father-in-law would "eat a f****** lead bullet" if he intervened in the divorce, as Mrs Palin says she heard.

"Trooper Wooten was punished for his infractions and that should be the end of the story," John Cyr, the state police union chief, told The Sunday Telegraph. "But unfortunately for Mike, he married into a family that has since acquired vast political power.

"It is very sad that a family dispute is now receiving worldwide attention. I believe that this governor has used her bully pulpit to demonise Trooper Wooten. That is not only unfair; it is unconscionable."

Mr Monegan said that he repeatedly told Mrs Palin's staff that Mr Wooten had already been disciplined so the matter was closed. "I think there are some questions now coming to light about how transparent and how honest she wants to be," he said.

It has emerged that he was contacted more than 20 times by phone or email by her office about the Wooten case. Hollis French, the Democratic senator who chairs the judiciary committee, stoked the furore when he predicted last week: "It's likely to be damaging to the Governor's administration."

Steven Blanchflower, the independent prosecutor conducting the investigation, was originally due to deliver his report on Oct 31, just four days before the presidential election. But the judiciary committee brought the probe forward to change such a politically-loaded schedule.

Barack Obama's campaign has been in touch with Mr Wooten, according to CNN which interviewed him on Friday night. The trooper acknowledged making mistakes but said he had been punished and learned from them. He said he did not wish his former in-laws "any ill-will" and described the governor's nomination as "wonderful" for Alaska.

The Obama camp is expected to leave "Troopergate" to play out for now without comment. Instead, it will direct its fire at Mrs Palin's previous pursuit of the federal grants known as "earmarks" that she and Mr McCain have fiercely decried on the campaign trail.

The intense focus on her roots in Wasilla will do nothing to undo her popularity in her home town where her jubilant parents, husband and children arrived back from the Republican convention on Friday evening.

"We're very proud of our daughter and very honoured," a beaming Chuck Heath told The Sunday Telegraph in his living room adorned with a moose's head, furs and antlers. "I'm really sorry but that's all I am allowed to say."

Troopergate: Office says he didn't threaten Sarah Palin's father

The Alaska state trooper at the centre of an ethics investigation into the Republican vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, has responded to her family's claims against him in his first media interview

By Philip Sherwell in Wasilla, Alaska

Source of the article: www.telegraph.co.uk

Mike Wooten denies threatening Sarah Palin's father

The trooper, Mike Wooten, denied threatening Mrs Palin's father during his messy divorce from her sister Molly, but admitted "I made some mistakes and I was punished".

He spoke to CNN on Friday night in his only interview since the national spotlight was placed on claims that Mrs Palin, Governor of Alaska, tried to use her office to have him fired.

"I was a member of that family and I have very cherished memories of those times," he insisted. "I don't wish any ill-will to any of them. I made some mistakes and I was punished. I have learned from those mistakes and moved on."

Mr Wooten admitted that he used a Taser stun gun on his step-son and that he illegally shot a moose. But he denied Mrs Palin's claims that he drank beer on duty or threatened his father-in-law. Asked if the Palins were lying, he responded: "I didn't threaten him."

Mr Wooten said he was giving just one interview as he wanted to set the record straight.

The state judiciary committee launched its "Troopergate" investigation into Mrs Palin after Walt Monegan, her former public safety commissioner, claimed she fired him in July because he refused to sack Mr Wooten.

Mrs Palin has denied any wrongdoing and said he dismissed Mr Monegan over budgetary and policy issues. She acknowledged that her aides and her husband, Todd, discussed Mr Wooten's case with Mr Monegan but insisted there was not request to fire the trooper.

Mr Wooten was given a five-day suspension in 2006 following complaints about his behaviour.

In his CNN interview, he gave his version of the Taser incident which happened when he was a newly-trained instructor.

His stepson was asking about the equipment and wanted to try it, he said. "I didn't shoot him with live cartridges and probes. It was a training aid that he was hooked up to, just little clips. And, you know, the Taser was activated for less than a second, which would be less than what you would get if you touched an electric fence. ... It was as safe as I could possibly make it."

He said his stepson was on the living room floor surrounded by pillows, that he "was bragging about it," and that the family laughed about it.

Asked whether it was a "dumb decision", he said: "Yes, absolutely."

The 2006 report called the incident an example of "extremely poor judgment," and noted that he has been trained in "the risks associated with use of the weapon on a child."

The father of three, who has been married and divorced four times, said: "I'm trying to move on and be the best dad I can to my children. Be the best trooper that I can be. You know, I love my job. I love this state."

He added that John McCain's choice of Gov Palin as his running mate was "absolutely wonderful for the state of Alaska".

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