JUST WHO IS SARAH PALIN?

It isn't so elusive finding information about Sarah Palin or John McCain as the television coverage implies. You have to search on the internet and consider the source of the information, then weigh it with your own intuition and values and hopefully come out better informed to vote and be a part of this thing we like to believe we live in....a democracy.

Who is Sarah Palin?

http://www.justmoreofthesame.com/who_is_palin

Some Background on Governor Palin that You (And The Vetters) May Have Missed:

Anchorage Daily News: “Palin Was for the Bridge to Nowhere Before She Was Against It.” “When John McCain introduced Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate Friday, her reputation as a tough-minded budget-cutter was front and center. “I told Congress, thanks but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere,” Palin told the cheering McCain crowd, referring to Ketchikan’s Gravina Island bridge. But Palin was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it.” [8/31/08]

Politifact: ‘Bridge’ Going Nowhere Before Palin Killed It. “When Palin says ‘I told Congress, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,’ on that bridge to nowhere,’ it implies Congress said, ‘Here’s a check for that bridge’ and she responded, ‘No thanks, that’s wasteful spending; here’s your money back.’ That’s not what happened. Fact is, Alaska took the bridge money, and then just spent it on other projects. Palin did make the final call to kill plans for the bridge, but by the time she did it was no longer a politically viable project. We rule Palin’s claim is Half True.” [8/29/08]

LAT: Palin relied on earmark system she now opposes. “Under her leadership, the state of Alaska has requested 31 earmarks worth $197.8 million in next year’s federal budget, according to the website of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), the former chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. … The money that the state of Alaska requested for 2009 includes $25 million for “Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery” and $3.2 million for seal and sea lion biological research, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense.” [9/1/08]

WaPo: Palin’s Small Alaska Town Secured Big Federal Funds. “Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin employed a lobbying firm to secure almost $27 million in federal earmarks for a town of 6,700 residents while she was its mayor, according to an analysis by an independent government watchdog group.” [9/1/08]

USAT: “Wasilla’s lobbying firm was headed by Steven Silver — a former chief of staff to Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, a key proponent of the bridge project.” “As mayor of the small town of Wasilla from 1996 to 2002, Palin also hired a Washington lobbying firm that helped secure $8 million in congressionally directed spending projects, known as earmarks, according to public spending records compiled by the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste and lobbying documents. Wasilla’s lobbying firm was headed by Steven Silver — a former chief of staff to Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, a key proponent of the bridge project.” [8/31/08]

WaPo: Palin Was a Director of Embattled Sen. Stevens’s 527 Group. “Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin began building clout in her state’s political circles in part by serving as a director of an independent political group organized by the now embattled Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens. Palin’s name is listed on 2003 incorporation papers of the “Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.,” a 527 group that could raise unlimited funds from corporate donors… Palin’s relationship with Alaska’s senior senator may be one of the more complicated aspects of her new position as Sen. John McCain’s running mate; Stevens was indicted in July 2008 on seven counts of corruption.” [9/1/08]

ABC.com: Members of ‘Fringe’ Alaskan Independence Party Say Palin Was a Member in 90s. “The campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., likes to herald the independence of its new running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Officials of the Alaskan Independence Party say that Palin was once so independent, she was once a member of their party, which, since the 1970s, has been pushing for a legal vote for Alaskans to decide whether or not residents of the 49th state can secede from the United States. And while McCain’s motto — as seen in a new TV ad — is “Country First,” the AIP’s motto is the exact opposite – ‘Alaska First — Alaska Always.’ Lynette Clark, the chairman of the AIP, tells ABC News that Palin and her husband Todd were members in 1994, even attending the 1994 statewide convention in Wasilla. Clark was AIP secretary at the time.” [9/1/08]

TPM: Sarah Palin And The Alaska Independence Party. The Alaska Independence Party, which was formed with the goal of seceding from the union and establishing Alaska as an independent state, says that Palin addressed their 2008 convention. The AIP has posted video of what it claims is her address on its Web site. [9/1/08]

WaPo: Long-Standing Feud in Alaska Embroils Palin. “A bipartisan state legislative panel has appointed a special prosecutor to investigate whether Palin improperly brought the family fight into the governor’s office. The investigation is focusing on whether she and her aides pressured and ultimately fired the public safety commissioner, Walter Monegan, for not removing Palin’s ex-brother-in-law from the state police force. Interviews with principals involved in the dispute and a review of court documents and police internal affairs reports reveal that Palin has been deeply involved in alerting state officials to her family’s personal turmoil… Barnhill said the review, made public two weeks ago, found that half a dozen officials had made about two dozen phone calls regarding Wooten.” [8/31/08]

AP: Palin Hires Attorney for Troopergate investigation “Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the GOP vice presidential candidate, is being represented by an attorney in the investigation into the firing of her public safety commissioner. The Legislature is investigating whether Palin fired public safety commissioner Walt Monegan after he refused to fire a state trooper who had divorced Palin’s sister… At the time Palin said she wanted the department to move in a new direction. But later, after Monegan said he felt pressured to fire Wooten, Palin at a news conference said Monegan wasn’t a team player, didn’t do enough to fill trooper vacancies and battle alcohol abuse issues in rural Alaska… A month after Monegan was dismissed, Palin revealed that at least two dozen calls were made from her staff members to Department of Public Safety officials, also questioning Wooten’s employment. But she denied orchestrating the calls.” [9/1/08]

USAT: “Three weeks ago the governor had to backtrack from weeks of denials that she or anyone from her office had pressured Monegan.” “More not-so-good news today regarding Sen. John McCain’s running mate. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has hired a lawyer to defend her in the state Legislature’s investigation of whether Palin fired former public safety commissioner Walter Monegan because he refused to sack a state trooper — her former brother-in-law, who had divorced Palin’s sister. Three weeks ago the governor had to backtrack from weeks of denials that she or anyone from her office had pressured Monegan to fire Trooper Michael Wooten. She admitted Aug. 13th that a member of her administration had made calls that could be perceived as pressure.” [9/1/08]

AP: Palin Foreign Policy Credentials – Alaska is Close to Russia. Asked about Palin’s credentials, Cindy McCain told ABC-TV’s “This Week:” “Remember: Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia. So, it’s not as if she doesn’t understand what’s at stake here.” [9/1/08]

ABC.com: Buchanan – Palin was a Buchanan Brigader. “Buchanan told Chris Matthews yesterday that Palin “was a brigader in 1996 as was her husband, Chris, they were at a fundraiser for me, she’s a terrific gal, she’s a rebel reformer.” Buchanan of course has a long history of quite questionable comments, particularly about Jews.” [8/30/08]

A Rush to Judgment?

NYT: “His running mate said more about Senator John McCain and his image of himself than it did about Sarah Palin.” “In the end, the choice of his running mate said more about Senator John McCain and his image of himself than it did about Sarah Palin.” [8/30/08]

Slate: Palin’s Candidacy is Fun to Cover But Raises Serious Questions About McCain’s Judgment. “Each new fact we learn about Sarah Palin—her reversal on the bridge to nowhere, her disagreements with McCain on issues from windfall profits to global warming, emerging facts about troopergate—contribute to the feeling that this whole Palin thing is being made up as we go along. It may be fun to read about, and it sure is fun to cover, but it also supports the judgment of the Palin pick that I first heard from a Republican veteran shortly after the announcement: ‘Reckless.’” [9/1/08]

Stephanopoulos: “What else don’t we know about Governor Palin?” “They are sending a rapid response team of about 10 people that includes lawyers up to Alaska right now… Some senior Republicans operatives outside the campaign say there’s no way they could have had a complete vetting with this kind of information coming out… What else don’t we know about Governor Palin?” [9/1/08]

NYT: Republican Source: “This was really kind of rushed at the end, because John didn’t get what he wanted. He wanted to do Joe or Ridge.” “A series of disclosures about Gov. Sarah Palin, Senator John McCain’s choice as running mate, called into question on Monday how thoroughly Mr. McCain had examined her background before putting her on the Republican presidential ticket… At the least, Republicans close to the campaign said it was increasingly apparent that Ms. Palin had been selected as Mr. McCain’s running mate with more haste than McCain advisers initially described… ‘This was really kind of rushed at the end, because John didn’t get what he wanted. He wanted to do Joe or Ridge.’” [9/2/08]

AP: “… fueled speculation that a comprehensive examination of Palin’s record and past was incomplete and being done only after she was placed on the ticket.” “Shortly after Palin was named to the ticket, McCain’s campaign dispatched a team of a dozen communications operatives and lawyers to Alaska. That fueled speculation that a comprehensive examination of Palin’s record and past was incomplete and being done only after she was placed on the ticket.” [9/2/08]

MSNBC: Just How Well Was She Vetted? “Two sources tell NBC’s Mike Levine that — as of Friday when Gov. Sarah Palin was announced as McCain’s running mate — no one had been sent to Wasilla, Alaska, to look through the archives of Palin’s hometown newspaper.” [9/2/08]