The McCain campaign said Governor Palin opposed the Bridge to Nowhere, but now we know she supported it. They said she didn’t seek earmarks, but now we know she hired a lobbyist to get millions in pork for her town and her state. They said she visited Iraq, but today we learned that she only stopped at the border. Is there anything the McCain campaign isn’t lying about?
That’s what the Obama campaign is asking, and – of course – it’s a rhetorical question. There may be something that John McCain’s campaign has said recently that turned out to be true, but I can’t think of what it might be. A shower of lies has been spewing from the campaign – lies smearing Barack Obama and more lies glorifying Sarah Palin.
Even the corporate media have had enough of the lies, and are now challenging the Obama smears and questioning the Palin plaudits. Would you believe that Karl Rove (“Bush’s Brain” – remember?) has joined the chorus of complaints against the Republican presidential candidate? But, believe it or not, here’s what Rove had to say on Fox News yesterday:
McCain has gone in his ads one step too far, and sort of attributing to Obama things that are, you know, beyond the 100-percent-truth test.
Also, bit by bit, the real Sarah Palin is emerging from behind the candy-coated facade presented at the Republican convention. It is not a pretty sight. The latest expose appeared in the New York Times on Sunday, and it shows that Palin’s record is tainted by cronyism. One example: Governor Palin (photo below, right) appointed a high school friend named Franci Havemeister to run the State Division of Agriculture, a $2 million agency. Havemeister, a former real estate agent, cited her childhood love of cows as one of her main qualifications for the job.
Earlier, reporters vetting Palin’s past found that she lies when she says that she told Congress, “No thanks” for the infamous Bridge to Nowhere. She actually supported the bridge and even after Congress deep-sixed its earmark, she took the multimillion-dollar “pork” and used it for other projects. Her history of petty vindictiveness and unprofessional behavior has also surfaced, and she showed little familiarity with foreign affairs in that pallid ABC-TV interview.
The media will find out, if they haven’t already, that her claims of fiscal conservatism are about as credible as moose feathers. When she became mayor of Wasilla, a community of fewer than 10,000 people, the town was debt-free. When she left, it was mired in debt. And according to a Wasilla resident who has been closely associated with her for years, the money Palin borrowed was not used for infrastructure but for frills (such as a hockey rink with heated seats). Oh, and by the way, she raised taxes, too.
Is anything about this woman credible? Not much. As it turns out, even her front teeth are false. According to a Sportsman’s Daily Wire Service dispatch from Dayton, Ohio on Sept. 2:
After appearing with [McCain], Palin entertained campaign staffers and reporters by removing her front teeth and raising up her fists… “This is one former beauty pageant contestant that’s not afraid to throw off the gloves and turn the ice into a bloody mess – if I have to,” lisped Palin. “I may look like your garden variety PTA president, but as soon as the puck drops I’m not out there to be your friend. I’ll rip your heart out,” she chirped, smiling broadly to emphasize her missing front teeth. When horrified McCain aides tried hustling Palin away from the throng, she clipped one with a sharp elbow and punched another in the face, drawing blood.
So what have we got? A ruthless, unethical fringe-journalist-turned-politician who found out that a lot of American voters will support you if you vehemently oppose abortion. Do you think for one moment that Sarah Palin would be McCain’s running mate if she were a man? As MSNBC’s Chris Matthews would say, “Hah!”
