Sarah Palin뭩 Republican Convention Speech Was Very Impressive

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Fri Sep-05-08 08:41 PM
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Sarah Palin뭩 Republican Convention Speech Was Very Impressive

With very little time to rehearse the biggest speech of her life, Sarah Palin did as good a job of reading a teleprompter speech as anyone I뭭e seen. Her words were well articulated, her timing was impeccable, her facial expressions blended right in with the content of the speech to almost give the impression that she had written it herself, and she didn뭪 make a single gaffe. If she hadn뭪 been the Republican nominee for VP, her speech would have provided an excellent argument for her being the next Press Secretary for the next Republican President. No wonder she is now acclaimed as the �New GOP Star� by our 뱈ainstream� news media.

Given her excellent delivery and style, it might seem petty to some to comment on the content of her speech, especially since she might not have written any of it or even had significant input into it. Nevertheless, because the content of her speech had little if anything to do with reality, it deserves at least some comment:

Special needs children

It was heartwarming to hear Governor Palin say this:

To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House.

She sounded sincere too. But how does that square with the fact that she slashed funding for schools for special needs kids by 62%, as shown by Alaska budgets for FY 2007 (pre-Palin), 2008, and 2009?

Justifying condescending remarks about Obama by slapping down a straw man

First, Palin set the stage for her condescending gratuitous remarks about Barack Obama뭩 career by pretending that he did the same thing to her. After recapping her life experiences, Palin said:

Since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves:

That is a false statement. I뭭e heard both Obama and Biden respond to questions about Palin뭩 experience. They were respectful of it and didn뭪 denigrate it in any way � quite a contrast to Sarah Palin뭩 dismissive, gratuitous, and stupid comments about Obama뭩 work as a community organizer:

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities�

This world of threats and dangers is not just a community, and it doesn't just need an organizer.

A community organizer doesn뭪 have responsibilities? From the L.A. Times on Obama뭩 community organizing work:

"Ninety percent of the people in the U.S. would be terrified to walk the streets that Barack Obama walked," said Greg Galluzzo, whose Gamaliel Foundation served as a Chicago umbrella organization� He worked so hard that friends joke they had to coax him out to parties�. What impressed me about Barack was that he also had a list of recommended solutions," Emil Jones recalled.

But anyhow, that was a brilliant Rovian strategy. Portray yourself as the poor victim of condescending (but nonexistent) attacks by your opponent so that nobody will notice your own condescending and blatantly dishonest attacks.

Sarah Palin the ethics reformer

A major portion of Palin뭩 speech was devoted to boasting of her credentials as an ethics reformer:

I came to office promising major ethics reform, to end the culture of self-dealing...

I got rid of a few things in the governor's office that I didn't believe our citizens should have to pay for. That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay...

I championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. In fact
I told the Congress "thanks, but no thanks," for that Bridge to Nowhere�

And despite fierce opposition from oil company lobbyists, who kind of liked things the way they were, we broke their monopoly on power and resources.

Unfortunately, she seems to hold a different standard for her own ethics:

The Alaska Legislature voted last month to investigate allegations that Palin dismissed the state's public safety commissioner after the official resisted pressure to fire a state trooper involved in a contentious divorce from Palin's sister� The vote by the Legislative Council to authorize the probe was unanimous�

Regarding Palin뭩 magnanimous offer to sell her luxury jet: that had become a political albatross and the subject of a Palin campaign promise to get rid of it:

After he defied almost everyone to acquire it, the jet became a political albatross for (former Alaskan Governor) Murkowski. Gov. Sarah Palin beat Murkowski bad in last August's Republican primary. One of her campaign promises was to sell the plane and she's been trying to unload it for months.

As far as her telling Congress 밡o thanks� for the 밄ridge to Nowhere�, that was another lie:

The Anchorage Daily News quoted her on Oct. 22, 2006, as saying yes, she would continue state funding for the bridge because she wanted swift action on infrastructure projects. "The window is now while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist," she said.

In the city Ketchikan, the planned site of the so-called "Bridge to Nowhere," political leaders of both parties said the claim was false and a betrayal of their community, because she had supported the bridge and the earmark for it secured by Alaska's Congressional delegation during her run for governor.

And regarding her claim to bravely oppose big oil, Daniel Weiss notes:

Palin rejects clean renewable energy that is an alternative to oil. Earlier this month, she claimed that 밶lternative-energy solutions are far from imminent and would require more than 10 years to develop.�

Like many other oil champions, Palin is skeptical of global warming. During her gubernatorial campaign, she said she was unconvinced about how much human emissions contribute to current global warming trends. Palin also opposes listing our polar bears as a threatened species because it could require action on climate change.

The claim that Obama hasn뭪 sponsored any major legislation

Referring to Obama, Palin said this:

This is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform - not even in the state senate.

But what about the legislation that Obama sponsored with Senator Lugar to secure and destroy loose nuclear weapons? What about his sponsoring of the first bill to deal with pandemic flu preparedness? What about his bill to provide government oversight of genetic testing? And what about his sponsoring a bill with Hillary Clinton to require hospitals to disclose medical errors?

I could go on and on, but that is enough for the purpose of evaluating the content of Sarah Palin뭩 speech. Is she aware of any of those bills that Obama sponsored? Does she think that they don뭪 qualify as major legislation? Or should we not blame her for making that stupid statement because, after all, she was just reading what she was given to read and may not even realize how many lies were contained in her speech?

War mongering

Palin made several references to the Iraq War and how McCain is so much stronger on that subject than is Obama. On McCain she says:

They told us that all was lost � there was no hope for this candidate who said that he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war.

He's a man who wore the uniform of this country for 22 years, and refused to break faith with those troops in Iraq who have now brought victory within sight.

But the Iraq war is not really a war at all. It is an occupation. It is an occupation in which the civilian population, whom we have killed by the hundreds of thousands and displaced by the millions, wants us to leave. That뭩 the main reason we뭨e fighting there. We뭨e not fighting terrorists, we뭨e fighting a people who are resisting our occupation of their country. Neither McCain, nor Palin, nor George Bush, nor Dick Cheney have ever offered the American people a legitimate reason as to why we should occupy a country that desperately wants us to leave.

This is what Palin has to say about Obama뭩 stance on the war:

This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word "victory" except when he's talking about his own campaign� Victory in Iraq is finally in sight ... he wants to forfeit.

Well, at least that뭩 one thing she said in her speech that isn뭪 a lie. Yes, Obama doesn뭪 talk about 뱕ictory� with regard to our imperial occupation of Iraq because he뭩 not a bombastic idiot and because he believes that it would be far better for our country, as well as for the people of Iraq, to give up our occupation of a country that hates us.

Lying about tax policies

This is what Sarah Palin had to say about Obama뭩 tax plans:

Taxes are too high ... he wants to raise them. His tax increases are the fine print in his economic plan, and let me be specific. The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes ... raise payroll taxes ... raise investment income taxes ... raise the death tax ... raise business taxes ... and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars� How are you going to be better off if our opponent adds a massive tax burden to the American economy?

There뭩 not much one can say about those claims except that they are big fat lies. Obama뭩 tax plan would in fact reduce taxes and simplify tax filing for working and middle class Americans, while reversing the Bush tax cuts for the rich. Specifically, he has said the following with regard to the Bush tax cuts for the rich:

The Bush tax cuts � people didn't need them, and they weren't even asking for them, and they ought to be relaxed so we can pay for universal health care and other initiatives.� We have to stop pretending that all cuts are equivalent or that all tax increases are the same�. At a time when ordinary families are feeling hit from all sides, the impulse to keep their taxes as low as possible is honorable. What is less honorable is the willingness of the rich to ride this anti-tax sentiment for their own purposes.

In addition to his tax proposals, Obama has an extensive economic plan, which includes: fighting for 밼air trade� instead of 밼ree trade�, as manifested by NAFTA; job creation; restoring workers� rights to unionize; the creation of a universal 10% mortgage credit to give relief to homeowners; a crackdown on mortgage company abuses; and a crackdown on predatory lending policies.

In stark contrast, McCain뭩 idea of an economic stimulus plan is to cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%, claiming that such a tax cut is 밻ssential to U.S. competitiveness�, 뱖ill expand the U.S. economy, creating jobs and opportunities for prosperity�, and 뱇ead to higher wages�. Other McCain ideas for tax cuts include lowering taxes on capital gains and dividends and fighting 뱓he Democrats� crippling plans for a tax increase in 2011.� What McCain means by that last statement is that he will ensure that the Bush tax cuts for the rich, including the total elimination of the inheritance tax, become permanent in 2011. An article in the Wall Street Journal estimates that McCain뭩 tax cut proposals will cost our government as much as $400 billion a year.

McCain뭩 plan for dealing with the housing crisis is to bail out banks, without providing substantial help to ordinary Americans who lose their mortgages, whom he refers to as 밼inancial and property speculators�.

So yes, there is a big difference between Obama and McCain with respect to their economic plans for our country. But to reduce that to 밢bama will raise your taxes� is beyond dishonest.

On the differences between the candidates on energy policy

Palin tries to make the point that Obama has no plans for dealing with our energy and environmental problems:

Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America's energy problems � as if we all didn't know that already. But the fact that drilling won't solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all. Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we're going to lay more pipelines ... build more nuclear plants ... create jobs with clean coal ... and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal, and other alternative sources.

Obama plans to do nothing at all??!! Is Sarah Palin aware that Obama has an extensive energy plan? Among the many goals of that plan, it would seek to develop alternative clean energy. In contrast, When McCain was asked his opinion on subsidies for clean energy technology such as wind and solar, he said:

I'm not one who believes that we need to subsidize things. The wind industry is doing fine, the solar industry is doing fine. In the '70s, we gave too many subsidies and too much help, and we had substandard products sold to the American people, which then made them disenchanted with solar for a long time� There뭩 a point where you should let the free-enterprise system take over.

Energy efficiency is a very important component of any plan to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, whether Sarah Palin or John McCain know it or not. Joseph Romm points out that Obama뭩 plan is very specific in these areas, whereas McCain has no plans for improving energy efficiency at all, though he does sometimes use the words 밻nergy efficiency�.

Regarding plans to combat global warming, of which Sarah Palin is unconvinced, Mark Hertsgaard explains that Obama뭩 plan for an 80% cut on greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, using a 밹ap-and-trade� system that 뱒ells corporations permits to emit greenhouse gases and then invests the revenue in green energy development and rebates to Americans hit with higher energy prices�, is consistent with what scientists say is necessary.

In marked contrast, Hertsgaard notes that McCain:

supports a 60 percent emissions cut by 2050. But it is doubtful that McCain's approach would actually deliver such large cuts, since his cap-and-trade system would give most permits away free, a provision environmentalists attack as a corporate giveaway.

Also of significance is the fact that the non-partisan League of Conservation Voters (LCV) gives McCain a 24% lifetime score for his global warming policies, and a 0% score for 2007.

So yes, Obama plans to do 뱊othing at all� with respect to energy and the environment if doing something means doing it the McCain/Palin way.

A summary of Sarah Palin뭩 Republican Convention speech

In summary, once we jump from the superficial appearance and style of Sarah Palin뭩 speech to its contents, it becomes apparent that its main defect is that it is chock full of lies and misleading statements. I could have listed many more lies from her speech, but this post is long enough to make the point. In fact, the Palin speech had far more lies in it than truthful statements.

But why bother with that? Our corporate news media has proclaimed a 밡ew GOP Star�. In the best tradition of Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin can read a hell of a speech from a teleprompter. She can even convincingly read gobbledygook that makes it sound like Obama뭩 speeches are meaningless, and that it뭩 Obama who has failed to put forth plans for our country:

But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed ... when the roar of the crowd fades away ... when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot � what exactly is our opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet?

Well, Sarah, you뭗 know what Barack Obama seeks to accomplish if you ever bothered to listen to him or read what he has to say about his plans for our country. Maybe you too should have said something substantive in your first speech before a national audience, instead of merely reading something that Karl Rove gave you to read.