New Campaign To Sink Palin/McCain(!)---Sarah Palin: Give the Money Back

NOTE: I think the Obama campaign should JUMP on this ASAP. It's brilliant. Why? Because it's simple, easy to remember and repeat and of course, it's incredibly damaging. It gets people asking questions (give what back? Did she steal? From who? From where? How much?!), questions the McCain/Palin campaign would rather not have to answer day after day after day.

Sarah Palin: Give the Money Back
By Cenk Uygur

Sarah Palin famously said in her Republican convention speech that she told Congress "thanks, but no thanks" for the Bridge to Nowhere. Now, this has been discredited in just about every media outlet in the country. During the Charlie Gibson interview, she didn't even deny that she in fact lobbied for the bridge when she was running for governor.

This, of course, has not stopped her from making the same claim dozens of times since it's been discredited. But what's even more interesting is that she apparently kept as much of the money as the federal government sent her. What happened to thanks, but no thanks?

Though the entire financing for the bridge did not pan out, the US government has set aside $73 million for the project. So far, a lot of money has been wasted building access roads to bridges that don't exist and never will. Of course, people get rich off these projects, so they don't give a damn where they lead as long as the money leads right back into their pockets.

So, I'd like to start a simple campaign called "Give the Money Back..."

To read the rest of this article,

:bounce:

MSM needs to take the lead on this/...Ed Schultz may get the ball rolling..

nt

Great idea for a campaign!

pass it on to EVERYONE YOU KNOW!! lets get it into the top videos!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc2rGwRxzOI

I know the reason.

The video was wiped off the homepage pretty quickly, as most videos are these days (there are some OCD posters out there).

:)

In the upper left hand corner of the article's original page.

27 nominations so far...

:toast:

she got to keep that money, after the project was rejected.

How in the world does that make sense?!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=7084649&mesg_id=7084649

He wanted Lieberman, but the hard right wanted Palin.

He seems to be prone to the Stockholm syndrome.

Lie Surgery or The Big Freaking Liar's Diet?

Oh wait, it's called prison isn't it? :)

Sorry, it's late and I am a bit goofy from lack of sleep.:hi:



Great thread and ideas, ihnb! Thanks! :hi::kick:

This is a direct hit on hypocrisy. Hope it happens.

Listening to Palin repetitious "Thanks, but no thanks.", you can't help but wonder why such a pillar of fiscal responsibility did not honor the "no thanks" and return the money she did not want - especially when she had full knowledge the the Federal Government canceled the project.

It seems dishonest to me.

So here I am, an old everyday, run-of-the-mill taxpaying citizen, wondering why when my state is hanging on by a bare thread - knowing a portion of that money Alaska kept came from Michigan - knowing she said "no thanks" - why did she keep the money? That share could and would be better spent in Michigan, or at least back to the Federal Treasury.

Another question is, why didn't the Federal Government demand the money slated for the Bridge be returned?

I just know Palin has an answer or two for me.

:shrug:

if not the whole thing?

I really like this idea!

Kick!!!

What she didn't want was the bad publicity for her that would come with a multimillion gift to Alaska's McMansion developers.

I think there must be something very special about Gravina Island to convince fifty people they need to pay $5 one-way to go to the supermarket...$5 being the fare for the Gravina Island Ferry. If they build this bridge, within ten years (due to the unusually short length of the Alaskan construction season) that little hunk of land will be covered in quarter-acre lots that have huge houses right in the middle of them.

Oh, the money's fine. Send more. The jokes on late-night television were the problem.

:toast:

Isn't it a misrepresentation to take money for one thing and spend it on another. I know that there are
two standards in the law - "them" and "us." So if we did it, it would be illegal. If they do it,
they get bonus miles.

Great point. Go for it!

spent much of it toward getting his Iraq hard-on? Eh, just another crime in a list of many! :hi:

Hi sweetie! How ya' doing? :hug:

You do great work!

Simplicity sells

There are several potential themes for this type of approach.

The bridge - she was for it before she was against it.
Let Sarah speak.
How can you tell when they're lying? (You know the answer)
What's the difference between Sarah and GWB? - Lipstick!
Earmark queen.

GOBAMA!

Send her packing!

K&R

:patriot:

Give the money back, Sarah! Give the money back! :kick:

Recommended :thumbsup:!

So much for smaller government.

WWGNS? What would Grover Norquist say?

added it to call them out too!

C'mon you creative DUers:)

The authentic Pitchforks and Torches Society has committed to donate 25% of the profits to Democratic Underground from our Cafepress store.
Order you "Hey $arah GIVE THE MONEY BACK" stickers, shirts, and yard signs here, and check out the other items as well!
http://www.cafepress.com/pitchforktorch

I can see the end of a campaign ad: "Governor Palin, if you said 'Thanks, but no thanks' - why won't you give the money back?"

or polar bear funding, etc. they'll just ask the same question of our side.

The fact that's it vague is EXACTLY why it works, as I explained in my preface to the article. It gets people asking questions and making (negative) assumptions. That's a win in and of itself.

THEN people can go to the next step and get specific. But the fact that it's so simple means that it can sink in with the average low-info voter, which is the target audience. Being overly specific and cerebral is exactly what kills so many Dem plans (sad but true).

Repubs are great at keeping things very simple, and it's part of their formula for winning elections.

kick

This IS a great idea!

:kick:

:kick:

Olbermann is one of the last few hopefuls trying to battle right wing propaganda. Obama needs to HIT back.

Did having this money "in the bank" allow her to suspend the Alaskan gas tax? If so she is basically using the rest of our tax money to give Alaskans a tax break.

The state has a massive budget surplus this year as a result of high oil prices. That is why she was able to suspend the gas tax and give us all an "energy rebate" which by the way we all have to pay federal taxes on.

I understand that people don't like Palin, I don't either, but the attacking of everything related to Alaska is getting a little old. Every state gets a lot of federal money for roads, and so did we. Just because some people wanted to build a bridge at one point doesn't mean that we should give our federal money back. The money wasn't given to the state for the bridge, it was given for other road projects. Alaska is lacking in infrastructure. We weren't a state during the new deal, we didn't benefit from all the road/bridge/general infrastructure building that went on back then. So we are catching up a bit. If you look at the federal money that comes into the state, which is a lot per capita, something like 90% is non-discretionary money that goes to military projects since Alaska is a pretty strategic piece of real estate for military purposes.

My post was a question, not an attack. Welcome to DU.

I didn't mean that I thought you were attacking, just that there is a lot of it going around. I was trying to answer the question and address the overall tone of the entire thread and all the responses at the same time. We are a bit of a mystery up here far away from the rest of the country, and I think most of us like it that way sometimes. There are a lot of questions about the state, and why the hell we would elect Sarah Palin, but for the most part there are good people up here who love this state and this country. We share a lot of the same concerns as the rest of you about our state, but we also understand that we are in a unique position. Something that isn't taken into account much by people from "Outside" lately.

If we had our druthers we would keep Sarah and all of her valley trash problems as our little secret and not burden the rest of the country with her brand of "leadership." I wish that nobody in the country knew who she was, and that in the horrible event of McCain winning/stealing the election in Nov, he would have a VP who is qualified to run

Have you had the time to start a post explaining the situation from an Alaskan perspective? I think most of us would like to know about you guys up there and how/why she got elected.

I will work on something after I get off work today.

And by would I mean "absolutely would not".

The Republicans would already have t-shirts and bumper stickers reading "(fill in Dem candidate) Give The Money Back". Right wing TV and radio would be shoving that slogan down our throats.

And you know what? It would work, and the MSM would cover it all day, every day until it was stuck in our heads like a bad top 40 song.

:shrug:

She keeps saying "I TOLD CONGRESS 'Thanks, ..."

WHEN did you go in front of Congress?

What day was it?

What committee was it?

Show us where that appears in the Congressional record.

What, you say you didn't actually go to Congress? Well that means then you have been LYING.

Maybe this sounds like nit-picky shit, but this is exactly the sort of stuff the American public can understand. They are not good with subtlety or nuance. The lady said dozens of time that SHE TOLD Congress. Force her to admit she has never even been in front of Congress and that will resonate with a good chunk of dimwits that aren't getting the picture otherwise.

You never told Congress shit lady. So give the money back already.

I've been talking this up with friends lately. I'd LOVE a chance to ask Palin those questions. I wish someone would.

Seem to leave that part out. And just on MSNBC they showed the rally with Caribou Barbie and MaGoo and she was talking about small businesses. She mentioned her sister just opened a service station. I wonder if that staion is on the way to the bridge to nowhere. Paid for with funds that should have been returned.

At least, errr...not the money she spent on the tanning bed!

:rofl:

Support's suggestions couldn't get me in either. :shrug:

you're on some sort of terrorist watch-list.


As we all know, terra'ists shouldn't be allowed to digg.



:)

watch the worm squirm...

she's got $600 million going to OTHER bridges to nowhere.

Welcome to DU, secondwind.
:hi:

So she not only supported the bridge, but when she flip-flopped after the funding stopped she kept what Congress had already sent? She should be in jail, not running as vp for the repub party.

Dugg #70

but he uses his head for more than a hat rack!

that she should not go forward with this OTHER 600 million bridge. There are two bridges here.

Make her present that case. Good luck explaining that one Barbie, after you made such a big deal about how you are fighting earmark waste and abuse. Give the money back.

I am assuming you are talking about the bridge that is being touted as a bridge from Anchorage to her hometown, the Knik Arm Bridge. I live in Anchorage, and when the last plan for the bridge came out I thought it was a horrible idea. Not because we don't need a bridge or it is a waste of money, but becuase the bridge they wanted to build was too small (one lane each way with an alternating middle lane depending on traffic patterns), was not able to expand to include rail, and there was no real traffic plan for the Anchorage side of the bridge.

Anchorage is basically full. We are in a geographical bowl surrounded by mountains and the ocean. There is nowhere to expand the town, and there is not really anywhere in town to build too many more homes. Just across the water is an area that would be great to expand, it could create affordable housing for families in Anchorage. The nearest town is Wasilla, but this isn't some project Palin wants to benefit her hometown. Anchorage is the center of the state. People come from every part of the state for everything, I grew up 130 miles down the highway, and we came up to buy groceries. The bridge, if done right, would benefit the whole state.

If development is truly possible and feasible across the water then the state of Alaska can pay for the damn thing. My state has to borrow money to even maintain the roads.

Alaska is a cash-rich state (on a govt level), and it still goes begging to Washington for money. Despicable - and a very good reason to NOT vote for McCain/Palin.

She opened this can o whupa$$ when lied to her audience.. "thanks but no thanks". So GIVE THE MONEY BACK! "$73 Million"!

But, this is the first I have heard anything new about it. It proves that her stump speech was just a load of shit. Liar, liar liar.

he brought Cenk on before when he liked his idea.

I'm referring to when Cenk was on Countdown to discuss his plan to label Fox News "opinion media" at the YearlyKos Convention (now called Netroots). The funny thing is, this last year the Netroots did just that.

When you think about it, it's *not* that we don't have enough damaging information on McCain/Palin, it's that we all need to find the best way to distill and frame these issues into easily digestible nuggets that are easily repeatable.

If we do that, low-info voters just might come to know it.

PS---A reminder to send out the mass email

:)

A real reformer we've got there.

Hope this has legs-if she kept that money she said she didn't take, she SHOULD give it back.

I TOLD CONGRESS THANKS! (for the millions in earmark money)
BUT NO THANKS! (I flip-flopped on the Bridge to Nowhere, so I'll just spent the $$ some place else)
IF WE WANT A BRIDGE WE'LL BUILD IT OURSELVES! (In the meantime, just send more money)

ouch!

Mc sold his soul to run for a presidency he will not win.......and Palin has put Dan Quale to shame with her stupidity.

Talking Straight Out His Ass Express. And Talking Caribou Barbie.

:kick:

As the masters of this subject usually win... :kick:

My admiration of Cenk grows everyday!

:thumbsup:

:kick:

So even when she eventually said no thank you (to the bridge) Alaska still got the same dollars but had to spend them elsewhere.

is this:

"Peter Feldman, a spokesman for the McCain campaign, did not respond directly to questions about whether Palin was aware that the project had begun anew or that $73 million in federal funds had been set aside for it. "The fact is that once Governor Palin was elected and had an opportunity to look closely at the project, she killed it," he said in an e-mailed statement. "She fought for Congress to kill the provision, but they sent the funds anyway. Palin fired the kill shot by not using a dime of that money on the bridge."

That is an amazing lie. Palin didn't "fight for Congress to kill the provision." She just took money offered by the federal govt for transportation projects. Cenk is wrong in saying that the "US government has set aside $73 million for the project." The US govt cancelled the earmark for the bridge in Nov of 2005, long before Palin took office. Palin got transportation funds that were no longer set aside for the bridge.

:)

I'm not saying anything, I'm just sayin'.

"But Gov. Palin’s administration acknowledges that it is still pursuing a project that would link Ketchikan to its airport -- with the help of as much as $73 million in federal funds earmarked by Congress for the original project..."

http://www.propublica.org/article/palin-administration-still-pursuing-nowhere-project-913/

to say that the "US government has set aside $73 million for the project." The earmark for the bridge was eliminated in November of 2005. So there are no funds that Congress has set aside for the project. There are funds that were once earmarked for the bridge that are now earmarked only for whatever transportation projects Alaska wants to use them for. It's important to be clear about that, because Palin is pretending that she stood up to Congress and refused the bridge to nowhere earmark.

"But Gov. Palin’s administration acknowledges that it is still pursuing a project that would link Ketchikan to its airport -- with the help of as much as $73 million in federal funds earmarked by Congress for the original project..."

Furthermore, it's exactly this type of hesitation and "golly gee, I don't know about that" attitude that leads to Dem losses year after year.

We need to go for their throats (besides which, we aren't the Obama campaign). Do you really think that Palin/McCain will win on this issue if they're out there fielding questions and they say something like "um, no, but you see, you uh, you don't understand, it's not actually $73 million for the, it, uh, look it's not...(long pause). See, the thing is, *technically* speaking Congress didn't really set aside money for that project so we can use that earmark money for whatever we want!"

Please, by God, I WANT THEM to use that weak, nuanced argument. Low-info voters will not be moved, unless the nature of the average low-info voter suddenly changes in 2008. And it forces follow up questions and critical concessions.

But that's fine, we can have a reasonable disagreement on this.

PS---As someone elese pointed out: "Correction, According to the LA Times: Estimates of the budget surplus by early 2009 range from $5 BILLION to $9 BILLION, which is a TON of money for only 670,000 people!

In the context why in the hell should they be getting $73 million in earmarks that the Palin administration has admitted they are trying to use to build more stuff (see my previous post). Plenty of other states in the US need that money a LOT more for more useful things".

that we could all sign?

There's a website for starting them, which I could look for if nobody's familiar with the one I mean. It's for starting any kind of petition you want. There was one of the "impeach Bush/Cheney" or Pelosi ones (I forget which) on it not too long ago.

some media attention for us? They've done quite a bit of investigating on Palin's financial secrets like this themselves already.

:(

Count me in!

Give the Money Back!!

:kick:

A smaller amount, but just as damaging because it's just as unethical.

:kick:

any wanting to use it in an email or for whatever, feel free... every little thing we can do to persuade people to not vote for them is a plus!

www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable

:kick:

Only 4 words just like "drill here drill now". Give the Money Back!

designated for a bridge and used it elsewhere that would be misappropriating funds, also known as stealing.

it's factual

And I've been wondering for a long time why they aren't using that photo of McCain giving Bush a big hug at the '04 Republican Convention.

If a picture says a thousand words, that one's gotta say ten thousand, at least....

:kick:

:bounce::kick::bounce:

Excellent idea!!!

:woohoo:

If you DIDN'T use it as "earmarked", then why did you use it AT ALL???? :crazy:

This has the same mindset as if the IRS sent you a BIG FAT refund check by mistake. You KNOW it's wrong, but you cash it anyway. Then the IRS realizes it's goof but says "What the heck, spend it as you see fit! Too much trouble to reclaim it."

I'd love to hear them both say 'Give The Money Back!'

Need I say more.:nuke:

today Fema said it's not their responsibility to provide ice, so Sarah please consider sending the money to Galveston Hurricane victims.

since FEMA is falling on the job once again.

Margaret Thatcher

I hope this gets the attention she deserves.
"When those Republicans were asked what they liked least about her, they started to sound more like everyone else. Aside from those who said that there was nothing they didn’t like, next on the list were: her lack of experience, her record as governor and her lack of foreign-policy experience." by Charles M Blow
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/20/opinion/20blow.html?em