Night Train

You say that.   Then you say this?

What does Palin's SAT scores have to do with the issues?  Didn't you JUST SAY mentioning anything but the issues is CRAP?  So are you willing to admit you're talking crap yourself?  Do you happen to know Biden's SAT scores as well? 

Spoken by a (closet) liberal perhaps?  Because you ain't making any sense to this conservative. 

Besides........... let's see............. the first thing I saw on the news this morning was all about Troopergate in Alaska.  Issues?  And the Dems are NOT in a panic? 

Does not work that way.  Bill Ayers is not in jail after all, and he is the terrorist.  Having ties is not a crime (it shows a lack of good judgement, but is not a crime).  You need to learn more about the reality instead of buying all the hype.

Not a thing other than she is not bright enough to understand the issues.

and Biden is almost as much of a joke.

More so - he does not have the excuse of inexperience.

How do you know how bright Palin is?

The United States is still in Germany, Japan, and Korea. Does that mean Roosevelt and Truman were horrible Presidents?

That is a valid and relevant issue. It relates to ethics and abuse of power, and when she could possible be in a position as powerful as the VP, or perhaps even president, it's more than relevant. And something you all seem to be forgetting, that investigation started BEFORE she was named VP, and she in fact WELCOMED the investigation, and only after being named VP did she turn around and say/do the opposite.

she isn't the vp, bebi. hopefully, she'll never leave alaska again after nov 4. she can stay up there and give tours at the ice & snow festival.

We are there with the respective host nation's consent.  With respect to Iraq we have approval from the UN and the current geovernment of Iraq.  Both want us out of Iraq at some point in the near future.  It will make no difference who is President,  when Iraq's government and our government reach an agreement for us to leave we will leave.  They can also as a sovereign nation tell us to get out and we would have to leave or risk being declared to be in an illegal war.

I don't think that are current positions in Germany, Japan and South Korea are comparable to our position in Iraq.  I also think our sending the US military to Iraq was misguided and of no genuine value to us.

Have you been paying attention?

Anyone trying to rebuild the middle class will be seen as a socialist.  It's a nasty trap we are in.

I pay quite a bit of attention. 

I know a lot of very smart people and many of them, most of them, would likely not make very effective public speakers and would stumble a great deal on any number of topics.

I interview people for jobs all the time and many of them are highly intelligent but cannot coherently speak about topics that they are familiar with let alone having to cram in a bunch of trivial-pursuit like knowledge on arcane issues like who voted what on some piece of legislation a decade ago.

As someone who has been on national TV a number of times, I can tell you, it's a lot tougher than it looks to speak intelligently on topics -- even when you're being interviewed by people who want you to do well. 

As for the middle class, I wasn't aware it needed to be "rebuilt".  I don't know many people who wish they could go back in time and live in say the 1950s or even 1970s.

It's hard to look at people who have multiple cars, TVs, 2000+ square foot house, DVD players, iPods, lots of activities for their children, whose biggest health issue is trying not to get fat and conclude that they're somehow getting screwed.

Now if only we could stop the media from worshipping at the altar of the Obamessiah, we'd be in business.

Does anyone else think that the media's obsession with Obama reminds them of that cult in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom?

Palin is Bush in drag.  Just as fundamentalist, just as deluded, just as ignorant, just as dangerous.

Her "knowledge" comes completely from cue cards and reading teleprompters. 

She's not the least bit qualified to hold national public office, let alone be a heartbeat away from the most powerful leadership role in the free world at a time when our country needs expert, competent, worldly stewardship.

If I asked Palin about the Khmer Rouge, she'd go blank, or talk about energy, or perhaps claim she tried that shade of lipstick but it didn't work for her. 

You know she would.

We don't need another moron, "buddy", puppet, or pitbull in the White House. 

We need a leader, a PRESIDENT.

This isn't American Idol, for god's sake.

The media's obsessions change with the winds.  Were you complaining equally when they were obsessing over Palin for weeks after her selection as VP?  Or only now that the gimmick has failed and that we've all caught on?

Alaska panel find Palin abused power in firing

Troopergate report: Full text

Good find Bebi!

Ask those people how they are affording those perks. They may end up telling you that don't. They may tell you that they have multiple credit cards, most maxed out, and are on the verge of loosing all of it, because they wanted it all, but couldn't afford it in the first place, and now they don't know how to get out. Keeping up with the Jones's had just bitten them in the ass, and they are not liking how it feels. I would rather be lower middle class, single mom, struggling paycheck to paycheck, with a single loan of $5000.00, than those people(yes, I shared a bit of myself). All I ask for is health insurance and taxes to be lowered, so that I could live on my modest income (that is not suplimented by food stamps, welfare, or child support.) and be able to save something on the side. 401k at this point is a crap shoot.....but hey, I will let it ride.

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Bebi -

It is so easy to allow imprecision to reveal bias, both in CNN's headline & your reply.  The report did not find that she had abused her power in firing Monegan.  It explicitly states that she was perfectly within her right and within the law to dismiss Monegan.

The report claims she violated state ethics laws in attempting to influence Monegan to dismiss Wooten, who was in fact never dismissed.  This is American Politics at work in the 21st century.  Sad state of affairs when the head of the state troopers knew this was a bad actor (his disciplinary record is public) and when given information from individuals in a unique position to know, dismissed it.

Which report were you reading?

Report full text (pdf)

The bipartisan panel (10 republicans, 4 democrats) found that she DID violate the Alaska Ethics Act. It wasn't the sole reason, but a contributing factor. It also found that there were at least 19 calls from her husband (using her office) and various other aides pressuring for Wooten to be fired (Todd admitted telling anybody who would listen about his complaints against Wooten). They have given so many different reasons for firing him (insubordination, drinking in his patrol car, going on a lobbying trip to DC to get money to fight sexual violence [are you serious? and this was later DEBUNKED because he did get permission from one of her aides], and in the report Todd Palin said another reason was because Monegan was complaining that Trig wasn't in a proper car seat, etc).

Yes, she followed procedure in firing Monegan, and was within her right to do so, but the issue is that a contributing factor was personal interest (as the statute and report says) and that her family was in fact pressuring to get Wooten fired. She then denied any wrongdoing, violating the trust of the Alaskan people.

The investigation by the personnel board (appointed by the governor) is still on-going.

The denials in the face of all evidence are remarkable.