I didn’t see Ms. Palin speak live last night, but I did see the clips on YouTube and have to say I was mighty impressed with what she had to say.
Some highlights:
When I ran for city council, I didn’t need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and knew their families, too. Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown. And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a “community organizer,” except that you have actual responsibilities.
So what is Wasilla was a town of under 7,000 people. Being mayor of that town is still being accountable to the needs of 7,000 people! And she held that position for multiple years. She may be only two years into the governship, but her political life stretches back to the early 1990s.
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.
I’m all for drilling on American soil to create a source of oil. Actually, let me restate that to say: I’m all for investing in alternative energy sources (primarily putting up wind turbines all throughout the midwest a la the Pickens Plan), but until that becomes a reality taking advantage of our own country’s resources and drilling on American soil for oil to end our dependence on foreign oil.
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.
One need look no further than this chart at Investor’s Business Daily to see that Obama’s idea of “middle class” starts at $31,000 – and their taxes are going UP on Obama’s plan. That article goes on to say (bold is my emphasis): “Under the Obama plan, a family of four with an income of $31,000 to $45,000 could end up with a marginal tax rate 34% to 39%, 13 percentage points higher than under the current tax code. Even with lower overall tax takes, higher marginal rates could reduce the incentive to work or improve skills to seek higher-paying jobs.”
I saw the Democratic pundits on CNN go on and on last night about how Palin’s speech was all about fearmongering, but in reading Palin’s speech I don’t see the speech as being a fearmongering speech at all. She mentioned her son going to Iraq in talking about her family. She mentioned Russia wanting to control an oil pipeline in her points about this country’s energy crisis. She mentioned adverse countries seeking nuclear weapons in a point about Obama’s desire for big government. She mentioned Al-Qaida by name ONCE. So in a 30-minute speech she was a “fearmonger” for all of about 2 minutes sprinkled throughout a speech that otherwise addressed energy, taxes, her own record, and John McCain’s history.
I like Gov. Sarah Palin. Much like Hilary, she’s got moxie. And obviously showed that she’s not the shrinking violet that some in the press tried to make her out to be over the past week since her nomination was announced. She’s strong, determined, well-spoken and tough. And that’s a good thing.
Oh, and for the record – if you want to know who I really want for President? Try looking at Bob Barr or Ron Paul. Having looked at their platforms and history, those are the guys I WISH were still serious contenders. I am NOT necessarily a McCain supporter.
I didn’t see the speech or what the CNN pundits said last night, but Yahoo quoted those same CNN pundits as saying she gave a great speech and hit a home run with it, so somewhere something doesn’t jive. Either way, May the best man win. Oops, I mean man or woman. Can’t wait for the VP debate when she doesn’t have a speech written out for her. Guess you know where I stand.
The T. Boone Pickens plan is T. Boone Pickens self-help program. It just so happens that T. Boone Pickens now owns a large company that just so happens to make wind turbines. He also just happens to own the rights to a huge natural gas reserve, but doesn’t have the cash to drill. So his “I have a plan” approach is to generate enough interest to be able to sell turbines and get funding to drill for NG.
What he wants is to have the money for oil drilling diverted to NG drilling. Pure self-serving.
I also support a multi-prong approach–drill oil, drill NG, wind, solar, clean coal, shale oil, whatever. Get independent of the middle East, Russia and Venezuela. Maybe even be an exporter of power. But it’s going to take it ALL, as Gov. Palin said last night.
Dad – I said “a la” the Pickens Plan – I wasn’t claiming that the Pickens Plan was *the* way to go. However, he makes a good point that the dustbowl of this country has a LOT of untapped wind power available and if we WERE to set up major wind turbine fields throughout the entire midwest it would not only supply wind power but provides jobs for the farmers who currently struggle to make ends meet and keep their family farms afloat. Putting wind turbines on their land would provide income for them, and energy for us.
Denis – the CNN folks I was talking about were the guests that Larry King had on his show after AC360. Three Democratic women who assailed the speech as war/fear mongering and nothing else. And don’t give me that crap about speechwriting. Obama didn’t write his speech either. Nor did Biden. Nor did McCain. EVERY politician has speechwriters.
I love when Jaynee gets political.
Finally, we are in agreement. It’s going to take a multi-prong approach to end our dependence on Middle East oil, obviously something the Bush administration with its strong oil ties did not want to do. Maybe we can get a guy in office who isn’t tied into oil. I’ll have to check the profiles to see which presidental and vice presidential ones is less tied into big oil. That’s the team to vote for.
Oh, yeah, I love when Jaynee gets politcal. Miss, I am Miss Apolitical. Don’t want to hear about the stuff. She’s just as bad as me. I don’t care about politics. I just hate George Bush and how much he’s screwed up this country and we need someone (A Democrat) to try and get us out of his mess.
FYI, I got a call from a telephone survey taker yesterday after bringing the kids home from day care and half of the questions had to do with politics and how much you had George Bush and your life. Really. I answered them as honestly as I could. Good to know my opinions will be taken into account in some survey in the news somewhere one of these days.
“May the best man win”
How about may the best person (who is not a Junior Senator, who served our country and who chose a Vice President that has more Executive Level Experience than anyone else running) win.
“Oops, I mean man or woman.”
I don’t know about you Denis, but I was voting for a Man for President. As far as I know, Hiliary didn’t make the ticket for President so there is only men running for the highest office. In my opinion McCain is the right “man” for the Job… so maybe you were talking about Obama when you mentioned “woman”.
Ace, when I said “best man or woman” I was refering to voting for the ticket, not just the president. If you don’t care who the other half of the ticket is, then you don’t care a lick about where Palin stands on issues. And since McCain is near death — I care. Jaynee, is it too late to change my pick in the Celebrity Dead Pool to John McCain? Boy, I should get paid for these comments.
I don’t believe that 72 yrs is “near death”. My grandmother is 87 and still has all her wits about her and I would never say she is near death. You can see from McCain’s mother (if you watched his speech) that longevity runs in his family.
Palin:
As with most candidates, I agree and disagree with them, depending on the what the issue is. My apologies for not fully undestanding what you meant in your post.
I agree with Ace that 72 isn’t “near death” – my own grandmother is in her mid-90s and is doing quite nicely, thankyouverymuch. And I’m sure my parents would disagree that 72 is near death – after all, they are in their sixties and nowhere near infirm or in need of eldercare. *lol*
I watched that speech the other night and literally was sick to my stomach. I can’t believe that people responded positively to it. It was so sarcastic and mean spirited. I wouldn’t have minded a John McCain presidency if that’s how the voting went in November but the thought of putting her into second position is kind of scary to me.
I’m sure reading her speech is a lot different than watching it. I would recommend watching it. I never have felt more out of place watching a political speech in my life. Not once did i feel like I could be a part of the cheering crowd in that convention center. It was very exclusive.
2 cents. John McCain is MUCH closer to dying of ‘old age’ than all other people running for office.
Danielle, I think I may have said this before, but it’s nice to hear another voice of reason in this din of Republican noise.