The Barracuda Tears Through The Truth

Last night you would have thought Obama got a sex change, melanin removal, put some amber hair extensions in, put on a dress and glasses and changed his party affiliation. Sarah "Barracuda" Palin ran through the Democrats on some Wesley from "Wanted" thread factory/butcher shop shit and the GOP officials, activist and supporters in the crowd went nuts. She literally had them eating out the palm of her hand as some pundits pronounced that the GOP has found their Obama. All my wife & I heard last night was continuous praise of how she knocked it out the park and that the Democrats have found a fight, and I'd say their half right.

About the style:
It was nice I admit. She had lots of energy, she had some personality and she presented effortlessly. There were more than a few times she sounded condescending and snarky but overall, with the bar set at about a half an inch off the ground, she cleared it easily. Her mission was to energize a dying party, and with the help of Guiliani (who my cohort Scrapp will tackle tommorrow, along with Romney and others over at All That's Fresh), it was mission accomplished.

About the substance:
I think we all can pretty much agree that the substance was non-existent, but I'm not sure that's by accident. Since it was largely an anti-Obama speech (which the GOP has pretty much been doing this whole time) I think they are saving the substance until Gov. Palin can get caught up on all the issues.

So what exactly did she address:

• She will fight for families with special needs. - I can't front, that's a line that should grab some votes.
  
  
• I will fight against pork and wasteful spending. "I told Congress thanks but no thanks for the bridge to nowhere." - BZZT! Wrong. This has been completely debunked by the Associated Press. Quote, "As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation."
  
  It should also be noted that the GOP is claiming she's taken on corruption, and while that may be true, she held an important position in a 527 group that supported Sen. Ted Stevens.
  
  
• Obama will raise ALL of your taxes. - Incorrect. The pesky fact checking by the AP again: "The Tax Policy Center [...] concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded. [...] He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise."
  
  Both men will raise your taxes, but Obama is promising an immediate $1000 tax break to the middle class AND he wants to end the war which will save us BILLIONS of dollars over the next years. Now I know that raising taxes is automatically demonizing and typically applied to the Democrats, but let's be honest. When a politician needs to pay for something, he/she WILL raise taxes on something. This Iraq war is being paid for with borrowed money from China, how do you think we're going to pay them back? With hearts & rainbows? McCain KNOWS that people are not going to look into his plans to raise taxes on the middle class because that's not what GOP politicians are known for. Therefore, he's hoping, you the American people, will turn a blind eye while he raises taxes to pay for the war and attempt to balance the budget.
  
  
• Why can't [Obama] bring himself to say the word "Victory"? - Guess who else won't bring himself to say the word victory? General Petraeus. Surprise! Guess who ALREADY declared victory, but now says that we haven't obtained it and it's in sight? Sen. McCain AND Pres. Bush. So let's see, we have a General on the ground who the GOP look to who has never and won't bring himself to say victory, but he's the oracle of the war, yet Sen Obama won't say it, so Obama must not be a full patriot. What kind of twisted, construed...oh yea, this is the GOP. Nevermind.
  
  By the way, I'd absolutely love it if Sen. McCain, Gov. Palin, Sen. Liberman, Mitt Romney, or anybody else on the right side to exactly explain to me how we can achieve that victory. Once it was "if the Iraqi government tells us to leave, we will", they have and we won't. I just don't know what the conditions for victory are because if it's to totally annihilate the "terrorist" that won't happen unless we nuke all of the Persian gulf and THAT definitely will not happen.
  
  
• "I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history. And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly forty billion dollar natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence..." - Ummm, NOPE! This time the truth comes from her own backyard: "...no building has begun and actual construction is years away, if it ever happens. This summer the Alaska Legislature, at Palin's request, passed a bill under which the state will issue a "license" to a Canadian energy company, TransCanada Corp., and pay it up to $500 million as an incentive to someday build this enormous project, which Alaska politicians have long sought with little success.
  
  So lets see, energy independence from a pipline that hasn't even been started, that a Canadian company is suppose to build. Anyone see the oxymoron there?

And finally we get to the doozie. "Being mayor is sorta like being a community organizer," she quipped, "except that you have actual responsibilities." The crowd lit up and laughed just as they did when Rudy made a joke about a couple minutes earlier. Let's set something straight, the former head of the PTA of her children's school is dissing community organizers. PTA, Neighborhood Watch, the NAACP, the Civil Rights Movement, the Labor movement and the Women Rights ALL started out as small community organization. For pete's sake you could argue that the political party system we have now have roots in community organization.

The main point is if we're going to talk about how Gov. Palin has more exec experience than Biden and Obama, then we HAVE to talk about her having more experience than Sen. McCain as well. Therefore I would have proposed that the McCain-Palin ticket become the Palin-McCain ticket, but it's too late for that.

I invite all my criticism to be labeled as sexist. Seems that's exactly what their plan is anyway...

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