Fight Back: give swing voters the facts about Sarah Palin

Researching her resonance with voters can only be so effective.

Alex Steed Sep 15, 2008
Posted by Alex Steed

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  • Alex Steed
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    Alex Steed started this discussion on Sep 15, 2008

    BILL MOYERS: The novelist Russell Banks, in his first book of non-fiction, just published, explains the Sarah Palin phenomenon even before it happened. In “Dreaming Up America,” he writes that we choose our presidents not on the basis of their experience or even their political views, but on how well they tap into our basic beliefs, … Read Moreour deepest com… Read More… Read Moremunal desires, including our religious or spiritual beliefs. Our presidents, he writes, represent in some very personal way the imagination and the mythology of the people who elect them.

    http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09122008/watc…

  • Lizzy Gore
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    Lizzy Gore replied on Sep 15, 2008

    This is exactly why I was hoping to research her resonance. I am looking for facts about her past that will call into question how well she taps into America’s basic values. Her back-stabbing and “hire your friends” tendencies detailed in this article may be good fuel. Vindictiveness and dishonesty both seem like good basic thrusts for the ad.

  • Alex Steed
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    Alex Steed replied on Sep 15, 2008

    Lizzy -

    You’re absolutely right. I hadn’t meant for my headline to read so ominously.

    Alex

  • Julia Herkimer
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    Julia Herkimer replied on Sep 22, 2008

    I thought some of this info could be useful for the ad.
    Factchecking Palin
    By Hilzoy

    Sep 4, 2008

    (Political Animal) Factchecking Palin

    I thought Palin’s speech was quite good: well-written, well delivered. And, as I said earlier, I think she’s a genuinely engaging person, and comes across very well. There were just a couple of problems. One, which I have seen people notice, but which I suspect won’t be a big deal for a lot of voters, is that it had very little substance. The other, which the commenters I saw on TV for some reason neglected to mention, was that she told a lot of lies. A few that stood out for me, or that I spotted in my quick run-through of some blogs:

    Palin: “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.”

    Sarah Palin might have changed her mind on this one recently. However, a comment here notes that Palin actually slashed funding for schools for special needs kids by 62%. Budgets: FY 2007 (pre-Palin), 2008, 2009 (all pdfs).

    Palin: “As for my running mate, you can be certain that wherever he goes, and whoever is listening, John McCain is the same man.”

    Steve’s list of McCain flip-flops is here. See for yourself whether constancy is, in fact, John McCain’s middle name.

    Palin: “I told the Congress "thanks, but no thanks,” for that Bridge to Nowhere. If our state wanted a bridge, we’d build it ourselves."

    Just to reiterate what others have said: Congress’ requirement that funds be spent on that bridge (aka the ’earmark’) were removed before Sarah Palin became governor. She was therefore in no position to tell Congress anything about the bridge, one way or the other. During her campaign, she said she supported funding for the bridge. Brad Plumer, citing the Anchorage Dialy News via Nexis:

    "5. Would you continue state funding for the proposed Knik Arm and Gravina Island bridges?

    Yes. I would like to see Alaska’s infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later. The window is now—while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist."

    Later, she accepted the money - now not restricted by an earmark - and used it for other infrastructure projects. Here’s her statement about why she wasn’t building the bridge (also via Plumer.) Decide for yourselves what role a principled opposition to earmark funding plays in it. Hint: here’s what residents of Ketchikan AK said when they heard her recent remarks:

    “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. (..)

    “People are learning that she pandered to us by saying, I’m for this’ … and then when she found it was politically advantageous for her nationally, abruptly she starts using the very term that she said was insulting,” Weinstein said."

    Palin: “But listening to him speak, it’s easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform – not even in the state senate.”

    Ha, ha, ha. I gave a rundown of Obama’s accomplishments in the Senate here. They include the Lugar-Obama bill on nonproliferation, and an ethics reform package that the Washington Post called “the strongest ethics legislation to emerge from Congress yet.” Ruth Marcus summarizes his record on reform:

    “He helped pass a far-reaching ethics and campaign finance bill in the Illinois state Senate and made the issue a priority on arriving in Washington. Much to the displeasure of his colleagues, Obama promoted an outside commission to handle Senate ethics complaints. He co-authored the lobbying reform bill awaiting President Bush’s signature and pushed - again to the dismay of some colleagues - to include a provision requiring lawmakers to report the names of their lobbyist-bundlers. He has co-sponsored bills to overhaul the presidential public financing system and public financing of Senate campaigns.”

    Not a single major law or reform, indeed.

    And I wasn’t aware that writing memoirs was something to be ashamed of. Obama has, in fact, written only one. McCain (with Mark Salter) has written at least two.

    Palin: “America needs more energy … our opponent is against producing it.”

    No — he plans to develop a lot more energy than John McCain does. It’s just that a lot of it is renewable, not carbon-based. Moreover, Obama hasn’t skipped the last eight votes on renewable energy.

    Palin: “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. My sister Heather and her husband have just built a service station that’s now opened for business – like millions of others who run small businesses. How are they going to be any better off if taxes go up?”

    Well, it all depends whose taxes go up, doesn’t it? If Heather and her husband make less than $250,000, their taxes will not go up. Most Americans will pay less in taxes under Obama’s plan than under McCain’s. So they might well be better off.

    Those are just the falsehoods that leapt to mind. I’m sure there are others.

    Whether or not Sarah Palin’s engaging personality matters more than the fact that she tells lies depends a lot on the media, and whether they allow her to say that she opposed the Bridge to Nowhere, or that Obama has neer authored a major law or reform, without calling her on it. I hope they do. But I’m not holding my breath.

    *

    UPDATE: Mark Kleiman posts an Obama campaign rebuttal, which is more thorough than I was.

    Copyright 2008

  • Alex Steed
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    Alex Steed replied on Sep 22, 2008

    This is a fantastic addition. Thanks for sharing it!

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