Tonight - Gibson hammers Palin on earmarks (excerpt)

[kskiska]

(snip)

GIBSON: The state of Alaska, under OMB figures in 2008, got $155 million in earmarks for a population of 670,000. That's $231 per person in Alaska. The state of Illinois, Obama's state, got $22 per person. You got ten times per person as much. How does that square with your reforms?

PALIN: We have drastically, drastically reduced our earmark request since I came into office.

GIBSON: But you still have multiple of any other state.

PALIN: We sure are -- and this is what -- you go out and you ask any Alaskan this. This is what I've been telling Alaskans for these years that I've been in office, is no more.

GIBSON: Governor, this year, requested $3.2 million for researching the genetics of harbor seals, money to study the mating habits of crabs. Isn't that exactly the kind of thing that John McCain is objecting to?

PALIN: Those requests, through our research divisions and fish and game and our wildlife departments and our universities, those research requests did come through that system, but wanting it to be in the light of day, not behind closed doors, with lobbyists making deals with Congress to stick things in there under the public radar. That's the abuse that we're going to stop. That's what John McCain has promised over and over for these years and that's what I'm joining him, also, saying, you're right, the abuse of earmarks, it's un-American, it's undemocratic, and it's not going to be accepted in a McCain-Palin administration. Earmark abuse will stop.

more…
http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=5789483

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

1. K&R

[livetohike]

2. She just babbles on and on with terrible grammar

I cannot listen to her speak. Thanks for posting something to read. It's bad enough.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

11. Her dialog is a template for the incoherent "debates" I am constantly encountering

with Freepers online. It's mass willful ignorance... and it is incredibly disturbing that such a high percentage of Americans are in this demographic.

[livetohike]

33. You have patience to talk to those folks on line

:patriot: I have idiots in my own family.

[Disturbed]

13. She has proven that she is not fit to be Gov. of Alaska.

I hope that that AK Legislature does the right thing: Impeach her ASAP.

[livetohike]

32. If she's the best they have.....

:scared: I hope they do impeach her.

[merh]

3. It must stop, but I want the money, not all of it, but a lot of it

I can't wait to see Gibson's face as he listens to her explanations.

Fiscal conservative my ass - conservative my ass - conservatives believe that states should not rely on the federal government, that they should be self-reliant. Alaska, one of the few states that could be self-reliant, gets more money than most. (and they don't have that much to show for it either.)

[grannie4peace]

4. that woman is dangerous

[speedoo]

5. So, she's saying she has not been Gov. long enough?

A real reformer would have stopped those earmarks right away, it seems to me.

[wryter2000]

6. OMG

What's going on here? He's actually asking questions and expecting answers?

There's something afoot. The Bush Doctrine thing last night was calculated to make her look as ignorant as she is.

[MidwestTransplant]

7. LOL she is basically saying stop me before I kill again.

[anigbrowl]

28. Heh :-)

[AzDar]

8. She's just a fucking LIAR. And not a very good one, at that.

:puke:

[NYCGirl]

9. "We sure are -- and this is what -- you go out and you ask any Alaskan this.

This is what I've been telling Alaskans for these years that I've been in office, is no more."

WHA????


:wtf:

[d_b]

10. She's full of shit.

Alaskans love them some pork.

It's how people rationalize Ted Stevens. "He brings home the bacon."

That he does.

[MadrasT]

14. I couldn't wrap my head around that one, either.

:hi:

[mikeytherat]

16. What she means is, that, words, in sentences, like, the people, and that the money

and the people are in sentences, and are there to be heard, and that any Alaskan will tell you that.

I hope this cleared things up.

Seriously, just speak in a stream of consciousness sorta vibe, or like a child who knows words, but cannot make coherent sentences, i.e., "And then, we were playing, and the dinosaur in the back yard was singing, and there were trees, and we saw bugs and some purple cats, and then we had some tea, and we played."

:crazy:

mikey_the_rat

[TwilightGardener]

20. And US Americans, like the Iraq and South Africa, must build up

our futures for our children with maps.

[OneGrassRoot]

36. LOLOL!!!!! Oh man, this Palin stuff is killin' me...lol n/t

[TwilightGardener]

12. Umm..John McCain isn't saying earmarks should be in the "light of day", he's saying

earmarks should end--period. I guess only Alaskan earmarks are honorable, never mind that Alaskans are the biggest porkers in America, and the wealthiest state. The rest of the country, though, who don't have oil and gas royalty payments--our earmarks suck, because our bridges and roads actually GO somewhere and serve millions. Fuck her and her Alaska-First attitude.

[Turn CO Blue]

15. Fantastic comment, wd

So they're the wealthiest state for all these reasons - they get a profit off their gas and oil, they go to the table with the oil companies all the time and work it from both sides (don't tell me there aren't some kickbacks from that shit) and they feed off the federal trough worse than ANY OTHER STATE! And their voters have the red-state requisite guns/god/gays mentality to boot. I'm with you - FUCK GOV CARIBOU EXECUTIVE MOMMY BARBIE, and all of Alaska's earmark and my condolences to the progressives up there fighting the good fight.

[Obamanaut]

17. Earmarks are abused by most members of congress.

Earmarks are almost universally abused - by nearly all members of congress. For example, Sen Obama requested 112 earmarks for FY 2008, about 300 during three years in office for a total of $740 million. I don’t think the list of members without earmark requests will be very long.

But, we continue to send them back to Washington time after time, and then between Novembers of even ended years we complain about them. All the while they are building up term after term for a juicy retirement. We don’t learn, and they know it.

Oh by the way, link to the Obama earmarks http://obama.senate.gov/press/070621-obama_announces_3/

Edited to add that it isn't just one party who is guilty - it is all - Dem, Rep, Ind, anyone who is there. And it is most members of all parties.

[senaca]

26. earmarks

Are earmarks necessarily always evil as portrayed? Since Federal funding going to the states has been severely cut, the states are picking up more and more of the burden. It seems the Repubs. want to eventually place most of the burden on the states. It would seem to me that some earmarks could be justified given this climate. I think their merit should be voted on, not attached to a bill. Maybe I'm thinking to simplistically on this.

Earmarks, and for that matter "special interests" are easy villians to run against, but they are never clearly explained as to what special interests should be done away with. I would think that Obama's/Biden's idea of what constitutes "special interests" would differ than McCain/Palin's.
I wonder if no bid contracts for croney's would fall under "special interests" as far as they McCain/Palin is concerned.

[Roy]

18. If he was truly good interviewer......

he would have noted the accusations she makes about Obamas' earmark request and ask her to name 3 that fit her descriptions of abuse.

[TahitiNut]

19. Alaska: $1.84 in federal spending for every $1 in federal taxes paid. (Illinois: $0.75)

Alaska is a federal welfare state.

Enough said. :shrug:

[Yavin4]

24. In AK's Defense, Much Of Their State Is Federal Lands

I grew up in Washington, D.C, and when the fed owns huge portions of your state/city, they do give you a stipend because you cannot develop that land for economic purposes.

For example, ANWR.

[TahitiNut]

30. So's California ... and California pays for itself getting only $0.78 for each $1.

:shrug:

Nevada is mostly federal lands, too. Nevada gets $0.65 for each $1 in federal taxes.

[alcibiades_mystery]

29. All these red states rob the blue states blind in Federal monies

It's outrageous, really. And THEY complain about taxes? They're getting our dollars hand over fist.

[TahitiNut]

31. Yup. Mississippi gets $2.02 for each $1 ... pigs feeding at the trough.

Gotta love them GOPhers ... feeding at the trough and insulting the people providing the food.

[Vinca]

21. Why does she need money to study harbor seals?

Chances are she'll be out there clubbing them to death at the first opportunity.

[Yavin4]

22. Okay, I've Read Her Answers Five Times Now, And I Don't Get It

"Those requests, through our research divisions and fish and game and our wildlife departments and our universities, those research requests did come through that system, but wanting it to be in the light of day, not behind closed doors, with lobbyists making deals with Congress to stick things in there under the public radar. That's the abuse that we're going to stop. That's what John McCain has promised over and over for these years and that's what I'm joining him, also, saying, you're right, the abuse of earmarks, it's un-American, it's undemocratic, and it's not going to be accepted in a McCain-Palin administration. Earmark abuse will stop."

Can someone please explain this to me? If they're against earmarks, then why ask for earmarks?

[TwilightGardener]

23. She didn't say they were earmarks. They are RESEARCH REQUESTS--got it?

Clearly earmarks are something else altogether, and she's against abusing them, whatever they are.

[Yavin4]

25. Aren't Research Requests Earmarks?

Aren't they the same thing?

[TwilightGardener]

27. Er, uh...I was making a little joke about her use of an alternate term for earmarks.

[jasmeel]

34. Why cant she form a fucking sentence?? n/t

[Fuzz]

35. From TPM

Palin doesn't contest Gibson's version of events: That she favored the bridge even when Congress pulled the plug on it and after it became apparent that the state would have to foot the bill for any new costs. The key moment comes where Palin, after getting pressed, seems to make a concession of sorts, saying she was "for infrastructure being built in the state."

Palin added that "it's not inappropriate for a mayor or for a governor" to try to get "a share of the federal budget for infrastructure."

Of course it isn't! As she says, of course a mayor or governor is going to want to tap the Federal budget for money for local infrastructure buildup, and of course members of Congress will try to get it done, too.

But that isn't the issue. It's very easy to get distracted here, but again, the rub is Palin's frequent claim that she said "thanks, but no thanks" to Federal help for the big local project. The problem is her and McCain's latter-day effort to portray her as having been some kind of Joan of Arc of pork-slayers.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/palin_okay_okay_i_didnt_quite.php

Video at link