If anyone has had enough of the Sarah Palin craze that has caused a love affair between Palin and the mainstream media, then I hope I can quell this unnecessary craze.
First and foremost, people are smarter than this. The McCain-Palin campaign has moved from political spin to outright lying in their attempt to protect the “gem of the GOP.”
The lies begin with the notion that Palin stopped the so-named “bridge to nowhere,” which was a project sought by Republican Sen. Ted Stevens for a large bridge to be built to an island off Alaska that had about 50 residents. The “bridge to nowhere” became a hot topic in Washington, D.C., and soon found much opposition. To clear the record, Palin supported the bridge earmark on multiple occasions and only when opposition in Washington came to a head did she oppose the bridge. It was Palin who did put the final ‘no’ stamp on the bridge, but it had already lost steam in Congress.
It is worth noting that Palin did hang on to $223 million of federally earmarked dollars and appropriated the money to what could be an even more wasteful spending project. Palin spent the money on a “road to nowhere,” ordering the construction of a road on Gravina Island, running from the island’s airport and ending at a cul-de-sac near the beach.
So the Palin talking point, “thanks, but no thanks” takes on a new meaning now that we know the Alaskan governor said ‘yes’ and then ‘no’ to the bridge, then with some apparent thankfulness kept the earmark dollars for a potentially more wasteful pork project. Palin has asked U.S. taxpayers to fund $453 million in special Alaskan projects since taking office. Alaska spends more earmark dollars per population than any other state.
Another grossly exaggerated talking point for Palin is her continual statement that her home state supplies 20 percent of America’s domestic energy supply. The Energy Information Agency said that Alaska only supplies 3.5 percent of our domestic energy. Along with this misinformation, McCain stated publicly in an interview that Palin “knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the U.S.”
Now Palin is going back on her own words in regard to the so-named “troopergate” scandal. It involves Palin’s firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan (this highest ranked police official in Alaska). The controversy arose from claims that Palin, her husband and the governor’s staff members pressured Monegan to fire Palin’s ex-brother-in-law Mike Wooten, an Alaskan state trooper, over seemingly personal reasons. Palin has denied that she abused her power and that she fired Monegan over budget disagreements. Specifically, it was a trip to Washington D.C. that Monegan planned in July to seek federal money for investigating and prosecuting sexual assault cases. Palin said she did not authorize the travel expenses and she cited the trip as insubordination and therefore the reason for Monegan’s termination. Again, more lies as Palin’s Chief of Staff Mike Nizich did authorize the trip when he signed off on it June 18. Though the document stated no particular reason for the trip, Monegan holds that it was to pursue funding for the anti-sexual violence program.
The investigation of troopergate was authorized by the Alaskan legislature and Palin told Alaskans, “Hold me accountable.” But since being named to the GOP presidential ticket, she backpedaled on her word and has since refused to testify. The McCain campaign claimed that the investigation has been taken over by the Obama campaign, but not only is the Alaskan legislature in Republican control, but the committee that called for the investigation was mostly Republican.
At the advice of the McCain campaign urging those subpoenaed not to testify, these lies may not reach the public before Nov. 4. These lies just the scratch the surface of the disinformation given by the McCain-Palin ticket.

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