No matter how desperately Sarah Palin tried last night to cast herself as the poor little victim, she only succeeded in sounding extremely arrogant and condescending. Could you just imagine the outcry if Hillary had delivered the hit-piece of a speech Palin did last night? The cat calls of “shrill!” would still be reverberating. Palin started last night by drawing a line in the sand and trying to intimidate the media that has correctly covered her since the surprise announcement of her vice presidential candidacy. Palin said last night:
“But here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion - I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country.”
Relax Sarah; you’re not going to Washington quite yet. So here is a little news flash for you. You will not get a good opinion from the media unless you deserve one. So far, you do not and attacking the media for your own shortcomings is not going to help your situation. It is not the media’s fault for example that you are under an ethics investigation with a special counsel who says he has over 20 emails and voice mails from you and your people trying to coerce someone into firing your brother in law. It is not the media’s fault that your lawyer has now tried to move this investigation to a board, which consists of three people you have appointed; a clear conflict of interest. It is not the media’s fault Sarah, when it is discovered that you are the Earmark Queen of Alaska, sucking in 27 million dollars for your little town of 6,500 people, while claiming to be a “reformer”. It is not the fault of the media that there is video of you attributing the war in Iraq to God. It is not the fault of the media that your pastor is on record as twisting scripture to fit his own political agenda. It is likewise, not the fault of the media that you claim to be a reformer but haven’t reformed anything.
And while you are at it, try to ease up on the mocking of a United States Senator Ms. Palin. I know you were just reading what they wrote for you off the teleprompter but this was quite uncalled for:
“I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities.”
What responsibilities did you have Sarah? Trying to decide which moose to shoot first on your hunting trips? This is not to belittle small-town America but to not allow someone who really hasn’t done anything to claim superiority over people who have. Sarah Palin was Mayor of Wasilla Alaska. The population of Wasilla Alaska is 6,500 people. Allow me to provide some perspective. The island I live on is only 17 miles long and about five miles across. It is pretty small. The population however is over 477,000 people. Wasilla again, has 6,500 residents. So ease up on the mockery of a man who served a community that dwarfs yours and was then elected to the state legislature before being elected to the United States Senate.
Palin also claimed to oppose the Bridge to Nowhere, but conveniently left out that she initially had supported it. She also claimed to have balanced her budget but omitted that during her six years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same six years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. She inherited a city with zero debt, but, despite the increase in taxes, left it with debt of over $22 million.
Despite her fiscal mismanagement, Palin also veered into the subject of energy, pretending to be an expert. When it comes to oil and gas she said:
“And take it from a gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska: we've got lots of both.”
No thanks Sarah. I will take it from the experts who have correctly concluded that drilling offshore will have zero effect for 30 years and even then, it will not affect gas prices one iota. You see maybe if you understood that we deal oil on a global market and that we do not have anywhere near enough of our own to satisfy our consumption, you would have realized how inane your own comments were. You see, the only people who really stand to benefit from offshore drilling are the oil companies that are already making billions off of our backs. You know, the same oil companies you pretended to fight against last night.
Then Palin decided to dive off the deep end of GOP deception and smearing of Barack Obama:
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.
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