Sarah Palin On The Issues
Palin on Lobbyist, Ted Stevens and The Bridge To Nowhere:
I find it interesting that Palin learned politics from Ted Stevens.
We know that Palin has denounced the bridge to nowhere but the New York Times looks a little closer.
“I told Congress ‘thanks but no thanks’ on that Bridge to Nowhere,” she said in a speech on Friday after being introduced by Mr. McCain as his vice presidential pick.
But Ms. Palin’s history with the infamous bridge — and earmarks, which many critics call pork — is more complicated.
As the new mayor of tiny Wasilla, Alaska, in 2000, Ms. Palin initiated a tradition of making annual trips to Washington to ask for more earmarks from the state’s Congressional delegation, mainly Representative Don Young and Senator Ted Stevens, both Republicans.
“It was about being face-to-face with those who were actually writing the budget,” she told The Anchorage Daily News in 2006, boasting that she brought home more money for priorities like upgrades to the local sewer system.
She directed Wasilla to employ Washington lobbyists to press for federal money for the town, helping obtain more than $8 million in earmarks for projects ranging from waterworks to a shelter.
And she expressed support for the Bridge to Nowhere earmark as well.
“I do support the infrastructure projects that are on tap here in the State of Alaska that our Congressional delegations worked hard for,” Ms. Palin said when asked about that bridge and another in an October 2006 television debate while campaigning for governor.
Later that month, when asked if she would continue state financing for the Gravina bridge and another proposed bridge project, she said yes.
“I would like to see Alaska’s infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later,” she responded in a questionnaire from The Anchorage Daily News. “The window is now — while our Congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist.”
Ted Stevens:
Washington Post, The Trail; By Matthew Mosk
ST. PAUL — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin began building clout in her state’s political circles in part by serving as a director of an independent political group organized by the now embattled Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.
Palin’s name is listed on 2003 incorporation papers of the “Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.,” a 527 group that could raise unlimited funds from corporate donors. The group was designed to serve as a political boot camp for Republican women in the state. She served as one of three directors until June 2005, when her name was replaced on state filings.
Palin, an anti-corruption crusader in Alaska, had called on Stevens to be open about the issues behind the investigation. But she also held a joint news conference with him in July, before he was indicted, to make clear she had not abandoned him politically.
Stevens had been helpful to Palin during her run for governor, swooping in with a last moment endorsement. And the two filmed a campaign commercial together to highlight Stevens’s endorsement of Palin during the 2006 race.
Shortly after Palin was announced as McCain’s vice presidential pick, the ad was removed from her gubernatorial campaign web site. It remains available on YouTube.
Palin on the environment; oil & gas, drilling and Polar Bears:
Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, favors drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, questioned the science behind predictions of sea ice loss linked to global warming and opposed a state initiative that would have banned metal mines from discharging pollution into salmon streams.
The Alaska governor has said that she has tried to persuade McCain to agree with her on drilling in the wildlife refuge. She also has said that she was happy that he changed his position over the summer and now supports offshore oil drilling.
Earlier this month, the state of Alaska under Palin’s guidance sued Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne in an attempt to reverse his decision to list polar bears as a threatened species. Palin said that scientists’ predictions that global warming will eliminate the ice where the bears live in summer were unreliable.
Unreliable! Tell that to the Polar Bears
the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and two other marine mammal biologists on his staff agreed with nine studies the federal government cited to justify listing polar bears as a threatened species.
Their e-mail appeared to contradict Palin’s assertions that state wildlife officials had found no reason to list the bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Palin wrote in January that she based her opposition to listing the bears on “a comprehensive review by state wildlife officials of scientific information from a broad range of climate, ice and polar bear experts.”
Palin on Wildlife Management:
While I understand wild life management, however, the idea of hunting wolves and bears from the air to protect moose and caribou is disgusting. By the way this practice is illegal under federal law.
Alaska Fish and Game; May 11, 2007
Governor Palin Introduces Bill to Streamline Predator Management Laws:
HB 256/SB 176 Clarify, Clean UP Statutes, Encourates Abundance-Based Management
(Juneau) – Governor Sarah Palin has introduced a bill in the State House and Senate that will simplify and clarify Alaska’s intensive management law for big game and the state’s “same day airborne hunting” law. “I have said many times that my administration is committed to management of game for abundance, and to a proactive, science-based predator management program where appropriate,” said the Governor. “The bill I am introducing will give the Board of Game and state wildlife managers the tools they need to actively manage important game herds and help thousands of Alaskan families put food on their tables.”
Facts About Airborne Hunting:
- What is aerial hunting? Aerial hunting occurs when hunters use airplanes to track an animal in the snow, chase them to exhaustion and shoot them from the air, or when hunters in airplanes track animals in the snow, herd or chase them to exhaustion, land the aircraft and shoot them from the ground. People sometimes refer to this particular practice as “land and shoot”.
- Doesn’t federal law make aerial hunting illegal? Yes. The use of aircraft to shoot or harass animals from the air is illegal under the Airborne Hunting Act, enacted in 1972. The act was passed after a nationwide outcry against the aerial hunting of wolves in Alaska
- How can Alaska promote aerial hunting? For more than 30 years, the state of Alaska has attempted to circumvent the intent of the Airborne Hunting Act by exploiting a loophole in the law allowing states to “administer” wildlife using aircraft. Under the guise of wildlife management, Alaska contends its current aerial hunting program is not hunting at all but constitutes legitimate wildlife management that artificially boosts wild moose and caribou populations.
Palin on Foreign Policy:
None. Well that’s not exactly true, yesterday Cindy McCain stated that Palin’s foreign policy is “Alaska is near Russia”
Palin on Abortion Pro-life: From On The Issues
I am pro-life and I believe that marriage should only be between and man and a woman. Pro-contraception, pro-woman, pro-life.
Palin said last month that no woman should have to choose between her career, education and her child. She is pro-contraception and said she’s a member of a pro-woman but anti-abortion group called Feminists for Life. “I believe in the strength and the power of women, and the potential of every human life,” she said.
Palin on Civil Rights; Gays and Marriage: From On The Issues
- Vetoed bill denying benefits to gays, as unconstitutional. (Aug 2008)
- Marriage only be between and man and a woman. (Nov 2006)
- Value our cultural diversity. (Nov 2006)
- Ok to deny benefits to homosexual couples. (Aug 2006)
Ms. Palin said she supported Alaska’s decision to amend its Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. But she used her first veto as governor to block a bill that would have prohibited the state from granting health benefits to same-sex partners of public employees. Ms. Palin said she vetoed the bill because it was unconstitutional, but raised the possibility of amending the state Constitution so the ban could pass muster.
The statement provided by On The Issues, that Palin says she “vetoed the bill because it was unconstitutional,” that’s not exactly true. Palin vetoed the bill for health benefits for same sex partners because time ran out on the State to take legal action against the Court ruling. Palin had to veto the legislative bill. Big difference.
From Eagle Forum Alaska 2006 Gubernatorial Candidate Questionnaire
Q: Do you support the Alaska Supreme Court’s ruling that spousal benefits for state employees should be given to same-sex couples? Why or why not?
SP: No, I believe spousal benefits are reserved for married citizens as defined in our constitution.
Palin on Education:
From Eagle Forum Alaska 2006 Gubernatorial Candidate Questionnaire
Q: Will you support the right of parents to opt out their children from curricula, books, classes, or surveys, which parents consider privacy-invading or offensive to their religion or conscience?
SP: Yes. Parents should have the ultimate control over what their children are taught.
Q: Will you support funding for abstinence-until-marriage education instead of for explicit sex-education programs, school-based clinics, and the distribution of contraceptives in schools?
SP: Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.
Q: Are you offended by the phrase “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance? Why or why not?
SP: Not on your life. If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its good enough for me and I’ll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance.
Hold on, let’s correct Palin’s lack of American History. The Pledge of Allegiance was written by Francis Bellamy in 1892. I don’t think the founding fathers were reciting it or had ever heard of it.
From On The Issues
Supports charter schools, home schools, & other alternatives
My administration will support existing programs that already offer alternative school options available throughout the state, including charter schools, rural boarding schools, home school options, correspondence schools, and vocational/technical, and magnet schools. There are many successes out there that we can look to as models. My administration will support and expand existing programs that successfully offer new approaches to ensure an appropriate education for every child in Alaska.
September 2nd, 2008 at 7:36 pm
[...] Sarah Palin On The Issues By nytexan How can Alaska promote aerial hunting? For more than 30 years, the state of Alaska has attempted to circumvent the intent of the Airborne Hunting Act by exploiting a loophole in the law allowing states to “administer” wildlife using … BlueBloggin – http://www.bluebloggin.com [...]
September 5th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
“Under God” wasn’t added to the Pledge of Allegiance until 1954, in a bill signed by Eisenhower! So she’s not off by 100 years, more like 200.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Allen:
Thanks for adding that, I meant to go back and forgot.
No surprise a republican would make a foolish and incorrect statement to sound patriotic or intelligent.
October 5th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
[...] Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin began building clout in her state’s political circles in part by serving as a director of an independent political group organized by the now embattled Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens. [...]
October 16th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
I find Sarah Palin offensive on so many levels and is definitely not qualified to be the VP of the United States.
How many scientists would it take to explain global warming to Mrs.Palin?? But then as it doesn’t suit her to acknowledge it – it wouldn’t matter anyway.
I’m also disgusted by her hobby of “aerial hunting”!! As an animal rights activist I find it revolting and its against the law. But she enjoys it and it probably draws a certain percentage of other sick sport hunters to Alaska….and of course she will put the all mighty dollar ahead of the law. As she is definitely not the sharpest knife in the drawer I guess she found an assistant to find the loophole that allows this sick practice to go on!
And I find it laughable that she stated she has foreign experience because she can see Russia?? Well, I’m tall, blonde etc. I have a degree (through actual University, not community colleges) and was offered a fellowship. And was in E.Berlin when it was controlled by the Soviet Union. Guess to the Republicans that makes me eligible to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency…frightening!
She is un-qualified, bigoted (her stance against homosexuals), and I’d hazard a guess she’d engage in bookburning given half the chance.
I am praying the lead Obama has does not change, and we see a real change after this election. Not McCain who voted 90% of the time with Bush and Palin who needs to stay in Alaska..preferably not in public office (maybe Hooters is hiring)