Not to mention that the Staffer - one Frank Bailey - was suspended for two months for his actions since they were outside his powers as Director of Boards and Commissions.

They also don't add that the Alaskan Legislature opened an independent investigation into the issue and has, so far, uncovered no wrongdoing.

But of course, when you're trying to slander someone you can't let facts get in the way ...

Sounds like the guy needed to be fired... If Gov Palin was involved, seems she was acting in her constituents' best interests. She was doing her job!!!

Thanks for getting this info out so quick. We sure can't count on the major media outlets. Unlike Gov Palin, they WON'T do their jobs.

McCain/Palin 08!!!

Panic is already setting in... On the Dummycrats side... slams of "Unexperienced" "Lightweight" "No military experience" "No foriegn experience" and other have already made the rounds on C*N*N* and all the blog sites... too funny that they slam the VP candidate when thier OWN primary candidate could be described utilizing the EXACT SAME PHRASES!!!! How stupid and blind, never mind tone deaf could you be? Oh yeah, I forgot who I'm talking about... nevermind, carry on...

She has an 80% approval rating in Alaska, what more needs to be said.

Nice try.
But if the trooper did all those things, then he would be subject to discipline, including possible firing, through the normal channels of the PS Dept's internal review system.

It would be inappropriate for the governor to intervene in such a case whether it was her brother-in-law or not. The trooper would be brought up on charges and have the right to defend himself, and if found guilty, then punished.

Since when does the governor arbitrarily decide that he must be guilty and be fired?
Your argument makes no sense.

Big Country,

You seem to be seriously missing the point.

Why do you think that it is so funny that the Dems are questioning Palin's experience?

Dont you understand the obvious point here? They dont really think she is unqualified - nor do they really care whether she is or not. The issue is rather, quite simply this;

When a prez nominee chooses a VP, they are asserting that that person is ready to be president - on Jan 20, if necessary. The VP is not a second-string job - one must be fully qualified to be president.

So McCain is saying that Palin is qualified to be president. How on earth could he now possibly sustain an argument that Obama is not?

He has completely eviserated his only strong argument in this entire campaign. A colossal mistake.

Palin is a great young pol - but she is not the issue. No one votes for the VP. But her presence on the ticket completely undermines the attack against O, so it is a huge negative.

Joe, the best I can determine, there hasn't been any indication Palin intervened in this case. Can you provide actual evidence she did, or are you just repeating what you want to believe?

As for other arguments against Obama, the fact he's consorted with terrorists for 21 years, has been intimately involved with a racist minister, and a lynching advocate priest, and may have run a educational grant fund of $100 million into the ground as a form of welfare for 60s radicals are all strong enough to defeat Obama.

Also, Joe, you probably shouldn't gripe about whether the Republican Veep is "fully qualified to be president" when she has has more executive experience in government than Obama and Biden combined.

Actually, she has already been found to be a liar about whether her office intervened - here is a link to a local AK news report on the matter.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/211310.php

And you also seem to be missing the point. Need I repeat - Dems are NOT griping about whether she is qualified (or if you find some that are, it isnt sincere). The issue is that YOUR guy is the one who has been pushing the experience argument - against Obama. Now he cant do that anymore.

I'll go along with y'all. She is qualified. Therefore, so is Obama.

And the "she has more executive experience than Obana and biden combined" argument is pretty weak as well. She has more executive experience than McCain. So if she trumps Obama, she trumps McCain too. I dont think you want to go there.

Your "other arguments" against Obama are pretty revealing. Seems that you understand that those may be all you are left with after today. Good luck with 'em. I am sure there will be a couple of tens of millions of voters who will not vote for Obama!

Joe, I'm sorry, but it is pretty clear you're the one being dishonest. I wasted my time and listen through the entire video at TPM. There has been no credible evidence presented that Palin was involved, just overzealous aides, and as Dan noted, the aide involved suffered a suspension.

Nice to see you could care less about how Think Progress tried to spin this.

Accuracy and honesty are obviously not your primary concern.

Simple. Palin is not going to be President if elected, but Obama will be.

Therefore, since Democrats are screaming that Palin is unqualified to be President, Obama must be as well.

The problem here, JoeCitizen, is that you have been outflanked and outrun. McCain picked a person who, aside from having a stellar record, also happens to be a minority member.

You and your fellow Democrats went with minority member first and tried to ignore the lack of record.

Careful CY, you know what happens when you feed trolls.

In five minutes, Joe has already
1)Run up Strawmen.
2)Engaged in circular argument.
3)Engaged in converse error.
and if you give him time, I'll wager we'll see half a dozen other fallacious arguments, just so he doesn't feel so bad that the Republicans are nominating people based on principles of governance rather than identity politics.

I must, however; give Joe credit for not dropping a one liner and running. Granted he hasn't supported his arguments, but he stays in there.

Hits are hits, and comments are comments.

Quite true, Gus. If he keeps trolling, of course, I can always chuck him.

The fact that the Dems are questioning her qualifications is undeniable. So Joe you blow with lies. She is more qualified then BHO. Has accomplished more in less time, and doesn't need to lift lines from others to tell her story. So Suck it. She is the next VP

ND30,

I didnt realize that women were a minority. Hmmm..

CY -
I can understand, given the nature of partisanship, that you would not be kindly disposed to me making the argument that I am. How about coming from Ponnuru over at NRO? He has the cred to be listened to and not seen as a troll, no?

"As a political matter, it undercuts the case against Obama. Conservatives are pointing out that it is tricky for the Obama campaign to raise the issue of her inexperience given his own, and note that the presidency matters more than the vice-presidency. But that gets things backward. To the extent the experience, qualifications, and national-security arguments are taken off the table, Obama wins."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Y'all should also realize that the field is really tilted for the Dems this year. Obama's relative inexperinece, and, to a lesser extent, McCain's distance from the GOP brand, were pretty much the ONLY factors that could possibly forestall a Dem win. Now that first one is gone as an argument. Ooops....

There's more about the Wooten case. The story is that he only used the test setting on the kid and only because the kid wanted to know what it felt like.

http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/what-is-mccain-thinking-one-alaskans-perspective/

The story knocked Palin down from 90% approval to 67%. Still very nice, but what a drop in a red-red-red state.

If thats the best you got on Palin,(which makes no sense that McCain didn't think about it) then she will be okay. BHO is a crook terrorist appeaser and did I mention LIAR. Bring it on! This is a fight women are willing to fight. They saw way to much women bashing by the drive bye media.

Local Alaskan tv report nails Palin lying about firing scandal. What was McCain thinking?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UojMnCgqVA

I think there are plenty of positives and negatives to this choice; however, if you think she is going to pull Hillary supporters just because she is a woman, that would be quite a stretch.

The concern over her not being ready for president may be valid since McCain is 100 years old.

If anything happens to Obama, there seems to be a capable backup.

She is a huge grab for the conservative base. She is Pro-life (which I guess means she is anti-death penalty and abortion).

She has strong ties to labor unions, a nice addition to the McCain ticket, but doubtful to move the union loyalists to the right.

I think that she is a big risk, but she could present a HUGE reward to McCain, just his style!

I look forward to the RNC, but think if McCain has a chance to stand for change, he must stand up at his own convention and fight the recent republican platform to prove he is a maverick and a reformer. It might just be what the Republicans have in store...

I think that Obama made a better VP selection, but I also think he had to. As far as who can say what about the other candidate or VP, who cares... All that talk is just noise... If I voted against someone because of ridiculous comments I would deserve an idiot to lead me... its would be a perfect match.

My one beef with the Republicans: Not standing up and dispelling the false e-mails that have been circulating about Obama as the Anti-Christ... As Christians, they should re read Revelations to know that it never mentions Islam because Mohammed came years after Jesus. Not to mention the fact that Revelations is a cryptic book written in a time of religious persecution to guide believers in the fight against their rulers.

You expect intellectual honesty from the left? Look at how easy JoeCitizen lies. It's second nature to them, it's their strategy.

I think there's a mistaken assumption that Palin is a reach to PUMAs or women etc. I have stated, and maintain that, as Joe points out, Big Mac was the lesser evil for Conservatives in this race. Palin braces the ticket across a much stronger spectrum of the Republican party from RINOs to hard core CFRS such as myself.

p.s. Big Mac (lifetime ACU ~84)is slightly to the right of true RINOs like Stevens (lifetime ACU ~60).

Corey, you make no sense. She is common folk. Thats the whole point. She's like 99% of Americans. Raising a family, working etc..... Not the Washington type, with the we are better than thou type. Look at Nancy Pelosie, and then look at Palin. NO BRAINER! She's like me, I like it! my vote goes to Mccain/Palin 08

I would add that Obama does not need to be arguing how important experience is. Let me also add that when Tim Kaine, who has exactly the same experience as Palin, was treated by the Media and the Dems as a serious and acceptable potential pick, it opens up charges of a double standard."

Enough said!

When did I say she wasn't like us? What are you talking about?

I like the fact that she seems fairly normal, I would never place her in the Pelosi camp and don't remember doing so...

If she is like you, then maybe I will not vote for McCain, because you obviously read things that don't exist!

She might be the next best thing for America for all I know, but thinking that she will pull in feminists is a huge stretch. I prefer to think that he did this to connect with the Republican base and not to steal women votes.

Looking back at your postings, I now regret that I responded to your comment... Terrorist? get over yourself. You are the types that drive intelligent people away from the republican party. I hope you don't get mainstream and ruin it for all the republicans out there.

Corey, I wasn't saying that you said she was like Pelosi, Im saying that that's the point McCain is making. If you look at women in washington you think of Pelosi, Boxer and that TYPE. She's not a Washington hack, she's like all the REAL Americans who work and have families. She's like me in the sense that she isn't a typical politician, she comes from outside. Thats a good thing. And I stand by my point that BHO is a terrorist appeaser. Prove me wrong.

McCain/Palin 08

Prove you wrong... Prove yourself correct! I live in the USA where people are innocent until proven guilty. I don't know where you live...

The guy has worked with down and out Americans his whole life. Helping them find work and earn a paycheck and health insurance.

Terrorism is an ideal... If I am a family whose house gets bombed by an American then I would natrurally think that Americans were the terrorists.

I knew a bully that used to kick the crap out of a poor kid everyday after school, can we put him in Guantanamo for terrorizing a poor kid?

Start a war against the Taliban, or Jihadists... but a war on Terror is not effective since the term is subjectively defined.

Palin impressed me today and I voted for Mitt Romney in my state. When discussing Mrs. Palin's suitability for the Veep's job I notice no one needed to excuse a 20 year association with a racist America hater or Marxist terrorists.

one must be fully qualified to be president.

Do you say this because you expect Obama to not be able to complete his term? Biden's executive experience is precisely zero.

Great post and links. The way some sites were reporting this, palin wanted the guy fired to avenge her sister's honor. Turns out the family connection is coincidental, and the guy was a bad cop and deserved firing. XLNT.

Palin has business experience, Hussein does not, not even a hot dog stand. Palin has executive experience as governor, Hussien has a speach someone else wrote and he gave years ago. Palin is a real human, Hussein O is not. Palin keeps a baby with special needs, Hussein O throws them in the garbage, sometimes alive. Well he didn't do it with his own hands but he enabled it to be done so the blood is on someone else's hands. Palin's life is an open book, Hussein O's is hidden from birth to date.
Facts are hard things to argue with, but a democrat always tries and lies.

Joe Citizen wrote: "It would be inappropriate for the governor to intervene in such a case whether it was her brother-in-law or not. The trooper would be brought up on charges and have the right to defend himself, and if found guilty, then punished."

In fact he was suspended for six days. The Director of the agency serves at the pleasure of the Governor. If she determined that the suspension was unduly lenient and discredited the agency or put the public at risk, she would be obliged to take action.

You can bet if the offender was still her brother-in-law and got off easy BO and the sleazy Ds would be howling about that.

Corey--
I thought it was crazy to think a pro-life Republican woman would pull in Hillary supporters until I read some of today's posts from Hillary supporters.
They're going to vote McCain/Palin. They are so angry at the way their candidate was treated that they will vote for the Republican ticket. I didn't believe it was possible, but it's true.

As far as your claim about the Antichrist is concerned, do you believe the Bible or do you not? If Revelation describes things to come, then whether or not those things existed at the time the prediction was made is surely irrelevant?

We cannot start a war against the Taliban, or the Jihadists, or terror. War has been declared against us. And why is it wrong to try to stop terrorism? How is that terrible?

Re that trooper business: Palin's damned if she does, and damned if she doesn't. Fire him, and she's using her office to side with her sister. Don't fire him, and she's using her office to play preferences. And in what mad universe would it be acceptable to taser a child because he "wanted to know what it felt like"?

"More recently, she was forced to admit the one of her top deputies had pushed to get the guy fired."

- - -

Time was, I would have given JM and even TPM some credit for honesty amidst the noise, but that time has passed.

She wasn't "forced to admit" anything. She stated, at the beginning, that she had no knowledge her aide was doing that, and certainly never suggested to him that he do it, nor pressured him to do it. THAT was what she had been accused of. THAT was what she has since disproven.

TPM must have realized tonight that they're gonna see four more years of a Republican presidency, and it unhinged them, and pushed them over the line from partisans, to partisan liars. So much for honor, eh, guys?

Prove you wrong... Prove yourself correct! I live in the USA where people are innocent until proven guilty. I don't know where you live...

Well when you consider it, Obama has close ties to several ties to US Terrorists. William Ayers who was responsible for several terrorist attacks on US soil during the 1960's, and had the unfortunate experience of stating in the September 11, 2001 issue of the the Chicago Sun Times "I feel we did not do enough."

Obama worked with him on several projects in Chicago, announced his candiacy for president in Ayers home.

Judge a man by the company he keeps.

What Joe Citizen and others are trying to do in their arguments about Palin, Obama, and inexperience is to control the narrative.

That is, they want to argue the issue on terms they control. "Imagine that all people were really good. Would current military spending be justified?"

You saw this full-blown when Obama threw REV Wright under the bus. Suddenly, the focus of the issue wasn't what Wright had said, or Obama's 20 years of attending Wright's church.

No, the issue was that Wright had said the same sort of things at a press conference after Obama had said positive things about him. Thus, rather than "throwing him under the bus," it was a justified reaction to Wright's betrayal.

Notice how it was also a blatant attempt at refocusing the issue onto Obama being justified, rather than Obama having acted in a questionable way.

When you can't pound the facts, pound the table. Then get everyone to look for the pink elephants, while making for the door.

When you can't pound the facts, pound the table. Then get everyone to look for the pink elephants, while making for the door.

Posted by Lurking Observer at August 30, 2008 09:39 AM

Amen! Obama is a marxist and a terroist appeaser. The company you keep tells me of your judgement and Character. Prove me wrong.

Cory, thirty years ago Ayers and his terrorist buds bombed the capitol building, and the Pentagon. Now he says he wishes they had done more.

Then, a couple years ago he helped Obama launch his campaign from his own home. Need any more info on Barack being a "terrorist appeaser"?

"Appeaser" is wrong. Try "supporter" and "cat's-paw". That's closer.

My one beef with the Republicans: Not standing up and dispelling the false e-mails that have been circulating about Obama as the Anti-Christ...

Your "one beef" huh? I thought that email was ginned up by Hillary supporters. Do you have any evidence that Republicans were the source? No? And are Republicans required to denounce every crank allegation that gets thrown out there by individuals not associated with them?

I've had a lot of viral political emails sent to me in the past, but I never had that one sent to me.. so I'm questioning how "widespread" it was. Why do you single out Republicans over this?

Joe Citizen wrote:

Need I repeat - Dems are NOT griping about whether she is qualified

That statement is either very ignorant, or very dishonest, or both:

Barack Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton: “Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency. Governor Palin shares John McCain’s commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade, the agenda of Big Oil and continuing George Bush’s failed economic policies — that’s not the change we need, it’s just more of the same.”

New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer: “While Palin is a fine person, her lack of experience makes the thought of her assuming the presidency troubling. I particularly look forward to the Biden-Palin debate in Missouri.”

More here

Some of you clearly lack common sense. Why would Palin's aide or other staff care to have her brother in law fired? They made tose calls at someone's urging at it would be silly to say that Palin wasn't in on it.

I keep getting sadder and sadder at the anger and hateful words I am reading. I am almost 60 years old. I have supported both parties based upon their policies that affect my life. No hatred. NO anger. My ideas and theirs. I was a McCain supporter in college. I was heartbroken when he changed his mind on torture. He was the war hero. He was the best of America. He suffered and endured and still felt that the Geneva Conventions agreement on the moral treatment of captured prisoners was the right thing for America to do. Yet he wants to be president because his personal beliefs can change his party. Do you sell your soul to do this? Let's be real. His choice for VP is wrong and mean. She is in the midst of two scandals and the public and politics are mean. I will forever remember her pregnent daughter's face on stage. Is her career worth it? How many republican women who have labored in the party all this time were ignored. First for Supreme Court, now VP. You all are not being real. I can't support McCain.