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Mtnmun
Trad climber
Top of the Mountain Mun
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From: Anne Kilkenny
Date: September 1, 2008 12:20:01 AM PDT
Subject: re: SARAH PALIN
Dear friends,
So many people have asked me about what I know about Sarah Palin in the
last 2 days that I decided to write something up . . .
Basically, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton have only 2 things in
common: their gender and their good looks. :)
You have my permission to forward this to your friends/email contacts
with my name and email address attached, but please do not post it on
any websites, as there are too many kooks out there . . .
Thanks,
Anne
ABOUT SARAH PALIN
I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992.
Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a
first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her
father was my child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a
first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more
City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the
residents of the city.
She is enormously popular; in every way she's like the most popular
girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and
won't vote for her can't quit smiling when talking about her because
she is a "babe".
It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She
kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents
for seven months.
She is "pro-life". She recently gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby.
There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.
She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.
She is savvy. She doesn't take positions; she just "puts things out
there" and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.
Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a
champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin's kind of job is highly
sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his
work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or
so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their
major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything
like that of native Alaskans.
Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.
She's smart.
Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000
(at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about
670,000 residents.
During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running
this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been
pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had
gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had
given rise to a recall campaign.
Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a "fiscal conservative". During her 6
years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over
33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the
City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation
(1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a
regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she
promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they
benefited residents.
The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration
weren't enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed
money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it
with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage
the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said
she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a
new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a
multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece
of property that the City didn't even have clear title to, that was
still in litigation 7 yrs later--to the delight of the lawyers
involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the
community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it
would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that
could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.
While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office
redecorated more than once.
These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.
As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus
in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will
make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she
proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.
In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she
recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while
she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today's
surplus, borrow for needs.
She's not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas
or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren't generated by
her or her staff. Ideas weren't evaluated on their merits, but on the
basis of who proposed them.
While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected
City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from
the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents
rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's
attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew
her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the
Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.
Sarah complained about the "old boy's club" when she first ran for
Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Palin
fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as
Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people,
creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally
grateful and fiercely loyal--loyal to the point of abusing their power
to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the
case of pressuring the State's top cop (see below).
As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla's Police Chief because he "intimidated"
her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska's top
cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure
and she had every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty clear that
an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn't
fire her sister's ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation
for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen
contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she
later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to
replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded
for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew
her support.
She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in
help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town
introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council
became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She
abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn't
like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.
Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything
publicly about her.
When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got
the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one
of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no
background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great
job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the
high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the
structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this
Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party)
engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some
undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all
her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and
garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a
gutsy fighter against the "old boys' club" when she dramatically quit,
exposing this man's ethics violations (for which he was fined).
As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from
Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel
politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the "bridge to
nowhere" after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.
As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget
guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing
projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative
action restored most of these projects--which had been vetoed simply
because she was not aware of their importance--but with the unobservant
she had gained a reputation as "anti-pork".
She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party
leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated
them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a
fiscal conservative.
Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah.
They call her "Sarah Barracuda" because of her unbridled ambition and
predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly
stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made
point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah's
mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and
experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.
As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package
of legislation known as "AGIA" that forced the oil companies to march
to the beat of her drum.
Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to
global warming. She campaigned "as a private citizen" against a state
initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams from
pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the
state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State's
lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior's decision to list polar
bears as threatened species.
McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a
heartbeat away from being President.
There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more
knowledgeable and experienced than she.
However, there's a lot of people who have underestimated her and are
regretting it.
CLAIM VS FACT
*"Hockey mom": true for a few years
*"PTA mom": true years ago when her first-born was in elementary
school, not since
*"NRA supporter": absolutely true
*social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill
that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships
(said she did this because it was unconsitutional).
*pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to
promote it.
*"Pro-life": mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby
BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life
legislation
*"Experienced": Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has
residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska.
No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on
supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city
administrator to run town of about 5,000.
*political maverick: not at all
*gutsy: absolutely!
*open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at
explaining actions.
*has a developed philosophy of public policy: no
*"a Greenie": no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores
and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
*fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
*pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city
without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built
streets to early 20th century standards.
*pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on
residents
*pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city
government in Wasilla's history.
*pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union
doesn't make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim
that she is pro-labor/pro-union.
WHY AM I WRITING THIS?
First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed
voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting
programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny +
Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local
government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.
Secondly, I've always operated in the belief that "Bad things happen
when good people stay silent". Few people know as much as I do because
few have gone to as many City Council meetings.
Third, I am just a housewife. I don't have a job she can bump me out
of. I don't belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no
fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will
cost me somehow in the future: that's life.
Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100
or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah's
attempt at censorship.
Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to
say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.
CAVEATS
I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in
spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor)
from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of
Wasilla, and I can't recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust
for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible
for a private person to get any info out of City Hall--they are
swamped. So I can't verify my numbers.
You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the
population of Wasilla, ranging from my "about 5,000", up to 9,000. The
day Palin's selection was announced a city official told me that the
current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was
5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to
2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90's.
Anne Kilkenny
annekilkenny@hotmail.com
August 31, 2008
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WandaFuca
Gym climber
San Fernando Lamas
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Thanks to the MSM and lefty idiots, look what you reap.
You're gonna have to unwind your spin and spell this out Woodrow. How exactly is the left to blame for the stupidity of the Republicans???///
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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I could post the following on a number of political threads on the Taco Stand but since this was nearest the top I'll put it here.
from a Charles Krauthammer column
Obama, surely the least experienced, least qualified, least prepared presidential nominee in living memory.
Krauthammer is a dickhead.
Want to talk political credentials?
Barack Obama
Illinois Senate
January 8, 1997 – November 4, 2004
US Senate
January 4, 2005 - present
Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European Affairs since January 4, 2007
George W Bush
Governor of Texas
January 17, 1995 – December 21, 2000
And as I understand it, the governor's job in Texas is only part-time, but I could be wrong about that.
Doesn't look like Georgie had a lot of experience either. Oh, but he had Karl Rove, scumbag extraordinaire.
EDIT
re: Kilkenny
but please do not post it on any websites
Mtnmun
remind me not to send you any e-mails.
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andanother
climber
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If McCain were a reasonable or intelligent guy, he'd use this to his advantage.
But he's a MAN, and it's pretty obvious he doesn't have much respect for women.
She is going to continue to upstage him, and there's no way he will allow that to happen. This is going to bring out his true colors. As he becomes less and less relevant, he's going to become more and more frustrated.
Poor little guy! He just wanted something nice to look at.
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WoodySt
Trad climber
Riverside
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 5, 2008 - 02:04pm PT
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The biggest mistake was going after her immediately with little accurate background information which resulted in having to eat their words on some of the accusations. Those accusations came mainly from left radicals--Kos etc. The biggest mistake was going after her family. That really pissed off many people. If the Obama people want to be effective against this lady, they must deal with policy issues. Obama himself said to leave her family alone; the nuts didn't. Middle America likes her even if they don't agree with some of her positions such as abortion, prayer in school etc. On the whole, they identify with her and see that many of her personal, family problems are similar to theirs. If her opponents are condescending toward her or do anything that even hints at sexism, they'll pay for it. The Dems have to be very careful when dealing with her because the majority of the public likes her and respects her and her achievements as a woman. Be wary.
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Elcapinyoazz
Social climber
Redlands
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Woody, that's interesting. Would you say she's a "celebrity"?
"Obama people want to be effective against this lady, they must deal with policy issues"
Which is of course why she is giving no interviews, no press conference, and is being whisked away back to Alaska as they desperately try to prep her. Meanwhile the McCain camp says the american people will learn everything they need to about her in her scripted speeches.
That dog don't hunt. But good luck with it anyway. The only "accusation" about her that has been walked back at all is some gossip mongering about her not being the mom of her youngest kid but the gradmom. Meanwhile, she is playing lawyer games trying to stall the investigation back in AK.
Two months to go, we'll see.
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TKingsbury
Trad climber
MT
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Hey Woody,
Sportsbook.com has Obama as a lock...but if you wanna bet the underdog, be my guest...
I say put your money where your mouth is...and throw a $1000 or more on McCain...just a thought, you seem pretty sure. Might as well make some 'easy money' too...
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mojede
Trad climber
Butte, America
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There is nothing of climbing relevance here for you, Tom--leave the politijoke threads to us with nothing better to do :-)
Dot not be tarnished by posting up on bandwidth fodder.
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WandaFuca
Gym climber
San Fernando Lamas
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Across the spectrum--far left, far right, moderate left or right, centrist, etc.--there are those that will make personal attacks and there are many that will try to focus on the issues. But when reporters and Dems ask substantive questions about Palin the Repubs over-use the sexist card; this will backfire.
Imagine if Obama's daughter's were older, and it came out that one of them was pregnant.
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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A prediction market I follow that has an over 85% lifetime accuracy and 89% accuracy at close is 3-1 McCain. That doesn't mean those numbers won't change between now and 11-3
Sportsbook?
Well sports fans are morons.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Wanda
I'd agree with you, except that very few msm reporters will
ask any substansive policy questions. They aren't intelligent enough, and of course, the chain around their collective necks from their superiors make sure only garbage will be spoken of.
When in the last few years has almost anything substansive come out of the MSM? (well, except maybe James Risen of the NYT.
He's done some good reporting on torture and the electronic eavesdropping our government has put us under since Cheney took over as leader. . .
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TKingsbury
Trad climber
MT
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Sports FANS don't set the odds in a sportsbook...
Just saying you can bet on the election and if you're so sure, you might as well lay your money down.
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Mtnmun
Trad climber
Top of the Mountain Mun
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Dick, This was passed along to me so the only way to check it's accuracy is to verify that the author, Ann K, who does publish her contact info is legit.
Cheers
Jude
Hillary is going after Sarah this week, that should be a good cat fight.
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WoodySt
Trad climber
Riverside
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 5, 2008 - 02:46pm PT
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I'll try again since my point was missed by most. The salient question at this point for those in opposition to the Reps is why is Palin so popular with the majority of Americans at this point? I didn't say they would all vote for the Reps. I qualified by saying that many may not agree with all her positions; but, it appears, I must spell it out to you: the Dems had better understand her positive impact on the electorate. If they don't figure that out and respond intelligently to it, they will blunder badly when going after this lady. I try to help, but my compassion is so easily misunderstood.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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I'm taking Palin in the cat-fight, especially if large caliber rifles are involved.
Just remember there's way more dirt on Hitlery than Palin.
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