On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 4:48 AM, mike532 [ Republicans for Obama ] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Sarah Palin, by the Numbers > Sarah Palin may lie, but numbers don't. Her record speaks for itself: > http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-kurtzman/sarah-palin-by-the-number_b_127355.html > 2007: the year in which Sarah Palin first obtained a passport (Source) > > 312: the number of nights during her first 19 months in office that > Palin charged taxpayers a "per diem" totaling $16,951 for staying in > her own home -- an allowance intended to cover meals and incidental > expenses while traveling on state business (Source)
Which actually SAVED the state of Alaska money, since the costs of her and her family living in the Governor's mansion are much higher than per diem. > > $500 to $1,200: the fee that Wasilla charged rape victims to pay for > post-sexual assault medical exams, after the city cut funds during > Palin's tenure that had previously covered the exams (Source) Absolute, complete, utter horseshit. There's not an ounce of proof that the City of Wasilla ever charged ANY rape victim for a rape kit under Palin; there's not an OUNCE of proof Palin cut ANY funding to purchase rape kits. There's not eve any proof that there were any reported rapes in Wasilla between 1996 and 2000, when the Alaska state legislature passed a law requiring the investigating law enforcement agencies to foot the bill for the kits. This is more fact-less, baseless smearing on the part of lefty blogs like the HuffPO. > > $150: the cash payment offered by the Palin administration to hunters > who turn in legs of freshly killed wolves gunned down from airplanes > (Source) Wolf culling has long been a necessary practice in Alaska and elsewhere...Palin didn't invent the practice. > > 3: the number of times during her first few weeks as mayor that Palin > inquired with the Wasilla librarian about banning books (Source) > Complete, utter horseshit. More smears. She asked the librarian what the policy was if a customer complained about a book being offensive....period. She never asked for a book to be banned and no books were ever banned. > 3: the number of months after the censorship discussion that Palin > fired the librarian (Source) Bullshit. The librarian was fired because she was a political appointee loyal to the opposition that lost the mayoral election to Palin. > > 100: the approximate number of Wasilla residents who rallied to > support the librarian, prompting Palin to withdraw her termination > letter (Source) > That's it? Out of a town of 7,000? Seems like the citizens of the town wanted the librarian gone, too. > 0: the number of foreign heads of state Palin has met (Source) > Same number Bill Clinton met as governor. Same number Jimmy Carter met as governor. > 0: the number of commands Palin has issued as head of the Alaska > National Guard (Source) National Guards are under DOD control when in combat, and only used by Governors during state emergencies. If there haven't been any state emergencies in Alaska, it certainly makes sense for her not to have ordered the Guard to do anything. > > 2: the number of times in Palin's ABC News interview that she said the > word "nucular" (Source) Some people pronounce it that way. > > 0: Wasilla's long-term debt when Palin took office in 1996 (Source) > > $18.6 million: the long-term debt Palin racked up by the time she left > office in 2002, amounting to about $3,000 per resident (Source) > The debt is from BONDS that the people of Wasilla voted on, and according to the current mayor, that debt is being paid down faster than scheduled. > $50,000: the amount of city funds Palin used without authorization to > redecorate the Wasilla mayor's office, including adding flocked, red > wallpaper that made it look "like a bordello," according to a former > Wasilla City Council member (Source) > Complete, utter horseshit. This is just another smear citing ONE source (who just happened to be opposed to Palin during her Mayoral election) in an article on Salon. No corroboration, no witnesses, no receipts, no proof....not even pictures. Just baseless, factless smears. > 33: the percentage by which Palin increased the budget of Wasilla > during her tenure, despite billing herself as a fiscal conservative > and champion of smaller government (Source) Fiscal conservatives are also about GROWING their local economies....Palin did just that. Infrastructure, Police, Fire, etc., all grew with it. > > 25: the percentage by which Palin raised the local sales tax in > Wasilla to pay for a sports center, despite claims that she cut taxes > (Source) Voted in during an election by the people, who supported the sports center. > > $27 million: the total amount of federal earmarks Palin secured for > Wasilla's town of 6,700 people while she was mayor, thanks to the help > of a Washington lobbyist with ties to indicted Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) > and convicted felon Jack Abramoff (Source) All meat and potatoes stuff - sewers, road improvements, etc. For the record, Palin has never said she opposes ALL earmarks...she opposes WASTEFUL earmarks and the corruption associated with the earmark process. > > 3: the number of times John McCain specifically criticized earmarks > requested by Sarah Palin when she was mayor of Wasilla, citing them as > examples of wasteful spending (Source) Since you cite no source for this, and it seems clear that a senator isn't likely to criticize a mayor of a town of 7,000 for earmarks, sounds like more bullshit. > > $453 million: the total amount of earmarks Palin has asked U.S. > taxpayers to fund for Alaska projects over the past two years, despite > McCain's insistence that she hasn't sought earmarks or special- > interest spending from Congress (Source) More bullshit. Palin isn't opposed to earmarks....she's opposed to earmark ABUSE and CORRUPTION, which she has sought to stamp out. > > $506.34: the amount of federal earmarks Alaska residents will receive > per capita in 2008, the highest level of any state (Source) > > $223 million: the earmark secured for the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere" > that Palin initially supported before opposing (Source) > Given the geography of Alaska and the difficulty in improving infrastructure because of the environment, things are going to cost more up there - it's just a fact. Palin supported a package of infrastructure improvements that originally included the bridge to nowhere, but when she realize how much it was going to cost she killed it...like a fiscally conservative governor should. > $223 million: the amount of money designated for the "Bridge to > Nowhere" that Palin ultimately used for other projects, rather than > returning it to the federal government (Source) Wrong The original cost of the bridge was 398 million. It was stripped of its earmarks and the remainder was sent to Alaska for infrastructure improvements, the same as any other state. > > 20: the percentage of domestic energy that Palin claims Alaska > produces (Source) > > 3.5: the actual percentage share of domestic energy Alaska produces > (Source) Wrong. The 20% figure is correct when counting untapped reserves. > > 0: the number of people in America who know more about energy than > Sarah Palin, according to John McCain (Source) Might be true. > > $600,000: the loss at which Palin sold the governor's jet after making > a show of placing it on eBay. It was eventually sold to a Palin > campaign contributor who paid $2.1 million (more than 20% less than > the original $2.7 million purchase price). (Source) Was she supposed to realize a profit by selling a USED plane? When taking into account the maintenance, upkeep, fuel and the cost for pilots needed to fly the plane, she saved Alaska money just as she promised. > > 1: the number of private tanning beds Palin installed in the > governor's mansion after taking office (Source) > Bought and paid for with her own money. Big deal. > 1.5: the approximate number of hours Palin spent on a refueling > layover in Ireland, which the McCain campaign cited as part of her > foreign policy experience (Source) > > 0: the actual amount of time Palin spent in Iraq during a 2007 visit > to the region, despite the McCain campaign's claim she had visited the > Iraq battle zone. She never made it beyond the Khabari Alawazem > Crossing in Kuwait. (Source) Wrong. Eyewitness accounts have her inside Iraq attending a re-enlistment ceremony for one of her National Guardsmen. She never claimed to have been in a "battle zone." > 2006: the year in which Palin declared she favors abstinence-only > education and that "the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my > support" (Source) The fact that she didn't support demos of condoms on cucumbers for first-graders doesn't mean she favors "abstinence only." She's on record as supporting age-appropriate sex ed, to INCLUDE abstinence. > > 2008: the year in which Palin's 17-year-old daughter was impregnated > by a self-described "f***ing redneck," who wrote on his MySpace page > "I don't want kids" and "ya f*** with me I'll kick ass" (Source) And this is your business....why, exactly? > > 9: the number of U.S. Geological Survey studies concluding that the > habitat of Alaska's polar bears is threatened by global warming, which > Palin discounted as "insufficent evidence" when she sued the Bush > administration to overturn its decision to list polar bears under the > Endangered Species Act (Source) Palin hired experts who came to different conclusions which indicated the Polar Bear population was increasing. I applaud her for fighting the ESA, which is often a crutch used by tree-huggers to prevent development. > > 5: the number of colleges Palin attended over six years before > graduating in 1987 from the University of Idaho with a major in > journalism (Source) > And? > 500: the number of Fortune 500 companies Sarah Palin is not qualified > to run, according to McCain adviser Carly Fiorina (Source) 500 - the number of Fortune 500 companies Carly Fiorina said Barack Obama wasn't qualified to run, either. > > 50: the number of days after Palin announced she "will fully > cooperate" with an ethics investigation into the "Troopergate" scandal > that the McCain campaign announced she was "unlikely to cooperate" > because it had been "hijacked" by Obama operatives. The probe was > unanimously authorized by a bipartisan panel of eight Alaska > Republicans and four Democrats. (Source) > This was before the investigation was turned into a partisan witch hunt and political circus by the chairman, democrat and Obama supporter Hollis French, who promised an "October Surprise" that might hurt the McCain/Palin ticket. Furthermore, the state legislature is not authorized by state law to conduct such investigations, as was pointed out to them by the Alaskan AG...ethics matters are to be resolved administratively via a personnel board, not the legislature. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
