On MSNBC today, Norah O’Donnell asked Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) if Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was misspeaking or distorting the facts when he falsely claimed on “The View” today that Sarah Palin never asked for an earmark as the governor of Alaska. “The proof is in the pudding,” replied Cantor. “And the fact is Sarah Palin, when she was governor of Alaska, rejected the monies that came from Washington to construct the Bridge to Nowhere.” Watch it:
Cantor also claimed that “Palin rejected the earmarking that went on here in Washington,” but, as ThinkProgress noted earlier today, in her two years as governor, Palin “requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation.[base ']Äù
The state Senate Judiciary Committee voted 3-2 today to give a state investigator the power to subpoena Todd Palin, the husband of Gov. Sarah Palin, [base ']Äúin an investigation of whether Palin abused her power in trying to get her former brother-in-law fired.[base ']Äù The prosecutor, Stephen Branchflower, said Todd Palin is [base ']Äúsuch a central figure.[base ']Äù He added that wants to interview Sarah Palin but did not ask for a subpoena for her.
During an interview yesterday on ABC, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) indicated that she did not know what the so-called Bush Doctrine is. When asked for her interpretation, Palin guessed, “His worldview?”
Even though Palin was unaware of the foundation of President Bush’s national security strategy, some in the media have come to her defense, arguing that ordinary Americans don’t know about it either. In short, the vice president of the United States shouldn’t be any more intelligent “most” Americans:
– CNN’s Jessica Yellin: The question is given that many Americans themselves don’t know what the Bush doctrine is… it’s unclear how much of a fallout that would be — that question and the answer would have.”
– CNN’s David Gergen: She didn’t know what the Bush doctrine was. But I don’t think most people know what the Bush doctrine is or was.
CNN’s Candy Crowley dismissed the gaffe by saying that regular Americans don’t care. Fox News’s Juan Williams gave Palin a pass because he admitted that he also wouldn’t have been able to answer the question:
WILLIAMS: I thought actually Charlie did try a gotcha question with this business about the Bush doctrine [base ']Äì which if you ask me in the middle of the night, I would have been: “What? What?”
Watch a compilation:
On MSNBC’s Morning Joe today, Rudy Giuliani also tried to defend Palin, saying that three of this friends didn’t know what the Bush Doctrine was when he asked. But NBC correspondent Andea Mitchell quickly jumped in, noting that Giuliani’s friends “are not running for Vice President.”
In fact, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has used a similar argument when trying to explain away a foreign policy gaffe. Earlier this year when a reporter confronted McCain on his inaccurate claim that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is leading Iran, McCain said that because the “average American” thinks Ahmadinejad is Iran’s leader, then that’s good enough for him.
Obama Ad Goes After McCain For Being Old, Incompetent There has been talk in recent days that Barack Obama would get tougher in his campaigning following the September 11th dÈtente between he and McCain. Sure enough, Friday morning the Senator released his most personalized attack ad yet.
Making overt references to McCain's age, the spot, titled "Still," calls the Republican nominee out-of-touch, showing footage of him from 1982 alongside screen shots of disco balls, a (Zach Morris-like) old school cell phone, a record player and a rubix cube. It even calls McCain out for his unfamiliarity with the Internet. And, as a parting jab, the ad uses footage of the Arizona Republican riding with George H.W. Bush in a golf cart.
"1982," reads the campaign. "John McCain goes to Washington. Things have changed in the last 26 years. But McCain hasn't. He admits he still doesn't know how to use a computer, can't send an email."
In addition to the "Still" spot, the Obama campaign released another ad Friday morning, this one more positive in nature, with the Senator speaking directly into the camera, defining change.
It could very well be that the latter spot, titled "Real Change" will be the one that airs in most places, while the more inflammatory "Still" is designed to grab the media's attention. Already, the McCain campaign is out with a response.
"What is becoming clear to the American people is the fact that Barack Obama has no record of bipartisan legislative accomplishment, no history of bucking his party and no chance of bringing change," wrote Tucker Bounds, spokesman McCain-Palin 2008. "The truth is, Barack Obama voted for $2.8 billion in corporate welfare for big oil companies, broke his pledge to voters on campaign finance and has personally requested nearly a billion dollars in pork barrel spending for his home state - making his message of 'change' nothing more than an empty campaign slogan."
To his credit, ABC’s Charlie Gibson posed some practical and pertinent questions in the first installment of his interview with Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, and he didn’t let her off the hook when she conflated “national security” with “energy independence.” Updated
Earlier today, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin linked the Iraq war to the attacks of September 11, 2001, “telling an Iraq-bound brigade of soldiers that included her son that they would ‘defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans.’” “America can never go back to that false sense of security that came before September 11, 2001,” said Palin at the deployment ceremony. Watch it:
As the Washington Post’s Anne Kornblut points out, “The idea that Iraq shared responsibility with al-Qaeda for the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, once promoted by Bush administration officials, has since been rejected even by the president himself.”
In her interview with ABC News’s Charlie Gibson last night, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin denied that she had ever said climate change isn’t caused by human activity, challenging Gibson to show her where she had made such claims. In a fact-check segment on Good Morning America today, Jake Tapper demonstrated that Palin was making a false claim, pointing to a December 4, 2007 Fairbanks Daily News-Miner article in which she was quoted as saying, “I’m not an Al Gore, doom-and-gloom environmentalist blaming the changes in our climate on human activity.” Watch it:
In his interview with Sarah Palin that aired this morning on Good Morning America, ABC’s Charlie Gibson challenged the governor on whether she has any national security experience. Some highlights from the interview:
On National Security Credentials:
PALIN: Let me speak specifically about a credential that I do bring to this table, Charlie, and that[base ']Äôs with the energy independence that I[base ']Äôve been working on for these years as the governor of this state that produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy.
On Alaska National Guard:
GIBSON: Have you ever given any kind of command decision to the Alaska National Guard?
PALIN: We have called up National Guardsmen to help in other states who have gone in emergency status. We have assisted there.
On Traveling Outside The Country:
GIBSON: Had you ever traveled outside the country prior to your trip to Kuwait and Germany last year?
PALIN: Canada, Mexico, and then yeah — that trip was the trip of a lifetime to visit our troops in Kuwait and stop and visit our injured soldiers in Germany.
On Visiting With Foreign Head Of State:
GIBSON: Have you ever met a foreign head of state?
PALIN: I have not and I think if you go back in history and you ask that question of many vice presidents, they may have the same answer.
On Russia:
PALIN: We[base ']Äôve gotta keep an eye on Russia. [base ']Ķ You can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska.
GIBSON: What insight does that give you into what they[base ']Äôre doing inside Georgia?
PALIN: Well, I[base ']Äôm giving you that perspective of how small our world is and how important it is that we work with our allies to keep good relations with all of these countries, especially Russia.
On Iraq:
PALIN: Of course I’ve been focused on the war. Of course I’ve been, as every American has been.
GIBSON: Why’d you say this though? “I[base ']Äôve been so focused on state government, I haven[base ']Äôt really focused much on the war in Iraq.”
PALIN: It was an honest answer for the question that day by a reporter asking me about Alaska Business Monthly issues, was my focus being on energy independence and security — those things that Alaska could supply to help make this country better and safer.
