Defending Gov. Sarah Palin’s experience in an interview with MSNBC today, House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) made the false claim that Alaska supplies 20 percent of the U.S. oil:
She does understand energy, not only as governor, but as someone who was on the commission that regulated that big industry in Alaska. Twenty percent of all our oil comes from Alaska.
Watch it:
In reality, Alaska produces 14.3 percent of the nation’s oil. Furthermore, Gov. Sarah Palin recently said Alaska produces 20 percent of the U.S. “energy,” when it actually produces 3.5 percent. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has used the same talking point. The Washington Post FactChecker gives the claim four pinnochios.
Last night, the McCain campaign made it clear that Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) would not cooperate with the Alaska legislature’s investigation into “Troopergate,” which centers on a charge that Palin improperly fired Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. The campaign complained that the investigation had become “tainted” and politicized — despite the fact that the investigation was approved by unanimous vote by the eight Republicans and four Democrats on the Legislative Council.
This afternoon on CNN, McCain spokesman Ed O’Callaghan tried to spin Palin’s stonewalling of the legislature’s investigation by claiming she “is 100 percent going to cooperate with the Personnel Board inquiry.” Of course, what he doesn’t say is that the three-member personnel board is appointed by the governor. Watch it:
In July, Palin said she’d welcome the legislature’s investigation, but “after McCain picked her as a running mate,” her lawyer “urged that the investigation be conducted by the Alaska Personnel Board, which is appointed by the governor.”
Speaking to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow last night, Monegan — the Commissioner at the heart of Troopergate — lamented Palin’s Cheney-like stonewalling. “She campaigned and she was all of I think Alaska’s hope for an open and transparent government. And now it’s being thwarted,” he said.
Speaking to reporters today, McCain campaign adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin claimed that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is responsible for the [base ']Äúmiracle[base ']Äù of PDAs. Waving around his Blackberry, Holtz-Eakin said:
He did this. … Telecommunications of the United States is a premier innovation in the past 15 years, comes right through the Commerce committee so you[base ']Äôre looking at the miracle John McCain helped create and that[base ']Äôs what he did.
ThinkProgress received a response today from former FCC chairman Reed Hundt, who sharply criticized Holtz-Eakin’s claim:
John McCain is so out of touch with America his economics adviser says he deserves credit for creating the Canadian company that invented the Blackberry. Message to Republicans: it’s American entrepreneurship our President is supposed to encourage.
ThinkProgress also spoke with Blair Levin, who is currently Managing Director at Stifel Nicolaus and served as Hundt’s chief of staff at the FCC. Levin pointed out that McCain actually voted against the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA ‘93) that “authorized the spectrum auctions that created the competitive wireless market that gave rise to companies like Research in Motion [the creator of Blackberry].”
This is not the first time that McCain has tried to take credit for a technological innovation he actively opposed. In a 2000 GOP presidential debate, he took credit for E-Rate, a program designed to wire schools:
We took a major step forward when we decided to wire every school and library in America to the Internet. That’s a good program.
McCain, however, opposed E-Rate in the late ’90s, concerned about the impact it might have on the telecom industry. Groups such as the American Library Association were so outraged that they encouraged their members to contact obstinate senators, including McCain. More here on McCain’s paltry record as Senate Commerce Committee chairman.
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) appeared on all six broadcast and cable morning news shows today in an attempt to defend his misguided belief that the “fundamentals of our economy are strong.” In discussing the causes of and solutions to the current economic crisis, McCain appeared to flip-flop — in less than an hour — on the role and effectiveness of government regulation.
On NBC’s Today Show, McCain told Matt Lauer:
Of course I don’t like excessive and unnecessary regu — uh, government regulation.
But on CBS’s Early Show, McCain told Harry Smith:
Do I believe in excess government regulation? Yes. But this patchwork quilt of regulating bodies was designed for the 1930s when they were invented.
Watch a compilation:
With regard to the current economic crisis, the McCain campaign is now arguing for “strong regulatory oversight of Wall Street.” McCain, however, has long held that he is “fundamentally a deregulator.” As he told the Wall Street Journal in March:
I’m always for less regulation. But I am aware of the view that there is a need for government oversight. … But I am a fundamentally a deregulator. I’d like to see a lot of the unnecessary government regulations eliminated.
Later that Month, McCain said in a speech, “Our financial market approach should include encouraging increased capital in financial institutions by removing regulatory, accounting and tax impediments.” ThinkProgress documents McCain’s long history of flip-flops here.
Huffington Post reports that McCain spokeswoman and former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, appearing on a St. Louis radio show today, said that Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) was not qualified to run a major business — but that it didn’t matter:
QUESTION: Do you think [Sarah Palin] has the experience to run a major company, like Hewlett Packard?
FIORINA: No, I don’t. But you know what? That’s not what she’s running for. Running a corporation is a different set of things.
Listen here:
Yesterday, Fiorina declared that a Saturday Night Life spoof of Palin was “very dismissive of the substance” of Palin and thus “disrespectful in the extreme,” and “sexist.” “She has a lot of substance,” Fiorina said of Palin.
Two weeks before the first presidential debate even takes place on September 26 between Barack Obama and John McCain, transcripts of that debate have been secretly disclosed by private sources. In an exclusive to the Huffington Post, here is an excerpt:
MODERATOR: Sen. McCain, you and Sen. Obama have very different views on the Surge. Why was your vote in support the right one?
SEN. McCAIN: I understand war. I believed at the time that the Surge would protect our American troops and bring down the level of violence in Iraq. And, my friends, that's what's happening. Iraq is becoming a much safer country. And that's thanks to the Surge and the great leadership of General David Patraeus. When I voted for the Surge, I was told it would end my candidacy. But I would rather lose an election than lose a war. I will always put America first. As a former POW, I understand we have to fight and win. Just like I will fight for every American.
MODERATOR: Senator Obama, your response?
SEN. OBAMA: Saying the Surge is working is looking at the reality backwards. Even if we accepted that the Surge itself is "working" - it's the wrong solution. The solution isn't fewer American deaths than before the Surge. It's NO American deaths. None. We shouldn't be there.
A decrease in violence from its peak doesn't mean the Surge stopped the violence in Iraq. It just returned the violence to the disastrous levels from a year before the Surge. That's not acceptable. We shouldn't be there.
Arguing that the Surge is working because there are fewer American deaths is like saying, someone sees a street fight and puts a helmet on, and walks into it. So, instead of having every bone in his body broken and his head bashed in, only all his bones are broken. He shouldn't have been in the fight in the first place.
Having fewer deaths than before the Surge wasn't the goal. The goal was ending the Iraq War. It was getting the Sunnis and Shi'ites to unite so they can take control of their own country - which they aren't doing and can't do as long as we're there. Surging.
I've proposed drawing down our troops in 16 months - the exact same time frame that the Iraqi's themselves have now called for. If we had started that careful, sensible withdrawal back in January, 2007, when George Bush initiated his Surge, and John McCain supported it - those same 16 months would be up by now. And we could have been out of Iraq. Today. And John McCain wants to argue that the Surge is working?? We shouldn't be there.
Instead, George Bush and John McCain pushed for a Surge, pushed to prolong this horrible war. Tours have duty have increased. Horrifying violence and death has continued. And John McCain wants to tell those American and Iraqi families the Surge is working.
Less horrible violence is still horrible violence. Less death is still death. And make no mistake, there is just as much violence and unacceptable death in Iraq today as there was one year before the Surge. The exact same. Four years into the war. We're now in our seventh year.
And we're still fighting. Since the Surge, 1,100 Americans have tragically died. And we're still there. That's why I voted against the Surge before. And why I'd vote for it again, knowing what I know now. Because the Surge prolonged the war. Since the Surge, 32,000 Iraqi civilians have died - and that's more Iraqi deaths in the year following the Surge than the year before it. More! That's not "working" in any definition I know.
We shouldn't even be there. The Surge prolonged the war. Sunnis and Shi'ites are still divided. That's why I voted against the Surge -- and it's why I believe it's wrong that John McCain voted to keep, keep, keep prolonging the Iraq War.
Is the Surge working? The only people the Surge is truly working for are Republican politicians trying to justify their vote getting us into the war in the first place.
MODERATOR: Sen. McCain, you have 15 seconds for a rebuttal.
SEN. McCAIN: I understand war. As a former POW, I know we have to keep fighting. And I'll fight for you, my friends. And I have confidence that my great vice president, Sarah Palin, understands war, too, and can command the American war effort in Iraq, Pakistan, and, if it happens, Iran.
MODERATOR: Pakistan?
SEN. McCAIN: I'm sorry, I mean, Afghanistan.
MODERATOR: Sen. Obama, the next question is for you. Speaking of Sarah Palin, she has said that her experience in government exceeds yours. How do you reply?
SEN. OBAMA: With much respect to Ms. Palin, I've been a U.S. senator and Illinois state senator for 12 years. She's been Alaska state governor and mayor of Wasilla for 3-1/2 years. I don't follow her math. I should say, by the way, that Illinois has 30 million people, who I represent domestically and internationally. My former state district in Chicago alone had 650,000 people - that one district is the same population as the entire state of Alaska. When Ms. Palin was elected mayor of Wasilla, she got 616 votes. I don't follow her math.
MODERATOR: Sen. McCain, your response?
SEN. McCAIN: In well-over one year as governor, Sarah Palin got executive experience and showed the outside-the-box kind of thinking that put her state's jet for sale on eBay. You see, my friends, that's what a maverick does. And when she was mayor of Wasilla, she was so popular that when she ran for re-election, she got almost 50% more votes than the time before.
MODERATOR: Sen. Obama, you have 15 seconds.
SEN. OBAMA: You do understand that the Alaska jet wasn't actually sold on eBay. They had to hire a private broker. And still, they were only able to get $600,000 less than its original purchase price. By the way, I put some of my old CDs on eBay, too. Though mine sold.
MODERATOR: Senator McCain, we've seen the economy suddenly take center stage in the campaign. How will you get it back on track?
SEN. McCAIN: The truth is that the fundamentals of the American worker is strong. That's what I've meant when I've spoken about the economy being fundamentally sound. I believe in the American worker, even if my opponents do not. We'll have more transparency on Wall Street in an McCain-Palin Administration. And I'll finally make Washington responsive by working across the aisle in Congress. In a McCain-Palin Administration
MODERATOR: Sen. Obama, do you agree?
SEN. OBAMA: Oh, wait. I'm sorry. Was that a serious question? John McCain has repeatedly said before the Wall Street crash on Monday that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. And he even said it that very day. We know what he meant. John McCain has voted 19 times against minimum wage increases and against support of the American worker. He's said he isn't an expert on the economy. And the expert who John McCain did have help author his economic plan, Phil Graham, has said we're just in a "mental recession" and a "nation of whiners." A man who helped write the very banking laws that are at the core of causing this banking crisis. A man who likely would become Secretary of the Treasury if Sen. McCain get elected.
MODERATOR: Senator McCain, you have 15 seconds for a rebuttal
SEN. McCAIN: As a former POW, and part of the McCain-Palin Administration, I will fight for you and will always put America First. Are my 15 seconds up yet?
MODERATOR: The next question is for Sen. Obama. Senator, Sarah Palin has said she believes the Iraq War is a mission from God. How do you respond?
SEN. OBAMA: I don't. This election isn't between me and Sarah Palin. My own vice-presidential nominee is Joe Biden, and I have full confidence he'll be ready for their debate.
No, the election is between John McCain and me. It's about John McCain voting with George Bush nearly 95% of the time and saying he agrees with George Bush on all the big issues. It's about John McCain saying the economy is fundamentally strong. About John McCain voting against all women's issues and equal pay. About John McCain regularly not voting for veteran's bills, including the recent GI benefits bill that passed 75-22. About John McCain regularly saying he has to check with his staff when asked a question he doesn't want to answer.
This election is about John McCain's judgment and decision-making. The world is a terribly dangerous place today. We see it in the recent fighting between Georgia and Russia. Sen. McCain likes to say "We'll all Georgians." Well, when the president of Georgia needed help ...he didn't call Sen. McCain. He didn't call me. He didn't call Sarah Palin. He called the person who I chose as my vice president, Joe Biden.
That's what the election is about. Judgment. On the economy, the housing crisis, lost jobs, Iraq, Afghanistan, the environment, education, alternative energy, and rebuilding America from what Republicans have done to it for the past eight years under George Bush. It's about John McCain, or me.
MODERATOR: Senator McCain, how do you respond to Sarah Palin saying that the Iraq War is a mission from God?
SEN. McCAIN: I will have to check with my staff and get back to you on that.
Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Constitution Subcommittee, opened a hearing today entitled "Restoring the Rule of Law" by blasting the long-term damage George W. Bush has done to the Constituion, saying both the new Congress and the next president will need counsel on "... tackling the wreckage that this President will leave."
"Tomorrow, September 17, is the 221st anniversary of the day in 1787 when 39 members of the Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution in Philadelphia," said Feingold in opening the hearings this morning. "It is a sad fact as we approach that anniversary that for the past seven and a half years, and especially since 9/11, the Bush Administration has treated the Constitution and the rule of law with a disrespect never before seen in the history of this country."
Calling the Bush-Cheney shredding of our national creed "a shameful legacy that will haunt our country for years to come," Feingold addressed the difficulty that a new Congress will have in rectifying this administration's actions as the public and even Washington become numb to what Bush has made standard practice since September 11.
"By now, the public can be excused for being almost numb to new revelations of government wrongdoing and overreaching," said the Wisconsin Senator. "The catalogue is breathtaking, even when immensely complicated and far reaching programs and events are reduced to simple catch phrases: torture, Guantanamo, ignoring the Geneva Conventions, warrantless wiretapping, data mining, destruction of emails, U.S. Attorney firings, stonewalling of congressional oversight, abuse of the state secrets doctrine and executive privilege, secret abrogation of executive orders, signing statements."
The Constitution Subcommittee will hear testimony from legal and historical experts, including John Podesta, President Clinton's former Chief of Staff, on what steps must be taken starting in January to reestablishing appropriate checks and balances in areas including warrantless wiretapping, interrogation standards, detention policy, abuse of executive privilege, excessive government secrecy, violations of privacy and misleading Congress.
"That, of course, is much easier said than done," said Feingold today. "It's not simply a matter of a new President saying, 'Ok, I won't do that anymore.' This President's transgressions are so deep and the damage to our system of government so extensive that a concerted effort from the executive and legislative branches will be needed. And that means the new President will, in some respects, have to go against his institutional interests."
This is an important hearing and, in a Senate that has in many ways been far too weak in truly challenging this White House's lawlessness and giving a metaphorical middle finger to Congress -- and thus, the American people -- Feingold is to once again be commended for showing real leadership in not letting the issue die.
You can read the full text of Senator Feingold's opening statement here. There will be video shortly and more later on what happens in the hearings today.
'Bridge To Nowhere' Project Moving Forward, With Palin's Consent Campaign fact-checkers were back to work on Monday, criticizing Gov. Sarah Palin for restating a false claim about the notorious "Bridge to Nowhere" that had been removed from her stump speech over the weekend. "I did tell Congress, 'Thanks, but no thanks' -- if we wanted a bridge up there we were going to build it ourselves," she said, repeating the line <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/15/palin-lies-33/";>for the 10th time since being selected by John McCain 18 days ago.
In fact, the son of the "Bridge to Nowhere" is still alive and kicking in Alaska. Moreover, state officials are currently reworking designs for the project to allow for federal funds to cover a larger share of the total cost.
(In other words, Palin's administration has actually said "thanks" to congressional spending for the project and is now figuring out how to avoid "building it ourselves.")
In a process begun this past winter, Alaska's Department of Transportation "is currently considering a number of alternative solutions (five other possible bridges or three different ferry routes) to link Ketchikan and Gravina Island," ProPublica's Paul Kiel <a href="http://www.propublica.org/article/palin-administration-still-pursuing-nowhere-project-913/";>reported last week, citing an interview with Alaska DOT spokesperson Roger Wetherell.
In a separate interview with the Huffington Post, Wetherell went into more detail about the potential future of the project. While he noted that the various plans are still undergoing environmental impact surveys and other federal reviews, Wetherell said the decision rests with the governor.
"Currently we have $73 million set aside for use on the project," he said, adding "those are federal dollars" appropriated as part of the original "Bridge to Nowhere" project that Palin once supported, but now rejects. Still, Wetherell made clear, the final decision of whether to build a more modest project with the federal dollars rests with her -- and the process is moving forward with her consent.
Explaining her shift to ABC's Charles Gibson last week, Palin said: "What I supported was the link between a community and its airport. And we have found that link now."
Wetherell confirms, however, that those federal dollars already appropriated will be the first funds spent on any approved plan.
"Those funds will be incorporated in to the overall costs, once a decision is made on final [environmental impact]," Wetherell said. "Then we'll offer that proposal to the Federal Highway Administration, and they will go forward with their recommendations. That'll give us the guidance as to which option is the viable one. ... Of course the governor will have the final say in the matter. If she chooses not to go forward at all, that's her decision. We will continue to keep the governor appraised of what direction we in the department would like to go under her administration."
And does the department want another bridge -- or some kind of infrastructure -- between Gravina Island and the Ketchekian airport?
"I think what is best is having that transportation infrastructure," Wetherell said, "to allow those people the ability to transit to and from the airport."
As a public service we are asking our OffTheBus readers to send along the sleazy and dirty political material they're receiving this election season. We at OffTheBus are not promoting or endorsing any of this material. But it exists, and we think you have a right to see what others are seeing. You can use the comment section below to fact-check this piece and others. Below is a list of organizations and websites that debunk material like this.
There are a number of websites dedicated to determining if what politicians, candidates and others say is true or not. If you hear shady information and want to check out if it's true, try searching one of these sites: the Annenberg Political Fact Check, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania; the Washington Post's The Fact Checker; PolitiFact From St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly; and Snopes.com investigates urban legends. Factcheck.barackobama.com is the Obama campaign's official website devoted to debunking malicious rumors about the Senator. JohnMcCain.com lists McCain's official positions.
This morning on CNN, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) defended Gov. Sarah Palin’s record on requesting hundreds of millions of dollars worth of earmarks, and repeated the lie that Palin had opposed the Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska. “I’m proud of her record as opposing — including the Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska,” he said. Watch it:
McCain’s statement brings the total number of times his campaign has repeated the lie to 35 times. Just yesterday in Colorado, Palin herself declared that she “did tell the Congress, ‘Thanks but no thanks for that Bridge to Nowhere.’”
Almost 50 years ago, President John Kennedy challenged Americans to ask what they can do for their country. The Baby Boom and Silent Generations answered that call to service, volunteering to build better lives for others at home and overseas through programs like VISTA and the Peace Corps.
Today, our country is grappling with uncertainty about the economy, the environment and global security. For the first time in history, older Americans believe they will leave the world in worse shape than they found it.
Fortunately, there are signs of hope that we are entering a new age of volunteerism, once again focusing the talents and commitment of individual Americans to address major problems at home and overseas.
Members of the Baby Boom and Silent Generations are increasingly postponing retirement to start public service-oriented careers -- combining a desire to do good with a need to do well. Tens of millions of boomers currently volunteer through their churches or organizations like Meals on Wheels, and more than half of all boomers plan to increase their volunteering in the next five years.
Younger Americans in the Millennial Generation, many of whom went to schools that required service to graduate, are better prepared for civic engagement than any other generation in our history. Just this month, more than 6,000 young women and men are beginning the school year as new educators with Teach for America. Others will don their work boots and khakis for a ten month tour with City Year.
Meanwhile, the constant stream of technological innovation offers new tools, most notably online, that help people of all ages maximize their impact. With just a few clicks, people can find volunteering opportunities in their neighborhood or around the world. Fast-growing social networks have the potential to rapidly mobilize and organize thousands of people, whether to vote or to clean up after a disaster.
So how do we take advantage of this momentum? How can we inspire more to serve, and how can we best harness their time and talents? That's a job for all of us.
AARP was founded with a service mission, and we have been mobilizing, training and engaging volunteers for the last fifty years. AARP volunteers have helped their neighbors and communities in a variety of ways -- from helping the disadvantaged fill out their tax returns to rebuilding the Gulf Coast.
The New Look Foundation has been energizing and empowering our country's youth for almost a decade. Whether helping communities to rebuild after natural disasters or giving disadvantaged youth the opportunity to earn their way into New Look programs through volunteerism, the Foundation is building two of the most important assets in our nation's youth -- leadership, and the sense of empowerment that comes from knowing that their voices count.
But we have much more to do. Last week, both AARP and the New Look Foundation are joining the Carnegie Endowment, Target and TIME Magazine, as well as an impressive array of leaders from the public, private and non-profit sectors to launch a new national call to action in New York City.
ServiceNation is a first-of-its-kind campaign to restore the tradition of American service through a national grassroots movement. The historic ServiceNation Summit represents the first time that major leaders from the full spectrum of American society put aside our partisan, ideological, and even generational differences to develop new opportunities and resources for volunteers. We are united in our belief in -- and passionate commitment to -- national service.
Problems that impact everyone require solutions that involve everyone -- from younger Americans who are just starting to shape the world, to boomers and older Americans who need to know it's not too late. Together, we can and will make a difference.
McCain Gets Testy On Morning Joe John McCain defended his campaign from charges that it has a problem with the truth and batted back suggestions that he is economically out-of-touch during appearances on all seven morning shows Tuesday.
It was an uphill task, perhaps best illuminated by the Senator's appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe. McCain was forced to redefine what he meant when he declared the "fundamentals of our economy are strong" just yesterday. He offered curt responses to charges that one of his ads falsely accuses Barack Obama of supporting sex education for kindergartners. (Later in the show, in fact, McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds sent an email to host Mika Brzezinski defending the ad, which she subsequently read on air).
Most glaringly, McCain openly sparred with Brzezinski, whom he accused of being an open supporter of Obama. Asked by the host to assess whether an ad attacking him on the economy was out of bounds, McCain replied:
"That's up for the American people to decide. I still say to you, and I know you are a supporter of Senator Obama, if you would urge him to come to town all meetings as I have asked him to do time after time the whole tenor of the campaign would change."
The charge created an awkward and tense environment for the rest of the segment, with Brzezinski forced to note (as she has done in the past) that one of her brothers works for the McCain campaign (another brother works for Obama, and her father was once an adviser).
"Senator," she said, "as a characterized Barack Obama supporter, I take objection. I'Il just say, take care of my brother working at the campaign."
"Thanks," replied McCain, "that was a cheap shot."
But the issue clearly hung over the rest of the morning. Later in the show, Brzezinski addressed it once again.
"In light of the John McCain interview, I feel I need to say not only does my brother work for the McCain campaign, but he worked for George Bush for six years," she said. "I'm proud of him."
Meanwhile, Republican strategist and former McCain aide Mike Murphy was left to explain away the Senator's humor, albeit adding that he thought the campaign's antagonism to the media had crossed a line.
"i don't think he meant it as an attack," he said. "There's definitely become a mentality inside the McCain campaign which is very hostile for anybody in the media they think is at all favorable to the other side. I think that's mistake. I think they overreact. I think doesn't do McCain well to have that mentality in the campaign. I don't really understand it because it's not his natural way."
Speaking to reporters today, McCain campaign adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin claimed that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is responsible for the [base ']Äúmiracle[base ']Äù of PDAs. Waving around his Blackberry, Holtz-Eakin 
Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Constitution Subcommittee, opened a hearing today entitled "Restoring the Rule of Law" by blasting the long-term damage George W. Bush has done to the Constituion, saying both the new Congress and the next president will need counsel on "... tackling the wreckage that this President will leave."
