Transcript: Full Palin-Hannity Interview

Transcript: Full Palin-Hannity Interview

By Bryan on September 19, 2008 MonkeyCrash is Your Source For Conservative Opinion

HANNITY: Governor, thank you for being with us.

PALIN: Thank you so much.

HANNITY: All right. You said when you were asked to be Senator McCain’s running mate that you didn’t hesitate, you didn’t blink. Tell us about the call, when that came.

PALIN: Well, I found out about the actual selection just a couple of days before you guys all did. Getting that nod was quite an experience, of course, because I knew that Senator McCain and his team had been doing a heck of a lot of research and vetting of many names.

So, of course, it’s the utmost honor is what I felt when he actually said, do you want to help me do this? And I said, absolutely. Let’s get in there and let’s reform. We’ll shake some things up.

HANNITY: What was your family’s reaction? Was there time to huddle and have a hockey team meeting?

PALIN: It was a time of asking the girls to vote on it, anyway. And they voted unanimously, yes. Didn’t bother asking my son because, you know, he’s going to be off doing his thing anyway, so he wouldn’t be so impacted by, at least, the campaign period here.

So asked the girls what they thought and they’re like, absolutely. Let’s do this, mom.

HANNITY: Let’s talk about, Governor, obviously, the economy is on the minds of many Americans. We’ve got Lehman, we’ve got Merrill, we’ve got AIG. Senator Barack Obama yesterday was attacking Senator McCain for saying that the “fundamentals of the economy are strong.”

Do you believe that the fundamentals of our economy are strong?

PALIN: Well, it was an unfair attack on the verbiage that Senator McCain chose to use because the fundamentals, as he was having to explain afterwards, he means our workforce, he means the ingenuity of the American. And of course, that is strong and that is the foundation of our economy.

So that was an unfair attack there, again, based on verbiage that John McCain used. Certainly it is a mess though, the economy is a mess. And there have been abuses on Wall Street and that adversely affects Main Street.

And it’s that commitment that John McCain is articulating today, getting in there, reforming the way that Wall Street has been allowed to work, stopping the abuses and that violation of the public trust that too many CEOs and top management of some of these companies, that abuse there has got to stop.

It is, somebody was saying this morning, a toxic waste there on Wall Street, affecting Main Street. And we’ve got to cure this.

HANNITY: Through reform?

PALIN: Through reform, absolutely. Look at the oversight that has been lax, I believe, here it’s a 1930s type of regulatory regime overseeing some of these corporations. And we’ve got to get a more coordinated and a much more stringent oversight regime.

Not that government is going to be solely looked to for the answers in all of the problems in Wall Street, but government can play a very, very appropriate role in the oversight as people are trusting these companies with their life savings, with their investments, with their insurance policies and construction bonds and everything else.

When we see the collapse that we’re seeing today, you know that something is broke and John McCain has a great plan to get in there and fix it.

HANNITY: Is Senator Obama then using what happened on Wall Street this week? Is he using it for political gain? Is there a danger of a presidential candidate is saying to the world that America’s situation of economic crisis is the worst that we’ve seen in decades — which was words that he was using yesterday — is there a danger in terms of the world hearing that?

PALIN: Well, there is a danger in allowing some obsessive partisanship to get into the issue that we’re talking about today. And that’s something that John McCain too, his track record, proving that he can work both sides of the aisle, he can surpass the partisanship that must surpassed to deal with an issue like this.

It is that profound and that important an issue that we work together on this and not just let one party try to kind of grab it all or capture it all and pretend like they have all the answers. It’s going to take everybody working together on this.

HANNITY: Who is responsible for these failing institutions, in your view?

PALIN: I think the corruption on Wall Street — that is to blame. And that violation of the public trust. And that contract that should be inherent in corporations who are spending, investing other people’s money — the abuse of that is what has got to stop.

And it’s a matter, too, of some of these CEOs and top management people and shareholders too not holding that management accountable, being addicted to, we call it, OPM — O-P-M, “other people’s money.”

Spending that, investing that, not using the prudence that we expect of them. But here again, government has got to play an appropriate role in the stringent oversight, making sure that those abuses stop.

HANNITY: Well, you know, both you and Senator McCain supported the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. You both opposed the bailout of government intervention as it relates to Lehman or Merrill. But now we read this morning that AIG is going to get some type of government bailout.

Was that the right call?

PALIN: Well, you know, first, Fannie and Freddie, different because quasi-government agencies there where government had to step in because of the adverse impacts all across our nation, especially with homeowners. It’s just too impacting, we had to step in there.

I do not like the idea though of taxpayers being used to bailout these corporations. Today it was AIG, important call there, though, because of the construction bonds and the insurance carrier duties of AIG. But first and foremost, taxpayers cannot be looked to as the bailout, as the solution to the problems on Wall Street.

HANNITY: How connected is it, though, to Washington?

You have 354 lawmakers got money from Fannie and Freddie — 354. If you look at the years from 1989 to 2008, the second top recipient was Senator Barack Obama.

Should there be an investigation in terms of the relationship between the political donations and then, of course, the bankruptcy that ensued and the impact on the economy?

PALIN: I think that’s significant, but even more significant is the role that the lobbyists play in an issue like this also. And in that cronyism — it’s symptomatic of the greater problem that we see right now in Washington and that is just that acceptance of the status quo, the politics as usual, the cronyism that has been allowed to be accepted and then it leads us to a position like we are today with so much collapse on Wall Street.

That’s the reform that we’ve got to get in there and make sure that this happens. We’ve got to put government and these regulatory agencies back on the side of the people.

It’s what John McCain and I — we have very consistent track records showing that we’re capable and we’re willing to do this. Ruffling feathers along the way, but it’s what we’re expected to do and what we’re promising to do.

HANNITY: You’ve talked about — Senator McCain has talked about — you want to eliminate earmarks, that you want to reduce government spending, that you want to keep taxes low, you want to reform government. You’ve used to the term reform a lot — Senator McCain has used the term reform a lot. Many people have gone to Washington and they’ve made these promises, especially when it comes to cutting spending and it doesn’t happen.

How do you make this happen? Look how partisan it is in Washington right now. How do you get that accomplished?

PALIN: Yes it is gridlock and that’s ridiculous. That’s why we don’t have an energy policy. That’s why there hasn’t been the reform of the abuse of the earmark process. And real reform is tough and you do ruffle feathers along the way. But John McCain has that streak of independence in him that I think is very, very important in America today in our leadership.

I have that within me also. And that’s why John McCain tapped me to be a team of mavericks, of independents coming in there without the allegiances to that cronyism, to that good ole’ boy system.

I’m certainly a Washington outsider and I’m proud of that because I think that that is what we need also. As a team member in this — on this new team promising the reform. Reform that actually happens is tough and you can’t just talk about it and you can’t just talk about your years of experience in a system — a bureaucratic system. You have to show examples and what I have done is have been able to show examples as a mayor cutting taxes every year that I was in office, as a governor now, suspending our fuel tax recently, getting our handle on the state’s budget in Alaska, growing the surplus so that we can return that surplus right back to the people of Alaska —

HANNITY: Let’s go in to that. The people of Alaska get — for example, there’s no income tax, there’s no sales tax in Alaska.

PALIN: There are in individual communities.

HANNITY: But no state sales tax.

PALIN: Correct.

HANNITY: The average citizen — if I was a resident of Alaska, you would write me a check every year for $2,069?

PALIN: Well, depending on how the stock market is doing. Over the last five years — an average.

HANNITY: And then you also gave recently an extra check for $1,200?

PALIN: I did. Because the price of a barrel of oil is so high right now that state coffers are growing, but the family’s checkbook is being decimated because of the high cost of energy.

HANNITY: I have to move to Alaska. New York taxes are killing me.

PALIN: Well, what we’re doing up there is returning a share of resource development dollars back to the people who own the resources. And our constitution up there mandates that as you develop resources it’s to be for the maximum benefit of the people, not the corporations, not the government, but the people of Alaska.

HANNITY: Senator Obama on the campaign trail — and Senator Biden as well — they often criticize John McCain, that, well his plan is — he’s going to continue the policies of tax cuts for the wealthy. For those that maybe buy into that class warfare agreement or think, why shouldn’t the rich pay more? My question to you is the converse: why does everyone benefit if the rich pay less or if everybody pays less in taxes? Why is that good for the economy?

PALIN: That’s a great question and everybody does benefit when government takes less from the people, no matter what their income bracket is because our businesses then and our families are able to keep more of what they’re earning, reinvest in what they have as priorities. That’s how jobs are created. And that’s how we’re going to grow our economy.

But, let me talk really quickly about our opponent’s position on taxes. Barack Obama has had 94 opportunities to be on the side of the American taxpayer and 94 times he has chosen to be on the opposite. He could have either voted for tax cuts or at least not for tax increases. And 94 times he has chosen, I believe, the wrong position on those.

HANNITY: And that’s going to be a key issue in this campaign.

Things have gotten pretty heated on the campaign trail and especially in the last two days. There were two weeks where I think you were the focus of the attack. Now it seems that the focus of the attack is Senator McCain.

Do you think these attacks, ratcheting up these attacks by Barack Obama — I don’t know if you had a chance to see the speech yesterday — and by Senator Biden, do you think these attacks will be effective?

PALIN: I think the American people are getting down to the facts. And they’re looking at voting records and they’re looking at allegiances and they’re looking at what a vision is that each candidate holds and is sharing with the American people. And there are such stark contrasts between Barack Obama and Senator John McCain. And I’m happy to talk about those contrasts, because this is what it’s all about.

People are interested in what the issues are that are affecting their daily lives, Americans are. They want to know if government is going to be put back on the side of the people and that it will be their will implemented in their government.

The people of America realize that, inherently, all political power is inherent in the people. And government is to be implemented, policies are, on behalf of the people and the will that they desire that their government engage in.

You can’t underestimate the wisdom of the people of America. They’re seeing through the rhetoric, and they’re seeing through a lot of the political cheap shots, also. And they’re getting down to the facts and the voting records that are going to show that stark contrast.

HANNITY: Explain when you were governor and, as governor of Alaska, how you took on your own party.

PALIN: Yes.

HANNITY: There’s this — you know, you still have a very high approval rating, but there are people that still weren’t happy about it. How did you take on your own party, specifically? And do you think you’d be able to do that, as well, in Washington?

PALIN: Well, I just recognized that there — as John McCain talked about on the campaign trail, also — it doesn’t matter which party it is that is just kind of creating the good-old-boy network and the cronyism and allowing obsessive partisanship to get in the way of just doing what’s right for the people who are to be served. And I just recognized that it’s not just the other party. Sometimes it’s our own party that just starts taking advantage of the people.

And I felt compelled to do something about it, decided to run for office, got in there and with that mandate that I believe the people had just given me, via their vote, they expected the changes to take place, that reform. And we’re living up to that. And as we do, we are ruffling feathers.

HANNITY: Have Republicans in Washington lost their way in recent years?

PALIN: I believe that Republicans in Washington have got to understand that the people of America are not fully satisfied with all the — all the dealings within the party. Same applies though for the other party, also.

Americans are just getting sick and tired of politics as usual, that embracing of the status quo, going with the flow and just assuming that the people of America are not noticing that we have opportunities for good change. We have opportunity for a healthier, safer, more prosperous and energy-independent nation at this time. People are getting tired of a process that’s not allowing that process — that progress to be ushered in.

HANNITY: Governor, have you spoken with Senator McCain about your specific role in the McCain administration?

PALIN: Sure have. I’m very excited about the role that I will play as his partner. And I will focus on energy independence and reform overall of Washington and tax cuts for Americans and reigning in spending. The…

HANNITY: These are specific roles that you already talked about?

PALIN: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.

HANNITY: That you will — you will take on as vice president?

PALIN: Right. So I’d like to talk about each one of them. And I wish we had hours to talk about this also.

HANNITY: I have nothing to do.

PALIN: OK. Good. Because another thing that we’ll talk about also is the role that I will play that is very near and dear to my heart. And that’s helping families with special-needs children and being able to strengthen our National Institute of Health also and find cures for presently incurable diseases.

But, first and foremost, an energy independent nation. We must get there, Sean. It is a matter of national security and of our future prosperity, being able to quit relying on foreign sources of energy to feed our hungry markets when we have the American supplies and we have the American ingenuity and we have the American workers to produce these supplies of energy.

HANNITY: Well, let me ask you, Americans have heard, for example, a lot of information, false information, misinformation or incorrect information on ANWR. Some have said the drilling there is going to hurt the animals, it’s going to ruin the environment, it’s going to hurt the environment and hurt the landscape. You know, it’s clear I’ve heard you talk passionately about your love for your state of Alaska.

PALIN: Yes.

HANNITY: You know, why then why then would you support drilling in Alaska? Why would that be a good thing? Why would you want to do that?

PALIN: I support drilling in Alaska because it’s going to be good for our nation and our nation’s…

HANNITY: Including ANWR?

PALIN: Absolutely. ANWR is a 2,000 acre plot of land and it’s a 20 million acre plot of land. It’s about the size of LAX, that platform of land that we would need to explore. But, no secret, John McCain and I agree to disagree on that one. And I’m going to keep working on him with ANWR.

HANNITY: Have you had any discussions about it yet?

PALIN: We have. We have. And . . .

HANNITY: Is he softening?

PALIN: Well, I’m very, very encouraged, as we all understand that John McCain knows, more so than any other leader in our nation today, that for national security reasons we must be an energy independent nation. We must start taking the steps to get there. That’s why he has embraced offshore drilling. That’s why he has embraced the ideal of the alternative fuels also. And I’ll keep working on him with ANWR.

HANNITY: All right. There you go. There will be some spirited discussion, I assume, in the administration.

PALIN: Sure. The nice thing about him, too, is he is not asking me or anybody else to check our opinions at the door. He wants that healthy deliberation and debate within.

HANNITY: And you’ve talked about that too?

PALIN: Yes, we sure have. Yes. It’s been refreshing.

HANNITY: T. Boone Pickens said that we have a $700 billion annual transfer of wealth.

PALIN: Yes.

HANNITY: We’re importing, what, 70 percent of our oil. Do you view this as a national security issue, an economic security issue?

PALIN: Both.

HANNITY: And what is the impact for Americans down the road if we don’t do something to solve our energy dependence?

PALIN: Right. In that $700 billion transfer of wealth, that’s when the price of oil was up as high as it was there at the $140 mark. But, of course, that transfer of wealth, still, that imbalance of trade is something that we need to tackle also. Yes, those dollars should be circulating within our own economy. It’s a matter of national security. It is a matter of our future prosperity.

Energy is inherently linked to security and prosperity. More and more Americans are recognizing this also. You can see the constituents putting pressure on Congress to come on, Congress, get rid of that gridlock that you are so engaged in now. We sort of have a “do nothing Senate” right now where nobody’s wanting to really pick up the ball and run with it and take the steps that we have to take to become more energy independent. And it’s going to take a whole a change in leadership in order to really crush that gridlock and get going on this.

HANNITY: One last question that I didn’t ask you: Did you watch Tina Fey on “Saturday Night Live”?

PALIN: I watched with the volume all the way down and I thought it was hilarious, she was spot on.

HANNITY: Do you think you could play her one day?

PALIN: Oh absolutely. It was hilarious. Again, I didn’t hear a word she said, but the visual was spot on.

HANNITY: Has anyone ever said that before? There’s a similarity…

PALIN: They’ve been saying that for years up in Alaska. In fact, I dressed up as Tina Fey once for Halloween. We’ve been doing that before Tina Fey’s being doing that.

Part 2

HANNITY: Senator McCain’s son has served in Iraq, as we move to national security. You just said good-bye to your son, who is off. He’s going to serve in Iraq.

First off, on the personal side, what did you say to him as he was leaving for Iraq? And what did he say to you?

PALIN: Well, as a mom, you know, he’s heading to Iraq, taking a fifth of my heart with him, you know. And I’m just so extremely proud of him. He’s independent and he’s strong and he’s serving for the right reasons. I’m just as proud of every man and woman in uniform serving our country and trying to usher in democratic values to the rest of the world, protecting our freedoms.

Very, very proud of these guys and these gals. They are America’s finest and I think that, you know, the Army is lucky to have my son.

What my son said to me, though, was — it was an awakening for me to realize that he knows what he is doing in this and he knows that he has chosen the right reason to serve. I was just being mom to him just a few weeks ago — no V.P. talk even then — but just as mom I was probably getting on his nerves, asking him a whole lot of question about the deployment and about he and his Stryker brigade, what his job will be and he’s like, Mom, I belong to the Army now. I belong to America.

HANNITY: He said that to you?

PALIN: He did. And he was telling me, Mom, it’s going to be OK and I’ve chosen to do this. And you know, I’m like, man, thank God for this voluntary military that we have with America’s finest. These young men and women, they just — they just make me so proud.

HANNITY: Why do we need to win in Iraq? Just get right to the bottom line. Why is losing not an option?

PALIN: Losing is not — retreat is not an option. Retreat is defeat in Iraq. Al Qaeda, they’re acknowledging even, along with General Petraeus, that Iraq is the central front on the War on Terror and the violent Islamic extremists who hate America would love that stronghold to be built in Iraq.

If we were to lose there, we’re not going to be any better off when we fight in Afghanistan either, nor the other areas where terrorist cells are growing across our world.

HANNITY: What countries today pose the most danger, in your view, to America?

PALIN: Any country that is going to house violent Islamic terrorists. We have to keep our eye, of course, on Iran. We’ve got to keep our eye on some of the ongoing activities in Russia, also. North Korea under the leadership of Kim Jong Il — certainly there is a lot of concern there.

What we have got to commit to, also, especially when we talk about Russia, no Cold War. We have got to know that our mindset needs to be opportunity for pressure and diplomacy and sanctions if need be, as we keep our eye on a country like Russia.

HANNITY: You don’t want to start a war with Russia —

PALIN: We do not want to start a war with Russia. No Cold War. That’s got to be off the table. And — opportunity comes with new leadership being ushered in, being elected in into our democracy where we can start forging even better relationships and strengthening the allies that we have. That’s the opportunity that John McCain is going to make sure happens.

HANNITY: What do you view — and I know this came up in your interview with Charlie Gibson, as it relates to the Bush Doctrine — what do you view as the Bush Doctrine and what do you view as America’s role in the world? What is our role as a country, as it relates to national security?

PALIN: That’s a great question and being an optimist I see our role in the world as one of — being a force for good and one of being the leader of the world when it comes to the values that — it seems that just humankind embraces the values that encompass life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And that’s not just in America, that is in our world.

And America is in a position, because we care for so many people, to be able to lead and to be able to have a strong diplomacy and a strong military. Also at the same time to defend not only our freedoms but, to help these rising, smaller democratic countries that are just — you know, they’re putting themselves on the map right now, and they’re going to be looking to America as that leader. We being used as a force for good is how I see our country.

HANNITY: When you were first announced as Senator McCain’s running mate, the Obama campaign put out a statement and here’s what it was. It said, “Today, Senator McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000, with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat from the presidency.” Perhaps they forgot you got promoted.

But how did that make you feel?

PALIN: Oh, you know, it’s motivating to me, Sean. Because it’s, OK, not only personally, well, I have opportunity to prove what the capabilities are here. But I so respected John McCain, his maverick streak in him there really being made manifest in choosing someone who has a track record of that commitment to reform, of being able to share the examples of the reform, the practices that have been implemented and have been good for the people whom I have been serving. I’ve been working for the people of Wasilla and Alaska. And in my job also in overseeing such a healthy portion of the U.S. domestic production of oil.

Those things that I add to the ticket, certainly our opponents are going to ignore all that and they’re going to send their opposition researchers up to Alaska. They’ve got dozens of them up there now.

HANNITY: They called it a mini-army in “The Wall Street Journal.” Did you meet any of them? You were just up there? Did you see any of them?

PALIN: Didn’t see them but I hear that they’re all over the place and I’m just hoping that they’re going spend a lot of money in our local communities and bolster the economy up there.

HANNITY: So you’re hoping that the economy will…

PALIN: Absolutely.

HANNITY: Benefit from all the media and the op research team of Barack Obama.

PALIN: Yes, the opposition research, too. You know, we know how this works. And certainly they’re going to find a few of those who have those ruffled feathers up there and so be it.

We’re moving on and we are focusing on the issues that are important to Americans in this election. It’s the economy. It’s winning the war. It’s a strong education system for our students today and a very healthy workforce that needs to have opportunity for jobs for hard working families in America.

That’s what the people of America are talking about.

HANNITY: Let’s talk about Senator Obama. He’s clearly upset at your speech at the Republican National Convention when you took on, quote, “community organizer — organizers.” Do you think that maybe being a little too rough on Senator Obama? Some of his critics think that was over the line and too tough.

PALIN: Oh, I certainly didn’t mean to hurt his feelings. Didn’t mean to offend any community organizers, either.

I do have respect for those who have chosen public service. And what I was doing though, certainly, should be obvious, was directing a comment to him as he had taken a shot at small mayors across the nation.

HANNITY: So it’s payback!

PALIN: And you know, small mayors, mayors of small towns, quote unquote. They’re on the front lines. They’re held accountable every single day that they are in office with real responsibilities that do demand that accountability and invite accountability.

HANNITY: Why do you think that some women’s group, prominent women’s groups in America, have not supported you? You’ve even been attacked by some of them.

PALIN: I don’t know, that’s their prerogative though. Again, this campaign is about important, very important issues that are not necessarily gender specific. And I believe that the ticket is the right ticket for America, as we progress our agenda that’s going to lift up all Americans.

And certainly I would love to have their support, but I’m not going to change my positions in order to get some of these groups and some in the media to try to — try to woo them over. Don’t have time to do that. We’re moving forward on a ticket of reform.

HANNITY: Let’s talk about Senator Biden, your counterpart. He’s spent over 30 years in the Senate. He’s been on the Foreign Relations Committee. One might even wonder if Barack Obama would want to debate him. That is going to be your task.

How big of a challenge do you view the upcoming debate with Senator Biden?

PALIN: Senator Biden has tremendous amounts of experience. I think he was first elected when I was like in second grade. He’s been in there a long, long, long time. So he’s got the experience. He probably has the sound bites. He has the rhetoric. He knows what’s expected of him. He is a great debater, also. So yes, it’s going to be quite a task in front of me.

But again, the American people are concerned about the issues aforementioned already here. And the American people, they are wise and reading through a lot of the rhetoric and they want to know what a person’s worldview is. They want to know what a person’s agenda is. They also want to know what the examples are that they can judge where that person will be able to lead them.

HANNITY: You said that — in the last part of your interview with Charles Gibson — you said that you thought that Senator Obama, he probably regrets it now, in terms of not picking Senator Clinton.

Why do you feel that way?

PALIN: I think Senator Clinton had shown a lot of determination and stick-to-itiveness in her campaigns and I have to respect that. I don’t have to agree with all that she tried to push through and parts of her agenda. In fact, I don’t agree with all of it.

But there are some things that Hillary Clinton did that nobody can take away from her. And that is the 18 million cracks that she put there in that highest and hardest glass ceiling in America’s political scene. She was able to affect that and I respect that.

HANNITY: Let me ask you this. Senator Obama had talked about people in Pennsylvania, while he was in San Francisco, as being bitter Americans, clinging to guns and clinging to religion.

Do you think that was a putdown of middle class people in the country?

PALIN: Well, you know, I’m one of those people. So I think that we just have great respect for a candidate who would not speak about us, middle class Americans, in one part of the country and then turn around and say something different about middle class America in another part of the country.

And let me go back to John McCain and that assurance that I can give Americans that the candidate whom I am running with, he is the same man — no matter where he is, no matter who is listening. He is a man who is so proud of America and is very much in touch with middle class Americans and wants to be hired by Americans so that he can work for them and put government on their side.

HANNITY: How you dealing with some of the harsh attacks against you? Let me give you a couple of examples.

PALIN: Oh, thanks. Good.

HANNITY: Well, I’m glad to do it.

South Carolina Democratic chairman said your primary qualification seems to be, you didn’t have an abortion. Politico reported, the National Organization for Women’s spokesman: she’s more a conservative man than she is a woman on women’s issues. Gloria Steinem: Sarah Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Hillary Clinton.

PALIN: You got me on that first one, that abortion — that’s an appalling comment. You know, though, the shots that I’m taking, I know what the truth is and I know what my convictions are and my foundation is. So I’m fine there. I’m fine there.

The shots that perhaps our campaign has taken, it’s nothing compared to the shots that some people across America are taking today. The things that really matter: Somebody worried about losing their house because of Wall Street collapses. Somebody worried about losing their job or being able to pay for their child’s health care coverage or a parent perhaps having lost a son or daughter in battle, those are the shots that matter.

I’m going to keep it all in perspective.

HANNITY: There is — Ed Rendell said the coverage of Barack Obama in this campaign was embarrassing, Democrat. Mark Penn — Clinton pollster — He said that the media’s on dangerous ground, so far they’re the biggest losers in this race. Scott Rasmussen had a poll, 69 percent of people are convinced reporters are trying to help the candidate they want win, and five to one that’s Senator Obama.

Do you see media bias in this campaign?

PALIN: I don’t know. But a conservative candidate has got to know what they’re getting themselves into in the world that we are in today. And, you know, I knew putting my name on the dotted line there saying, yes, I’m willing to serve. I knew what I was getting into. You can’t whine about it. That doesn’t do any good. And you’ve got to grow thick skin.

I was telling a couple of our campaign people the other day. I said, you see this? You think this is just baby fat, right, from having Trig four months ago. No, it’s some thick skin in there also.

HANNITY: Let me ask you this, because there have been a number of controversies. I’ll let you give a quick reaction to them. That have as the 30 mini army of reporters and op research people in the Obama campaign. Did you ban books in the Alaska library? Did you try to ban books in the Alaska library? In the Wasilla Library?

PALIN: No. But I got a kick out of that one also. Yes, no. No banned books. No desire to ban a book. That list of banned books, though, that we saw there that included “Harry Potter,” which, of course, had not even been written or published before I was in there. To be accused of banning books, no.

HANNITY: It’s false.

PALIN: False.

HANNITY: Never part of an effort to secede — have Alaska secede from the Union?

PALIN: No. False. Always been a Republican, not been a part of a party that has wanted to secede.

HANNITY: Did you only want to teach creationism in school and not evolution?

PALIN: No. In fact, growing up in a school teacher’s house with a science teacher as a dad, you know, I have great respect for science being taught in our science classes and evolution to be taught in our science classes.

HANNITY: You weren’t supporting Pat Buchanan for president? You did have a button on.

PALIN: I did wear a button at his book signing, or one of the events. Because see here, a presidential candidate coming to little ole’ Wasilla, one year. And we all showed up. It was an honor to see anyone of that stature come to our city.

HANNITY: All right. “The Bridge to Nowhere.”

PALIN: Yes.

HANNITY: Did you rigidly support it and did you change your view on it? Because the Democrats are saying, no, no, no, she originally supported it and she said she said she opposed it.

PALIN: Well, I killed the Bridge to Nowhere. And you know, I think I ruffled some feathers there, also, with our congressman who had been requesting that bridge for so many years.

What we needed to do up there in Alaska, was find some good transportation between the two land bodies there. And we did. We found that with an improved ferry system between Ketchikan and its airport. But, the Bridge to Nowhere is, as I’ve been saying in my speeches, if it’s something that Alaskans really want and support, which at this time, they’re not willing to support to such an extent that we’ll pay for it ourselves, we better kill the bridge because we know the rest of the nation’s not going to pay for it.

HANNITY: The biggest story, the biggest controversy now that has emerged with the 30 investigators in Wasilla and the rest of Alaska, seems to deal with the firing of your ex-brother-in-law. Big issue in Alaska, even news this morning that the attorney general said, no, these subpoenas are not going to happen, et cetera, et cetera.

What happened? What is your version of the story?

PALIN: Well, my ex-brother-in-law is an Alaskan state trooper and he’s never been fired. He’s still an Alaska state trooper.

We have two different issues going on here. Two different issues. One is, a cabinet member, my commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, who had some strengths in some areas, insubordinate in some other areas, as we tried to reign in budgets and tried to find efficiencies in departments and he wasn’t willing to go there with his department.

But, his strength in another area of public safety, I recognized that it was my responsibility, my obligation to make sure we had the right people in the right places at the right time in the cabinet to best serve Alaskans. So, I asked him to transfer into another position. And he chose not to be transferred. So, he left the service. That’s one issue. It had nothing to do with a former brother-in-law, a state trooper who happened to have been married to one of my sisters until about three years ago.

I asked the personnel board even in the state of Alaska, if they had questions about why it was that I exercised my responsibility in replacing our commissioner. I asked the personnel board, that appropriate board, to oversee such actions, to come investigate. And that’s where it is now. Hopefully, it’s the personnel board looking into this and it’s not this obsessive partisanship that seems to have kind of captured the issue.

HANNITY: One of the local officials up there, state officials, was talking about this being a big October surprise. There was also talk about, he admitted to Tasering a 10 year old, or an 11-year-old child.

PALIN: He did. This trooper Tasered my nephew. And he Tasered — well, that was — it’s all on the record. It’s all there. His threats against the first family, the threat against my dad. All that is in the record. And if the opposition researchers are choosing to forget that side of the story, they’re not doing their job.

HANNITY: Governor, I guess one of the biggest challenges for families is balancing career and their family life. Have you thought about how that would impact your family now, considering this is the job — one of the biggest jobs in the country?

PALIN: Oh yeah. Yeah. Thought a lot about that. Wouldn’t have said yes had I had a hesitation there at all thinking that my kids would be adversely affected. You know, my kids they’re used to having a very full life, pretty busy schedules and we make it work. I’m lucky I have a network full of aunties and uncles and grandparents — a lot of help there.

Also, there are sacrifices that have to be made. In my own life, you have to be pragmatic and logical about this. I don’t waste a lot of time watching TV and doing some things that maybe that some other people would do.

HANNITY: Just “Hannity & Colmes.”

PALIN: That’s the only thing that I would spend my time doing, yes. But, you have to have that balance and you find that balance.

HANNITY: Have you discussed it with your husband? If this — if you win in 48 days, what that life would be like?

PALIN: Yeah.

HANNITY: Moving to D.C.

PALIN: Moving to D.C.

HANNITY: All right, now one of the big benefits of the job is that you get a really big plane. Are you going to promise the American people that’s not going to be sold on eBay?

PALIN: No. I would think that we would actually need that. My husband he’s a pilot, but I would have to convince him also that we can’t be getting around in our little Piper Super Cub. We’d be using that Air Force Two.

HANNITY: Is that the one that’s parked outside your house there?

PALIN: Yes. Yes.

HANNITY: You spoke passionately while we were talking earlier about your role in a McCain administration. One of the things you said was that you’re going to work for families with special needs. And you’ve experienced this recently yourself, when you found out that you were going to have a child with special needs. Was that tough? Was that hard? Did it take a while to absorb that?

PALIN: Yeah, to be perfectly honest with you, absolutely, it took me many months to get my arms and my heart wrapped around the idea. Obviously knowing that this would be a new joy in our life, but challenges with that new joy.

So, it took a while and I was very thankful to have that time to be prepared. And then, you know, my prayers were that God would prepare my heart and give me the ability to handle it.

And then, of course, the minute that Trig was born I knew that there was confirmation that those prayers were answered. Everybody falling so in love with him. It was all good and it’s been all good.

HANNITY: You’ve talked a lot about religion — and I know you’ve discussed this — how important is religion and your faith? Because I read a lot about you and obviously religion and faith is an important part of your life. How important is it in your life?

PALIN: Faith is very, very important in my life. I don’t believe I wear it on my sleeve and I would never try to shove it down anybody else’s throat and try to convert anybody. But just a very simple faith that is important to me — it really is my foundation.

HANNITY: Historically — modern times — who inspires you politically? Who are people that you look to as maybe people that you can gain inspiration from in tough times?

PALIN: I’m thankful that I came of age politically in the era of Ronald Reagan, in high school and in college. You know, he — he is my inspiration. His vision of America and of the exceptional-ism of our country. I think about him every day. I think about what that Great Communicator has left our country and the rest of the world.

So he and then his partner on a lot of the good things that went on in the world at that time, Margaret Thatcher — just over the water. She too — she was underestimated as she came into office and proved herself with her abilities, her determination. She is another one.

Further back in history, Abraham Lincoln. Coming into office in a time of such turmoil. He was able to do some unconventional things, in assembling a very unusual Cabinet as was written about in “Team of Rivals.” What Lincoln was able to do was marshal talents from disgruntled opponents even and adversaries and have everybody work together in order to fulfill the mission of unifying the nation and winning the war.

HANNITY: You obviously have a lot of passion. What motivates you? For example, what made you want to get into the political world? What made you so willing to accept this job and not blink? Where does your motivation come from?

PALIN: My love of this country. I’m one of those people, you know, I see a soldier walk through the airport and, you know, my heart does a little double-take. And I hear the Pledge of Allegiance or our National Anthem and I get a lump in my throat. And know that that’s the majority of Americans. Also, I am so proud, have been so proud of our country, every step of the way. We’ve made mistakes. We learn from our mistakes. But just the passion that I have for Americans.

And, again, feeling compelled to respond when I see leadership, government straying from the spirit of our Constitution and straying from the spirit of what it is that Americans expect and deserve in their government.

I have an opportunity to respond and to join a teammate here — John McCain — in reform, putting government back on the side of the people. It’s an opportunity that’s very humbling and I take it very, very seriously.

HANNITY: Last question: Life in Wasilla. Growing up — it is a small town — and moose hunting.

PALIN: Yeah.

HANNITY: And I read a quote that your dad had given to somebody, that he felt that he’s prepared you for anything that’s going to come your way as a result of that.

What was life growing up like there?

PALIN: It’s small-town America. It’s just good, unpretentious, hard-working people who love their state, they love their country, also proud to be American — the best upbringing that I could have ever hoped for. My parents instilling in me not just a love of family and community, but a love of freedom and independence. That’s what growing up in Alaska has been about.

And certainly, I would like to take what it is that was instilled in me there and that I have learned and built as a foundation and implement some good things for the betterment of our nation.

HANNITY: Governor, as a kid from Long Island, I played ice hockey, but I never went moose hunting.

Thank you, Governor. We appreciate all your time.

MonkeyCrash is Your Source For Conservative Opinion

Viewing and Funeral Arrangements For Tfc Mickey Lippy And Pilot Stephen Bunker

Viewing and Funeral Arrangements For Tfc Mickey Lippy And Pilot Stephen Bunker

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
9/30/08

VIEWING AND FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 9/30/08

MEDIA ADVISORY

VIEWING AND FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR TFC MICKEY LIPPY AND PILOT STEPHEN BUNKER

Trooper First Class Mickey Lippy

Viewing: Thursday, October 2, 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Gamber & Community Fire Company Station 13
3838 Niner Rd.
Gamber, MD 21048
410-795-3445

Funeral: Friday, October 3, 11:00 a.m.
Gamber & Community Fire Company

Burial: Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens
200 E. Padonia Road
Timonium, MD 21093
Immediately following funeral

Pilot Stephen Bunker

Viewing: Friday, October 3, 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
South Potomac Church
4915 Crain Highway
White Plains, MD 20695
301-753-4075

Funeral: Saturday, October 4, 11:00 a.m.
South Potomac Church
White Plains, MD 20695

Burial: Cedar Hill Cemetery
4111 Pennsylvania Avenue
Suitland, MD 20746
301-817-0120


###


CONTACT: Public Affairs Offic Denise Masimore
Office of Media Communications & Marketing
410-653-4236 (Office) 410-653-4200 (through Headquarters Duty Officer)

20080930 Viewing and Funeral Arrangements For Lippy And Bunker

Statement From The Family Of State Police Helicopter Pilot Stephen Bunker

Statement From The Family Of State Police Helicopter Pilot Stephen Bunker

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 29, 2008

STATEMENT FROM THE FAMILY OF STATE POLICE HELICOPTER PILOT STEPHEN BUNKER

The following is a statement from the family of Maryland State Police Pilot Stephen H. Bunker. The Bunker family deeply appreciates the outpouring of support for them in their time of grief and loss.

Quotes from the Bunker Family

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families who lost their loved ones in this tragic accident. Steve was a loving, devoted husband and father, and we will miss him more than words can say. Being a pilot for the Maryland State Police fulfilled a life long dream for Steve. He loved helping people and he loved aviation. Being a pilot for the Maryland State Police enabled him to do both. Over his career in aviation, Steve and his colleagues saved countless lives. He was a hero to his family and all who knew him. He died doing what he loved to do. My husband was a rock within our family for 23 years. He has been, and will forever be, the love of my life.” Sherry Bunker (wife)

“My father has always been a role model in my life. He taught me to be honest, work hard, and keep life in proper perspective. He is truly my hero.” Stacie Bunker (daughter)

“I couldn’t imagine having a better father. I’m really going to miss him.” Shelby Bunker (daughter)

“He was a great Dad. I’m proud to have had a father who risked his life daily to save others. He is my hero.” Scott Bunker (son)

NOTE: The Bunker family does not wish to conduct any media interviews and asks for understanding of their wish as they grieve. Please direct any questions to the Maryland State Police Office of Media Communications. Recent photos of Pilot Steve Bunker are available by contacting media@mdsp.org.

###

CONTACT: Mr. Gregory Shipley
Office of Media Communications & Marketing
410-653-4236 (Office) 410-653-4200 (through Headquarters Duty Officer)

20080928 St From The Family Of St Police Helicopter Pilot Stephen Bunker

Carroll County History Project

Carroll County History Project

Be a Part of History!
Come to this Unique Premiere

Friday, October 3, 2008 at 6pm
Westminster’s Carroll Arts Center
Refreshments served at 5:30 pm

Learn about the rich history of Carroll County at the unveiling of the three-part Carroll County History Project. Join special guests Dr. Debra Johnson-Ross from McDaniel College, Jean Lewis of the Carroll County NAACP, independent film maker Leo Eaton of Eaton Creative, and independent producer Marilyn Maguire as they introduce the project and make presentations on the importance of capturing oral history.

Watch personal interviews with local residents for a glimpse of life in “the old days” through the Carroll County Remembers Project, a collection of oral histories fashioned after National Public Radio’s StoryCorps. In a similar vein, Carroll County: Through the Eyes of the Black Experience relays personal histories from the perspective of minority residents. Guests will also get a preview of the new documentary Carroll County’s Legacy created by MPT producer Marilyn Maguire.

To reserve your seat for this free event, call (410) 386-4415. The Carroll Arts Center is located at 91 West Main Street in Westminster, Maryland.

The Carroll County History Project was developed by Community Media Center, Carroll County Public Library, Carroll County NAACP, the Human Relations Commission of Carroll County, the Historical Society of Carroll County and the Carroll County Genealogical Society.

Learn more at www.cmcmd.tv

20081003 Carroll County History Project

The Republican Study Committee Economic Rescue Alternative Plan

The Republican Study Committee Economic Rescue Alternative Plan

Economic Rescue Alternative Plan

(9/29/08)

Today, as the House considers Treasury's financial rescue plan, the RSC has released alternative legislation to provide relief in the financial markets while protecting free-market principles. The bill includes the original Repbulican alternative legislation as well as the provisions the RSC unveiled earlier in the week (capital gains relief, GSE privatization, suspending mark-to-market regulations, etc.). The RSC has distributed this summary of the bill, which provides a detailed outline of the alternative.

RSC Legislative Bulletin: The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (9/29/08)The RSC has analyzed the text of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act and distibuted this Legislative Bulletin, containing a summary of the bill's highlights.

Conservatives Question Bailout Plan (9/19/08)

Leading conservatives in the House have publicly questioned the soundness of Treasury Secretary Paulson’s plan for a taxpayer bailout of the financial markets.

Read the letter from 31 House conservatives to Treasury Secretary Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke here.

Read the statement from RSC Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) here.

Read the statement from former RSC Chairman Mike Pence (R-IN) here.

ECONOMIC RESCUE ALTERNATIVE PLAN

September 29, 2008

We believe that policymakers must act decisively and correctly.

We believe that we can help Wall Street “workout” of this crisis, not force the taxpayers into a “bailout.”

We believe that voluntary private capital, not involuntary taxpayer capital, will help the system recover.

A Work-Out—Not a Bail-Out

Stabilizing Financial Markets: Require the Treasury Department to guarantee losses up to 100%, resulting from the failure of timely payment and interest from mortgage-backed securities (MBS) originated prior to the date of enactment. Such insurance would provide immediate value to the MBS and a foundation for which they could then be sold.

Risk-Based Premiums: Direct the Treasury Department to assess a premium on outstanding MBS to finance this insurance. Participation in the program would be mandatory for all holders of such MBS in order to guard against adverse selection where only the holders of troubled assets participate. A risk-based premium would be assessed on those with troubled MBS. The premium would expire when the Treasury Secretary determines the fund has sufficient resources to meet any projected losses.

Private-Capital Off the Sidelines by Empowering Private Investors

Net Operating Losses: Allow companies to carry-back losses arising in tax years ending in 2007, 2008, or 2009 back 5 years, generating a tax refund and immediate capital. Despite the presence of willing buyers, many firms with MBS are not willing to sell at such a huge loss. Such a carry-back provides a cushion for any such loss, making firms more willing sellers.

Repatriation Infusion: Allow a repatriation window for profits earned by U.S. firms overseas. Such repatriation amounts would be taxed at 0% if invested in distressed debt (as defined by Treasury) for at least one year.

Bank Losses on GSE Stock: Allow banks to treat losses on shares of preferred stock in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as ordinary losses, not as capital losses.

Two-Year Suspension of the Capital Gains: Immediately suspend the capital gains rate from 15% for individuals and 35% for corporations. By encouraging corporations to sell unwanted assets, this provision would unleash funds and materials with which to create jobs and grow the economy. After the two-year suspension, capital gains rates would return to present levels but assets would be indexed permanently for any inflationary gains.

Reforming a Failure in Government Institutions

Limit Federal Backing for High Risk Loans: Mandate that GSEs no longer securitize any unsound mortgage that is: (1) not fully documented to meet minimum requirements for work, assets, and income; (2) written to comply with any law or regulation that would otherwise violate a firm’s lending rules.

Schedule the GSEs for Privatization: Transition Fannie and Freddie over a reasonable time period to truly private companies without special government privileges and open them up to real market competition. This reform would 1) establish commonsense limits for their capital requirements and portfolio holdings relative their size, 2) focus their mission on affordable housing only, not profit making, 3) require them to pay an appropriate risk-based amount for the government guarantee they enjoy, 4) subject them to state and local taxes and accurate SEC filings like every other private for-profit corporation, and 5) ultimately provide for the phase out their GSE charters once their conservatorship has ended.

Suspend “Mark to Market” Accounting: Direct the SEC to suspend the mark-to-market regulatory rules until the agency can issue new guidelines that will allow firms to mark these assets to their true economic value. The current rules contribute to a downward spiral as firms have to evaluate their assets not on the basis of their long-term investment but rather on a short-term mania.

Stabilize the Dollar: Repeal the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act which diverts the Federal Reserve’s attention from long-term price stability to short-term economic growth. In an effort to fuel the economy, this additional mandate has encouraged the Fed to keep rates artificially low, fueling economic boom and busts, and now a strong up-tick in inflation and the decline of the dollar (as investors free dollars for hard assets). This reform would require the Fed to establish a numerical definition for price stability and maintain a policy that promotes it over the long-term.

Oversight and Corporate Accountability

Executive Compensation Limits: Require the Treasury to write rules prohibiting excessive compensation or golden parachutes to executives of failed companies at the expense of taxpayers.

Strict Enforcement of Laws Designed to Protect Investors: Task the SEC with reviewing the annual audit reports of entities the federal government has brought under conservatorship or now owns, and determine if those annual audit reports from years 2005 to present accurately reflected the financial health of those businesses.

Staff Contact: Russ Vought, 202-226-8581, russ.vought@mail.house.gov

Related:

The Pelosi Charm

Transcript of Speaker Pelosi’s Floor Statement on the partisan Financial Rescue Legislation moments before it was voted down

Doug Ross: Any Questions

Doug Ross The Fannie Mae testimony that will make you scream in anger

20080928 The Republican Study Committee Economic Rescue Alternative Plan

http://www.house.gov/hensarling/rsc/

The Pelosi Charm

The Pelosi Charm

Monday, September 29, 2008

Democrat Speaker of the House left no doubt that she skipped the class in charm school that taught that it is to one’s advantage to be nice to folks when you want something from them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMLo7i38D58

“Reps. Boehner, Blunt, and Cantor said they had at least a dozen more votes for the bill until Nancy Pelosi came to the floor just after 12:20 eastern time and gave an exceedingly partisan speech that effectively killed the bill.” (GOP: Pelosi Killed Bill With Partisan Speech Posted by TOM BEVAN on the Real Clear Politics blog)

This speech was incomprehensible reprehensible revisionist history in which, what may very well be the most galling moral relativism, she praises Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) whose fingerprints are over the causes of current financial meltdown.

Representative Frank said in 2003: “I think it is clear that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are sufficiently secure so they are in no great danger... I don't think we face a crisis; I don't think that we have an impending disaster. ...Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do very good work, and they are not endangering the fiscal health of this country.” (Doug Ross The Fannie Mae testimony that will make you scream in anger)

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) said in 2003: “I have sat through nearly a dozen hearings where, frankly, we were trying to fix something that wasn't broke. [sic] ...These GSEs have more than adequate capital for the business they are in: providing affordable housing. As I mentioned, we should not be making radical or fundamental change... If there is anything to fix or improve, it is the [regulators].” (Doug Ross The Fannie Mae testimony that will make you scream in anger)

“Five years ago, Republicans proposed ‘the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry [in a decade].’ (Source: New York Times) Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee blocked efforts at fixing Fannie and Freddie. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) said, ‘Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac... are not facing any kind of financial crisis,’” (Doug Ross: Any Questions)

Speaker Pelosi says that the current meltdown is all the fault of President George W. Bush and free market capitalism. Yet this is inconsistent with: Wayne Barrett at the Village Voice: “[Clinton appointee] Andrew Cuomo... made a series of decisions between 1997 and 2001 that gave birth to the country's current crisis. He took actions that... helped plunge Fannie and Freddie into the subprime markets without putting in place the means to monitor their increasingly risky investments. He turned the Federal Housing Administration...into a sweetheart lender with sky-high loan ceilings and no money down, and he legalized what a federal judge has branded "kickbacks" to brokers that have fueled the sale of overpriced and unsupportable loans. Three to four million families are now facing foreclosure, and Cuomo is one of the reasons why.” (Doug Ross The Fannie Mae testimony that will make you scream in anger)

Hat Tip for AP photo: Don Surber – “A confident Democrat Barney Frank promises solvency in our time as he announces the breakthrough bailout. Voting is only a formality…”

Related:

Transcript of Speaker Pelosi’s Floor Statement on the partisan Financial Rescue Legislation moments before it was voted down

Doug Ross: Any Questions

Doug Ross The Fannie Mae testimony that will make you scream in anger

Don Surber

20080928 The Pelosi Charm

Transcript of Speaker Pelosi’s Floor Statement on the partisan Financial Rescue Legislation moments before it was voted down

Transcript of Speaker Pelosi’s Floor Statement on the partisan Financial Rescue Legislation moments before it was voted down

September 29, 2008

Madam speaker, when was the last time anyone ever asked you for $700 billion? It’s a staggering figure. And many questions have arisen from that request. And we have been hearing, I think, a very informed debate on all sides — of — of this issue here today. I’m proud of the debate.

$700 billion. A staggering number. But only a part of the cost of the failed Bush economic policies to our country. Policies that were built on budget recklessness. When President Bush took office, he inherited President Clinton’s surpluses — four years in a row, budget surpluses, on a trajectory of $5.6 trillion in surplus. And with his reckless economic policies, within two years, he had turned that around.

And now eight years later, the foundation of that fiscal irresponsibility, combined with an anything goes economic policy, has taken us to where we are today. They claim to be free market advocates, when it’s really an anything goes mentality. No regulation, no supervision, no discipline. And if you fail, you will have a golden parachute, and the taxpayer will bail you out.

Those days are over. The party is over in that respect. Democrats believe in a free market. We know that it can create jobs, it can create wealth, it can create many good things in our economy. But in this case, in its unbridled form, as encouraged, supported, by the Republicans — some in the Republican Party, not all — it has created not jobs, not capital, it has created chaos.

And it is that chaos that the secretary of the Treasury and the chairman of the Fed came to see us just about a week and a half ago — seems like an eternity, doesn’t it, so much has happened, the news was so bad. They described a very, very dismal situation. A dismal situation describing the state of our economy, the fragility of our financial institutions and the instability of our markets, our equity markets, our credit markets, our bond market.

And here we were listening to people who knew of what they spoke. Secretary of the Treasury brings long credentials and knowledge of the markets. More fearful, though, to me, more scary, was the statement — were the statements of Chairman Bernanke [Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve], because Chairman Bernanke is probably one of the foremost authorities in America on the subject of the Great Depression. I don’t know what was so great about the Depression, but that’s the name they give it. And we heard the secretary and the chairman tell us that this was a once in a hundred year phenomenon, this fiscal crisis was so drastic. Certainly once in 50 years, probably once in a hundred years.

And how did it sneak up on us? So silently, almost on little cat feet. That they would come in on that day — and they didn’t actually ask for the money, that much money that night. It took two days until we saw the legislation that they were proposing to help calm the markets. And it was on that day that we learned of a $700 billion request.

But it wasn’t just the money that was alarming. It was the nature of the legislation. It gave the secretary of the Treasury czar-like powers, unlimited powers, latitude to do all kinds of things and specifically prohibited judicial review or review of any other federal administrative agency to review their actions.

Another aspect of it that was alarming is it gave the secretary the power to use any money that came back from these infusions of cash to be used at the discretion of the secretary. Not to reduce the deficit, not to go into the general funds so that we could afford other priorities. To be used at the discretion of the secretary. It was shocking. Working together in a bipartisan way, we were able to make major improvements on that proposal, even though its fundamental basis was almost arrogant and insulting.

The American people responded almost immediately. Overwhelmingly, they said they know that something needs to be done. Say 78 percent of the American people said Congress must act. Fifty-eight-some percent said, but not to accept the Bush proposal. And so here we are today, a week later and a couple of days later, coming to the floor with a product — not a bill that I would have written, one that has major disappointments with me, beginning with the fact that it does not have bankruptcy in this bill — and we will continue to persist and work to achieve that.

It’s interesting, though, to me that when they describe this, the magnitude of the challenge and the precipice that we were on and how we had to act quickly and we had to act boldly and we had to act now, that it never occurred to them that the consequences of this market were being felt well in advance by the American people. And unemployment is up, and therefore we need unemployment insurance. That jobs are lacking, and therefore we need a stimulus package. So how can on the one hand could this be so urgent at the moment, and yet so unnecessary for us to address the effects of this poor economy in the households of America across our country?

We’ll come back to that in a moment. Working together, we put together some standards — and I am really proud of what Barney Frank did in this regard. The first night, that night, that Thursday night, when we got the very, very dismal news, he immediately said, if we’re going to do this — and Spencer Bachus was a part of this as well — in terms of if we’re going to do this, we must have equity for the American people. We’re putting up $700 billion, we want the American people to get some of the upside. So equity, fairness for the American people.

Secondly, if they were describing the root of the problem as the mortgage-backed securities, Barney insisted that we would have forbearance on foreclosure. If we’re now going to own that paper, that we would then have forbearance to help responsible homeowners stay in their home.

In addition to that, we have to have strong, strong oversight. We didn’t even have to see the $700 billion or the full extent of their bill to know that we needed equity and upside for the taxpayer, forbearance for the homeowner, oversight of the government on what they were doing, and something that the American people understand full well, an end to the golden parachutes and the — a — review and reform of the compensation for C.E.O.’s.

Let’s get this straight. We have a situation where on Wall Street people are flying high, they are making unconscionable amounts of money. They make a lot of money, they privatize the gain, the minute things go tough, they nationalize the risk. They get a golden parachute as they drive their firm into the ground, and the American people have to pick up the tab. Something is very, very wrong with this picture.

So just on first blush, that Thursday night, we made it clear, meeting much resistance on the part of the administration, that those four things, equity, forbearance, oversight, and reform of compensation. Overriding all of this is a protection of the taxpayer. We need to stabilize the markets. In doing so, we need to protect the taxpayers.

And that’s why I’m so glad that this bill contains a suggestion made by Mr. Tanner [Representative John Tanner, Democrat of Tennessee] that if at the end of the day, say in five years, when we can take a review of the success or whatever of this initiative, that if there is a shortfall and we don’t get our whole $700 billion back that we have invested, that there will be an initiative to have the financial institutions that benefited from this program to make up that shortfall.

But not one penny of this should be carried by the American people. People asked, and Mr. Spratt [Representative John M. Spratt Jr., Democrat of South Carolina] spoke with great knowledge and eloquence on the budget and aspects of the budget. $700 billion, what is the impact, what is the opportunity cost for our country of the investments that we would want to make?

O.K., now we have it in place where the taxpayer is going to be made whole and that was very important for us. But why on the drop of a hat can they ask us for $700 billion, and we couldn’t get any support from the administration on a stimulus package that would also help grow the economy?

People tell me all over the world that the biggest emerging market, economic market in the world, is rebuilding the infrastructure of America. Roads, bridges, waterways, water systems in addition to waterways. The grid, broadband, schools, housing, certain schools. We are trillions of dollars in deficit there.

We know what we need to do to do it in a fiscally sound way, in a fiscally sound way that creates good-paying jobs in America immediately. Brings money into the treasury by doing so, and again does all of this in an all-American way. Good-paying jobs here in America.

We can’t get the time of day for 25, $35 billion for that, which we know guarantees jobs, et cetera, but $700 billion. So make no mistake, when this Congress adjourns today to observe Rosh Hashanah and have members go home for a bit, we are doing so at the call of the chair. Because this subject is not over, this discussion about how we save our economy.

And we must insulate Main Street from Wall Street. And as Congresswoman Waters [Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California] said, Martin Luther King Drive, in my district Martin Luther King Drive, and Cedar Chavez Road and all of the manifestations of community and small businesses in our community. We must insulate them from that. And so we have difficult choices, and so many of the things that were said on both sides of this issue in terms of its criticisms of the bill we have and the bill that we had at first, and the very size of this, I share. You want to go home, so I’m not going to list all of my concerns that I have with it.

But it just comes down to one simple thing. They have described a precipice. We are on the brink of doing something that might pull us back from that precipice. I think we have a responsibility. We have worked in a bipartisan way. I want to acknowledge Mr. Blunt and Mr. Boehner, the work that we have done together, trying to find as much common ground as possible on this.

But we insisted the taxpayer be covered. We all insisted that we have a party-is-over message to Wall Street. And we insisted that, that taxpayers at risk must recover — that any risk must be recovered. I told you that already. So, my colleagues, let’s recognize that this Congressional — this legislation is not the end of the line.

Mr. Waxman [Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California] will be having vigorous oversight this week, hearings this week on regulatory reform and other aspects of it. I hope you will pursue fraud and mismanagement and the rest. Mr. Frank and his committee will continue to pursue other avenues that we can stabilize the markets and protect the taxpayer. For too long, this government, in eight years, has followed a right-wing ideology of anything goes, no supervision, no discipline, no regulation.

Again, all of us are believers in free markets, but we have to do it right. Now, let me again acknowledge the extraordinary leadership of Mr. Frank. He has been an exceptional leader in the Congress, but never has his knowledge and his experience and his judgment been more needed than now. And I thank you, Mr. Frank, for your exceptional leadership, Mr. Chairman.

I also — so many people worked on this, but I also want to acknowledge the distinguished chair of our caucus, Mr. Emanuel. His knowledge of the markets, the respect he commands on those subjects, and his boundless energy on the subjects served us well in these negotiations. But this, this is a bipartisan initiative that we are bringing to the floor. We have to have a bipartisan vote on this. That is the only message that will send a message of confidence to the markets.

So I hope that — I know that we will be able to live up to our side of the bargain. I hope the Republicans will, too.

But my colleagues, as you go home and see your families and observe the holiday and the rest, don’t get settled in too far, because as long as the American — this challenge is there for the American people, the threat of losing their jobs, the credit, their credit, their jobs, their savings, their retirement, the opportunity for them to send their children to college.

As long as in the households of America, this crisis is being felt very immediately and being addressed at a different level, we must come back, and we will come back as soon and as often as it is necessary to make the change that is necessary. And before long we will have a new Congress, a new president of the United States, and we will be able to take our country in a new direction.

####
20080929 Pelosi Fl St on Bipartisan Fin Rescue Leg

20080929 Transcript of Speaker Pelosi’s Floor Statement on the partisan Financial Rescue Legislation moments before it was voted down

Pelosi Floor Statement on Bipartisan Financial Rescue Legislation

Pelosi Floor Statement on Bipartisan Financial Rescue Legislation

For Immediate Release 09/29/2008

Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami

Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke on the House floor this afternoon in support the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. Below are her remarks, as prepared:

“Madam Speaker, when was the last time someone asked you for $700 billion?

“It is a number that is staggering, but tells us only the costs of the Bush Administration’s failed economic policies—policies built on budgetary recklessness, on an anything goes mentality, with no regulation, no supervision, and no discipline in the system.

“Democrats believe in the free market, which can and does create jobs, wealth, and capital, but left to its own devices it has created chaos.

“That chaos is the dismal picture painted by Treasury Secretary Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke a week and a half ago in the Capitol. As they pointed out, we confront a crisis of historic magnitude that has the ability to do serious injury not simply to our economy, but to the American people: not just to Wall Street, but to everyday Americans on Main Street.

“It is our responsibility today, to help avert that catastrophic outcome.

“Let us be clear: This is a crisis caused on Wall Street. But it is a crisis that reaches to Main Street in every city and town of the United States.

“It is a crisis that freezes credit, causes families to lose their homes, cripples small businesses, and makes it harder to find jobs.

“It is a crisis that never had to happen. It is now the duty of every Member of this body to recognize that the failure to act responsibly, with full protections for the American taxpayer, would compound the damage already done to the financial security of millions of American families.

“Over the past several days, we have worked with our Republican colleagues to fashion an alternative to the original plan of the Bush Administration.

“I must recognize the outstanding leadership provided by Chairman Barney Frank, whose enormous intellectual and strategic abilities have never before been so urgently needed, or so widely admired.

“I also want to recognize Rahm Emanuel, who combined his deep knowledge of financial institutions with his pragmatic policy experience, to resolve key disagreements.

“Secretary Paulson deserves credit for working day and night to help reach an agreement and for his flexibility in negotiating changes to his original proposal.

“Democrats insisted that legislation responding to this crisis must protect the American people and Main Street from the meltdown on Wall Street.

“The American people did not decide to dangerously weaken our regulatory and oversight policies. They did not make unwise and risky financial deals. They did not jeopardize the economic security of the nation. And they must not pay the cost of this emergency recovery and stabilization bill.

“So we insisted that this bill contain several key provisions:

“This legislation must contain independent and ongoing oversight to ensure that the recovery program is managed with full transparency and strict accountability.

“The legislation must do everything possible to allow as many people to stay in their homes rather than face foreclosure.

“The corporate CEOs whose companies will benefit from the public’s participation in this recovery must not benefit by exorbitant salaries and golden parachute retirement bonuses.

“Our message to Wall Street is this: the party is over. The era of golden parachutes for high-flying Wall Street operators is over. No longer will the U.S. taxpayer bailout the recklessness of Wall Street.

“The taxpayers who bear the risk in this recovery must share in the upside as the economy recovers.

“And should this program not pay for itself, the financial institutions that benefited, not the taxpayers, must bear responsibility for making up the difference.
“These were the Democratic demands to safeguard the American taxpayer, to help the economy recover, and to impose tough accountability as a central component of this recovery effort.

“This legislation is not the end of congressional activity on this crisis. Over the course of the next few weeks, we will continue to hold investigative and oversight hearings to find out how the crisis developed, where mistakes were made, and how the recovery must be managed to protect the middle class and the American taxpayer.

“With passage of this legislation today, we can begin the difficult job of turning our economy around, of helping those who depend on a growing economy and stable financial institutions for a secure retirement, for the education of their children, for jobs and small business credit.

“Today we must act for those Americans, for Main Street, and we must act now, with the bipartisan spirit of cooperation which allowed us to fashion this legislation.

“This not enough. We are also working to restore our nation’s economic strength by passing a new economic recovery stimulus package—a robust, job creating bill—that will help Americans struggling with high prices, get our economy back on track, and renew the American Dream.

“Today, we will act to avert this crisis, but informed by our experience of the past eight years with the failed economic leadership that has left us left capable of meeting the challenges of the future.

“We choose a different path. In the new year, with a new Congress and a new president, we will break free with a failed past and take America in a New Direction to a better future.”

http://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/pressreleases?id=0848

20080929 Pelosi Floor Statement on Bipartisan Financial Rescue Legislation

Washington Examiner: Politicians never learn they can't change the facts by Bill Wilson

Washington Examiner: Politicians never learn they can't change the facts by Bill Wilson

9/28/08

All the back and forth over the proposed $700 billion bailout of New York financial firms has degenerated into gibberish, incomprehensible to most voters.

[…]

While a few elected officials try to figure out a way to deal with the crisis, many on Capitol Hill, in the media, and in the partisan salons are busy doing what they do best - playing the blame-game and looking to escape exposure of their culpability.

House Banking Committee chairman Rep. Barney Frank, D-MA, led off the spin effort by stating, “The private sector got us into this mess. The government has to get us out of it.”

Notice that Frank doesn’t say “Wall Street” got us in to this mess. For him and all too many of his allies, it is the “private sector” that is evil. A chorus of lesser voices have been dutifully parroting Frank ever since.

What Frank, Senate Banking Committee chairman Sen. Chris Dodd, D-CN, and others of their ilk are afraid of is that the public will learn the facts of this debacle. And the facts are clear.

The crisis we face is not a failure of the private sector. This crisis was conceived, manufactured, nurtured and defended by government and the horde of apologists who feed off of it.

As Deep Throat admonished a generation ago, let’s follow the money. In 1995, the Clinton Administration issued rules that required banks and lending institutions to give loans to people who could not afford them. The lending standards were essentially gutted. This was an overt act of government.

The banks complied and gave the loans. They got the money to lend by selling the bad mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These semi-government entities “bought” the bad mortgages from the banks. But where did Fannie and Freddie get the money to buy the bad debt?

[…]

Read Mr. Wilson’s entire opinion here: Washington Examiner: Politicians never learn they can't change the facts by Bill Wilson

http://www.dcexaminer.com/opinion/Politicians_never_learn_they_cant_change_the_facts.html

20080928 Washington Examiner: Politicians never learn they cant change the facts by Bill Wilson

Update: Four Fatalities In State Police Medevac Crash In Prince Georges County

Update: Four Fatalities In State Police Medevac Crash In Prince Georges County

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 28, 2008

UPDATE: 11:20 A.M. - FOUR FATALITIES IN STATE POLICE MEDEVAC CRASH IN PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY

(Forestville, MD) – Maryland State Police have confirmed the identifications of the victims from the crash involving a State Police helicopter early this morning in Prince George’s County.

The deceased victims are identified as Stephen J. Bunker, 59, of Waldorf, Md., the State Police pilot; Trooper First Class Mickey C. Lippy, 34, of Westminster, Md., the State Police flight paramedic; Tanya Mallard, 39, of Waldorf, an EMT-B with the Waldorf Rescue Squad; and Ashley J. Younger, 17, of Waldorf, who was a patient being transported.

The surviving victim of the crash is identified as Jordan A. Wells, 18, of Waldorf. Wells is currently undergoing treatment at the Prince George’s County Hospital Center.

At about 11:00 p.m. yesterday, Maryland State Police medevac helicopter, Trooper 2, was dispatched to the scene of a traffic crash in Waldorf. Trooper 2 left its hangar at the Andrews Air Force Base. It was piloted by Mr. Steven Bunker and the flight paramedic was Trooper First Class Mickey Lippy.

The crew flew to the crash scene and picked up two patients, Ashley Younger and Jordan Wells. Joining the crew to assist with medical care on the flight to the hospital was Tanya Mallard, who had responded to the scene with the Waldorf Rescue Squad.

Trooper 2 lifted off and headed to the Prince George’s Hospital Center. No call came from the helicopter crew notifying helicopter dispatch that they had landed.

Just before 12:30 this morning, the State Police Forestville Barracks, the Prince George’s County Police, Prince George’s County Sheriff’s Office, and the Prince George’s County Fire Department launched a search for the helicopter. Flight following equipment was used to locate the region of the crash. The crash site was found by police officers on foot shortly before 2:00 a.m. today. The crash site is in a wooded area within the Walker Mill Regional Park, in the 8000-block of Walker Mill Road, in Forestville.

The four deceased victims were pronounced dead at the scene. The surviving victim was transported by ambulance to the Prince George’s Hospital Center.

Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration were notified and are on the scene. Maryland State Police investigators are also on the scene and are providing any assistance necessary to the federal investigators.

Pilot Stephen Bunker had been with the Maryland State Police since 1972. He was a State Police corporal, who retired in 1998 and returned to service as a civilian pilot. He had flown for the Maryland State Police for more than 24 years. He was married and had three grown children. Mr. Bunker held a commercial pilot’s license and was a certified flight instructor and a certified instrument flight instructor. He also had a single engine airplane pilot’s license.

Trooper First Class Mickey Lippy was appointed to the Maryland State Police four years ago. He had been in the Aviation Command as a flight paramedic for since April of 2007. TFC Lippy was married. He had recently returned from family leave after the birth of his daughter, who is four months old.

Tanya Mallard was a dedicated member of the Waldorf Rescue Squad, at Station 12. She did not hesitate to join the crew of Trooper 2 this morning in their effort to save the lives of their two patients. She leaves behind her husband and two children.

The aircraft was a Eurocopter Dauphin II twin jet engine helicopter. It became a part of the State Police fleet in June 1989, and was the second helicopter purchased in the current fleet. The helicopter completed a 100-hour inspection on Wednesday, September 24th.

The State Police Aviation Command has grounded all aircraft for at least today. Allied partners in the U.S. Park Police, Delaware State Police, Pennsylvania State Police, and commercial medevac companies will be covering the state today with helicopter services.

The Maryland State Police will work diligently with federal authorities to uncover the details of what occurred this morning. Our ultimate goal is to determine what caused the crash and this tragic loss of life.

All calls regarding the details or cause of the crash, and any updates concerning the investigation should be directed to the National Transportation Safety Board, at 202-314-6100.

###

CONTACT: Mr. Gregory Shipley
Office of Media Communications & Marketing
410-653-4236 (Office) 410-653-4200 (through Headquarters Duty Officer)

20080928 1120AM UPDATE Four Fatalities In St Police Medevac Crash In PG Co

Tapscott's Copy Desk: Comparison of original Paulson bailout to compromise proposal

Tapscott's Copy Desk: Comparison of original Paulson bailout to compromise proposal

More from Tapscott's Copy Desk RSS Feed

POSTED September 28, 2008

House Republican Whip Roy Blunt's office provides this side-by-side comparison of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's original Wall Street bailout proposal with the final compromise agreed to over the weekend by congressional and Treasury negotiators:

Click here: Side-by-Side Comparison of Rescue Legislation on Tapscott's Copy Desk

http://www.dcexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/TapscottsCopyDesk/Comparison_of_original_Paulson_bailout_to_compromise_proposal.html

20080928 Tapscott: Comparison original Paulson bailout to compromise prop

Washington Post: Maryland State Police Medevac Crash Kills Four

Washington Post: Maryland State Police Medevac Crash Kills Four

Related News
Medevac helicopter crashes on way to hospital; 4 dead CNN
Medevac helicopter crash kills 4 in Maryland International Herald Tribune
Medical helicopter crashes in Md. park, killing 4 By NAFEESA SYEED

Maryland State Police Medevac Crash Kills Four By Aaron C. Davis and Matt Zapotosky

Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, September 28, 2008; 10:26 AM

Four people were killed early this morning when a Maryland State Police medical evacuation helicopter crashed in a park near Capitol Heights after encountering bad weather, authorities said.

Two Maryland State troopers, a Charles County emergency medical technician were transporting two female patients from a motor vehicle accident to Prince George's Hospital when the crash occurred.

Authorities identified those killed as Stephen H. Bunker, 59, the pilot; Mickey C. Lippy, 34, the flight paramedic, a state trooper first class; Tanya Mallard, 39, an emergency medical technician from rescue squad station 12 in Waldorf; and Ashley Youngler, 18, one of the victims in the vehicle crash. Jordan Wells, 18, another of the vehicle accident victims, survived in critical condition.

The crash was the deadliest in the 47-year history of the Maryland State Police aviation unit, and the department's first in more than 22 years. The state police conduct almost all aerial medical evacuations in Maryland, and are the only such publicly run, statewide service in the country. Trooper 2, the helicopter that crashed, has routinely ranked as one of the busiest in the country in recent years.

[…]

The state police operate a fleet of 12 EuroCopter Dauphin helicopters capable of medical evacuations.

Despite funding concerns and aging equipment, the department has held one of the best safety records in the country. Its last crash was on Jan. 19, 1986, when two officers encountered severe fog and crashed in West Baltimore after transporting a shooting victim to a hospital.

In all, there has been one airplane and three fatal helicopter crashes since the unit was formed in 1961. By contrast, crashes involving private air ambulances have soared in recent years, with 55 crashes from 2002 to 2005, according to a 2006 congressional report.

The state legislature last year endorsed replacing the department's 18-year-old fleet at a cost of $110 million. Some lawmakers said maintaining the state-run fleet was critical to equally serving residents in rural and urban areas.

The state police keep the helicopters in eight locations across Maryland so they can reach any corner of the state within 18 minutes.

Last year, a Washington Post reporter rode along on Trooper 2 as it took off and landed more than 20 times in six hours, carrying patients to and from Prince George's hospitals.

20080928 Maryland State Police Medevac Crash Kills Four

FOUR FATALITIES IN STATE POLICE MEDEVAC CRASH IN PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY

FOUR FATALITIES IN STATE POLICE MEDEVAC CRASH IN PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 28, 2008

(Forestville, MD) -- Four of five people aboard a Maryland State Police medevac helicopter have been killed in a crash that occurred early this morning in Prince George’s County.

The fatalities include the State Police pilot and flight paramedic, a fire/rescue medical provider, and a patient. A second patient on-board survived the crash and has been transported to the Prince George’s Hospital Center. The crash occurred within a wooded area of the Walker Mill Regional Park, off of Berry Lane and Ritchie Road in Forestville, Md.

At about 11:00 p.m. yesterday, Maryland State Police helicopter, Trooper 2, was dispatched to the scene of a traffic crash in the Waldorf area. Trooper 2 responded from its hangar at the Andrews Air Force Base.


Trooper 2 picked up two female patients and a medical provider from the rescue squad to assist the State Police flight paramedic during the flight to the Prince George’s Hospital Center. During the flight, the helicopter disappeared from radar. State Police and Prince George’s County Police and Fire were notified and a search began.


Shortly before 2:00 a.m. today, the helicopter crash site was found. The helicopter was in a wooded area of the park. The four victims were pronounced dead at the scene.


A cause of the crash is not known at this time. Colonel Terrence Sheridan,
Superintendent of the Maryland State Police, is on the scene, as are State Police investigators. The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration have been notified and are on the scene.

NOTE: A media briefing site has been set up at the North Forestville Elementary School, located in the 2400-block of Ritchie Road, Forestville, Md.

###

CONTACT: Mr. Gregory Shipley
Office of Media Communications & Marketing
410-653-4236 (Office) 410-653-4200 (through Headquarters Duty Officer)

20080928 Four Fatalities In St Police Medevac Crash In Prince Georges Co

http://www.mdsp.org/Media/press_release_details.asp?identifier=704

Timeswatch Tracker for September 29 2008

Timeswatch Tracker for September 29 2008

TimesWatch Tracker Documenting and Exposing the Liberal Agenda of the New York Times

TimesWatch Tracker: Our Latest Analysis

Friday, September 26 2008

Did McCain Call for Tougher Regulation of Fannie and Freddie? Yes, But...

Grudging acknowledgement that John McCain called for more regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: "Senator John McCain is correct: He warned two years ago that Congress should rein in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac...and Senator Barack Obama did not. But Mr. McCain overstates the role he has played..."

Discovering the Sarah Palin Rape-Kit "Scandal'

A Times editor arrives two weeks later to a left-wing rumor: "When Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, the small town began billing sexual-assault victims for the cost of rape kits and forensic exams...."

Times Goes After Obama's "Misleading Attacks" on McCain

Rectifying the paper's pro-Obama tilt, the Times takes Obama to task in a front-page story on his campaign's misleading ads.

Times Watch Quotes of Note -- Obama Voters "Better Educated and More Diverse"

Plus: Clarence Thomas, Self-Hating Conservative Black?

Palin's "Foreign Policy Tutorials" -- But Obama Didn't Need Any?Kate Zernike: "Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska completed Day 2 of her foreign policy tutorials on Wednesday..."

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20080926 Timeswatch Tracker for September 29 2008

President's Radio Address

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretarySeptember 27, 2008

President's Radio Address

In Focus: Economy
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This is an extraordinary period for America's economy. Many Americans are anxious about their finances and their future. On Wednesday, I spoke to the Nation, and thanked Congress for working with my Administration to address the instability in our financial system. On Thursday, I hosted Senator McCain, Senator Obama, and congressional leaders from both parties at the White House to discuss the urgency of passing a bipartisan rescue package for our economy.

The problems in our economy are extremely complex, but at their core is uncertainty over "mortgage-backed securities." Many of these financial assets relate to home mortgages that have lost value during the housing decline. In turn, the banks holding these assets have restricted credit, and businesses and consumers have found it more difficult to obtain affordable loans. As a result, our entire economy is in danger. So I proposed that the Federal government reduce the risk posed by these troubled assets, and supply urgently needed money to help banks and other financial institutions avoid collapse and resume lending.

I know many of you listening this morning are frustrated with the situation. You make sacrifices every day to meet your mortgage payments and keep up with your bills. When the government asks you to pay for mistakes on Wall Street, it does not seem fair. And I understand that. And if it were possible to let every irresponsible firm on Wall Street fail without affecting you and your family, I would do it. But that is not possible. The failure of the financial system would mean financial hardship for many of you.

The failure of the financial system would cause banks to stop lending money to one another and to businesses and consumers. That would make it harder for you to take out a loan or borrow money to expand a business. The result would be less economic growth and more American jobs lost. And that would put our economy on the path toward a deep and painful recession.

The rescue effort we're negotiating is not aimed at Wall Street -- it is aimed at your street. And there is now widespread agreement on the major principles. We must free up the flow of credit to consumers and businesses by reducing the risk posed by troubled assets. We must ensure that taxpayers are protected, that failed executives do not receive a windfall from your tax dollars, and that there is a bipartisan board to oversee these efforts.

Under the proposal my Administration sent to Congress, the government would spend up to $700 billion to buy troubled assets from banks and other financial institutions. I know many Americans understand the urgency of this action, but are concerned about such a high price tag. Well, let me address this directly:

The final cost of this plan will be far less than $700 billion. And here's why: As fear and uncertainty have gripped the market for mortgage-related assets, their price has dropped sharply. Yet many of these assets still have significant underlying value, because the vast majority of people will eventually pay off their mortgages. In other words, many of the assets the government would buy are likely to go up in price over time. This means that the government will be able to recoup much, if not all, of the original expenditure.

Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle have contributed constructive proposals that have improved this plan. I appreciate the efforts of House and Senate Democratic and Republican leaders to bring a spirit of bipartisan cooperation to these discussions. Our Nation's economic well-being is an issue that transcends partisanship. Republicans and Democrats must continue to address it together. And I am confident that we will pass a bill to protect the financial security of every American very soon.

Thank you for listening.

# # #

20080927 President’s Radio Address

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/09/20080927.html

The Canadian Illegal Immigration Problem

The Canadian Illegal Immigration Problem

Hat Tip: Analog (I have no idea if it is really authentic. I guess I don’t care. If it isn’t real – it should be.)

September 27, 2008

From the MANITOBA HERALD, Canada:

A flood of American liberals sneaking across the border into Canada has intensified in the past week, sparking calls for increased patrols to stop the illegal immigration.

The possibility of a McCain/Palin election is prompting the exodus among left-leaning citizens who fear they'll soon be required to hunt, pray, and agree with Bill O'Reilly.

Canadian border farmers say it's not uncommon to see dozens of sociology professors, animal rights activists and Unitarians crossing their fields at night.

I went out to milk the cows the other day, and there was a Hollywood producer huddled in the barn," said Manitoba farmer Red Greenfield, whose acreage borders North Dakota.

The producer was cold, exhausted, and hungry. He asked me if I could spare a latte and some free-range chicken.

When I said I didn't have any, he left.

Didn't even get a chance to show him my screenplay, eh?

In an effort to stop the illegal aliens, Greenfield erected higher fences, but the liberals scaled them. So he tried installing speakers that blare Rush Limbaugh across the fields. "Not real effective," he said. "The liberals still got through, and Rush annoyed the cows so much they wouldn't give milk."

Officials are particularly concerned about smugglers who meet liberals near the Canadian border, pack them into Volvo station wagons, drive them across the border and leave them to fend for themselves.

"A lot of these people are not prepared for rugged conditions," an Ontario border patrolman said. "I found one carload without a drop of drinking water. "They did have a nice little Napa Valley cabernet, though."

When liberals are caught, they're sent back across the border, often wailing loudly that they fear retribution from conservatives. Rumors have been circulating about the McCain administration establishing re-education camps in which liberals will be forced to shoot wolves from airplanes, deny evolution, and act out drills preparing them for the Rapture.

In recent days, liberals have turned to sometimes-ingenious ways of crossing the border. Some have taken to posing as senior citizens on bus trips to buy cheap Canadian prescription drugs. After catching a half-dozen young vegans disguised in powdered wigs, Canadian immigration authorities began stopping buses and quizzing the supposed senior-citizen passengers on Perry Como and Rosemary Clooney hits to prove they were alive in the '50s.

"If they can't identify the accordion player on The Lawrence Welk Show, we get suspicious about their age," an official said.

Canadian citizens have complained that the illegal immigrants are creating an organic-broccoli shortage and renting all the good Susan Sarandon movies.

"I feel sorry for American liberals, but the Canadian economy just can't support them," an Ottawa resident said. "How many art-history and English majors does one country need?

20080927 The Canadian Illegal Immigration Problem