Chris Graham: Bring out the Truth Squad, indeed
September 9, 2008 by afp
Filed under *VirginiaPoliticsToday.com
Column by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Those of us who dare to raise questions about Sarah Palin’s public record are officially on the enemies list now.
“We’re proud of Gov. Palin’s leadership in Alaska and record of taking on entrenched special interests and the good old boys network,” said former Massachusetts governor Jane Swift, a member of the Palin Truth Squad, which according to a McCain-Palin campaign press statement “will set the record straight against Internet and liberal smears of Gov. Palin.
“Gov. Palin’s commitment to reform is well-known, but there are those who would seek to distort that record with vile rumors and smears against her, her husband, her children and her friends,” Swift said. “We will not allow those on the left and in the media to smear a woman who has always served her constituents with honor. We know the truth and are committed to ensuring it as well,” Swift said.
Three members of the Truth Squad represent Virginia - Congresswoman Thelma Drake, Lori Ann Miller, the chair of the Young Republican Federation of Virginia, and former Virginia First Lady Susan Allen.
My guess is that it isn’t part of the job description to do things like correct the record on items like the McCain-Palin campaign’s repeated insistence that she told Congress “thanks, but no thanks” on the Bridge to Nowhere that she supported during her 2006 gubernatorial campaign before acting to block the construction of the bridge even as she took steps to use the funds that had been committed through the federal earmark processs for other state projects. Even as that would be acting in a Truth Squad sort of way.
And I’m not going to waste a lot of time wondering if the Squad is going to commit its resources to clearing the air on the Nixonian approach that she has taken to the Troopergate investigation that her attorney is now trying to get out of the hands of the Alaska state legislature and into the hands of a state commission over which she holds the power of appointment.
No, the Squad will be focused on blowing up quotes and comments on blogs about Palin’s private family life and linking them to the Obama-Biden campaign whether or not the quotes and comments in question have anything to do with the Obama-Biden campaign - and since Barack Obama himself has forcefully said that he does not endorse the idea that matters involving private family affairs are at all fair game in a presidential campaign, the linkage would be tangential at best.
If you ask me, the McCain-Palin campaign quietly wants to place the public attention squarely on Palin’s family matters and not on Troopergate and Bridge to Nowhere-gate and the Spending Money Like a Drunken Sailor-gate that is to come when the national media picks up on just how out of control Palin’s Wasilla and Palin’s Alaska are on the government-spending side of life.
The more the public’s focus is on how downright mean some people are being to Sarah Palin, the less time we all have to ask the hard questions about how Sarah Palin is as a potential national leader.
Swift and others who are defending Palin as a fellow woman say they want us to judge Sarah Palin on those merits as if she were any other politician. I can’t agree more. Let’s delve into her record and see what we come up with in terms of positives and negatives.
That is what this Truth Squad wants. Right?
Lin Hooper on Thu, 11th Sep 2008 9:54 am
In my earlier comments I stated my concerns about how well served our nation might be in the event of McCain’s unexpected demise and her assumption of the Presidency. Those comments only considered her potential too handle an international sabre rattling of one or more of our potential enemies. Now, however, these reports her official actions and questionable decisions of both ethical and legal nature truly make her selection as VP prompt me to think McCain was more than a bit hasty in his choic of candidates. Before the election we need a more thorough and unbiased vetting of Ms. Palin
Roger on Thu, 11th Sep 2008 8:44 pm
Lets all sling some life dirt! and grime! for the uneducated people who need to choose a Presidential and Vice presidential candidate. If the true media can not or will not provide facts, lets all of us just make up @#$%& and post it for the not so sure and smart of our brotheran.. I believe 2008 is the year that all people can declare them selves a journalist… If you would like to see and read some real interesting facts about the Democratic presidental candidate try (dontvoteobama.net.) Are you ready to open your eyes???!!!!! If i was you I would be afraid…
chrisgraham on Thu, 11th Sep 2008 9:07 pm
That’s an interesting website, Roger. Thanks for telling us about it.
For those who don’t take the time to check it out, here’s what you’re missing. There is a Photoshopped item at the top of the page that has altered the Obama-Biden logo to read Osama Bin Laden. Interesting. Another graphic features caricatures of Obama and Karl Marx side by side. A question asks: “What do Osama and Obama have in common?” The answer: “They both have a friend that blew up the Pentagon.”
I’m hoping, Roger, that you’re just having fun with us here. I’ve been clear on this website that I do not endorse the kinds of attacks we’re seeing elsewhere on Sarah Palin and John McCain and Barack Obama and Joe Biden that raise issue with family matters (Palin’s daughter, in particular; those kneecap attacks personally offend me) and religion (we’ve heard people attack Obama either for being Muslim or a radical black Christian, and Palin for being Pentecostal, and Biden for being Catholic).
People have raised legitimate, I think, issues about experience (with Obama and Palin); and it seems to me that questions about an ongoing bipartisan investigation involving Palin and her actions in the dismissal of a state employee are fair game as well. Policy stances and votes are fair game. Public statements that run contrary to the factual record are fair game.
It is completely and totally out of bounds to advance slurs like the Obama is a Muslim slur and the Obama is a terrorist slur and call them facts. That’s why I hope we’re just having fun here, and I’ll assume that we are, because for those out there who don’t know Roger, he’s a great guy, a hardworking local businessman with a record of public service that we should all applaud.
Just to make things clear, though, I don’t want us to use this public forum to spread the kind of filth that this website that we were introduced to tonight does. And I hope that I am making myself abundantly clear on this.
Wil on Fri, 12th Sep 2008 11:49 am
jeeze, why would you believe or read crap like that. . . .
this is sad.