The Problems with Palin

When it comes to the selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as McCain's running mate, I'm with David Frum...I think it's an irresponsible choice that could (will?) come back to haunt McCain.

Of course, there are scurrilous charges that have no merit. Of course, there is media bias. But here are some details that are coming out that are issue-based, and much more troubling to me:

She favored many earmarks as Mayor that John McCain specifically criticized (reformer? or opportunist?)
She favored the "Bridge to Nowhere" before she opposed it
She said in an address to her church that the Natural Gas Pipeline was a "task from God" and that people should "pray for it" (yes, it's the Huffington Post...but they have video)

My take:

I think it's clear she was a rash choice. I'm not at all comfortable with her as VP. I would strongly have preferred someone like Romney, Pawlenty, Cantor, even Mike Huckabee to her. I think (and I get no pleasure from saying this) that this choice will hand the election to Obama.

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U.S. Tax Rates Compared to the rest of the world–a.k.a “U.S. Corporations are not the evil empire”

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Mussolini on Fascism

I've been taking a look at Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism , so I got interested in how the most notable Fascists defined their movement. I ran across this statement by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini concerning fascism...it's pretty enlightening in showing that fascism's most significant doctrine is taking power away from the individual and empowering the state: The foundation of Fascism is the conception of the State, its character, its duty, and its aim. Fascism conceives of the State as an absolute, in comparison with which all individuals or groups are relative, only to be conceived of in their relation to the State. The conception of the Liberal State is not that of a directing force, guiding the play and development, both material and spiritual, of a collective body, but merely a force limited to the function of recording results: on the other hand, the Fascist State is itself conscious and has itself a will and a personality -- thus it may be called the ...

Oregon Elephant

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