• Sarah Palin

    Sarah Palin Watch: 60,000 Crowd Greets Palin in Florida

    sarah-palin-draws-60000-cro

    Palin-mania has reached Florida.

    The event was in GOP territory at The Villages but……..

    Tens of thousands inched along roads into the picturesque town square of the complex, where they stood in sweltering heat for about four hours as local GOP officials and a country band revved up the crowd.

    “Sa-Rah! Sa-Rah!” they chanted at every mention of her name, applauding loudly and waiving tiny American flags that were distributed — along with free water bottles — by local volunteers. The fire chief estimated the crowd at 60,000.

    Admiring throngs mobbed the Palin family’s arrival and departure, snapping souvenir pictures. Autograph seekers thrust campaign signs, caps with the McCain-Palin logo and copies of magazines with her face on their covers, and the Palins responded warmly.

    The national polls have swung to Obama the past few days. But, it is the appeal of Sarah Palin with working class women in Midwest battleground states that WILL deliver a victory to John McCain and the GOP.

    Update:

    Another fire chief says 25,000 folks but certainly the largest turnout for any VP candidate in Florida – yes, that means Biden.

    Video of the Sarah Palin speech is here.


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  • Sarah Palin

    Sarah Palin Watch: E-mail Hacked and Family Photos/Voicemail Stolen – Search Warrant Served on “Obamacrat” David Kernell

    sarah-palin-email-hacked

    The FBI served a search warrant on Universtiy of Tennessee student and self-described “Obamacrat” David Kernell early this morning.

    The FBI is stepping up its investigation into the possibility that a University of Tennessee student hacked into the personal e-mail of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

    A person who identified himself as a witness tells 10 News that agents with the FBI served a federal search warrant at the Fort Sanders residence of David Kernell early Sunday morning. Kernell lives in the Commons apartment complex at 1115 Highland Ave.

    David Kernell is the son of Mike Kernell, a Democratic state representative from Memphis.

    A Department of Justice spokesperson confirmed there has been “investigatory activity” in Knoxville regarding the Palin case, but she said there are no publicly available search warrants, and no charges have been filed.

    A separate law enforcement source confirmed to 10 News that a search warrant was served on Kernell’s apartment.

    According to the witness, several agents arrived at The Commons of Knoxville around midnight.

    They presented their badges upon entering Kernell’s apartment, where several students were having a party, and took down their names.

    The witness tells us they asked him and those who did not live in the unit to go outside. He believes the investigators took about 1.5 to 2 hours taking pictures of everything inside the apartment.

    He says Kernell’s three roommates were also subpoenaed, and must testify this week in Chattanooga.

    Stay tuned since David Kernell has not been charged with a crime. But, Flap wouldn’t want the FBI beating on my door at midnight asking to see my stuff.

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    Sarah Palin Watch: E-mail Hacked and Family Photos/Voicemail Stolen – Who Was Behind the Hack? Was it David Kernell?

    Sarah Palin Watch: E-mail Hacked and Family Photos/Voicemail Stolen – Who Was Behind the Hack?

    Sarah Palin Watch: E-mail Hacked and Family Photos/Voicemail Stolen


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  • Barack Obama,  Michael Ramirez

    Barack Obama Watch: “Statement of Principles” on Financial Rescue Plan

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    Michael Ramirez on Barack Obama’s financial rescue plan

    News item: Barack Obama today released a “Statement of Principles” on the government’s financial rescue plan from the collapse of credit markets.

    “The era of greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street and in Washington has led to a financial crisis as profound as any we have faced since the Great Depression.

    “But regardless of how we got here, the circumstances we face require decisive action because the jobs, savings, and economic security of millions of Americans are now at risk.

    “We must work quickly in a bipartisan fashion to resolve this crisis and restore our financial sector so capital is flowing again and we can avert an even broader economic catastrophe. We also should recognize that economic recovery requires that we act, not just to address the crisis on Wall Street, but also the crisis on Main Street and around kitchen tables across America.

    “But thus far, the Administration has only offered a concept with a staggering price tag, not a plan.

    “Even if the Treasury recovers some or most of its investment over time, this initial outlay of up to $700 billion is sobering. And in return for their support, the American people must be assured that the deal reflects some basic principles.

        * No blank check. If we grant the Treasury broad authority to address the immediate crisis, we must insist on independent accountability and oversight. Given the breach of trust we have seen and the magnitude of the taxpayer money involved, there can be no blank check.

        * Rescue requires mutual responsibility. As taxpayers are asked to take extraordinary steps to protect our financial system, it is only appropriate to expect those institutions that benefit to help protect American homeowners and the American economy. We cannot underwrite continued irresponsibility, where CEOs cash in and our regulators look the other way. We cannot abet and reward the unconscionable practices that triggered this crisis. We have to end them.

        * Taxpayers should be protected. This should not be a handout to Wall Street. It should be structured in a way that maximizes the ability of taxpayers to recoup their investment. Going forward, we need to make sure that the institutions that benefit from financial insurance also bear the cost of that insurance.

        * Help homeowners stay in their homes. This crisis started with homeowners and they bear the brunt of the nearly unprecedented collapse in housing prices. We cannot have a plan for Wall Street banks that does not help homeowners stay in their homes and help distressed communities.

        * A global response. As I said on Friday, this is a global financial crisis and it requires a global solution. The United States must lead, but we must also insist that other nations, who have a huge stake in the outcome, join us in helping to secure the financial markets.

        * Main Street, not just Wall Street. The American people need to know that we feel as great a sense of urgency about the emergency on Main Street as we do the emergency on Wall Street. That is why I call on Senator McCain, President Bush, Republicans and Democrats to join me in supporting an emergency economic plan for working families – a plan that would help folks cope with rising gas and food prices, save one million jobs through rebuilding our schools and roads, help states and cities avoid painful budget cuts and tax increases, help homeowners stay in their homes, and provide retooling assistance to help ensure that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built in America.

        * Build a regulatory structure for the 21st Century. While there is not time in a week to remake our regulatory structure to prevent abuses in the future, we should commit ourselves to the kind of reforms I have been advocating for several years. We need new rules of the road for the 21st Century economy, together with the means and willingness to enforce them.

    “The bottom line is that we must change the economic policies that led us down this dangerous path in the first place. For the last eight years, we’ve had an “on your own-anything goes” philosophy in Washington and on Wall Street that lavished tax cuts on the wealthy and big corporations; that viewed even common-sense regulation and oversight as unwise and unnecessary; and that shredded consumer protections and loosened the rules of the road. Ordinary Americans are now paying the price. The events of this week have rendered a final verdict on that failed philosophy, and it is a philosophy I will end as President of the United States,” said Senator Barack Obama.

    Michael Ramirez summed the Democrats and Barack Obama’s solution to America’s financial crisis up in his political cartoon above.

    For a historical reference point let’s travel back to the year of 1999 (when Bill Clinton was President and Barack Obama financial advisor, Frankin D. Raines was Chairman of Fannie Mae) and the warnings about the subprime mortgage market were made in the New York Times.

    ”From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,” said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ”If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.”

    Fancy that. The chickens of subprime mortgages to uncreditworthy borrowers and speculators came home to roost.

    Barack Obama’s and the Democrats in Congress plan to bail out this mess will plunge this country into a Herbert Hoover type depression.

    The GOP and President Bush must vett these bailouts carefully and prudently or allow some financial institutions to simply fail. President Bush should not be hesitant to use the “bully pulpit” and his veto pen. GOP Senators should filibuster any proposal that unfairly burdens future generations of Americans.

    Stay tuned……

    Update:

    Looks like the White House is using the “bully pulpit” to press for passage of its financial rescue plan.

    The White House is pressuring congressional Democrats “to send a clear signal” before the markets open Monday that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s bailout plan will be approved quickly and essentially as written, a senior Democratic aide tells Politico.

    The warning: If investors don’t believe help is coming quickly, the markets could spiral downward all over again.

    Asked about the pressure, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said that “there’s a very good appreciation for the seriousness of the situation and the need for this legislation.”

    “As last week showed, our markets are fragile right now, and it’s not in anyone’s interests to test them at this point,” said Fratto. “We do need to send a very strong signal to market participants that this plan will go forward, and that it will go forward quickly.”

    But, the Democrats have rejected the seriousness of the crisis and will exact their own concessions from the Bush Administration.

    The Democrats will relentlessly blame the GOP and President Bush regardless if the crisis worsens or not in the short term. However, they might face a backlash from working class voters if it is perceived they are obstructionist.

    The Dems will pass this measure with some modifications by this next Friday.


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  • Del.icio.us Links

    links for 2008-09-21

    • The market storm that brought down Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., American International Group Inc. and other pillars of U.S. finance may have also blown holes in the portfolios of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator John Kerry and more than 50 other members of Congress.

      Pelosi, in her most recent financial disclosure form, reported that her husband owned between $250,000 and $500,000 of stock in AIG, which ceded majority control to the U.S. government this week in exchange for $85 billion of loans.

      Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, disclosed that his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, had more than $2 million of AIG stock at the end of 2007, when shares were worth $58.30. AIG has fallen 85 percent this week to close yesterday at $2.69. The lawmakers' aides didn't respond to calls seeking comment.

    • A group of Hillary Clinton supporters condemned the National Organization for Women's endorsement of Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden earlier this week.

      "The New Agenda is concerned that NOW's recent endorsement of Barack Obama leaves many women in this country out in the cold," the nonpartisan nonprofit group said in a release Friday. "The endorsement seems all the more puzzling given the fact that the Republican Party is running its first female candidate for Vice-President, Gov. Sarah Palin, and the Green Party is fielding its first all-woman presidential ticket with Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente."

    • Democrats are drafting a joint House-Senate bill to expedite action on the Treasury Department’s $700 billion rescue plan for the financial markets but want the government to use its new leverage to slow foreclosures and cap compensation for the Wall Street chiefs whose companies are being bailed out.

      There will be provisions as well in either the core bill or side deals asking the White House to accept new economic stimulus spending and bankruptcy court relief for homeowners, a legal issue long opposed by bankers yet now championed by leading Senate Democrats as well as Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

    • Today, the Post brazenly runs Dobb’s column—under the title “Linking Obama to Ex-Fannie Mae Chief Is a Stretch”—side-by-side (on page A4) with an“Ad Watch” column by Howard Kurtz that evaluates an Obama ad. The ad asks “So who advises [McCain]?” on economic issues, and gives Carly Fiorina, Phil Gramm, and George Bush as its answers.

      The opening sentence of Kurtz’s analysis states, “The key facts in this Barack Obama counterattack ad are accurate.” Oh, really? Only the thorough reader will learn that Gramm “relinquished his formal campaign role” some time ago, and Kurtz offers no evidence that Gramm remains an adviser to McCain on economic issues. And there is of course no evidence that President Bush is advising McCain on economic issues.

      Kurtz’s column also bears (in the newspaper edition) a title that the Obama campaign could have written: “Judging a Man by the Company He Keeps”. Any chance that the Post will use that standard in exploring Obama’s ties to Bill Ayers…

    • (tags: Barack Obama)
    • (tags: Joe Biden)
    • A scoop — or is it? The claim from Palin is that she fired Walt Monegan, her police chief, not because he refused to fire her trooper ex-brother-in-law but because of general insubordination, the “last straw” of which was his supposedly unauthorized planned trip to D.C. in July to seek funds for an anti-rape program. Enter ABC with a copy of Monegan’s travel report proving that Palin’s chief of staff, Mike Nizich, authorized the trip in late June. A smokin’ hole in her credibility?
      ++++++++
      The MSM is trying to find fault with Sarah Palin but again comes up short.
      (tags: sarah_palin)
    • An internal government document obtained by ABC News appears to contradict Sarah Palin's most recent explanation for why she fired her public safety chief, the move which prompted the now-contested state probe into "Troopergate."

      Fighting back against allegations she may have fired her then-Public Safety Commissioner, Walt Monegan, for refusing to go along with a personal vendetta, Palin on Monday argued in a legal filing that she fired Monegan because he had a "rogue mentality" and was bucking her administration's directives.

      "The last straw," her lawyer argued, came when he planned a trip to Washington, D.C., to seek federal funds for an aggressive anti-sexual-violence program. The project, expected to cost from $10 million to $20 million a year for five years, would have been the first of its kind in Alaska, which leads the nation in reported forcible rape.

      (tags: sarah_palin)
    • (tags: Day By)