"The (Trooper-gate) investigation is being run by Obama supporters."

[jenmito]

Giuliani claimed it is NOT an unbiased and independent investigation and shouldn't be presented that way. He went on and on about it. Brokaw's response? "Governer Rudy Giuliani, thanks for joining us today..." This was on MTP. :eyes:

[grantcart]

1. Not true

Todd Palin Subponea decided by conservative moose huting Republican from WASILLA,


Let's just get the facts - sounds more reform minded than Palin

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/2/2008_RACE_RUNDOW...


ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - The crucial vote to subpoena Gov. Sarah Palin's husband was cast by a moose-hunting Republican from her own hometown.

Sen. Charlie Huggins, the vice chairman of the Alaska Legislature's Senate Judiciary Committee, wore camouflage pants to Friday's hearing, but they didn't help him blend in among the coats, ties and dress shirts of other lawmakers and national news correspondents.

As the other two Republicans and the two Democrats on the panel argued over the ramifications of issuing subpoenas to Todd Palin and a dozen other people, Huggins held his cards, as well as his fire. When he finally spoke, he made clear - in folksy, plainspoken words - that he'd had enough of the political maneuvering.

Not to mention the suggestion of his Republican colleague Sen. Gene Therriault that the investigation had been hijacked by supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

"I do not support Sen. Obama," the anti-abortion conservative thundered at the start of his remarks.

He went on to make an impassioned plea for government transparency and honesty in this "new era" of Alaska politics. A number of lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, have been indicted or convicted in a wide-ranging federal corruption probe.

"I see all this duck-foot action under the water," he said, referring to back-room discussions about the investigation. "Let's just get the facts on the table. The sooner the better."

The final vote was 3-2. The House Judiciary Committee also approved the subpoenas on an advisory v

[jenmito]

2. Exactly, which is why I was angry that Brokaw just gave him a total pass. n/t

[tsuki]

33. Brokaw gave him a pass because he doesn't know anything about

the investigation. Just the headlines that he has read.

I once thought the JCJ were bias, now I think that they are just uninformed. They rely on physical appearance to give them gravitas. Without the knowledge and/or research behind them, they become attractive bobble dolls. What else can they do?

[me b zola]

14. +1

Oh those pesky facts!

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

3. Ironically, Chris Wallace on FOX challenged that line

Sad that Brokaw is sub-FOX.

Wallace at least pointed out that the body Palin wants to run the investigation is all appointed by Palin.

[jenmito]

7. Jeez. I will watch his show later. It's a shame that Wallace was tougher on him than

Brokaw.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

15. Also, on that show, was pointed out that the deciding vote was cast by a Republican

I don't remember whether Wallace or Tony Knowles said that.

Knowles was kind of boring... too programmed with a generic pro-Obama message with not enough unique insight on Palin and the specific Alaska politics questions.

[Igel]

32. Almost. Sort of.

http://skeetervt.newsvine.com/_news/2008/09/08/1840259-palin-accused-of-stonewalling-as-7-aides-refuse-to-testify-in-troopergate-probe

=====================
The Alaska Personnel Board is a three-member administrative panel, all of whom are appointed by the governor for six-year terms.

One board member, Deborah English of Anchorage, was reappointed by Palin in January, according to the Alaska state government Web site. Board member Laura Plenert of Ketchikan, is up for reappointment in 2010; the third member, Alfred Tamagni, Sr. of Anchorage, is up for reappointment in 2012.

All three were appointed by Palin's Republican predecessor, Frank Murkowski. The state's Web site did not list the board members' party affiliations, but under state law, no more than two board members can be of the same party.
=====================

It's an odd source, but I see no reason to doubt that it's wrong on this point.

People hear "gubernatorial appointees" and infer--incorrectly--that they must all be appointed by the current appointer. Abductive reasoning at its finest.

[Overseas]

4. Loosely, technically, sure. And the Obama smears are Republican supporters.

What of it? And Giuliani slamming Obama is a McSame supporter and loyal Republican.

Wish the reporters would stop the RNC rants in progress. Tell Giuliani to hold it and say look, we know you are a McSame partisan and Loyal Republican, so your comments are biased in that same way.

Democrats generally try harder to be balanced in their comments.

Could also tell Giuliani that HOLD IT. The Democrats may be vetting Palin because the old Republicans just didn't bother. As long as she was a Christian Fundamentalist and could in some way be called a maverick, she was in.

[CatsDogsBabies]

5. On another discussion board

(a mother's forum that has suddenly become a hotbed for political debate) someone posted that the people behind the troopergate investigation "have pictures of Obama in their office." Of course they thought this was terrible. Someone also claimed Obama was a terrorist because of his association with Ayers. I wanted to come back with something about McCain's ties to terrorism and posted here asking for info on this, but the only reply I got was Bush (but that wouldn't have gone over there). There are plenty of undecideds on these other boards so I like to post as much accurate information about Obama as I can, and as much negative (i.e., true) stuff about McCain and his unqualified running mate .

[mamalone]

12. Sounds like we may be frequenting some of the same boards;)

Seriously! :hi:


I generally try to stay as apolitical as possible on those types of boards, but it's getting so hard! The McCain campaign is getting so vociferous and so dirty, and Palin is just so terrifying, sometimes you just can't let these statements and arguments slide by, KWIM? I suspect I'll lose a friend or two before this election is over, which kinda makes me sad.

[CatsDogsBabies]

22. I wonder . . .

The board I am talking about (whose main focus is pregnancy/motherhood) has created a liberal forum, a conservative forum and a "Debate" forum. The debate forum is where everyone comes together to "debate" issues. The forum is largely unmoderated and it is just crazy there sometimes. One woman announced that the only reason she voted for Bush was because she likes Cheney so much. She responds to nearly every post with nasty comments about Obama and "libs" then writes something like "I have to go puke now that I've responded to a lib." They are debating the whole troopergate thing now, gay marriage, the significance of moral character in a candidate, and a lot of stuff related to the morning after pill/abortion. I don't remember it being anything like this in 2004. Good thing there are a lot of Obama supporters posting! :)

[d_b]

6. funny

as an Alaskan, I've been following it for awhile now.

Who knew?

[Arkana]

8. Rudy "Noun, Verb, 9/11" Giuliani thinks that the investigation is biased?

Well then I guess they should just close up shop then! Rudy has spoken!

[DCBob]

9. Unbelievable. But it does not matter what Rudy or Brokaw or anyone says..

The investigation is continuing and will submit it's report in October. This could be a real show stopper for the McCain campaign and they know it. There was good article in NY Times today:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/13/us/politics/13trooper.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin

Looks like the only hope for Palin/McCain is to drag this out into some sort of executive versus legislative show-down. I doubt that will happen because even Republicans appear to be against that.

Here is a snippet from the NYT article:

The vote set the stage for a possible legal clash between the Legislature and the Palin administration, which threatened this week to go to court to quash the subpoenas for state workers. Ms. Palin, the Republican nominee for vice president, has hired a lawyer, who did not return calls seeking comment about the subpoena for Mr. Palin. “It seems that we are heading for a branch-against-branch smack-down,” said Senator Gene Therriault, a Republican who voted against approving the subpoenas and instead advocated that the investigation be handled by the state Personnel Board. “This is a nuclear route that should be avoided at all costs.”

[merh]

10. read this for the facts

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x7065480

[Blue_In_AK]

18. Thank you, Ms. Merh,

I was just going to post that.

This was indeed a bipartisan investigation, that was at first welcome by Sarah Palin. The tone has completely changed following her selection by John McCain.

Sarah is not being herself these days. For another take on how she's being handled, here's an editorial from this morning's Anchorage Daily News. http://www.adn.com/opinion/comment/story/525457.html


Palin gets voice makeover

MICHAEL CAREY
COMMENT

Published: September 13th, 2008 10:47 PM
Last Modified: September 13th, 2008 11:24 PM

The Sept. 8 New Yorker contains a brief "Talk of the Town" in which reporter Philip Gourevitch interviewed Sarah Palin in her office. Gourevitch was in Alaska working on a story about Alaska politics: Palin plays a role but is not the whole story.

The "Talk of the Town" is mostly Palin herself talking. About her values. About Alaska. About political change. The voice is familiar. It's the voice of the woman from Wasilla who became governor -- relaxed, informal, amiable, nonpartisan.

It might be the last time we hear that voice -- ever.

At the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, GOP spin doctors from Washington gave Palin a voice transplant. The effects of their surgery were obvious in her acceptance speech, which rocked the convention and thrilled conservatives nationwide. The voice was harder. More partisan. More calculating.

The ever-imaginative Maureen Dowd of The New York Times compared Sarah to Eliza Doolittle of "My Fair Lady" who, with coaching, is transformed from flower peddler into faux royalty.

Pick your metaphor, Palin's voice is new -- and offers the spectacle of a woman auditioning for high office while attempting to change her self.

The obvious danger is that Palin, trying to pass for fluent in domestic and foreign affairs, will commit gaffes. Her inability to define the so-called "Bush doctrine" in her ABC interview with Charles Gibson demonstrates what can go wrong.

But that's not the greatest danger to Sarah and her Republican handlers. Inauthenticity is the real threat.

Palin's quoting Abraham Lincoln to Charles Gibson is a prime example of inauthenticity. Palin's constituents know she doesn't walk around quoting Abe Lincoln -- or telling stories about Harry Truman as she did at the Republican convention. Somebody told her to invoke Lincoln and Truman. It's obvious.

Her partisanship also is forced and unnatural, although it has been greeted with wild applause by Republicans. Palin has never been known as a partisan. Her career has been built on transcending partisanship.

Palin's disdain for Obama the "community organizer" was equally false -- gratuitous and stupid. This is the 50th anniversary of Alaska statehood. Who founded the state of Alaska but community organizers, the men and women who wrote the Constitution, lobbied Congress, made the case to the nation?

Listening to Republican leaders like Karl Rove, Fred Thompson and Rudolph Guiliani talk about Palin at the Republican convention, I was stunned at how little they knew and how much they made of the little they knew.

Like con men in the Old West, RTG used a few nuggets to salt a gold mine. Then they went out to sell the mine to gullible suckers who didn't know the difference between a gold mine and a hole in the ground.

The nuggets are the truth about Palin. She did challenge party bosses. She did take on the oil companies over the gas line and oil taxes. She is independent, not part of the local establishment.

But when RTG argued that Palin had more military experience than Barack Obama and Joe Biden combined, they were making it up. And they kept making it up, fabricating her domestic and foreign policy credentials. (She has more executive experience than Biden because she was mayor of Wasilla?)

Sarah Palin ran for governor in 2006 on who she is. In 2008, she's running for vice president on who she is not. This is a breathtaking high-wire act that will have life-changing consequences for her whether she succeeds or fails.

[merh]

21. thank you for another source

And I hate to say it, but I don't think Palin has been true to herself until know - Alaskans only see the face she put forth, the behind the scenes abuses are incredible.

The cow liking high school chum, real estate agent, appointed to the Agriculture Division who passed a gag order to employees to not discuss the failed dairy yet whose father-in-law, one of the few dairy farmers that knows profits, is partner in the co-op that bought the failed dairy's equipment from the state, at allegedly a great price.

[Blue_In_AK]

23. Absolutely.

Sarah is suffering considerable blow-back here in Alaska where, up until August 29, we pretty much just took her at her word. I think when she loses this she won't have nearly the public good will that she did formerly and may not even win another term as governor.

I check ProgressiveAlaska.com every morning, even before I come here. Phil's really on top of this stuff, as are Mudflats, Celtic Diva, and many of the other Alaska bloggers who are listed down the right-hand side.

[merh]

24. She may not have a job to come back too.

if the McCain camp continues to harass the folks doing the investigation and if the press continues to dig because she won't talk with them, chances are the dirt will be so deep the legislature can't help but impeach her.

Federal charges of RICO/mail fraud could also come of all this.

[StopTheNeoCons]

11. Tell Guliani that Charlie Huggins-R, voted for subpoenas

[merh]

19. Well, actually tell him the facts

This investigation was started by a Republican-dominated Alaska Legislature to look into Governor Palin's conduct in seeking the termination of a State Trooper, once married to the Governor’s sister, Trooper Michael Wooten. The McCain camp wants to stop it by saying it's a "democratic" investigation. Apart from facts, and the reputations the McCain folks don't mind destroying, there's not a lot standing in the way of this strategy.

(snip)

So what about the claim that this investigation is some sort of partisan plot against a Republican ticket? A legislative committee of 8 Republicans and 4 democrats asked former Assistant District Attorney Hollis French, a Democrat - to hire a legislative investigator in July. He did. He's not doing the investigation. So the complaint that he's a Democrat who supports Barack Obama is, well, weak. He's a Democrat who supports Barack Obama, who was appointed before Governor Palin was a VP candidate. More importantly, he's a Senator who has the confidence of a majority Republican Senate.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x7065480

DU thread here
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x7065480

[Blue_In_AK]

20. Not only Charlie Huggins-R

but Charlie Huggins-R from WASILLA. This investigation has been bipartisan from the get-go. Since the Democrats are a minority in our legislature, the investigation could never have even started without bipartisan support. Sarah even said she welcomed the investigation before McCain's handlers got hold of her. Everything changed after August 29.

[Cha]

13. Shouldn't nbc be contacted for allowing

brokaw's inability to be even a fucking meet the press guy?! Is this their history ..letting people like rudy get away with shit like this?

Could brokaw's tongue get any further in the gopervert a$$?

[jenmito]

25. YES! I already called them-212-664-3499. MTP is SUPPOSED to be THE show that you must

go on and do well on for credibility. Russert used to press his guests when they'd lie. Now the show is a joke.

[Cha]

27. We need to co-ordinate..this has gotten way outta bounds.

ginnyinWI (1000+ posts) Sun Sep-14-08 12:06 PM
Response to Reply #4

6. and Brokaw is a poor replacement.
He just doesn't cut it. Neither does Gregory. Even Jon Stewart would be better than either of these two! But it would have to be somebody more knowledgeable than him.

Who have we got left that will really challenge the spin?
Our next President.

zuzu98 (385 posts) Sun Sep-14-08 12:09 PM
Response to Reply #6
7. Ugh. he referred to Obama's DNC speech as
"the theatrics in the football stadium."

"I was surprised that he wasn't wearing a McCain/Palin pin..."


Talking about brokaw. :grr:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x7064703#7064848

[jenmito]

28. Thanks for the link...

I'll go there.

[bluedeminredstate]

16. Brokaw let Rudy flap his considerable gums

without so much as a followup question. I was appalled at Rudy's smears today while Brokaw - whose job it is to be skeptical of his interviewees - sat there playing pocket pool or whatever. Rudy slandered the good people of Alaska while Brokaw sat mute. How about a "And how do you know that Mr. Mayor?" or a "Why do you say that when a REPUBLICAN issued the subpeona for Mr. Palin...?"

The McCain stategy now is to label anyone who questions or criticizes Palin an "Obama supporter" just like the Bush people did when they called Bush critics "haters."

Rudy and Brokaw both made me equally sick this morning. Why not put Schumer and Guiliani on at the same time and have a REAL debate for once on that show?

[jenmito]

26. Exactly. And McCain is getting away with it because NOBODY questions the LIES-even on

the supposedly tough and fair show MTP.

[Cha]

29. Meet The Press has become Press the MEAT..

and brokaw is the biggest whore on nbc.

[BlueIdaho]

17. republican hope they can lie cheat and steal their way to an election victory

They know this shit is all lies - they just don't care - they even said so. The only way to defeat them is to hammer them on this - AND to DEMAND the media report their lies as LIES to the public. We need to work on both fronts - work the campaign - AND - "work the refs." Email the media and DEMAND they live up to their responsibilities as a free and unfettered press!

[ejpoeta]

30. that's right, because.....

obama KNEW that mccain was going to pick palin, so he went in there before she was picked.... a month before and planted his people to politicize the abuse of power displayed by a future vp nominee. so i guess obama is also psychic, then?

[jenmito]

31. He's "The One," so he MUST be psychic..

AND ready to lead. :D

[Eyes_wide_ open]

36. well good, because IMO

an actual vetted psychic would be a much better choice than a senile old man that doesn't even correctly remember what happened yesterday :eyes:

[Starbucks Anarchist]

34. He must be nervous -- he didn't mention 9/11 at all.

[bunkerbuster1]

35. Rudy, the genius who told us Scooter Libby's sentence was sooo harsh?

That guy?