Hiyo mimba angekuwa ameipata lets say Chelsea wakati hajatimiza 18 mbona ingekuwa balaa.....!!!
September 2, 2008
Disclosures on Palin Raise Questions on Vetting Process
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
ST. PAUL A series of disclosures about Gov. Sarah Palin, Senator John McCains choice as running mate, called into question on Monday how thoroughly Mr. McCain had examined her background before putting her on the Republican presidential ticket.
On Monday morning, Ms. Palin and her husband, Todd, issued a statement saying that their 17-year-old unmarried daughter, Bristol, was five months pregnant and that she intended to marry the father.
Among other less attention-grabbing news of the day: it was learned that Ms. Palin now has a private lawyer in a legislative ethics investigation in Alaska into whether she abused her power in dismissing the states public safety commissioner; that she was a member for two years in the 1990s of the Alaska Independence Party, which has at times sought a vote on whether the state should secede; and that Mr. Palin was arrested 22 years ago on a drunken-driving charge.
Aides to Mr. McCain said they had a team on the ground in Alaska now to look more thoroughly into Ms. Palins background. A Republican with ties to the campaign said the team assigned to vet Ms. Palin in Alaska had not arrived there until Thursday, a day before Mr. McCain stunned the political world with his vice-presidential choice.
Although the McCain campaign said that Mr. McCain had known about Bristol Palins pregnancy before he asked her mother to join him on the ticket and that he did not consider it disqualifying, top aides were vague on Monday about how and when he had learned of the pregnancy, and from whom.
While there was no sign that her formal nomination this week was in jeopardy, the questions swirling around Ms. Palin on the first day of the Republican National Convention, already disrupted by Hurricane Gustav, brought anxiety to Republicans who worried that Democrats would use the selection of Ms. Palin to question Mr. McCains judgment and his ability to make crucial decisions.
At the least, Republicans close to the campaign said it was increasingly apparent that Ms. Palin had been selected as Mr. McCains running mate with more haste than McCain advisers initially described.
Up until midweek last week, some 48 to 72 hours before Mr. McCain introduced Ms. Palin at a Friday rally in Dayton, Ohio, Mr. McCain was still holding out the hope that he could name as his running mate a good friend, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, a Republican close to the campaign said. Mr. McCain had also been interested in another favorite, former Gov. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania.
But both men favor abortion rights, anathema to the Christian conservatives who make up a crucial base of the Republican Party. As word leaked out that Mr. McCain was seriously considering the men, the campaign was bombarded by outrage from influential conservatives who predicted an explosive floor fight at the convention and vowed rejection of Mr. Ridge or Mr. Lieberman by the delegates.
Perhaps more important, several Republicans said, Mr. McCain was getting advice that if he did not do something to shake up the race, his campaign would be stuck on a potentially losing trajectory.
With time running out and as Mr. McCain discarded two safer choices, Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, as too predictable he turned to Ms. Palin. He had his first face-to-face interview with her on Thursday and offered her the job moments later.
They didnt seriously consider her until four or five days from the time she was picked, before she was asked, maybe the Thursday or Friday before, said a Republican close to the campaign. This was really kind of rushed at the end, because John didnt get what he wanted. He wanted to do Joe or Ridge.
Mr. McCains advisers said repeatedly on Monday that Ms. Palin was thoroughly vetted, a process that would have included a review of all financial and legal records as well as a criminal background check. A McCain aide said that the campaign was well aware of the ethics investigation and that it had looked into it.
People familiar with the process said Ms. Palin had responded to a standard form with more than 70 questions.
It was obviously something that anybody Googling Sarah Palin knew was in the news and there was a very thorough vetting done on that and also on the daughter, the aide said.
Mark Salter, Mr. McCains closest adviser, said in an e-mail message that Ms. Palin had been interviewed by Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr., a veteran Washington lawyer in charge of the vice-presidential vetting process for Mr. McCain, as well as by other lawyers who worked for Mr. Culvahouse. Mr. Salter did not respond to an e-mail message asking if Ms. Palin had told Mr. Culvahouse and his lawyers that her daughter was pregnant.
In Alaska, several state leaders and local officials said they knew of no efforts by the McCain campaign to find out more information about Ms. Palin before the announcement of her selection, Although campaigns are typically discreet when they make inquiries into potential running mates, officials in Alaska said Monday they thought it was peculiar that no one in the state had the slightest hint that Ms. Palin might be under consideration.
They didnt speak to anyone in the Legislature, they didnt speak to anyone in the business community, said Lyda Green, the State Senate president, who lives in Wasilla, where Ms. Palin served as mayor.
Representative Gail Phillips, a Republican and former speaker of the State House, said the widespread surprise in Alaska when Ms. Palin was named to the ticket made her wonder how intensively the McCain campaign had vetted her.
I started calling around and asking, and I have not been able to find one person that was called, Ms. Phillips said. I called 30 to 40 people, political leaders, business leaders, community leaders. Not one of them had heard. Alaska is a very small community, we know people all over, but I havent found anybody who was asked anything.
The current mayor of Wasilla, Dianne M. Keller, said she had not heard of any efforts to look into Ms. Palins background. And Randy Ruedrich, the state Republican Party chairman, said he knew nothing of any vetting that had been conducted.
State Senator Hollis French, a Democrat who is directing the ethics investigation, said that no one asked him about the allegations. I heard not a word, not a single contact, he said.
Mr. French, a former prosecutor, said that he was knowledgeable about background checks and that, he, too, was surprised that the campaign had not reached out to state legislative leaders.
A number of Republicans said the McCain campaign had to some degree tied its hands in its effort to keep the selection process so secret.
If you really want it to be a surprise, the circle of people that youre going to allow to know about it is going to be small, and thats just the nature of it, said Dan Bartlett, a former counselor to President Bush and an adviser in both of his presidential campaigns.
Former McCain strategists disagreed on whether it would have been useful for Ms. Palins name to have been more publicly floated before her selection so that issues like the trooper investigation and her daughters pregnancy might have already been aired and not seemed so new at the time of her announcement.
Had the story been written about the state trooper three months ago, nobody would care about it anymore, said Dan Schnur, a former McCain aide who now directs the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California. Its a risk. No matter how great the candidate, its a significant risk to put someone on the ticket who hasnt been publicly scrutinized.
They obviously felt it was worth the risk to rev up the base and potentially reach out to Clinton supporters, Mr. Schnur said.
But Howard Opinsky, another McCain veteran, said calling attention to Ms. Palins possible candidacy during the search process would have undermined the impact of her eventual selection.
Had her name been played out in the press for months and months, she wouldnt have been seen as so bold, Mr. Opinsky said. You either get freshness and you have to live with what you get in your vetting or you lose the freshness.
Alafu McCain ni trigger happy na ana matatizo na temper kuna kazi hapa
Soma huu unafiki...
Southern Baptist leaders like Richard Land and Al Mohler have praised McCain's choice. But these are the same men who support this statement from the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message:
"A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation."
Hiyo mimba angekuwa ameipata lets say Chelsea wakati hajatimiza 18 mbona ingekuwa balaa.....!!!
Naona Team McCain imeamua kutuma watu kwenda Alaska sijui kufanya vetting au ndio kwenda kuangalia kama kuna madudu mengine kuhusu huyu mama....
Icadon,
Hawa GOPers wana sound kama wale Walutheri wa Missouri Synod ambao nasikia hawaruhusu hata mwanamke kukanyaga madhbahu na kuhubiri!
I wish feminist movement ya USA iamke na kuungana na kupigana na hawa jamaa ma-conservative ambao ni wanafiki wakubwa!
Yesu alisema, nilikuwa na njaa, mkanilisha, nilikuwa uchi mkanivisha nguo, hawa kina Dobson, Falwell, Hagee, TD Jakes na wengine hawana hata chembe ya kumfuatra Kristo zaidi ya kujitajirisha!
Halafu leo wana-impose utakatifu katika siasa, huku wameshindwa katika maisha ya kiroho. Ni hawa hawa wanaopiga vita Uzinzi na ushoga wao ndio mabingwa. Kina Jim Baker ni wengi katika kundi lao na sawa na yule jamaa wa Denver Ted or Todd ambaye yuko reharb kwa kupenda Wanaume wenzake!
Hii ya mtoto wa Palin wala sio ishu. Tatizo ni left wing bloggers kama dailykos. Wamarekani wengi sana wana relate na teenage pregnancy. The story will backlash....you just wait...
"Families should be off-limit, my mom had me when she was 18 years old any of my staff get this as an issue will be fired"- President Obama.
where will the story backlash?. The president Obama distanced himself from the story.
It will backlash with middle America......you just wait and see....
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin employed a lobbying firm to secure almost $27 million in federal earmarks for a town of 6,700 residents while she was its mayor, according to an analysis by an independent government watchdog group.
There was $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, $900,000 for sewer repairs, and $15 million for a rail project -- all intended to benefit Palin's town, Wasilla, located about 45 miles north of Anchorage.
In introducing Palin as his running mate on Friday, Sen. John McCain cast her as a compatriot in his battle against wasteful federal spending. McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, hailed Palin as a politician "with an outstanding reputation for standing up to special interests and entrenched bureaucracies -- someone who has fought against corruption and the failed policies of the past, someone who's stopped government from wasting taxpayers' money."
Will backlash to Media?, if that what you mean i agree. Its media which are digging all these not Obama. Obama isn't in personal attack politics the GOP with McSame are the ones who started to play the dirty game. They don't have issues and want to divert the election to be about Obama. Hoping they are in trouble now after chosing someone to VP without thorough veting.
Kumbe Sarah Palin ni Malkia wa Earmarks.... kwi kwi kwi too much for McSame to brag about cleaning Washington!
INTERNAL DOCUMENT - NOT TO BE EMAILED BEYOND CURRENT
> DISTRIBUTION LIST
>
> Please see the following points on Gov. Palin's family.
>
> * Governor Palin and her husband Todd have a loving family
> and their children mean everything to them. When their
> oldest daughter Bristol came to them with news that she was
> expecting a child they embraced her and gave her nothing but
> unconditional love and support.
>
> * This is a very personal matter for the family. We should
> all respect the love they have for the child and the desire
> all parents would have for their children's privacy.
>
> * The media should respect Bristol's privacy.
> That's always been the tradition and practice when it
> comes to the children of candidates.
>
> * (If pressed) The children of candidates do not choose to
> run for office and be thrust into the spotlight.
WASHINGTON Republican John McCain, whose running mate disclosed that her unmarried 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, has opposed proposals to spend federal money on teen-pregnancy prevention programs and voted to require poor teen mothers to stay in school or lose their benefits.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's announcement Monday about her daughter Bristol was aimed at rebutting Internet rumors that Palin's youngest son, born in April, was actually her daughter's. Palin said her daughter intends to raise her child and marry the baby's father, identified in news reports as Levi Johnston, 18, of Wasilla, a high school hockey player whom Bristol has dated for about one year. The baby is due in late December.
McCain's record on issues surrounding teen pregnancy and contraceptives during his more than two decades in the Senate indicates that he and Palin have similar views. Until Monday, when the subject surfaced in a deeply personal manner, teen pregnancy and sex education were not issues in the national political campaign.
Palin herself said she opposes funding sexual-education programs in Alaska.
"The explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support," she wrote in a 2006 questionnaire distributed among gubernatorial candidates.
McCain's position on contraceptives and teen pregnancy issues has been difficult to judge on the campaign trail, as he appears uncomfortable discussing such topics. Reporters asked the presumptive GOP presidential nominee in November 2007 whether he supported grants for sex education in the United States, whether such programs should include directions for using contraceptives and whether he supports President Bush's policy of promoting abstinence.
"Ahhh, I think I support the president's policy," McCain said.
When reporters pressed McCain whether the government should provide contraceptives or counseling on contraceptives, he replied, "You've stumped me." McCain said later that he was sure he opposed government spending on contraceptives.
Mmh, mi naomba nisiseme maana nimekuwa accused na 'my dear friend' Nyani kwamba nalipwa na Obama, na pia kuwa namchafulia jina binti yake Palin ingawa niilkuwa naleta tu habari. Lakini Nyani, my dear friend, nadhani yote haya unayozungumza ni talking points za GOP mlizosambaziwa juzi. naomba kuwasilisha talking points hizi :
Nimehighlight ile technique aliyotumia my dear friend Nyani. Sasa sijui nani yuko paid na campaign? Shame on you, mjukuu wake McCain!!! Kumbe kelele zote ni katika kutetea decision mbovu ya Babu yako na si kweli kwamba you guys care about this 17 year old girl.
Mi kwanza namwonea huruma Bristol kwa sababu mama yake alikuwa tayari kum-thrust in the lime light because of her ambitions. Mimi ningekuwa mzazi wa mtoto huyu ningekataa kukubali nafasi ya VP kwani binti yangu probably needs me the most at this time, and I wouldn't want her life to be shred to pieces in the public eye. We all know what happened to Britney Spears!!!
Get lost!! Hii issue ya Bristol inaweza kumtokea yeyote yule. No one is immune to it.