Strollerderby : vp

How much is Sarah Palin worth?

Brett Singer — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:00:00 GMT

One of Sarah Palin's claims during the debate was that she was "Joe Six-Pack" (shouldn't that be Jane Six-Pack?), part of her folksy, "I'm just like you, America" thing.

So I thought I'd find out just how much money she actually had.

In the past, I've never been terribly interested in Presidential candidates' financial disclosures. This is probably because I assume that if someone has reached a point where they can run for President or Vice-President of the United States, they probably have a few bucks. But when Palin made her claim at the debate last week, my curiosity was piqued.

Sarah Palin and her family seem to be on the lower end of the political wealth spectrum. According to their tax returns, "The Palins paid $22,721 in taxes on $166,080 adjusted gross income last year."

I couldn't open the PDF file provided by the McCampaign (here it is if you want to try: PDF link), so I dug a little more and found Palin's financial disclosure forms from when she ran for office in Alaska. In addition to her family's income, they have investments that look like they total about $200,000. I say "about" because the money is in various funds and the value fluctuates, especially these days. Plus the form is from 2007, so who knows what her money is in now. So maybe the value is between $100,000 and $200,000, depending on the day.
(Note: here is the site where I found the link to her return, which is available here as a PDF file.)

Does that make her rich? Not really. She has five children, and Bristol has one on the way. However, if you include "the estimated value of their property and investments…[the Palins] appear to be worth at least $1.2 million," according to ABC News. I admit that I'm not sure if this number is accurate, but it sounds plausible. Palin and her husband also have no credit card debt, unlike most Americans. Bottom line: even if you go with a low-ball estimate, the Palin family are not exactly living paycheck to paycheck.

What's the point of this exercise? Palin may claim to be "Joe Six-Pack", but I think she's more "Jane Case of Wine." That's fine with me, by the way. But why lie about it?

Image: ABC News

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Sarah Palin pro choice -- for gays

Brett Singer — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Sarah Palin uses the word "choice" a lot.

For example: Bristol Palin's "choice" to have her baby (as Madeline pointed out). Now we have Sarah's gay best friend. Her friend, you see, made a "lifestyle choice." One that Sarah herself wouldn't choose, but hey, live and let live, right?

We've established that I can be a tad naive at times. But I really thought that most people were past this idea that gay people are "choosing" to be gay. Every gay person I know gives me the impression that they are, you know, gay. It's not like they woke up one morning and said, "you know what? No more women/men. I've decided to only be sexually attracted to members of my own sex." (One gay man I know claims that his first word was "mink stole," and I don’t think he was joking.)

What always intrigued me about this notion of "gay choice" is that it would imply that we heterosexuals – or "breeders", as we prefer to be called – also made a choice. That would be the logical assumption, right? That straight men and women at some point in their lives made a conscious decision, or "choice", to be with the opposite sex?

Any of our gay readers – does this bother you?

(Be sure to read this post by Shannon LC Cate, which also attacks this issue.)

Image: Mother Jones

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Giant Palin Poster

Brett Singer — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 17:00:00 GMT

When I was a kid, I had posters on my walls. The biggest were of Reggie Jackson (great New York Yankee hitter from the late 1970's) and Superman (Christopher Reeve).

This over five foot high Sarah Palin poster is presumably for adults, but I'm not sure if that's better or worse. That is, if it's for children, what child wants this on their wall? And if it's for adults, why is an adult hanging a gigantic poster of the Vice-Presidential candidate on their wall? Even my Reggie Jackson poster wasn't that huge.

To be fair, you can order in three sizes: 12 inches ($19.99 for 4 – such a deal!), 48 inches ($49.99) or 5' 6" ($69.99, described as "life-sized").

Order now for guaranteed Chanukah delivery! (Note: I made that up. Although in theory, it's probably true.)

Source/Image: wallmonkeys.com

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They say: Sarah Palin should step down

Brett Singer — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 21:50:00 GMT

A few they's are saying it, including "Prominent conservative columnist Kathleen Parker," who was a big fan of McCain's VP choice a few weeks ago.

See, if the Democrats had done this, you would have heard a chorus of "Flip! Flop!" But hey, what's bad for you is good for me, right?

In a column dated September 15, 2008, Parker wrote, "Both a frontier woman and beauty queen, the square-jawed Palin not only neutralized the sisterhood, but she animated the brotherhood. Men are suddenly riveted as never before by the frontal lobes of the vice-presidential candidates." In a column at NationalReview.com dated September 26, 2008, Parker writes that Palin is, "out of her league." Other comments about the woman she thought was just ducky a couple of weeks ago: "If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself." (Emphasis added, for obvious reasons.)

So how can Palin get out of this gracefully? "She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first." Gawker says that this is how we all got permission to be sexist. That sounds about right to me. No one with any sense is saying that Palin isn't qualified to be Veep because she lacks a Y chromosome. It's because she seems to have no idea what is going on in the world, or even a working knowledge of John McCain's record. Also, it needs to be said that Parker is suggesting that Palin blatantly lie about her reasons for dropping out in order to engender sympathy. Hey, maybe she could cry a little bit too! That'll really make the men weak in the knees!

It's worth noting that other writers are calling for Palin to go back to Alaska and keep an eye on Russia, including Peggy Noonan, David Brooks, George Will, and David Frum.

In closing, here are a couple of the numerous comments from the CNN article:

"Palin should take a flying leap."
Followed by:
"Be nice. She could just float away on her own HOT AIR!"

This one makes no sense at all:
"Let the smear campaign continue…"

Um, how is it a "smear campaign" when writers who support McCain are calling for Palin to get out of the race?

This one is my favorite:
"Ah.. the link was just to some little blog site. Sort of ironic when a tiny blog site says that someone is out-of-their-league."

Dude. That "some little blog site" is the NATIONAL REVIEW.

Same comment, gets better:
"Kathleen Parker needs to READ what the job of VP actually is. A squid with one brain cell would be over qualified for that job! The major thing you need to do is stay awake in the Senate."

Riiiight. Except that the "P" is VP stands for PRESIDENT. As in "next in line to be leader of the free world." Nuclear codes. (Or, as Palin would say, Nook-you-lehr codes.) That type of thing.

Lastly, it's worth pointing out that some random person at Yahoo! Answers was posting the "Should Palin step down?" question three weeks ago. Meaning that perhaps, at times, commentators, even nationally syndicated ones, can be a bit slow on the uptake.

Source/Image: CNN
Other Source: Gawker

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Political Nanny: Wake Up, You Were Dreaming

Madeline Holler — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:01:00 GMT

An organization led by former Hillary Clinton staffers has ended its quest to get Democratic candidate Barack Obama to pick her for a running mate.

Political Nanny would like to note that, mmmhmmm, she didn't realize others were still making an effort to get Clinton in the No. 2 spot. In any case, here's the writing on the wall that leaders of Vote Both finally saw:

From USA Today:

"Because it seems that Senator Obama has made his decision to offer the slot on the ticket to another candidate, we believe that continuing to ask him to pick Hillary is no longer helpful to our party's chances of winning in November," Adam Parkhomenko and Sam Arora wrote in an e-mail they planned to send Thursday to the 40,000-plus supporters who signed onto their online petition.

What does the Obama camp have to say? Well, they're still not talking about VPs, yes or no, or even the convention schedule.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the campaign won't comment on the vice presidential search and hasn't finalized the convention speaking program. Obama and Clinton advisers have said Clinton is likely to speak on the convention's second night, Aug. 26, which is the 88th anniversary of the ratification of the amendment giving the women the right to vote.

Are you totally crushed or had you given up the dream (ticket) a while ago? Who's your VP pick for Obama?

Image: blog.syracuse.com