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I care much more about the ethics, character, public service record (in terms of what they've supported), stance on issues that are important in my life, and plans for our country these candidates demonstrate. It is for these reasons that I support Senator Obama 100%.

SOURCES CRAYON!! Haven't you been warned about this?

Well,well~~~~~~~~~So I see,you finally concede that conseratism goes hand in hand with as you put it "fiscal responsbility"

2: a statement (as a response) that does not follow logically from or is not clearly related to anything previously said

interesting to note that the city of Wasilla is doing a fine job on taking care of their "fiscal responsibilities",and paying down their "responsible" debt in a timely and exemplary manner.

As far as me trying to lecture someone with a closed mind~~~~~~~I would`nt even attempt that campaign~~~~~~~but,the campaign I will glady jump on the band-wagon for is,crunching numbers when it comes to an analysis of triple A rated entities and their ability to handle "responsible" debt~~~~no period`s here~~~~~

How frigging dumb do you have to be to post obvious lies?????????????

(ABitNomadic) But purplecrayon, do you have any opinions on actual issues?

(ABitNomadic) But purplecrayon, do you have any opinions on actual issues?

Nomadic, I wouldn't hold your breath.

Amusing as it has been in times past, some forum posters here lack any ability to actually represent facts, although amusing has taken a backseat, lately.

Most McCain advocates resort to the same slash/burn, cut/run tactics their mentors use, and quite honestly, it's become much more than mundane because one "expects" others to eventually move along the intelectual spectrum. Apparently, some here lack the wherewithall (see above caption) to see truths or reperesent facts as others do.

It is the usual Republican position, "better a Republican crook than an honest Democrat".

(Obama and Biden at their respective stops are managing a few hundred at best).

Obama rebukes Palin on earmarks

By CHARLES BABINGTON – 1 hour ago

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — Barack Obama made his first direct criticism of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin on Saturday, saying she pretends to oppose spending earmarks when she actually has embraced them.

Speaking to 800 people at the Wabash Valley Fairgrounds in Terre Haute, Ind., the Democratic presidential nominee ridiculed John McCain and his running mate, the Alaska governor, for describing themselves as agents of change at this week's GOP convention.

"Don't be fooled," Obama told the crowd surrounding him in a large barn. "John McCain's party, with the help of John McCain, has been in charge" for nearly eight years.

Terre Hauteis a city in Vigo County, Indiana near the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 59,614 and a metropolitan population of 170,943.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terre_Haute

You mean like Cindy McCain's dress costing $312,000, exodus

. . . that's precisely the reason I'm voting for McCain/Palin. I don't think anyone can question McCain's ethics. He didn't come out of a corrupt local political scene, doesn't have any friends who are criminals, and doesn't belong to a church that preaches hate.

Palin tried to fire a librarian in an effort to censor books when she was mayor.

A foreign countries gave the Albanians power, punished Serbians for something that was not done to them, those western countries, and the result now is completely new configuration on the Balkans that never was possible before....But this is the doom of the small countries, mine too, the big ones always .... them.

Sarah Palin's campaign for governor sounds a lot like her campaign for mayor of Wasilla 10 years ago.

The main product Palin is selling this year, as in Wasilla 10 years ago, is Palin herself.

WASILLA TAX CUTS

This year, an accomplishment mentioned perhaps most often by Palin's supporters is that she cut taxes as mayor of Wasilla. Ironically, she took her first steps into local politics with the intent of preserving a controversial new tax and expanding local government.

In 1992, when Palin first ran for city council, Wasilla had just adopted a 2 percent sales tax and was setting up a police department. The 28-year-old Palin was approached by several council members to help them fight off anti-tax elements, who were saying no new stores would ever come to Wasilla if it had a sales tax. A 1992 Palin ad called her a "new face, new voice," who would work for "a safer, more progressive Wasilla."

As it turned out, the new sales tax built the infrastructure that turned Wasilla into the Mat-Su area's commercial hub. Booming sales tax revenues also made possible Palin's other tax cuts after she became mayor in 1996.

To become mayor, however, Palin had to bump off three-term incumbent John Stein, who had ushered in the sales tax and police force. Three terms were enough, she said. He had lost touch with the community. It was time for a change. The voters agreed.

Wasilla's growth was taking off, and Palin pushed for bonds to build sewer, water and roads. New big-box stores wanted to be in the city so they could get sewer, water and police protection, even if it meant being annexed. Palin's city was not necessarily an aesthetic crown jewel, especially along the Parks Highway, but the long snake of stores was doing good business. Sales tax revenues grew by half a million dollars a year. Much of the revenue was coming from people who lived outside the town.

Palin was able to cut property taxes by three-quarters while eliminating small taxes such as the personal property tax and the business inventory tax. She wasn't doing this by shrinking government, however: The cost of running the growing city, apart from capital projects and debt, rose from $3.9 million in fiscal 1996 to $5.8 million in fiscal 2002. Excess sales tax revenues went to paying for capital improvements such as roads and government buildings, says city finance director Ted Leonard.

Palin had priorities. She shrank the local museum's budget and deterred talk of a new library and city hall. But she also put in bike paths and obtained funds for storm-water treatment to protect the area's many lakes. She successfully pushed a half-percent sales tax increase to build a $15 million multi-use indoor ice arena. The popular sports complex is not breaking even, as its advocates projected, but the city's subsidy has been cut from $600,000 to $125,000 a year.

A like-minded majority on the city council smoothed her way. That's not to say her six years as mayor went smoothly, especially at first.

After turning out the three-term incumbent, Palin brought in an outside attorney, with city funds, to advise on the transition. She asked for resignation letters from six top department heads, saying they'd signed a letter supporting their former boss. She fired two of them -- the police chief and the museum director -- but within a year two others had quit. With the local newspaper, the Frontiersman, upset about the uproar, a citizens group started meeting to discuss a recall of the new mayor. The idea was eventually dropped.

Palin has cited her mayoral work as a central part of her qualification to serve as governor. But at the beginning of her term, asked by the local newspaper how she would run the city without experienced department heads, she made the job sound like no big deal: "It's not rocket science. It's $6 million and 53 employees."

Battling over appointments to vacant city council seats, Palin said at the time, "Some of the things I'm doing, it's obvious I'm not running for Miss Congeniality. I'm running the city."

LOCAL CRITICS

Palin's current opponents, Tony Knowles and Andrew Halcro, are saying her experience as mayor didn't prepare her sufficiently to be governor. Palin says Wasilla was a good rough-and-tumble training ground for a 32-year-old first-time mayor.

"Looking back now, it seems kind of young. At the time, it seemed perplexing that people would object," she says. "I was very bold about what needed to be done.

"I went through a lot with the press, with the legislative body, and it was rough with a staff who didn't want to be there working with a new boss," she says. "I learned you've got to be very discerning early on and decide if you can win them over or not. If you can't, you replace them early on." She added that she doesn't want to be surrounded by yes-men.

Some of Palin's hiring as mayor proved almost as controversial as her firings.

She quickly hired a deputy administrator, reworking the city budget to find money for the $50,000-a-year position, which had been empty for several years. Critics said it showed she wasn't up to the job, but Palin defended it as necessary for the fast-growing city.

Critics also noted that the deputy, John Cramer, had been hired from the staff of Sen. Lyda Green, one of the local Republicans who had endorsed Palin in the race. They said it smacked of party patronage.

Similar complaints arose when Palin hired a public works director with no engineering background, Cindy Roberts, who had been a Commerce Department official in the administration for former Gov. Wally Hickel. The wife of longtime Hickel aide Malcolm Roberts, she lasted a year in the job. The city also replaced its longtime attorney with Republican Party attorney Ken Jacobus.

Palin defends the choices, saying they all performed well for the city. She said the attorney choice was made by the city council.

A number of other disputes flared up and died down in the first year. The Frontiersman, which sparred with Palin frequently at first, accused her of rolling her eyes and making faces at city council meetings when she heard testimony she didn't like.

Many Palin opponents from her mayoral years, including Stein, who made a failed comeback bid in 1999, declined to speak for this story. One who spoke freely was her staunchest critic on the council, Nick Carney.

"The day-to-day was beyond her," he said, criticizing her hiring of Cramer and her treatment of the incumbent department heads. "It was the barracuda in her that came out, that 'Those guys were on the side of John Stein and I'm going to get rid of them.' "
Carney, part of an extended and prominent Wasilla-area family that has seen many children through public schools, said Palin's high-school nickname came from her efforts to get more playing time on the basketball court. "She wasn't what she appeared," he said.

Palin smiled and sighed at the mention of her old adversary's name. "I couldn't do anything without Nick Carney griping about it. That was the nature of our relationship," Palin said. "I could have walked across Lake Lucile on the water, and he would have griped about me splashing."

For Palin, her landslide re-election in 1999 answered the critics. It was the one election where her slogan changed from "new ideas" to "stay the course." "I took that as a mandate that we were on the right path," she said.

Issues have been discussed in detail. Do a search on handles and read the posts.
Please keep opinions of 'Posters' off the board. I'm just asking as a Contributor here. We have to scroll past these and human nature, as it is, says some will be addressed. Which I, personally, have been called down on, here in public, to not do so. I do not 'report' others and will simply ask in a civil manner that we, as Forum Participants, keep the insults and negativity to the Thread Topics/Candidates and not each other. Just a request. Nothing more or less. Take it or leave it. It's a plea from Forum Participant to other Forum Participants.