Palin's Debate Sudan Claim False
By anniepa
@anniepa (27955)
United States
October 6, 2008 3:41am CST
You may recall Sarah Palin saying this in Thursday night's debate regarding the genocide in Sudan:
"When I and others in the legislature found out that we had some millions of dollars [of Permanent Fund investments] in Sudan, we called for divestment through legislation of those dollars."
She went on to say that while the legislation hasn't yet passed, it needed to. Well, whatever she really thinks about this issue NOW the actual record shows she was against it before she was for it!
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5948944&page=1
Here's a portion of the linked article:
But a search of news clips and transcripts from the first three months of this year did not turn up an instance in which Palin mentioned the Sudanese crisis or concerns about Alaska's investments tied to the ruling regime. Moreover, Palin's administration openly opposed the bill, and stated its opposition in a public hearing on the measure.
"The legislation is well-intended, and the desire to make a difference is noble, but mixing moral and political agendas at the expense of our citizens' financial security is not a good combination," testified Brian Andrews, Palin's deputy revenue commissioner, before a hearing on the Gara-Lynn Sudan divestment bill in February. Minutes from the meeting are posted online by the legislature.
Gara says the lack of support from Palin's administration helped kill the measure.
"I walked out of that hearing livid," Gara recalled of the February meeting. Because of the Palin administration's opposition to the bill, "We could not get a vote in that committee," he explained. At no point did Palin come out in support of the effort, Gara said.
The bill's Republican co-sponsor remembers things differently. "I know she was very strongly behind this," said Rep. Lynn. Asked why, if Palin supported the bill, one of her administration's officials would speak against it, Lynn demurred. "We don't all work in lockstep here," he said. "People have different opinions," he added.(End of excerpt)
There is more, and it does say at the last minute the Palin Administration showed up but by then it was too late. As for the top of the GOP ticket, also from the referenced article, "Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has been a strong supporter of Sudan divestment efforts, and has urged Americans to liquidate their holdings in companies who do business there. He was criticized for that position when it was revealed in May his wife Cindy held $2 million in investment funds owning shares of Sudan-linked companies. She sold those holdings following a reporter's inquiries."
Any thoughts?
Annie
4 people like this
6 responses
@ZephyrSun (7381)
• United States
6 Oct 08
It's so strange, why would she bring it up during the "debate"? When I heard her say that it sounded like she really wanted to divest the money and that she was in support of the plan. She could have asked the legislatures to work together to get this passed.
5 people like this
@soccermom (3198)
• United States
6 Oct 08
I'm looking at this as just another "perception is reality" ploy on behalf of a political candidate. Both parties are guilty of it, just seems the GOP is more guilty of it than the Dems. McCain is hoping that voters aren't smart enough to do the research. I think that he honestly thinks people view him and Palin as trustworthy enough to just believe whatever comes out of their mouths, you think he'd have learned by now because most of this seems to backfire on him. The longer this goes on the more I am convinced that he underestimates the intelligence of the American people.
4 people like this
@soccermom (3198)
• United States
1 Dec 08
Thanks for the BR! I guess I lost track of this discussion, so in response to devlyn's question...I wasn't really so much as offended by the fact she called herself a "hockeymom", because most of us hockeymoms and soccermoms are very on top of things, I was however offended that she exploited it to make it seem as though she was just an ordinary woman, because all her other behavior showed otherwise. But I guess in the end actions spoke louder than words.
@CherylsPearls (1269)
• United States
7 Oct 08
Why the silence from her office if she was for the bill to begin with? I don't believe it. I think Palin has morals when they are convienient. In this case, when she was "outed." Cindy is in the same boat as far as I am concerned. The conservatives like to talk about morals, but it's not their own they are concerned with.
4 people like this
@rodney850 (2145)
• United States
6 Oct 08
Annie,
Just a quick question; how come these type of discussions are "nit-pick" when they relate to Obama but oh so relavent when applied to the other side of the coin?
2 people like this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
6 Oct 08
I'm not sure what, specifically, you're referring to here, but we're not discussing Obama right now. There are tons of discussions here on myLot relating to the V.P. debate still floating around and this was one that related to something Palin said at that debate which as it turns out wasn't totally accurate, so it is relevant in my opinion.
Annie
3 people like this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
12 Oct 08
Good point, devylan, and here I always thought the Republicans had some kind of special access to God, after all didn't Jesus tell Bush he should be President and didn't Palin say the Iraq war was God's war?
By the way, I wasn't ignoring our other comments in this thread. To answer your one question, I find the "Joe six-pack" references very annoying and I think hockey and soccer moms everywhere should be offended to be compared to Palin. Myself, I'm a football, baseball, swimming, diving and cheerleading Gram so she hasn't hit me yet...lol! (Or my daughter, for that matter.)
Annie
1 person likes this