GOV. SARAH PALIN ENERGIZES CROWD
By Brock Letchworth
The Greenville Daily Reflector
October 8, 2008
Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin energized a crowd of about 8,000 Tuesday night by lauding Sen. John McCain's military service and vision for reform and questioning the judgment and policies of Sen. Barack Obama.
Palin, who spoke for about 30 minutes at East Carolina University's Minges Coliseum, said McCain, the GOP presidential nominee, is offering “real and pragmatic solutions to move the country forward,” while claiming that Obama, the Democratic nominee, has surrounded himself with questionable personalities.
“This election is important because it is about truthfulness and judgment,” Palin told the crowd. “I can tell you John McCain has it and Barack Obama does not.”…
“We're circulating nearly $700 billion dollars a year to other countries asking them to wrap up production of energy sources so we can purchase it,” Palin said. “Those dollars should stay here in America.”…
Palin called Ayers one of Obama's earliest supporters, saying he hosting a 1995 meeting kicking off Obama's bid for the Illinois State Senate. She dismissed claims by the Obama campaign that he did not know about Ayers' past before they met. Ayers was a founding member of the Weather Underground group, which claimed responsibility for bombings at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol in the early 1970s.
“You mean to tell me he didn't know he had launched his own political career in the living room of a domestic terrorist,” Palin said….
“(Obama) has committed to nearly $1 trillion in new government spending and yet he hasn't told you where that money is going to come from,” Palin said. “You can do the math and go with your gut and you're going to draw the same conclusion, and that is that Barack Obama is going to raise your taxes.”
Palin's comments drew chants of “Nobama” throughout the speech.
She closed her speech by saying the GOP would embrace the values of democracy and virtues of freedom worth fighting for.
“Understand that from now until election day, you are going to hear our opponents go on and on about how they will fight for you,” Palin said. “But since my running mate won't say this on his own behalf, I will take it upon myself to say it for him. And that is truthfully, John McCain is the only man in this race who has ever really fought for you.”
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SUPPORTERS FEEL CONNECTION TO PALIN
By Ginger Livingston
The Greenville Daily Reflector
October 7, 2008
People attending Tuesday's rally featuring Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin spoke about the connections they shared with Alaska's governor.
Trevor Brown and Taylor Buchanan of Greenville are expecting their first child in February. They said she shares their conservative values.
“I planned on voting for them once Palin was announced,” Buchanan said. “I feel like she relates more to the everyday person than most politicians.”…
Sammy and Mettie Henry of Durham brought their children, Clarence, 23, Faith, 15, and Emmanuel, 6, to the rally. Clarence, who is wheelchair-bound, has cerebral palsy.
Sammy Henry said Palin shares their conservative values and their belief that God has a plan for all his children.
The couple said they intimately understand and support her decision to give birth to her youngest child, Trig, who has Down syndrome.
When Mettie Henry was pregnant with their daughter, the couple was told a medical condition would lessen her chance of carrying the baby to full term. The doctors said the couple should consider an abortion.
“We believe in God and whatever he gave us we knew it would be OK,” Mettie Henry said. Faith is a happy and healthy teenager, they said. …
U.S. Army Specialists Jeff Friedrich and Greg Hernandaz with the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment based at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville were two of 10 people able to get tickets from the Republican Party's Fayetteville audience. After Palin's speech, they received hugs, handshakes and words of gratitude from the departing audience….
“I'm a firm believer in Republican ideals and I was very excited to hear what she had to say and be among like-minded people,” Friedrich said. “To participate in this and feel the energy ... I am grateful to have that.”
Hernandaz said Palin's speech re-affirmed his support of the McCain-Palin ticket. “I believe she fights for the same ideals we ultimately fight for,” he said.
Both men said it would be an honor to have McCain, a former U.S. Navy pilot and prisoner of war, serve as their commander-in-chief.
“He's a man amongst men. To serve under him would definitely be an honor,” Friedrich said….
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OBAMA, MCCAIN CLASH OVER ECONOMY
By John Broder and Michael Cooper
News & Observer
October 8, 2008
With public anxiety mounting over financial markets and the economy, Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain engaged in a muted debate Tuesday night over who was to blame and whose plan would successfully address the problems.
In the second presidential debate, at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., Obama faulted the Bush administration, and by extension McCain, for a deregulatory environment that he said had led to the economic meltdown. And McCain, pledging to aid struggling homeowners, offered a proposal to direct the federal government to save families from foreclosure by buying mortgages they could no longer afford.
"As president of the United States," McCain said in response to an audience member's question, "I would order the secretary of the Treasury to immediately buy up the bad home loan mortgages in America and renegotiate at the new value of those homes, at the diminished value of those homes and let people make those, be able to make those payments and stay in their homes.
But the candidates often seized on the questions to attack each other's records. While Obama and McCain were outwardly civil, each watched warily, sometimes with a thin smile, sometimes with a look of exasperation, as the other spoke directly to the audience.
McCain criticized Obama's record in the Senate, saying he had voted for billions of dollars in unneeded spending, including $3 million for a "projector for a planetarium in Chicago." …
McCain called American workers "innocent bystanders" in the economic storm and said one of his priorities would be to rid Washington of cronyism, greed and corruption….
Both candidates repeated some of their favorite refrains and accusations from the campaign trail. McCain once again promoted offshore drilling -- "We've got to drill offshore, my friends, and we've got to do it now," he said -- while Obama said that McCain's proposal of a $5,000 tax credit for health insurance, which would be taxable, was in effect "what one hand giveth, the other hand taketh away."
In response to a question about what each candidate would ask Americans to sacrifice, particularly in face of the economic crisis, McCain said that he would advocate a spending freeze on large parts of government.
"I'm going to ask the American people to understand that are some programs we will have to eliminate," McCain said. He added, "We will have to examine every agency and every bureaucracy of government."
The two candidates laid out different approaches to high energy prices, with Obama proposing a large-scale federal research and development effort for alternative energy sources, and McCain advocating increased use of nuclear power….
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FROM THE NCGOP PRESSROOM: MEET KAY "ME TOO" HAGAN
RALEIGH—Last night, after the Senate voted to pass the financial bailout bill currently before Congress with Senator Elizabeth Dole voting against the legislation, Kay Hagan released a late press release saying, "Me too."
After initially refusing to take a position on the legislation, Hagan only weighed in after Senator Dole had cast her vote. ("Hagan: No on Wall Street bailout," News & Observer, 10/3/08)
This is not the first time Kay "Me Too" Hagan has used this tactic. On offshore drilling, Kay Hagan initially opposed drilling even as Senator Dole opened up the possibility. Hagan was quoted as saying, ""I am opposed to the offshore drilling off the coast of North Carolina. We cannot drill ourselves enough oil to get us out of this problem." (News 14 Carolina, 7/16/08) Later, she changed her position to "Me too."
On illegal immigration, she initially opposed the 287g program criticizing Senator Dole's leadership in implementing the program and calling for its replacement. (Fisher, Hugh, "Hagan: Change Washington, Oust Dole," Salisbury Post, 2/29/08) Later, she changed her position to "Me too."
Kay Hagan also faced charges of plagiarizing portions of Barack Obama's energy plan earlier this year. (Baker, Mike, "Hagan's energy talk draws comparisons the Obama," Associated Press, 6/18/08) Obama released his plan and Hagan said, "Me too."
Legislative research has shown that Kay Hagan has voted with Democrat State Senate Leader Marc Basnight more than 99 percent of the time during her ten years in the N.C. Senate. ("Opinion: Dole More Independent Than Hagan," Raleigh Telegram, 9/9/08) In the State Senate, her vote was "Me too."
Chairman Linda Daves, North Carolina Republican Party, made the following statement:
"We need better than Kay 'Me Too' Hagan in Washington. In difficult times, we need experienced, seasoned leaders who will take a stand and represent the interests of North Carolinians. As the Democrat leadership in the State Senate pushed for higher taxes, doubled the state debt, nearly doubled state spending, shorted the public schools hundreds of millions of dollars, ran the state health plan into the ground, and got our state into a budget crisis, Hagan said, 'Me too.' It is clear that if Kay Hagan is sent to Washington, she will be nothing more than a reliable liberal vote out of touch with North Carolinians and our values."
THE WRONG TRACK
CIVITAS RELEASES CONSERVATIVE EFFECTIVENESS RANKINGS
Civitas Action is a 501(c)(4) non-profit that educates and informs North Carolinians on policy issues as well as the actions of their elected officials.
The Civitas Conservative Effectiveness Ranking (CER) is the only rating system in North Carolina that allows citizens of the state to gauge how effective their state legislator is in upholding conservative principles. Each member of the House and Senate is ranked on a scale of 0 to 100, based on their voting record.
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