Political Ruminations

Morning Quote: Sarah Palin

A History in Quotes of Sarah Palin’s TARP Hypocrisy

In an interview on Fox News last night, Sarah Palin’s TARP hypocrisy showed up again, as she denigrated President Obama for his support of TARP,  never mentioning that she had also supported TARP:

“Scaring the American people is exactly what President Obama is doing. In that bizarre speech that he gave last night, it reminded me of when he insisted that TARP had to be passed -- it was life-or-death, at that time, also.”

Palin on TARP in 2010, during a speech at the Tea Party Convention:

“Today, in the words of Congressman Paul Ryan, the $700 billion TARP has morphed into crony capitalism at its worst, and it's becoming a slush fund for the Treasury Department's favorite big players, just as we had been warned about. And while people on Main Street look for jobs, people on Wall Street, they're collecting billions and billions in your bailout bonuses. Among the top 17 companies that received your bailout money, 92 percent of the senior officers and directors, they still have their good jobs, and every day Americans are wondering, where are the consequences for they -- helping to get us into this worst economic situation since the Great Depression? Where are the consequences?”

Watch the video:

In 2009, Palin berated House Republicans who voted against TARP in her book,  Going Rogue:

“The House of Representatives rejected a Bush-backed economic bailout plan in a vote in which two-thirds of Republicans voted no. The impression this made on the electorate was not helpful to our cause. Millions of Americans were poised to go bankrupt or lose their savings, and the perception was that Republicans had failed to respond.” 

Palin on TARP in 2008 during an interview with Katie Couric:

“That’s why I say, I, like every American I’m speaking with, were ill about this position that we have been put in, where it is the taxpayers looking to bailout. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up the economy—helping the—Oh, it’s got to be about job creation too. Shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track… And trade we’ve got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive scary thing. But 1 in 5 jobs being created in the trade sector today. We’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.”

Watch the Video:

Palin on TARP in 2008, during an interview with CNN:

“Now, as for the economic bailout provisions and the measures that have already been taken, it is a time of crisis and government did have to step in playing an appropriate role to shore up the housing market to make sure that we're thawing out some of the potentially frozen credit lines and credit markets, government did have to step in there.”

Alaska to Release Palin Emails Today

The release of Palin's old emails today is the latest Friday document dump, courtesy the State of Alaska, and former half-term governor, Sarah Palin. The New York Times, emphasis mine:

Even as Ms. Palin orchestrates much of her messaging through digital media — one moment she tweaks President Obama via Twitter, then she elaborates on Facebook, all from wherever she might be at that moment — her old e-mails are being released by the pound, not the pixel, in six standard paper boxes, a total of about 250 pounds at a printing cost of $725 per set. And at least initially, the documents can be had only by either picking them up here, in remote Juneau — a city accessible only by plane and boat — or by having them shipped, at considerable cost, to newsrooms across the country.

In addition, more than 2,000 pages of the e-mails have been withheld for various reasons, including executive privilege and privacy, according to Mr. Parnell’s office. Many of the documents that are being released have had details redacted by state lawyers.

“Why has your staff only implemented taxing ways to disclose these (redacted) public documents? What about scanning them?” Andree McLeod, a Palin critic who started filing records requests even before Ms. Palin became a national figure, wrote to Mr. Parnell recently.

The documents are to be released at 9 a.m. Alaska time on Friday — 1 p.m. in New York — and some news organizations are putting into place elaborate systems for scanning them and inviting the public to help search them online. MSNBC, ProPublica and Mother Jones magazine are working with a research company to create an online database of the documents. The company, Crivella West, created a similar database last year when the state released a much smaller set of documents related to the involvement of Ms. Palin’s husband, Todd, with state government. The company has not said when exactly its new database will be ready.

The New York Times will be putting up its own database, and has asked readers to help sift through the emails once they arrive.

Hmm…if we help them sort out the mess, will each email count as a part of the 20-article quota to which non-subscribers [to the digital paper] are limited? I’m only being half facetious here. Seriously.