Sarah Palin Goes to Asia
In her first trip to the Eastern continent and her first paid speaking engagement, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin reserved some zingers for the audience back home. Even though the speech was officially closed press, the Wall Street Journal got their hands on a recording.
Ms. Palin didn't refer to President Barack Obama by name, but said his promise for change during the election hasn't taken hold. She called his campaign promises "nebulous, utopian sounding…Now 10 months later, though, a lot of Americans are asking: more government? Is that the change we want?"
In an echo of last year's presidential campaign, she criticized government policies that result in what she called a redistribution of wealth. "There is no justice in taking from one person and giving to another," she said. "History shows it simply does not work."
Palin is trying to capitalize on an increasing nervousness amongst Americans that the government is growing too big. A recent Gallup poll found that the number of Americans worried that the government is doing too much has reached the highest point in more than a decade -- 57%. She also had some harsh words on health care reform.
"It's just common sense that government attempts to solve problems like health care problem will just create new problems." She called for "market friendly" health care reform that gives tax breaks to individuals to buy health insurance.
Though the speech included some fodder for her audience -- talk of the ancient land bridge from Asia to Alaska and comments on the financial crisis (which she blames on a previous CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets keynote speaker, Alan Greenspan) -- the bulk of her speech sounded a lot like a campaign stump speech directed more to Republican voters than Hong Kong investors.
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1
Is a 1.2 TRILLION Government-run Healthcare Program not creating yet more BIG GOVERNMENT, Jay?
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2
This woman is crazy. Who would attribute the financial crisis to regulation and taxation of businesses? It is almost universally acknowledged that it is the opposite. No wonder she went to 6 universities to graduate.
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2.1
Yep, Fannie and Freddie had nothing to do with this crisis. Ok, gotcha.
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2.2
Goodness sakes, spob
Fannie & Freddie contributed at most about 10% to the problem.
Ms. Palin needs to study her history, and that the deregulation of the banking industry over the past 30 years lead to this crisis. Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, all of them contributed. It is no accident that Goldman Sachs supplied Secretaries of the Treasury to both parties.
As far a governmental policies which contributed to the housing crisis, probably the biggest one is the one that allows a home owner to deduct their mortgage interest payments from their income at tax time.
Back to the banking industry, yes, there is a moral hazard that if you get in trouble, the government will bail you out. However, it was easy for the banks to play with someone else's money.
Remember when we had to bail out all those S & Ls (including McCain's buddy Charles Keating: notice there was not much of that mentioned by the so-called liberal media during the presidential campaign, but oh, I forgot, John McCain is not a real "conservative", as he was such a darling of the media)? You would have thought we had learned our lesson.
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3
Did anyone actually see that degree?
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3.1
No I haven't seen it. At least I have seen a fake certificate from the birthers.
[Too dim to graduate? Mmh. On occasions, university instructors are known to be overly generous with their grades - for a consideration .. ] -
3.2
Can she do anything, all that it takes to get that degree - morals notwithstanding?
one) She can commandeer campaign funds for personal use - to buy herself sharp clothes that attract ..... What does that mean?
two) If things get slow, she can wink. Did you see that at the pres debates? What else can she do - to get ahead?
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4
Thanks, Jay. From this fragment posted I wondered if Sarah really wrote this. Has she been writing her own Facebook musings? They're too coherent. But the WSJ portion makes me feel better. THIS reads like the Lovely Sarah we've grown to know and make ourselves pound our heads against the wall. But she needs to step up and produce The Sarah Palin Health Care Plan Also[tm]. What are her ideas to fix this mess? (at least I've tried to contribute ideas, even if in vain) But thanks for your work on this, Jay, and thanks also to KT and Kate.
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5
The woman who came within a hair's breadth of the vice-presidency in 2008 is denouncing her own government on foreign soil, the Associated Press reports.
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5.1
Not only that, but she accused the U.S. government of terrorizing people. And, she did it in a foreign country that profits from illegal activity inside the U.S.
.
Can she be censured?
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6
I wonder how the speech was received among the international business community.
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6.1
The audience was incredibly bored:
CLSA, the Hong Kong-based investment bank, has had a habit of making its annual conferences controversial, inviting speakers who have gone on to the national and international stage. Some of the audience were there as though it were a freak show, expecting the gaffe-prone former Alaska governor to display her ignorance of the world beyond her own isolated state. Others were expecting some verbal fireworks, some very straight speaking to explain why the event was not only closed to the media but delegates were warned not to record her speech. Her handlers carefully didn't expose her to the press in an open press conference although she did take a few questions from investors.
What they got was 90 minutes of boredom which had half the audience fiddling endlessly with their Blackberries. Ninety percent of her speech could have been – and probably was – written for a domestic US audience receptive to her "mom and pop" populism. Indeed the only newsworthy aspect of the speech was why her remarks had to be kept private despite their predictability.
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7
How ludicrous it is that Sarah Palin went to a communist country to claim America's socialism is a failure. She's lucky it was closed to the press, otherwise the Chinese government might have been forced to arrest her clueless azz-- after all its not like their citizens could get away with saying anything like this about their government. My goodness, if America's system is bad because it wants to help its citizens get health care what must China's system be considering its involved in every aspect of its citizens lives. She's lucky she got home because i can't imagine anyone but Rush Limbaugh and his crew of ditto heads trying to get her back -- Can we send Rush over there too.
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8
How stupulous (!) do you have to be to get noticed? [See also Blech, Glenn.]
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9
It's hard to believe she would give an anti-American speech on foreign soil.
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9.1
Derek, she's thinking about running for Vice President of China. She was testing the waters.
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9.2
palininatowel maybe they are thinking of China if they manage to separate Alaska?
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9.3
Republican angels can do no wrong: They can do what the lesser donkeys dare not do - without running the risk of being excoriated as unpatriotic, seditious, traitorous, un-American or worse - un-christian!
=== off topic
Swaggering 'CHANGE' POTUS to the assembled barbarians: We invade, We destroy and We plunder. We roam far and wide unleashing epic social upheaval, destroying civilizations, killing humans and wreaking environmental destruction on countries all over the world - from Iraq to Vietnam, Afghanistan, Congo, Chile, Haiti, Nigeria, South Africa and Grenada.
But, don't be a joker: After America breaks it, Don't expect America to fix it"
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10
Great comments, as usual!
Uh, isn't a secret speech before rich people in a foreign country that is only nominally our ally a strange way to launch a presidential bid?
The Constant Weader at http://www.RealityChex.com
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11
IOKIYAR
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11.1
Rats! WordPress got me again. Post 11 was meant to be a reply.
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12
Fantastic, Jay! It was all packaged up for you, wasn't it?
1. The Neocons set up the disgraced former governor of Alaska and failed VP candidate with a foreign venue and write her speech for her.
2. They send Randy Sheunemann, neocon handler and lobbyist, to manage her.
3. They close the venue to real journalists who might ask real questions.
4. They release a recording to Rupert Murdoch's print version of Fox News, the Wall Street Journal.5. THEN you transcribe it with no trace of irony or commentary except some vague talking points about "too much government" from a recent poll (were they suggested to you as well?).
Then you give it to us and tell us it's news!
Next up....the RNC simply directly installs the strings in you back, hands and mouth.
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12.1
Not to hijack the thread, but I responded to your commentary here http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/09/23/democrats-say-go-republicans-say-wait/comment-page-1/#comment-98238, dollared.
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12.2
Sorry, if you're looking for commentary go to the op-ed pages or to a COLUMNIST. Amazingly enough, I aim to report news.
JNS -
12.3
Jay Newton-Small:
.
Thank you very much for responding to commentary; even when we disagree, your engagement is greatly appreciated. -
12.4
Amazingly enough, I aim to report news.
JNS
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Hahahahahaha.....
You really don't have any idea how awful you are at this, do you?
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13
Although this Columbia Journalism Review article is specifically related to WaPo coverage of ACORN, the principles of press coverage apply to this as well.
http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/q_a_rick_perlstein.php?page=all
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14
Isn't it about time Palin faced some legitimate questioning over her accusations and statements from the health care debate and other items? She seems to feel she is entitled in some way, that her "main street" opinions are infallible and cannot be challenged.
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14.1
She's not Main Street where I come from, but what do I know? I'm from a small town of 8 million people, so I don't count.
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15
Please stop making articles about this woman. She is not relevant in any way shape or form now that she is out of public office and serving on no major board or council. This is the international version of feeding a troll.
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Some people paid to have her talk, fine. Are we going to be getting a spread of Farrakhan's next 'sermon' too? Let these fringe elements wallow and die in just that, the fringe. We have far too great of real concerns other than this. I mean at least Rush and Beck have national media outlets they control and such. Why does Palin warrant any attention other than as a spectacle?Dare I say we have far too many spectacles and far too few informative sources (and informed citizens). We don't need to keep adding to the trend, no matter how lucrative that might be for a business in the entertainment (sorry, news) industry.
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16
"Sarah Palin Goes to Asia"
So, that's what that foul odor was yesterday!
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17
Michelle Cottle:
"This strikes me as riotous on two levels:
1. Someone is actually giving Palin money to talk to 1,000 or so international investors about global economics and what's going on in Asia.
2. In her new role as buck-raker extraordinaire, the darling of wingnut conservatives is pocketing a fat wad of cash from a China-based financial brokerage owned by a French banking conglomerate.
How perfect is that?"
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18
Jay, I do thank you for responding.
My comment was about your choice of postings. Did you notice that the country is about to make serious choices about its future? And that Palin is not only irrelevant, but discredited? Did you notice how manufactured this entire event was?
if you think your job is to relay press releases, then you will only report what the corporations and the RNC want you to report. They are the only ones with the time to do all the packaging and preparation for you.
I guess we just disagree about your job description. And I am not your boss. But your boss ought to follow Ivy_B's link.
Thanks for listening.
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19
[...] And again it always fascinates me to read the comments from the enlightened on websites like Swampland. My favorite is cfukara, who suggests that Palin only got her degree by giving sexual favors to [...]
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19.1
" .. cfukara, who suggests that .. "
Who 'suggests' WHAT?
You did. I didn't.
Moral: You see, people, playing hooky during "comprehension" classes in school can cost you later in life.
[Caution: We shouldn't rush to (miss)represent people: Nowadays, we put people through gender tests just to be sure they are who they say they are ... Gotta see and re-authenticate a certificate of authenticity - fake or not.]
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19.2
" .. cfukara, who suggests that Palin .. "
No, I didn't.
BUT.
Now, Now, tell us this, little (Pavlovian) hypocrite: If you were her school teacher or college instructor and she gave you THAT wink (of the VP-debates fame) .. would you cough up the good grade?
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20
Did any public official out there get a blood sample so that they can check out her potential as a kidney donor?
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20.1
No need.
After she is done with them, the bears and the moose don/t need her vile kidneys.
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- jnsmall Had to feed my dog rice this morning after I got to the store to buy dog food and realized I'd left my wallet @ work. It's one of those days - 6 hours ago
- jnsmall A primer on tomorrow's primaries to fill Teddy Kennedy's Senate seat: http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/12/07/its-election-time-again/ - 22 hours ago
- jnsmall Belatedly, was on @The_Takeaway this AM talking about Obama's Hill trip. Listen in: http://tiny.cc/Y30yV Thanks 4 hosting me! @Todd_Zwillich - 1 day ago
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