Sarah Palin is a straight up liar (and an dishonest obfuscator to boot)

09.06.08 - Posted by AsiansVote

I seldom use the word "liar" because everyone misspeaks from time to time. But it's a special kind of person who can stare you in the eye, flash a big smile, and unblinkingly repeat the same intentional misrepresentations of fact again and again. Governor Sarah Palin, the Republican nominee for President, appears to have the gift. Read on for four of her biggest straight up lies, followed by sampling of her most dishonest obfuscations.

STRAIGHT UP LIE: From Palin's Republican National Convention speech:

I told the Congress "thanks, but no thanks" on that bridge to nowhere. If our state wanted to build a bridge, we were going to build it ourselves.

TRUTH: In reality, Palin supported the bridge to nowhere during her 2006 race for governor. And as Bob Sommersby documents, she never told Congress "no thanks" -- Congress killed the project thirteen months before Palin took office. Finally, Palin stopped Alaska's efforts to build the bridge on its own because, in her words, "it’s clear that Congress has little interest in spending any more money on a bridge between Ketchikan and Gravina Island." As Sommersby concludes, "Quite transparently, Palin wasn’t 'telling the Congress' anything. Indeed, it was very much the opposite. The Congress was telling her!"

STRAIGHT UP LIE: From Palin's Republican National Convention speech:

... listening to [Obama] speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or even a reform, not even in the state senate.

TRUTH: From Andrew Sullivan:

At [Palin's] first press conference, why not ask her why she said that Obama has never passed a single reform, when he passed the 2007 Ethics Reform, described by many as the most sweeping package of its kind since Watergate.

And from Media Matters:

Obama was a lead co-sponsor of that bill (S.2590), which sought to "require full disclosure of all entities and organizations receiving Federal funds" -- an amount that approximately totals $1 trillion in federal grants, contracts, earmarks and loans. While signing the bill into law on September 26, 2006, Bush recognized Obama as a sponsor of the legislation, saying, "I want to thank the bill sponsors, Tom Coburn from Oklahoma, Tom Carper from Delaware, and Barack Obama from Illinois." Moreover, in a press release upon Senate passage of the bill, the bill's primary sponsor, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), referred to the legislation as the "Coburn-Obama Bill." In media reports, the bill has also been referred to as the "Coburn-Obama" legislation or bill.

At the state level, Obama was a co-sponsor of a 1998 Illinois ethics law outlawing political fundraising on Illinois state property and barring lobbyists from giving gifts to state legislators.

STRAIGHT UP LIE: From Palin's Republican National Convention speech

America needs more energy. Our opponent is against producing it.

TRUTH: From Obama's energy plan (warning: pdf link):

Barack Obama will establish a 10 percent federal Renewable Portfolio Standard [RPS] to require that 10 percent of electricity consumed in the U.S. is derived from clean, sustainable energy sources, like solar, wind, and geothermal by 2012. ... This national requirement will spur significant private sector investment in renewable sources of energy and create thousands of new American jobs, especially in rural areas.

The plan also calls for the development of clean coal technology, increased production of biofuels, and prioritizing the construction of the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline.

STRAIGHT UP LIE: From Palin's Republican National Convention speech:

... you can be certain that wherever he goes and whoever is listening, John McCain is the same man.

TRUTH: John McCain has changed his position or spoken out of both sides of his mouth on everything from whether he sent letters to help Paxson to accepting money from lobbyists to torture to the Confederate Flag to whether Jerry Falwell is an "agent of intolerance" to press access to whether Palin herself would appear on Larry King.

DISHONEST OBFUSCATION: From Palin's Republican National Convention speech:

We suspended the state fuel tax and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress.

TRUTH: From the AP:

As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation.

DISHONEST OBFUSCATION: From Palin's Republican National Convention speech:

I came to office promising to control spending, by request if possible, but by veto if necessary.

TRUTH: From ThinkProgress:

When Palin left office in 2002, Wasilla had “racked up nearly $20 million in long-term debt,” or roughly $3,000 of debt per resident.

DISHONEST OBFUSCATION: From Palin's Republican National Convention speech

Our opponents say again and again that drilling will not solve all of America's energy problems, as if we didn't know that already. But the fact -- the fact that drilling, though, won't solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all.

TRUTH: From an interview with Investors Business Daily [h/t to Barefoot and Progressive]:

IBD: Some politicians and presidential candidates say we can't drill our way out of our energy problem and that drilling in ANWR will have no effect. What's your best guess of the impact on prices?

Palin: I beg to disagree with any candidate who would say we can't drill our way out of our problem or that more supply won't ultimately affect prices.

DISHONEST OBFUSCATION: From Palin's Republican National Convention speech:

His tax increase are the fine print in his economic plan. And let me be specific. The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes and raise payroll taxes and raise investment income taxes -- (boos) -- and raise the death tax -- (boos) -- and raise business taxes -- and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars.

TRUTH: Palin is trying to create the impression that the average American will see his or her personal taxes increase under an Obama Administration. But as FactCheck.org notes, "In fact, Obama's economic plan would produce a tax cut for the majority of American households, with middle-income earners benefiting most."

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09.06.08 | 2008 Presidential Candidates