Fact-Checking McCain/Palin

WASHINGTON – The Alaska National Guard, which Republicans are pointing to as an important national-security credential for vice presidential choice Sarah Palin, has personnel shortages that make its aviation units the most poorly staffed in the nation.

Just six months ago, Air Force Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell, the Alaska Guard's top officer, warned in an internal memo that "missions are at risk." The lack of qualified airmen, Campbell said, "has reached a crisis level."

The situation has improved since the March 1 memo was written, Campbell said Wednesday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press — but not enough to eliminate his concern that shortages will result in the "burnout" of troops the Guard already has. That could result in missions and equipment being moved out of Alaska.

A 70-year-old man who was imprisoned with John McCain during the Vietnam War says the Arizona senator lacks the temperament to be president.

Phillip Butler says in a new attack ad that McCain’s prisoner-of-war status is not a qualification for the presidency and McCain is not somebody he wants to see “with his finger near the red button.”

“He was well known as a very volatile guy and he would blow up and go off like a roman candle,” Butler says in the ad, which was produced by Brave New PAC, a political action committee associated with the liberal film company Brave New Films.

Leighton Woodhouse, a spokesman for the company, said that the 30-second ad will air on CNN, MSNBC and ESPN from Thursday through this weekend.

mclame and palin(comparison tohillary)
are desperate
gullianis ajoke
nochange in this group

Politics do make strange bed fellows. It is not often that a songbird (McCain) and a book banning pit-bull (Pilan) can get along. Banning books is something that Pit-Bull Pilan has in common with Hitler’s Nazi party.

When Pit-Bull Pilan was Mayor of Wasilla what books did she want to ban from the local library? This probably does not bother Songbird McCain since he graduated 894 out of 899. If the ban had went through and someone had a book that was banned Pit-Bull Pilan would have probably hired pilots to gun them down like she did the wolves in Alaska.

Hot-headed McCain and Pit-Bull Palin are extortionist that practice the politics of deception and they are leading Republicans and McCanites across a bridge to nowhere made of forked tongues, lies and empty promises.

Giuliani is another member of the grumpy Over The Hill gang. His trash talking is expected. He didn't talk a lot of trash when the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) derailed his run for President. The IAFF hates him because he tried to exploit them after 9-11. When he withdrew from the race the IAFF Headquarters in Washington DC celebrated because this idiot was gone and couldn't con anyone else.

Wow -- looking at the background resumes of the staff at Factcheck.org -- for a non-partisan organization originally funded by a true patriot, many of them sure do have liberal backgrounds and former employers. Like everything the people doing the work do come in with biases that you have to look at. Hopefully they suspend them at the door. At least with David you know he is far left and very biased. I think he even admits it.

Tom,

Thanks for your comment. Yes, I'm an opinion writer, and I do lean left.

OBAMA4CHANGE5:45PMSep 5th 2008:
WASHINGTON – The Alaska National Guard, which Republicans are pointing to as an important national-security credential for vice presidential choice Sarah Palin, has personnel shortages that make its aviation units the most poorly staffed in the nation.
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So what does this have to do with the story at hand?
And, since when is it the Governor's (of ANY state), responsibility to RECRUIT new members of the Guard?
Sounds to me like Gen Campbell needs to talk to the unit's Recruiters!!!
Is this the same General that we see in videos that is having a conversation with, or possibly briefing Gov Palin? They look to be on good terms! You Liberals amaze me with what you will try to dig up! Why don't you "cult members" vett your mesiah the same way?? Or are you on his payroll?
David, when you go to factcheck.org-you will see that Obama and Biden both told a few bold faced lies themselves! Every time they say that McCain and Palin "will be four more years of the same", they are lying! Actually, I think Obama and our illustious Senator from Delaware with his Lobbyist son, why don't we hear about him, will be four more years of the same with Higher Taxes and Less Pay!!
Vote Country First-McCain/Palin!!

Tom,

Even though David does lean to the left whay he said was true. Palin and Gulianni both lied. Obama said he would cut taxes for people making under $230,000. I don't know how much you make but that would cut at least 90% of the citizens in the US taxes. But according to Palin and Gulianni Obama will raise taxes, yeah for the rich people. McCain is more of the same. I don't believe anything that comes out of Gulianni's mouth because "he dealt with the 911 attacks and handled it better than the mayor of New Orleans". I heard a blogger say that. First of all he had the national guard in his city the next day after 9-11 whereas Mayor Ray Nagin didn't get government assistance until a week after Katrina. Gulianna is full of S H I T.

Yikes! They need to stick to the issues and tell the truth. Look at this:

http://think.mtv.com/044FDFFFF0098A08300170099226F/

I think Palin is refreshing and brings youth and vigor to the Republicain campaign. Guilllani was correct when he stated that Obama voted present 130 times rather than yes or no. He never left a trail that one could go back and check, including not writing any opinions while head of the Law Review. He has no experience and I would question his ability to be president. However, he will have Biden to fall back on. Both parties have made misstatements and said things about the other that are false or extremely exgerated. One is no better than the other.

Damn, knowles, you still have a job? You & christopher must know the gods of ridiculous liberal spin to still be writing. I have a Journalism degree and I have never seen so much YELLOW in my life. Obama is the prince of liars. Please do your research, when McCain/Palin are elected, and Obama is being sued and indicted like Kwame Kilpatrick, you can eat all your cyber words. Ugly men are like ugly chicks, you both hate pretty women, because you can't be them and you can't have them.

Here is a little more info on the GOP's POW:

McCain's Voting Record: He Does Not Support Our Troops and Veterans

This is chock full of links to the roll call votes, and the roll call votes have links to the actual underlying bills and amendments. I present this so that there is support and things that can be rattled off when saying that McCain is not a friend of the military. Feel free to use it as you want, but this can be tied into the "Double Talk Express". But here is a very quick statement - John McCain skipped close to a dozen votes on Iraq, and on at least another 10 occasions, he voted against arming and equipping the troops, providing adequate rest for the troops between deployments and for health care or other benefits for veterans.

In mid 2007, Senator Reid noted that McCain missed 10 of the past 14 votes on Iraq. However, here is a summary of a dozen votes (two that he missed and ten that he voted against) with respect to Iraq, funding for veterans or for troops, including equipment and armor. I have also included other snippets related to the time period when the vote occurred.

September 2007: McCain voted against the Webb amendment calling for adequate troop rest between deployments. At the time, nearly 65% of people polled in a CNN poll indicted that "things are going either moderately badly or very badly in Iraq.

July 2007: McCain voted against a plan to drawdown troop levels in Iraq. At the time, an ABC poll found that 63% thought the invasion was not worth it, and a CBS News poll found that 72% of respondents wanted troops out within 2 years.

March 2007: McCain was too busy to vote on a bill that would require the start of a drawdown in troop levels within 120 days with a goal of withdrawing nearly all combat troops within one year. Around this time, an NBC News poll found that 55% of respondents indicated that the US goal of achieving victory in Iraq is not possible. This number has not moved significantly since then.

February 2007: For such a strong supporter of the escalation, McCain didn’t even bother to show up and vote against a resolution condemning it. However, at the time a CNN poll found that only 16% of respondents wanted to send more troops to Iraq (that number has since declined to around 10%), while 60% said that some or all should be withdrawn. This number has since gone up to around 70%.

June 2006: McCain voted against a resolution that Bush start withdrawing troops but with no timeline to do so.

May 2006: McCain voted against an amendment that would provide $20 million to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for health care facilities.

April 2006: McCain was one of only 13 Senators to vote against $430,000,000 for the Department of Veteran Affairs for Medical Services for outpatient care and treatment for veterans.

March 2006: McCain voted against increasing Veterans medical services funding by $1.5 billion in FY 2007 to be paid for by closing corporate tax loopholes.

March 2004: McCain once again voted for abusive tax loopholes over veterans when he voted against creating a reserve fund to allow for an increase in Veterans' medical care by $1.8 billion by eliminating abusive tax loopholes. Jeez, McCain really loves those tax loopholes for corporations, since he voted for them over our veterans' needs.

October 2003: McCain voted to table an amendment by Senator Dodd that called for an additional $322,000,000 for safety equipment for United States forces in Iraq and to reduce the amount provided for reconstruction in Iraq by $322,000,000.

April 2003: McCain urged other Senate members to table a vote (which never passed) to provide more than $1 billion for National Guard and Reserve equipment in Iraq related to a shortage of helmets, tents, bullet-proof inserts, and tactical vests.

August 2001: McCain voted against increasing the amount available for medical care for veterans by $650,000,000. To his credit, he also voted against the 2001 Bush tax cuts, which he now supports making permanent, despite the dire financial condition this country is in, and despite the fact that he indicated in 2001 that these tax cuts unfairly benefited the very wealthy at the expense of the middle class.

So there it is. John McCain is yet another republican former military veteran who likes to talk a big game when it comes to having the support of the military. Yet, time and time again, he has gone out of his way to vote against the needs of those who are serving in our military. If he can’t even see his way to actually doing what the troops want, or what the veterans need, and he doesn’t have the support of veterans, then how can he be a credible commander in chief?

ALL OF YOU NEED TO WAKE UP - WHO WANTS A MUSLIM FOR A PRESIDENT? OBAMA FOR CHANGE? HES A LIAR AND QUITE FRANKLY, PROBABLY DOESNT KNOW THE FIRST THING ABOUT BEING AN AMERICAN, NO LESS RUNNING AMERICA HERSELF!

MCCAIN IS AN ALL-AMERICAN MAN WITH AN ALL-AMERICAN FAMILY AND ALL-AMERICAN VALUES .. YOU CERTAINLY WONT CATCH HIM WITH A TURBAN ON!

All of this talk of John McCain and his temper. If Obama had to make a decision he would have to go and change his pants ! Obama is a phony and a wimp. Biden is just a idiot. John McCain and Palin are not going to be pushed around by jackasses like chavez or the (marx brothers) the castro,s. What did Obama acomplish as a community organizer ? The fact he worked for a wacko group called ACORN explains his mentality.

Zo, this is from FactCheck.org:

"Obama is right about his plan's effect on working families. More broadly, though, the plan cuts taxes for 81.3 percent of all households in 2009, according to the Tax Policy Center. The TPC also says McCain’s tax plan would leave 65.8 million households without a cut, not 100 million."

I like the way the FactCheck said Obama "stretched the truth" when he said his tax cuts would benefit 95 percent (their number, not mine)

HillaryHillary wrote:
When the race began, I must admit that I was quite undecided. As the months have gone by, I have developed a strong, foul tase in my mouth otherwise known as Barrack Hussein Obama, Jr.. His non-stop speaking out of both sides of his mouth has left Bush looking like an angel. Shame on him for running with such little experience and thank you for proving just how ignorant several Obama voters are by creating tihs poll.

WE WANT A PALIN - OBAMA DEBATE ~!~! ......SHE WILL DEMOLISH HIM EVEN MORE THAN HILLARY DID ............ NOBAMA WILL BE HISTORY - THANK GOD ~!~

Obama is 'NAIVE' just like JON VOIGHT SAID........ - ONE DEBATE WITH THE 'BARRACUDA' AND HE WILL FINALLY GET KNOCKED OFF HIS FAKE GREEK COLUMN PEDESTAL ~!~

I do not know why anyone bother with the internet. It has turn into a misinformation center. The fact of the matter is we can't even believe the media let alone the internet. So everyone flip a coin to vote for the president. We probably should thank Steve Jobs, Steve Case, Bill Gates and I think it was the guy that had the whole Earth catalog for our economy during the Clinton years. There the ones that got the internet going and caused the great economy boom. Not Clinton, Bush or the Government. People wakeup let start thinking of the over all picture. Maybe we should start thanking T Boone Pickens for our next economy boom because it will not matter who the president is when this happens. But you can be assured that the next president will take the credit for it just like Clinton did.

Acquintance with National Guard service, State Governor, management experience in a public concern, executive experience in an oil & gas entity, registered Republican, mission to change Washington. Sarah Palin? Wrong. Candidate George W. Bush 2000 (http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/election/bush.htm)

How will Sarah Palin, as VP, succeed where Bush with more or less similar qualification in 2000 and with more power as president for 8 years has so far failed?

Contrasting Palin and Obama's qualifications for president is a diversion, the more telling contrast is between Palin and Candidate Bush 2000.