"We Did Well!"

Radley Balko | September 3, 2008

The Washington Independent combs through public records in Wasilla, Alaska and finds a news clipping reporting how various Alaska towns fared in the annual funding sweepstakes.  There, in Sarah Palin's own handwriting, is a big circle around the graph noting that Wasilla's $2.5 million take led the region.

"We did well!!!" Palin boasts with triple exclamation marks, adding that the article didn't include an additional $1 million in federal money to pave the Wasilla airport.

That's $3.5 million in federal earmarks for water treatment, airport paving, and "pedestrian walkways" in a town of 9,000. 

Meticulously vetted!  Has bravely risked her political career fighting earmarks and government waste!

Comments

|9.3.08 @ 10:04PM|#

The liberals are running scared, I tells ya!

SIV|9.3.08 @ 10:05PM|#

You sound partisan Radley

What is the date on the bottom of the clipping 10 years ago? I'd say it was damaging if it was from 6 months ago.

|9.3.08 @ 10:07PM|#

Ten years ago, she was doing the sports cast, I think.

Potts|9.3.08 @ 10:09PM|#

...and not running as a "reformer."

What a joke.

BDB|9.3.08 @ 10:09PM|#

9iu1ian1 looks like hes speaking from a sewer or waste treatment plant or something.

Did they learn nothing from the puke green background debacle?

|9.3.08 @ 10:11PM|#

"You sound partisan Radley"

Coming from SIV you should take that as a compliment of your objectivity Radley.

|9.3.08 @ 10:12PM|#

BDB
That background is sick. Is Michael Brown running that screen?

Spolk Retnuj|9.3.08 @ 10:13PM|#

A politician's integrity and stances are only assets during the campaign season. Once they are in office, all that matters is political manipulation skills. I don't know how good Palin is at siphoning off federal funds relative to other pols, but from McCain's perspective her ability to do so is a feature, not a bug. So I wouldn't say that she is a bad pick just because of stuff like this.

Brian|9.3.08 @ 10:15PM|#

Am I the only one that thinks about Ron Paul when they hear this? I forget, do we still hate him for doing the same exact thing?

Bingo|9.3.08 @ 10:15PM|#

The Ghoul has some nice rhetoric about putting your country and your children in McCain's hands... A Father for our Great Country!

/godwin

|9.3.08 @ 10:15PM|#

Rudy "Mr. 9/11" Gulianni just said.... "as a trial lawyer, I learned, if you don't have the facts, you have to change them." So i wonder if he ever changed fact get people put in prison?

Bingo|9.3.08 @ 10:17PM|#

Damn, he looks mad that the Dems forgot to mention 9/11 a whole bunch at their convention!

BDB|9.3.08 @ 10:18PM|#

"Democratic Party". Wow, twice now.

|9.3.08 @ 10:18PM|#

Damn, I thought Rudy "Mr. 9/11" Gulianni, was actually going to get through his speech without invoking 9/11.

BDB|9.3.08 @ 10:19PM|#

The NYC skyline in the background (With Rudy in the Hudson) is worth at least two shots.

Bingo|9.3.08 @ 10:20PM|#

There are some haggard looking bitches there, damn.

BDB|9.3.08 @ 10:21PM|#

No, Rudy, I'm not a Georgian, I'm an American.

But you ARE a massive interventionist tool.

SIV|9.3.08 @ 10:22PM|#

Un-divided Jerusalem?

Some place called Georgia that I don't already live in?

I'm no isolationist but this isn't relevant to my interests.

SIV|9.3.08 @ 10:24PM|#

Cosmopolitan!

Drink?

Eck|9.3.08 @ 10:24PM|#

I already donated to Obama today, but every other sentence makes me want to do it again. These neanderthals are going to bleed me dry aren't they?

BDB|9.3.08 @ 10:26PM|#

"Drink?"

Already there. God, I really hate Giuliani. So much.

♪|9.3.08 @ 10:29PM|#

Of course that $3.5 million would have gone unspent, if not for earmarks! The executive branch would not have spent it elsewhere!

armchairpunter|9.3.08 @ 10:30PM|#

Is there moral equivalence between the local earmark seeker and the D.C. earmark procurer? I agree that neither should put their greasy mittens on my hard-earned ingots, but am hard pressed to assign equal blame to the state and local officials.

Bingo|9.3.08 @ 10:30PM|#

Reminds me of high school when we would applaud for 20 mins so we didn't have to go back to class. Jesus fucking christ people.

Bingo|9.3.08 @ 10:31PM|#

STOP APPLAUDING

|9.3.08 @ 10:39PM|#

Wow... Trig is either dead or drugged.

Brian|9.3.08 @ 10:41PM|#

Or, you know, a baby with Down Syndrome.

|9.3.08 @ 10:45PM|#

Sorry, I'll make a comment on her policy issues, as soon as she mentions one.

Brian|9.3.08 @ 10:56PM|#

Policy issues? Conventions are glorified pep rallies, so don't hold your breath. Then again, you're already a step above Andrew Sullivan on the evolutionary ladder. He's probably packed up his beagles for the long car ride to Alasksa in order to pull a little Mission Impossible stunt in that hospital.

|9.4.08 @ 5:18PM|#

Who gives a crap about earmarks? I swear that's the biggest pandering waste of hot air... why don't we just take a razor to the top of the "defense" budget and fund things that don't involve bombing brown people for a while?