Oh, shit…
needs to be:
http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/1765/vgtmo1.jpg
Moved to the Pit in case the OP feels like adding some content.
Uh, I see she spent a lot on production of that video. Now WTF does it mean?
I really do hope she runs. I could use a good year long laugh.
Doesn’t PAC money have to go to some specific campaign? Can I really collect money for a PAC and then use it to just to have other people pay for me to tool around the country in a big bus all day?
Yea, I thought the actual video was a lot funnier then the lazy photo-shop joke.
Laughing all the way to the bank.
There is a bit of ambiguity surrounding what PACs can and cannot do. Some clarity might come from an unexpected source, though…
I’ve never understand some people’s hate for Palin. It’s as if she can do no right.
Thats a question of how they can raise money though. I’m asking about the legality of how SarahPAC is spending its money. I thought you could spend it on other peoples campaigns or issue advocacy. This tour doesn’t seem to be either, unless you take a really broad view of “issue advocacy”.
But its main purpose looks like its to raise the profile of Palin, which seems a pretty questionable use of the money that other people gave her with the understanding she’d distribute it to other campaigns.
But I’m only very vaguely aware of what the rules for PACs are, so maybe I’m wrong and its kosher, but thats why I’m asking. Given the amount of attention Palin draws, I’m sure someone somewhere must’ve examined the issue.
It’s because she’s Steven Colbert in drag, except she takes herself seriously. A vapid, pandering ‘candidate’ that exudes the worst of the new-right movement. Her banality and transparent hacking are easy targets to laugh at. It’s unfortunate that she should make people cry.
I’m actually being 100% serious and free of all jest when I say I felt dirty after watching that video.
Ahh I see. Then, I too am curious as to the details of the spending restrictions that are in place for PACs.
According to the PAC’s home page:
[
](http://www.sarahpac.com/about-sarahpac)(bolding mine)
According to the FEC’s website, PACs are allowed to make unlimited “independent expenditures”:
[
](Help for candidates and committees | FEC)(bolding mine)
So, my WAG is that some tenuous connection can usually be made between a PAC’s spending, and a “clearly identified candidate”, which really helps blur the line of where their spending limit is.
I hate her because she’s an jaw droppingly ignorant person. She’s the brain dead hybrid of politics and reality television. She mistakes popularity with intelligence and quality. I hate her pandering and her folksy down home bullshit. I hate her reality celebutante daughter. I hate how her political views are shallow enough to be expressed via the 140 character or less Twitter service.
That said, she’s easy on the eyes, so I guess she does one thing right.
Happy now?
Well, duh! It’s about Freedom. And Liberty. And the Constitution. And Vision. And Futures, our Futures. It’s also about The People. It’s about Truth. And America. And Honor. And God. And the Liberty Bell.
And Repetition. Endless Repetition.
And it’s also about working Washington, Lincoln, and Reagan into the same sentence. The fuck’s that about?
My hatred of her begins with one simple fact: Geraldine Ferraro was the first female VP candidate from a major party.
Sarah, you’re not original in any way, shape, or manner. Just go away, now.
There is an interesting article on Palin in this month’s Atlantic Monthly: The Tragedy of Sarah Palin.
The author discusses her record as Governor of Alaksa, and argues quite convincingly that she actually did a pretty damn good job, especially when it came to dealing with the incredibly important issue of oil taxes and the gas pipeline. She worked to assert the interests of Alaskans over those of the oil companies and their paid-off politicians, she challenged corruption among the Republican establishment, she worked closely with Democrats who were pushing a more liberal economic agenda, she didn’t spend her whole time pushing socially conservative issues, and she drove a tax reform bill that garnered a much higher share of oil profits for the state. It partly due to Palin’s reforms that Alaska currently enjoys a multi-billion dollar surplus rather than being billions in the hole like most other states.
Rather than run on this record, when Palin was elected as McCain’s running mate she basically dumped all of it in order to pander to the far right, social conservative element of American society. The author argues that, had she run with the same sort of agenda and politics as characterized her term as governor, she might have dramatically changed the landscape of the 2008 election campaign, and could have made herself a viable candidate for reform in a period when Americans were concerned about the power and influence of corporations and corrupt politicians.
Instead, she let the less savory aspects of her character, her “relentlessness” and her “impulse to settle scores” with people who criticized her, override the rest, and she deployed them indiscriminately rather than against targets worthy of attack.
Sums her up pretty well, i think.
I watched the video and flipped through the material on the tours website. If there’s a candidate or set of candidates involved, they’re definitely not being “clearly identified”. Indeed, they don’t even directly reference the election or the GOP. And her first stop is in DC, which has no federal legislators to campaign for.
I can’t imagine its really illegal, since her PAC no doubt has plenty of lawyers to come up with a justification for it. But I’m curious what that justification is, as the point of the tour is pretty nakedly to boost Palin’s profile, and that doesn’t seem to be a valid use of PAC money. I assumed they would use the bus to go from campaign event to campaign event to shill for Palin-endorsed candidates, and thus justify the expenditure that way, but that doesn’t seem to be what they’re doing.
Even the Republican pundits knew it was a dumb and cynical move when McCain choose her for VP, lets rewind the tape:
While it was fun to discuss with many smart republicans during the campaign (it was fun when one knew what they really thought about her in private) the clear cynicism and the constant attempts at putting lipstick on that [del]pig[/del] bitch, made me lose respect of many that claimed to have lots of intelligence and were willing to give McCain and Palin their votes.
So, are you serious or cynical?
I completely agree. The only thing I could find offhand about spending limits/restrictions for a PAC involved those “independent expenditures”, which certainly doesn’t seem like it would cover a video like the one provided in the OP.
The only reason I brought up Colbert’s Super PAC is because I was reminded of a statement that was included in his Advisory Opinion Request (to the FEC):
You don’t understand it because you’re stupid.
I hate to tell you this, but stupid people have trouble understanding things. This is perfectly normal. Just accept that the world rushing dizzyingly around you is being stewarded by people who can manage to take in what is going on.
Retort fail.
Too many polysyllabic words.