Oh no!!!!!

As many of you are aware this actually happens a lot, and becuase she did it it is in the news. If the governor of west virginia went on a week long vacation using the states money i'm sure it wouldn't make the news...I'm just sayin...

Well, it might make news in West Virginia.
But it's legitimate national news because she's running for Vice President.

exactly. There was a huge discussion on CNN the other day over why Palin and Biden are getting so much press. Compared to the 2004 election the number of articles about the vice presidents has nearly tripled.

I think you just agreed with me when we disagreed.
Now I'm confused.

Look at how well reporters can investigate... when they want to.

what i meant to say is yes, it is because she is the potential vice president, but the amount of scrutiny is much higher than in past elections...

After Cheney this might not be a bad idea.

Omg this just gets worse and worse... does ANYONE still support her?

Yup, she's a terrible woman because she wants to spend time with her children... but don't also forget she's a terrible woman because she wants to spend time away from her children.

Wait, what?

I don't get the people who can first claim she's bad for one thing, then claim she bad when she's shown to have done something that went against their original claim. That's called damned if you do, damned if you don't.


Really, in reading this the claim is such BS. She brought her kids along with her, she helped them travel with her so they could spend time together.

"Oh no!" indeed.

Read the article... don't read the very misleading, and frankly insulting, blurb above if you want to know the real story.


Punthe... do you work in PR, because your ability to pull things out of context and not explain the full situation is really impressive... and yet, I'm not impressed.

I'm curious... how many business trips have you taken your whole family on? How many of those have you charged to the company account?

I don't have a job that allows me to do that. But my father does... and he's taken my mother all over the country.

I didn't write the story, I just posted it. However, you can stop insulting me anytime now.

And the company has paid for them BOTH to have 5 day holidays in a place where he has ONE five hour meeting? Sorry but I call BS.

Hmm... so you did. Well, you picked out the most misleading portion of the article as a blurb. But I suppose it was eye catching, despite being totally incorrect.

Oh well, maybe you're not the PR wiz I thought you were. But then again... maybe you are...

Maybe not a full 5 days, but definitely an overnight say for a 2 hour meeting. And that's for a small giftware company.

But perhaps you're right. So consider this... according to here:



Gov. Palin made $125,000 yearly as governor, just about the average for all governors. Consider this extra spending a "perk."

Interesting how one governor can get scrutinized for this... while others, not so much. If we really want to play this game, I say we open the book on all politicians and compare.

At least Palin was spending the money on her family, and not on mistresses like my governor did (New York).

Defiantly against the companies wishes?

Honey, breathe.

You and I both know she's being more scrutinized because she's running for VP.

And Spitzer was the No. 1 news story when his broke (and he's still big news, months later). It's not that others aren't scrutinized; it's just there isn't a 'news peg' to focus it on... as you very well know.

Calm down already.

It sounds like your father works for a very generous company. However, they made a choice to pay for those trips. In Palin's case, the taxpayer made no such choice. There are clear rules set in place that Palin broke.

Dismiss the ability to sneak away tens of thousands of dollars as a "perk" if you want, but it's a pretty big damn perk.

She may be getting paid less than some other governers, but her salary is presumerably set for a reason. If I got a job where I was paid 20,000, but other people are getting paid 25,000 at another company... does that mean I can steal 5,000 from my company? Interesting logic.

Lastly, I missed the part where I or anyone else gave a carte blanche to any other governers. I think it's an absolute outrage how politicians work the expenses system (especially since my colleagues and I at my last job had to fight tooth and nail to be fairly compensated for our petrol costs during work hours, while in the same weeks a report came out about the excessive spending of english politicians on their expense accounts).

Yes, open up the book on all governers. It just so happens that this governer is running for VICE PRESIDENT, so the book on her is all the more relevant right now.

There are a few words in the English language that I just can't spell right. "Definitely" is one of them. "Ridiculous" is another. (Correction made)


I'm calm... in fact, I'm listening to a little Paul Simon... always keeps me calm. For some reason, I think I come across more raving and exasperated than I usually am. I am a loud person, but not angry loud. Just exuberant.

Not sure where Spitzer is still news... but yes, he was big news when the story broke. But nobody really looked into the story before it came to a head... had they looked, they probably would have found all this out much earlier. This is similar to the John Edwards story. Nobody looked into it, until they couldn't ignore it anymore. But because Gov. Palin is... well, Gov. Palin... all eyes are on her.

I just wish they'd put this much energy into ALL the candidates.


From what I read, no there aren't. The rules say she's allowed to bring her family to politically relevant functions... and while politically relevant could be debated, much of this is hardly worth too much scrutiny.

But is it any bigger or different than any other politician?

No, that's not the point. The point is that these types of things are figured into a politician's (Governor, Mayor, etc.) salary. The point is that while we think of these people as making billions of dollars from their position, that's simply not the case. In fact, by Sen. Obama's standards... she's not rich, she's middle class. Why shouldn't her job provide a few things for her?

Is it? Why? If she's doing something (or did something) that all the other people in her position had, have, or are doing... why should she be held to a different standard? Yes, she's running for VP, which means she gets looked at. However, that doesn't mean she gets treated more harshly than everyone else.

If we're going to open the book, open it on everyone, and let them ALL face the same punishment. But to single one out, no matter the rational, is wrong.

_________________________________

And for anyone else still interested... Biden has some financial troubles of his own. Yet, as has become pretty predictable in this election... very few people are reporting or mentioning it...