Hey, look, Gov. Sarah Palin is a lying bitch!
ANCHORAGE — When Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska took center stage at the Republican convention last week, she sought to burnish her executive credentials by telling how she had engineered the deal that jump-started a long-delayed gas pipeline project.
Stretching more than 1,700 miles, it would deliver natural gas from the North Slope of Alaska to the lower 48 states and be the largest private-sector infrastructure project on the continent.
“And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence,” said Ms. Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee. “That pipeline, when the last section is laid and its valves are opened, will lead America one step farther away from dependence on dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart.”
The reality, however, is far more ambiguous than the impression Ms. Palin has left at the convention and on the campaign trail.
Certainly she proved effective in attracting developers to a project that has eluded Alaska governors for three decades. But an examination of the pipeline project also found that Ms. Palin has overstated both the progress that has been made and the certainty of success.
The pipeline exists only on paper. The first section has yet to be laid, federal approvals are years away and the pipeline will not be completed for at least a decade. In fact, although it is the centerpiece of Ms. Palin’s relatively brief record as governor, the pipeline might never be built, and under a worst-case scenario, the state could lose up to $500 million it committed to defray regulatory and other costs. (Read the whole story)
Interestingly enough, Palin's puppet-masters have informed us that we should view the good governor's blatant lies "in context":
A spokesman for Ms. Palin, Bill McAllister, denied that her recent statements about the pipeline were misleading. He said they should be viewed within the context of the project’s long and frustrating history, dating back to the Carter administration.
“When the governor signed the legislation giving her administration the authority to grant the gas line license to TransCanada, Alaska came closer than it has ever been to seeing the project actually happen,” Mr. McAllister said. “There is no denying that a major milestone in the project has been reached.”
Oh, context you say? Then certainly this same standard should also apply to Barack Obama when he speaks his mind, like this:
"You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig. You can wrap up an old fish in a piece of paper and call it change. It's still going to stink after eight years. We've had enough," he exclaimed to a standing ovation.
Of course, that's the only part of his comments that the GOP character assassins want you to see. When when you add context, as Palin's own handlers tell us we should, you see his comments a bit differently:
"We've been talking about change when we were up in the polls and when we were down in the polls," Obama said as surveys suggested McCain has overhauled his lead for the November 4 election.
"The other side, suddenly, they're saying 'we're for change too.' Now think about it, these are the same folks that have been in charge for the last eight years," the Illinois senator told a crowd of 2,400 people in Lebanon, Virginia.
"You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig. You can wrap up an old fish in a piece of paper and call it change. It's still going to stink after eight years. We've had enough," he exclaimed to a standing ovation.
Clearly, reading that quote in context would lead to the obvious conclusion that he is referring to McCain/Palin's insane policies, and the pig/lipstick business is just a metaphor for sugar-coating terrible ideas that will ruin the country. The GOP hitmen couldn't possibly accuse him of personal attacks once they see the context, right?
Barack Obama spent much of the day defending himself against charges of sexism after a speech decrying Republican efforts to present themselves as agents of change. “You know, you can put lipstick on a pig,” he said on Tuesday to loud cheers and laughter, “but it’s still a pig.”
John McCain’s campaign said that this was a clear reference to Sarah Palin, the vice-presidential nominee, who told the Republican convention that the only difference between a “hockey mom” such as herself and a pitbull terrier was lipstick.
Huh. Well, so much for the importance of context. I guess Palin is a dirty liar after all, and Obama was literally referring to Palin as a "pig" -- which is, like, totally original, except for all the other people who have used the exact same phrase:
“I think they put some lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig”
- John McCain, in October 2007, on Hillary Clinton's healthcare plan
“John Kerry tries to put a bunch of fancy, fancy talk . . . but there is nothing you can do to really - to really obscure that record. You can try, though . . . We call it putting lipstick on a pig”
- Lynne Cheney during the 2004 presidential campaign
“Mr President, it's not that easy. This town is full of people very experienced when it comes to putting lipstick on a pig”
- GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Washington in April 2004
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