Think Progress

Looking Ahead At The VP Debate

This Thursday's debate, moderated by PBS anchor Gwen Ifill at Washington University in St. Louis, will be the only vice-presidential match-up before the election. Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) will present a conservative record and ideology to the American public in support of her running mate, Sen. John McCain (check out the Wonk Room's VP Debate Study Guide). Introducing this relatively unknown figure to the American public, McCain said, "She's exactly who I need." President Bush praised McCain's selection, calling Palin "a proven reformer who is a wise steward of taxpayer dollars and champion for accountability in government." In September, Palin announced the responsibilities that McCain will entrust to her: "Government reform, energy independence. And helping families and children, those with special needs." McCain is falsely presenting Palin as a break from the disastrous policies and extreme ideology of the Bush administration. Palin's true record, and McCain's actual agenda, represent more of the same failed conservativism that has given America two ongoing wars, obscene profits to Big Oil, and a stark decline in the fortunes of the middle class. 

FISCAL EXCESS AND CORRUPTION: Palin claims that she is a "hard-core fiscal conservative" who said, "Thanks, but no thanks to the Bridge to Nowhere." Appearing on The View, McCain claimed Palin didn't request earmarks as governor of Alaska. In fact, when Palin was mayor of Wasilla she "racked up nearly $20 million in long-term debt," which amounts to $3,000 in debt per resident. Calling Palin a reformer is laughable; she has demonstrated long and committed support for the Bridge to Nowhere. And Palin has requested earmarks of the very type that McCain routinely mocks. "In her two years in office, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation," according to the AP. McCain and Palin also misrepresent their economic plans. Senior economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin claims tax cuts for the wealthy "are not anywhere" in McCain's agenda. However, the Tax Policy Center writes that "McCain's tax cuts would primarily benefit those with very high incomes, almost all of whom would receive large tax cuts." They also claim they will balance the budget by the end of their first term and that no "real cuts would even be required." McCain and Palin spend so much on tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations that they could eliminate ten cabinet agencies and still not balance the budget.

ENERGY 'LA-LA LAND': According to McCain, Palin "knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America." Palin dismisses renewable energy as "far from imminent," supporting instead a "drill, drill, drill" platform based on oil and "clean, green natural gas." Palin says that we can "drill our way" out of our energy problem and claims that drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would produce oil in "five years," and "should help reduce price volatility." Those who don't agree, she says, "are living in La-La Land." In reality, the U.S. Energy Information Administration has found that opening drilling in protected areas "would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices." Palin told Charles Gibson of ABC that her state "produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy," and told Katie Couric of CBS that "we're supplying 16, 17 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy." In fact, Alaska produces 3.5 percent of domestic energy and only 13 percent of U.S. oil. Palin's definition of energy simply doesn't include anything that isn't oil or natural gas -- and ignores the role of energy efficiency. Just like Bush did with Dick Cheney, McCain is putting someone in charge of energy policy who disagrees that global warming is caused by man-made emissions, even as "worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide from fuel burning and cement production increased by 3.5 percent per year from 2000 to 2007, nearly four times the growth rate in the 1990s."

ENDANGERING HEALTH CARE: McCain and Palin's program of "quality and affordable health care for every American" calls for the elimination of "the current tax exclusion of the value of health insurance from employees' taxable compensation." A recent survey of benefits officers at large U.S. companies found that 74 percent of firms believe that a repeal of the exclusion "would have a strong negative impact on their workforce." Among those who would lose their health care are 56 million Americans with pre-existing chronic health conditions. In particular, McCain's policy will make it next to impossible for special needs children to get sufficient health care.  The entire employer health insurance system could unravel, ending this as an option for Americans who prefer it. In place of employer-based health care, McCain-Palin would provide a "refundable credit amounting to $5,000 for all families and $2,500 for individuals purchasing health insurance." This credit comes up grossly short for all but the most insufficient plans -- and ignores the steady rise in health coverage costs. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, “the total cost for family coverage now averages $12,680 a year, up 5 percent from 2007,” and $4,704 for single coverage.

For more on the McCain-Palin agenda, read our Sarah Palin Digest.

"Massachusetts will be able to expand its first-in-the-nation healthcare law because of a federal promise of $10.6 billion over the next three years."

THINK PROGRESS: Glenn Beck and Jonah Goldberg fantasize about violently cutting open Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) stomach.

WONK ROOM: Conservatives explain how to salvage the bailout: add tax cuts.

YGLESIAS: The Paulson crisis.

MEDIA MATTERS: Discussing the economic crisis and bailout plan, right-wing shock jock Michael Savage says Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) "should be in the gallows for this."

NEW YORK: State officials "are preparing to ask for more than $60 million in federal aid to preserve threatened jobs and retrain displaced workers."

LOUSIANA: Gov. Bobby Jindal's office (R) says state Rep. John LaBruzzo's (R) eugenics proposal is a "nonstarter."

ECONOMY: "Cascading economic problems flowing from the crisis on Wall Street are forcing states to urgently redraw their financial blueprints for the rest of this year."

"[O]ur unemployment is fairly low."
-- Rep. Steve King (R-IA), 9/30/08

VERSUS

"The U.S. probably lost 105,000 jobs in September, the most since 2003. ... The unemployment rate held at five- year high of 6.1 percent."
-- Bloomberg, 10/1/08

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