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Friday, September 12, 2008

New McCain Lie: Palin Took No Earmarks as Governor

Add this to the running list of McCain lies and distortions. When asked to explain how Sarah Palin would help reform Washington in a recent interview on The View:

McCain said Palin has, and apparently will, reform "earmark spending." When reminded that Palin took all kinds of earmark money in Alaska, McCain said, "No, not as governor she didn't." Asked about Palin's mayoral tenure, McCain ignored the question.

BUZZ
! Nope, sorry Senator, that answer is incorrect! Here's Think Progress:

McCain’s claim that Palin never accepted earmarks as the governor of Alaska is divorced from reality. In fact, she actively sought them:

– Though Palin did reduce Alaska’s earmark requests, “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.”

– In March 2008, Palin wrote an op-ed in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, saying that her “role at the federal level is simply to submit the most well-conceived earmark requests we can” and that her reduction of requests was a response “to the changing circumstances in Congress.”

– In February 2008, Palin’s office sent Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) “a 70-page memo outlining almost $200 million worth of new funding requests for the state.”

– In her most recent earmark requests, “Palin requested millions of federal dollars for everything from improving recreational halibut fishing to studying the mating habits of crabs and the DNA of harbor seals.”

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