Politics

North Carolina Also Bills Rape Victims for Evidence

Wasilla, Alaska, isn't the only place that has charged rape victims for the cost of evidence to prosecute their attackers. Minnesota Public Radio's News Cut blog finds that North Carolina followed the same policy as Sarah Palin's town during her term as mayor: Last winter, the Raleigh News & Observer in North Carolina uncovered a similar policy on a statewide basis. The vast majority of the 3,000 or so emergency room patients examined for sexual assaults each year shoulder some of the cost of a ... (read more)

2008/09/11

Under Palin, Wasilla Charged Rape Victims for Evidence Kits

During the first four years that Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, the town's police department charged women who had been raped with the cost of "rape kits," the $300 to $1,200 exams necessary to collect evidence of the sex assault. A May 20, 2000, article in The Frontiersman, Wasilla's hometown newspaper, provides the details: Wasilla Police Chief Charlie Fannon does not agree with the new legislation, saying the law will require the city and communities to come up with more funds to ... (read more)

2008/09/10

ABC News Can't Be Bothered with Iraq

Here's a nice example of the thimble-deep thinking that passes for political journalism in the mainstream media these days. On ABC News, journalists Jake Tapper and Matt Jaffe mock Joe Biden for giving a substantive answer to a reporter's question about whether he still supports a tripartite solution to divide Iraq into separate Kurd, Shia and Sunni areas. Tapper and Jaffe count the time he took to answer the reporter -- "13 minutes, 20 seconds" -- but they don't offer a single word of ... (read more)

2008/09/10

Palin Dodges Question About Indicted Alaskan Senator

At a campaign stop this weekend in an Albuquerque, N.M., restaurant, John McCain and Sarah Palin had the misfortune of running into a pesky voter, as AmericaBlog relates: McCain worked his way up to me and Cat and as I shook his hand, I asked, "Sir, I respect your service but, why were you against the GI bill?" Senator McCain, paused, he looked a bit surprised at the question and then he said, "Nice to meet you." I repeated the question and he repeated his non-answer. He quickly worked his way ... (read more)

2008/09/08

Give 'Em Hell, Joe

Joe Biden was in rare form yesterday at a campaign appearance in Langhorne, Pa., responding to the Republican National Convention with a list of things that John McCain and Sarah Palin left out of their speeches. Biden lacks the celebrity status of Palin, but he's perfect for the job required of a vice presidential candidate -- taking the fight directly to the opposition. Palin got some nice sarcastic shots in during her acceptance speech, but she's so green the McCain campaign is hiding her ... (read more)

2008/09/06

Presidents Without Executive Experience

Jonathan Bourne, my unindicted coconspiritor on the Drudge Retort, answered an interesting question on his blog: Which presidents ran for the job with no prior government experience as an executive? Below is a list of Presidents were never a U.S. Vice President, a major Cabinet Secretary, governor or mayor. John F. Kennedy Dwight Eisenhower (Herbert Hoover prior to becoming President had served as Secretary of Commerce) (William Howard Taft prior to becoming President was Provisional Governor ... (read more)

2008/09/05

Rogers Has Four Alma Maters

Sarah Palin switched colleges six times in six years: the University of Hawaii-Hilo (a few weeks), Hawaii Pacific University (one semester), North Idaho College (two semesters), University of Idaho (two semesters), Matanuska-Susitna College (one semester) and then back to the University of Idaho (three semesters), where she graduated in spring 1987 with a degree in journalism. I thought I was insane for attending four colleges: Stephen F. Austin State University (one semester), Richland Junior ... (read more)

2008/09/05

Deployment Details Put Sarah Palin's Son in Jeopardy

Back in February, the British press ripped Matt Drudge for revealing a secret they'd been keeping: Prince Harry was stationed in Afghanistan, deployed with the British Army in Helmand Province. The secret had gotten out in an obscure Australian magazine and German's Bild newspaper, and Drudge passed the news along to his audience of millions. Brits were so outraged that they mistakenly started sending me a flood of hate mail. Given this, it's worth noting that the British press is now putting ... (read more)

2008/09/04

I'm Starting to Feel Inadequate

I spent some time last night putting the genie back in the bottle, lest more bloggers make the mistake I did and believe in a world in which fathers talk on cell phones from the future and express "private fisherman thoughts" with their young and unnaturally gifted cinematographer daughters. I went around some of the blogs that mentioned the Todd Palin hoax video and indicated that Alaskan politician Andrew Halcro told me that it was "not only fake but insulting." I also entered into the record ... (read more)

2008/09/02

Alleged Palin Family Video Turns Up on YouTube

Sarah Palin's either going to turn out to be the boldest vice presidential choice in American history or the worst. So little is known about the charismatic and unseasoned Alaska governor that the next 70 days will be a massive public version of This is Your Life, much of which will be a total surprise to the McCain campaign. There are numerous media reports that Palin and her family were not comprehensively vetted prior to her selection as running mate. Sam Stein alleges on Huffington Post ... (read more)

2008/09/01

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