Posted on 09/06/2011 3:17:38 PM PDT by kristinn
Virginia Democrats are using part of Sarah Palin's weekend speech — in which the former governor of Alaska criticized the D.C. area and its "permanent political class" as unsympathetic to the country's economic woes — to attack Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and GOP Senate candidate George Allen.
“Her ridiculous comments about Northern Virginia are just further proof of what people already know: Sarah Palin doesn't understand what Virginia families are going through, and she doesn't care," said Virginia Democratic spokesman Brian Coy. "It shouldn't be difficult for any Virginian to condemn her absurd rhetoric, particularly for people like George Allen and Bob McDonnell, both of whom have lived in Northern Virginia and have spent much of their lives in Virginia politics.”
In her speech, Palin argued that those in favor of shrinking the size and scope of government would need to battle entrenched forces in the D.C. metro area that were unsympathetic to the recession.
"They don't feel the same urgency that we do," Palin said. "But why should they? For them, business is good. Business is very good. Seven of the 10 wealthiest suburbs are suburbs of Washington, D.C."
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
“It’s pure demonizing.”
Hey, Carling - you need to get a life. The sky is falling!!! The sky is falling!!! The sky is falling!!!
I’m just not a big fan of Sarah Palin’s variation of the class warfare blame game that Obama plays every day.
You’re not a big fan of Sarah Palin - period. Nothing else needs to be said.
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Class warfare nothing. It’s about who’s at the government teat getting an easy ride at the expense of everyone else, and who ain’t.
If the shoe fits...
I think its a legitimate question to ask.
What product is being produced that is producing the wealth?
Stossel actually brings that question home when he speaks about Microsoft. Before being dragged into congressional investigations and harassment, they didn’t spend a dime on lobbyists. Today they spend $100 million on lobbyists every year. There’s something really filthy about that.
DC suburbs are the only part of America that did not suffer from the democrat created recession. Housing prices and salaries rose. The recession was an economic boom. The 6 trillion stolen from the homes of average Americans leveraged a massive infusion of wealth to the federal middlemen mediating the carefully crafted crisis.
Did you actually see the speech? I’m pretty sure Sarah never said the word Virginia. The CONTEXT in which she made her comments about 7 of 10 of the richest districts being suburbs of DC was to point out the the permanent political class of both parties talk endlessly about problems in DC but never do anything about them because they are too busy protecting each other and the empire they have built (to the detriment of the rest of us). If you want to view her calling them out negatively, go for it.
And their proximity to NIH and the Pentagon is strictly coincidental, right?
Texas also experienced both growth and rising home prices.
Plus, I’m not saying it isn’t true, but it is a variation class warfare. Obama is an expert at it, and I don’t like seeing Sarah Palin take this easy way out for applause lines. What is her solution to the problem she raises in her speeches?
In a real sense its the home of our permanent unelected government.
I’d love to find a searchable database to find where people like Jamie Gorelick, Sandy Burger, and other notables live.
I grew up in Fairfax and have many relatives and friends from back there and yes, their businesses have grown stronger, restaurants open, cars are flying off the lots and real estate agents are seeing multiple bids over asking for areas with good schools.
Government workers have grown in number and in pay...and their retirements allow most of them to remain in their homes for 10-20 years before truly downsizing into an apartment or nursing home/assisted living facility.
Wasting $5 trillion in borrowed money has to end up somewhere, and typcially Montgomery, PG, Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and the District end up the happy recipients of North Dakota’s or Mississippi’s portion of the national debt.
I respect your opinion and vantage point. But you seem to have conveniently ignored the unprecedented (The One’s favorite word, no?) expansion of the Federal leviathan that has occurred over the last 3 years. Record expansions in all Fed depts (except the military, of course). Record expansions in salaries. Even in limousines, for Pete’s sake!
This is more than the “baseline floor” you referred to. The explosion in #s of federal employees, their increased salaries and their prime benefit packages all affect the regional economy (they spend their $ somewhere).
Palin, IMHO, was only trying to point out that the feds, via expropriating $ from the rest of us as well as printing more $ when that runs out, have created a personal environment for themselves that is in stark contrast to most of the rest of the country. And, yes, one can find pockets of growth in other areas around certain industries. But those folks aren’t making policy for us. When the policy makers create an environment for themselves that is significantly more lucrative than that of their “subjects”, one can rightfully argue that they might be a bit removed from the reality that their policies are creating.
I believe it’s a valid argument and is NOT, as you branded it, “class warfare”. She never said they are evil for making a great living. Her point was they are detached from what is going on outside their local world and also that - by expanding the leviathan - their policies are, in part, formulated to perpetuate their very comfortable situations. I don’t believe that one can argue that there is a “permanent political class” that always seems to take care of themselves but frequently is tone-deaf to the rest of us.
Population: 120,219 (2008)
Median Household Income: $90,586 (2011, 15th in the nation)
Percent of Residents 25 or Older with Bachelor's Degree or Higher: 36%
Did you notice the educational level?
Of course, it's not only that; these counties are populated by high-level government employees and the infamous Beltway Bandits (those in the private sector who have lucrative government contracts).
I lived in the DC area as a kid. It is true that recessions don’t touch DC. They are government workers and special interest workers, government contractors (especially defense) and their dough rolls in no matter what “fly over country” is going through. They have steady a base of wealth.
This is why our elected officials lose contact with the rest of the country so fast. Nothing makes sense to them at home while they live in a permanent state of economic comfort - at fly over’s expense.
I agree. She was up the Lead Lacky’s you know what in the last election, too. She’s a slick talker.
She also went for McLame’s/Gore’s global warming agenda, too. That was before she denounced the Supremes for striking down “hate speech” laws when those laws were directed at banning the speech she hates - the anti-war freaks protesting at funerals. She does not have the sense to understand that the Left would use a decision like that to ban the hate speech they hate... Or maybe she does.
She’s either stupid or a socialist, in my opinion.
Home prices declined everywhere except DC— including Texas.
Study of a variety of indicators shows a shocking acceleration of affluence in DC SINCE 2008.
It makes perfect sense for everyone in DC to say the stimulus has worked flawlessly. The harsh recession has been a beautiful economic bounty for the dc area.
I can’t really fathom how this is some insult to Virginia. The polar reality of this brazen theft is apparent even in that state. The explosion of blue suburbs around d.c. Was thought to have permanently insulated the democratic establishment of the state. The larger rural sections of Virginia dismissed like so many other flyover Neanderthals rose up in a revolt. The blue suburbs were caught flat footed and overwhelmed.
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