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As We See It: DC corruption and Sarah Palin
The Santa Cruz Sentinel ^ | November 20, 2011 | The Editors

Posted on 11/20/2011 10:25:42 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

Edited on 11/20/2011 10:44:59 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]

Who would dream that in this year of rising discontent against Wall Street and big government, it would take Sarah Palin to fix the blame where it truly should land.

In an essay published under her name last week, Palin said protesters are missing their mark. Instead of big banks and big government, Palin took aim at Congress, including both Republicans and Democrats.

"The corruption isn't confined to one political party or just a few bad apples. It's an endemic problem encompassing leadership on both sides of the aisle. It's an entire system of public servants feathering their own nests," she wrote in the essay published Friday in the usually conservative opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal.

Palin didn't come up with her arguments entirely by herself, noting that she has found answers to questions many are asking in "Throw Them Out," a book by one of her foreign-policy advisers, Peter Schweitzer, which she writes reveals the "permanent political class in all its arrogant glory."

Palin/Schweitzer detail the money-making opportunities for this privileged class, and she concludes, "We need equality under the law. From now on, laws that apply to the private sector must apply to Congress, including whistleblower, conflict-of-interest and insider-trading laws. Trading on nonpublic government information should be illegal both for those who pass on the information and those who trade on it ...

"No more sweetheart land deals with campaign contributors. No gifts of IPO shares. No trading of stocks related to committee assignments. No earmarks where the congressman receives a direct benefit. No accepting campaign contributions while Congress is in session. No lobbyists as family members, and no transitioning into a lobbying career after leaving office. No more revolving door, ever."

Ever?

Even if Palin didn't write the piece, or the ideas came from an aide, this is new territory for a major political figure in the Republican Party. Palin isn't running for president, this year, but none of the 2012 candidates are talking about the corruption that has made Congress beholden to big business, personal enrichment schemes and lobbyists.

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich certainly isn't saying much. The former House speaker has inched upward in approval ratings in the light of Herman Cain's sexual harassment troubles and Rick Perry's inability to remember what he was talking about. But Gingrich should be careful in how he has been attacking Democrats like Barney Frank for being too close to Freddie Mac in its era of making dubious mortgage loans.

Gingrich made between $1.6 million and $1.8 million from the disgraced housing organization after he left government service for giving his insider advice.

Although Gingrich last week insisted he has not been a lobbyist, it turns out that health companies paid as much as $200,000 a year in dues to the Center for Health Transformation -- a health care think tank he created in 2003 to find ways to improve health care and make it cheaper. The Washington Post reported that the center collected at least $37 million in the last eight years as Gingrich pushed public policy positions favored by many of these companies.

Democrats, of course, are no better. On this page, Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank notes how top House Democrats joined lobbyists in a recent fundraiser to benefit New York Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel, who only last year was censured by his colleagues for ethical and financial improprieties. All apparently has been forgiven when there's money to raise.

The stench goes all the way to the Obama administration. Take the Solyndra solar debacle, where a top Obama fundraiser, George Kaiser, also was a major Solyndra investor -- and was a frequent White House visitor as the now bankrupt company was getting the infamous $500 million loan that will never be repaid to taxpayers.

Any wonder Congress has a 9 percent public approval rating and that the early promise of the Obama administration has tarnished?

Milbank quotes Harvard law professor and liberal ethics specialist Lawrence Lessig, who told him, "Who would ever trust such a system? How can this government continue to behave like this?"

That's what Sarah Palin is asking.

And so should you.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: congress; corruption; cronycapitalism; democrats; obama; palin; republicans; sarahpalin
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To: cripplecreek

Frankly I’m left wondering how she can believe this stuff (and I do too) and not run for president. The best I can hope for is that she thinks before the collapse, there is little she could do and is waiting until after the collapse.


21 posted on 11/20/2011 11:12:15 AM PST by MontaniSemperLiberi (Moutaineers are Always Free)
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To: Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!
The media and establishment would never allow ANYONE IN THAT WOULD TRULY CLEAN IT ALL UP.

I love to see how many Wagu Beef / Jumbo Shrimp parties put on by Lobbyist and various Politicos that the Prestitutes go to as they are at the trough as well.

We have a Hog Infestation in Washington and the Tea Parties will continue to go Kosher on them in the Ballot Box...

22 posted on 11/20/2011 11:13:34 AM PST by taildragger (( Palin / Mulally 2012 ))
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Since it’s apparent Palin isn’t running (unless something truly unexpected happens) the establishment press knows it no longer has to spend time rooting through her garbage, and if it finds something related to her that they like, they know it’s now safe to use. They’d *never* give her even any grudging credit for this article if she was still in the nomination race.

And it’ll be the same with everybody else on the GOP side until they whittle the field down to just Romney. (They’ll wait until the general election to hand him his @ss).


23 posted on 11/20/2011 11:14:50 AM PST by Stosh
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To: Navy Patriot

Congress is proud of their corruption, they are entitled to it..


24 posted on 11/20/2011 11:14:54 AM PST by boomop1 (term limits is the only way to save this country.)
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To: DirtyHarryY2K

She’s a quitter...? Not running isn’t quitting. How come you don’t refer to Huckabee, or Christie, or and other of the myriad also-rans as quitters? I’ll tell you why, you never saw them as the answer to anything. Sarah P. is going to work hard for this country, you can be sure of that. Stop nipping at her high-heels.


25 posted on 11/20/2011 11:18:11 AM PST by HMS Surprise
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To: boomop1
Congress is proud of their corruption, they are entitled to it..

They certainly have law and Just Us on their side.

26 posted on 11/20/2011 11:20:05 AM PST by Navy Patriot (Join the Democrats, it's not Fascism when WE do it. (plagiarized))
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To: A_perfect_lady
I really regret that Palin isn’t running. I don’t blame her, but... maybe when her kids are older.

They "Dan Q'd" her, and even went after her kids and her church etc.

I can't blame her for saying no mas, but Hell Hath no Fury like a Women Scorned, and Herman Cain maybe her revenge...

The bottom line, the country is poorer without her, my guess is we are not worthy from a spirtitual sense but that is too deep or a weekend conversation...

27 posted on 11/20/2011 11:21:32 AM PST by taildragger (( Palin / Mulally 2012 ))
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To: Navy Patriot
Palin can still dominate the blogs and news cycle.
And there seem to be a few but growing number of cracks in the Liberal wall.
All the OWS protesters in Zucchini Park want is to welsh on their student loans and blame some Obama supported corporation or bank.
‘the corruption that has made Congress beholden to big business, personal enrichment schemes and lobbyists.’
This is the real issue and Governor Sarah Palin is the only prominent person to bring it up.
TWB
28 posted on 11/20/2011 11:27:10 AM PST by TWhiteBear (Jobs, Peace, Food, Security .... Down with Obama(Peacefully))
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
In an essay published under her name last week, Palin said

Okay, is that a shot? 'Cause it reads like a shot. I t'ink it's a shot.

29 posted on 11/20/2011 11:32:47 AM PST by Tanniker Smith (I didn't know she was a liberal when I married her.)
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To: cripplecreek
My congressman, Kevin Brady (R), lives at home ... goes to D.C. during the week, home on weekends.

When he first ran he promised to stay only 12 years and is now into his 13th year and will be running for re-election.

I don't trust any of them.

Brady is better than some we have had in our district...Charlie Wilson and Jack Brooks...both Dems and famous for their actions.

Brooks is one who went to D.C. as a pauper and came back decades later a millionaire.

30 posted on 11/20/2011 11:34:40 AM PST by lonestar (It takes a village of idiots to elect a village idiot.)
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To: TWhiteBear
Governor Sarah Palin is the only prominent person to bring it up.

Yep, and there you have the single most important reason that Sarah decided not to run for POTUS.

31 posted on 11/20/2011 11:35:55 AM PST by Navy Patriot (Join the Democrats, it's not Fascism when WE do it. (plagiarized))
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To: DirtyHarryY2K
Oh. You're a Texan.

Perry is a cretin who failed organic chemistry and got a "D" in economics. He's never been the sharpest bowling ball in the drawer, and what's more...

No getting beyond it.

Cheers!

32 posted on 11/20/2011 11:43:05 AM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: Tanniker Smith
Okay, is that a shot? 'Cause it reads like a shot. I t'ink it's a shot.

Of course it's a shot.

The article is a grasp for credibility using a subject SCS knowingly covered up for years.

Stick Sarah, take credit for crusading journalism, keep the useful idiots misinformed as to the guilt of the MSM.

33 posted on 11/20/2011 11:43:27 AM PST by Navy Patriot (Join the Democrats, it's not Fascism when WE do it. (plagiarized))
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“Even if Palin didn’t write the piece, or the ideas came from an aide, this is new territory for a major political figure in the Republican Party.”

Classic cluenessless from the MSM.

Those of us who followed Sarah know this kind of thing has always been her benchmark. She threw out all kinds of good ol boys in AK, and has been a maverick from day one. Instead the MSM talked the populace into electing a corrupt Chicago power elite who got his hands in the candy store. Sarah would have cleaned house.


34 posted on 11/20/2011 12:08:18 PM PST by I still care (I miss my friends, bagels, and the NYC skyline - but not the taxes. I love the South.)
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To: Navy Patriot
Governor Sarah Palin is in a situation like the guy who was trying to screw a porcupine and having difficultly. When asked why he was having problems, he said, ‘Its a thousand pricks to one’.
TWB
35 posted on 11/20/2011 12:13:33 PM PST by TWhiteBear (Jobs, Peace, Food, Security .... Down with Obama(Peacefully))
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich certainly isn't saying much. The former House speaker has inched upward in approval ratings in the light of Herman Cain's sexual harassment troubles and Rick Perry's inability to remember what he was talking about. But Gingrich should be careful in how he has been attacking Democrats like Barney Frank for being too close to Freddie Mac in its era of making dubious mortgage loans.

Gingrich made between $1.6 million and $1.8 million from the disgraced housing organization after he left government service for giving his insider advice.

Although Gingrich last week insisted he has not been a lobbyist, it turns out that health companies paid as much as $200,000 a year in dues to the Center for Health Transformation -- a health care think tank he created in 2003 to find ways to improve health care and make it cheaper. The Washington Post reported that the center collected at least $37 million in the last eight years as Gingrich pushed public policy positions favored by many of these companies.

Yet I have Newt boosters on FR telling me none of that matters, that Newt was just making a living, that he was cast out by the Beltway elites, and he will turn on the system that enriched him and make it all better.

Yeah, sure.

Newt is deeply entrenched in the system that is strangling this country. He is not the answer.

36 posted on 11/20/2011 12:20:52 PM PST by dirtboy
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To: rob777

Not merely a centralization in the national capital. Power has also increased in most of the state capitals. Even in Texas, Government is much bigger than it was thirty years ago. The same can be said in the counties and cities, especially the large cities. More and more people work for government , and their clients have increased proportionately. So we have obvious corruption in New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, and California, three citadels of liberalism, and in so many urban centers.


37 posted on 11/20/2011 12:27:45 PM PST by RobbyS (Viva Christus Rex.)
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To: grey_whiskers
Oh, you're from Minnesota.. At least we Texans never elected a moonbat like this for governor..

No getting beyond that.. LMAO

Cheers!

38 posted on 11/20/2011 12:28:44 PM PST by DirtyHarryY2K (The Tree of Liberty is long overdue for its natural manure)
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To: Navy Patriot

Sarah found herself confronted by a brick wall and declined to try to ram her head through it. Many of the Tea Partiers in the House are reaching the same conclusion.


39 posted on 11/20/2011 12:30:59 PM PST by RobbyS (Viva Christus Rex.)
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To: lonestar

Mine is Tim Walberg. He is a second time freshman due to the fact that the GOP didn’t support him in 08 after voting against the party on TARP and a few other fiscal issues. As a state senator he was a founding member of the “No Caucus” that voted consistently against new taxes.

He’s a pretty decent guy who has actually proposed legislation requiring something like 20 days spent in the home districts of representatives per month. Naturally it didn’t get anywhere.


40 posted on 11/20/2011 12:33:09 PM PST by cripplecreek (Stand with courage or shut up and do as you're told.)
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