Palin book goes after McCain camp

"Sarah Palin has demonstrated inadequate experience, intellect and knowledge to be a viable candidate for president"

That's your opinion. Me and millions of others disagree.

"That cracked me up."

If you read the book, you might learn something.

While the book—which contains 68 color photos but no index...

That cracked me up.

Taka

tkoint2, 10:27. Your quote: Sarah Palin has demonstrated inadequate experience, intellect and knowledge to be considered a viable candiate for president. Combined with her poor communication skills and shallow grounding in both political and economic affairs, it is difficult to see how her abilities could be juged adequate for such an important role. Her abilities in all key areas lack depth or fortitude and do not encourage confidence. Her selection as a presidential candidate would defy intelligent reasoning and would be demonstrative of poor political judgement on the part of her advocates and of the county should her unlikely victory be realized.

One thing, she might be lacking in intellegent reasoning but Palin has positioned herself as the single most valuable power broker for the GOP in the 2010 elections. Simply put, in close primaries pitting Republican against Republican, and in close general elections for the Senate or Congress, Sarah Palin's endorsement and/or campaigning for a candidate can get that person elected. In addition, PALIN CAN RAISE ALOT OF MONEY for a party and for candidates who would otherwise be strapped for cash. These are formidable political powers and by freeing herself from Alaska will she be able to exercise them.

Palin criticizes Obama for pushing through a bailout package that was actually achieved by his predecessor Bush, a package she seemed to support at time. Palin is blurring the lines between Obama's $787 billion package of tax cuts, state aid, social programs and govenment contracts and the federal bailout that John McCain voted for and Bush signed.

Palin's views on bailouts appeared to evolve as McCain's running mate. In September 2008, she said "taxpayer cannot be looked to as the bailout, as the solution, to the problems on Wall Street". A week later, Pain said "ultimately what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed for economy".

During the vice president debate in October, Palin praised McCainfor being intrumental in bring folks together" to pass the $700 billion bailout. After that, she sasid "it is a time of crisis and govenment have to step in".

Who cares? She's a washed up publicity hound. She's not going to get anywhere with the Republicans. She's kryptonite.

Oh gee, Ulysses, thanks for putting me right. But at least I spelt your name right.

She can be as popular as she likes with the GOP but on a national stage against Obama or against other Republican nominees her imbecility will shine through and THEY will finally get to see it too.

She is completely lacking in intellectual, economic or political sense<

jonsawn you just dont get it do you? She does not need any of these qualities. She just needs to be folksy, spew out a few of nonsensical phrases and just be herself, which is just plain dumb, and the GOP types will be driven to ecstasy.

But what they conveniently forget about Lay Down Sarah is that she doesn't have it in her to fight on a national stage.She couldn't even finish her term as Alaska guv. Even dumb a** and lame dick stayed on even though their last 2 years would have been the most humiliating.

tkoind2: thanks

I don't think she has as much intellectual gravitas as a birdbath - more like a puddle. She is completely lacking in intellectual, economic or political sense. She is just a squawker, signifying nothing. Watching her speeches shows that her mind is a mess and her critical powers and reasoning are essentially zero. She is, however, very smart at using her name and the desperation of the Republican party and its supporters to be talked up as a viable presidential candidate, and to sell an awful lot of books. I pity the planet for the number of trees that will be cut down to satisfy the right wing's insatiable appetite for her 'homespun American life' nonsense. She is thoroughly mendacious and untrustworthy.

by far the most irritating voice i have ever heard on a woman!

Sarge: She's another Opera or trying to be. The minions are lining up because they have nothing better to do. Hillary Clinton is 100 times more adept than this woman.

Ulysses. Thanks for the very big smile you just gave me. Well done!

Sarah Palin has demonstrated inadequate experience, intellect and knowledge to be considered a viable candiate for president.

tkoind2: I dont agree with you. She has shown the ideal qualities to be a Republican candidate.

The Republican Mantra recently has been 'The dumber the better'.

Bush is an Einstein compared to Sarah, and he made it for 2 terms. Imagine how far Sarah will go....

Written with Lynn Vincent, “Going Rogue” is folksy in tone and homespun.

Sarah Palin is a true Republican. She is the ideal representation of what GOP is all about, true sons/daughters of the soil, preserving the traditional way of life.

I mean equality should be only between equals, not with the lowly classes.

What good is Freedom of Speech, if it is used to criticize you?

nylex4: There is no need to insult bird baths, they too have feelings, you know.

Sarge and sfjp330. Insults are only insults when they represent inaccurate information. Palin's performance during the last election and her denial of reality and fact in her book call her intellectual prowes and capability into significant question.

Perhaps a better phrasing would help.

Sarah Palin has demonstrated inadequate experience, intellect and knowledge to be considered a viable candiate for president. Combined with her poor communication skills and shallow grounding in both political and economic affairs, it is difficult to see how her abilities could be juged adequate for such an important role. Her abilities in all key areas lack depth or fortitude and do not encourage confidence. Her selection as a presidential candidate would defy intelligent reasoning and would be demonstrative of poor political judgement on the part of her advocates and of the county should her unlikely victory be realized.

A professor once told me that the masses were incapable of making good decisions without the strong presence of an intelligencia to assure they made good decisions. I had always been an advocate of the people and their right to choose their leadership. I have always had a kind of hopeful faith that the masses would be collectively intelligent enough to choose wisely for their well being.

Sadly watching the allow Bush to steal the 2000 election and then vote him back in in 2004 was a convincing example of my professor's position. Then watching McCain, desperate to survive, choose such a back water running mate as Palin and her rise to popularity was yet another example.

Two can be considered coincidence, but three? And now four as people think she is a viable candidate next time around.

If the US population is daft enough to elect Palin as president then it deserves the inevitable blowback such a moronic decision would bring. It then deserves the economic, political and social degredation that such a presidency would bring. And it deserves to be surpassed by countries with populations intelligent and self aware enough to find real leaders, with real capabilities and real plans for their countries.

The mainstream middle in the US that can support someone like Palin is truly fightening. Rome melted down in very similar ways to how we are melting down as the fading American empire.

Heh, reduced to insulting the woman, I see.

Some people just post nonsense

"this woman has the intellectual depth of a bird bath"

Heh, reduced to insulting the woman, I see.

this woman has the intellectual depth of a bird bath but that will not stop her becoming the next president... she will then rule for 8 years during which time, the corporatization of the US will continue concentrating more and more wealth in the hands of fewer and fewer people...

CNN is reporting on its site that a recent poll showed that Americans believe that Sen. Hillary Clinton is more prepared for presidency, followed by Sen. Joe Biden. ¨And who´s the least qualified?¨, Sarah Palin. Palin may think that her sugar coated words can deceive US opinion, but this poll shows that people are not so naive as Palin expects.

thank you for the AP ¨she said, we correct¨ post. I wonder if Palin is a wanna-be comedian and is only trying to make fun of herself.

"Sarah Palin is also the ideal Republican candidate for President. They have proven time and time again that it does not require brains to be a president."

Typical condescending liberal remark.

I'm with you Sarge. This book is going to be a best-seller and will be a strong contender for the Booker Prize.I mean who can make fiction out of facts better.

Sarah Palin is also the ideal Republican candidate for President. They have proven time and time again that it does not require brains to be a president. Look at Bush, he could not even think , and still made it for two terms.

Bringing in McCain was the biggest mistake the Republicans made this time. Look at it, a thinking,smart, decent guy as a Republican candidate. Which party does he think he belongs to, Democratic? The only decent thing he did was bringing in Sarah to optimize the combined IQ score of the campaign team.

The evil liberals are mad to expect a republican with brains, whatever will they expect next, an elephant with wings???

I Imagine

"She's a moron that ( who ) thinks she's popular"

That's a moronic statement. Yeah, she sure isn't popular, that must be why she draws crowds wherever she goes and her book has been at or near the top of Amazon.com and other best-seller lists for weeks.

What's wrong with this woman? Seems like a power hungry gold digger, quit her job so she could try to make money from a book. She's a moron that thinks she's popular.

"Some people just post nonsense." Sarge

Really, then what is your opinion? Other qualified VP choices: Mitt Romney, for instance, would have sealed the deal with conservatives and evangelicals with his instant name recognition. Other qualified women for VP: At first glance, at least 2 other women appear to be more qualified than Palin: Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Sen. Olympia Snowe. I have no doubt that Republican thinkers considered them. My guess is that each woman came with a baggage that was more of a liability than Palin’s obscure presence in politics.Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and Olympia Snowe would have been much tougher adversaries for Biden. Palin requires a tremendous amount of grooming and coaching.

Palin and Rush for President. Seriously, the GOP must find some serious statesmen/person. I am looking at the Conservative Democrats these days for the compassionate governance under the natural law or as the Chinese say the "Mandate of Heaven". Respect for all life and the special place of the traditional family.

"Palin represents what is wrong in USA politics."

I would say the exact opposite of that is true.

"In interviews she has come across as unable to offer up more than a sound bite argument on virtually any issue"

Some people just post nonsense.

Not if the majority votes for the most telegenic, and that's what we got now.

Ol Barack isn't telegenic at all, he's very well spoken. I'm not fan of the guy but he is a smart, thoughtful chap. He's got some problems with his policies to be sure, but he's no embarrassment. Palin is good-looking and I am sure a wonderful mayor of small town Alaska, but that's about it. She shares her positions with literally hundreds of people who are much better qualified to be a national political leader in the US - hundreds in her own party. I guess they aren't as good-looking, though.

She has done enormous damage to herself since her single shining moment: her acceptance speech at the Republican Convention. In interviews she has come across as unable to offer up more than a sound bite argument on virtually any issue (with the exception of energy). She seems to have memorized answers rather than thought through issues. She doesn’t seem able to articulate a core philosophy. And her announcement that she would not complete her term as governor was rambling and at times incoherent. She strikes me as terribly out of sync with the needs of this moment.

JHansen; If she is so dumb etc then why such personal attacks on her?

She is dstined to be our next President and i am sure her integrity and high morals will shine through in this book. However the Liberals will never read a book with such substance that shows us moral Conservatives are correct!!!

Palin represents what is wrong in USA politics. She is someone who routinely uses extreme rhetoric mixed with character attacks, plays well with the trailer park demographic, and then hides behind criticism of her position by claiming media bias.

In short she is the number one reason that McCain did not even have a chance last Nov. She is poison to anyone but Bible thumping social conservatives and has driven a wedge in the Republican base. As someone who seeks to understand and solve Americas problems and thus supports a political viewpoint with that goal in mind I would like to thank Palin as she does more to destroy real conservative ambitions than any number of ACORN activist could ever dream of.

Keep up the good work Sarah, you are doing "one heck of a job!" (For the Democrats)

A quitter, a loser, a liar, spends tax money like it is hers, a cheater, believes Jesus rode on dinosaurs, a lousy mother, and a tool of the oil industry just like bush. In other words a perfect republican for the bible thumper fox new watching maroons.

Patriots and moderates alike love her substance over style.

Huh? She is all style and pretty gaudy style at that. Substance? Hating liberals is not a policy.

No good deed ever goes unpunished.

And that deed was quitting as governor.

"Shouldn't people expect the best and brightest, not the most telegenic?"

Not if the majority votes for the most telegenic, and that's what we got now.

The attacks on Sarah Palin here remind me of this old saying:

No good deed ever goes unpunished.

USAFdude; With your undying allegiance to Obama no doubt you wish him to face a low standing candidate, especially considering his poor unpatriotic showing thus far.

Mrs Palin proved that she is in fact more capable than Obama and may i suggest you purchase her book and you may find yourself enlightened. If Palin was running for President and not McCain she would have won. Patriots and moderates alike love her substance over style.

I`m so looking forward to reading this awesome book.

I fully support Palin's efforts in running for President of the United States of America. With her as the GOP candidate, Barack Obama is ensured a second term. Sweet!

I agree with Sarge. Great posts buddy.

She is living proof and the chief player in the fact that there is class warfare in the states. The uneducated or just plain ignorant will always cling to the Sarah Palins of US politics.

Sailwind. The ablity to be coloquial does not indicate the ability to govern or to lead. I am happy for you that she does not tap into any insecurities you may have about social stratta, but bottom line could she do the job if she doesn't even understand what is included in it?

There are cities with more population and complex issues than the entire state of Alaska. I don't think being a governor assures anyone of being a great president. Especially a first term governor with so little real experience.

Give me a break on Huckabee. Haven't heard much useful information from him either.

The right have no idea what they need. Take Utah, votes republican all the time. Why? Moral values. And despite the fact that most of the underpaid families in Utah desperately need nationalized health care, better education benefits, not having their kids sent off to fight dead end wars and more opportunities for their communities.

The right brings no solutions to these people. They bring benefits for the already rich, breaks for companies that don't care about workers beyond their short term needs, and who milk us for every dime for health care. That is where the right wing coloquial types like Palin and Huckabee end up adding value. Value to people who already have more than their share of it.

I want to see someone doing things for Joe and Jane average who need guaranteed health care, college for their kids, jobs that offer enough income and security and a voice in their futures.

"She is a clueless woman"

Only someone who is clueless about Palin would say that.

I don't like Palin because she feeds into the partisan frenzy. Obama didn't and that is why I like him. He tries to bridge gaps. And more importantly he can talk about the issues in intelligent and complete ways.

I like Palin because she talks to the people as one of the people and not as someone who feels she is above the people and needs to educate them as to who knows best to run their individual lives.

Palin never said a thing other than propagandistic catch phrases. That isn't enough. We want real answers and real solutions that require thought, expression of that thought and the education, experience and good sense to make things happen.

The litmus test is did she accomplish any of those goals in her tenure as Governor of Alaska? An actual objective look at her tenure as Governor one can only conclude yes she did.

p.s. Show me a GOP candidate with answers that make sense for common working people and I will vote for him/her. I am not a democrat, I am one of your dangerous liberals who actually wants things to be better for ordinary people. Show me someone who can do that with a clear game plan and the ability to explain it and I will back him/her.

Two Words, Mike Huckabee.

p.s. Show me a GOP candidate with answers that make sense for common working people and I will vote for him/her. I am not a democrat, I am one of your dangerous liberals who actually wants things to be better for ordinary people. Show me someone who can do that with a clear game plan and the ability to explain it and I will back him/her.

sailwind. Palin didn't even know the range of powers included in the office of vice president. If you watch her interviews she has very little to say other than popular GOP catch phrases about most of the issues.

The problem with politics at home now is that people care far more about how someone looks and feels than what someone thinks or is capable of doing. We vote for the popular kid while skipping over the leaders who can actually accomplish what we need done to sort out our country.

The other issue is the self imposed polarity of conservative and liberal. How many people are really either of those things? In reality most people want jobs, want schools to be good for their kids, want the streets to be safe and want to keep as much of their income from taxes as possible. This is all bipartisan my friends.

What we really need as Americans is to think about priorities and stop all the propaganda. Most working families need health care, so let's find a way to make that happen with choices. Same goes for nearly every other issue.

I don't like Palin because she feeds into the partisan frenzy. Obama didn't and that is why I like him. He tries to bridge gaps. And more importantly he can talk about the issues in intelligent and complete ways.

Palin never said a thing other than propagandistic catch phrases. That isn't enough. We want real answers and real solutions that require thought, expression of that thought and the education, experience and good sense to make things happen. Palin lacks all of that and did a good job demonstrating so throughout the campaign.

She is a clueless woman, and a quitter. I wonder who really wrote her book?

I urge the public of this great nation to step up and embrace your country's adultdom and do not revert back to the troublesome teenage years we had to endure for the last 40 years - signed, the rest of world...

I agree a good place to ensure America finally embraces adultdom would be for the rest of the world liberals and liberals in America itself to stop using words like idiots, clueless, etc when they don't like a politician whose philosphy of Government disagrees with theirs. It would be nice to actually hear from someone as why Palin is such a threat to deserve such treatment, and to be able to do it without resorting to childish insults. Now that would be maturity finally demonstrated on the 'liberal' front. The only real sin that I see she has committed was she was a CONSERVATIVE Governor, a popular one at that and not a LIBERAL one, and wasn't shy about her political stance at all, and therefore is a threat and how to be destroyed at all costs......Bad News, she's still around and on a roll right now being a sucessful business woman to add to her already impressive resume.

Good luck, Sarge. You've got a tough sell with Palin though.

"it was a bit shocking how uninformed she was"

Heck, even Joe Biden didn't say Sarah Palin was uninformed. What exactly didn't she know about? What Charlie Gibson was talking about when he mentioned the Bush doctrine? Heck, I'll bet most people didn't know what the Bush doctrine was. As soon as she clarified what he was talking about, she gave a solid answer.

You, like many others, STILL have Sarah Palin confused with Tina Fey.

Aw c'mon, Sarge! How many of us in Japan have even seen Tina Fey do her thing? I sure haven't. I did watch Sarah Palin do hers and it was a bit shocking how uninformed she was. Shouldn't people want intelligent, accomplished, capable public servants? Shouldn't people expect the best and brightest, not the most telegenic?

"All I got from her run was that she was sincerely uninformed, clueless and incapable of making coherent statements"

You, like many others, STILL have Sarah Palin confused with Tina Fey.

"She'd be 10 steps back for the US"

You're confusing Sarah Palin with Barack Obama.

She'd be 10 steps back for the US, I urge the public of this great nation to step up and embrace your country's adultdom and do not revert back to the troublesome teenage years we had to endure for the last 40 years - signed, the rest of world...

What on earth makes anyone think she is so genuine and sincere? All I got from her run was that she was sincerely uniformed, clueless and incapable of making coherent statements. And genuinely scary and filled with backwards flat earth ideas.

If such a quaint creature can influence the Republican party it is due to desperation on their part and what must be a decline in the intellectual depth of the party.

A majority of Americans do think Palin is genuine and sincere. It's just that the same majority don't think she's President material, particularly for being a quitter in office. She'll definitely influence the Republican Party; she'll just not lead it in office.

mansen. "I really left sorry for her when she got bashed by the media". If you run for office you can expect to be under the gun from the media. If you can't take it, don't run.

Sailwind. You should know by now that media will take anyone who can bring ratings. The fact that she was on Oprah has nothing to do with her views or dangers as a national political figure. It would do you well to remember that just because someone is on a popular TV show does not make him or her a good thing.

When I first saw the title I thought it was "Going Rouge", maybe that was something to do with her image.

She is one of them, the flat earth growing middle of the US population who think they live in a Christian theocracy of white only people.

That explains why her first big interview was with Oprah Winfrey I guess.

I love Sara Palin. I really left sorry for her when she got bashed by the media while she running for vice presidency. That said, if she tries to run for the VP or the presidency, I'll make sure to not to vote for her and for the other candidate.

Do we really want a self-proclaimed "rogue" as our President?

She is irrelevant.Just wait. This thread wont even go over 20.

pawatan. " She's just not relevant."

I wish I could agree with you. But the scary thing is, she is relevant. If the mainstream people, with their 10second attention spans, fall out of love with "yes we can" we could easily see someone like Palin in office some day.

She is one of them, the flat earth growing middle of the US population who think they live in a Christian theocracy of white only people. That world is scary, I know I used to live in Utah. They are real, they vote and they are growing in numbers.

I encourage Palin to run for president - because she has no chance of winning. Good luck to her.

There is a funny little film called "Idiocracy" where the future if populated by people who speak only in local slang, take TV as the absolute truth, and elect pro-wrestlers and monster truck types as president.

While a comedy, it rings a little too true here and there. Living with the shame of having George W. Bush as president for eight years was hard enough. The man could barely string two words together and his down home appeal just made me wish we'd let the south go in the Civil War.

Now people are talking about Palin as president. That rabid flat earther should not be cleaning restrooms let alone running for president. If the people of the US are foolish enough to elect her some day, then the world had better give up on Americans all together. Of all the intelligent people in the country, can't the idiots out there fall in love with someone who can actually help run the country instead of trying to take us to some conservative neo-dark age?

Argh, comment didn't post.

I was wondering why we have so many articles about Palin here? She's a minor figure in US politics at best (former governor of the 2nd smallest state in the US by population, and for only a few years at that) and totally inconsequential internationally. Whenever there's an article on her here it just devolves into flame wars right off the bat.

So why do we have articles about her here, again? She's just not relevant.

sarge: "She's more qualified than the current U.S. president." best comment ever. I want to take the same pills.

"people realize how fake she is"

If there's one thing Sarah Palin is not, it's fake. Like many others, you're confusing her with Tina Fey.

"saving the US economy"

Har! Who?

"In 2005, the state received $1.84 for every dollar it sent to Washington"

Link, please.

Ha! All of you will see the power of Palin once Alaska breaks off and becomes its own country!

in 2005, the state received $1.84 for every dollar it sent to Washington

And then transforms it from a welfare state to a welfare nation.

Ha! All of you will see the power of Palin once Alaska breaks off and becomes its own country!

druggie limbaugh said it was the best policy book he has have read. Guess he and Palin share that same love of reading . . .

As long as everyone knows that this book is fiction then everything will be OK. If there is anything that the rightwing christian wingers know how to do, that is lie.

Oh and Sarge, saving the US economy from the bush depression and returning the US foreign policy to sanity is not a debacle. He is a savior. You and your buddies cannot tell success from failure after living 8 years of constant failure. Ask anyone. Oh, and turn off fox news.

I do hope this book helps palin to win the 2012 nomination. That will be the final nail in the coffin of the republican party.

She's trying to be like President Obama. Trying to put out a precampaign advertisement. No matter how much she tries to emulate him, people realize now how fake she is. If she gets the nomination people will vote in droves to keep her from being President.

She's more qualified than the current U.S. president.

She is only qualified at quitting the only major position she has had because of corruption charges. The US does not need that kind of experience.

I'll take that bet!

sirgamble - "She's not presidential quality"

She's more qualified than the current U.S. president.

How much would you gamble that Sarah Palin will not become the next U.S. president after the Obama debacle?

"The woman is a genius and i firmly believe our next President."

Good luck mate...

She's a random who they pulled in at last minute. She's not presidential quality, and she's not even a politician anymore.

Ohhh boy, keep your fingers crossed & hope they'll never be the day.

The woman is a genius and i firmly believe our next President. She has integrity and honor and no doubt her book is a very informative read.

sailwind - Har!

"If i could legally make anyone on this earth disappear...it would be her"

Jealousy?

I heard she also admits in her book that she rips off the 'Do not remove under penalty of law' tags off her pillows and snorts while she does it.

A look at some of her statements in "Going Rogue," obtained by The Associated Press in advance of its release Tuesday:

PALIN: Says she made frugality a point when traveling on state business as Alaska governor, asking "only" for reasonably priced rooms and not "often" going for the "high-end, robe-and-slippers" hotels.

THE FACTS: Although travel records indicate she usually opted for less-pricey hotels while governor, Palin and daughter Bristol stayed five days and four nights at the $707.29-per-night Essex House luxury hotel (robes and slippers come standard) overlooking New York City's Central Park for a five-hour women's leadership conference in October 2007. With air fare, the cost to Alaska was well over $3,000. Event organizers said Palin asked if she could bring her daughter. The governor billed her state more than $20,000 for her children's travel, including to events where they had not been invited, and in some cases later amended expense reports to specify that they had been on official business.

PALIN: Boasts that she ran her campaign for governor on small donations, mostly from first-time givers, and turned back large checks from big donors if her campaign perceived a conflict of interest.

THE FACTS: Of the roughly $1.3 million she raised for her primary and general election campaigns for governor, more than half came from people and political action committees giving at least $500, according to an AP analysis of her campaign finance reports. The maximum that individual donors could give was $1,000; $2,000 for a PAC.

Of the rest, about $76,000 came from Republican Party committees.

She accepted $1,000 each from a state senator and his wife and $30 from a state representative in the weeks after the two Republican lawmakers' offices were raided by the FBI as part of an investigation into a powerful Alaska oilfield services company. After AP reported those donations during the presidential campaign, she gave a comparative sum to charity.

PALIN: Rails against taxpayer-financed bailouts, which she attributes to Obama. She recounts telling daughter Bristol that to succeed in business, "you'll have to be brave enough to fail."

THE FACTS: Palin is blurring the lines between Obama's stimulus plan — a $787 billion package of tax cuts, state aid, social programs and government contracts — and the federal bailout that Republican presidential candidate John McCain voted for and President George W. Bush signed.

Palin's views on bailouts appeared to evolve as McCain's vice presidential running mate. In September 2008, she said "taxpayers cannot be looked to as the bailout, as the solution, to the problems on Wall Street." A week later, she said "ultimately what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy."

During the vice presidential debate in October, Palin praised McCain for being "instrumental in bringing folks together" to pass the $700 billion bailout. After that, she said "it is a time of crisis and government did have to step in."

PALIN: Says Ronald Reagan faced an even worse recession than the one that appears to be ending now, and "showed us how to get out of one. If you want real job growth, cut capital gains taxes and slay the death tax once and for all."

THE FACTS: The estate tax, which some call the death tax, was not repealed under Reagan and capital gains taxes are lower now than when Reagan was president.

Economists overwhelmingly say the current recession is far worse. The recession Reagan faced lasted for 16 months; this one is in its 23rd month. The recession of the early 1980s did not have a financial meltdown. Unemployment peaked at 10.8 percent, worse than the October 2009 high of 10.2 percent, but the jobless rate is still expected to climb.

PALIN: She says her team overseeing the development of a natural gas pipeline set up an open, competitive bidding process that allowed any company to compete for the right to build a 1,715-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from Alaska to the Lower 48.

THE FACTS: Palin characterized the pipeline deal the same way before an AP investigation found her team crafted terms that favored only a few independent pipeline companies and ultimately benefited a company with ties to her administration, TransCanada Corp. Despite promises and legal guidance not to talk directly with potential bidders during the process, Palin had meetings or phone calls with nearly every major candidate, including TransCanada.

PALIN: Criticizes an aide to her predecessor, Gov. Frank Murkowski, for a conflict of interest because the aide represented the state in negotiations over a gas pipeline and then left to work as a handsomely paid lobbyist for ExxonMobil. Palin asserts her administration ended all such arrangements, shoving a wedge in the revolving door between special interests and the state capital.

THE FACTS: Palin ignores her own "revolving door" issue in office; the leader of her own pipeline team was a former lobbyist for a subsidiary of TransCanada, the company that ended up winning the rights to build the pipeline.

PALIN: Writes about a city councilman in Wasilla, Alaska, who owned a garbage truck company and tried to push through an ordinance requiring residents of new subdivisions to pay for trash removal instead of taking it to the dump for free — this to illustrate conflicts of interest she stood against as a public servant.

THE FACTS: As Wasilla mayor, Palin pressed for a special zoning exception so she could sell her family's $327,000 house, then did not keep a promise to remove a potential fire hazard on the property.

She asked the city council to loosen rules for snow machine races when she and her husband owned a snow machine store, and cast a tie-breaking vote to exempt taxes on aircraft when her father-in-law owned one. But she stepped away from the table in 1997 when the council considered a grant for the Iron Dog snow machine race in which her husband competes.

PALIN: Says Obama has admitted that the climate change policy he seeks will cause people's electricity bills to "skyrocket."

THE FACTS: She correctly quotes a comment attributed to Obama in January 2008, when he told San Francisco Chronicle editors that under his cap-and-trade climate proposal, "electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket" as utilities are forced to retrofit coal burning power plants to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Obama has argued since then that climate legislation can blunt the cost to consumers. Democratic legislation now before Congress calls for a variety of measures aimed at mitigating consumer costs. Several studies predict average household costs probably would be $100 to $145 a year.

PALIN: Welcomes last year's Supreme Court decision deciding punitive damages for victims of the nation's largest oil spill tragedy, the Exxon Valdez disaster, stating it had taken 20 years to achieve victory. As governor, she says, she'd had the state argue in favor of the victims, and she says the court's ruling went "in favor of the people." Finally, she writes, Alaskans could recover some of their losses.

THE FACTS: That response is at odds with her reaction at the time to the ruling, which resolved the long-running case by reducing punitive damages for victims to $500 million from $2.5 billion. Environmentalists and plaintiffs' lawyers decried the ruling as a slap at the victims and Palin herself said she was "extremely disappointed." She said the justices had gutted a jury decision favoring higher damage awards, the Anchorage Daily News reported. "It's tragic that so many Alaska fishermen and their families have had their lives put on hold waiting for this decision," she said, noting many had died "while waiting for justice."

PALIN: Describing her resistance to federal stimulus money, Palin describes Alaska as a practical, libertarian haven of independent Americans who don't want "help" from government busybodies.

THE FACTS: Alaska is also one of the states most dependent on federal subsidies, receiving much more assistance from Washington than it pays in federal taxes. A study for the nonpartisan Tax Foundation found that in 2005, the state received $1.84 for every dollar it sent to Washington.

PALIN: Says she tried to talk about national security and energy independence in her interview with Vogue magazine but the interviewer wanted her to pivot from hydropower to high fashion.

THE FACTS are somewhat in dispute. Vogue contributing editor Rebecca Johnson said Palin did not go on about hydropower. "She just kept talking about drilling for oil."

PALIN: "Was it ambition? I didn't think so. Ambition drives; purpose beckons." Throughout the book, Palin cites altruistic reasons for running for office, and for leaving early as Alaska governor.

THE FACTS: Few politicians own up to wanting high office for the power and prestige of it, and in this respect, Palin fits the conventional mold. But "Going Rogue" has all the characteristics of a pre-campaign manifesto, the requisite autobiography of the future candidate.

If i could legally make anyone on this earth disappear...it would be her.