Palin Lie #3 from Intro Speech

McCain said she was against earmark spending:

McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, hailed Palin as a politician "with an outstanding reputation for standing up to special interests and entrenched bureaucracies -- someone who has fought against corruption and the failed policies of the past, someone who's stopped government from wasting taxpayers' money."

Indeed. Palin added:

"As governor, I've stood up to the old politics-as-usual, to the special interests, to the lobbyists, the big oil companies, and the good-ol'-boy network."
...
"I have championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by
Congress."

But it turns out that Sarah Palin was responsible for earning $27 million in congressional earmark spending for her tiny town of Wasilla while she was Mayor. For a town of five to six thousand people, she brought home the bacon big-time.

And just to have something to contrast these numbers with:

In fiscal year 2002, Wasilla took in $6.1 million in earmarks -- about $1,000 in federal money for every resident. By contrast, Boise, Idaho -- which has more than 190,000 residents -- received $6.9 million in earmarks in fiscal 2008.

Remember to adjust the $6.1 million for Wasilla upwards for inflation. Those are 2002 dollars, before the Bush Administration tanked our dollar so thoroughly.

So how'd she do it? How did she get such an avalanche of federal money into her little hamlet? By bringing in one of those people from the good-ol-boy network that she said she had railed against. Who was Wasilla's lobbyist? Indicted Senator Ted Stevens' chief of staff.