Olbermann: Sarah Palin Is A Socialist

In a Special Campaign Comment, Keith Olbermann cites yet another example of the McCain campaign accusing Barack Obama of something of which they themselves are guilty. In this case, Sarah Palin is accusing Barack Obama of advocating socialism when she literally used that word to describe the collective wealth sharing in her home state of Alaska.

Watch:

Comments

[patnb]

Those quotes should be in an Obama ad .

[patnb]

lol! Keith hits the nail on the head. The extereme right is laughable!

[Jojo72]

spot on Keith!

[claudeboo]

The basic premise of Olbermann's rant is the increasingly evident notion that ALL politicians suffer from the disease of hypocracy. At every level, this infestation is rampant. The examples abound on both sides so let's call it a tie.
The question America has to answer is this: Who can move this country forward? To answer this, we have to know who's got the best plan, the one most likely to breed success today and tomorrow. Also, we need to analyze who's record of accompishment and intent are consistent with the principles of that plan.
Obama's plans is largely recognized as being more sound, but his record is spotty - not robust enough in accomplishment to judge effectively.
McCain's record has more meat to it, but he's so far off with his plan (economy, war, health care), that it's difficult to to vote to adapt these actions
Now we're left with this: which candidate is smarter, more analytical, less impulsive? Which will surround himself with more higher thinkers and fewer partisan dogmatists? This is the only real measure of predicting what's likely to happen GOING FORWARD.
Based on this, Obama has the edge.

[Chris]

Claudeboo how do you draw the conlcusion that BO will surround himself with more higher thinkers (what ever that is) and fewer partisan dosmatists?

YOu can not base that conclusion on his voting record sicne he has been virtually in lock step with the party platform. So what exactly leads you to that conclusion?

[jjoshaugh]

His record across his career, right back to when he was president of the Harvard Law Review, bears out this assessment. Its what he has always done.

[claudeboo]

Would you like to compare Joe Biden to Sarah Palin?
Look a the way he handled the economic crisis. Compare his actions to those of McCain's. Obama's tact was to take the time to analyze and react; McCain ran around like a chicken without a head and no discernable thought process.

Read the reasoning behind the endorsements. They ALL mention his ability to reason and analyze ahead of McCain's knee-jerk approach.

[bilmardre]

Look no further than VP pick.

[arethusa]

He has already done so. Why do you think conservatives like Colin Powell and others have come out to support Obama. Look at the people he has used as advisers: some of the most successful, knowledgeable people in the United States. Look at what those people say about his behavior in meetings. It's just well-documented facts, if you read good newspapers, magazines or on-line sources. Ask Madeleine Albright, an outstandingly intelligent diplomat and student of the world. Ask Chuck Hagel. Ask General Petraeus. Ask Dick Lugar. Ask Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman. Ask Lee Hamilton. And on and on. Sen. Obama is intellectually and temperamentally suited to be president. He has good judgment, unlike Sen. McCain (though I don't think he is fundamentally a bad person, and I respect his service for our country).

[kikimae]

Nice analysis.

[Osprey3]

Claudeboo: You mentioned in your comment that Obama's "record is spotty- not robust enough in accomplishment.." If you are referring to his legislative record, you might want to check out the following article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-j-elisberg/the-little-known-truth-of_b_136516.html

[arethusa]

Let's take a look: Obama's plan is robust and his record is consistent, his ability to organize and to accomplish goals far beyond those of McPalin. He is also highly intelligent and capable of working through complex problems, with the good sense of seeking experts' advice but questioning it in an intelligent fashion as he did in (documented) discussions with Gen. Petraeus. He has consistently demonstrated his ability to formulate good policy and carry it out.

McCain's record may be meaty in your opinion, but a lot of it is rotten meat, which suggests he is a good follower and cheerleader, but not anymore ready to be promoted than he was when he left the Navy. We appreciate his service, but he is not really suited intellectually or temperamentally to be president. Palin is a dangerous disaster. Colin Powell, a very bright and good man, called it right. It is easy to see that McCain's only promise is to lead us down the same path as Bush/Cheney: lots of deregulation, greed, and tax cuts for the rich. No end of war in sight. No real economic plan. Nothing. And he and his unqualified running mate will have the finger on the button to the nuclear weapons. No thanks. These folks have no plan, are utterly erratic (both of them), and no record of real achievement. Had Enough? I have (& I actually worked for these Republicans). Vote Democratic.

[honestpolitician]

Olbermann always playing out the facts....Bill O'Reilly(fox) was once again "the worst person in the woooorrrlllldd"!

http://politicaladattacks.blogspot.com/

[SailFree]

Speaking of socialism:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122523831107978193.html

It was a tenet of the Marxists that they would hang the capitalists with their own rope.

Thus we have government financing of ACORN and we have the pharmaceutical companies contributing to Democrats!

[Keith52]

We have Government financing BANKERS. You will be hung with the ACORN bs if you keep insisting on demonizing it.

[justobserve]

Thanks Olbermann! You pinned her, the hypocrite, down on that. Using oil money to bribe voters then lobbied for earmarks from the lower 48's taxpayers! McCain-Pali: straight-faced liars.

[marasha]

HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[peacegurl48]

Palin is the consummate HYPOCRITE and this quote should be in an Obama ad and/or all over the MSM. Her Base clearly does not care about the reality of who Palin is but I bethca that independents and undecideds might care.

She is absolutely astounding in her failure to take responsibility for her words and deeds.

[Doug77]

I think what most people seem to be missing here is that in calling Obama a socialist or a redistributionist (my new favorite word, natch) it's really an easy, relatively transparent way for McCain to scare white people (the kind of white people who describe themselves, in all seriousness, as "hard working") by implying that Obama will tax them and then give their money to black people (who of course don't work, smoke crack, and have babies all day long). That's it. That's why no specifics of this looming socialist take over are ever elaborated upon. That's why what type of socialism an Obama presidency would entail is never discussed. That's why the word socialism is interchangeable with redistributor, redistributionist, communist, facist, etc. A certain, apparently large, subsection of white people are scared of and or hate black people and lack even the basic mental capacity to imagine what it will be like to have a black president, and McCain is banking on those people.

As a side note, I think after the election it's important that instead of letting McCain fade into obscurity, we make a concerted effort to make McCain's legacy not that he was a national war hero, but instead make salient the fact that when competing with the first black presidential candidate, he, although, yes, subtly, did little more than attempt to appeal to a vague, populist racism and xenophobia, and in no way should be considered a "hero" or "patriot". Just a thought.

[seattledemocrat]

Of course it is...that's play #1 in their playbook...#1 SCARE, #2 HATE, #3 LOVE AMERICA MORE, #4 OIL, #5 GUNS.

What we need to do is expose it. A Fungus hates the light and we are the light

[CaptainKendrick]

Eh....KO had me going along with him until his punchline at the end.

Sorry, he's not as clever as he thinks he is and that 5 minutes leading up to his "clever" "surprise" "revelation" is really stretching it.

He's going to compare the lame republican depictions of Obama's premise of spreading "personal wealth" around and redistributing it to a statement Palin made which is clearly something completely different, and obviously in reference to the state holding natural resources collectively, and the state benefiting from the exploitation of these resources.

These are two completely different notions.

He should have just stuck to the republican hyperbole he spent 5 minutes on, because it is worthy of ridicule. But the comparison at the end just made him look intellectually lazy or dishonest.

[ohio4obama]

So, then he would just be playing the GOP's own game twisting context to suit their needs. Like, say the whole 2001 Obama quote talking about the SC decisions in the SIXTIES but, oh golly, it shows he's a "socialist"! Tit for tat, I say. And more power to KO for throwing them at their own game.

[Agnim]

What?
KO was right on!
Only, KO left out the part about Republi-con government wanting to get between a pregnant woman's thighs; and tell them how to deal with their bump!

Palin is the most 'socialist' leader in America!
Governor of Alaska 'spread the wealth around' ( in the form of checks) to even non-taxpayers.

[joshuahmcdonald]

You are simply wrong.

It isn't Palin's statement that makes the case, it is her actions. She CLAIMS that Obama wants to be a modern day Robin Hood when she actually IS a modern day Robin Hood. When she claims that she stood up to the oil companies, it was so that she could create a windfall profits tax on them and "spread the wealth around" by actually giving a check to each and every Alaskan for $1,200 (with another $2,000 coming because of the increase in oil prices).

THAT IS THE HYPOCRISY!

[Chris]

Isn't that the same thing BO and the dems want to do? Wind fall profits. So are you and KO admitting that BO is a socialist?

[cheeriogirl]

I think your headline is misleading.

Olbermann didn't call Palin a socialist. Palin's own words show that she thinks herself to be a socialist. He just called her on it, and held up her hypocrisy to the light of truth.

Some might go so far as to call what he did JOURNALISM!

For the record, Olbermann called her a fraud.

Thanks Keith!

[truthtopower007]

There should be an ad on this.

[seattledemocrat]

What makes this so absurd is the GOP hates government until they need it...and they need it every month when GOPers call in a prescription on Medicare.

We all know that the GOP=HYPOCRISY.

[BMBTHC]

I thought GOP = Grand Oil Party?

[Oonagh]

GOP hates everything until they need it.... they just hate ..hate... hate.... spread the hate.... look at their commercials. Great job KO... Give em hell.

[BlueKansas]

If you wanna get technical, KO called her a fraud. By using her own quotes against her, he got Palin to call herself a socialist. It was one his best special comments yet, especially when he lapsed into a Palin impression.