In an interview with the Washington Post, Anchorage Daily News reporter Gregg Erickson described Governor Sarah Palin’s relationship with Alaskan lawmakers:
Washington, D.C.;: You wrote: “If you took a poll of reporters and legislators I expect her approval rating would be down in the teens or twenties.” What do they know about her that the general population does not?
Gregg Erickson: One example: The Republican chair of the Alaska State House Finance budget subcommittee on Heath and Medicaid says he can’t find anyone in Palin’s executive office who cares about helping bring that budget under control. He is furious with her about that.
John McCain has a similarly cavalier attitude about the federal budget.
He has proposed a budget-busting $300 billion tax cut for corporations and the wealthy to go on top of a continuation of the Bush tax cuts. Paying for these huge tax cuts, which leave out over 100 million American families, would require massive draconian cuts to education, scientific research, Medicare and Medicaid, and other important national investments.
More likely, however, they would just lead to massive deficits.
UPDATE: The Washington Post reports today that Palin “employed a lobbying firm to secure almost $27 million in federal earmarks for a town of 6,700 residents while she was its mayor.”