Sliming Palin

The following is reproduced from Fact Check.

Summary
We’ve been flooded for the past few days with queries about dubious Internet postings and mass e-mail messages making claims about McCain’s running mate, Gov. Palin. We find that many are completely false, or misleading.

• Palin did not cut funding for special needs education in Alaska by 62 percent. She didn’t cut it at all. In fact, she tripled per-pupil funding over just three years.

• She did not demand that books be banned from the
  Wasilla library. Some of the books on a widely circulated list were not even in print at the time. The librarian has said Palin asked a "What if?" question, but the librarian continued in her job through most of Palin's first term.

• She was never a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, a group that wants Alaskans to vote on whether they wish to secede from the United States. She’s been registered as a Republican since May 1982.

• Palin never endorsed or supported Pat Buchanan
  for president. She once wore a Buchanan button as a "courtesy" when he visited Wasilla, but shortly afterward she was appointed to co-chair of the campaign of Steve Forbes in the state.

• Palin has not pushed for teaching creationism in
  Alaska's schools. She has said that students should be allowed to "debate both sides" of the evolution question, but she also said creationism "doesn't have to be part of the curriculum."

Comment: The truth should matter. This smear campaign is spreading
like wildfire through the blogosphere. If you have anyone send you one of
these lies challenge it and shame them for spreading lies. While I don't doubt that these lies are being deliberately spread in an organized campaign
to discredit Palin, I am also sure than many well-intentioned people are repeating these lies simply because they are naive and gullible.

Fact Check is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. They appear unbiased and objective. Fact check gives detailed analysis of each of the Palin smears. To see the Fact Check article, click here: Slimming Palin.

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