Leesburg, Virginia – Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin told a cheering crowd Monday that Democrats would raise taxes and “punish hard work” if Virginia voters break a 44-year preference for Republican presidents and help send Barack Obama to the White House.
Palin, Republican John McCain’s running mate, also tried to burnish her foreign policy credentials by meeting here with Israel’s ambassador to the United States, apologizing for the session’s delay.
“I look forward to hearing about your work with the Jewish Agency and all the plans that we have,” Palin told Ambassador Sallai Meridor. “We’ll be working together.”
She was apparently referring to the Jewish Agency for Israel, an organization of which Meridor was formerly chairman.
Israeli embassy officials said Palin and Meridor discussed relations between the United States and Israel and the Iranian nuclear threat. They added that Meridor also discussed ongoing peace efforts in the Middle East and noted that he was to talk with Palin’s Democratic counterpart, Sen. Joe Biden, later Monday.
After meeting Meridor, Palin took a short bus ride through a tony development in Loudoun County – a battleground county in Virginia and a neighborhood where Obama yard signs appeared to outnumber McCain signs – to an enthusiastic rally that drew more than 5,000 supporters.
Palin was introduced to the crowd by Tito Munoz, a small business owner from neighboring Prince William County, whom Palin referred to as “Tito the Builder.” He wore a yellow hard hat and drew chants of “Tito, Tito.”
Palin portrayed Obama as “on the side of bigger, more controlling government” and warned that an Obama White House would leave the Democratic agenda in Congress unchecked.
“If big government spenders control the House and Senate and, heaven forbid, the White House, they will have a monopoly of power,” she said.
“You understand that his plan to redistribute wealth will, ultimately, punish hard work, and it discourages productivity, and it will stifle the entrepreneurial spirit that made this country the greatest country on earth.”
Palin’s three-city tour through the Old Dominion was designed to upend Obama’s lead in a state that hasn’t voted for a Democratic president since 1964. Recent polls show Obama ahead in Virginia, home to the Confederate capital during the Civil War, and Democrats are on track to add to their congressional majorities.
Associated Press
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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posted October 27, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Funny none of the GOPers was warning about single party control when they were about to get it. I think we are in such a variety of serious troubles from following Republican policies for six to eight years we need to give the Democrats the keys with a filibuster-proof Senate and in two and especially four years hold their feet to the fire.
McCain/Palin are truly desperate when they call returning to tax policies much like eight years ago socialism and communism. McCain is old enough he should know what socialism and communism are but perhaps he doesn’t. I have no such expectations of Palin. If she’s to be the future of the Republican party she needs to start on a serious course of study of several subjects for the next three years. Anyone want to bet she will?
It’s pretty insulting to the entrepreneurs to say they’ll stop working if their taxes go up some.
posted October 27, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Her speeches are exactly what you would expect them to be. Beat the other side to death with ridiculous and untrue attacks of what will happen if the Democrats win. The whole thing is so immature, no promises of what they will do that is so different than what the Repubublicans have done in the last eight yrs. Only trying to cause distrust for the people listening to her about Obama and the democrats. Businesses will thrive even if the wealthy pay a few more dollars, and the middleclass, upper, will pay less taxes and be able to start new businesses and hire new people for them. The less advantaged people will probably be the ones hired by the middleclass, and they will be able to better themselves.
posted October 27, 2008 at 8:27 pm
OK, FOLKS, I’m ready to vote for Mac and Sarah! BECAUSE she talked to Israel’s Ambassador and said,”I look forward to hearing about your work with the Jewish Agency and all the plans we have. We’ll be working together.” What the H***does that mean? And apparently the Ambassador was the FORMER chairman the Jewish Agency for Israel, not the current one. I wonder what he is thinking now, about her.
And if anyone thinks I really mean the above statement…doesn’t know me! I can’t imagine meeting the ambassador to any country, and coming out with a statement like that idiot statement.
And then there is “Tito the Builder”. The election can’t come soon enough….even the slightest chance that the combo of Mac and Cheese, oh, I mean Mac and Sarah getting into the White House gets even more freightening.
posted October 27, 2008 at 11:21 pm
There are so many reasons to vote for Obama/Biden over McCain/Palin. One big one is that McCain and Palin are, like so many Republicans over the last several years, more than willing to tear apart our country in order to rule it.
“Real America”! Give me a break. We are all Americans and we are at war and we need to stand together, not be torn apart by hack politicians trying to get one more than half of the electoral votes.
posted October 28, 2008 at 6:31 am
I agree nnmns. I remember when W ran on the identity of being a unifier. What a joke that was. I sincerely believe that Obama actually will work to unify the people of our nation and our nation with the rest of the world.
No more haters!
posted October 28, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Obama a unifier? Give me a break. The only unifying thing he’s shown he has any ability to do is to not be George W. Bush. When he gets power with no opposition in Congress, I doubt the main thing on his agenda is going to be unifying us all, unless we’re all willing to rally behind his leftist philosophies. The man is a good rhetor, but we’ve got no reason to believe his rhetoric any more than we’ve ever had any good reason to believe the rhetoric of any other run-of-the-mill politician who’s come along.
posted October 28, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Well he’s not tearing us apart with talk of real America and communist America and such. And let’s face it, we’ve had several years of rightest rule and they’ve screwed us up royally. I say it’s time to give the moderates and leftists a chance to right things.
posted October 29, 2008 at 6:36 am
I dissagree Nate. All you have to do is look at the way he’s run his campaign during the primaries and now to see that he is a man who knows how to treat his opponents with respect. You certainly cannot say that about Mac.
posted October 29, 2008 at 9:51 am
“is to not be George W. Bush”
That alone is reason enough to vote for him.