From The Road
October 19, 2008 8:26 PM

Palin: Obama's Plan Is "Experiment With Socialism"

By
Scott Conroy
Topics
Sarah Palin
(CBS)
From CBS News' Scott Conroy:

(ROSWELL, N.M.) - Sarah Palin drew huge cheers at an airport hanger rally here when she insisted that Barack Obama's infamous comments to Joe the Plumber meant that the Democrat would initiate a socialist economic plan.

"Senator Obama said the wants to 'spread the wealth,'" Palin said. "What that means is he wants government to take your money and dole it out however a politician sees fit."

Palin acknowledged a man in the crowd who carried a sign proclaiming himself to be, "Ed The Dairy Man," and used him to help make her point.

"Barack Obama calls it spreading the wealth, Joe Biden calls higher taxes patriotic, but Joe the plumber and Ed the Dairy Man, I believe that they think that it sounds more like socialism," Palin said. "Friends, now is no time to experiment with socialism."

Palin said that Obama was not being straightforward about his tax plan.

"He claims that he'll cut income taxes for 95 percent of Americans, but the problem is more than 40 percent of Americans pay no income taxes at all. So how can you cut income taxes for folks who don't pay them?"

She added that Obama would get the money from his proposed tax credits by increasing tax rates.

"In other words, Obama's plans to raise taxes on some in order to give checks out to others is not a tax cut," Palin said. "It is more government growth and it's another government giveaway."

  • Scott Conroy

    Scott Conroy is a National Political Reporter for RealClearPolitics and a contributor for CBS News.

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by cebling-2009 October 22, 2008 2:46 PM EDT
Well, if McCain/Palin are so "anti socialism" then they need to tells us which existing government socialist programs they plan to terminate. How about ending the mortgage income tax credit whereby taxpayers subsidize home ownership? How about ending agricultural programs like Payment in Kind, sugar tariffs, dairy subsidies, and the ridiculous subsidies to promote corn-based ethanol? Of course, McCain/Palin will NEVER do anything to end these programs because their voting block depend on them. What hypocrites.
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by Dwaraka36 October 22, 2008 2:39 PM EDT
It is socialism when the government takes away three homes out of five from a couple and gives them or rents them to homeless people.
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by cfcarlos October 21, 2008 11:27 AM EDT
Just as there are social conservatives and fiscal conservatives, there are social socialists and fiscal socialists. The particulars of political agendas aside, both kinds of socialists believe in growing the power of the central government, whether through higher taxes, deficit spending or printing money. In this regard, Barack Obama''s plan to "spread the wealth" is no more socialistic than McCain''s plan to buy up bad mortgages and to keep funding the open-ended war in Iraq.
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by clatech October 21, 2008 7:49 AM EDT
If you%u2019ve ever worked for a union shop or bureaucracy you know when someone says %u201Cspread the overtime%u201D or %u201Cspread the wealth%u201D like those famous Obama words. It%u2019s time to bend over and grab your ankles. Because if you try to out perform anyone else you%u2019re screwed. There is no reward for working harder. As a matter of fact the slower you work, the more comfortable your co-worker will feel around you.
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by jefflz-2009 October 20, 2008 11:53 PM EDT
Unbeknown to Palin, like most facts, McCain''s idea is to take money from the poor and middle class and spread it to the rich. It is called the Trickle Down Theory of economics and it is a proven failure. Nothing trickles down. The rich just get richer. McCain wants to call Obama a socialist but he has no problem using tax payer dollars to bail out big banks, big insurance companies and to subsidize big oil. If that''s not really socialism , what is? McCain''s form of socialism is OK because it benefits his people - the wealthiest 1% of the nation. Palin doesn''t even know that Bush''s Trickle Down policy that McCain is so wedded to, which Bush''s father called VooDoo Economic is a major reason this country is in a state of financial crisis. She, like her partner in crime is an out of touch hypocrite whose failure as a candidate leaves her nothing but fear and smear to spread around.
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by lindyb2 October 20, 2008 8:16 PM EDT
Palin said that Obama was not being straightforward about his tax plan.

%u201CHe claims that he''ll cut income taxes for 95 percent of Americans, but the problem is more than 40 percent of Americans pay no income taxes at all. So how can you cut income taxes for folks who don''t pay them?%u201D

Palin is asking some very good questions while many in the Democrat party are sitting back and believing.

There will be no tax cuts...the utmost experts in the world state that cutting taxes during this time of crisis would toss us into depression....either tax cuts or depression, take your choice.

And see if you can find the answer to Palin''s question above, from the Obama campaign. Nobody is able to answer it...they don''t want to address the 40% who don''t pay taxes and receive money back, known as earned income. I know a woman who pays no taxes and gets $600 from the goverment every April.....surprise folks, its earned income and Obama wants to increase it.
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by newslink October 20, 2008 7:33 PM EDT
Palin should open mouth, and insert foot. She is up to her old tricks. Name-calling, which has not helped. She has called Obama everything but Yankee Doodle, is that next Palin?
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by benighse October 20, 2008 4:12 PM EDT
At least Sarah was in ROSWELL, NM----Any possibility that it was to catch a ride home to that other planet she came from?????---We Can Hope!
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by mlr_08 October 20, 2008 3:10 PM EDT
I wish people would get educate themselves. You really think McCain is on YOUR side???

He "continues to argue that large tax cuts for the wealthiest households are the most reliable way to stimulate growth. You know what does happen when you cut rich people''s taxes? They get richer.

Last week, John McCain released his economic plan to "help" folks battered by the recession. The plan included a cut in the capital gains tax by half (from an already too low 15% to 7.5%).

Th type of income, such as the profits from selling appreciated assets like stocks, is SO CONCENTRATED among the wealthiest families, that only 0.2 percent, or $4, of the gains from this cut will reach middle-income folks. Yet smack in the middle of the worst financial crisis since the Depression, this is what a presidential candidate comes up with."
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by mattcat25 October 20, 2008 3:01 PM EDT
Republicans have demonstrated that they desire to PRIVATIZE THE PROFITS when they can make $money, and SOCIALIZE THE LOSSES because they don%u2019t want to pay for anything including TAXES!
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