She said the following:
PALIN: I do take issue with some of the principle there with that redistribution of wealth principle that seems to be espoused by you. But when you talk about Barack's plan to tax increase affecting only those making $250,000 a year or more, you're forgetting millions of small businesses that are going to fit into that category. So they're going to be the ones paying higher taxes thus resulting in fewer jobs being created and less productivity.Now you said recently that higher taxes or asking for higher taxes or paying higher taxes is patriotic. In the middle class of America which is where Todd and I have been all of our lives, that's not patriotic. Patriotic is saying, government, you know, you're not always the solution. In fact, too often you're the problem so, government, lessen the tax burden and on our families and get out of the way and let the private sector and our families grow and thrive and prosper. An increased tax formula that Barack Obama is proposing in addition to nearly a trillion dollars in new spending that he's proposing is the backwards way of trying to grow our economy.
Tonight though, we learn that the Palins have a net worth of $2.1 million.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
What's a little bit odd about this is the implication that the Palins are somehow closer to the economic realities of most Americans than the other candidates.
In real terms she is closer than McCain and the Heiress, but the Palin's are effectively around the same tax-bracket as the Obamas.
I was surprised to learn though that Joe Biden has a net-worth of $150,000. This for someone who has spent a large chunk of his political career in public office.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Even though he has been a long-term Senator, in real terms Biden is perhaps more "middle class" than even the Palins.
Any chance that she'll make the rounds on the Sunday talk shows between now and election day?
That said I am pleased that most people see beyond that. Most people realize she lacks experience and does not have a natural skill to make up that difference. If you are trying to convince that 36%, hard-core Republican crowd, give up.
Her income and net-worth are also not issues of major concern in and of themselves (although I would be curious to see how she amassed that fortune based on just a short-career in politics).
What gets me is her dishonesty. A person with a $2.1 million net-worth may not be obscenely wealthy, but they aren't middle class either.
How many other middle class people get a $60 a day per diem -- per family member -- for staying home? How many middle class mayors of a town of less than 10,000 have taxpayers purchase a $25,000 vehicle for their use while charging cash-strapped citizens who are raped for rape kits? How many middle class people can afford to have tax payers rewire their homes and have a tanning bed installed at tax-payer expense?
I wish there was some way I could get them to do my taxes for me. They'd probably cut my taxes in half, at least, and tell me I was a patriot.