Blowhard News for Friday

Giuliani Clueless On McCain’s Health Care Plan: ‘He’s Not Going To Give Anybody $5,000′
Wednesday, in an interview with Sean Hannity, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani alleged that Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) plan to reduce taxes for the middle class was a ploy to create “a welfare system” in the U.S.
Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) health care plan also redistributes tax dollars, however, through a $5000 tax credit for families to purchase health care in the individual market. Noting Giuliani’s hypocrisy, Alan Colmes asked, “How is that different than John McCain giving $5,000 to everybody for health care? Isn’t that a handout?” Giuliani claimed a tax credit isn’t a “handout”:
GIULIANI: He’s not going to give — he’s not going to give anybody $5,000, that is totally misrepresenting his program, as you say we do. The reality is he’s going to give you a tax credit for $5,000. We get tax credits for all kinds of things. That’s not a handout.

COLMES: Isn’t that a handout?

GIULIANI: It’s a deduction, it’s a deduction from the income that you earned. It’s a tax credit like you get a tax credit for tuition, like you get a tax credit for other things.

Colmes astutely observed, “That is redistribution of wealth.”

Palin claims that all her appointees as governor ‘absolutely’ deserved the job.
Wednesday during an interview with a local Louisville, KY ABC affiliate, reporter Mark Herbert asked Sarah Palin about reports that she doled out political positions to friends, family and campaign donors. When Palin said the people she hired weren’t “cronies” or “politicos,” Herbert asked, “They weren’t politicos, they were just folks who deserved the job?” “Absolutely, yes,” Palin replied. Yet a recent Los Angeles Times examination of state records has shown otherwise:

More than 100 appointments to state posts — nearly 1 in 4 — went to campaign contributors or their relatives, sometimes without apparent regard to qualifications.

– Alaska historians say some of Palin’s appointees were less qualified than those of her Republican and Democratic predecessors.
– [Tom] Lamal, a public school teacher in Fairbanks until he retired in 2006, was hired as a right-of-way agent despite reports of internal conflicts over whether he was qualified under state law.

Palin vows to balance budget in first term — 10 days after campaign says it’s nearly impossible.
Campaigning yesterday, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) said that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) would fix the economy by imposing a spending freeze. She also declared that a McCain administration would balance the budget by the end of their first term.

Graham jokes about torture, says Obama infomercial ‘violated the Geneva Convention.’
Introducing Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) at an Ohio event yesterday morning, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) warmed up the crowd with a few jokes, first saying McCain had obtained “the motherload” in marrying a beautiful woman who owned a beer company. He then criticized Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) half-hour campaign ad last night, comparing it to torture:

Anybody see the infomercial last night? Thank god for cable! If we had played that at a prison camp it’d have violated the Geneva Convention.