Factcheck.org on the Palin rumors

Factcheck.org is affiliated with the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania and widely considered to be non-partisan. Later today, they released a study of some of the rumors surrounding Sarah Palin. Here is their summary:

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 “courtesty” 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.”
A few of these claims were included in a chain e-mail by a woman named Anne Kilkenny. We’ll be looking into other charges in that e-mail for a future story. For more explanation of the bullet points above, please read the Analysis.

I concur, please read the analysis. And they are only scratching the surface…

7 thoughts on “Factcheck.org on the Palin rumors”

  2. But in January 1997, Palin fired Emmons, along with the police chief. According to the Chicago Tribune, Palin did not list censorship as a reason for Emmons’ firing, but said she didn’t feel she had Emmons’ support. The decision caused “a stir” in the small town, according to a newspaper account at the time. According to a widely circulated e-mail from Kilkenny, “city residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin’s attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter.”
    from the same article

  4. @Lynn David: I have not looked into this one but after what I have seen in the pages of Washington Post and other mainstream sources, I do not believe much I cannot verify. I will be more inclined to accept a factcheck.org review than thinkprogress.

  5. Interesting website: Lies To Nowhere
    http://thinkprogress.org/lies-nowhere/
    http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/08/lies-nowhere/
    Documents the various and number of innacuracies and outright lies which the republicans are putting out on Palin’s views on the “Bridge to Nowhere.”

    From the day he nominated Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AZ) to be his vice presidential running mate, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and his campaign advisers have been repeating the lie that Palin opposed the infamous Bridge to Nowhere. (In fact, Palin repeatedly expressed strong support for the project.) ThinkProgress has been keeping track of these lies and compiled them here. Please let us know if we’ve missed any, and you can comment on this document here.

  6. I’m glad the facts are getting sorted out from the fiction re: Palin, but Obama has been subject to these sorts of nasty, false rumor mill tactics for months now. So it hardly seems a surprise the same would happen to an even less known, less scrutinized candidate on the presidential ticket. Also, there are some discomforting facts about Palin, why no posts addressing those?

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