Reentering this discussion too late to really matter, and I'm not even sure if the people who downvoted me for trying to be a voice of reason will see this, but if you read the reports at snopes (http://www.snopes.com/politics/palin/bannedbooks.asp) and factcheck (http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/sliming_palin.html), you'll see that the question of banning books WAS hypothetical, and that even the librarian in question says she was never actually asked to ban any books.

I latched on to the bit about book banning in this ad, because otherwise it is an EXCELLENT ad that hits all the high points. The point of my comment was to draw attention to the fact that accusing Palin of trying to ban books was an unnecessary lie in a very powerful ad, and that lie could have been enough to turn off a moderate who might otherwise have been swayed, because it injects that little hint of suspicion that there might be other lies in the ad.

The incredible number of negative, falsehood filled advertisements are a big reason the Republicans lost the election, and I really think it's a shame that a small, independent Democrat group decided to throw in a completely debunked claim when they had such an otherwise factual and POWERFUL advertisement.

When the truth is so effective, why throw in even a half-truth?

Whoa whoa, the book banning thing failed because responsible, intelligent people STOOD UP TO THAT NUTJOB. It most CERTAINLY doesn't need to drop.

Some facts about it:

1. She wanted to ban some stuff, so she asked the person in charge of the libraries what she thought and received the answer that books would not be banned as long as the librarian kept her position

2. She fired the librarian in an attempt to get by her.

3. The librarian was reinstated when people came to her aid.

4. Palin drops the attempt only after it appears she can't win.

Just because she was an INEFFECTIVE nutjob in that case doesn't mean that we shouldn't still know where shes coming from.

Now, all that said, I find it hilarious that the one thing you latch on to here is the book stuff and ignore all the stuff about woman's rights...

Oh, and as for the $42k tax thing... I love it. The reps have been just lying this last week to try to scare people. It went from $250k businesses, to $100k and now the poster above claiming it is for incomes above $42... yeah, keep lying guys... that's the way to better this country, lie a candidate into office.

Sad to see that people are still repeating the book banning bit. I don't like the fact that she posed it as a hypothetical question, but she never actually asked anyone to ban any books, so that issue really needs to drop.

Ok, factcheck.org is doing a bullshit job with these Palin issues. They deny that Palin was interested in book banning and creationism and school, but if you read further you see that the denials are based on the flimsiest of semantics.

From http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/sliming_palin.html

"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."

Later on after the jump it mentions that Palin fired the Librarian. But come on, read between the lines. Reason for firing? "she didn’t feel she had Emmons’ support"

And then this:
"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."

But when Palin said "Teach both. You know, don't be afraid of information. Healthy debate is so important and it's so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both." she is damn well pushing for creationism in schools, whether or not she makes it part of her legislative agenda or not.

Factcheck.org is debunking the complaints against Palin far too literally. The important point isn't whether she tried to introduce creationist legislation (which really isn't her place as governor) but whether she supports teaching creationism in schools which she unambiguously does. And in the same vein, it doesn't matter if she banned books from the library, what matters is that she tried to and fired the librarian when she lost her support because of this.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'ban books, ban mysteries, ban trailers, ban videos, ban novels' to 'ban books, ban mysteries, ban trailers, ban videos, ban novels, Stephen Bannell' - edited by MycroftHomlz

Tags for this video have been changed from 'books, mysteries, trailers, videos, novels' to 'ban books, ban mysteries, ban trailers, ban videos, ban novels' - edited by K0MMIE

good luck w/ the book *ban