That’s about how shocking General Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama is, least it should be. Senator Lieberman, a moderate Democrat, endorsed Senator McCain and we all know how much of a staunch conservative Republican he is. In 1995, Colin Powell was seen, again as a potential running mate for Senator Bob Dole. However, Bob Dole would respond to the idea with the following (quoting the September 1995 New York Times article) :

*
Although Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, the front-runner for the 1996 Republican Presidential nomination, has said that General Powell would be acceptable to him as a running mate, General Powell’s views on affirmative action run counter to the position of the party’s dominant conservative wing; likewise, to the degree he has stated them, his views on social programs.*

That’s usually a sign that he’s not really a Republican and I’ll say it now, a RINO. Some of the other quotes in the article illustrate Colin Powell’s endorsement of affirmative-action and unrestricted welfare. He did not support the Contract with America and Powell is quoted and refers to himself as a “New Deal kid”.

All in all, does this endorsement hurt Republicans? Maybe. Does it hurt conservatives? No. Will it hurt McCain, only if he lets up attacks on Obama because of it.

Now the military side of this is complicated. Those of us who haven’t voted already we do see a former General, highly respected, who is still in the limelight. However, we see him side by side with Obama and all the bad comes rushing back. Some officers may defect with their vote to Obama over Powell but more seasoned and studious ones will stay with McCain. I say this in my belief that we, the military, tend to vote based on overall issues and not one single issue that affects us. We’ll see but I don’t think we’re going to see any major affect of Powell’s move.

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I went looking for the Alaskan budget and found where the budget was cut in half in many extremely sensitive areas. To name a few:

Special Olympics Veterans Memorial Family Services Police Youth Programs Little Leagues…

I’m just looking at this with no explanation as to what the budget actually was…

I say that because there’s no explanation to the slashes on the .pdf file listed on the Alaskan website. Now, call me skeptical but I don’t this woman, mother of a soldier, and politically smart politician gutting and slashing some of these projects. Any one got the real Alaskan budgets? Will the real budget please stand up?

And here it is. This is the Alaskan government’s budget website. You’ll a link for the veto spreadsheet from this year’s budget. Alaska’s Budget

Here’s my results from a search for “palin special olympics budget”. You’ll notice a link that is titled LAWS OF ALASKA 2008.

Clicking on that link will take you to a Adobe file that looks very official. However, there’s lines drawn through the document that look like they were done in PowerPoint or Photoshop to indicated an item being vetoed. Some are very straight while others are fuzzy and indicate being copy/pasted to the .pdf file… Just thinking this is where the MSM got their info from… as well as our dear Leader’s OBAMACON