Nice spin, but the point of my post is that it's too early to make any definitive judgments based on incomplete information. We'll know in a day or two.

My sense is she has good political instincts and it's unlikely she would have taken a position such as is being alleged.

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Andy
Cynical Optimist

OK OK, I'll quit it.

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Yesterday, John McCain actually said that if he’s president he’ll take on, and I quote, 'the old boys’ network in Washington.' I’m not making this up. This is somebody been in Congress for 26 years, who put seven of the most powerful Washington lobbyists in charge of his campaign. And now he tells us that he’s the one who’s gonna take on the old boys' network,” he said. “In the McCain campaign that’s called a staff meeting!- Obama, 9/17/2008

You may be correct - but I could see this as being potentially a very big story among conservatives, under the radar.

I know conservative women who are intrigued by Palin, but don't quite know whether to trust her. There is a question mark.

She had better address it seriously.

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Bring me my Bow of burning gold
Bring me my Arrows of desire
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold
Bring me my Chariot of fire!

William Blake

Yes. It does stink.

However, (and you knew there had to be a however ) she didn't have to push for it as it appears the state legislature already took care of it before she came to be governor.

Now for another however: I find it outrageous that this town, while she was mayor, could be so penny wise and pound foolish. Wasn't this also the town that received $20 million for some sports complex or something of that sort? No one can tell me that they needed to save $5-15K on forensic rape kits. That's simply incredible.

Regardless of whether there was one rape or a thousand rapes in Wasilla, that town surely could afford to pay for the rape kit.

I wonder how many women, when told the utmost of insults after suffering a sexual assault and waiting for the additional insult of the exam, "By the way, the rape kit will be around a grand. Don't worry, though, your insurance should cover it", did not go through with reporting the crime.

And, what if a child, who happened to be assaulted by her parent, went in for this exam. The child can't consent to pay for it. Did they tell the parent (ie. the perp), that they'll be paying for it? I wonder what they did in those cases.

This is a stain on Palin's mayoral record.

You might be right. If this does gain a head of steam, she might not have a choice. It's always so hard at this time in election years, especially posting here, to know which rumors/issues will get significant play and which are just noticed by political junkies.

I suspect that if this starts breaking all over the evening news then she'll need to figure out some way to address it beyond denials through campaign spokesperson. If it isn't all over the news, I bet mum will be the word.

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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

Lipstick on a pig has been a national story for three days. If this never becomes a national story can we officially end the "liberal bias" myth.

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Yesterday, John McCain actually said that if he’s president he’ll take on, and I quote, 'the old boys’ network in Washington.' I’m not making this up. This is somebody been in Congress for 26 years, who put seven of the most powerful Washington lobbyists in charge of his campaign. And now he tells us that he’s the one who’s gonna take on the old boys' network,” he said. “In the McCain campaign that’s called a staff meeting!- Obama, 9/17/2008

A totally idiotic policy. I wonder if they charged:

- Shooting victims for ballistic comparison of recovered bullets
- Robbery victims for fingerprinting the crime scene
- Auto-theft victims for making the call to turn on Lojack

etc, etc, etc.

Completely unconscionable, IMHO.

Matt

That point about the political junkies is significant.

If it does not become a major news story, I believe she will suffer for it.

The initial excitement about her is dying away now, as it must, and more questions are being asked. Stories like these can be dynamite within defined groups: that is, they are spread through the grapevine and can hit very hard on election day.

That is exactly what happened with the Ted Haggard story. It certainly was a major news scandal, but for people within my world, it was much bigger - a true body blow, and an indication that something was terribly wrong - and the impact was much bigger on election day than the media allowed for.

Palin's enthusiastic supporters are not part of my general circle, but I can see the same thing potentially happening.

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Bring me my Bow of burning gold
Bring me my Arrows of desire
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold
Bring me my Chariot of fire!

William Blake

It seems that the USA today article is being accessed so many times that it's causing a delayed load time. Or maybe it's just me...

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Is our children learning? -George W. Bush

"I think—tide turning—see, as I remember—I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of—it's easy to see a tide turn—did I say those words?"—Washington, D.C., June 14, 2006

"[T]he illiteracy level of our children are appalling."—Washington, D.C., Jan. 23, 2004

you can choose to consign anything you wish, to where ever you want.......myopia is curable though.

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"The captain has turned off the `No Dubbing' sign. You are free to speak any language you choose."

McClatchy has also reported on it today and I'll paste the entire article they have, although it isn't as detailed, in case it also goes down:

McClatchy Washington Bureau | 09/11/2008 | Critics: Under Palin, Wasilla charged rape victims for exam

The Boston Herald also seems to have got the same article above an hour ago:

Alaska pols: Wasilla charged victims for rape kits - BostonHerald.com

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if this blurb is accurate as in;

Eight years ago, complaints about charging rape victims for medical exams in Wasilla prompted the Alaska Legislature to pass a bill -- signed into law by Knowles -- that banned the practice statewide.


as in complaints BY Wasilla victims complaining, then shes got some explaining to do as this could not have escaped her notice, I find the wording curious, is he saying that Wasilla victims complained or complaints 'regards' a state wide basis?

Forgive me if I am not exactly buying everything Knowles says, he is after all not an unbias source.

As I said, in the next few days I am sure we'll see more if there’s more to see.

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"The captain has turned off the `No Dubbing' sign. You are free to speak any language you choose."

I'd agree that Knowles is not an unbiased source as he was a Democrat governor; however, the dispute can be confirmed as accurate because of the original reporting of the event back in 2000 when he signed the law to stop what was going on in Wasilla, and Wasilla's opposition to that law, and their respective supportive and objecting positions on that law:

: Knowles signs sexual assault bill

- Frontiersman

That's the article in the local Wasilla area news at that time.

There is no way Knowles could have 'fixed' this against Palin for today because it happened in 2000, he was the AK Governor then and Palin was the Wasilla town mayor then. Neither Knowles nor Palin would have known or foreseen that she would now, in 2008, be the VP nominee. Some things just are what they are, and it's the case here.

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I suggest next time you should read further in. I was a bit confused myself with this post since it seemed very un-CMS. Scrolling down a couple posts would reveal my suspicions to be true. He was either joking or being Sarcastic. Of course you can't convey emotions so easily in a thread without the use of a helpful hint such as an emote. You should try more to understand the reasons behind their post before you jump to conclusions. IMO you do that too quickly and too frequently. Sorry if I'm wrong, but in that case wasn't he making a mockery of the kinds of attacks and cards the far right might pull in this case?

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"Hard work without talent is a shame, but talent without hard work is a tragedy." -fortune cookie

yes interesting....

The forensic exam is just one part of the equation. Id like to see the courts make these people pay restitution for these things, Fannon said.



Fannon said he intends to include the cost of exams required to collect evidence in a restitution request as a part of a criminals sentencing.



Palmer police chief Laren Zager said that to his knowledge, no sexual assault victim has ever been billed by the city of Palmer for an exam to collect evidence of a crime. Zager, who has been police chief since January, said he would never expect a victim to be burdened with the cost of a police investigation.


has anyone ever been billed in Wasilla? One must imagine at some point they were, but it would be nice to know if there are victims out there that have.

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"The captain has turned off the `No Dubbing' sign. You are free to speak any language you choose."