Socialist?

Sarah Palin....

in West Chester, Ohio on October 17, 2008:

Sen. Obama said that he wants to spread the wealth and he wants government to take your money and decide how to best to redistribute it according to his priorities. Joe suggested that sounded a little bit like socialism.

in Roswell, New Mexico on October 19, 2008:

Senator Obama said he wants to quote spread the wealth. What that means is he wants government to take your money and dole it out however a politician sees fit. Barack Obama calls it spreading the wealth. But Joe the Plumber and Ed the Dairy Man, I believe that they think that it sounds more like socialism. Friends, now is no time to experiment with socialism.

in Colorado Springs on October 19, 2008:

There are socialist principles to that, yes. Taking more from a small business or small business owners or from a hard working family, and then redistributing that money according to a politician’s priorities. There are hints of socialism in there.

and in an interview with CNN on October 21, 2008:

I'm not gonna call him a socialist, but, as Joe the plumber had suggested, in fact he came right out and said it sounds like socialism to him and he speaks for so many Americans who are quite concerned now, after hearing finally what Barack Obama's true intentions are with his tax and economic plan.

But from the Associated Press on October 14, 2008:

Big banks started falling in line Tuesday behind a rejiggered bailout plan that will have the government forking over as much as $250 billion in exchange for partial ownership — putting the world's bastion of capitalism and free markets squarely in the banking business.

Has Sarah Palin been asleep the past six weeks? While Barack Obama proposes lowering the income taxes of the 95% of Americans earning under $226,981, the United States government has begun to jump into the financial services industry and to acquire an ownership share in banks. The means of finance in American society will be partially controlled by the federal government.

Yet, Barack Obama is the "socialist." Perhaps the charges of the McCain-Palin team would have had at a little (no more than that) credibility if John McCain had not supported the bailout/rescue plan. But then this initially was a proposal of the Bush Administration and John McCain has been a loyal supporter of the President whose re-election he embraced in 2004. Apparently, corporate socialism is a prime objective of George W. Bush- and of the self-proclaimed "mavericks" of the Republican Party.