Is Sarah Palin a socialist?

[Drawing of the Alaska State House in Juneau]

That may sound like a silly question. Of course, Sarah Palin is no socialist! She is a capitalist from Nome to Rome (Georgia, that is!).

Or maybe she doesn't know the difference.


Lately, we've heard Ms. Palin take off on Senator Barack Obama for his off-hand statement to Sam the Plumber (who hasn't paid his taxes!) about "sharing the wealth." Obama's comment was perfectly legitimate as it was in reference to the place of taxes in a democratic society, but it has been mutiliated beyond recognition by the McCain campaign in another attempt to slur Obama and paint him as a "socialist" who would take money from your pocket to give to the lazy and undeserving poor.

Palin's rallying cry of late has including mocking Obama for wanting to "spread the wealth." She curls her lip and sneers about "Barack the wealth spreader."


Steve Benen at the Washington Monthly says these attacks are filled with irony, for as noted by Ryan Powers:

"Just last month, in an interview with Philip Gourevitch of the New Yorker, Palin explained the windfall profits tax that she imposed on the oil industry in Alaska as a mechanism for ensuring that Alaskans 'share in the wealth' generated by oil companies. [...]

"In fact, Alaska's Clear and Equitable Share (ACES) program, which manages the redistribution of oil wealth in Alaska, brings in so much money that the state needs no income or sales tax. In addition, this year ACES will provide every Alaska with a check for an estimated $3,200."


Back to Benen: "I realize that even McCain, Palin, and Fox News don't take this 'socialism' nonsense seriously, and that this is just rhetoric borne of desperation. McCain has always struggled with new ideas and a changing world, so it stands to reason he'd rely on a red scare as his closing argument.

"But the truth is, Sarah Palin's Alaska is about as close to socialism as America gets. ..."