Rep Alan Grayson calls former Gov. Palin an Alaskan dingbat after her campaign trip to Florida

Below is an e-mail from U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando responding to former less than one-term Gov. Sarah Palin who was in Florida campaigning for his opponent.

On Friday night, Sarah Palin came to Orlando, and attacked Rep. Alan Grayson. This is what she said:

"I got to meet quite a few candidates who are lining up in a contested primary who want to take out Alan Grayson. And I think Alan Grayson -- what can you say about Alan Grayson? Piper is with me tonight, so I won't say anything about Alan Grayson that can't be said around children. [Good one, Sarah!] But thank you, Florida, for allowing candidates in a contested primary to duke it out over ideas and principles and values, all with the same goal, and that is unseating those who have such a disconnect from the people of America. That's what the goal is here in this race against Alan Grayson. Please fight hard, and do this for the rest of the country. Fight hard, and send a conservative to Washington, DC."

Palin, the former half-term Governor, current-nothing and future-even-less, charmed the all-Republican audience with her folksy folksiness and her homespun homespunnery. Atypically, Palin was wearing clothes that she had paid for herself. At the end of the event, she shared her recipe for mooseface pie.

In response to Palin's attack on Rep Grayson, Grayson actually complimented Palin. Grayson praised Palin for having a hand large enough to fit Grayson's entire name on it. He thanked Palin for alleviating the growing shortage of platitudes in Central Florida.

Grayson added that Palin deserved credit for getting through the entire hour-long program without quitting. Grayson also said that Palin really had mastered Palin's imitation of Tina Fey imitating Palin. Grayson observed that Palin is the most-intelligent leader that the Republican Party has produced since George W. Bush.

When asked to comment about what effect Palin's criticism might have, Grayson pointed out, "As the Knave's horse says in Alice in Wonderland, 'dogs will believe anything.'" Earlier, as the Orlando Sentinel reported, Grayson said, "I'm sure Palin knows all about politics in Central Florida, since from her porch she can see Winter Park," which is part of Grayson's district.

Grayson said that the Alaskan chillbilly was welcome to return to Central Florida anytime, as long as she brings lots of money with her, and spends it. "I look forward to an honest debate with Governor Palin on the issues, in the unlikely event that she ever learns anything about them," Grayson added, alluding to Politifact's "liar, liar, pants on fire" evaluation of much of what Palin has said.

Scientists are studying Sarah Palin's travel between Alaska and Florida carefully. They hope to learn more about the flight patterns of that elusive migratory species, the wild Alaskan dingbat.

Rove now denies that Iraq funds would help pay for war costs, opposite of Bush administration statements at war's start

In former top Bush aide Karl Rove’s new book and in recent promotional media appearances, he has been rewriting the history of the Iraq war, predominantly concerning former President Bush’s justifications for going to war because of Saddam Hussein’s alleged weapons of mass destruction.

On NBC’s Meet the Press, Rove persisted with his Iraq war history revision campaign. Asserting that the Bush administration had mishandled the war, host Tom Brokaw said that war costs had skyrocketed  from the beginning, and there were no oil revenues used to offset costs as had been promised. In response Rove emphatically rejected that the Bush administration said Iraqi oil revenues would help pay for the war:

ROVE: “No, no. Tom with all due respect that was not the policy of our government that we were going to go into Iraq and take their resources in order to pay for the cost of the war.”

Rove’s assertion is blatantly untrue. In the days after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told a congressional panel that Iraqi oil revenues would help pay for rebuilding the country, significant portions of the cost of the war. “The oil revenue of that country could bring between 50 and 100 billion dollars over the course of the next two or three years. We’re dealing with a country that could really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon,” he said.

One month before the war, then-White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said Iraq “is a rather wealthy country. … And so there are a variety of means that Iraq has to be able to shoulder much of the burden for their own reconstruction.”

Since the start of the Iraq war, the U.S. has spent tens of billions of dollars in reconstruction costs.

Watch Rove on Meet the Press: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6lJjFPNv1s

Unemployment rate at 21.1% for young Iraq and Afghanistan war combat veterans

A recent Associated Press article reveals that the unemployment rate last year among young veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars was at 21.1 percent. This according to a U.S. Labor Department report released last Friday which indicates tough employment difficulties that combat veterans face as they make the transition home from war.

The number was well above the 16.6 percent jobless rate for non-veterans of the same ages, 18 to 24. The 2010 figure was much higher than the 2008 unemployment rate of 14.1 percent among veterans in that same age group.

Joseph Sharpe, director of the economic division at the American Legion said that many of the unemployed combat veterans are members of the National Guard and reserves who have deployed multiple times. Sharpe said many have come home to find their jobs had been eliminated because of companies downsizing their workforce all across the nation. 


He also noted that other companies might not want to hire a veteran who might deploy again or will have many medical appointments because of war-related health problems.