FROM FULL DISCLOSURE TO RUMOR EXPOSURE

First, let's talk about the Democrats and VP nominee Joe Biden. While we've talked of Dick Cheney's many deferments from military service which seem all the more noteworthy since he seems so proud of them, fairness dictates that we mention Mr. Biden's exemptions as well. His count is five including a series of "2-S's" which all college undergraduates received in that era, before by the hundreds of thousands they graduated and were drafted. Joe Biden also had a "I-Y;" that deferment is medical, the result of an asthma condition which persisted over the years and which the medical review board felt disqualified him from the draft. Mr. Cheney, it should be noted, had no such physical challenges (his heart ailments came much later in life) but instead through multiple undergraduate transfers, a well timed marriage as the exemption rules changed, and the most timely family planning in deferment history avoided serving in a war he politically favored. A note is in order of medical exams: a college friend from a very well-to-do family confided that it took him a "fair number" of visits to the doctor before he finally got the diagnosis which partially exempted him. Did I mention that this very rich person was also very conservative? None the less Mr. Biden did get his I-Y status but given his family's modest means and his own resume of laborious jobs it seems to be what it is. Oh, Joe Biden's son is about to start his second tour in Iraq.

Now to the Republicans, the saga of Sarah, as in Sarah Palin, she has been mentioned in blog and rumor, including that she was an active member in a secessionist party advocating that Alaska secede from the United States, but a check of records by the New York Times finds no confirmation of this. Gee, we haven't had to deal with that kind of idea since the Civil War, which would have made for some good northern disclosure fun, but it's just not so.

What is confirmed, and this is no rumor, are the attitudes and opinions of a long time Palin advocate, Mr. Pat Buchanan, as to Israel in particular and Jews in general. He doesn't like them, and according to the highly respected ADL "publicly espouses racist, anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and anti-immigrant views," and...he's even got his own page on the AOL website. One of his choice items is from 1990 where he intones "Capitol Hill is Israeli occupied territory." A shout out to right wing Jews who don't consider this guy and his supporters dangerous, your membership in "Capos-R-Us" is paid up. That noted, if you tolerate Pat Buchanan then you've got to embrace the "maverick" Sarah Palin who's been a key supporter of Buchanan, including his 1988 run for president. In fact, Buchanan brags about what an enthusiastic operative Palin was on his behalf, calling her one of his best "brigadier fundraisers" and complemented her as a "rebel reformer." She organized rallies, raised funds, and no doubt fully embraced him politically and ideologically; wonder how the Republican "fool them Jews" committee will spin that?