PITTSBURGH, USA - Sarah Palin yesterday continued the Republican Party's attack on Barack Obama, accusing the Democratic Party's presidential candidate of harbouring a socialist agenda and a commitment to big government.
Palin, the controversial vice- presidential nominee of John McCain, also said McCain's combat and prisoner of war records qualified him to be elected president of the United States at a time when the country is at war.

"John McCain has always fought for you and put his country first. John McCain knows how to win a war," Palin told supporters packed into a hanger at the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Greensburgh, 30 miles east of Pittsburgh.

Like the other candidates in this election, Palin basically repeated the speech she has been making on the hustings for the past two weeks, attacking Obama's tax plan and calling into question his ability to serve as chief executive.
"We need a leader with experience and good judgment and truthfulness. We need someone who talks about the wars America is fighting and isn't afraid to use the word victory," she said to loud cheers. "Just once it would be so nice to hear Barack Obama say he wants America to win."

Palin's address came a few hours after the New York Times published a poll showing that voters said they had more confidence in Obama choosing qualified people for his administration than they did in McCain.

The New York Times/CBS poll found that Palin was weighing down the Republican ticket, as a growing number of voters concluded she was not qualified to be vice-president.

"All told, 59 per cent of voters surveyed said Ms Palin was not prepared for the job, up nine percentage points since the beginning of the month," the New York Times reported.

"Nearly a third of voters polled said the vice-presidential selection would be a major factor influencing their vote for president, and those voters broadly favour Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee."

According to the poll, Obama is maintaining his lead, with 51 per cent of likely voters supporting him and 40 per cent supporting McCain.

"Some perceptions of race are changing, with a marked increase in the number of people who say they believe that white and black people have an equal chance of getting ahead in America today," the Times reported.

However, the report said that McCain's focus on taxes, including his references to Joe the Plumber, seems to be having some effect, as a growing number of voters now say McCain would not raise their taxes.

Palin continued to hammer that point yesterday, accusing Obama of voting 94 times for higher taxes.

"Barack Obama is for bigger government and he's gonna raise your taxes," she said, eliciting a chorus of boos from her supporters.

She repeated the McCain campaign mantra that it was Joe the Plumber (Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher of suburban Toledo, Ohio who isn't really a plumber) who, by asking Obama a question on the campaign trail, finally got Obama "to state in plain language what his intentions are in all of this".

According to Palin, Joe the Plumber said Obama's answer to his question on taxation sounded like socialism.
"They do that [socialism] in other countries where the people are not free and where work ethic is not rewarded and entrepreneurial spirit is absolutely stifled and that's exactly what his plan will do to America," said Palin.

She said that the far left wing of the Democratic Party was preparing to take over the entire federal Government.
"Now, with Democrats in control of the House and the Senate, heaven forbid the White House. one of the first things that's gonna go is one quarter of our defence budget," she said.

"John and I have a better idea - let's not retreat from wars that are almost won, let's not get the defence budget in a type of multiple conflict and obvious dangers and let's not entrust all the powers of the federal government to the one-party rule of Obama, [House speaker Nancy] Pelosi and [Senate majority leader Harry] Reid," said Palin.

- Vernon Davidson is the only journalist from the English-speaking Caribbean from a group of 50 worldwide covering the presidential elections at the invitation of the US State Department.

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