Fellow Navy P.O.W. Speaks About McCain.

Wow.

In addition to raising important issues of temperament, this also raises health issues that people may not be thinking about. My dad was a P.O.W., and I remember when he got ill during my childhood, my mother quoted his doctor as saying that after going through that experience, he “wouldn’t make old bones”. My dad passed away at 65. John McCain just turned 72.

McCain has said that sometimes he makes rash decisions, and that sometimes they come back to bite him, but he always takes responsibility and lives with the consequences. That’s nice, but what happens when it’s not just McCain, but the world that is asked to live with those consequences?

There has been lots of discussion about John McCain’s judgment in choosing Palin as a running mate. To be honest, I am still amazed that Sarah Palin actually accepted this position in the first place, and what it says about her judgment. I have mentioned before, that many Alaskans, including State Senate President Lyda Green (a long time critic of Palin) have questioned her qualifications to be governor. “She’s in over her head” was a common sentiment on the blog comments in the Anchorage Daily News well before the VP rumors began to swirl.

So, knowing that she was facing investigation, knowing that a significant chunk of Alaskans questioned if she was ‘over her head’, knowing that the media is ruthless in its ‘vetting’ process of candidates, knowing that Alaska is facing some pretty big issues of its own (new pipeline project), and knowing that every waking moment of her time will be spent trying to get up to speed while her family, her friends, and her town are put under a giant magnifying glass…she took it. Knowing that she has 3 school age children, a pregnant unwed teen and a special needs infant that will need a tremendous amount of love and care, she took it. Knowing that she’d only been out of the country once, in 2007, knowing that she held a journalism degree and has no foreign policy background or experience, and knowing that she’d have to be on national television debating Joe Biden, she took it. Knowing that historically, she has a statistical 1 in 3 chance of being the president of the United States by succession, not including the four bouts with skin cancer and the P.O.W. factor, she took it.

Would you have taken it? I’m guessing that most of us would think, “Are you kidding? No way!” And we would be right, and prudent, and we would be putting our country first.

Palin’s Future Son-in-Law Heads to GOP Convention?

Here are the headlines right now on the Anchorage Daily News website: (God, I love Alaska)

• Bristol Palin’s Boyfriend Heads to Convention
• FBI taped more than 100 Stevens Calls (Indicted Senator Ted Stevens that is)
• Palin Leaps to National Stage and Ever-Increasing Scrutiny
• Electronic Scarecrows Haze Ravens from Utility Equipment (Hey…it’s news.)

Yes, that first headline is right, apparently.  It took me a while to get my palms off my face so I could check it out, but it’s true.  I know we’re not supposed to interfere with the personal lives of candidates’ children.  I know that many people, including myself, feel sorry for Bristol and the fact that she was hurled out in front of the nation with nothing to cover her secret expanding midsection except a baby and a giant blanket.  I even heard Barack Obama ask us all to drop it.  But, inviting the boyfriend to come to the convention in the middle of all this?  Who has brought this, and him, right into the most glaring of bright lights, in front of the hugest of audiences?  How to create a distracting, embarrassing spectacle with one plane ticket. The mind reels….I think.   It’s been reeling since Friday, so it’s hard to tell any more.

And for those of you who have wondered what you’ll do with yourselves when the Palin fiasco is over (and there are more and more media outlets speculating that it will be long before November), take heart.  Read that second headline up at the top of the page.  Ted Stevens will be the methedone for your Palin addiction.  Trust me.

Sarah Palin’s Preacher Problem. End Times Coming?

Good Lord. Another ‘gate’. Just talked to one of our local progressive radio talk show hosts (yes, we have them in Alaska!) and she said her head is spinning. Mine is too. No one knows where to turn. Keeping up with the tidal wave of what’s hitting the fan in Alaska is fast becoming a full-time job. It feels like that old-time video game “Centipede”. It’s easy at first to blast those little centipedes as they work their way down the screen, but the longer you play the faster they come and bigger they get, and the more you have to work to keep them in check.

There’s fundraising for indicted senator Ted Stevens’ 547, not actually knowing “what the VP does all day”, her affiliation with the secessionist Alaska Independence Party, earmarks after earmarks for her small town projects, zero international experience, Troopergate, Babygate, Dairygate, Bridgegate, Toddgate, and now…..Churchgate.

I’ve picked this particular centipede today, (shall we call it the Jesus-pede?) because this is something that crosses the line between a candidate who is unqualified, and a candidate that is not using the same play book as most of the rest of us.

I did a drive-by of Palin’s church when I was traveling through Wasilla yesterday, not realizing the furor that would be churning the blogosphere less than 24-hours later about a speech Palin delivered there only three months ago. Here’s what she said regarding the war in Iraq.

“Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God.”

Let that sink in a minute. A task that is from God. Sarah’s war is a holy war. It’s not, apparently from the God that says “turn the other cheek” or “I am my brother’s keeper” or “the greatest of all these is love”. It’s not about diplomacy, international relations, figuring out why we are so despised in the Middle East, keeping Israel secure, revamping how the U.S. deals with its unsustainable dependence on foreign oil, combating poverty and desperation that leads young men to terrorism. Nope. This war is God’s will. It’s God’s holy war. She went on:

That’s what we have to make sure that we’re praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God’s plan.

So the plan is to pray for a plan? Perhaps it would have been better to pray for a plan beFORE we went to Iraq. Better still to sit down and create a plan – a thoughtful, intelligent, human-type plan.

Knowing that Palin has only been out of the country once, in 2007, to visit the Alaska Guard in Kuwait, we rightfully wonder what might influence her international policy. How will her decisions be made? What is her style of governance? Well, folks, this might just be it. Pray for a plan and hope it’s the right one.

Beyond that one speech she made in June, what else do we know about Palin’s church? Good question. Anchroage residents, who comprise the vast majority of the population in this region of Alaska, know that Wasilla is the heart of Alaska’s Valley Bible Belt. This is evidenced by the dozens and dozens of roadside churches, the Christian schools and bookstores, and how many people are wearing crosses in the local supermarket. But I, and most others I know really don’t know much more than that. But, the press, bloggers, and curious citizens are now McCain’s post-facto vetting team, and they are opening can after can of worms.

Let’s break the vacuum seal on that latest can, shall we? (giant sucking sound, behold worms) This is from Ed Kalnins, the senior pastor of Wasilla Assembly of God. Palin attended here for most of her adult life, until her new affiliation with a similar church in the state’s capitol, Juneau:

What you see in a terrorist — that’s called the invisible enemy. There has always been an invisible enemy. What you see in Iraq, basically, is a manifestation of what’s going on in this unseen world called the spirit world. … We need to think like Jesus thinks. We are in a time and a season of war, and we need to think like that. We need to develop that instinct. We need to develop as believers the instinct that we are at war, and that war is contending for your faith. … Jesus called us to die. You’re worried about getting hurt? He’s called us to die. Listen, you know we can’t even follow him unless you are willing to give up your life. … I believe that Jesus himself operated from that position of war mode. Everyone say “war mode.” Now you say, wait a minute Ed, he’s like the good shepherd, he’s loving all the time and he’s kind all the time. Oh yes he is — but I also believe that he had a part of his thoughts that knew that he was in a war.

How will the Republican party and the pundits handle Palin’s “Reverend Wright Moment”? Did McCain vet her on matters of her religious ties, knowing how devastating the impact of his church selection turned out to be for Obama? You’d think. But maybe McCain knew all along, and thought it was no big deal. Which scenario is more sobering? And how do non-Christians in the rest of the country and in Alaska feel about the “end times” philosophy of this church?

Is this one more step toward the End Times of the McCain-Palin ticket? Let us pray.

Breaking News: Palin Says Teen Daughter is Pregnant

The story has broken and we now know which version of “Babygate” is true.  Palin’s unwed 17-year old daughter is pregnant. 

Palin, who arrived in St. Paul today to accept the Republican nomination for vice president, sent out a joint statement with her husband, Todd.

“Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned,” they said. “We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support.

“Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family. We ask the media to respect our daughter and Levi’s privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates,” the Palin family statement concluded.

This confirms three very important things:

1. Trig is Palin’s baby, and the strange strange circumstances of his birth (delivering a speech in Texas while in labor, and taking the prolonged two-pronged commercial airline flight during a high-risk pregnancy without notifying the flight crew, then driving past two hospitals in Anchorage to deliver in a facility an hour drive away with no neonatal ICU) are apparently true.  Todd Palin’s reason for making those potentially life and death decisions about his wife and unborn son?  “You can’t have a fish-picker from Texas.” 
2. The fact that Palin had a 16-year old who got pregnant out of wedlock was presumably unknown by the McCain people.  After all, he only met her twice, and probably never met any of her children.  And it was obviously too much of a bother to vet the candidate and at the very least know in advance what kind of sensational and unwanted headlines might follow.  AND, Palin didn’t volunteer this information.
3. Our Republican Vice Presidential candidate is a person of questionable judgment. I don’t think there are many out there who would disagree with this statement at this point.

So, in the first three days, she’s lied about saying “Thanks but no thanks” on the bridge to nowhere, and withheld information from the campaign she’s supposedly trying to help, that could be devastating to McCain.  At the very least, it sure doesn’t help.  What’s next?

As I said before, this may be the tip of our Alaskan iceberg.  There are ‘gates’ a-plenty out there that are just waiting for some pretty basic investigation to reveal their secrets.

Palin is McCain’s Bridge to Nowhere. Thanks, But No Thanks.

Perhaps the brain was still a little fuzzy from the shock of McCain’s new VP pick, Alaska’s own governor Sarah Palin.  Perhaps it was still stuck in the endless loop of wondering – why? why? why?  Whatever the reason, it took more than 24 hours for Palin’s first big untruth to register with me.

Today, while I watched her hop out of the “Straight Talk Express” bus, and give the second reading of her acceptance speech, one of my fellow viewers said, “You know, I don’t remember her opposing the Bridge.”  And it hit me.  I don’t remember that either.  A quick double-check with the third member of our watch party confirmed our confusion.  We all live here.  We all watch the news, read the paper, and pay attention to the local political circus, but none of us connected Sarah with her claims of rebuffing the controversial earmark.  If you weren’t watching, here’s the quote from her speech:

“I championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. In fact, I told Congress — I told Congress, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,’ on that Bridge to Nowhere. ‘If our state wanted a bridge’, I said, ‘we’d build it ourselves’.

Reeeeally.

Check out these entries from the Ketchikan Daily News:

“People across the nation struggle with the idea of building a bridge because they’ve been under these misperceptions about the bridge and the purpose,’ said Palin, who described the link as the Ketchikan area’s potential for expansion and growth.

Palin said Alaska’s congressional delegation worked hard to obtain funding for the bridge and that she ‘would not stand in the way of the progress toward that bridge’.
8-8-06

‘We need to come to the defense of Southeast Alaska when proposals are on the table like the bridge and not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project or any other into something that’s so negative,’ Palin said.”
Ketchikan Daily News 9-28-06

Alaska Senator Ted Stevens (currently under indictment) and Representative Don Young (currently under investigation) were the bridge’s two biggest proponents.  But they were unable to convince Congress to fund the infamous bridge from Ketchikan to Gravina Island at the levels it had hoped.  Now, instead of Alaska paying $160 million, the cost to Alaska skyrocketed to $349 million.

After federal funding had been slashed, Palin was asked if she was still in support of funding the project.  She said:

Yes. I would like to see Alaska’s infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later. The window is now–while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist.

Well that assistance never materialized, and Alaska’s congressional powerhouse is tumbling like a house of cards.  Senior Senator Ted Stevens is under indictment on seven felony counts.  Representative Don Young is under investigation and has spent more than a million dollars of his campaign fund on legal fees…and he hasn’t even been indicted yet.  And although Stevens just won his primary bid handily, Young is hanging on by his fingernails while a recount is performed to determine the winner of his contest.  His challenger?  Sean Parnell, Palin’s Lt. Governor and also the head of the Division of Elections that is in charge of recounting the votes for his own race.  You can’t make this stuff up.  The third member of the delegation, Lisa Murkowski, was appointed to the U.S. Senate seat by her own father, Senator Frank Murkowski who left the senate to become the governor that Sarah Palin defeated in the 2006 primary.  (Are you keeping up with me?)  I could keep going, but those are the highlights.

So, if Congress had gone along and coughed up what Stevens and Young had asked for, guess what….that bridge to nowhere would have become a reality during the Palin administration.  She supported the bridge every step of the way…until the funding was cut.  So we decided to say, “Thanks, but no thanks.  If we want a bridge we’ll build it ourselves?!”   Is that like the failed earmark version of “You can’t fire me….I quit!”

The fact that “Thanks, but no thanks” was the money line for her debut as Vice Presidential candidate, and yet is a total fabrication, makes the mind reel.  Is there no fact checker on McCain’s staff?

Today, Palin called in to a local radio program, and bubbled, “This is so amazeen!”  Then she said that her children and she had only learned of her selection the day before the announcement was made.  I think of the extensive vetting process that the Democratic VP candidates went through.  Evan Bayh said that he was grilled extensively about skeletons in the closet, and even whether any of his kids had a Facebook or MySpace page that might come back to haunt him.

Apparently the Republicans don’t worry about such things.  With all the potential scandals and skeletons about to emerge from the Palin closet, (troopergate, babygate, bridgegate) we in Alaska are sitting here listening to the clock tick and wondering when it will all hit the fan.

But many Alaskans are just giddy over the whole thing.  The local sportscaster, after reporting on the high school basketball scores, said, “You know Sarah Palin used to be a sportscaster….and she’s the Vice Presidential candidate.  So, I think I wanna do that…yeah.” (eyeroll)  And one woman who was interviewed said she was totally in support of Palin because, “This is really going to put Alaska on the map.  Now people are going to find out what we’re really all about.”

Because this is what we’re looking for in the next Vice President.  We want Alaska to be on the map.  And not in that little box in the South Pacific you guys always stuff us in.  This election is about Alaska’s road to legitimacy!  Sar-ah Sar-ah Sar-ah! (banging head on desk and going to bed)

UPDATE:

Looks like the Anchorage Daily News is now reporting this.  Read HERE.  Note to outsiders: the tongue-in-cheek reference Palin makes to herself as “Valley Trash” demonstrates a local ‘regional slur’, as it were.  Former State Senate president Ben Stevens (son of indicted Senator Ted Stevens, and currently under investigation himself) called what he perceived to be the under-educated redneck, rural population of the Mat-Su Valley where Sarah Palin is from, “Valley Trash”.

What is McCain Thinking? One Alaskan’s Perspective.

Downtown Wasilla, Alaska

“Is this a joke?”  That seemed to be the question du jour when my phone started ringing off the hook at 6:45am here in Alaska.  I mean, we’re sort of excited that our humble state has gotten some kind of national ‘nod’….but seriously?  Sarah Palin for Vice President?  Yes, she’s a popular governor.  Her all time high approval rating hovered around 90% at one point.  But bear in mind that the 90% approval rating came from one of the most conservative, and reddest-of-the-red states out there.  And that approval rating came before a series of events that have lead many Alaskans to question the governor’s once pristine image.

There is no doubt in my mind that many Alaskans are feeling pretty excited about this.  But we live in our own little bubble up here, and most of the attention we get is because of The Bridge to Nowhere, polar bears, the indictment of Ted Stevens, and the ongoing investigation and conviction of the string of legislators and oil executives who literally called themselves “The Corrupt Bastards Club”.

So seeing our governor out there in the national spotlight accepting the nomination for Vice Presidential candidate is just downright surreal.  Just months ago, when rumors surfaced that she was on the long version of the short list, she was questioned if she’d be interested in the position.  She said she couldn’t answer,

“until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day. I’m used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration. We want to make sure that that VP slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans and for the things that we’re trying to accomplish up here….”

There is no doubt that Palin has fierce territorial loyalties.  When elected governor there was much concern because she came right out and said she would favor her own home town of Wasilla (where she was mayor) and its surrounding environs collectively known as “the Valley” while leading the state.  And it’s obvious from her statement that Alaska was on her mind when accepting the VP nod (see my emphasis above).

So what is it that we’re “trying to accomplish up here”?

• Palin is currently in the middle of a controversial gas pipeline project in Alaska.  She’s favored the ‘Trans Canada’ proposal that will run the pipeline through Canada, in effect shipping US jobs over the border.  Many Alaskans, including former governors, have favored the “All Alaska Route”.
• She is also suing the federal government over listing the polar bears as a threatened species.  The science was even compelling enough to convince the Secretary of the Interior that the bears needed to be listed.  But acknowledgement of this issue, and the potential disruption to development on Alaska’s oil-rich north slope spurred Palin to attempt to stop the listing.
• Does she want to open ANWR?  Yes.  Every politician in Alaska wants to open ANWR.  It’s basically a requirement if you ever hope to get elected for anything.  Even Mark Begich, the progressive Democrat running against the indicted Senator and Alaskan institution Ted Stevens, is pro-drilling.  That’s the sea we swim in up here.  There are a few anti-drilling folks, but you have to look hard to find them, and work hard to have them admit it.

Will all this wash with voters in the ‘Lower 48’?  Time will tell.

18 Million Cracks in the Glass Ceiling

It was obvious anyway, but became beat-you-over-the-head-with-a-two-by-four obvious when Palin referenced the ‘glass ceiling’ line, that this choice is a blatant pander to women.  I would like to believe that women will actually feel insulted by this.  Yes, it would have been historic if Hillary had gotten the nomination.  It was historic that she made it as far as she did.  Yes, it would be great to have a woman in the oval office, or in the VP slot if they are the right woman…a woman who got there with her own drive, grit, determination, intelligence, skill and merits.  When you’re hand-picked by a man to win votes simply because you are a woman, that doesn’t count, and it doesn’t break any kind of ceiling.  Would we have had a Stan Palin as our VP pick?  No.  So choosing a woman because you think her gender will get votes is insulting.

Governor “Squeakyclean”….or not.

Another focus of Palin’s introduction today was her reform image.  Listen to John McCain and you’ll hear about a maverick reformer who took on big oil, took on corrupt Alaska politicians, and whose ethics are unquestioned.

Alaskans really want to like Sarah Palin.  In a state where corruption is the rule, and the same faces keep recycling over and over and over again like a bad dream, a new face, with a promise of reform seemed like a breath of fresh air.  Palin defeated incumbent governor Frank Murkowski (father of Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski who he appointed to his own Senate seat when he was elected governor) because he was such an obnoxious, bloviating, downright BAD politician.  This staunchly republican state voted with relief, not having to cross over and vote Democratic, but still able to get Murkowski the hell out of office.  In the general election Palin swept into office running against a former Democratic governor, Tony Knowles, who was capable but came with baggage.  And he represented to Alaskans more of the same, tired old-style politics, and special interests that we have come to loathe.

So, if McCain had made his selection six months ago, the squeaky-clean governor meme would have made a little more sense.  But, Sarah Palin is currently under an ethics investigation by the Alaska state legislature.  The details of this investigation read like a trashy novel, and I suspect that the players will soon have new found celebrity on the national stage.  I’ll try to explain for all you non-Alaskans who suddenly have good reason to want to know more about Sarah Palin.  For those of you not interested in trashy novels, feel free to skip ahead.  Here it is…what we in Alaska call “TrooperGate”.

Sarah Palin’s sister Molly married a guy named Mike Wooten who is an Alaska State Trooper.  Mike and Molly had a rocky marriage.  When the marriage broke up, there was a bitter custody fight that is still ongoing.  During the custody investigation, all sorts of things were brought up about Wooten including the fact that he had illegally shot a moose (yes folks this is Alaska), driven drunk, and used a taser (on the test setting, he reminds us) on his 11-year old stepson, who supposedly had asked to see what it felt like.  While Wooten has turned out to be a less than stellar figure, the fact that Palin’s father accompanied him on the infamous moose hunt, and that many of the dozens of charges brought up by the Palin family happened long before they were ever reported smacked of desperate custody fight.  Wooten’s story is that he was basically stalked by the family.

After all this, Wooten was investigated and disciplined on two counts and allowed to kept his position with the troopers.  Enter Walt Monegan, Palin’s appointed new chief of the Department of Public Safety and head of the troopers.  Monegan was beloved by the troopers, did a bang-up job with minimal funding and suddenly got axed.  Palin was out of town and Monegan got “offered another job” (aka fired) with no explanation to Alaskans.  Pressure was put on the governor to give details, because rumors started to swirl around the fact that the highly respected Monegan was fired because he refused to fire the aforementioned Mike Wooten.  Palin vehemently denied ever talking to Monegan or pressuring Monegan in any way to fire Wooten, or that anyone on her staff did.  Over the weeks it has come out that not only was pressure applied, there were literally dozens of conversations in which pressure was applied to fire him.  Monegan has testified to this fact, spurring an ongoing investigation by the Alaska State Legislature.  But, before this investigation got underway, Palin sent the Alaska State Attorney General out to do some investigative work of his own, so she could find out in advance what the real investigation was going to find.  (No, I’m not making this up).  The AG interviewed several people, unbeknownst to the actual appointed investigator or the Legislature! Palin’s investigation of herself uncovered a recorded phone call retained by the Alaska State Troopers from Frank Bailey, a Palin underling, putting pressure on a trooper about the Wooten non-firing.  Todd Palin (governor’s husband) even talked to Monegan himself in Palin’s office while she was away.  Bailey is now on paid administrative leave.

As if this weren’t enough, Monegan’s appointed replacement Chuck Kopp, turns out to have been the center of his own little scandal.  He received a letter of reprimand and was reassigned after sexual harassment allegations by a former coworker who didn’t like all the unwanted kissing and hugging in the office.  Was he vetted?  Obviously not.  When he was questioned about all this, his comment was that no one had asked him and he thought they all knew.  Kopp, defiant, still claimed to have done nothing wrong and said to the press that there was no way he was stepping down from his new position.  Twenty four hours later, he stepped down.  Later it was uncovered that he received a $10,000 severance package for his two weeks on the job from Palin.  Monegan got nothing.

After extensive news coverage about all this nasty behind-the-scenes scandal, which is definitely NOT squeaky clean, Palin’s approval ratings fell to 67%, still high, but a far cry from the 90% number that’s being thrown around so glibly by the Republicans today.  Alaskans are quickly becoming disillusioned once again.

“Executive Experience”

Before her meteoric rise to political success as governor, just two short years ago Sarah Palin was the mayor of Wasilla.  I had a good chuckle at MSN.com’s claim that she had been the mayor of “Wasilla City”.  It is not a city.  Just Wasilla.  Wasilla is the heart of the Alaska “Bible belt” and Sarah was raised amongst the tribe that believes creationism should be taught in our public schools, homosexuality is a sin, and life begins at conception.  She’s a gun-toting, hang ’em high conservative.  Remember…this is where her approval ratings come from.  There is no doubt that McCain again is making a strategic choice to appeal to a particular demographic – fundamentalist right-wing gun-owning Christians.  And Republican bloggers are already gushing about how she has ‘more executive experience’ than Obama does!  Above is a picture of lovely downtown Wasilla, for those of you unfamiliar with the area.  Behind the Mug-Shot Saloon (the first bar I visited when I moved to Alaska long ago) is a little strip mall.  There are street signs in Wasilla with bullet holes in them.  Wasilla has a population of about 5500 people, and 1979 occupied housing units.  This is where your potential Vice President was two short years ago.  Can you imagine her negotiating a nuclear non-proliferation treaty?  Discussing foreign policy?  Understanding non-Alaskan issues?  Frankly, I don’t even know if she’s ever been out of the country.  She may ‘get’ Alaska, but there are only a half a million people here.  Don’t get me wrong….I love Alaska with all my heart.  I’m just saying.

I, and all Alaskans will be interested to see how this whole process unfolds.  This is definitely a gamble for McCain, and in my humble opinion, a gift to Obama and to Joe Biden who just got thrown a big hunk of red meat for the vice presidential debate.

This is the wedge-issue, desperate ‘Hail Sarah’ pass of the McCain campaign.

Now I’m off to get some Jiffy Pop.

Sarah Palin? McCain’s Next Trophy Girl?

 

Well, this Alaskan is sitting here in disbelief.  This is a total gift to the Obama – Biden ticket.  As the nation scrambles to figure out who Sarah Palin IS, the thinking people of Alaska are simply mystified.  I’ll be posting about this a lot later in the day after I’m awake, (it’s early a.m. here in Alaska) but first impressions:

This woman is going to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency?  2 years ago she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.  For those of you out of state, this is as small, and backwoods as it sounds.  A dark horse candidate for governor, she was elected on the ‘anybody but Frank Murkowski’ ticket.  Our previous governor went down hard in his primary bid for reelection, because basically he was the worst governor, ever.  People questioned whether Sarah Palin was actually qualified to be governor of a state that has 1/2 a million people in it.

McCain obviously is looking for the Hillary vote since apparently he thinks women need no other criteria than a set of ovaries to mark their ballot, right?  I mean women don’t actually make policy decisions, do they?

He’s  also looking for the Evangelical vote.  Palin, a creationist, anti-gay, pro-lifer will appeal to this crowd.  Her fondness for creationism in schools, and the recent birth of a Downs Syndrome child can’t hurt here.

Did I say recent birth of a child?  Why, yes.  Our new Vice Presidential candidate has four children plus an infant son.  She obviously feels caring for her newborn won’t get in the way of her Vice Presidential duties. 

And don’t worry fellas.  There’s plenty for you.  Sarah won second place in the Miss Alaska contest! Didn’t they have a card for that in Monopoly?  And John McCain knows how important it is to have a trophy wife Veep on his arm.

John McCain has just done something that Obama has not been able to do yet – prove to the world unequivocably that McCain doesn’t have the judgement to be President.  He will never ever be able to hold his head up and say that Obama isn’t “ready to lead”.  

The pro-drilling crowd will be pleased too.  Why she’s even sueing the Federal Government for daring to suggest that polar bears should be listed as ‘threatened’.  Can’t have those damned bears interfering with the oil rigs.

And then there’s that annoying little ethics investigation by the Alaska State Legislature…

I think I’ll be chuckling all weekend over this.  More to come later.  There’s just so much fodder here.  Where’s a blogger to start?

Gov. Squeakyclean to Speak at Republican Convention

In a world of corrupt Republicans, Sarah Palin has apparently made enough of an impression on the G.O.P. that she’s been asked to speak at the Republican National Convention on September 2nd. It looks like a little pesky thing like an ongoing ethics investigation isn’t enough to keep her from being invited to speak on the evening in which “Reform” is the theme. (Is it possible they don’t read political blogs, or newspapers, or surf the internets?) She’ll be slotted in the evening before keynote speaker Rudy Giuliani. Popcorn and irony go so well together.

Here are the speakers for the evening:

• Former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani
• Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (Ark.)
• Former Gov. Tom Ridge (Pa.)
• Gov. Sarah Palin (Alaska)
• Gov. Jon Huntsman (Utah)
• Rosario Marin, California Secretary of the State and Consumer Services Agency and former Treasurer of the United States
• Former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson (Tenn.)
• Gov. Linda Lingle (Hawaii)
• Former Lt. Gov. Michael Steele (Md.)

UPDATE: (After coming up for air after laughing myself silly)  McCain has just handed Obama a nice election day gift…the election.  This should eliminate all doubt that McCain is capable of making a serious presidential decision.  Apparently the creationist beauty queen who is under investigation by the Legislature would be a heartbeat away from the presidency in a McCain administration.

Palin’s Self-Investigation Bears Fruit!

The governor lost no time today.  Mere hours after announcing that she had launched her own preemptive investigation of her own firing of Department of Public Safety Chief Walt Monegan, she also announced that she has discovered something!  Eureka!

It seems that despite the fact that Palin repeatedly claimed no one on her staff ever ever pressured anyone to fire her ex-brother-in-law Trooper Mike Wooten…er….they did.  Dozens of times.  As a matter of fact, (oh gosh this is SO embarrassing) one of the phone calls was tape recorded by the the DPS!  BUT, the governor tells us with a straight face, that she knew absolutely nothing at all about it.  Nothing.  Really.  Although she did know something about some of the other ones, which she forgot she did before, but now she remembers.  But not THIS one that was recorded.

The phone call “Pressurizer”, long term Palin staffer Frank Bailey, has even come out with a statement that says he acted alone.   He decided to pressurize all by himself.  He’s a lone wolf.  No direction from the governor.  None. Completely spontaneous.  AND, he “can’t stress it enough.”  Wow.  So he reeeeally must be telling the truth.

I don’t know whether Palin really thinks we are all that stupid, or whether her options are just running out.  I suppose the administration is thinking that it looks better to turn over the damning evidence themselves.  That sort of looks honest, right?   

ADN’s Kyle Hopkins’ notes from today’s press conference: (emphasis is mine)

— Palin and Attorney General Talis Colberg say there were at least two dozen phone calls from members of Palin’s staff asking about Wooten.

— Colberg said he had a conversation with Monegan about Wooten.

— One of the calls came from Palin’s husband, Todd Palin.

— Many came from Palin’s former Chief of Staff, Mike Tibbles.

— Palin says she didn’t know about Bailey’s phone calls, but did know about at least some of the other calls.

— Just after the press conference, Palin’s team was to meet with the independent investigator hired by the Legislature to look into Monegan’s firing.

— Palin said Monegan’s firing wasn’t about Wooten, who kept his job even as members of the governor’s staff kept asking about him. She says Monegan wasn’t “a team player” when it came to the budget, asked for more money while failing to fill vacant job positions, and wasn’t doing a good enough job combating alcohol issues such as rural bootlegging.

— Monegan turned down the governor’s offer to head up the Alcoholic Beverages Control Board.

— Monegan’s replacement, Chuck Kopp, was paid a “severance package” of $10,000, after quickly resigning.

— Palin said no decision has been made yet about what happens to Bailey.

So, we’ve gone from firm statements that nobody from the administration ever talked to Monegan about Wooten, to dozens of calls?  It’s amazing how recording devices and investigations can trigger the memory.

And she fired Walt Monegan in part because of his inadequacy in combatting alcohol issues, and then in the same breath offered him the head position of the Alcoholic Beverages Control Board?

And the other reason is because he wasn’t filling empty trooper positions, and also because he had the nerve to ask for money to do it?

Have we entered the Bush/Cheney Whitehouse at some point?  Black is white, and white is black.   2+2=5.  And it’s all lies, I tell you, LIES!

Palin Investigates Self in Innovative Winning Strategy.

It’s good to start the day with a chuckle…and there are chuckles aplenty in the latest hilarious hijinks of our wacky governor Sarah Palin. We discovered last month that the Legislature would be conducting an investigation of the controversial firing of DPS chief Walt Monegan. That little debacle had everything – drama, revenge, infidelity, abuse of power, intimidation, drunk driving, child custody issues….and on and on. It was nice, frankly, to have a little respite from the slime; a time of cleansing; a mental sorbet. Now it’s time for the next course.

This one, although equally serious, has the feel of lighthearted satire. Here’s the deal:

After the Monegan debacle, Palin said she welcomed an investigation, had nothing to hide and was completely innocent. A few days later, backpedaling, said there really didn’t need to be an investigation and that she was willing to answer all questions she was asked. But the Legislature proceeded.

Retired state prosecutor Steven Branchflower was hired by the Legislature to investigate Palin and her administration regarding the Monegan firing. Here’s where we enter the land of the absurd.

Palin (aka ‘the accused’) decided that she didn’t want to wait for the investigation to begin. She’d rather know ahead of time what would be uncovered by the Legislature’s investigation. That would make things much nicer for her…. you know, eliminating the element of surprise, and having a heads up. What to do… (lightbulb goes off)

The solution? She directed the Alaska State Attorney General, Talis Colberg to investigate FIRST, and include interviews with Department of Public Safety employees. The accused’s ‘investigation of self’ apparently began in July, and interviews started on August 4th. The AG refused to say who was interviewed or how many interviews were conducted. Meanwhile, Branchflower has not even started the Legislature’s official investigation yet.

Go ahead, chuckle. I did.

Predictable reactions?

Jay Ramras (chair of the House Judiciary Committee:

“I think it is harmful to the credibility of the administration, harmful to the process and harmful to all the parties involved. It’s just the worst possible thing to be doing.”

John Cyr, executive director of the troopers union:

“It’s an abuse of her office” for Palin to involve the attorney general.

Legislators and Alaska citizens who have an ounce of common sense:

“Ummm. Witness intimidation? Witness tampering? Misuse of the Attorney General? Misuse of state resources? Are you kidding me???”

Governor’s spokeswoman Sharon Leighow:

No comment. Talk to the Attorney General.

The Attorney General Tallis Colberg:

“We’re commited to trying to cooperate as best we can…”

I just love that. This has become a catch phrase in the Palin administration…”committed to try”. Now that’s REAL commitment.

The governor’s justification for launching this preemptive investigation? Representative Hollis French told the Wall Street Journal that a worse-case scenario might be impeachment. Yeah….and? Apparently even acknowledging that this WAS the worst-case scenario had the administration in a tizzy. Palin and her hench-people figured that this was the winning strategy.

Time, once again, to sit back and watch the fallout.

Rasmussen Results for Alaska

Just reported by Daily Kos:

Still Anyone’s Game

Likely Alaska voters. MoE 4% (7/17 results)

McCain (R) 44 (45)
Obama (D) 39 (40)

The Stevens indictments haven’t filtered up to the presidential race, which is logical. But McCain is still dramatically underperforming his ticket in the state. Remember, this is a state that Bush won by 25 points in 2004, 61-36. Obama is already garnering more support than Kerry did, while McCain is running 17 points below Bush.

Obama has spent $88,000 in ads in the state which seems like nothing, but in Alaska actually goes a long way (the cheapest media markets in the nation). It would take a relatively minor investment in money and perhaps a single visit to put serious pressure on GOP prospects in the state.

One other bit of interesting info from the poll:

But [Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin] is popular in her home state and is seen by most Alaska voters as more ethical than the typical politician. Sixty-four percent (64%) of voters rate Palin’s job performance as excellent or good versus only 14% who view it as poor. Palin is seen as more ethical than most politicians by 51% of Alaska voters. Another 33% say she is as ethical as her peers.

Back in April, Palins numbers were a bit better:

Republican Governor Sarah Palin earns much better reviews—73% good or excellent, 7% poor.

So thus far, her abuse of power scandal hasn’t hit her too hard. Perhaps voters are waiting to see what comes out of investigations looking into her efforts to use the power of her office to retaliate against her sister’s ex-husband, a policeman. Still, her Lt. Gov, Sean Parnell, running against Dan Young in the House Republican primary, has pulled all ads that feature Palin. Republicans are walking on egg shells in Alaska these days.

Eggshells indeed. But I don’t know if I agree that the scandal “hasn’t hit her too hard”. That’s an almost double digit drop in three months. Much will depend now on the outcome of the investigation.

The poll results were from 7/17…the very beginning of the breaking scandal.  The next results will be interesting.

Stevens Speaks. I am Irritated.

We knew it would happen eventually, but it was still a shock.  I refer to the 7 felony counts of making false statements for which Ted Stevens was indicted today.  Stevens has now released a statement in response to the allegations:

I have proudly served this nation and Alaska for over 50 years. My public service began when I served in World War II. It saddens me to learn that these charges have been brought against me. I have never knowingly submitted a false disclosure form required by law as a U.S. Senator.

 

In accordance with Senate Republican Conference rules, I have temporarily relinquished my vice-chairmanship and ranking positions until I am absolved of these charges.

 

The impact of these charges on my family disturbs me greatly.

 

I am innocent of these charges and intend to prove that.

I keep reading this statement over and over…trying to really identify what I find so distasteful about it.  The simple facts are that the FBI has been investigating Senator Stevens for years.  They have determined that he lied about gifts he received from oil service company Veco.  The extent of these alleged lies has resulted in 7 felony indictments and unreported gifts of over $250,000.  And now what does Stevens have to say to the people of Alaska?

• He has proudly served his nation and Alaska for 50 years.  He’s a World War II vet.

Yes, he’s been our senator for a long long time.  Yes, he’s proud of that.  And I respect his WWII service.  My father was a WWII vet, POW, and recipient of the purple heart.  I get it.  But that has squat to do with the fact that you lied on your financial disclosure forms.  WWII vets, or any other vets do not get special dispensation to break the law without consequences.  Neither do public officials.  Even ones who have been around a long time.  Longevity does not entitle you to break the law.

• It saddens him that charges were brought.

I’m sure it does.  It does not sadden me.  It saddens me that our state government has been behaving so badly, and so contrary to the interest of Alaskans, that the investigations were warranted in the first place.  It saddens me that Alaska has been mired in this cesspool of political corruption for as long as it has.  It saddens me that the corruption was so extensive, and the influence so pervasive that we couldn’t do anything about this ourselves and had to rely on the FBI to intervene.  It saddens me that someone sent to DC to represent Alaska, who had the trust of the people,  succumbed to the temptations of power, and material comfort and forgot his higher purpose.  It does NOT sadden me that the boil of corruption is finally being lanced and that we actually may get another chance to start clean.

• He never ‘knowingly’ submitted false statements.

Ignorance of the law?  Last time I checked, that didn’t wash.  And really….do we believe he forgot that Veco raised up his entire house and put a first floor under it?  You’ve got to do better than THAT.

• The impact of the charges on his family disturbs him greatly.

Yes, I should think so.  But these are the things you’re supposed to think about beFORE you break the law.  This is the same thing I keep hearing over and over in reference to the Sarah Palin scandal.   Think of Chuck Kopp!  Think of his wife and kids!  Think of Mike Wooten!  Think of the children!  It’s really starting to hack me off because THEY are the ones who should have been thinking about their spouses and children.  Not the media.  This is Kindergarten stuff – If you do bad things, there will be consequences.  Throw in all the others who have whined about their families and what this is doing to them – Tom Anderson, Vic Kohring, Pete Kott…and on and on and on.  Yes!  It’s horrible that all the people that didn’t have anything to do with your behavior are suffering.  Perhaps…just perhaps..YOU should be apologizing to them, and not saying in effect, “If it weren’t for you damn people TELLING everyone I was doing something wrong, none of this would have happened!”  I feel tremendous compassion for the innocent victims in all this.  But zero guilt over placing the blame squarely where it is deserved.

And last but not least:

• I am innocent!

And prisons are full of innocent men.

I keep hearing everyone trying to be politically correct, saying “This is a sad day for Alaska”.  Truth is, this is NOT a sad day.  The sad day happened when our politicians made the choice to betray the people they serve.