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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
You are assuming that it's normal, and to be expected, that rising politicians in Alaska accumulate enemies along the way, thus Palin's critics should be discounted. I can assure you that it isn't normal at all, and that the critics should not be discounted.
Ours is a small and isolated population, and we tend to know each other well. While there are spirited and sometimes fierce political debates, it's extremely rare that a legitimate political disagreements turn into personal animosity.
Look at Mark Begich and Ted Stevens. They are running very hard against each other, the stakes are very high, and they are respectful of each other. Maybe that's because no matter how that race ends up, those two and their families will continue to have to live with each other.
Your letter(s) seems to be a regurgitation of McCain-Palin talking points, and some claims are quite exaggerated and over-simplified. If you don't believe me, you can consult top officials in her administration on these questions. Example: While she -- like every single Alaska governor who has come before her -- vetoed certain line items that legislators proposed, Sarah Palin did not cut the budget. Under her watch, Alaska state spending has reached its highest levels ever, though there are arguably justifications for that. And while she sold off the Murkowski jet (as she should have), practically everybody else espoused the same plan. It's not like she came up with the idea all by herself; Frank Murkowski was the first and last Alaska governor to use state funds to get himself a personal jet, and everyone knew that it would be sold off no matter who was elected governor in 2006, as ALL the primary and general-election candidates (other than Murkowski) promised to do so.
Predictions here, from Republicans and Democrats and independents alike, is that Palin has now burned so many of her Alaska supporters and so distorted her own record that she will have a very tough time governing if she comes back.
Sarah Palin's history of accumulating enemies is a highly unusual. And it has nothing to do with her claimed good works, otherwise good-government/corruption-battling types like Les Gara and Jim Whitaker and Arliss Sturgelewski and Vic Fischer would also have long enemies lists.
It is also undoubtedly the case that any governor succeeding Frank Murkowski would be seen as a tremendous improvement. But in Murkowski's case, he has never been seen as two-faced. And I say this as someone who once admired Sarah Palin (and who still agrees with some of her policies) and who was always harshly critical of Murkowski. And in Frank's defense, his line-item vetoes were much, much gutsier (lonevity bonus, muni revenue sharing, anyone?) than Palin's.
My message is short, yet as transparent as that of the republican (as opposed to that of the demonicrats!)campaign...
This letter, while clearly written with the intent on further blemishing the good name of a driven and ambitious woman, holds as much water as a rose bush in the desert.
What I find profoundly ironic is that Sarah is being scrutinized for the very same antics "the old boys" have been acceptingly using for years!
You want to talk about opportunistic? Let's turn our attention now to Obama's campaign which is built purely and entirely on his piggy-back ride on an ailing economy, rather than his personal experience and possible strength as a leader!
In my humble opinion, Stein is nothing but a bitter, has-been still attempting to reclaim his 5-minutes (or 9 years!) of fame!!!
GBY!
"And she's gotten the legislative groundwork laid, and an international contract signed. . ."
The gas pipeline contract is not signed. There is no gas pipeline contract. There is a state license, but it has not been awarded yet. It is not a contract. The gas pipeline is not a done deal. Ask TransCanada if you don't believe me.
Where in the world did you get the idea that an international contract had been signed??????
Talbot better watch it out or he'll end up like Naomi Wolfe--her kids' report cards are missing.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122218942950967645.html
"Almost everyone I work with on projects related to this campaign for liberty has been experiencing computer harassment: emails are stripped, messages disappear. That's not all: people's bank accounts are being tampered with: wire transfers to banks vanish in midair. I personally keep opening bank accounts that are quickly corrupted by fraud. Money vanishes. Coworkers of mine have to keep opening new email accounts as old ones become infected. And most disturbingly [sic] to me personally is the mail tampering I have both heard of and experienced firsthand. My tax returns vanished from my mailbox. All my larger envelopes arrive ripped straight open apparently by hand. When I show the postman, he says "That's impossible." Horrifyingly [sic] to me is the impact on my family. My childrens' [sic] report cards are returned again and again though perfectly addressed; their invitations are turned back; and my daughters [sic] many letters from camp? Vanished. All of them. Not one arrived."
Can Joan hire Naomi for a nice rant, too? She's gotten everyone else around.
...before she makes Doddering Johnny her b*tch?
(eww, sorry for the visual, but...)
Just once I'd like to see liberals actually report a story straight and let people make decisions for themselves. By now liberals should have figured out that (by a margin of 7 to 1) negative stories about conservatives don't wash. Voters can see the "piling on" and it's so transparent. I almost think a certain amount of people vote for conservative simply to spite the mass media and networks who can't see to just play it straight. This November: another bitter loss for liberals.
For what it's worth, all you brainwashed spoonfed followers who bought David Talbot's article as canon, please read the article in the link, then do your OWN THINKING before you make a decision.
http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/blog/g/0d495ec4-a02e-4802-a14f-bc98e31047e0
Biden just said this: "When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television ..."
They didn't have TV, and FDR was not even President in 1929, when the stock market crashed. So... Palin may be silly and unqualified, but is Biden better?
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
