local alaskan reaction to palin nomination

[itsmeeeeeee]

Local Reaction to the Palin Bombshell.
29 08 2008

Local Reaction to the Palin Bombshell. « Mudflats



I, like all Alaskans, have been glued to the news media today, watching with amazement as Sarah Palin was tagged as McCain’s vice presidential running mate. Local radio talk shows are all a-buzz. The progressive station has a mixture of callers who are amused, horrified, and bewildered. The conservative station has a mixture of callers who are amused, enthusiastic, horrified and bewildered. No one is really sure how this happened, or what to make of it. Citing the fact that she was the mayor of Wasilla 2 years ago in her list of “executive experience” doesn’t even pass the giggle test in Alaska. Palin does have many supporters here in the state, but even many of them are doubting whether she can cut it in the Veep slot. A few callers have said they feel sorry for her, because they like her but she’s obviously being “used” and is way over her head. Local politicians are fiercely divided. Those who like her are generally appointees who are locally referred to as “Palin-bots” and have drawn comparisons to George Bush’s idealogical croneys. Many, Democrats and Republicans, are fierce opponents.

Here’s a smattering of reactions:

Alaska State Senate President Lyda Green (R): “She’s not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president? Look at what she’s done to this state. What would she do to the nation?” (Green is from Palin’s home town of Wasilla.)

Alaska House Speaker John Harris (R): “She’s old enough. She’s a U.S. citizen.”

Alaska Democratic Party Chair Patti Higgins: “In this very competitive election for them to go pick somebody who is … under a cloud of suspicion, who is under investigation for abuse of power. It just sounds like a pretty slow start to me. We need a vice president who can step in if, God forbid, something happened to John McCain. I don’t think she’s someone who is ready for that 3 a.m. phone call.”

Randy Ruedrich, Alaska Republican Party Chair: Not giving interviews.

Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg: “a mixed set of emotions, kind of an odd sense of Alaska nationalism or pride. This is like watching a moon landing or something. It’s just something you don’t expect to see very often. It’s wonderful. It was an emotional thing to see the governor walk out with her family and I say, wow, I work for her.”

McHugh Pierre, Alaska Republican Party Spokesman: “She brings her voice of new energy and change. And she knows Alaska.”

Indicted Alaska Sr. Senator Ted Stevens (R): “it’s a great day for the nation and Alaskans.”

Andrew Halcro, local blogger who ran against Palin for governor: “This shocking choice says more about McCain’s desperation than it does about Palin’s qualifications”.

and my favorite…

Alaska State Representative Mike Doogan (D): “Either Sarah Palin has talents and skills we were not aware of”, or “John McCain fell down and hit his head”. He also called the prospect of Palin potentially needing to take over as President”pretty scary.”

[itsmeeeeeee]

Shannyn Moore's Take on Gov. Palin's Judgement

Progressive Alaska: Shannyn Moore's Take on Gov. Palin's Judgement



(Sarah Palin, behind a .50 caliber machine gun, doing her Michael Dukakis impression last year.)

Shannyn Moore has written an article that seriously questions some apects of Gov. Palin's judgement. Guest post by Shannyn Moore:

Today is a historical day for Alaskans. Having been born and raised here, I can celebrate whole heartedly that an Alaskan politician has made the national stage for something other than corruption charges. Wow, the nation is stunned…you have a gun, Lady? Really? Neat! Can we vote NOW? The story of a real Alaskan woman, mother of five, uber-pro-life, a creationist, loves Jesus, hates the devil, married to a real life stud…well, you just can’t write this stuff. If John McCain had selected my favorite Alaskan Conservative, my father, instead of Governor Gump, I still wouldn’t vote for him.

When it comes to being one breath from the presidency, my nostalgia for an Alaskan being in the White House wanes fast. I want a vice president with good judgment. I don’t care what gender you are, or what color you are…I want your brain to be connected to your heart and spine. After the debacles of Frank Murkowski, I was ready to give Sarah Palin the benefit of a doubt and line up as an Alaskan First, before party. She has shown weakness on a few key issues that disappointed me in the past few months, and now are red flags with her new job offer.

Last spring there was the big announcement of Sarah Palin’s 5th pregnancy. I’m pro choice, happy she was able to make whatever choice was best for her family. With her oldest child in the military, three more at home, and one on the way she was getting quite a bit done. I would have wanted a nap and a spa, but that’s just me. In the last few weeks of her pregnancy she was flying all over the country, Washington D.C. and then to a conference of Republican Governors in Dallas. Her water broke at the conference and she decided to fly back to Alaska to have her 5th child that she knew had downs-syndrome. She passes up some of the finest children’s hospitals in Dallas, Seattle and Anchorage, to fly hours and then drive to 50 miles to her home town to have her child. I admire her ability to hold a child in during all those hours and miles above the Earth, and her staunch loyalty to Alaska to deliver her baby on Native Soil. But had I been on board one of those planes on the way to take a loved one off life support, or be at a wedding, or job interview, or any other event that we get on planes for, and had to be diverted by a woman who knowingly got on board after her water broke, I may not admire her uterine control so much. Her lack of judgment for fellow passengers seems obvious, but for someone who is so pro-life it seems reckless.

As Governor, Palin did bring back a special session to fix the previously bought tax on the oil industry. Not giving away our State’s resources doesn’t constitute standing up to Big Oil. I’m sure it feels like it with the pressure of the most powerful lobbyists in the world, but it just isn’t. It is standing UP for Big Oil to sue the federal government for listing polar bears on the endangered species list because it could affect future exploration. Alaskan towns are washing away, and our climate is changing. Permafrost is no longer “perma” in many places. The rapture is not an environmental policy.

I’m all about killing and grilling moose. So is Sarah. But to the degree she will influence elections by spending $400,000 of state money to propagandize her position to shoot wolves and bears out of planes is bizarre. You would think Alaska has a ban on the importation of Viagra for all the fervor to chase animals with airplanes.

Just days before last weeks election, her administration put up a website, had a press conference all to influence a ballot initiative. While at a press conference she was asked how she would vote on the issue and she came out against it, all be it after dis-robing herself of the “governor’s hat”. The initiative intended to beef up the environmental water standards for large scale open pit mines proposed in the Bristol Bay watershed. It is currently the home of the world’s largest wild salmon run. After the supreme court ruling in favor of Exxon over the Alaskan fishermen, paying damages for environmental damages seems like the cost of doing business rather than a deterrent. As a fellow fisher woman I was shocked by her stance, as an Alaskan I was upset at her lack of regard for the election process and her naivety to think her “personal opinion” wouldn’t alter the outcome.

John McCain came in 4th place during the Republican primary. His disregard of the US Constitution trumps his service. The National media has said Sarah and McCain are both Mavericks. A maverick in Washington wouldn’t have voted lock step with George Bush. To be a maverick republican in Alaska all you have to do is not be indicted or sitting in jail for selling your vote. For all the inexperience or judgment questions I have on Palin’s policies, she’s too good for him. You can put all the sugar on a turd pie that you want….John McCain will still be a turd pie.

The only thing more varied than Alaska’s landscape is its people. When it boils down to a flat tire when it is 20 below, you don’t ask political affiliations when you pull over to help. Sarah Palin is Alaskan, so am I. Politically we disagree on many things, but I’d help her change her tire if she needed it.

[itsmeeeeeee]

Palin tapped as McCain's VP choice

Palin tapped as McCain's VP choice | AndrewHalcro.com

A few months ago I wrote on this blog that I thought there was no way that Governor Sarah Palin would be picked as John McCain's VP.

"Sarah Palin will not be chosen as McCain's Vice President and it has to do with a combination of a lack of experience and what she brings to the table," I wrote on July 7.

Today I was proven wrong.

This shocking choice says more about McCain's desperation than it does about Palin's qualifications.

At the age of 72, McCain would be the oldest newly elected president in U.S. history if inaugurated in 2009. In choosing Palin, McCain has put one of the least qualified politicians in the country a heartbeat away from the presidency.

With Republicans on the verge of spending the next 40 years wandering in the desert because of their inability to manage government, McCain's choice highlights that he just doesn't get it.

[itsmeeeeeee]

Sarah's First "Victory"

Progressive Alaska

A year ago today, I was the guest of John Stein, who was then the City Administrator of Sitka, Alaska. He was the person who advised a very young Sarah Palin to move up from the Wasilla Planning Commission and go for an open seat on the Wasilla City Council. She did. Soon afterward, she ran against John, who was then Mayor of Wasilla, and beat him. By a few votes.

Her campaign consisted of challenging John's wife, the late Karen Marie, of having a different last name from Mr. Stein, and of dissing "government schools," a term Palin had picked up from the now imprisoned ex-Representative, Vic Kohring.

Her campaign accused Stein, a Republican, of not being Republican enough. The campaign, very fungelical, stressed that Karen Marie was a prominent Democrat, and pro-choice (they called her a "baby killer").

Palin promised, in her mayoral campaign, to eliminate the Wasilla sales tax and city police department Stein had struggled to get.

She didn't.

Last August, when I was staying with John, we laughed a lot, as we talked about the many contradictions and periods of luck Sarah's rise has seen.

That run of luck may end this weekend...

[itsmeeeeeee]

Sarah Palin? McCain’s Next Trophy Girl?
29 08 2008

Sarah Palin? McCain’s Next Trophy Girl? « Mudflats

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?

[itsmeeeeeee]

from a comments post on mudflats:

Local Reaction to the Palin Bombshell. « Mudflats

You don’t see the irony here…?

Politicizing of a branch her government (law enforcement via a cabinet oversight)… Bush Admin politicizing the justice system for their own political agendas…

This nomination reminds me of when Bush tried to make Harriet Miers the AG with zero qualification.

PS- Palin has 67% approval, not a 90% like you Lower 48′ers want to believe.

PSS- She had been governor for a year and has basically done nothing. Governor of Alaska is a part time job, it’s pretty boring and quiet up here (I like it that way), and the only thing really going on is oil. We are nothing like the lower 48, there is no cross compatibility. We are basically like our own country which has little in common with the rest of country on a state level.

And… Before that she way a mayor of a village (not a city) that you could liken the one you watched in show Northern Exposure. I’m not kidding.

In terms of being president… I bet at least half of the readers here have just as much if not more qualification, judgment and morality. It would be interesting to have someone from Alaska as VP, but it’s not in the country’s best interest unfortunately, especially not this person

[HarperLee]

"A few callers have said they feel sorry for her, because they like her but she’s obviously being “used” and is way over her head."

This is what the Obama campaign must focus on -- not the fact that Palin is undisputedly unqualified, but the fact that John McCain has exhibited a troubling [horrifying] lack of judgment.

This is still playing out like a surreal nightmare. I remember my disgust when Bush 41 defended his Dan Quayle choice by pointing out that Quayle would appeal to women voters because
he "wasn't hard to look at" or some such insulting crap.

The reaction of some on this board who keep posting that Palin is a babe is pretty depressing. Women have been objectified once again.

[JeffinCO]

The taste that this is leaving for me, is simply another case of party before country.

[HarperLee]

The taste that this is leaving for me, is simply another case of party before country.

I think most Republicans -- with the exception of the bible bangers --
also see it as John McCain before party or country.

[Heretic]

Can I ask a, maybe, silly question?

Why so many new threads on the subject of how bad a disaster the Palin choice is?

Would not just a single thread due...?