Palin: A view from Alaska
Monday July 6, 2009
Categories: Republicans
A reader from Alaska sends in the following, which I post with permission: Hi Rod, Thought you'd like to know that all the talking guys on the local radio up here in AK are saying that the cost to the...
Filed Under: Alaska, Sarah Palin
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About Crunchy Con
Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
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If she had the lasting support and goodwill of folks like this in AK, it seems even more confounding that she chose to resign.
It's interesting that this writer manages to completely avoid mentioning that Palin has lied repeatedly about things that are easily fact-checkable, has repeatedly screwed up softball interview questions that should have been homeruns for any normal politician, has neglected her home state to campaign on the national stage, and has (incidentally) publicly trashed the reputation of the father of her grandson. Her personal and political unfitness for office has become blindingly obvious to the vast majority of Americans, and indeed to the vast majority of Alaskans, including most Alaska Republicans, who won't be sorry to see her go.
(And what the He** does this writer think he is accomplishing by asserting Ted Stevens' innocence? Getting off on a technicality is not the same as being found innocent.)
Rod,
That may be one view from Alaska. It's not the only one. Just this week I was talking with a friend who is very connected in the Republican political party. He is very suspicious that a scandal is coming, more so than I am, a political liberal. He also does NOT like her at all and said he would never vote her for any office. Anyway, just wanted to mention that this is definitely only one of the many views that Alaskans hold.
This story shows how small and "normal" our state is.
Odd. What it shows to me is a subculture completely wrapped up in itself and believing that it -- and ONLY it -- is authentic.
A scandal doesn't make any sense, as resigning office is a chit that can be used during any plea bargaining. I think she just had it. Who knows? Maybe her husband finally remembered himself and reasserted proper control over his household.
As a counterpoint anecdote, my mother had some business in AK shortly after Palin was nominated for VP and was shocked at the stories her friends and colleagues told her about their governor: about ethics violations, favoritism, rumors about her family and her childrens' brushes with the law. She came back with plenty of juicy gossip that didn't even hit the national news until a few weeks later. So, for what it's worth, not ALL Alaskans are positive about Palin's character/intentions.
I think the lower 48 it is just so completely different than Alaska that the actions of our politicians make no sense to the people who don't live here.
Your reader is probably right. Many people in the lower 48 don't have the stomach for political corruption that pervades every level of Alaskan government. Sure, Illinois and Louisiana and Rhode Island and New Jersey has corruption. But the people of Alaska seem to be especially tolerant of corrupt politicians, as the most recent investigations of the Alaska legislature has proven.
I guess Alaska is different.
The correspondent has her facts wrong, which is made clear by a quick search of the Anchorage Daily News site. As of July 1, investigating 12 ethics complaints had cost the state $296,000. A lot of money, but nowhere near "millions."
Incidentally, almost $190,000 of that amount was for the Troopergate investigation, and none of the complaints filed in 2009 have cost more than $7,500 to resolve. It would take a lot more frivolous complaints to get to $1,000,000 in state expenditures.
As for the claim that one person has filed 14 complaints, according to Palin's personal attorney, as of May 12, 2009, 14 complaints TOTAL had been filed against her. On June 21, the Anchorage Daily News came up with 18, including one filed with the FEC (i.e., not Alaska's responsibility to resolve) and also counts as separate complaints several items arising from the Troopergate investigation.
No one person filed 14 complaints. Someone named Andree McLeod had filed four as of June 23.
Not an Alaskan, but IIRC, Palin was elected as a reformer who ran against the pervasive corruption mentioned upthread.
It will be interesting to see what surfaces in the near future. And it's probably a good thing she resigned if she is only relatable to one state out of 50 because this will certainly mean she won't cut it in a presidential election. Who knows, maybe she's a nice person, but politics isn't her game.
http://www.newsy.com/videos/palin_s_questionable_decision
I've said it a thousand times. We should never have let Alaska in as a state. Other nations have big, federally-run territories, and so should we. And that's not because I'm still bitter about Texas no longer being the biggest state in the Union because of Alaska. That has nothing to do with it.
From CNN International
"Normally, we don't confirm or deny those kind of allegations out there. But, by not doing so, it just casts her in a very bad light," said FBI Special Agent Eric Gonzalez, who confirmed for CNN the statement he made to the Anchorage Daily News. "There is just no truth to those rumors out there in the blogosphere."
Hey Palin Haters stop the "there's probably a scandal out there." The FBI just said there isn't anything and they never comment on this stuff. Just go back to calling her "dumb", "stupid", blah blah blah. You know the kind of stuff Liberals say about people they need to feel superior to.
Mark in Houston,
Careful with that talk. We can still cut ourselves in half and make you the third biggest...
she really truly is a normal person. There isn't anybody up here who would qualify as an "elite" in either the media or in politics.
She thinks she's better than the +/- 75% of Americans who live in urban areas. Sounds pretty "elite" to me.
It's nice to hear the truth from an actual Alaskan, and not east coast media. I'm glad the Lt. Gov. is a good man. We don't get nice people like that for governor down here in Washington. It's unfortunate. We always get the leftists.
All leftists are big meanies!!
I think the lower 48 it is just so completely different than Alaska that the actions of our politicians make no sense to the people who don't live here.
"You just don't understand me" is perhaps one of the worst get-out-the-vote messages of all time. But maybe it works in "real America."
Ted Stevens. Most of us believed he was innocent.
There's a big gap between "not guilty" and "innocent." Ted Stevens is in that gap. Palin was all too happy to accept the largess (Bridge to Nowhere) when Stevens was popular.
Come to think if it, "I'll bring home the pork to my state, but oppose it when it goes anywhere else" is also a pretty ineffective get-out-the-vote message once you leave your state.
Jason -
There are several other law enforcement organizations that can be investigating Palin - not just the FBI.
I come to this site to get the leftist point of view on current topics without the foul language and extreme nastiness found on the other leftist sites, thanks to Rod's policing.
However, we still get the talking points. Takes Joel's, for example:
"It's interesting that this writer manages to completely avoid mentioning that Palin has lied repeatedly about things that are easily fact-checkable..."
OK, Joel, list the checkable lies, if you can. Or are they going to simply be things you disagree with her about?
Strange that it is call CrunchyCon when most of the opinions expressed are far from conservative. Maybe there are a lot of people of the liberal bent who are uncomfortable with vicious tone of those other sites, too. Perhaps there is hope for them.
AML, funny to come to a "conservative" blog to get leftist viewpoints. But I was surprised to find what seems like mostly leftwing commentary in these comment threads. I feel like my comments are one of the few conservative that actually show up in these comments. Not what I originally expected at all...Why is it this way, when there's even an elephant on the blog's masthead?
AML -
Here are 12 documented lies:
- She has lied about her firing of the town librarian and police chief of Wasilla, Alaska.
- She has lied about pressure on Alaska's public safety commissioner to fire her ex-brother-in-law.
- She has lied about her previous statements on climate change.
- She has lied about Alaska's contribution to America's oil and gas production.
- She has lied about when she asked her daughters for their permission for her to run for vice-president.
- She has lied about the actual progress in constructing a natural gas pipeline from Alaska.
- She has lied about Obama's position on habeas corpus.
- She has lied about her alleged tolerance of homosexuality.
- She has lied about the use or non-use of a TelePrompter at the St Paul convention.
- She has lied about her alleged pay-cut as mayor of Wasilla.
- She has lied about what Alaska's state scientists concluded about the health of the polar bear population in Alaska.
Here's the link to the documentation: http://tinyurl.com/54fujw
JerryS and AML,
So you find it "strange" or "funny" that a conservative can find a liberal audience? Perhaps that explains whey too many conservative candidates (Palin comes to mind) can't win. You can't win if the only people who can tolerate listening to you are already in your base.
Palin also lied about Todd's involvement with the Alaskan Independence Party. She also lied when, just after emerging from a 90-minute closed door meeting, she went on television and declared that she never holds closed door meetings. And of course she lied all last fall about the extent of Obama's relations with William Ayers.
Public Defender -
What did I say that made you ask that question of me? My comments in this thread were made strictly about Palin.
I love the PDS I see here... :-)
Pretty close to what I saw with BDS, but not quite.
Liberals just love personal, ad-hominem attacks. You think
there's corruption in Alaska? Try the MA state legislature.
Guess how many speaker's of the house have been convicted
of felonies. Liberal MA is much more corrupt than AK.
"Liberals just love personal, ad-hominem attacks."
LOL!! Good for the goose? Good for the gander…
"Liberals just love personal, ad-hominem attacks."
What do Limbaugh and Hannity and their ilk do every day? In this case, Palin's character or lack of it reflects on whether not not she's suited for office. And it's pretty clear that if she had more character -- less talent for making enemies and more focus as mayor on the needs of her state -- she wouldn't be resigning her office.
I just have to jump in and say that not all Alaskans are enthusiastic about Sarah Palin. My husband and I are shocked and disappointed that she would quit and hope the best for her. BUT we are also relieved that Sean Parnell will be leading the state. We hope that there will be better, more experienced, more effective leadership. We believe that he can work with the legislature to get things accomplished (and avoid getting bogged down by outside distractions).
tt---corruption? Did somebody say Illinois?? (aka the cesspool that Obama swam in for over a decade before becoming the first socialist radical leftist revolutionary in the Whitehouse).
JerryS, sorry, I was referring to Michele's comment, not yours. My mistake.
"Liberals just love personal, ad-hominem attacks."
"the cesspool that Obama swam in for over a decade before becoming the first socialist radical leftist revolutionary in the Whitehouse"
We love Sarah's freshness, candor, values, and her openness esp. after the last 7 months of the Obamanation.
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