A Year of Sarah Palin. What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been.
[This article is cross-posted at The Huffington Post]
What a difference a year makes. A year ago today, after being stunned by McCain’s VP pick, I had finished writing a piece called “What Is McCain Thinking? One Alaskan’s Perspective.” It’s hard to imagine a time when the country was asking “Sarah Who?” but it was only one short year ago.
One of the selling features of Sarah Palin was her astronomically high approval ratings in the state of Alaska. After all, how could a governor have positives in the high 80s or low 90s and be anything less than an ace in the hole? So, McCain must have thought. The answer became obvious, and embarrassing to those of us in the Last Frontier. We weren’t paying attention.
During the gubernatorial debates in Alaska in 2006, Palin said to her opponent, the infinitely smarter and more qualified Andrew Halcro, “Andrew, I watch you at these debates with no notes, no papers and yet when asked questions you spout off facts, figures and policies and I’m amazed. But then I look out into the audience and I ask myself, ‘Does any of this really matter?’ ” That may have been her shrewdest political statement. To Alaskans at that moment in time, it didn’t matter. She was cute, she was spunky, she was gonna take it to the man, she had a scrumptious family, she was an underdog, she was one of us, and she had….charisma! That’s all we needed to know.
Gone was the stale, old, corrupt crankiness of Frank Murkowski, our former senator turned governor turned most loathed politician in the state. The lure of the bright shiny object was irresistible. Palin clobbered Murkowski in the primary, with the incumbent garnering a humiliating 19% of the vote. The devastating blow added to her appeal, and the promise of a Cinderella story in Alaska’s future. Who doesn’t love Cinderella? And the rest is history.
In many ways, it seems longer than a year. Much longer. Palin went back to Alaska, where her life turned into a nasty soap opera. There were revelations from McCain’s staff about her behavior on the campaign trail; she was hit with a myriad of ethics charges (some of which, contrary to Palin’s claims otherwise, stuck); she bailed on her relationship with the state’s legislators and played politics with the federal stimulus plan; she got into a dog fight with Levi Johnston; she began a series of odd Twitterings, replete with a six-part ramble on Mommy Bear; she resigned amid chaos and deception, only to return as a diva on Facebook.
The very democrats who served as a catalyst to the passage of Palin’s grand ideas for a gas line were thrown under the bus. The Republicans who called Palin a “socialist” during her early governorship were already there. There’s an old saying – “How do you get Nellie back on the farm once she’s seen Par-ee?” It became obvious to everyone when she returned to Alaska that she was wearing a metaphorical “Hi My Name is Nellie” name tag on her designer lapel. We were the farm, and the glittering white marble world of Washington D.C. and the great “Outside” was most definitely Par-ee.
As Geoffrey Dunn notes in his excellent piece on The Huffington Post today, another strange phenomenon became apparent – an obsession with Barack Obama. The moment Palin started slamming community organizers, and talked about “pallin’ around with terrorists,” and telling the swooning crowds that Obama didn’t see America like “we” see America, it began. She had found her niche, but in her home state where Obama either trailed or lead McCain by a mere 3 percentage points before her nomination, it didn’t play well. Neither did her bizarre habit of committing to events, and then cancelling at the last minute, denying she’d ever said she would attend. First it was the national GOP who bore the brunt of this passive-aggressive event coordinating. But this week she did it twice, right here in the state, ostensibly accusing the predominant mega-church, and the head of Alaska’s pro-life movement of lying. From the moment of her nomination until the day of her resignation, her numbers sank. It was like watching a slow motion film clip of the Hindenburg. The week after her resignation, the dirigible hit the dirt, and her negative numbers topped her positive numbers for the first time in her home state.
Alaska doesn’t like a quitter, and the majority of Alaskans grew tired of having her speak for us.
But some Alaskans stuck with her anyway. Acknowledging her unsuitability for public office meant to acknowledge the horrible mistake Alaskans had made. We’re already “on the farm.” We don’t need to give all those folks in Par-ee another reason to look down their noses and ask, “What the Hell is the matter with you people?” But they asked anyway. And we really had no good answer, other than to look at the ground and scratch our toe in the dirt and say, “I guess we weren’t paying attention. Sorry…”
But, I won’t allow Alaska to take all the blame. You’d like to think that anyone worth their salt, whose served in the senate for ____ administrations, would take a little time to find out about the person who would take the helm of the ship of state if you were to suddenly meet your maker. It’s called “vetting,” and it’s a good idea. If the buck stops in the oval office and it is there that the responsibility lies, I wonder why nobody was asking Arizonans “What the Hell is wrong with you people?” Perhaps I’m a little bitter. Alaskans have been picked on an awful lot this year.
The Blame Game has become the favorite pastime of the Palin camp. It’s Barack Obama. It’s the ethics complaints. It’s miscommunication. It’s the Republicans in the Legislature. It’s the Democrats in the Legislature. It’s her daughters ex-fiance. It’s the damn “law”. It’s a misunderstanding. It’s socialism. It’s the media. It’s haters. It’s bloggers. It’s a diabolical cabal of event coordinators across the nation telling lies.
And the way that each of these entities (regardless of size) was dealt with, was with a big, fat sledgehammer. Barack Obama? Pals around with terrorists. Ethics complainers? Hope they get “backlash.” Legislators? Don’t give them face time. Levi Johnston? Liar and money-grubber. The law? Ignore it. The media? Quit making stuff up! Haters? You’re jealous. Bloggers? Threaten to sue them.
Nuance is not the ex-governor’s forte.
And how did those strategies work out?
Attacking the president with vitriol made her the Democrats’ number one fundraising tool. Ethics complainers mentioned in press releases? Brought lots of attention to the ethics complaints. Freezing out the Legislators on both sides of the aisle meant nobody really felt like ‘playing ball’ any more. Levi Johnston is probably going to be writing a book, and I’m betting it will outsell the puff piece “Everything I Need to Know I Learned Playing High School Basketball.” Shredding the media and then asking them to be nice to you is generally not a good PR strategy.
And the bloggers? Well, every time she, or any of the pro-Palin websites or blogs acknowledge local Alaskan bloggers, it gives them more traffic, more attention, a more interesting story that people want to hear, and more credibility. Maybe I shouldn’t let that little secret slip.
But it has been a fascinating year. The Clinton years when people opened one eye and said, “Everything looks pretty good I guess,” and then rolled over and went back to sleep are gone. America has awakened. The conservative movement did not believe that Barack Obama could get elected, and like a beast who is cornered and threatened with its own mortality, it is raging. Nobody could have imagined the conditions today last year when everyone was frantically Googling Sarah Palin; that she and McCain would have been roundly defeated, that the country would have elected Barack Obama, that she would not even last one term as governor, and that such ugliness would have awakened in American politics.
Last year at this time, I was gobsmacked, looking at my blog stats and thinking, “Wow. I guess people DO want to know about Sarah Palin!” What a long, strange trip it’s been. Next year on “P-Day?” It’s anyone’s guess.
It was last year, a couple of days after John McCain appeared on television alongside a woman I had never seen nor heard of before and announced that she would be “the next Vice President of the United States”, that I sat down to Google the name “Sarah Palin.” I wanted to know why an unknown woman was picked, and why THIS one seemed so angry right out of the gate and determined to shove herself down our collective throats even though she seemed to already hate a large percentage of us for some unknown reason. Amid several pages of Google search results, I came across “The Mudflats,” started reading, and I’ve been reading it ever since. I learned more about Palin from AKMuckraker and this blog than just about any other news sources combined. It’s so well written and with a good sense of humor, which is almost a necessity given the subject matter.
Up until now I’ve just been a “lurker” but wanted to say how much I enjoy reading The Mudflats. I also wanted to add that I can empathize with some of the political problems in Alaska since I come from a state that has it’s own brand of “the crazy.” You see, I live in Florida, so among other things, I know a little something about having to shoulder the blame for something you’re not responsible for. (And no, I’m NOT the one who voted for Pat Buchanan!)
So congratulations on a year and then some, of such a successful blog, and thank you for sharing it with readers like me!
This is the best article ever written!
For some ‘entertainment’ … SP’s impending trip to Asia … http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/31/sarah-palin-asia-trip-pla_n_272493.html
But, I won’t allow Alaska to take all the blame. You’d like to think that anyone worth their salt, who has served in the senate for many administrations, would take a little time to find out about the person who would take the helm of the ship of state if you were to suddenly meet your maker. It’s called “vetting,” and it’s a good idea.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~“`
The Branchflower report found Palin “abused her power by violating section 39.52.110 (a)”.
What other state in the union, has had it’s legislature find their Governor guilty abuse power, then fail to impeach or at the very least sanction them?
The report also found that “the Attorney General’s office has failed to comply with my August 6th 2008 request to governor Sarah Palin for information about the case in the form of e-mails”.
Was that request ever complied with? Did the Alaskan legislature ever follow through on that?
Representitive Les Gara has said that “there was no political will” too take any action against Palin after this lengthy, costly investigation, resulting in the Branchflower Report.
In other words , we found Palin guilty, but simply can’t be bothered to do anything about it.
Why bother with the investigation in the first place?
You needn’t look any further than the Alaskan legislature, for giving Sarah Palin a free pass to carry on as she pleased.
Again, AKM, thank you for your truth telling talent. The XGINO will strike again and we are blessed to have you, Shannyn, and the other wonderful Alaskan bloggers on the ground to keep us apprised of the machinations of Ms. Palin and those who benefit by her narcissism. In flipping channels today, I heard out of Dick Chenney’s mouth that he and his family recently relaxed during an Alaska cruise.
What puppeteering is going on with the wooden-headed divine Ms. P as the shiny not-so-new long nosed object? And who is the master puppeteer?
Followed both Ryan H & GreatGranny with much interest, seeing points on both sides…as an Obama voter I am sad to see him seemingly shed, one by one, all the ideals that got him elected. Ye Gods, didn’t he play golf with the CEO of – what was it, Bank Of America, last week?!
Where’s the “Trickle Up” economy that was supposed to happen? Where’s the Goverment Transparency” that was promised? Why the delegation of Health Care to Cognress, when it was Obama and Obama alone who could have taken the strong stand necessary to get real health care reform done? And where, O where are the signs we are getting the hell out of Iraq – never mind what our mission In Afghanistan is (please enighten me someone; I’ve forgotten!).
You might think I’m either a Troll or some impatient youngster but I’m a 54 year old Grandma who proudly voted for Obama but who is now seeing all too clearly “Business As Usual” in DC.
Not what I expected on that heady night back last November.
As someone else said, I’m willing to give things a little more time, but…2010 is approaching.
Agree, Dunn’s piece on Huffpo may not warrant the “excellent” rating that AKM gives it. But this comment stuck: “It’s like she’s back in high school and someone is more popular than she is,” said someone who worked closely with Palin during her 2006 campaign for governor. “It’s unnerved her. She can’t let it go.” After that fateful day a year ago, an otherwise good liberal male friend threw the “yes, but she is good looking” line my way. I suggested a process for ridding himself of Palinitis: listen, but do not look – you will soon find the “naughty librarian” image replaced by the face of that whiny girl in your high school class, complaining that she was the one who should be popular. His reply? “It worked!”
txindygirl:
Ditto all of what you said. Ryan’s manners were fine; however, this discussion needs to be on open thread. Ryan, can we segue?
yes, this has been one crazy year…. i’m still recovering.
part of me is afraid that this is the scene in the horror flick where the limp, bloodied leading lady thinks the serial killer is dead… and leans her head back and closes her eyes….. the audience starts screaming… NOOOO!!!!
as off topic as it was, i vastly enjoyed the ryan/greatgranny/cassie discussion. many of ALL their thoughts resonate with me. however, i agree it should be on open thread where it won’t be missed and where others might also contribute. also, for what it’s worth, i thought ryan’s manners were fine.
Someone posted on Wonkette “Sarah communicates thru ‘Twitter.’ That’s one of the kids, I think.” For some reason, that really cracked me up.
cardboard cutout palin? never heard of her. And Ryan, I’ll take some bridge pothole and infrastructre fixin’ please….The roads around here are terrible.
My own history regarding Sarah Palin is that when she was mayor of Wasilla, I was indifferent toward her. When she ran for governor, I worried that she would strike out against issues that mattered to me, such as Alaska Native self-governance and subsistence rights.
After she became governor, I reassessed her and liked what I saw. Everyone was calling her “a breath of fresh air” and, after Murkowski, the cliche seemed to be true. She seemed to work well with the democrats and suddenly I loved her. I still worried about the positions referenced above, but reasoned that a little travel about Alaska might give her the education that she lacked and she might come around.
Then she did away with Walt Monegan and this struck me as very petty and no way to run government and I wrote and told her so. Still, I had hopes for her.
Then she stepped onto the national stage, told an outright lie about her role in the “bridge to nowhere” and delivered, with shallow charm, a snide speech that reminded me of my fourth grade playmates throwing insults at each other on the playground at recess. She lost me.
Previous to that day, although I would not have voted for him to be President, I had held John McCain in high esteem. Although I still respect some of what he did in the past, that esteem is gone.
As for Sarah Palin, perhaps my feelings toward her could have softened toward kindness had she:
Shown any ability and desire to ever be honest.
Ever admitted to making a mistake, rather than blaming everything that goes wrong in her life upon someone else.
Not lathered up her children with gravy, thrown them into the hungry lion den and then screamed, “you mean lions! Why do you eat my children and not Barack Obama’s?”
Pandered – absolutely pandered – to the frightened, paranoid segment of society whose vision of the “Real America” is so narrow and shallow that they saw the election Barack Obama as the end of America. She lies to them and she knows she lies to them. This deceitful pandering might get her Fox News pats on the backs and perhaps, should she ever become a host there, big bucks, but will not propel her into national office.
http://wasillaalaskaby300.squarespace.com/
mo:
While we’re plugging books and gadgets. I love my kindle app on iphone, every book I have bought is about 50% of hardback cover price.
http://www.amazon.com/Blackwater-ebook/dp/B0016H97DM
Lords of Finance: the Bankers Who Broke the World, by Liqauat Ahamed.
Alright, read the summery. The premise is that Maynard Keynes was a ‘great’ economist and policy makers blew it in the 1930’s by letting banks go under and letting the economy correct. Ahamed appears to be arguing, much like Paul Krugmen, that deficit spending during this crisis has ‘saved the world’. I find both of these arguements invalid.
We are in this mess precisely because consumers spent every cent they had and then some. Now Ahamed wants consumers to spend more? If they don’t spend, then Ahamed wants government to spend on their behalf. Excuse me but common sense alone would suggest that is spending got us into this mess so spending is not going to get us out of it.
Furthermore, never do any of these Keynesian clowns tell us what is going to happen as soon as the stimulus is taken away. Somehow they believe in a free lunch perpetual motion theory of the economy where spending feeds on itself and we all live happily ever after.
In practice, Japan tried that for a decade and it did not work and it did not work in the Great Depression either. A more recent example of the idiocy of fiscal stimulus can be found in 2003 when Greenspan slashed interest rates to 1% fueling the biggest property bubble in the history of the world. That bubble has now imploded and the Keynesian clowns did not learn a damn thing from it.
And as soon as the bridges are fixed and the potholes patched and nothing happens, the Keynesian clowns will be back at it wanting government to spend still more taxpayer money. Not one Keynesian ever has said what happens once the stimulus stops.
I can only thank you, AKM, from the bottom of my heart for all that you did to save our country. No, I don’t believe that’s hypberbole. Sometimes, it does come down to a few brave folks willing to stick their necks out for the truth.
Patriot of the year award should go to you.
I’ll never forget the entire debacle, nor the relief in finding your well-reasoned blog, nor the terror in my heart and the tears of my female friends (has all of our work come to this patriarchal barbie being pronounced the glass ceiling breaker? really? why bother at all?).
We made it through, and the right person got into office.
Please accept my gratitude for being willing to put yourself out there, and for all that you’ve endured as a result. Hugs.
Great retrospective post, AKM.
Many thanks to you and all the other Alaskan bloggers who not only worked tirelessly but who put their necks on the line in a sparsely populated state with a vindictive governor who took criticism very poorly and personally.
Raising my toast to the prospect of Palin remaining a retrospect…..forever.
AKM,
I bet that felt good – getting some of the festering ‘I can’t believe this’ (whatever ‘this’ happened to be during the past year) out of your system
Three cheers and big bottle of rum for AKM!
Ryan H. Says:
August 29th, 2009 at 7:35 PM
Watching from New Jersey – Cynthia McKinney, Dennis Kucinich, Ron Paul, or Ralph Nader all would have been infinitely better for the country than Obama as president could ever hope to be.
As someone from McKinneyville – no way, no how. McKinney is as much a nutter as SP, and has even gotten into tussles with DC/House security over a lack of their recognition of her during her time in DC.
McKinney – worse than SP. Trust me!
My guess:
Same time, next year, Sarah Who?
GreatGranny2b you said it all and said it so well Thank you for putting it the way I never could by putting my thoughts in your post
Hey AKM,
I am one of those people who found you a year ago in my quest to find out who Sarah Palin was.
On your website I found an articulate and intelligent article and have countinued to return to you daily.
I applaud your dedication and determination. I truly respect you and the effort you have made to ‘make a difference’.
Thank you,
Cindy from Hawaii
ON TOPIC:
Hurray! There are very few comments over on Huffpo!!!
As one of the commenters said: Palin is yesterday’s news. Ho, hum.
Sarah who?
Great job, AKM! You and the AK bloggers have provided a breath of fresh air from the stench expelled by your former governor. I can only hope with her retirement the inner circle will start talking. When the inner circle starts to talk, I am sure the great AK bloggers will continue to pound nails in to Sarah’s coffin. Hope in a few years, her name like Monica Lewinsky’s name will drop in obscurity.
Ok, ‘Time Out’! 🙂
Just a reminder, folks:
Discussions not related to the post belong on the daily open thread. As fascinating and informative as this debate has become, it’s veered quite a ways away from this Palin-in-Retrospect story, and simply no longer belongs here.
AKM and the moderators thank you for your courteous and continued cooperation!
Ryan, you might want to dig up some histories of The Gilded Age, you may be surprised at the parallels between now and a century ago.
Here’s an actual book that I recently read – on my Kindle, btw – and found delightfully informative:
Lords of Finance: the Bankers Who Broke the World, by Liqauat Ahamed.
http://www.amazon.com/Lords-Finance-Bankers-Broke-World/dp/159420182X
Oh yeah, and remember the bit about a republic versus a democracy. The citizens that you imagine the US government currently represents didn’t get into that position by magic – they worked at it. Propaganda that taps fear and resentment takes money and effort to write up and disseminate. Now, whatcha gonna do to counter that? Handwringing and opinionating on blogs barely counts. Talk is cheap, eh?
See ya at the next Assembly meeting?
To go back on topic- I don’t know if Sarah will be any factor in politics, or a “Trivial Pursuit” question in a year.
However, she is a symptom of a larger phenomonon,
which is crazed religious dominationism, that will be a political factor for many years. Huckabee is hanging out with religious crazies who make Palin’s “witch doctor” look like Norman Vincent Peale. I expect that with or without Palin the GOP and the far right (to the extent they are distinguishable) will double down on the crazy in 2010 and 2012, at least, and promote a “birfer” brand of insanity as their official platform we all need to focus on this threat.
Cassie Jeep Pike Palin –
“Get a source. Read a book, read a MF book!”
Come on, have you been to the book store lately? This is part of the problem. Reliable information barely makes it out of the publishing houses these days, it is mostly just transcript of the same garbage that passes for news on FAUX and CNN all day long. As one commentator puts it ‘The Republicans vs. Democrats mock combats are mere bread and circuses for the sweaty clamoring crowd.’ This country has only one political party: Big Business.
In this day and age, no one should limit themselves to a handful of authors made up of like minded political allies. Just look at the right wing and all the crackpots that have book deals these days, Palin, Coulter, Limbaugh. All of these people reading the ‘info-tainers’ latest best seller have ‘got a source’ and ‘read a book’ as you suggested. I don’t know what you have against Google, but print media and much the entire fourth estate as we know it is going to be dead and buried in the next 10 years.
“But work WITH the system we have at present.”
Been there. Done that. Did you know that calls were running to all branches of government of roughly 100 to 1 against the TARP bailout? They passed it anyway.
The real problem, again, is that Americans think that they have “freedom and democracy” and that politicians are held accountable by elections. The fact of the matter is that the US is ruled by powerful interest groups who control politicians with campaign contributions. Our real rulers are an oligarchy of financial and military/security interests and AIPAC, which influences US foreign policy for the benefit of Israel.
Have a look at economic policy.
Consider America’s wars.
Is there a government anywhere that less represents its citizens than the US government?
Ryan needs to get a brain…..oh no…here I go….tossed into the mudflats. Sorry just couldn’t resist.
Ryan needs to learn what an “open thread” is and use it.
Sarah is holed up trying to remember basketball scores from 30 years ago in middle school, for her “biography”- which will make “Jokes for the John” look like “Moby Dick”.
Sarah will be the spokesperson for anyone who will pay her.
IMHO…the XGINO’s greed and need to loot her ‘followers’ of all their hard-earned $’s is precipitated by ALL the people that she must pay to keep their silence. She has lotsa skeletons hidden in the Upper 49th ~ and it’s just a matter of time before the Alaskan tundra will not longer keep them hidden….
But it is kinda nice that she has ‘disappeared’ from the ‘hot-whites’ (lights that is) and one of the many things that I can really appreciate about President Obama is his keen ability to simply ignore the P-flea that’s been nipping at his ankles.
Besides, bloggers have driven her outta town…hiding in an undisclosed location.
It has indeed been a very busy year, but change takes some time. We’ve still have some ways to travel ~ so keep beating the drums…
😉
Hey Cassie Jeep you’re the best!! Just passing through & glad you’ve been cleaning house.
@Cassie – Thanks for taking on Ryan – you have a world of patience! I was just too tired last night to keep trying to make him see other viewpoints. There are some who just like to debate ad infinitum and I enjoy good debates as well, but not in the middle of the night when my brain is shutting down.
Dunn’s “excellent piece” is a cackling bit of personal propaganda, a promise of gossip and rumor. How much can we depend on the book he’s touting to uncover the truth? Well… in his article, he fully accepts that the Facebook posts were written by Sarah Palin. So there’s that.
Everyone sane has wondered who was responsible for which posts and tweets. Which were from the Meg-brain? Which GOP hack wrote this, which Murdoch-lent ghost writer wrote that — and it’s rather important to discover who was responsible for the ‘death board’ announcement.
Dunn will not be providing that information in his “biography”. He intends to put down, in black and white, for posterity, that Palin wrote that travesty. What excuse will he offer us, for the difference between her off-the-cuff ramblings and the nearly college-level grasp of basic English? I suspect he will ignore the question entirely.
It’s one thing to be partisan, and its always a pleasure to diss Palin; she damaged Alaska, she damaged national discourse, she brought violent fringe groups into prominence, so that media and political interests could approve ultimately terroristic behavior. But Dunn did little more than dish dirt — and promise more of the same, with an equal promise that it would not be true.
Think about it. Dunn’s entire premise is based on the purported fact that Palin is focused on Obama? The one thing all of us know about Sarah is that her entire focus is on herself. She is narcissistic, unable to follow-through on any project and incapable of actual work. This is a woman who would tirelessly undermine anyone — other than herself?
Kicking Obama is a neo-con pastime; it signifies nothing other than the lazy choice of a convenient scapegoat. That Palin’s Facebook entries (which she has not been asked to back up in person) targete Obama is simply another proof that she and her GOP/Murdoch supplied ghosts are too lazy to give her even the originality of a separate boogyman.
At least John McCain accused Ted Kennedy of causing the failure of the health care legislation by “not being available.” This accusation was made during the last week of Kennedy’s life, while he lay, I have no doubt, in a coma. Convenient, heartless and self-excusing, certainly; however at least the old Maverick had the originality to choose a target a few yards to the Right. I have to commend him for shooting once the skeet was on the ground — and somehow managing to miss.
To reiterate the main point: Just because it’s on HuffPo doesn’t make it brilliant.
Ryan H. Says:
August 29th, 2009 at 10:28 PM
I have done a lot of research on this though. Google and read some articles by Paul Craig Roberts.
the time to address them is NOW! So why isn’t anything happening?
____________________________________________________________________________________
1,) Google is not the end all and be all. Get a source. Read a book, read a MF book!
2.) It took 40-50 years for insurance companies to get the clout they enjoy today. It IS happening now…get off your A$$ and write your congressman, senators and let them know you support health reform. Send them a hand written letter, not an e-mail. Attend a town hall meeting—I have—go to your senator’s local office—I have. It will take more than 8 months to affect the change in a 40-50 year policy that we seek.
Get off this website, and off you a$$!
Be a presence!
Be there or ( in soccer parlay) be square. Make the play. Do it.
Not with confrontation, but with persuasion
Make a difference..now.
If you want a third party, by all means work for it. But work WITH the system we have at present.
Thank you for this –
“GreatGranny2B Says:
August 29th, 2009 at 4:53 PM
Must read! Scroll down until you come to more on Palin – what an eye-opener!
http://www.theopalinism.com/blog/”
I was especially interested in learning about the Pastor from Palmer, and his book – I must look into this! Thanks again!
Cassie Jeep Pike Palin:
1) we should be so lucky. Delivering health care 6 days out of 7 would be a vast improvement! Right now we get next to nothing for our premiums. – I wasn’t at all being cynical or sarcastic. Single payer is clearly the best way to go with health care. Corporations turning a profit off of sick people is disgusting in every way shape and form. This is why it is so hard to sit back and watch Obama and the rest roll over when they are the majority party. There should be a full court press for single payer health insurance. Aetna, United Health and the rest should be systematiclly dismantled in the USA. Let them go peddle their wares and run their swindles in the third world.
2) read about it. Kevin Phillips wrote the definitive book about it. Look for it in your library: “American Theocracy”. – I will check it out. I have done a lot of research on this though. Google and read some articles by Paul Craig Roberts. He was an insider in the Regan administration. The plan has always been US hegemony over the rest of the world.
3) GW Bush and Bernanke have flooded the planet with freshly minted federal reserve notes, not Obama. President Obama is trying to affect a balance of those “floating reserve notes” sent aloft by the previous administration. – Alright, GW Bush, Bernanke did it all. Why is no one in prison? Why are the banks still being allowed to lie? Why is there a tax cheat running the treasury department? Why is Bernanke, the ‘sorcerers apprintance’ who stated ‘subprime is contained’ anywhere near the levers of power? And perhaps most out-landish of all, why are Goldman-Sachs employees getting 6 figure bonuses after gambling with tax payer money while the commoners are watching their hours, wages and jobs being cut and being foreclosed upon in record numbers month after month?
People must have to really work at ignoring how much Obama isn’t doing to fix things. You are right, the time to address them is NOW! So why isn’t anything happening?
51
Ryan H. Says:
August 29th, 2009 at 9:59 PM
the two party crime family system of government is a cancer that is going to ultimately destroy the republic.
————————————————————————
I do not believe that.
Our Independence created the very dilemma we face, true. But we will have to deal with it.
We can do so with the mantle of civil discourse or we can deal with it with the naked brute force of dictatorial insistence.
In my opinion, brute force only spawns bullies.
Growth to sustainability is my course…join the effort, or be doomed to the consequences.
Good night, Ryan H., I hope you are not truly Irish, for I am…ninth generation for me, second for my spouse. Radical is not in our veins, but justice runs deep in them.
Cassie Jeep Pike Palin:
FISA. I don’t see how you can have it both ways. FISA itself is too much like something out of Orwell’s 1984 now, like the economy, it is terminally ill. You want FISA to provide security but don’t want it abused but it just doesn’t work that way.
I am with Ben Franklin on this one. ‘Those willing to trade liberty for a sense of security deserve neither and will lose both’.
Your right about not inviting the Saudi’s to his house. That is because he is going to them, on crooked knee no less!
http://mideast.blogs.time.com/2009/04/10/why-obamas-saudi-bow-was-not-a-kow-tow/
You are darn right I would have liked to have seen Cynthia Mckinney win. ANYONE but a republican or democrat would satisfy me, this is the only way out of the death spiral we’re in. George Washington warned this county about the dangers a political parties when it was founded, now look at us. Mark my words, the two party crime family system of government is a cancer that is going to ultimately destroy the republic.
49
Ryan H. Says:
August 29th, 2009 at 9:25 PM
I wish my insurance company ran like the post office.
Don’t kid yourself about Iraq and Afghanistan. This country has been in perpetual conflict since the end of WW2.
Obama and Bernanke have flooded the planet with freshly minted federal reserve notes.
————————————————————————-
1) we should be so lucky. Delivering health care 6 days out of 7 would be a vast improvement! Right now we get next to nothing for our premiums.
2) read about it. Kevin Phillips wrote the definitive book about it. Look for it in your library: “American Theocracy”.
3) GW Bush and Bernanke have flooded the planet with freshly minted federal reserve notes, not Obama. President Obama is trying to affect a balance of those “floating reserve notes” sent aloft by the previous administration.
When anyone assumes a position left vacant, he has to play the cards he is dealt.
Our challenges were 40 years in the making, maybe 60 years. Addressing these shortcomings will not be quick, painless, nor easy. But the time to address them is NOW.
President Obama has already stated that he would be a one term president if he can affect the changes he feels we need. He speaks to me….I hear his plan.
I am not a progressive, I am not a democrat, I am worse…I am an independent, social democrat and I am a Christian. There is no “party” for me. But the Democrats offer the best forum for me, since the Republicans have no interest at heart but their own.
Welcome to the Mudflats where we can all be honest while being respectful.
Mind your manners!
GreatGranny2B Says:
I hope you don’t take me for a conservative…
I am a firmly independent voter and read hundreds of articles a week from all sides of the political spectrum. I think of myself as very well versed in politics and world events.
Thank you for your long thought out reply, it was very well written even though I don’t agree with everything you say. I will briefly touch on a few points.
Tea parties – First of all, I have a original take on this one you won’t hear in the media. These ‘protests’ are the biggest craven spectacle I have ever seen. Our founders would be ashamed and embaressed. Adjusted for inflation, Sam Adams and his lot destroyed billions of dollars of East India Trading company (The Goldman-Sachs of the 18th century) tea into Boston harbor. The ‘tea parties’ on FAUX news are a joke, wake me up when the real tea party starts. I will give you a hint, The Wells Fargo and Citi Bank retail branches will be engulfed in flames from ‘sea to shining sea’ when people get fed up and the real tea parties start.
Second Amendment – Some people just don’t get this. The Second Amendment was effectively squashed in 1886 with the creation of the ATF and further neutered in 1933 with the passage of the Federal Firearms Tax. From that point forward, the proletariat has been at the mercy of the federal government. Resistance is futile.
When you mention Bush / Cheney as the source of our economic woes, don’t forget to give some credit to Clinton / Gore also. They were the ones who signed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act which, arguebly more than any other one thing guaranteed this disaster.
I also agree with you about the government running things. I wish my insurance company ran like the post office.
Don’t kid yourself about Iraq and Afghanistan. This country has been in perpetual conflict since the end of WW2. The military-industrial complex is in total control now. You mention Bush ‘didn’t complete the job in Afghanistan’. What is that job exactly? I will tell you what it is. The US imperialists want control of a deep-water port in Pakistan, to surround and isolate Iran, ring fence Russia with missile ‘defense’ batteries, project military power towards and cut off China from the Middle East. This will ultimately set up western puppet governments that will allow the local population and resources be exploited by multinational corporations. It is the same play as what we want in Latin America.
Summers, Rubin and Benanke ARE the problem. You watch, any ‘reform’ will simply be more power handed over to the federal reserve from CONgress. Makes perfect sense, hand more power over to the crooks that caused and couldn’t spot the disaster to begin with. It is beyond too late to fix this mess. The US Treasury has merged into a de facto arm of the financial services industry. All they have to do is threaten more ‘systemic risk’ mumbo-jumbo and tank the S&P 50 handles in the afternoon and watch the backbone melt out of the CONgress, then it’s back to looting. Rarely does a system as corrupt and polluted as this one recover, with each passing day, Total Reset looks more and more likely. Obama should have either have nationalized the banks or put them in recieviorship. Rubin, Paulson and Geithner and every CEO on Wall Street that took TARP money should be wearing orange prison jumpsuits sitting in Levenworth by now. So much for ‘Change’.
Recovery is not occurring. Unemployment is soaring, demand is falling off a cliff and Goldman-Sachs executives are making ‘record profits’ by gambling in commodity futures with taxpayer funds. There is no end in sight for this depression. It is very simple. 70% of GDP is consumer spending, without jobs and wage appriciation consumer spending and GDP is flat on it’s back. Obama and Bernanke have flooded the planet with freshly minted federal reserve notes. What we’re seeing now is a cheap parlor trick. They can prop up the shell game for a while, but they will not prevent the inevitable de-leveraging. In fact, we are much worse off than we were last year. One of two things will happen at some point, the bond market will implode and interest rates will sky rocket or there will be a run on the dollar and the government will collapse. Take your pick. There is no ‘third choice’.
#36 Great Granny – that was wonderful !
Buffalogal, are you not the party girl tonight? I couldn’t get in earlier, I just thought maybe it was overcrowded…happy BD!
28
Ryan H. Says:
August 29th, 2009 at 7:35 PM
It doesn’t matter one bit anymore weather [whether]……
———————————————————————
How tough would it have been to get rid of FISA?
———————————————————————
You might want to clean up your posts. Spelling errors are forgiven, but this mistake is basic! Don’t let it “rain on your opinion”.
FISA is a more legitimate concern. But abolishing it is not. I WANT to know that someone has the authority to do what is necessary to get the job of national security done 24/7. It is only the circumventing of FISA that became a problem. While I am uneasy at the existence of a FISA Court, I recognize the need for a vigilance I am not able to provide. But the circumvention of a FISA court ( which GWB accomplished) is a gross prostitution of Justice.
FISA has operated in relative secrecy for many years. It is only under the last administration that there were leaps made over FISA’s purview…circumventing their authority and not even notifying them…while violating the rights of Americans.
The greatest improvement I am able to see —despite your observation of “selling out”—is that I do not see President Obama inviting Saudi Princes into his home, kissing their cheeks and holding their hands.
President Obama has not done this.
By the way, Cynthia McKinney? I truly hope you were jesting! Cynthia McKinney? Please. Her demonstrated “sense of entitlement” is truly a joke. How much corruption could she generate, if given the opportunity!!!!!!!!!!
Be civil, and serious, Ryan H…or be gone!
OT but I’m trying to get into the chat room . Has anyone else run into trouble or is just on my end ? dang!
Great! Great Granny! You go!
I get tired of people who blame Alaska for the pox that is $P. This country is full of corrupt politicians and nobody blames the state that they are from for the trouble they cause, even when they are REelected, (THAT might be grounds for blame!). We are still one country, and together we ferret out the bad one and move one. In this case we might need to keep one eye on her as we move forward.
36 GreatGranny2B
What a wonderful detailed post! You saved me a lot of time and trouble by
stating what I feel and now I’m off to bed!
DD
Ryan H – Ralph Nader and Ron Paul have been on the ticket before but without sucess. I guess you like neither the repubs nor the dems. I’m a big supporter of Obama. You are entitled to your opinion and I guess we can agree to disagree.
————————————————————–GreatGranny2B #36 – Well said.
Ryan H – Ralph Nader and Ron Paul have been on the ticket before but without sucess. I guess you like neither the repubs nor the dems. I’m a big supporter of Obama. You are entitled to your opinion and I guess we can agree to disagree.
I had arguments about McCain with family members before he chose Palin. I felt his ‘maverickiness’ was ‘mememeness’. He always changed at the drop of a hat (or buck) if he thought it would benefit him politically. I think he’s a sorry excuse for a man.
I think there is a lot of blame to go around but Alaskans didn’t foist the P on the world, they wanted her to fulfill her promise to Alaska. She dashed that hope quickly and a bunch of idiotic outsiders sucked her up. Or vice versa in reality.
I do wish Alaskans would have re-called her rather than let her quit cuz she couldn’t twist that.
36
GreatGranny2B Says:
August 29th, 2009 at 8:05 PM
—————————————————————————–
Amen!
I found your site a year ago today. You have been my sanity this past year. And I speak as a conservative Evangelical. Thank you, Mudflats, for calling it like it is. Not all of us weren’t paying attention. Some of us were. After watching Michelle speak Monday night of the Democractic Convention in Denver – I really thought McCain might do the unthinkable and pick Sarah. Michelle represented the image of the young, accoumplished wife, and John desperately needed a counterpart. Cindy couldn’t fill it – but Sarah could. But of course, in reality, she couldn’t. Yes she was young (in political terms) and she was “a wife” and mom – but she ran smack dab into a wall on the “accomplishments” part.
It’s no small thing to be elected governor of a state in our union – but Sarah did run against the most unliked governor in the nation whose positive approval ratings were in the single digits.
It’s surprising she won? Nah.
The group I hold most responsible for her being selected as VP running mate (besides Steve Schmidt and his crazy decision to simply trust a 21 year old blogger in a basement somewhere in Colorado Springs) is Alaska’s media – our ADN reporters and editors and the staff of of KTUU.
Failed. Utterly failed to do their job – and instead went on and on ad nauseum about Sarah’s status as “hottest gov in the land,” et al.
They have blood on their hands – maybe not blood, but a decided lack of ink. They have made Alaska and Alaskans a national joke. They should be ashamed. It’s their lack of doing their duty with integrity that makes me grateful the old ways of getting the news are numbered.
Cassie Jeep Pike Palin-
Time will tell…
As soon as he signed up with the establishment / corporate democrats like Rahm Emanual, Larry Summers and Rick Rubin, he was doomed. On every important issue Obama has swerved to the right and tossed the progressives to the wood chipper.
He isn’t even making a show of it. How tough would it have been to get rid of FISA?
Patient. I think your on to something there. After all, it only took 100 from the time we freed the slaves to get the civil rights movement.
Single payer in 2108 from president Clinton the Fifth!
As for Ron Pauil he wants to stop S.S. and medicarez and thinks nothing about all of us who have paid into both for 40 or more years. Boo Mr Paul and I will say most Paul supporters dislike Palin and think she is a fake christian at least the ones I talk too.And believe you me we like each other but we do go round and round.
“The conservative movement did not believe that Barack Obama could get elected, and like a beast who is cornered and threatened with its own mortality, it is raging.”
Rupturing is more like it. But the dems are rupturing to some degree as well. I think that people with classically liberal values are figuring out that they don’t belong in either party.
I have to say I never blamed Alaska I blamed McCain and Palin her self,she should have known she was not even VP material and her attacking everyone just proved that point.
The Palingates Blog’s latest piece is about Sarah’s no-shows and someone has posted in comments several no-show/can’t cope stories from Palin’s 2006 Governor campaign that seem new to me. The are suggesting panic attacks.
Eg: “Meltdown at IBEW
Reportedly Palin expected 15-20 people at a meeting and when she showed up and there were 200 she went into the restroom, screamed at her staff, and burst into tears. My friends in attendence were not impressed at all, and they were undecideds.”
These stories are located among the earliest comments.
Ryan—
One thing for sure—–protesting does not solve problems.
I don’t remember how I found your blog, but I thank my maker that I did!! Last 8/29, my spouse, who is a history teacher, got all fired up about SP. He had wanted HIllary to get the nomination and was having trouble adjusting. Bells and sirens went off for me–I am blessed with a keen b.s. detector–and something just wasn’t right about this woman. So I went searching the Web and somehow I found Mudflats! You saved my sanity! Your blogs made it possible for me to get through my days–and point out on a regular basis to my spouse how wrong he was. With your help, he soon saw the error of his ways.
Thank you a million times over for helping me keep some semblance of sanity through this past year, but especially through the campaign. And as a bonus, I learned an awful lot about Alaska.
28
Ryan H. Says:
August 29th, 2009 at 7:35 PM
Most people are too comatose to even know there is [sic]more than two political parties out there…
———————————————————————–
And many of us do know it. Some of us even voted for John Anderson instead of a real statesman, resulting in the election of King Ronald the First.
Sorry. I’ll give this administration the benefit of the doubt for a bit longer. But then, again, I’m a patient person.
…but I won’t feed trolls forever.
Watching from New Jersey – Cynthia McKinney, Dennis Kucinich, Ron Paul, or Ralph Nader all would have been infinitely better for the country than Obama as president could ever hope to be.
Most people are too comatose to even know there is more than two political parties out there, It doesn’t matter one bit anymore weather a democrat or a republican wins the election, they all put corporate America’s needs ahead of the people these days anyway.
If the past 20 years in this country hasn’t shown us just how broken our two party system really is, I don’t know what will. The only ‘hope’ for America is that enough democrats and republicans become so disenchanted with their parties that we get traction with a third party.
I’m hoping by next year we’ve snaked out the toilet and can celebrate Flush Day (kudos to hubby for that one) (o:
It’s all too easy for those of us in the lower 49 to look at Alaska and ask “WHAT were you thinking?????????”
However, in so many ways, Palin is just like a two-year-old. When they’re getting all the chocolate ice cream they want, watching Kung Fu Panda on the television all day and listening to everyone fussing over them and telling them how utterly adorable they are, they are sweet and lovable and play well with others. BUT…try to take the ice cream away, change the DVD and pay attention to Older Sibling, and watch the tanrum fly!
Alaskans were looking at perhaps the most corrupt and disliked governor in your state’s history, and here comes this oh-so-cute and spunky toddler, melting hearts and winning votes. Most of you didn’t get to see the REAL Sarah until things started to go wrong and people crossed her. She’s been throwing a royal temper tantrum ever since.
There were many Alaskans, however, who were quick to admit that you were mistaken (or complacent), and get the truth out to those of us who were clueless. And for that, my dear AKM, the country (and the world) is eternally grateful! Hopefully, we have all learned a valuable lesson about paying close attention to ALL our political choices, national and local, because they can have a profound impact on our daily lives and those of our children. There are also many wonderful new communities, like the ‘flats, which bring together people who are willing to take initiative and make things happen. Thank you for being a catalyst and inspiring us to act.
Last year when I Googled SP and found this blog, I didn’t really know much of what a blog was, let alone the power of the information and wake-up call that would come. I have finally started to take a real interest in the politics of my country. Thanks AKM for all your quality reporting. You planted a seed that is thriving.
Ryan H #23 – I’m curious, so who do you think would be a good leader for the country?
A whole year together, mudpuppies tracking all over the porch and the clean kitchen floor? You betcha!
AKM, you need to offer your fellow Alaskans this: their rose colored glasses came right off when she showed her true colors. When she was finally looking like the deer in the headlights, she understood that she fouled her own nest…and quit.
Somehow, I’d like to think that it was her reluctant understanding of the “unforgiving integrity” of Alaskans ( whom I am proud to have met here at the Mudflats), that became the endgame of her political posturing. Her posing wasn’t pretty to them anymore and she realized she burned a most important bridge.
Perhaps the next year can result in some positive improvements for Alaska’s communities now that we’re no longer distracted by the “bright, shiny” thing.
Bless you for the light you shine.
One of my greatest moments was a Sunday a decade and a half ago when a friend was doing the Times Magazine puzzle. The clue was something like “Adlai’s Mate”, and I said instantly and without thinking, “Estes Kefauver.” The other eight people in the room looked at me, quite rightly, like I was a newfound beetle on Darwin’s behind.
No more P-days. That’s my dream. My dearest hope is that next year no one will remember the Guv from Wasilla.
And in 20 years, when a bunch of Ivy League grad students are enjoying bagels and doing the crosswords, I sincerely hope NOBODY can answer the clue “McCain’s Mala-Mate”.
Excellent piece AKM. I didn’t grow up with Palin like Alaskans did, but once I started to get concerned (almost immediately after she hit the national stage; demagogues are easy to spot) the Alaskan progressive bloggers really opened my eyes. Thank you.
It is scary to think that people with no thinking skills are also voters. The origins of the constitution held with aportionment according to “landed gentry.” This grates against the idea of democracy with votes from the people.
Those of us who think have an obligation to enlighten the “folks.” That seems very condenscending, but a lot of non-thinking folks depend on others to help them.
I worked in a department store as a bookkeeper. I constantly heard conversations from clerks asking the owner/manager for a take on their current economic crisis. They really relied on the boss to explain the world to them.
I guess my summation is that a lot of people don’t want to think.
Another great post AKM. I’m so glad you and the others were there when the SP express hit our nation, and threatened to take America down a very dark and hateful road.
I doubt if we have seen the last of her yet, but never again will she be the “golden girl” of the GOP – more like the crazy cousin that is part of the family, but not trusted with the good china.
Just finished watching the DVD of movie THE READER. Thoughts from spouse and self: sometimes, somewhat good people can do bad things if influenced by those who have evil agendas and are charismatic…. if one is not as “literate” as peers, it is easier to talk that person into doing what is evil…Right now, thinking about Palin, Beck, Limbaugh, etc. with ability to convince those that are less intellegent about falsehoods about current administration’s agenda. Scary…..and we must keep on it.
Gobsmacked?
I hear that a lot when I go home to Newfoundland.
I’m such a cynic/pessimist. I still see all the people that still support her and it does make me wonder what’s in store for 2012. Doesn’t help Idiocracy is on the TV right now.
Rob in Ca – I read AKM’s post on HuffPo and it’s highlighted, Geoffrey Dunn left a nice comment too.
No offense AKM, just checking – at least you know you taught us well (o:
Yes, it’s been crazy because we have one crazy lady trying to run the show.
She needs to be ignorned by MSM and just stay in the tabloids where she really belongs. Alaskan bloggers did a terrific job of getting the truth out. You did the public a great service. Thank you.
I feel better after reading this. So glad it’s on HuffPo too! Let’s all keep reminding the rest of the country of the harm she did to our brothers and sisters in the State of Alaska and the ugliness she breeds.
Thanks again AKM (o:
AK, you and a whole bunch of us were sideswiped by this runaway train named Palin….I did not vote for her (being a loyal Democrat) but I was happy to see a woman finally become governor in Alaska, something I didn’t think would happen in my lifetime after Hickel rousted Sturgulewski….but when she said yes to McCain my heart sank and I knew what would happen. I had already become disillusioned with her; heard her speak as Mayor of Wasilla at a convention of Pioneers of Alaska where she, as she so eloquently does, exactly addressed the issues of Seniors in Alaska; then when she became governor, she began undermining Senior issues for Alaskans and changed her colors, tune, and priority. In retrospect I realize she never had a ‘Senior’ priority, but all that is now water under the bridge. I wish she would just disappear off of every blog, every news headline, every single spot where she can get attention. Let’s all ignore her from now on. And if a single Alaskan buys her book, SHAME on them!!!!!
Uhhhh……AKM. The indented paragraph above needs to be attributed to Geoffrey Dunn as it is a straight quote..right?
Great post. Dunn really hit the nail on the head, too. Her obsession with Obama is unnatural. She really can’t understand that anyone might criticize her or question her, unless it is a conspiracy, funded and directed behind the scenes by Rahm Emanuel……
“Andrew, I watch you at these debates with no notes, no papers and yet when asked questions you spout off facts, figures and policies and I’m amazed. But then I look out into the audience and I ask myself, ‘Does any of this really matter?”
The problem is that we all live in Idiot America. One might call the situation tragic, except a closer look at the sordid spectacle of what American culture has become — a non-stop circus of the seven deadly sins — suggests that we deserve to be punished by history.
Nice retrospective! So crazy; when I googled Sarah Palin and found this blog, I really didn’t expect to be still reading a year later! Thanks for all you write 🙂
But you’ve walked the walk as well as talked the talk. (What ever that piece of current jargon means.)
I agree this has been one of the most bizarre political years I can remember since the McCarthy, John Birch days. And it just gets wierder every day.
I know Alaska can heal now that the Mommy Griz/Rabies has moved on.
As a thought.
I wonder if the Repugs are trying to get their money back from Palin, since, as you mentioned she and Bachmann were big money raisers for the Dims. Wouldn’t that just be too tooooooo Palinesque?
They use her till she’s got no profitability and then she joins former friends and supportions under the really humongous Repocon bus.
It was sad that Alaskans didn’t do their homework before
electing Ms. Palin as Gov. Palin.
YOU DON’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER!!
Thank you bloggers for the excellent work you did throughout the
past year. At least you have erased her from the national spotlight.
Thank you!!
Must read! Scroll down until you come to more on Palin – what an eye-opener!
http://www.theopalinism.com/blog/
Dayum, girl! You write good. I’m clenching my jaw reading about how this fraud, Sarah Palin, has damaged my state’s reputation and those that voted for the idiot.
I don’t always agree with your views, but I admire your abilities. Keep it up! Don’t ever stop bloggin’/writing.
In another year’s time, Sarah’s Book of Outrageous Fairy Stories will have been published. I wonder how many lawsuits will follow. 😉
“It’s a diabolical cabal of event coordinators across the nation telling lies.” I love this sentence!
Hey – you stole my line – well, I stole it from Jerry Garcia first – 🙂
You got all the right tags for this one.
“Former President Bush hugs McCain before the funeral begins. McCain spoke at a memorial service on Friday Aug. 28, saying that Kennedy taught him to be a better senator.”
Well imo, McCain must have started in a very deep hole if he’s better because of working with Kennedy. He’s turned in to a punch line for picking Palin.