Posted by Jeanne Devon on August 29, 2009 · 93 Comments
[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…
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Category Alaska, Barack Obama, Election 2008, Republicans, Roll your eyes into it, Sarah Palin, Strategery, Todd Palin, Troopergate, Whackjobbery · Tags Andrew Halcro, Barack Obama, Geoffrey Dunn, John McCain, Palin anniversary, Palin bloggers, Palin ethics complaints, Palin media, Palin nomination, Palin Obama, Palin VP pick, Sarah Palin
Posted by Jeanne Devon on August 28, 2009 · 177 Comments
You gotta love John Ziegler (above getting punked by Mudflats mascot Brian the Moose). One year ago today, Sarah Palin was foisted on the unsuspecting public in a mavericky move to top all previous mavericky moves by Senator John McCain, and John Ziegler begame her super dooper #1 fan, happily devoting his life to ride shot-gun in her race to oblivion. After seeing him in person at the screening of his puff-umenatry film on Sarah Palin called Media Malpractice: How Obama got Elected and Palin was Targeted, I left wondering how the half-full theatre in Anchorage Alaska could actually manage to…
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Category Barack Obama, Election 2008, Rallies and Events, Republicans, Sarah Palin, Whackjobbery · Tags Adam Brickley, Alaska bloggers, John Ziegler, Keith Olbermann, Palin bloggers, Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin VP
Posted by Jeanne Devon on July 9, 2009 · 71 Comments
Now that she’s dumped the governorship, Sarah Palin is ready to hit the road and get to work. She’s told us that she is willing and able to get down to the business of helping candidates whose vision she shares. She wants to use her star power to get them elected. Only one teeny problem. It seems as though GOP candidates who will run in tight races in 2010 would rather not have the “help” of an unemployed ex-governor who completed 65% of one term and then quit because…. uh….because….well….um. Go figure. This tells us what we already know; that…
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Posted by The Mudflats on July 4, 2009 · 198 Comments
It’s interesting to see the reactions coming in from Alaska’s politicos to the surprise resignation of Governor Sarah Palin yesterday. But, perhaps the most surprising of all is that of Alaska’s Senior Senator, Republican Lisa Murkowski. We expect politicians to be…well…politicians. We anticipate all kinds of pussy-footing around, saying things without really saying them, and trying to offend the least number of people while saying the bare minimum to satisfly the public that they’ve actually responded. That’s why Murkowski’s response was so refreshing, an so unexpected. She said what many Alaskans, especially those who have supported Sarah Palin, are feeling….
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Category Alaska, Alaska Governors Race, Election 2008, Election 2010, Election 2012, Lisa Murkowski, Mark Begich, Sarah Palin · Tags Bristol Bay Palin, Lisa Murkowski, Murkowski responds to Palin, Paln resigns, Sarah Palin, Sarah Paln resignation, Todd Palin
Posted by Jeanne Devon on July 2, 2009 · 131 Comments
“In the past two years, the state of Alaska has spent millions of dollars processing ethics complaints, public records requests, and related lawsuits.” That was the claim coming from the office of Governor Sarah Palin, who likes to use the phrase “frivolous ethics complaints.” That was nine days ago. Today, we learn that “millions of dollars” is in fact, actually $296,000, as far as ethics complaints go. Numbers shmumbers. The complete breakdown is not yet available, but we do know this about the three spendiest ones: $187,797 stemmed from the Troopergate investigation, a good chunk of which Palin initiated herself….
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Category Alaska Governors Race, Alaska Legislature, Election 2008, Sarah Palin, Skulduggery, Strategery, Troopergate · Tags Alaska Legislature, Andree McLeod, Branchflower Report, Palin ethics complaints, Sarah Palin, Troopergate
Posted by The Mudflats on July 1, 2009 · 183 Comments
And the leaks continue. CBS has released a series of emails between Palin and McCain staffers that happened during the campaign. The date? Joe the Plumber minus three hours. On October 15, Palin saw a CNN story with a subtitle “The Palins and the Fringe” that detailed her connections with the Alaskan Independence Party, a statewide political party that advocates for Alaskans to take a vote about whether they want to secede from the union. Todd Palin had been a member of the party from 1995 – 2002. The Governor herself had delivered opening remarks via videotape to their convention…
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Category Alaska, Barack Obama, Election 2008, Election 2012, John McCain, Sarah Palin, Skulduggery, Strategery, Todd Palin · Tags Palin emails, Sarah Palin AIP, Sarah Palin Alaskan Independence Party, Todd Palin AIP
Posted by The Mudflats on June 30, 2009 · 333 Comments
I have been besieged with emails, Facebook messages, and blog comments asking for my impressions of the Vanity Fair piece that appeared today entitled “It Came from Wasilla.” Basically, the article was a whole lot of what we already knew, skillfully brought together, and topped off with some more interesting McCain staffer revelations from the campaign trail. I would have loved to hear more about Palin’s religious intrigue, a topic that has been discussed, but has never gotten the traction in the national media as some of her other dimensions. We may be hearing more of this, now that we…
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Category Alaska, Election 2008, Election 2012, John McCain, Republicans, Rural Issues, Sarah Palin, Strategery, Todd Palin, Whackjobbery · Tags Meghan Stapleton, Sarah Palin, Vanity Fair Palin
Posted by The Mudflats on May 5, 2009 · 112 Comments
Get ready folks. A bunch of conservative presidential wannabees is coming to a town near you for a warm fuzzy “listening tour.” I can see them all now, with their elbows on the table, and their little chins cupped in their hands, heads tilted to the side and gazing into the eyes of whatever few Republicans are left in the rapidly shrinking party. Watching the death throes of the party has been morbidly fascinating. I guess they figured out that after 8 years of doing whatever they wanted, and the subsequent careening down the slippery slope of wingnuttery, most people weren’t…
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