More Bloggers on the Bus – Chapter 13a, Alaska Blogs and the End of a Very Short Era.
There’s no doubt it’s been an unbelievably bizarre ten months on the Last Frontier. I don’t know if there will ever be as much political drama again. Our sleepy little state, content to grouse over our own brand of colorful local political corruption, was completely unprepared for what happened on August 29. The woman who many considered barely, if at all qualified to be the governor of our sparsely populated state was now going to potentially be a heartbeat away from the presidency of the United States. And bloggers who had been following Palin’s unlikely career were horrified as much…
Farewell Allan Tesche
Just got the sad news that former Anchorage Assemblyman Allan Tesche has passed away after heart surgery. He was 60 years old. Condolences to his wife Pam, and the rest of his family and numerous friends. A controversial figure at times, Tesche was an unabashed, brilliant, outspoken, in-your-face progressive who sat on the Assembly from 1999-2007. Tesche had a gift for writing, and his blog , The Tesche Report, was a must-read for anyone wanting to keep up with the antics of the Assembly. He always seemed to aggravate the right people, especially mayor Dan Sullivan. At every Assembly…
Pat Buchanan Says Levi Johston Should Be Killed. Isn’t That Funny?
Since even before the infamous David Letterman/Sarah Palin kerfuffle in recent weeks, I’ve been hearing a lot about how mean people are to Sarah Palin’s family. To some extent, I agree. There’s definitely a line between attacking someone’s policy decisions, and someone’s family. Granted, when the family or its members are specifically cited as living breathing examples of one’s policy leanings, (i.e. pro-life, pro-special needs families, pro-military, pro-abstinence) the line becomes a bit wiggly and blurry, and each person draws it in a different place. That said, there’s been a whole lot of “stupid slutty trailer trash” talk, and jokes…
Palin’s Parting Gift to Alaska – Another Constitutional Crisis. Gee, Thanks.
What is there to say? You do what you know. And Sarah Palin knows constitutional crises. Let’s look back at some of the highlights… Remember back when former Attorney General Talis Colberg suggested to state employees that it was OK to ignore legislative subpoenas in the Troopergate probe? He was really careful when questioned to say that he didn’t actually tell them not to testify, he merely pointed out that testifying was sort of an “option.” This set off a storm of protest from…well…anyone who knows anything about what a subpoena is. At odds with the legislature, the posture of…
Palin Hits the Road.
Well, we now know the first thing on soon-to-be-ex-governor Sarah Palin’s list of things to do after quitting her current post on July 26. Partisan? – check No media allowed? – check Invitation only to ensure friendly crowd? – check Somehow tied to Ronald Reagan? – check Republican Women Federated of Simi Valley announced Palin was scheduled to speak to the group’s private gala on Aug. 8 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. The event — reporters will not be allowed to attend — will take place in an airplane hangar that houses a retired presidential aircraft Air…
Palin’s Millllions – Take 2. A Closer Look.
As we all know, one of Sarah Palin’s reasons for stepping down had to do with, as Palin said, ”that huge waste that we have seen with the countless, countless hours that state staff is spending on these frivolous ethics violations and the millions of dollars that Alaskans are spending, that money not going to things that are very important, like troopers and roads and teachers and fish research.” When pressured to explain exactly where this “million of dollars” came from, Palin’s office released a .pdf file of the breakdown of it’s claim of $1.9 million that should have been…
Levi Johnston on Palin’s Resignation
To the surprise of many, Levi Johnston has more than once proved to be the most level-headed person in the room when it comes to many of the trials and tribulations of Sarah Palin and her daughter Bristol. So it’s interesting to hear what he has to say. Remember that Levi says he was living with the Palin family from early December through mid-January. They say he wasn’t. He says he had all his stuff there and slept there. They say he wasn’t living there. He says, yeah…whatever. Levi decided to pipe up today and give us the reason he…
GOP Candidates Tell Palin ‘Talk to the Hand!’
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…
Legislative Session Required to Confirm New Alaska Lt. Governor. Isn’t That ‘Special?’
Legal opinion is in, and a special session of the Alaska state legislature looms. Yup, that means that in all likelihood, this pack of hearty souls who have had to endure what must have felt like the longest gubernatorial partial term in the history of ever….isn’t done yet. The Commissioner of the Department of Corrections who, for some reason, was chosen and accepted the #3 spot in gubernatorial succession has decided he’d rather not have the job of Lt. Governor after all. Not that anyone necessarily blames him. Even he recognizes that Sarah Palin’s former high school buddy suddenly plopped in…
First Term Quitters Hall of Fame
A number crunching Mudflatter sent the following: On a hunch, I reviewed online lists of all the men and women who’ve been elected governor of their state since the year 1900. Pored over them for a few hours. Over 1200 politicians have taken that first-term oath of office. Some soon died in office. Many resigned to accept other positions in government, including Spiro Agnew who was “tapped” by Nixon after being the Governor of Maryland for about five minutes. On a handful of occasions, a first-termer was dragged off to the slammer or impeached. One was incapacitated by a nervous…