Alaska “Deathers” Heckle Sick People (Updated with Photos)
I am taking a break. This was a strange and disturbing morning. I started the day with a big cup of coffee, and an 8:30am arrival at The Egan Center in downtown Anchorage. That’s where the special session of the Alaska State Legislature is meeting today. They have two things on their plate – voting on whether to overturn ex-governor Sarah Palin’s rejection of the stimulus money for energy efficiency, and whether to confirm Craig Campbell as Lt. Governor. The joint session convenes at 1:00, so I had time to pop over and attend a press conference Organizing for America held…
White Knight v. Carpet Baggin’ Dragon! Call to Action!
It seems sometimes like politics attracts all the wrong people. The very job that needs selfless people with high moral principle, honesty, and a desire to serve the community, with no particular burning need for power and prestige, too often attracts the wrong kind. Don’t get me wrong, I think there are plenty of people who are good people looking for ways to make a difference, but not too many of them want to jump into the shark tank. But every once in a while somebody who ought to run for office, does. And every once in a while that…
Palin Going Rogue? Name That Party!
Uh oh. What’s a soon-to-be-ex-almost-one-term governor to do when only one third of her own party thinks she’s qualified to be president? A majority of Americans think Sarah Palin is stepping down as Alaska’s governor for political reasons, according to a new national poll, with a majority of Republicans now saying that they do not believe that Palin would be an effective president. Only 33 percent of Republicans questioned in a CBS News survey released Monday night say that Palin would have the ability to serve effectively as president. Last fall, 71 percent of registered Republicans felt that way. There’s one…
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…
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…
Shannyn Moore in Palin’s Crosshairs.
[A similar piece is up on The Huffington Post. This one is just for Mudflatters] Just when you thought you’d seen the back end of him, he returns; one of our favorite characters here at the Mudflats. I refer, of course, to Sarah Palin’s personal attorney, and the man in Alaska with the most dastardly sounding bad guy name ever: Thomas Van Flein. I put his last name in bold italics to remind you to pronounce it with a dastardly accent. I still don’t actually know what he looks like, but for our purposes in the past, we have imagined…
Numbers Shmumbers…
“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….
Vanity Fair on Palin. Let the Skewering Begin.
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…
The Poe-Mobile Hits the Road
I had an opportunity a few days ago to stop in at an event at the residence of Bob and Terzah Poe. Bob Poe is the only Democrat so far to officially throw his hat in the ring to run for governor in 2010. After having an “If not me, who? If not now, when?” moment, he decided to declare his candidacy. At the time, the Daily News column The Ear, said that it probably wasn’t a good idea to run for governor if the first question people asked was, “Who’s Bob Poe?” He took the point, and has spent…