MICHAEL O. ALLEN

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Alaska

Palin’s understated brilliance

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I know all of us are holding our breath for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to wow America all over again during her vice-presidential debate with Delaware’s Sen. Joe Biden Thursday night.

One newspaper has called Mrs. Palin’s debating skills “formidable.” The New York Times says she’s a confident debater. In fact, the Obama campaign, calling her a “terrific debater,” is thinking of suspending the vice-presidential portion of the fall campaign.

I thought, maybe, we should imbibe a little her recent series of triumphant interviews with CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric:

Couric: You’ve cited Alaska’s proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?

Sarah Palin: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and, on our other side, the land-boundary that we have with Canada. It’s funny that a comment like that was kinda made to . . . cari . . . I don’t know, you know . . . reporters.

Couric: Mocked?

Palin: Yeah, mocked, I guess that’s the word, yeah.

Couric: Well, explain to me why that enhances your foreign-policy credentials.

Palin: Well, it certainly does, because our, our next-door neighbors are foreign countries, there in the state that I am the executive of. And there…

Couric: Have you ever been involved in any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?

Palin: We have trade missions back and forth, we do. It’s very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia. As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there, they are right next to our state.

Ms. Couric then brought up the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street, suggesting the money could be better spent by regular Americans. Mrs. Palin burst forth in incandescent rhetoric. Her answer was nothing short of historic in its scope and grasp of policy details, mastery of nuance:

COURIC: Why isn’t it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries; allow them to spend more and put more money into the economy instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?

PALIN: That’s why I say I, like every American I’m speaking with, we’re ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health-care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping the—it’s got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And trade, we’ve got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing. But one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.

October 1, 2008
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Bridge over ethics

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Ethics Adviser Warned Palin About Trooper Issue

Letter Described Situation as ‘Grave,’ Called for Apology By JIM CARLTON, Wall Street Journal, September 11, 2008; Page A8

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An informal adviser who has counseled Gov. Sarah Palin on ethics issues urged her in July to apologize for her handling of the dismissal of the state’s public safety commissioner and warned that the matter could snowball into a bigger scandal.

(Photo by the Associated Press: Alaska State Trooper Mike Wooten (right) answers questions about the ‘Troopergate’ investigation on Tuesday)

He also said, in a letter reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, that she should fire any aides who had raised concerns with the chief over a state trooper who was involved in a bitter divorce with the governor’s sister.

In the letter, written before Sen. John McCain picked the Alaska governor as his running mate, former U.S. Attorney Wevley Shea warned Gov. Palin that “the situation is now grave” and recommended that she and her husband, Todd Palin, apologize for “overreaching or perceived overreaching” for using her position to try to get Trooper Mike Wooten fired from the force.

Continue . . .

September 11, 2008
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Richter’s scale

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I have written a couple of times on this and I was wrong both times.

The first time, I thought Scott Richter’s emergency Alaska court filing to have his divorce papers sealed was to conceal an affair he had with the moose hunter from The Alaskan Tundra (I was not the only one but that does not absolve me of responsibility for jumping to conclusions).

The next time, taking Scott’s side, I thought he filed the action simply because he wanted privacy for himself and his son.

The Wall Street Journal today reported that the reason Richter wanted the papers sealed was to conceal that he had called Sarah Palin to tell her someone on her staff was having an affair with his wife.

Sarah Palin and John Bitney go way back. They were in the same junior-high band class. Mr. Bitney was a key aide in Gov. Palin’s 2006 gubernatorial campaign. When she took office, she gave Mr. Bitney a job as her legislative director, and a few months later stood beside him at a news conference and praised his work.

“Whatever you did, you did it right,” she told Mr. Bitney and his team.

Seven weeks later she fired Mr. Bitney for what her spokeswoman now describes as “poor job performance.”

Bitney was seriously mistaken in how close he was to Gov.  Palin, who was already upset with him for getting a divorce. The affair with Richter’s wife ticked off Palin and her husband. It turns out the Palins were even tighter with Richter:

“They were, you know, professionally my bosses, but they were my friends,” Mr. Bitney said of the Palins. “And so what caused them to want me to leave the governor’s office was my relationship, my divorce, my dating a woman with whom they had a personal relationship.”

*           *           *

Allies of Republican presidential nominee John McCain like to point out that his running mate is the governor of the largest state in the union. But at times, Alaska seems more like a small town, run by folks with overlapping professional, political and personal ties that can be difficult to untangle.

Gov. Palin and her husband, Todd Palin, were also close friends of the Richters. Ms. Richter served as treasurer of Gov. Palin’s gubernatorial campaign and her inaugural committee. After taking office, Gov. Palin put Ms. Richter in charge of the Permanent Fund Dividend Division at the Department of Revenue. The fund allocates oil revenues to Alaska residents; this year each Alaskan is expected to receive $3,269.

The two couples owned property together on Safari Lake, north of Wasilla, according to Gov. Palin’s financial disclosure reports. Each couple had its own cabin on the land, where the families would vacation side by side, according to Ms. Richter. In the most recent disclosure form, the governor reported that she and Mr. Palin now own the property with Mr. Richter alone.

The Journal story, the whole sordid mess, continues here . . .

September 9, 2008
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Kinsley’s take

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Sarah Palin’s Alaskonomics By Michael Kinsley, Time magazine, Tuesday, Sep. 09, 2008

Sarah Palin thinks she is a better American than you because she comes from a small town, and a superior human being because she isn’t a journalist and has never lived in Washington and likes to watch her kids play hockey. Although Palin praised John McCain in her acceptance speech as a man who puts the good of his country ahead of partisan politics, McCain pretty much proved the opposite with his selection of a running mate whose main asset is her ability to reignite the culture wars. So maybe Governor Palin does represent everything that is good and fine about America, as she herself maintains. But spare us, please, any talk about how she is a tough fiscal conservative.

Palin has continued to repeat the already exposed lie that she said “No, thanks” to the famous “bridge to nowhere” (McCain’s favorite example of wasteful federal spending). In fact, she said “Yes, please” until the project became a symbol and political albatross.

Back to reality. Of the 50 states, Alaska ranks No. 1 in taxes per resident and No. 1 in spending per resident. Its tax burden per resident is 2 1/2 times the national average; its spending, more than double. The trick is that Alaska’s government spends money on its own citizens and taxes the rest of us to pay for it. Although Palin, like McCain, talks about liberating ourselves from dependence on foreign oil, there is no evidence that being dependent on Alaskan oil would be any more pleasant to the pocketbook.

CONTINUE . . .

September 9, 2008
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Sarah Palin of Wasilla, Alaska

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Newsweek magazine, despite a generally laudatory profile of Sarah Palin, serves up some inconvenient facts to counter the myth that she and her state have been swathed in since her nomination:

Palin is not regarded as an introspective or intellectual type—not the sort who likes to mull the deepest nuances of every issue. In that sense, she’s the anti-Obama. While Barack Obama of Hawaii, Indonesia, Hawaii, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Cambridge, Mass., Chicago and now Washington has been on a well-chronicled lifelong search for his identity, Sarah Heath Palin seems just fine being a woman of Wasilla. Alaskans regard themselves as a breed apart—more rugged, self-reliant and free than other Americans. Palin shares that sense of exceptionalism. But the myth is contradicted by some inconvenient facts. Only 1 percent of the state’s land is in private hands, and the economy is dependent on oil and other natural resources controlled by the federal government or Big Oil. As a result, nearly 50 years after statehood, Alaska remains deeply dependent on the federal government for support. Social ills are rampant. The state’s levels of drug abuse, alcoholism, domestic violence and child abuse are above average or among the highest in the country.

September 9, 2008
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That Dog Won’t Hunt . . .

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Our friend, Eileen Davis of the DAVISReport, sent us this message:

Say hello to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, John MCCain’s VP select ,the governor of a state where its citizens by birthright get checks sent to them up to a couple thousand a year, that represent oil profits gained on state owned land.

Yes Virginia, Alaska, the sparsely populated other world of Alaska, the Kuwait of the United States, fat with oil money, sparsely populated, and except for remote pockets of indigenous eskimoe communities,largely caucasion, is where John McCain has found “the best person” to serve as our VP?

As I ponder McCain’s choice, knowing that he believes that this decision will help deliver purple Virginia, I dig deeper and get more astounded that he thinks he has made the sale.

Virginia, with both urban and rural poor,immigration issues,(Henrico County Schools alone have 90 plus languages registered in ESL classes), with our population density and DC proximity terrrorism issues, military and port concerns, highway infrastructure issues and commuter issue(good old 95)- with all of this Virginia is ranked number one best run state and is also ranked best place to raise a child with the outcome of it being solidly educated. My question is why do these honors go to Virginia and not Alaska with more money and less challenges to successful outcomes?

Seems to me Alaska should easily have these rankings. It would be like shooting fish in a barrel for them , compared to the challenges we face here in Virginia, but yet we prevail. But that’s my point, a first term Governor of Alaska whose last job was a town smaller than Ashland can’t really be expected to step into the VP gig ground ready, and cross training is not an option. Bluntly stated, she doesnt know what she doesn’t know.

Choosing your VP is the first big decision the candidate is judged on and John McCain has shown himself to be a reckless flyboy who must think woman are really stupid. Too stupid to notice she is in way over her head, too stupid to realize that a Hillary supporter,to vote for Palin just because she’s female would have to abandon every social and political position most Hillary supporters share. Why?; because Palin is an ultraconservative,a gun toting NRA member, Anti Choice even in cases of rape and incest.

The idea that one woman is as good as another is arrogant pandering, and will result in blowback that McCain will regret. The arrogance is also compounded by the fact that this 72 yr old with 4 bouts of cancer thinks no one will consider the heartbeat away question, does he really think that we are so giggly to pick a chick we won’t think this possibility through?

“Ms Palin, I know Hillary Clinton, and you are no Hillary Clinton”

The DAVISReport

Posted by www.EileenDavis.blogspot.com The Davis Report – The Voice of Central Virginia and the Capital City

August 31, 2008
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Thoughts on Sarah Palin

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Longtime readers will remember that Sarah Palin was on my early short list for McCain. I said back in June that she might be a good pick if McCain found himself behind in the polls and needed a Hail Mary pass. Now that he’s made the pick, how does it look?

First, Palin is undoubtedly qualified to be president and vice president. The Constitution sets those qualifications in Article II, Section 1. One need only be (1) a natural-born citizens; (2) at least 35 years old; and (3) a resident of the U.S. for at least 14 years. There’s no question that she meets those qualifications.

There’s also no question that she has plenty of experience. As many people have pointed out since Friday, Palin has been in elected or appointed office since 1992 — a year after Obama graduated from law school. That’s nearly as much experience as John McCain himself. If you count her experience on the PTA, as McCain says we should, her experience is almost Biden-esque.

The real question is the quality of that experience. Does Palin’s experience — a city councilor and then mayor of small town, energy commissioner, and 18 months as governor — make her ready to be president? The answer to that question is largely in the eye of the beholder, but I think it’ll be a tough sell to the American public. It might have been easier to sell over time with a longer roll-out, but the surprise pick makes it particularly difficult.

There’s also Troopergate. Although the facts remain somewhat in dispute, it seems pretty clear that Palin has, on at least one occasion, abused the official power of her office to get someone fired and then lied to cover it up. The first instance happened when she was mayor of small town. The most recent incident happened this summer, when she fired the chief of the state police for refusing to fire the estranged husband of her sister-in-law who was then a state trooper. She’ll probably be deposed and possibly censured in Troopergate during the fall campaign.

And then there’s Palin’s positions on the issues. To the extent that she has positions on national issues, they’re to the right of McCain. Her positions on abortion and contraception, in particular, are closer to Mike Huckabee’s than McCain’s. (Indeed, Huckabee has released a statement praising the Palin pick.) That’s why James Dobson and the religious right are so delighted in her selection.

In the end, I think the pick is more important for what it says about John McCain than for anything it says about Sarah Palin. It showed us all that he’s ready to shoot from the hip on day one. According to recent articles in the NYT and Washington Post, he made the pick after meeting her only once last February and without vetting her at all. That’s not the kind of approach to serious issues that most Americans are going to want.

The pick also showed us, I think, that McCain put politics ahead of governing. This was a choice from identity politics, pure and simple — a big gamble that Palin’s gender and religious conservatism will attract enough votes in a few key swing states to win the election. For all the things that one can say about Sarah Palin, one thing you can’t say is that she knows how to get legislation through the U.S. congress.

And, finally, the Palin pick showed us that McCain will say anything to get elected. For the last six months, McCain has argued that Obama is dangerously unprepared. By picking someone with even less foreign policy experience than Obama, that argument now looks disingenuous in the extreme. As far as I can tell, Palin’s foreign policy experience consists entirely of a family vacation to Ireland and Alaska’s geographic proximity to Russia and Canada.

I said on Friday that I was delighted by McCain’s choice. I’m even happier now that more facts are coming out.

What are your thoughts?

August 31, 2008
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