When I told Judy about MCain's pick, she really thought I was pulling her leg. I had to say "really" three times before she realized this has really happened.Quickly going through the Alaska blogs and national lefty blogs, I'll make a first set of observations -- Outside Alaska:
1) Palin is NOT in the pocket of big oil.
2) She is NOT a fiscal conservative.
3) Howie Klein, who always amazes me at how much he knows about so many states on so many levels, has the best national-level post on Sarah's big ticket liabilities I've read yet. He misses it on some stuff, though.
4) I am tired of national reporters calling me and asking, "Is it true that Palin's 17-year-old daughter is pregnant?" Thanks, Lydabots, for starting that one last spring, when you were pissed at Sarah for more stuff than you could handle.
5) People outside of Alaska totally, TOTALLY misunderstand Alaska and Alaska politics.
6) Troopergate, with a fine light turned upon it, isn't on a timeline that will influence this election as much as some outsiders are already hoping.
And some observations on how this might influence our Alaska races:
1) It changes everything.
2) Alaskans will rally around Palin in the face of unfair criticism of her administration and character. This will help GOP races in November all around Alaska.
3) Combined with the national attention directed on Stevens in September and October, we will be in the news more than at any time since Joe Hazelwood slimed us into the national spotlight.
11 comments:
What do you think of Sarah's kids? I think they are wonderful-- I knew kids in South Anchorage in the '80s who wanted no part of their parent's political involvement. Sarah's daughters went with her in parades and wore t-shirts proclaiming their mom was running! I hope that my kids would do the same (they said they would!) Bristol seemed so together-- I liked her not as a fine young person but as a person period.
What do you think that Randy Ruderless thinks of this?
I like Sarah's kids. A lot.
I despise Randy Rude Reich. A lot.
my reaction was the same as judy's, to the first two people who told me the big news.
"yeah, sure! very funny!"
This isn't good for the down ticket in Alaska.
We need to tell the world what a horrible mayor she was and how she terrorized staff as mayor!
Please!
Has people forgotten she is a religious conservative and this is the likely reason she was selected?
It's not only about Hilary; it's about activating the theocratic base the Republicans need to win.
I am saddened to see friends on Alaska blogs not see this. But then, it's a major reason, as a gay person, I left Alaska after 47 years.
All the best to you all.
jay, hope all's well with y'all, too. we miss you.
i'm always holding out a naive hope that alaska will start to morph into a better place, and our national image will improve. i don't think palin is going to help much in that regard.
This week Barack Obama and Joe Biden elevated the Presidential race to a tone and a debate at a height not seen in many decades. Finally, the public discussion is about the issues that drove our founding fathers in 1776 to risk their lives on a new compact of freedom called democracy. Now we Democrats are speaking to equality, opportunity, basic rights, how we care for each other, and how we conduct ourselves with the world. All this from a public venue of over 80,000 citizens. The Obama-Biden campaign has become nothing less than a restoral of our compact of freedom, and a restoral of trust in our government.
In his choice of Sarah Palin, John McCain has sacrificed the stature which might have allowed him to engage the larger conversation. The two campaigns are now speaking at different levels. The McCain campaign has diminished, and its deflation will be even more apparent in the Minneapolis venue. McCain and Palin will grab at the nits, the small issues, the regional issues of division, while never really engaging the larger reassurance our nation seeks. We know a President when we see one, and John McCain is not that person.
I hope that Mark Begich and Ethan Berkowitz continue to engage that larger conversation of Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Alaska has an important role to play in the restoral of our country, and that role is what will carry our State through.
Ted Stevens' problems have diminished him to the point where now, he is talking about continuing to serve as Senator even if he is convicted. How does enduring the impeachment of our Senator help Alaska? It does not. Ted Stevens would become the first Senator since the 1790's, only the second Senator ever, to be impeached. That event is so diametrically opposite, so completely out of synchrony with the gravity of the campaign under way, it would diminish our State to the voice of a territory again.
The same is true of Don Young. Our small state cannot stand the stain of any more corruption, nor the embarassment of any more arrogance from our sole member of the House of Representatives.
The 2008 campaign has changed. I hope the Alaska Democrats renew their determination to engage the important issues of our time, the ones that used to hold us together as a nation.
polarbear,
your comment gives me renewed determination. thanks!!
I think AK's Dems are going to have to fight like hell to win. Repubs and Indeps are going to vote in droves.
This election year at LEAST will be competitive and hopeful.
Seems like you were a little bit wrong about your theory on observation #4.
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