Saturday Progressive Blog Roundup - September 6, 2008

Progressive Alaska missed last Saturday's blog roundup. Judy and I were at the State Fair, running the AK Dems booth, and helping with recycling efforts there. The wifi sucked. Way too many cell phones clobbering and clogging the toobz.

That was day two of the rush, from all directions in the old and new media, toward attempting to deal with the nomination of Gov. Palin to be John McCain's running mate. Before the nomination, most progressive Alaska blogs got hundreds to the low tens of thousands of hits per week (KoKon and Alaska Report being exceptions). Now we're getting thousands of hits per hour in the middle of the night.

And we're having to re-evaluate how we had each dealt with Palin before the elevation. Judy has chided me over how much I've forgotten over the years, about Palin's obvious shortcomings as an administrator. Steve at WhatDoIKnow? wrote, early on:

As a blogger, I tend to understate things, and to crawl to conclusions. As I wrote in my earlier post on the Palin nomination, when I first heard her campaign for governor, I thought she was in over her head. But her standing up to the oil companies and the passage of AGIA gave her lots of points in my book. That ties to a larger issue of importance for me - the power of large corporation - and whatever her other possible failings, this was, for me, a powerful achievement by an Alaskan politician. It was only the first step, but it was a giant step compared to what other governors did with the oil companies.

My initial posts were an attempt to offer a balance of what she'd done well, with some suggestions that there were also some weaknesses that had come out. My positive marks on her speech were not so much an endorsement of her, but my belief that she had delivered exactly the right message to the target audience. Having underestimated her once before, I was suppressing my original gut reaction, that she was in over her head. I figured what would happen would happen.

And yesterday, Shannyn Moore wrote:

I don’t know a person I have so much in common with as I do Sarah Palin.

I, like Sarah, grew up in small town Alaska. My parents were both public school teachers. I am the oldest of three sisters. We went to church on Sundays and again on Wednesday nights. I grew up commercial fishing. I hunted moose and bear with my father. My family owned snowmachines.

I did the pageant thing; won Miss Congeniality as well. I don’t know any person that has as similar background to my own.

But Moore goes on:

Her patterns are similar to George W. Bush; her fundamentalist beliefs; her policy decisions; how she treats her opposition; her ability to keep secrets; her risky behaviors and fiercely loyal insiders some call Palinistas.

I have no doubt that Sarah Palin can unite the Republican Party much like Ronald Reagan did. However, the Republican Party’s unification is not at stake, the country is. Sarah Palin will unite the party, Obama will unite the nation.

Before August 29, PA had only been critical of Palin regarding the ill treatment of science and of UAA Professor, Rick Steiner, in his quest for scientific information; and in regard to the stupid hire of Chuck Kopp to replace Walt Monegan. Now, PA has been on this 24/7. Because Sarah Palin is totally, absolutely unqualified to be Vice President of he United States of America.

And because the information is out there, waiting to be assimilated in a way that anyone but the most biased will be able to understand. Period.

The Alaska MSM is dealing with this explosion of interest fairly responsibly. And so are Alaska bloggers, especially compared to a lot of outside blogs. The learning curve for them must be phenomenal. Even for somebody like me, who has known and spoken with Palin for eighteen years, and lives in the outskirts of Wasilla, it has been difficult re-learning her shortcomings, foibles and selfish behavior patterns.

Immoral Minority's Gryphen has been on to the Palin administrations blunders far longer than most progressive Alaska blogs, and is doing great service.

Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis has covered the Monegan firing and coverup better than any other Alaska news outlet, including the mainstream media. Additionally Celtic Diva is homing in on the specious lies touted by the McCain campaign, about Palin and children.

Bent Alaska is covering Palin's history on LGBT issues. It isn't a pretty picture.

Alaska Real is continuing to look into Palin's real relationship with Alaska's Native community.

Maia, at Own the Sidewalk, is covering many aspects of this, particularly, late this past week, on how we are dealing with the hordes of reporters who have alighted in Southcentral Alaska.

The blog that has amazed the Alaska and Outside progressive blogosphere the most, though, perhaps is the recent addition to our roles, Mudflats. AKMuckraker has attracted an incredibly big and sassy commenting pool, and has helped to spread he word on Palin's past, and on the present manipulation of her image in the media.

And Kodiak Konfidential's Ishmael Melville continues to mix criticism of our Governess (boy did I get jumped on, when I first used that term at PA!!), with his inimitable snark.

And that picture! Ishmael wrote to me:

Kinda cool, really. I've become philosophical over it.....

Some dude was trying to sell them on T-Shirts on Cafe Press but either I or Conde Nast shut them down.... (I think we both objected).

I wrote back:

ish - if you had a penny for every time that image has been viewed, you could buy the Kodiak Brewing Company, and put up a new branch in Wasilla, with the governess on the label...

Two criticisms. The ADN Newsreader has continued through this past nine days
to downplay our collective criticism in the left blogosphere of the far north, to the Palin nomination. If you read back, it is striking! I'm not sure why. And An Alaskan Abroad's Robert Dillon, perhaps as a result of having to hang out with enough Republicans recently to require a series of mind enemas, is drifting further and further from what can be termed "progressive."

Sorry if I missed anyone. No doubt I did. I have to shower and change to go into Anchorage to play bugle, honoring our deceased Veterans.

image -ripening tomatoes, this morning, in my greenhouse