Headliner

December 5, 2008
Headliner

And so she goes. Just when I am convinced that I'm going to stop talking about Sarah Palin for awhile (because there are other very important things happening in the world and my writing time is limited) ... she goes and does something that makes it impossible to ignore her.

I'm not the only one having this problem. The national media, who would probably much prefer that she hole up in an igloo someplace, find that they can't avoid talking about her either. There are at least two reasons for this. One is that she keeps doing newsworthy things that are simply not things that people in the news business can ignore and, secondly, she simply has an uncanny grip on our imagination. This appears to be true even among the pundits who claim they can't stand her.

We start to write about Obama's economic policy is shaping up [2 + 2 = what?!?] and we realize that it is critically important, will have tremendous impact on the country's present and future, affects all of us dramatically ... and is highly boring; both to us and to our readers.

Then along comes Sarah Palin. On her way to meet with the President-elect, she takes a brief side-trip at the behest of a desperate Senator about to lose his seat and a Party desperate to not let the Democrats get a 60 vote majority. She then, spending less than a day on it, personally causes the election of the Senator and saves the Republican party. Having answered their call when they asked her to lend her "star power" and succeeding beyond all reasonable or rational expectations, she then she meets the new President to-be and a bunch of admiring Governors, dusts off her apron and scoots back to continue "fixin' up" a state that is, aside from her, in total political melt-down shambles. And, of course, to fix up another pot of moose stew for her hubby and kids.

And we realize that we have "just one more" Palin column in us demanding to get out. And our fingers start talking about her.

The thing is ... both (reasons) are true. She has that "I can't stay away fromness" that is so rare, and when that sort of charisma is contained in a beautiful woman we're all helpless: male, female, black, white, liberal, conservative, Palin-politics haters and Palin-politics lovers. It makes no difference. It is the Princess Di effect. Back in the day ... even stuffy people who wouldn't stoop to admitting knowing who Princess Di was couldn't help but to surreptitiously read the "entertainment magazines" at the checkout stand if they had her picture on it.

But unlike Princess Di or Paris Hilton or Britney Spears who were famous mostly for being famous, Sarah Palin is also legitimately important and is famous for doing valuable newsworthy things. It is a remarkable combination.

She isn't some "famous for being famous" celebrity out looking for a "cause" so she can actually do something important. Palin got famous by doing things that were important.

Nor is she important because of who she married. Princess Di would never have raised a headline if she hadn't "married well" :-) Frankly, although she has neither the beauty nor the charisma of the "crowd" I'm discussing, to a lot larger extent than supporters would ever want to admit, the same is probably true of Hillary Clinton.

Nor is Palin important because she is a knock-out. That just happens to come with the package. But she would be just as legitimately important if she ... well ... if she wasn't.

But Palin has become such a phenomenon, she tops the charts at search engines and YouTube and anywhere people go, that it has even the mainstream media types scratching their heads and continuing to write, in addition to "newsworthy stuff" she does, about her popularity itself. That "phenomenon" has become a newsworthy event in it own right which is something I cannot recall ever happening to a vice presidential candidate on the losing ticket!

Quickly now ... who was Bob Dole's running mate? That isn't what's happening to Sarah. In 20 years the question about the 2008 election will be: "Now who was the presidential candidate that Palin was running with? It's right on the tip of my tongue ..."!

This is particularly mind-boggling because of the image that the punditocracy attempted to paint of her during what they all seemed to believe was her "15 minutes of fame". Even following the election the media claimed that Sarah had lost votes for McCain!

Um. Uh ... media people? Knock, knock. Excuse me, but if she is so toxic then why did Saxby Chambliss beg her to come save him and why did the Republican National Party beg her to save Chambliss to save them from a 60 seat Democratic majority in the Senate?

And more to the point ... why did she succeed so dramatically?

You don't suppose that it is at all possible that it was the pressosphere who ripped Palin so badly before people had a chance to know otherwise that cost McCain those votes do you?

"I can't overstate the impact she had down here." So says the Senator who was about to be unseated in the run-off election. This election was crucial to the Republican party because it appeared likely that if Martin beat Chambliss ... the Democrats would have a filibuster-proof majority. Similarly, and for the exact same reason, the race was just as important to the Democrats. So all the big guns were unholstered. John McCain went down and campaigned for Chambliss ... but no one noticed. Mike Huckabee went down and stumped for him; as did Governor Romney and Rudy Giulani and essentially everyone who was anyone in the Republican party (and who, btw, are all in contention for being the "party leaders" and starting to jockey for possible 2012 presidential runs; which btw, polls now show Republicans care most that Palin runs in the next presidential election! ) ... but nobody noticed. "I went to see Mitt Romney a week ago and I think there were only about 100 people there." said one somewhat awed audience member interviewed after a huge "many thousands of people" Palin rally for Chambliss.

Al Gore went down and campaigned for Jim Martin. So did Bill Clinton. President-elect Obama taped phone messages and a radio ad and turned over his awesome vote-gathering machinery ("probably 100 or more of the Obama people came down"). Even the rapper Ludacris came down to help Martin. But nobody noticed.

Then, on the last day of the campaign, Palin swung by. She only did four short rallies in one day. And the entire world noticed.

Suddenly, Georgia was on everyone's mind. "When she walks in a room, folks just explode," Chambliss gushed after whomping Martin. "And they really did pack the house everywhere we went. She's a dynamic lady, a great administrator, and I think she's got a great future in the Republican Party."

And he kept gushing. He was grateful to all who helped ... but he made it crystal clear that it was Palin's appearance that "really did allow us to peak and get our base fired up". She has (another) serious fan in the Senate now. And the Republican National Committee isn't likely to ever think of her as a light-weight again.

She has done a better job of changing her "media-created" image (which is a remarkably difficult thing to do ... just ask Dan Quayle how to spell potato) in the few weeks since she has been out from under the thumb of the McCain staff than I can remember ever happening.

You have to hope that McCain had intelligent enough people working for him that they are now realizing what an incredibly dumb thing they did by keeping her under wraps. They bought into the ditz image also and were embarrassed that their boss had done something so foolish, so they tried to hide her as though they were ashamed to have McCain associated with her. If they had turned her loose ... well, we'll never know ... but I've a hunch that if they had ... it may well have been the vice-president elect who was drawing those huge crowds for Chambliss last week.

Governor Palin: "Take this cash and shove it!"

March 21, 2009

Take this cash and shove it! Palin has cojones!!

"Oh woe, oh wail, oh moan, oh groan."
"How could she do something like this to our children!?!"

"All she is concerned with is her national reputation; she doesn't care for the people of her state."

My word people! Calm yourselves. Seldom have I seen so many people (who truly ought to know better) in such a tizzy over the actions of a Governor of our Great State. You'd think she was out burning down schools. ["Well she might as well be; it amounts to the same thing!"] Yeah, yeah, I hear you. I think you are nuts, but I hear you. You are getting your point across; it is not necessary to shout so.

So what is this dastardly thing that our gutsy Governor is doing "this time"? She is saying "thanks but no thanks" to what amounts to ~31% of the federal stimulus money that is available to Alaska.

What?!? Turning down free money? Is she nuts?

Apparently some people with very big mouths and very loud voices think so. Oddly [:-)] this are the same people who criticize everything else that she does -- including running for Vice President and thereby "neglecting" the State. And of course these people would have reacted exactly the same if had been solid Democrat and previous Governor Tony Knowles that got tapped for the opportunity to run for V.P. as a Democratic candidate when he was Governor. No ... there is no philosophical consistency to their arguments. They'd have been out in the streets cheering Tony on and babbling and bubbling about how great it was for Alaska to have that sort of national exposure.

It is always the same mouths. I believe it was Robert Heinlein who said that if you just don't have the time to study up on all the issues and make a truly informed choice at the ballot box, to find a reliable bozo and just vote the opposite from how he or she votes. [Pelosi comes to mind on the national political field. She is as total a bozo as have ever been spawned and I can't imagine ... I take it back. There probably are areas where we would agree. I am neither a Republican nor a conservative. But Pelosi is an unadulterated idiot so you'd still be on the right side of most issues so long as you take a position opposite whatever hers might be on any given subject.

We have such people here on the statewide political scene as well. I don't need to name names. Just pick up any newspaper and see who is quoted with the loudest moan and wail about how Sarah is destroying education in Alaska ... or whatever gripe they have with her turning down the "free money". And then always listen to that person and vote the other way on any issue.

Because this is that type of litmus test. Those who are aghast that she would turn the money down are the idiots ... bozos ... that will be wrong on virtually every issue. At least on every economic issue.

See, here's the thing. I've been grumbling about this to anyone who would put up with me [:-)] for as long as I can remember; this automatic accepting of all money offered (and often begging for more), regardless of the long term consequences and regardless of all the strings that come attached to the money. I have been waiting for someone in the Governor's chair to have the guts to "just say no" all of my adult life. But until Sarah Palin came along, we didn't have any Governors with guts. But this lady has got them.

Despite my earlier reservations ... defending her from vicious false hatchet jobs but not truly backing her because we disagreed on so many things ... I think this may have made me a convert. Oh, I'll still disagree with her when she's wrong [:-)]. But she proved to have big-league cojones when she broke up the cozy little Big Oil/oiled legislators club ... something every previous recent Governor had either been in on or had winked at or to which they intentionally closed their eyes. But she charged in without any hesitation and with no regard whose head fell. If they were corrupt, she wanted them rooted out. And she did it! She dragged in the F.B.I. and helped them get their investigation going and helped them in other, quieter ways, as well.

And, along with some rich oil barons and lesser known conspirators, the probe she started has now succeeded in bagging its 11th trophy. Beverly Masek just pled guilty to taking bribes from Big Oil while in office and specifically in exchange for killing a bill that she herself had introduced! She is the 11th conviction to date. And, so far, all of them were Republicans. And they are all staring at bars ... or having nightmares about soon staring at bars ... purely because Sarah Palin had the guts to not play slimeball. There was so much money and power that she took down, I'm honestly amazed that she's even alive.

The fact that it was her own party that took the brunt of that assault has kept Democrats remarkably positive about her and Republicans have a difficult time criticizing her for breaking up what was completely unambiguous selling of votes.

This time it is different. Oh, she still gets huge points for cojones; only this time it is mostly Democrats who are opposed to her refusal to take "free money" (although not a lot of Republicans have had the guts to jump on the bandwagon with her). Doesn't matter. She is doing what it right. What all thinking people know is right [at least regarding the forest ... she may have a few trees in the wrong group]. But conceptually we all know that

1) the money isn't "free". It comes from the pockets of the taxpayers in this country. The government as no money except that which it takes from us or that which it prints which causes inflation thus devaluing what money we do have and is the same, only more insidious, as taxation.

2) that we shouldn't take money that has a lot of strings attached which effectively give the feds a lot more control over decisions that should be made by the states [you want to talk about buying votes ... that's exactly what the feds do with the money they dangle at us.] They say "You want this, you can have it ... only you have to run the schools the way WE want you to, not the way you want to." Every previous Administration in the State has said, "Oh, ok, cool" and we get idiotic bureaucrats sitting at a desk in Washington D.C. making up rules for how Alaska's Bush schools should be operated ... instead of the people who know anything about the Bush, the existing school systems, the people who attend them and what they really need to be effective. But every previous Governor has stepped right up to the trough. It is embarrassing besides being stupid. Governor Palin even had the unmitigated audacity to flatly say [what most of us know but are too mealy-mouthed to say]: "To me it's just a bribe". Awesome, Governor. Absolutely awesome.

3) that we shouldn't take money that is going to get us into programs or bridges or anything else that we are going to have to fund once the feds leave after supplying the "seed money". For every building that we build with federal dollars, we end up having to maintain it (and keep it warm and lighted and cleaned); for every government program that we start that people begin to depend on ... we have to pay to keep them running when the federal money goes away. It is like a drug. In fact many people have declared that it is the most addictive of all drugs. But when the feds dangle the cocaine baggy in front of your nose and you already have developed a "taste" for the stuff ... you take it. And when it is gone ... we don't just quit the habit. Instead we reach into our own pocket to buy more ... to keep the program going.

WE ALL KNOW ALL THIS! But so few politicians have ever had the guts to say "no thanks". We will be paying for the addictions developed by previous administrations for a very long time. Three hurrahs for Sarah for not adding more. [Can you imagine Nancy Pelosi turning it down?!? :-D] It's ok. You can laugh. It really was a joke if it wasn't such an expensive one. All Alaskans reading this: Thank Whoever It Is That You Thank that we have Sarah as Governor instead of Nancy.

Great job again Governor Palin. I'm very rarely impressed by a politician. But this time, I am truly impressed.

On behalf of all rational people everywhere ... thank you Governor.