Anyone here still thinks Palin is still honest?

[JonLP24]

:hi:

I'm not trying to cause a stir but I was browsing your board to as back as posts from 2004 to see what early opinions of Palin were and they varied that some of you repeatedly said she is honest. I don't live in Alaska so I can't tell you if she was or not but clearly in the last 2 months of the campaign she has been anything but honest and wonder if any of you that once felt that feel differently?

As I was reading the replies I was suprised to see such nice things about Palin on DU compared to what is said about her on the other boards. I don't live in Alaska but if I did, I may have said the same things because I have no idea what she was like campaigning as governor or the job she has done(other then her wikipedia profile)

[Blue_In_AK]

1. She didn't seem to be doing too bad a job as governor,

at least from newspaper and TV accounts. She worked well with the Democrats in the state legislature, and didn't seem to be partisan at all. She seemed to stand up to the big oil companies rather than bending over for them as Frank Murkowski had done.

I for one have been totally floored by this "pitbull" persona that she's brought out for this campaign. I met her personally in 2006 when she was campaigning, and she seemed friendly, down-to-earth, likeable.

I don't like her at all now, beginning with her speech at the RNC which I couldn't even sit through. I'm sure I'm not alone. She has embarrassed us as Alaskans, and I wouldn't want to be her when she comes back here. She'll never regain that 80% approval rating. She's burned too many bridges since August 29.

[JonLP24]

2. I completely understand

There was a time when I thought McCain was a swell guy.

I wasn't going to say anything originally, I was just browsing out of curiousity. The reason why I did say something because after 2 months of reading trash talk about Palin from LBN and GD I was floored when I came here reading comments such as 'populist' and 'honest'

[Blue_In_AK]

3. The Sarah that we've seen on the campaign trail

seems like some sort of hideous doppelganger, really. Maybe this has been the "real Sarah" all along, but if so, she sure had a lot of people fooled.

[JonLP24]

4. Either way, she is now morally bankrupt

I apologize if I came off as offensive. It's just that I really, really don't like her and couldn't believe what I was reading but I realize I don't live in AK so I have no idea what she was like before all this.

[Blue_In_AK]

5. She sold her soul

and I wasn't offended at all. I couldn't agree with you more.

[liberalaska]

6. you really have to know about our last governor

He was a complete crook, and the most hated governor in the country. He had 12% approval ratings, lower than the indicted governor or Ohio at the time. He came in 3rd place in the republican primary in his reelection bid, and she came in first.

By the time she won the primary people had fallen for her. Her entire campaign was saying "Alaska first," and "open adn transparent" as many times as possible, people bought it after the blatant corruption. Plus she had it timed right so the FBI was cleaning up the state and putting legislators in prison, and I think that people somehow associated that with her.

I have never been a fan of hers, and I have never trusted her. It has led to a lot of disagreements with family and friends some of whom are very progressive people who bought into the hype. But I don't know anyone personally anymore who believes in her.

[Steerpike]

7. I still have faith that she will finish off her stint as governor

successfully. As candidate for VP she is horrible...I don't know why she has been so transformed. But on the national scene she has turned into some sort of monster. Kind of sad really. I've had the opportunity to meet and speak with the last 3 governors...and she was one of the more friendly ones...

[liberalaska]

8. no offense but,

who fucking cares if she is friendly? I've had the opportunity to meet and speak with the last 4 governors and I thought she was a bitch. But then again I made the mistake of filming her at a sign waving a couple days before the primary in 06 when someone completely unaffiliated with me showed up to protest her. Her entire family didn't forget that I was the guy who filmed it and for the rest of the campaign if I got near her and Todd was there he would come and put his chest in my camera and tell me I couldn't film her. And this is a professional camera as I was working on a documentary about the election, I wasn't just some dude with a handycam, not that that would make it any better.

I've filmed stuff with the last 3 governors, and even gave Frank a hard time on camera and he never pulled any of the shit that the Palin's did. And Tony was always very cool, by far the most friendly I have dealt with.

But none of that even matters as far as her governorship goes. She abused her power, she has basically done nothing for this state since taking office (besides taking credit for the legislature and FBIs hard work). It's time to recall/impeach her starting Nov 6. I would say we should start Nov 5, but I plan to stay out late celibrating the night before.

[Steerpike]

9. sorry I offended you so badly

you could not engage in civil discousres

[liberalaska]

10. ...

Just cause I dropped a couple of "dirty words?" Sorry if that doesn't count as civil discourse. Don't let it scare you off though, words can't hurt you, even the 7 that you can't say on TV. I try to avoid them, but I felt the circumstances warranted the use. They weren't directed at you or anyone, just used to emphasize the general frustration at the idea.

I am just incredibly sick of people talking about how nice Sarah is, or how much better she is than Frank. Those things do not matter at all. What matters is what she has done for this state. Democrats/progressives/everyone up here has given her a free pass up until Troopergate, and it seems like most people still want to.

She hasn't done a thing since taking office. She sits there looking pretty and the only thing she worries about is her popularity numbers, and apparently her personal vendettas.

Not being the worst governor in the history of this state (aka Frank) is basically the only thing good that anyone can say about her, and in my book that is not a qualification for her office.

[Steerpike]

11. Do you even know what you are talking about?

She has done enough to make mortal enemies of big oil and most of the repuglicans...

[liberalaska]

12. She has done things that were politically popular

and she has taken credit for things that Dems in the legislature have done. So maybe I should say that outside of ACES, AGIA, and Point Thompson she hasn't done anything. But she isn't responsible for ACES, we can thank the Dems and the FBI for that one, sure she helped push it through, but only becuase it was politically popular. AGIA is a joke. AGIA isn't going to get us a gasline, and on the off chance it does it is going to be built and run by foreign multi-national corporations and taken out the country, she did nothing about the Port Authority's AGIA bid being hijacked at the last stage in the process, becuase delays would have cost political capital. And Point Thompson should have been done a long, long time ago, but who knows whats going to happen with that anyway. It isn't resolved yet as far as I know.

Sure big oil / big oil bought republicans hate her, but that isn't a good enough reason for me to support someone who is wrong on everything else, and is morally and ethically bankrupt.

[Steerpike]

13. I beg to differ....

I never said to support her.
ACES would never have passed without The Governor...never...She was the force that steamrolled over everyone in the lege to get that thru, and it was the right thing to do. It took a big fat bite out of BIG OILS over engorged ass...deep fried it and gave it to us.
AGIA forced big oils hand, otherwise a natural gas pipeline would never even be started for at least 15 years. I spoke to a BP VP last year and he told me that it could not be done for financial reasons. It was just not profitable for them, since they need the gas on the north slope to provide pressure for pumping oil.
Point Thompson's leases were initially pulled by Murkowski in a lege move. Governor Palin took it to the courts where it should be resolved once and for all. She did not have to do that. She could have dropped the whole thing and given BIG OIL FREE REIGN. But, she choose to stand up to them.
I'm just saying it's too bad that the lesson we've learned is that if you stand up to big oil you will be destroyed, by the dems and by the repugs. That is not the lesson we as Alaskans should be pushing.
If she has only done things that were politically popular, why do all the corporatists hate her (democratic and republican). That is the question you should be asking.
As for the Port Authority, all good intentions (and some really nice guys), but; no money, no legal access to product, and no experience...no go.
Oh, I can say bad things about Sarah, our points of disagreement. She is against reproductive rights and gay rights, and she supports the war in Iraq. For these three reasons alone she must fail. She is after all a cultural extremist of the far right.
But, she is an economic populist (and so am I). And, it makes me sad that she is the only populist to make a difference in so many years. And for that she will be taken down.

Even Obama voted for the 700 billion "leave no millionaire behind" package. He never thought just to give the money to us. Sarah is a throwback to the old style southern populists. And we all know what happened to them.

[Blue_In_AK]

14. Big Oil isn't what's destroying Sarah

Sarah's destroying herself. If she had told John McCain "no" like any rational person would have done, realizing that she was in no way qualified for that position -- or at the very least, having accepted, if she had refused to take the low road that they apparently instructed her to take, I might have still had some respect for her. There's no excuse for the way she has behaved on the campaign trail, insinuating that Obama is a terrorist, with her not so thinly veiled racism. Wooten and Troopergate aside, I can't forgive her for this.

I'll freely admit, I liked the old Sarah -- I wouldn't have voted for her, but I met her on election day in 2006, she was friendly, she had nice things to say about my candidate Diane Benson. I thought for a Republican she was a halfway decent human being. Not any more, and it's going to take a lot to convince me otherwise.

She has a lot to answer for when she comes back here. She hasn't represented Alaska well to Outsiders who don't know anything about the "good" she did here. All they see is this hateful, bigoted demagogue, and they wonder what's wrong with Alaskans that we elected her. She hasn't done us a bit of good, and when Obama is elected, he won't forget how she stirred the crowds up against him. This isn't beneficial to our state.

[liberalaska]

15. The only problem I have with your statement

Is that you keep saying that the Dems are going after her because she took on oil. That is flat out ridiculous. They were behind/in front of her on all the issues you named, they are looking into her because she violated the law. They are looking into her because she is unethical and immoral, and it is their duty to look into any governor who has broken ethics laws as clearly as she has. Luckily becuase of the working group there are some D's in a position to do that now.

Progressive's need to stop settling for good enough or better than the last guy, have a little backbone and speak out against someone who has so clearly violated the public trust. We need to stop pretending like Sarah is good for this state just because she "took on big oil." I would be just as angry and vocal about it if it was a liberal Democrat who I agreed on with everything.

Her downfall will have nothing at all to do with her being an "economic populist." It will have everything to do with her being ethically and morally bankrupt and abandoning this state to further her own political aspirations. And all of us liberals / progressives / whatever you want to call yourself can take advantage of the fractured republican party and get someone into office who will stand up to Big Oil and act in an ethical manner in the other aspects of their life/job.

[Steerpike]

16. I agree that most of the Dem's took her on because they see her weakness.

But, I'm afraid now we will get nothing but corporatist in the governor's seat. You are dreaming if you think a liberal dem is going to take the Governor's office in Alaska. If you think Tony was a liberal Democrat you must surely be blind. He stabbed the natives in the back and was not a friend to the gays. He was totally in the pocket of the oil companies and gave them whatever they wanted. I voted for him every time he ran, but it was always a compromise. I can tell you are a true believer, and that is a good thing. But, killing the populist wing of the AK Repug Party will only unite the republican party in Alaska. So following your logic...by killing Palin for "ethical" reasons will only make the Conservatives stronger.

[liberalaska]

17. I don't see how it would make them stronger where it counts.

With the voters. There are pretty much two wings of the Republicans as I see it, the Corrupt Bastards and the Palinistas. And now the public is seeing that there might not be much difference between them. The republican base is fractured and growing more so with each new ethics complaint against Palin. Could lead to a third party conservative candidate in the next election, splitting the right wing vote, could lead to disillusioned republicans staying home rather than voting for a Corrupt Bastard, either way the Dems could get a little help from it. I'm not suggesting we could elect Hugo Chavez in 2010, but we could probably get Eric Croft or another Dem who is ethical, honest, and has a backbone to stand up for this state and against big oil.

I agree with you about Tony, I have spent a pretty good amount of time with him over the years and like him personally a lot. I voted for him every time in general elections too, as he has always been better than the other option.