Thanks, Achance. I’ve been reading your comments on the Gov all along. It is good to keep us informed of all the good and all the bad.

On balance, I am in favor of the pick, but I want to know EVERYTHING I can. As I think we all should.

not that it matters one way or the other :>) – but Art, the only thing that really concerns me about her at this point is the investigation into her firing of her ex-brother-in-law the cop.

Is there potentially anything there ObiWan EmptySuit™ can make of this investigation?

Seriously, I listened to her whole speech and I never listen to speeches as they tend to make me ill with their phoniness.

Thanks for the info.

Anybody know if she is on record regarding the FairTax?

Damn! There goes the PETA and gun control votes.

She will be able to bring Sailor Boy to the DC area. It’s hard to get down here!

Just an idea for the History Channel series

Is it just me or does this *really *bother anyone else:

“Alaska is not really a fiscally conservative state as many of you would define that. All the subsurface resources belong to the State, so all the oil revenue goes directly to the State Treasury and is then distributed into the economy by political rather than market forces.”

The idea is that Palin is supposed to be a conservative reformer, but fiscally this doesn’t sound particularly conservative, does it?

Achance has been in the tank for Don Young and Ted Stevens for as long as he’s been here.

Just FYI.

Careful AChance, you may be appearing on Fox as a panelist or something.

Good stuff, informative, all from the inside.

I crown Achance the Redstate Alaska SME!

RedState and its readers are waaaaaaaaay ahead of the curve when it comes to Alaska.

Palin = Great pick. It’s time for the Republicans to make history!

nt

Thanks for writing that summary. For me, Energy is the number one issue in this election. I beleive if we sleep walk into Peak Oil, it will simply end our economy.

I’m watching Sarah Palin’s speeches on YouTube, and so far I like what I see.

There is a clear advantage to having someone with a longer record in executive office than Obama, Biden and McCain combined on the ticket. “Change” is not just a slogan for Sarah Palin, it is a set of achievments.

She called out corruption in her own party, then she took it on and beat it.

When she talks about confronting special interests, she means the dominant oil and gas interests in her state and party. The equivalent for Obama would be confronting teachers’ unions, public employees and the trial bar. He has done none of these things, he means confronting other people’s special interests, not his own.

She has actually delivered on her promises on ethics reform.

Granted, two years ago she was mayor of a small town. Two years before he announced he was running for president, Obama was a state legislator. I will take her experience over Obama’s any day. Given the value of executive experience over legislative, it is at least arguable that she is more experienced than McCain or Biden.

Obama is trying to make this election about being the outsider. Not a bad strategy. The outsider nearly always wins. But as a team, McCain-Palin trumps Obama-Biden. McCain has clearly been more maverick than Biden, who has simply climbed the greasy pole through seniority. Obama talks a great game on reform, but Palin is the one with the actual record of achievement.

and honky-tonks! :>)

I spoke to a number of Alaskan Dems in the last 24 hours, wrote it up here:

Local Alaskans See Sarah As Potent Asset But Vulnerable

They say she has a history to “my way or the highway” administrations– that she engaged in firings as mayor too– that led to out of court settlements with her victims that the city of Wasilla paid for.

One interviewee said, “I think they’ll probably be trying to look for a new vice presidential candidate, by Tuesday.”

She earned her popularity by turning in the head of the Alaskan Republican party, who lost his job working for the state, but is still head of the party. Word is he’s not happy and is ready to let loose with all he has to take her out.

One good thing about her, from my perspective, as a progressive– she probably won’t be a reliable partner for the GOP. She has a history that goes all the way back. But just ask Alaska Republican party head Randy Rudrick about that.

As far as my comment title goes, I see her as having the potential, from her history, to be very willing to attempt to use partisan reasons to influence hiring where partisanship should not tread– signature trademarks of Cheney and Gonzalez.

This is my first posting here.

I like Sarah Palin, but this entry points out my concerns about her national viability.

That “Saudi Arabia with booze” comment by streetwise sums it up–Alaska’s wealth is natural resource driven, not capital-driven. The Federal government owns 2/3 of the state, the state another 1/4, indigenous tribes another tenth, leaving the private sector owning about 1% of the entire state.

The state has 670,000 people–smaller than dozens of metropolitan areas in the lower 48.

My township trustee for the last 8 years in Ohio oversees a community of 20,000 people. He farms 50 acres, he enjoys snowmobiling, he’s raised 3 kids, and he’s nowhere near ready to lead the Buckeye State, much less the USA. Ohio, like most of the lower 48, isn’t a place where a small-town politician immediately jumps to the governor’s mansion.

If a so-con was needed, at least Mike Huckabee has lived in the real world and had to solve real problems. (Yeah, I know he believes government should curb vice–a big negative for me.)

Sad that the GOP has become the “clean-government party” instead of the “less government party”.

Thanks for further explaining things in the comments.

On a side note, one of my buddies from McChord moved to Anchorage last summer. Although she is from Oregon, she took a liking to the Emerald Coast when they were stationed there. Your Alaskan summer, or lack thereof this year, is KILLING her.

Ya’ll both need to head to the FL panhandle to soak up some sun and pound the pavement for McCain/Palin this fall. :>)

She’d buzz by Obama with one headfake.

n/t

Original post made Alaska sound socialist, so I will correct a few points here.

The OP correctly noted AK is not in the moral majority wing of the GOP. It is the fiercly independent, gun-toting, resource development/stop radical environmentalism wing of the GOP

The Fed’s rushed a land settlement act through (ANILCA-1970ish) so “Big Oil” could begin work on the trans alaska pipeline. This act gave free (Fed) lifetime medical care to the Alaska Natives and Eskimos (as well as 100 mill acres of land & lots of cash as well). The state is not involved in health care other than state employee insurance.
The state (AK) does pay 100% of school funding in unincorporated areas, but municipalities manage their own schools & share in the costs.

Finally, Oil royalties are divided between the Fed & State. As of a few yrs ago, it had been an equal split. I’m not sure now.

An Alaskan in Waco

“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are so certain of themselves, while wise men are always questioning” Bertrand Russell

Thanks for providing the proper acronyms & dates you pompous A-hole.

U R the IDIOT who said the state paid for all education & health care, and that the state gets all oil royalties. Wrong on all 3 counts.

Wow, some ppl can never admit to being wrong.