I always thought Palin resigned from her governor's position so she could make more money freelancing. But it turns out she was forced out.....by a fellow Republican. Apparently, she was spending so much time out of state that people were getting annoyed and Impeach Palin signs started going up in downtown Anchorage. As an aside how come we don't get that kind of info in the lower 48.....until 12 mos later?
Here's one of the signs:
“Reality” is represented by the photo above of the “Impeach Palin” signs found all over downtown in 2009. I was amazed the first time I saw one, knowing how frightened many people were (and still are) to cross the Palins. I researched into it and discovered that these signs weren’t part of any Democratic conspiracy…no “Alaska Mafia” provided funds. These signs were bought and paid for by a hardcore conservative Obama-disliking Republican who realized that Palin was NOT out for the good of Alaska but for the good of her own fame and fortune. When I spoke to him over a year ago, he informed me that his like-minded friends and former Palin supporters had been dropping like flies from her “fan club” after seeing the way she had been ignoring her duties and treating her state. That was when Palin was spending a great amount of time out of state at self-aggrandizing events. That was the time the Legislature rejected a key Palin appointment, when it was clear she had lost the majority of the Legislature, key Republicans who were former supporters as well as Democrats. (Who later overrode her veto of the stimulus money.) That was also when Palin’s numbers in the Hays poll went from a whopping 80+% favorable in 2008 to a 53% in May 2009 and bottoming out at 46.8% favorable and 47% unfavorable in July 2009 – right about “quitting time.”
Our sign-buyer couldn’t take it anymore and spent his hard-earned money to make a point.
Here’s the reaction on July 23rd, after she announced she was quitting:
No “Alaska Mafia” did that to Sarah Palin, she did it to herself.
But facts are so limiting and they often are too boring to make good stories. So, in comes the Palin spin, which actually found an audience beyond her devotees during her book tour. That evil “Lamestream Media” in the form of a Time Magazine Cover Story about her quitting and then again in their blog Swampland back in July of 2009, repeated Palin’s accusations from the book. They even got a response from Press Secretary Gibbs:
Palin and her Alaska circle find evidence for their suspicions about the White House in the person of Pete Rouse, who lived in Juneau for a time before he became chief of staff to a young U.S. Senator named Barack Obama. Rouse, they note, is a friend of former Alaska state senator Kim Elton, who pushed the first ethics investigation of Palin, examining her controversial firing of the state’s public-safety commissioner. Both Rouse and Elton have joined the Obama Administration. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs scoffed at the theory. “The charge is ridiculous,” he said. “Obviously there is no effort … From my vantage point, a lot of the criticism she is getting from others seems to be generated from self-inflicted wounds.
However, the blog went beyond that by printing an interview with then-spokesperson Meg Stapleton:
Meg went a step further at one point telling me, “I just hope to God Rahm Emanuel isn’t using taxpayer money to come after Alaska.” That’s the way they think about it: that these Alaskans filing ethics complaints have been hoodwinked by Obama operatives into wasting the Alaskan government’s time and resources.
Are you kidding me?
This whole thing is so simple to research it’s ridiculous. I find it amazing how Time Magazine, that pillar of journalistic ethics, didn’t actually talk to someone about such a serious accusation as using federal money to “come after Alaska.” They also didn’t deem it important enough to contact one of the people being smeared by these lies like, say, someone who actually filed a complaint!
Palin and her blogger minions keep repeating these fantasies to the press. They have even helped to expand on these falsehoods through unintentionally amusing videos. Of that alleged “Alaska Mafia,” it seems that Jeanne Devon, Shannyn Moore and…well…yours truly are three of their favorite targets. (Ohmygosh…there’s three of us…and we’re women…that must mean…):
MACBETH!
This video is more humorous than anything but highlights some of the recurring lies – not only do they claim we were “organized” by the Obama Camp but that we were also paid.
Oh, if that were only true…I’ve never received a dime from any famous billionaires, Alaska politicians…public figures of any kind. However, I am perfectly willing to negotiate!
Of course, it seems that many of the now-Palin blogs, shall we say, “came to being” at the same time McCain supporters were providing the means. It’s an effective Rovian technique to accuse the other guy of doing something that you’ve already done.
The latest video isn’t humorous, so it’s only irritating. It makes tons of inaccurate assumptions and inferences based on how many of us know each other and IT USES MY PHOTOS!
This video was made for and by folks who know nothing about Alaska.
1) Probably the biggest lie perpetrated by these people is the one about Senator Kim Elton. According to the Palinista lore, he started “Troopergate” at the behest of the Obama Camp, and organized all of us against Palin. For that, he was supposedly given a spot in the Obama Administration.
There are several pretty large roadblocks to that EVER being true:
– The Calendar: The Alaska Legislative Council decided to investigate the Monegan firing on July 28, 2008, a full month before anyone had any inkling of a possible McCain tap – a month before Sarah Palin’s VP candidacy is revealed.
– AK Legislative Rules: Senator Kim Elton did not launch nor lead the “Troopergate” investigation. It was launched by the entire Legislative Council, which is bipartisan and, at the time, was made up of a majority of Republicans. It was led by a hired out-of-state special investigator, attorney Stephen Branchflower. The closest Senator to the investigation was Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Hollis French.
2) Alaska has a grand total of about 600,000 people. Anchorage itself has about 300,000 folks and is the primary hub for many things, including air travel. I’ve always joked that if you want to meet Alaskan celebrities and politicians, just hang out at the Safeway/Carrs grocery store at Minnesota Drive. It’s the closest one to the airport and the closest one to the old-monied neighborhood of Turnagain (Hickel mansion, Sheffield mansion, etc…) I met the late musher and Alaskan hero Norman Vaughan there and have seen numerous politicians.
It’s just a fact…Alaskans tend to personally know their politicians. If they don’t, it’s not due to a lack of opportunity.
3) If you are a politically active Democrat in Anchorage, you have regular opportunities to meet ALL of your statewide politicians because this is also the fundraising hub for everyone, Democrat or Republican. Most of the pictures used in this video were from the Annual Statewide Dinner and fundraiser for the Democratic Party. Another series of photos was from a fundraiser for one of the 2009 Anchorage mayoral candidates held at Senator Begich’s house. Many of the Anchorage Democratic politicians have fundraisers for others in their homes…especially for the folks out in Rural Alaska.
Ooooh…how conspiratorial…
4) Regarding the “ethics complaints,” I am also the only Alaska blogger (that I know of) who filed an ethic’s complaint (Arctic Cat). Only two other registered Democrats (that I know of) filed ethics complaints – one each. The rest were all filed by Independents and Republicans. The Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act, one of the most poorly written documents on the planet, is pretty vague in the “how to” department when it comes to writing a complaint. Therefore, the only way to really figure it out is contact someone who has previously filed one. I contacted Andree McLeod (Republican) when I decided I wanted to file a complaint to see if she had some sort of template I could use. Several other folks contacted me for the same reason. While there is some level of comradarie through our shared experience (think of circling the wagons), none of the filers I know are in the same social circles…especially during election season! (Remember, most filers were Republicans and unaffiliated.)
The most intriguing part about all of this Palin-Rouse paranoia is that those of us fully acquainted with Sarah Palin’s antics know that she doesn’t go seriously on the attack about something unless there is potential damage to her brand…and for Sarah, “on the attack” means incoherent ramblings on Twitter!
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