Sarah Palin - One Smart Cookie

Overheal

Pocono Joe wrote: »

I admire you Blue. You get beat down, dust yourself off and get back up fighting. Sometimes you remind me of Sarah Palin.

And you Joe: making Stunning New Threads *shock* and then getting totally de-bunked, then going off to start another, and another and a - are you an Evil Energizer Bunny?

But to Palin's credit she is owed a little more than a page of de-bunk. Admittedly the media played her a bit but admittedly she completely choked, and never, ever recovered.

Maybe you’ve got something there. Maybe there is some evil Sarah Palin twin out there. How else could could the person you described have accomplished so much in life already? It’s not like she’s a Joe Biden or anything. How could the person you describe have accomplished just the followig three things… things many leading politicians couldn’t accomplish in a an entire lifetime?

1. Gov. Palin is a proven fiscal conservative who used her line-item veto to slash hundreds of millions of dollars in spending from the state budget. In considering this accomplishment, keep in mind that the Alaska Legislature is controlled by the GOP, meaning that the funding she cut had already been approved by legislators of her own party. Nevertheless, she made her vetoes stick. Consider, too, that because of the current high price of crude oil, Alaska is enjoying record budget surpluses. It's harder to practice restraint in times of plenty. And look at her entire record over time (more than as revealed by her position on a single bridge): Although Alaska has traditionally been more dependent than other states on federal funding (since the federal government owns such a large portion of the state's property and resources), even the often-critical Anchorage Daily News admits that Gov. Palin has "increasingly distanced herself from earmarking" since 2000, and that her having done so over the past year has been "the leading source of tension between Palin and the state's three-member congressional delegation." Actually exercising fiscal discipline in a time of plenty, at both state and federal levels and against the will of the members of her own party, is a better predictor for how she would actually govern on a national level than ten thousand campaign promises.

Not only did she fight for the $398 million Bridge to nowhere, but also funded the $25 accompanying road to nowhere Quote "according to Alaskan state officials, the $25 million would otherwise have had to be returned to the federal government."

Ridiculous. I'm sure the money could have at least been better expended on improving Police, Fire, Health or Education - just 4 things that always know how to utilize a little extra cash for the good of everyone. But no, they built a dumbass road nobody uses.

2. Gov. Palin kept her campaign promise to revamp the state's pre-existing severance tax on oil & gas production, replacing a structure negotiated behind closed doors by ethically challenged predecessors and the big energy companies with one negotiated in full public view — and then rebated part of the resulting surplus directly to tax-payers. Severance taxes are a kind of property tax charged on a one-time basis, at the time of production, on subsurface assets (like oil, gas & minerals) which can't be quantified and taxed through regular property taxes. There was widespread resentment and distrust over the version negotiated by Gov. Palin's predecessor with the three big energy companies who've traditionally ruled the roost in Alaska (ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, and BP). The new version negotiated and passed with Gov. Palin's support was thoroughly disinfected by the sunshine of public scrutiny. Although it's not a "windfall profits tax" — indeed, the base rate only went from 22.5% to 25% — it did permit the Alaskan people to share in a larger portion of the current high prices for oil by raising the additional, progressive portion of the tax from 0.25% to 0.40% on revenues between $32.50 and $90/bbl. Above that, however, the new law actually cut taxes by dropping the rate on revenues above $90/bbl to 0.1%. With the resulting budget surplus, after contributing to the state's fund for that future day when its oil & gas wealth is exhausted, she pressed for and got legislation to rebate a healthy chunk directly to tax-payers on a per capita basis, trusting them to spend the proceeds from this sale of the state's commonly-owned resources rather than trusting government to spend it for them.

Thats fine, but Christ, forgetting our paragraphs? @_@

Maybe if she didnt do the rebate she could have got her fcuking bridge?

3. Gov. Palin broke a multi-year stalemate over the financing and construction of a $40 billion cross-state gas pipeline that will deliver cleaner, cheaper natural gas to Alaska's own population centers (Alaskans themselves pay some of the nation's highest energy prices), while also delivering gas to the energy-hungry Lower 48. To do this, she had to break the monopoly power of the big energy companies by opening the project to competitive international bidding. Not only has a development contract with a Canadian company now been signed on better terms than had previously been discussed, but the former monopolists — finally spurred by competition — are cranking up their own plan that would not require any taxpayer investment. How precisely this will shake out remains to be seen, but Gov. Palin's vigorous action — calling special sessions of the state legislature and injecting herself directly and vigorously into the process — has ended the deadlock in ways that seem certain to benefit consumers. By this accomplishment, Gov. Palin has done more to advance the cause of American energy independence than any other politician — of any party, and at any level of state or federal government — in this century. But the national media have generally ignored this accomplishment.

Who can blame them really. I can't dispute your last 2 points here, I don't know anything about them. When she did her (oh look, mammorized) speech, we were all impressed, lets be fair. It was well written and masterfuly delivered - it was her debut to the Nation.

But then she did herself in with the Katie Courich interview and she never recovered. Campaign bungled. So of course the media focused on her incompetence in office and not her successes. Of course we all took the Bridge to Nowhere thing and ran it to hell (and still do, because I don't care what way you try to spin it - thats ridiculous). Then there was the fake Sarkosky call (oh man...) - not to mention the Dems were the favorites to win it last election anyway, given the complete failure of the GOP since the turn of the Century (oooh, I like how that sounds..)

Simply put the woman may not be a total loss but neither was she ready to take office in January and we all knew it. In 3 years, who knows. Maybe she'll surprise us. No doubt the GOP has her on the shortlist and is drawing her up a playbook. She's going to want to work her ass off if she's going to be a competitor though from here to 2011. And she's also going to have to defend herself on *a lot* of critical points.

If she is a smart cookie she's full of nuts, too.

edit: Oh yeah, and everything BL said. Which kinda out-majors everything you just said. Hmm.

The Mad Hatter

But, ladies and gentlemen and others, she has done something useful:

Accidental art

Manic Moran

Not that anyone cares much at this point, but the Alaska legislature's ethics investagation has been completed and the results announced.

NTM

Overheal

.......................aaaaaand?

Can I just ask here quickly if anyone ever asked/found out if pocono joe is actually one of these paid republican minions who just trolls sites pushing their agenda??..

Apologies if this has come up before..

And if not, apologies for even thinking such a thing joe..

The Mad Hatter

Deleted User wrote: »

Can I just ask here quickly if anyone ever asked/found out if pocono joe is actually one of these paid republican minions who just trolls sites pushing their agenda??..

Apologies if this has come up before..

And if not, apologies for even thinking such a thing joe..

No, sadly, I think he's genuine. What would be the point in posting on an Irish forum?

Overheal

Joe was a Joe. And he's gone now. Shame, I thought he brought a bit of balance to the forum: yeah he was flamebait but he also offered up the Other View which brought a lot of energy and discussion.
Try not to break the next Right Winger we get.

Manic Moran

Overheal wrote: »

.......................aaaaaand?

What did you expect? No wrongdoing.

NTM

jank

Where is Joe gone?

Overheal

Blue killed him

Manic Moran

Decapitation by sword? Must have missed that bit.

NTM