Sarah Palin Shoulda Been Someone
What goes on, Alaska? A nail biter as we await the final count in Miller V Murkowski!
My friend, my friend. Last night you went to bed and the world was semi-sane. This morning, you awoke to discover that the pundits are doubling down on their Sarah Palin as king-maker meme and you’re looking around you, wondering where the nearest permanent exit from this country is and just who you have to ….well, you’re desperate.
It seems Joe Miller rose up with his Mama Grizzly and stole a lead over incumbent Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski!
Richard Adams from the Guardian UK reports: “With 429 out of 438 electoral districts counted, the pair were separated by just 1,960 votes, with Miller on 45,909 votes (51%) to Murkowski’s 43,949 (49%). A maximum of 16,000 absentee ballots are outstanding, with Murkowski needing to win perhaps two-thirds to overcome Miller’s lead – not impossible but thought to be improbable.”
The pundits will be wild with glee for another reason to keep Sister Sarah in their sights this morning. That woman is gold. The Democratic National Committee will be happy, because after all, Sarah is their biggest fund-raiser and who is easier to run against than the fringy Tea Partiers she ensorses? The Brawny Boys, aka those white supremacist, radical Neo-Nazi, McCarthy-like billionaires funding the Tea Party, will be happy. But you? You will not be happy.
You know immediately that this means she isn’t going away. And that makes you very, very unhappy.
It’s not as we need proof of why, but here’s the robocall that caused some Alaskans to put it on speakerphone in order to begin an argument with the Worst Governor Ever:
Notice that she still refers to herself as “Governor”? Kinda weird for someone who quit to progress Alaska because she didn’t care about titles. Makes me wonder just where Sean Parnell stores his title. And she’s also wandering down that perilous for Palin path of attempting to interpret the Constitution. Danger, Will Robinson. Danger.
And then (please make it stop) a foray to SP’s FB page, the place where courage goes to die:
“Joe may be the underdog in this fight (because by using the power of a politician’s incumbency after being given her Senate seat by her father, Lisa Murkowski has outspent Joe six to one), but Alaskans see through this and are recognizing Joe’s ability to be a real leader.”
Translation, Sarah Palin is still seething mad that Lisa’s father gave Lisa the Senate seat that Palin felt entitled to, and it doesn’t matter who or what it costs, Palin will make Murkowski pay. Sprinkle some other petty feud dust on this one, courtesy of Sarah Palin, and call it a day. But, also, too, my question to Joe Miller would be, “Does a Sarah Palin endorsement mean that you, too, view this job as one you can abandon when the going gets tough?”
The truth is that the Tea Party funneled (or, rather, those white supremacist Neo-Nazi John Birching, scare mongering Neo-Cons – aka, Sarah Palin fans for short) over $500,000 into the Alaskan race.
Alaskans weren’t pleased with the negative TV commercials running every 8 minutes, but hey, these are the kind of hate and lies you can spread when you have the big dollars. And they won’t be pleased to lose Lisa Murkowski, who sits on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee – meaning, she can deliver for Alaska.
It isn’t because the Tea Party is strong in Alaska. It isn’t. Alaska pollster Ivan Moore told The Hill, “The Tea Party movement just isn’t very strong up here, which I guess is a bit ironic.”
It also isn’t because Sarah Palin is loved and adored in Alaska. She isn’t. She has a 41% favorable rating in Alaska according to a May Rasmussen poll. That’s quite a fall from the 80% she enjoyed while handing out her Socialist free money checks. Er, I mean, bein’ a “fiscal conservative”. Oh, it’s good to find humor in this. A wee bit of relief.
In fact, Ivan Moore suggested, “I’m sure Palin’s had an impact on Miller. And I’m sure it’s been a net negative for him. You shouldn’t even want the endorsement of someone with those ratings in this state. ” Ow. Evil operatives.
And it’s not because the Tea Party message resonates in Alaska. Alaska survives off of federal dollars, no matter what Sarah Palin told you as she mocked then candidate Obama for being a community organizer like Jesus. And Alaska has always rewarded those politicians who brought home the pork (as do most states; but just like people, they like to think of themselves as independent). Sarah Palin was the biggest pork-taking governor per capita. Alaska also depends upon federal government jobs. And no matter how Sarah Palin brands Alaska, Alaskans aren’t stupid.
But remember, this isn’t about reality.
It’s the money, honey. See Brawny above.
Oh, and the lack of voter turnout. If you take nothing else but an updated passport and a green card away from this, my friend, let us not forget to get out the vote. If you have to wake your neighbor up and drag her to the poll this November, you will…
Because you heard the robocall dog whistle. And you’re not going to sit at home and let the neo-Nazi Birchers take over just because they have money.
Nope. And the real story here, the one most pundits won’t bother with because it won’t sell, is that Palin never should have involved herself in a petty home fight like this. This isn’t good for her state, it’s not good for the Republican Party and it’s not good for her image. And if she couldn’t resist, she should have been able to pull off more than a nail-biter. In truth, the fact that Miller is winning by the slight margin he is (no matter how low he started against Murkowski, and he was low) doesn’t speak well of Sarah’s endorsement power in her home state. A beloved Governor would have been able to bring in better numbers than this, with the mere nod of her golden head in Miller’s direction. But this took serious cash from outside the state.
Yeah. This took the Brawny man.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Connect with Sarah on Post, Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.
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