Man, Palin and her people don't give the political comics and satirists a chance, do they? They're out there in the ring all the time, in clown make-up, orange wigs, and comical two-foot long shoes, falling off bitty little bicycles, sitting down on whoopee cushions, falling off the tight ropes, dancing with pink French poodles with ruffles round their necks, and using the safety net as their personal trampoline.
Alaskan progressive Mudflats fills in some background:
Back in 2006, the members of the Alaska State Legislature were doing their jobs in the place they were supposed to be doing their jobs, also known as the state capitol, Juneau. The governor, however, didn’t like Juneau much. She preferred to do her job from Wasilla and Anchorage, while collecting per diem payments and living in her own home. I know that the rest of the Legislature who live in the Anchorage area would probably love to do their jobs from home while collecting per diem payments. It’s hard to be away from your family for that long. Juneau can only be reached by plane. It can be difficult. But I’m guessing it would be frowned upon if they did it.
Double-standard aside, Sarah Palin was absent from her place of employment a lot. As a sign of protest, legislators from both sides of the aisle took to wearing a unique fashion accessory. They appeared at the Legislative session wearing buttons that said, “Where’s Sarah?” They realized that it was, in fact, impossible to be effective as a governor if you are not actually present.
This astute political observation couldn’t be more relevant today. Today, Sarah Palin is not in her office. She is not dealing with the affairs of state. She is not working on the gas pipeline, or the dropout rate, or trying to figure out why our gas prices are more expensive than anywhere else in the country. She’s not playing catch-up from all the work she missed while on the campaign trail, and she’s not trying to figure out what to do to keep Alaskans warm this winter. She’s not figuring out what to do about the budget which was finalized when oil was in the $60/barrel range, not the $45/barrel it is now.
So, where’s Sarah? She is on the stump for Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss. She flew out to a private fundraiser last night, and is making four campaign stops in Georgia today. This travel comes on the heels of two months of campaigning out of state, and a recent trip to Florida for the Republican Governors’ conference. Yes, this is only two days (plus travel prep, speech prep, flying time, jet lag, etc.), but once again the Governor has missed the point. It’s what got her in the turkey video. She was unable to step outside the situation and ask herself, “How will this look to OTHERS?” How will it look that after months away trying to run the state from my Blackberry, and a return to a politically divided Alaska with lots of domestic problems that have been on the back burner, that I’m heading off to do more partisan political grandstanding for a controversial Republican candidate on the other side of the continent?” Because, if she had asked the question, the answer would have been, “Bad.”
Mudflats has reprinted a statement from Alaskan Democrats who would like to point out to the governor that things aren't going all that well back home. Take a look.
Subsequently, the Palin administration responded, and I've already told you what Mudflats says they said. But let's read it again!
Meanwhile, Alaska Dispatch reports on the reaction by the Palin administration to the Democrats’ press conference this morning, decrying the governor for leaving the state to engage in partisan campaigning while vital Alaskan issues go unaddressed by our absentee governor. They called a press conference of their own:
“It has been 27 days since the election and this is the fifth day (Palin) has not been in the state,” Bill McAllister, Palin’s spokesman, told reporters at the news conference. “State business is unaffected.”
Mudflats insists on doiing the math.
Eh, after all: Palin. Count your blessings, Alaska Demcrats. It's sort of like when Bush used to spend all his time at Crawford. At least at Crawford, he was busy cutting brush and not mucking about with the much sharper instrumentalities of government.
Mudflats has got a good Olbermann video embedded here. We recommends taking a look.
OOOOH! OOOOOH! PS. She's still wearing all that expensive campaign clothing ($150,000) she was going to donate to charity.
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