Sarah’s Weekend Away.
28 01 2009There’s lots of speculation about what exactly our governor will be doing this weekend. Here’s the scoop, straight from the governor’s office.
Friday evening, the governor will be dining with Fred and Marlene Malek. Mr. Malek is a “prominent business leader” and like most prominent business leaders who invite politicians over for swanky private dinners, there’s more than first meets the eye.
Fred Malek received his 15 minutes of fame in the 1970s as deputy director of CREEP (Committee to Re-elect the President), the Nixon White House operation behind Watergate. Unlike many of his former associates, Malek walked–but not out of Washington. After lying low for a time, he made his political comeback as a leader in the Republican Party in the late 1980s, only to resign as deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1988 when an ugly incident from his past came to light: At Nixon’s behest, he had drawn up a list of Jews in the Bureau of Labor Statistics, where Nixon thought a “Jewish cabal” was out to get him. Nonetheless, Malek rebounded yet again in 1992 as campaign manager for the Bush/Quayle ticket.
Now a GOP fundraiser, Malek once wrote a most explicit description of political influence. In a briefing paper on the federalbudget to Nixon in 1972, Malek asserted: “All major grants and construction decisions for the next fiscal year were reviewed prior to the finalization of the budgets to ensure to the extent possible they impacted on politically beneficial areas.”
The hostess is a big Republican political donor, and apparently a fan of Fred Thompson.
Palin feels “honored” to have been invited to this event, and looks forward to discussing Alaskan stuff with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan, and others in attendance. Here’s where you can have a mental image of Sarah Palin introducing herself to Alan Greenspan just like she did to the fake Nicholas Sarkozy. “Hiiiiii! I’m Sair-aah!” While you’re at it, you can imagine me (as though I would ever be invited to such a thing) spraying my Syrah all over the white shag carpeting and Mitch McConnell.
Then Saturday, she’ll meet with staff in her D.C. office, and then it’s off to the Cethe nter for Strategic and International Studies luncheon, and then the Alfalfa Club Dinner. She’ll be able to rub elbows all weekend, talking about “Drill baby, drill” and begging Obama not to give Alaska any money.
She will not be speaking at, nor attending the RNC Winter meeting. Hmmm. Decided against partisan stuff, apparently.
January 28th, 2009 at 11:32 PM
John Katz’s office is on North Capitol Street, which is the dividing line between the east and west portions of the city. He’s not in the Capitol Building, but his office is just a couple blocks away from it. It’s also about a block from Union Station. This is not Foggy Bottom.
January 28th, 2009 at 11:34 PM
@Diane (22:46:22) :
Oh details, details, dear. You know SP can’t be bothered with those…
January 28th, 2009 at 11:44 PM
Well, at least she isn’t going to FL, it looks like the weather isn’t much better on the east coast and she may be hearing from alot of the easterns whose power was shut off because their grid went down….lol
January 29th, 2009 at 1:01 AM
@realalaska — I looked up Katz’s address in DC. He’s in the building next door to the National Farmers Union, as you say, right near Union Station. If I’d known, I would have stopped in to meet everyone and say hi.
Is anyone else here wearing out their copy of the Constitution of the State of Alaska since August 29, 2008, looking stuff up? Jeeze, Louise!
I’m very happy to see the House Judiciary Committee (even Coghill!) raising Cain about Colberg and the subpoenas. I used to pick on Jay Ramras a lot. May have to knock that off for awhile.
January 29th, 2009 at 1:11 AM
@ Peaceful Granny
I heard from Ann today before 8am, and she reported that 9 boxes arrived yesterday! She’s very excited about the help. She received around 14 boxes last Friday and it just so happened that a reporter from the Tundra Times was there while the delivery was made:
“Today, the Tundra Drums came here to interview not only me but also anyone else that was willing to come forward. Also when she was here we received our FIRST food drive boxes at the youth center we got nearly 100 lbs of food, diapers, wipes, and toiletries in. So the photojournalist took pictures of my husband and I carrying it in and opening the boxes and one of the elders happened to be there watching me open the boxes and the photojournalist got a picture of her watching me. Plus she took lots of pictures of Nunam Iqua and one family actually invited her into their home. It was a GREAT DAY!!!”
I’ve been checking the Tundra Drums and the article has not come out yet…don’t know why since Ann thought / hoped it would come out by Monday.
She is experiencing what those of us who have been to or lived in villages know – there is not complete consensus about whether the attention is completely a good thing…but Ann is dealing with the situation with grace and lots of energy! She’s one of those people that can’t stand by, or can’t sit still when there is lots to be done…
I know the feeling – in a very different context – but it’s how I feel about all the attention the SP has brought to Alaska. Much of the attention has attracted negativity, derision and criticism from folks who normally wouldn’t give a second thought to AK. Those are the people who just say the stupidest, weirdest, most clueless things about Alaska now that they feel like they are mini experts. We shake our collective heads…and don’t bother with them because they have ZERO imagination or curiosity. Of course they can’t understand our state and lifestyles! And frankly, we don’t want them to and would be happy if they just forgot about us all over again.
Then there are the “future” Alaskans or adventurous travelers – they ask a million questions, ooh and ahhh and want to know what it’s really like, or tell us how long they have wanted to come visit (or move here). Those folks come with an open mind generally, and put their judgments aside when they just don’t apply to life in Alaska.
We need to be respectful and mindful of the ways of rural Alaskan residents / villagers and keep the stupid comments to a minimum. This is a fascinating story involving a land and a people that are very real and much in need of our understanding as much as anything. And it’s a very long story…
Did you know that I’m standing on a box marked “SOAP”? Well I am.
January 29th, 2009 at 2:00 AM
@ TX Lisa
Palin knew about the VP job much sooner. The Alaska Magazine, February 2008, the following statement was made in an article regarding Palin. “She can be on the phone with Dick Cheney and have (Republican Senate President) Lyda Green right outside her door, and her kids call and she goes, ‘Oops, hold on,’” said Leighow, the deputy press secretary. “Her kids trump everyone, and I think that’s pretty neat.” So, she was putting Cheney on hold prior to that February article. I also read in another article that she was to speak at a conference but was unable, so Cheney gave a speech in her stead. I believe she knew about being considered for VP in mid-summer of 2007.
January 29th, 2009 at 5:38 AM
Morning All,
I posted this late last night on the daily wrap up and not sure how many would go back and read it. I just read Peaceful Granny’s question up above so I thought I would cut and past it here.
Struggling_in_Nunam_Iqua (22:24:14) :
Evening Mudflatters!!!
OOOH man I almost peed my pants when I read the posts referring to “You need to read up on village life before you go all granola on them. ”
I have refrained from as AKM says “Feeding the Trolls”. Even though sometimes it’s really hard not to make comments back to them. But then I just read on and see y’all taking care of them.
Ok, ANYWAY, an UPDATE here in Nunam Iqua….
We received 6 boxes of food yesterday, I would love to be able to say how much the total weight was but some of the flatrate boxes are coming in with no weight recorded on them. We received boxes from Houston, TX, Wahpeton, ND, and Honolulu, HI. And rumor has it there was a lot of boxes on the flight that came in tonight, don’t know that they are all for the food drive but I am keeping my fingers crossed.
I received a call from the Emmonak Tribal Council this morning and they asked me for a list of those in need here in Nunam Iqua and asked if someone could come get boxes. I put in a call to Grant Aviation in Emmonak and thought well it never hurts to ask… “Can Grant possibly bring the boxes down for us?” Emmonak Grant manager replied and I QUOTE “I would be HONORED to bring them down, and we won’t charge you anything, we’ll bring them down for free” HONORED!! WOW That word stuck with me all day. So hopefully sometime soon we will get boxes from Emmonak.
I am soooooooooo happy Grant Aviation is going to bring them down because I really didn’t want to send someone all the way up there because it has been WELL below freezing all day. Right now at 10 p.m. it’s -10 below zero and dropping still.
(LOL I am still giggling about the granola comment!!) I was laughing so hard I couldn’t hardly explain to my husband what was so funny.
We have been giving out all of the donations the same day they arrive. And I can’t tell you how happy and thankful everyone is!!!!
OOOH and AKM sorry my “Shopping in Nunam Iqua” crashed the site!!! Who could have imagined???? WOW I mean WOW!!! Do y’all have a hit counter? wonder how many people it takes to crash a site??? LOL
Quyana everyone for all of your help!!!!
Paula Cochran (10:40:20) :
Are you telling me the orange tree, pineapple bush and banana plant I mailed won’t grow in Alaska?
OOH Noooo do I need to watch out for these and send them back Paula?? LOL
hee hee,
Ann Strongheart
Nunam Iqua Food Drive
c/o Ann Strongheart
P.O. Box 7
Nunam Iqua, AK 99666
January 29th, 2009 at 7:03 AM
AKM…….how about starting a forum category for Ann’s postings?
On the busy days there is are so many posts making it very hard to read all of them and remember exactly where certain posts were or links are.
It’s also why I’ve “tried” to put some of the important posts over on the forum so information could be easier found by the world and refereenced but those posts have been deleted by moderators as cross posting and rule violations, sigh.
January 29th, 2009 at 7:18 AM
her unprofessional meetings with the republican legislators is like a Sharon Stone basic instincts interview.. uncross the legs..(ha ha).
January 29th, 2009 at 7:50 AM
Sorry for straying a bit off topic, but KTUU has a vote on their website about Troopergate subpoenas:
http://www.ktuu.com/Global/category.asp?C=81466#poll80100
OH! Yes, yes! Please go vote! Pursuing punishment is ahead 52% to 48%! Let’s widen the gap Mudflatters!!
AKM
_________________
I don’t see the “vote” thing. Instructions? (I am really not stupid, just not techno savy:-)
January 29th, 2009 at 7:54 AM
Sounds like there is a whole lot you guys didn’t know. Bamboozled by blunderbrain. Wipe the tears away and get those public records. They need to go online for all the world to see.
January 29th, 2009 at 8:21 AM
To Paula Cochran (07:50:02):
The vote “thing” ended at 10:00 pm AST last night. The final vote was 53% in favor, 47% against. KTUU does polls most weekdays and they always end at 10:00.
I watched the hearing yesterday on Gavel to Gavel and was happy to see them asking some hard questions. Many of the legislature’s hearings are available on streaming audio at http://www.ktoo.org/gavel/ and sometimes you can even find recordings of earlier hearings. Don’t know if this one is on there yet (or if it will be). But it’s worth a listen if it’s there. KTUU had a short video on last night from the hearing, but I’m not finding it on their website.
January 29th, 2009 at 8:22 AM
All I know, this is very interesting and because I should have gone into politicial studies long ago, I am getting an education on Alaska’sAmercan’s political process and how government works, or doesn’t work.
It’s been mentioned here about the the exaggerations, contradictions, smoke and mirrors in SP’s speech or comments. I call that “crazy-making”, it literally makes one feel like we’re doing something wrong all the time. I had personal childhood experience with a relative, who could not ever accept responsibility for their bad behavior and could magically make the innocent person feel like the culprit.
Just saying, that it is a masterful tactic, and it works usually, until the poor victims stop enabling, and realize they’ve been had, the the tactical perpetrator. Yes, those little smoke and mirrors tactics only work so long, because eventually not only do office personnel peers start to notice idiosynchracies, but the families start to notice and unfortunately it affects them the most.
January 29th, 2009 at 10:02 AM
mommom, I was wondering the same thing about the bangs. I think she also let Auntie Piper do her eyeliner.
January 29th, 2009 at 10:11 AM
Thanks for responding to the KTUU poll, we need all the help we can get here..I appreciate it.
January 29th, 2009 at 10:50 AM
Re: McCain-Palin PAC
I researched further and found that the PAC was formed early in the campaign as the McCain for President PAC and the name was changed to McCain-Palin Compliance Fund Inc. 8/29/08. Oh well; sorry for any inconvenience.
January 29th, 2009 at 12:48 PM
Here’s the link for the Tundra Drums story, The reporter, Beth Skabar, emailed me and said she is working on getting pictures up on it.
http://www.thetundradrums.com/news/show/4693
January 29th, 2009 at 12:51 PM
To StevieNitro: Yes, SP’s outlandish religious beliefs and connections are one of the leading reasons how and why she is so dangerous to America’s sanity. Although Revered Wright has been on the MSM thousands of times, you can count on one hand the number of times Palin’s witch doctor exorcism has been played. If you do a little research, you will find that certain right-wing television personalities met her in the summer of 2007 and began touting her as the new Republican VP almost immediately. Some of these pundits and power brokers are closely tied to the many so-called Christian leaders of the Republican Party. If you really want to experience your own head exploding, look up what some of these evangelicals think about December 21st, 2012! They would never do anything radical or even illegal to see that she was headed to The White House on that date, would they?
January 29th, 2009 at 1:20 PM
Thanks Floyd… I have indeed been reading about these religous connections to the Republican party. Lot’s of information out there regarding the NAR and SP. I’ll keep learning and warning of these far right types. Scary indeed.
January 29th, 2009 at 3:31 PM
Question One: Why is Obama going to the Alfalfa Club meeting?
Question Two: Is SP invited because they plan to announce her as the next president?
Question Three: What two guests will Obama invite or is he not able to extend other invitations because he was an invited guest in the first place?
Question Four: What reason could Obama possibly have to accept such an invitation?
January 29th, 2009 at 3:33 PM
Alaskans are such crybabies. Sarah gave you all a pair of silk boxers and you’re still not satisfied?
January 29th, 2009 at 6:20 PM
….spent time with Marlene and I at our ….
this Malek guy needs to learn English…
January 29th, 2009 at 6:22 PM
Why isn’t the government of Alaska taking better care of it’s citizens? Why is Governor Palin living the high life in DC when some of her constituents face cold, hunger and a cost of living that precludes living? I come from New York where we get back $.80 in services for every $1.00 we pay in taxes. Alaskans get $1.90 in services for every $1.00 they pay in taxes (based on 2003 figures from the Tax Foundation). That means states like New York subsidize states like Alaska. Which is actually OK with me as long as people are being served and not pork. But it doesn’t sound like Alaskans are being served if they have to hold food drives in January. As an oil producing state, I know your residents get yearly oil royalties but why don’t your politicians bargain for fuel subsidies too? It’s a crime that your remote villages have to depend on care packages from outside. Where is the care from the inside? Why isn’t the government of Alaska taking better care of it’s citizens?
January 29th, 2009 at 9:45 PM
Palin always invokes the name of God and talks about what a devout Christian she is. She must’ve missed this in her readin’s –
‘He who winks the eye causes trouble; And a babbling fool will be ruined.’ (Proverbs 10:10)
‘A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with forward mouth. He winketh with his eyes.’ (Proverbs 6:12 King James Version)
Babbling fool, indeed….
January 30th, 2009 at 10:31 AM
So, who is paying for her trip to DC? And did she take the family?
Why don’t people in Alaska care about the fact that Palin cares more about her future political career than about the state she was elected to govern?
January 30th, 2009 at 1:19 PM
First time on this blog, but thought I’d throw in my 2 cents. I’m from the Harrisburg, Pa area, and I remember when Sarah Palin attended the season’s first Philadelphia Flyers game to “drop the puck.” She was booed loudly, but the management turned up the sound system so loud, you could hardly hear it. Meanwhile, Sarah continued to flash her smile and wave, like she was being showered by roses.
What made this way over the top, was that she used her children as “human shields” by making sure they were in front of her. There was no excuse for it. I’m a Philadelphia Eagles fan, and Philly fans take pride in being horrific. For example, they hit Santa with ice balls and booed him during half-time during the 70’s in Veteran’s Stadium. Sarah had to be told this, but said, “They wouldn’t dare boo Piper.” What kind of response is that??? No parent should put their children in a potentially hostile situation. It amazes me that 80% of the people in Alaska favor Sarah Palin. Is that really true?
January 31st, 2009 at 4:13 PM
The Baroness Munchhausen strikes again! Apparently she’s telling you she doesn’t want no winkin’ help from the federal gummint, you betcha. But — acording to the AP and Yahoo news:
“The 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, planned to meet in Washington this weekend with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and other senators to press for her state’s share of the package.”
And while this is OT, I read the Halcro blog, and wtf is the ‘longevity bonus’?
January 31st, 2009 at 5:00 PM
marcus 2:
Welcome aboard. It’s a great group here. I’ve included it on my list of the “Ten blogs President Obama should read regularly” because of its quality, but also because it’s good to see a bunch of liberals (in a deep red state, or it was) keep a consistently upbeat feeling and have as much fun as we do fighting a true monster, the Baroness. There’s none of the vicious anger that, while justified, becomes exaggerated into name-calling.
As for your comment, Baroness M has always used her kids as props and human shields since she arrived on the scene here below, starting with her arms’length dandling of the baby when she first walked down the steps of the plane. (No child of six months should be, or needed to be, part of this type of outdoor meeting.) Then we have the Bristol baby story. A mother who used her daughter’s unwed pregnancy to fend off rumors about her own baby. And the way she brought Levi around as another prop.
Nothing new here, nothing to see, move along.