Lisa Murkowski is Wearing a Boa…and it Doesn’t Have Feathers.
Despite the best efforts of Team Sarah, who organized an email and letter writing campaign to try to block the nomination of Kathleen Sebelius as Health & Human Services Secretary, she was confirmed yesterday by a vote of 65-31. This group of Palin supporters apparently doesn’t like it when government officials support legal reproductive rights for women. And they decided to use Sarah Palin’s name, political clout, and a pretty pink website to organize an attempted sabotage of a cabinet position. Nothing like a good pandemic swine flu scare to inspire folks to keep that top level Health and Human Services position empty. That’ll show us.
And we’d assume if the governor had a problem with all of this being done in her name that she’d include a condemnation of it in her ongoing list of multiple daily press releases. So far, nothing.
Alaska’s two senators were divided on the issue. Mark Begich (D) voted yes on the nomination. Lisa Murkowski (R) voted no.
Murkowski cited her impression that Sebelius’ had a “lack of interest” and “failure to demonstrate enthusiasm” for increasing funding to Indian Health Services to justify her no vote. Ironically, she used a concern that there wouldn’t be an increase in federal funding for social programs in Alaska as a reason to vote lockstep with the GOP. I’ll pause if you need to rub your neck, or get one of those big puffy whiplash collars.
Mark Begich on KUDO yesterday pointed out that he found it odd that none of Alaska’s Native organizations had a problem with Sebelius, and that the Obama administration in general had a very inclusive and supportive attitude toward all of the country’s “first people.” Begich seemed as baffled as many of us by Murkowski’s reasoning and, ever the diplomat, he blamed…..”crossed wires.”
There’s no need to worry that the Alaska Federation of Natives, or other tribal groups are afraid of speaking up. They were loud and clear on their disdain and condemnation of Wayne Anthony Ross as Palin’s Attorney General nominee. So, it’s safe to assume that if Sebelius were a concern, we would have heard about it. But they may not be particularly thrilled to have Murkowski play “the Native card” to explain her rejection of Sebelius.
Why the no vote? Murkowski is philosophically pro-choice (for a Republican), but has also been wrapped in the arms of the GOP so tightly that we can expect to see more towing of the party line from her than we would like. The warm fuzzy hug by party leaders, is fast becoming one of those boa constrictor death grips. It’s a shame. As Alaska’s most popular politician, Murkowski has enough political capital in the state that she could afford to vote on principle. A maverick we could believe in.
I would hope that Murkowski would be able to cite exactly what she is talking about in regard to Sibelius and First Nations; otherwise, Murkowski is sort of smearing Sibelius under the banner of First Nations.
Who cares! Sarah is gonna be on American Chopper:
Paul Sr. hangs out with the Governor in her office and talks about the Alaskan weather, snowmobiling
Far more important than trivial nomination nonsense.
snark)
Oops, Sebelius! Sorry for spelling error above!
OT:
Seems GINO entertained the Orange County Choppers in Anchorage where show star Paul Teutul Sr. researched building a bike to honor Alaska’s 50-year anniversary of being a state.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/29/sarah-palin-american-chop_n_192946.html
Well, I’m happy about Sebelius. Congratulations Kathleen!
WHY is Lisa becoming a lock-stepper? M.O.N.E.Y. for her next campaign is my guess. I’m sorry about this, because she was one of the very FEW R’s I felt were worthy of being called “moderate”.
Buh-bye Lisa.
WELCOME Kathleen Sebelius!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/29/sarah-palin-american-chop_n_192946.html
Sarah Palin American Chopper Appearance Coming
“It means so much to the state of Alaska that these guys are building this bike that will honor statehood here,” Palin says in the episode, airing April 30 at 9 p.m.
=============================================
YOU JUST CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP!!!
Sarah will have a hot ride to take to Sturgis this year! Palin can enter the “beauty contest” that McCain offered Cindy up for last year. Palin has those beauty contest thingies down pat doesn’t she?
Yup, Sturgis, real America, real bikers, varoom, varoom!!
Since McCain was clueless that the beauty contest was topless, do you think Palin will know? Naw! She can play the flute in the talent portion too! (Shhh, don’t tell her the flutes are all the skin variety)
Sorry if that was not so nice,I can’t help my self today, thanks for letting me vent..;)
The GOP stranglehold! It was a shame Murkowski succumbed to it.
Who is a maverick? Palin? parumph! A maverick by any other name would still be full of baloney. Just don’t turn my pony into baloney!
http://www.sturgismotorcyclerally.com/index.php
Where Gov. Sarah Palin can be “Miss Buffalo Chip” too!
From the ADN story (“Palin supporters hope to derail Sebelius”), here’s a well-written comment:
fsmith wrote on 04/28/2009 01:31:52 AM:
Lisa Murkowski should be ashamed.
Sebelius has consistently supported Native American rights. She works closely in Kansas with the Potawatomie, Iowa, Kickapoo and Sac & Fox Nations. She has brought Haskell Indian Nations University into the Kansas biomedical consortium. Brownback, on the contrary, opposed Native American sovereignty rights in Kansas.
Sebelius has done more for extending health care to children than any sitting governor Outside and has been involved in a great many other progressive health initiatives.
The nation may be facing a crisis with the spread of the swine flu epidemic. Lisa should not deny the president his choice of top health official. Kathleen needs in turn to quickly nominate numerous other appointees with the skills to promptly deal with this exigent and dangerous situation.
Lisa’s foot dragging is disgraceful and counterproductive.
Haven’t we had enough of pandering politicians, from Lisa’s dad to Sarah Palin?
Recommended (33)
Over on the ADN postings, one of her groupies is claiming that SP raked in over $7 MILLION for the right to life speech in Indiana. Imagine that, only 3000 people and they gave $7 MILLION to SP.
Isn’t that just amazing that she has all this right-to-life financial support?
Where is all that money?
Basheert Says:
April 29th, 2009 at 12:26 PM
Over on the ADN postings, one of her groupies is claiming that SP raked in over $7 MILLION for the right to life speech in Indiana. Imagine that, only 3000 people and they gave $7 MILLION to SP.
Isn’t that just amazing that she has all this right-to-life financial support?
Where is all that money?
________________
I think that the true test will be when the reports come out on the PAC, then we will see just how much money people are willing to part with for her. If the “trust” stays up that also will be another good indicator of her abilities. People giving to RTL groups isn’t nearly the same because people are always going to give to their favorite charities or “groups” such as RNC/DNC/etc…
I don’t take anyone’s word from those Palin fans on how much she might have raised. They exaggerate things constantly.
But Murkowski did vote on principle: The principle of self-preservation.
With all the Specter hysteria, why attract attention by casting a vote that won’t make any difference to the final outcome?
Murkowski a moderate?
Yes, moderately adverse to getting into trouble. Not long ago, it seemed that her Senate seat might be up for grabs.
Well this is not what I wanted to hear, but I have been getting a lot of that lately. The bright light goes dim.
Murkowski had that meeting with Sarah, and Sarah is doing a fundraiser for her. Now we have Murkowski, doing double speak…..giving incorrect information for voteing against Sebelius. Lisa is not stupid, so it is out and out fogging of the issue.
Has she caught the right wing crazies?
No! No! No! I was entertaining the happy thought that she might possibly be a “surprise” defection to the Democratic Party as they become more and more insane and unreasonable. She sounds like she has some reasonable tendencies and a good dose of rationality. It would have been a great blind-side wallop while every political pundit stared transfixed in Snowe’s and Collin’s direction, waiting for them to jump ship.
Would have made great news, too. Especially since Alaska is still “red”… Hope this doesn’t mean she’ll be a Party of No lock-stepper in the future.
Drat…
Wish the swine flu hype would get off the front page so we could all get back to investigating & prosecuting torture-makers… Not that it isn’t a concern, but terrifying people on an hourly basis isn’t helping.
Sorry, by “they” I mean the Republican Party. I reread my post and it sounded like I was saying the Dem. Party was “insane and unreasonable.”
Oops. My mistake.
Oink, oink, good vote for the health of Alaska!
I keep hoping Lisa Murkowski will grow some teabags and vote what’s best for Alaska and the nation. What’s the definition of insanity?
I had a dream last night that Lisa converted to a Democrat in support of Arlen Specter’s epiphany.
If Republicanism means supporting Sarah Palin without question then I just can’t be one anymore.
The Rapture Republicans need to be the ones marginalized (within the party) not the moderate pragmatists.
The Rapture Republicans – that is just too perfect!
Look at that body language.
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20275559,00.html
I don’t think Palin, got 7 million for that Indiana appearance, but if she got more then a ten spot, she was way over paid.
Is this true AND should it be, WHO, is paying & who keeps the bike?
As the Teutils (Copper guys) never do anything FREE, let’s get down to the cost, here…
If ONE of the Teutil family shows up, it’s $25K. All three = $75K
The bike will cost $100K+ – their standard price for a “tribute” bike
Heaven only knows what the cost of bringing that bike to Alaska will cost!
Safe bet on total cost of bike: +/- $250K
The good people of Alaska should be outraged at this expenditure in this troubled time!
It’s clear Murkowski is a rising star in the GOP, and so this makes perfect sense. When she has a firmer hold on whatever positions she might end up with, that will be the time she has more freedom not to tow the party line.
I can’t help but think that a Democrat in her position would do exactly the same.
The bit about Palin raising 7M for the right to life speech, made the same post a week or so ago. I asked for proof because I could not find anything to verify that amount. Needless to say, proof was never forthcoming. I think this amount was just made up or, to be more generous, maybe they read two stories and combined/confused them (as I often do).
To AlaskaGuy:
Lisa got a much coveted position on the Appropriations Committee and Arlen is seeking the chairmanship of the very same.
Here’s hoping what he caught rubs off onto her!
Ho hum. So Lisa is more pro-partisan than pro-health. Surprise. Surprise.
She’s been pro-partisan since the day she debated Tony Knowles and Tony said, “I’m going to work for all Alaskans.” And Lisa said, “You must support the majority party. That’s how Washington works.”
Ooops. Now the majority party is Democratic. Not Republican. How does that work again, Lisa?
Congratulations to Kathleen Sebelius for confirmation as Health & Human Services Secretary…..despite Sen. Murkowski and TribeSarah.
The winds of change keep blowing……and not in the direction of one-issue voting anymore.
By Lisa logic, Alaskans should vote a Democrat into her seat next time around.
Because if you want anything for Alaska, you have to be part of the majority party.
That’s just how Washington works.
I’m sorry but after 8 years of George Bush I have to say I am enjoying this an aweful lot.
Kathleen Sebelius has backbone and convictions. Congratulations, Kathleen.
In defense of Alaska’s previously all Republican Congressional Delegation.
Over the years I’ve noticed a clear pattern where our Republican Senators and/or Congressman would vote up or down on something depending on whether it would really pass or not and how popular/unpopular it would be back home in Alaska.
Ex: Don Young voted against a national Right-to-Work law (really an anti-union law), as did Lisa, but Ted voted for it – and it didn’t pass. Me thinks Ted really doesn’t want to kill Alaska’s labor unions (one could attribute their rise to Ted via his Appropriations pork) but felt safe in toeing the party line because he knew his vote didn’t make or break it’s passage.
At the end of the day every “deal” anyone makes is political. There are daycare politics, PTA politics, neighborhood association politics and yes Washington D.C. politics.
P.S. I was astounded when Sarah Palin accepted the nomination with John McCain.
McCain is one of very few Republicans who shot down opening ANWR for exploration, she didn’t even ASK him to hedge his position in order for her to accept, looking back I think there was never a scenario where Sarah would turn it down.
McCain could not be a bigger Union Buster (even amongst Republicans) and Todd Palin is a Union Member, arguably their “Union Lifestyle” helped them pay for the upbringing of all those kids.
I think Sarah’s nomination had something SOMETHING to do with Stevens indictment because he and McCain had been Republican frienemies (over the 2 above issues) for decades.
SARAH PALIN’S CRAZY BRAIN-DEAD CLAN
(sung to the Beatles song “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”)
About twenty years ago or so,
Sarah Palin married Todd her beau
They’ve been trying to enhance her style
With rimless glasses and a great big smile
So may I introduce to you
The folks you’ve known for all these years,
Sarah Palin’s crazy brain-dead clan.
We’re Sarah Palin’s crazy brain-dead clan,
The folks that you’ve all come to know
We’re Sarah Palin’s crazy brain-dead clan,
You wouldn’t want to be our foe.
Sarah Palin’s crazy, Sarah Palin’s crazy,
Sarah Palin’s crazy brain-dead clan.
There’s Bristol and there’s Levi
Good Ole Mike Wooten too
And don’t forget our pal Wayne Ross,
We’d love to take him home with us,
We’d love to take him home.
We don’t really want to end this song,
But Todd’s sister just fired up the bong
And the travel agent’s on the phone,
Seems Sarah’s flying off to Rome
So let us bid adieu, to you
And we’ll see you in about three years
We’re Sarah Palin’s Crazy Brain-Dead Clan.
Oh, lynnrockets, that one is awesome!
There is no way Sarah made that kind of money at the Right To Life Dinner in Podunk, Indiana as this was a very trailer park budget event…per Palingates blog:
“Organizers of the Vanderburgh County Right to Life dinner expect Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will make an appearance before those buying overflow tickets to hear her speak to a southern Indiana anti-abortion group next week.
The 2,180 tickets for the dinner on Thursday quickly sold out, so the group decided to make 2,500 tickets available in the adjacent auditorium.
Dinner tickets were sold at $34.90.
Overflow tickets (bring your own food) are selling at $16.”
By my calculations, that brings the grand total to a little over 100K!
http://palingates.blogspot.com/2009/04/sarah-palin-sold-out.html
I don’t know what kind of dinner you can get for $34.90 and it still raises funds…maybe a big sandwich ( a 6 foot sub as we like to call it in the Northeast) and cash bar?
As everything with Sarah supporters, exaggeration and lies…
As far as Murkowski goes, she is towing the party line, nothing more, nothing less..
You have make a good point EyeOnYou,
Remember the Puma’s claimed they had retired Hillary’s debt!!!!
re. the Indiana shindig, surely she would have spoken for a fee and the rest of the proceeds, whether $10K or $7Mil. would have gone to the organization itself? Huh?
I’e read your blog since Palin permeated my nightmares. Please continue the reporting. I am sorry to be critical–it is “toeing” the line.
Thank you AKM for deconstructing Murkowski’s explanation. Too often Murkowski has seemed like (wait a minute she probably has been) the sane one in the Ted and Don go to Congress show. But her reasoning has often been flim-flam, lock-step Republican, flimsy. Let’s face it, Lisa has been the close your eyes and think of England choice.
Congratulations to Kathleen Sebelius from a Grandma in Kansas.
Since when has Murkowski been a champion of native issues?
If it were left up to any of the Alaskan politicians, the village natives would be starved and frozen to DEATH by now!
Where did all their help come from? Ordinary, I should say EXTRAordinary Alaskans, folks from the lower 48, Hawaii and overseas.
Murkowski should be keelhauled for her ridiculous statement. Anyone have barnacle encrusted hull we could use?
Canadian Neighbour Says:
April 29th, 2009 at 11:56 AM
OT:
Seems GINO entertained the Orange County Choppers in Anchorage where show star Paul Teutul Sr. researched building a bike to honor Alaska’s 50-year anniversary of being a state.
***********************
I saw it — one g.d. ugly bike – didn’t really qualify as a chopper – too fragile, too tiny, too pantywaist. Had all these uncoordinated tools and bolts then a relief map of Alaska here and a cutout map there… with all the Guv names on the cast wheels; yellow and blue coloring. It was sad.