Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski Slams Palin
4 07 2009It’s interesting to see the reactions coming in from Alaska’s politicos to the surprise resignation of Governor Sarah Palin yesterday. But, perhaps the most surprising of all is that of Alaska’s Senior Senator, Republican Lisa Murkowski.
We expect politicians to be…well…politicians. We anticipate all kinds of pussy-footing around, saying things without really saying them, and trying to offend the least number of people while saying the bare minimum to satisfly the public that they’ve actually responded.
That’s why Murkowski’s response was so refreshing, an so unexpected. She said what many Alaskans, especially those who have supported Sarah Palin, are feeling.
“I am deeply disappointed that the Governor has decided to abandon the State and her constituents before her term has concluded.”
Abandonment. Strong words to use against the woman who used the analogy in her State of the State speech this year of being Alaska’s mama bear, defending her cubs. Palin has often referred to Alaska as a family. And now, Mom has skipped town, and Murkowski has called her on it.
Some in the national media are speculaing that Palin will enter a run for the senate against Murkowski in 2010, but those odds are slim to none. Holding the coveted place that Palin used to hold, Murkowski is undisputably the most popular politician in the state, with approval ratings of over 70% to Palin’s rapidly plummeting 54%.
In the days that follow, my hunch is that more Alaskans will start to think of Palin as a quitter. There’s just no glossig over the fact that a governor didn’t even make it through the first term. But questions continue to be raised about the hurried nature of the announcement, and the fact that Todd Palin flew in from the very brief fishing season in Bristol Bay to stand by her side on the Friday before a holiday weekend.
Here are some other reactions coming from the state:
Alaska’s Junior Senator Mark Begich (D) – “I’m as surprised as all Alaskans by Governor Palin’s decision to step down with nearly two years left in her term. There was speculation she would not seek re-election, but she gave no indication of a resignation when I met with her for 45 minutes in her Anchorage office two days ago.”
Alasa Gubernatorial Candidate Bob Poe (D) – “As I stated when I announced my candidacy, Alaska needs a Governor who is fully committed our state, not on other jobs and I am pleased Sarah Palin recognized this and is doing the right thing for Alaska . When I announced in January, I really saw that something like this was coming. When she came back from the vice-presidential campaign trail, she really wasn’t focusing on Alaska. She was blinded by the bright lights of national attention.””
Alaska Representative John Harris, Valdez (R) – “I am going to run for governor. We’ll begin next week.”
And remember what Sarah Palin herself said about her perceived rough treatment during the campaign.
“Nobody should have hurt feelings! My goodness, this is politics! Politics is rough and tumble, and people need to get thick skin, just like I’ve got,” she said.
July 4th, 2009 at 2:15 PM
Palin says, “yesterday I shared my heartfelt and candid reasons for stepping down.” BS, it was all about trying to save her bony little ass. What a disgusting piece of work she is.
July 4th, 2009 at 2:18 PM
The new “exgov” twitter account is hilarious.
But I am still in awe at her facebook message and the interview with Politico. This may be stating the obvious, but she has a god-complex. The “speculation and questions about what may have been her motivation for resigning” is called an impending federal indictment. Why don’t you call it like it is, Meg? If they don’t want us to speculate and question, why not make it clear to us what her seemingly out-of-the-blue motivations were? Until yesterday, Sarah Palin was obsessed with being the chief executive of Alaska, as she has reminded us time and time again. Ms. Stapleton implies that this is the public’s fault for questioning a political celebrity after she abruptly resigned from office, is she serious?? And Palin took an oath of office to be governor! Where else is she going to “move up?” It is like they assume their audience is made up of 8 year olds, butterflies, and rainbows.
Also from Politco: “A day after Sarah Palin’s surprise announcement that she would step down as governor of Alaska, “the controversial hockey mom was no where to be found,” AP reports.” Wherever she is hiding, hopefully in an FBI interrogation room, a Facebook message telling off the media AGAIN was at the top of her priority list I guess.
July 4th, 2009 at 2:21 PM
I’m sensing mental illness of some kind.
Her erratic behavior, that crazed-look in her eye during that press conference, clenched jaw, weird language like this is about Country, and “higher calling”, she is still attacking the media today on her facebook page (she can’t stop herself), and playing the victim.
Does she think the “attacks” will stop when she starts campaigning for her higher calling? She hasn’t seen nothin’ yet.
Buckle up Palin, you are in for the ride of your life.
July 4th, 2009 at 2:27 PM
I agree that Palin has a God complex. Her language says so—-higher calling?
Just last week she talked about those “desecrating her iconic image”.
I don’t think that was an accident. I think it’s what Palin believes. She has gone off a cliff.
July 4th, 2009 at 2:28 PM
From Bear Woman:
Here I thought I’d invented the idea, and it is widely known! Just goes to show there is nothing new under the sun.
What’s funny about the Facebook post is there isn’t a person on any side of this story that has seriously suggested Sarah resigned for the best interest of her kids. The claim is preposterous on its face, even Sarah ought to know this one isn’t going to stick.
What’s truly ironic is the worst part of her claim that she gave birth to Trig is that her story proves she is a sociopath, who would travel half way across the world in order to imperial the life her premature special needs baby by giving birth to him in a substandard facility, all for no good reason. I always thought Sarah should announce she isn’t Trig’s birth mother because her birth story was so deprived she shouldn’t stick with it. The sad fact is the official story demonstrates such little regard for the baby that it must be true.
July 4th, 2009 at 2:30 PM
now she’s braggin she’s done more in 2 yrs than someone else in 8 yrs?
good gawd
July 4th, 2009 at 2:31 PM
“And though it’s honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling”
But she has not defined the ‘higher calling’.
Analysing the speech I can see some logic. Since running for VP there has been a big FOIA cost to Alaska other than the ethics complaints – apparntly there are a large number of email requests still outstanding from last year that are still being worked on and a claim that this has cost over $400,000.
Now if SP is aware that there are likely to be more ethics complaints in the offing as a result of these (note not necessarily icebergs but things that need explaining) and that the media ‘circus’ is likely to continue, her decision to quit may make sense.
Given:
1) she has no sense of proportion, and cannot recognise that complaints can be ignored until the board decides they have merit, the chance is that she sees far more problems than actually exist. (I wonder if her reference to a complaint about how she holds a fish is in anyway related to AKM;s posting of the Monty Python clip on the fish dance). She has probably been paying her lawyers for opinions on how to sue the photoshoppers and all sorts of things best ignored.
2) the new acting-AG Sullivan has started and may, let us say, be more direct about what he is finding and identifying problems with things that actually matter rather than the things she perceives as worse.
3) the Begathon raised approx 20% of the required money in a week whilst Celtic Diva raised 100% in the same time,
4) the VFM article and the Sitting Duck award and the posibility that after the attack on Ramras byC4P, she might have actually looked at the C4P site (remember Meg agreed that the Sarahpac banners on the site was ?worrying?) and discovered who her supporters were.
5) if she assigns importance to all the myriad of pinpricks and feels she has to clear everything up no matter how small, and it looks as if she has to explain things going on during the VP campaign, Todds AIP connections and all the suppositions in the blogosphere.
6) Sarahpac may not be raising enough money
Then the resignation babble becomes a Panic attack due to overload and is explainable.
The time-line is more-or-less right – a not-running-for-a-second-term announcement planned for the Fairbanks picnic being brought forward and becoming a resignation with no future plans caused by a sudden desire to end it all.
Compare her latest Facebook entry ( http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=99477538434 ) with her resignation speech – far more logical and coherent. She’s got over the panic and doing damage control – especially if there is no iceberg (i.e. she knows peoples expectations are building up to something that is not there, so if it turns out to be something minor compared to what has been built up, it becomes recoverable).
regards
July 4th, 2009 at 2:35 PM
OK That’s IT!
Calling Sarah Palin’s family – Will you please help the woman! Family intervention needed. Call the men in white coats, slip her some valium, just do something. She needs help, this isn’t funny any more.
July 4th, 2009 at 2:36 PM
I wrote the wrong times down for anyone who is interested. The show starts here about an hour and 10 minutes I think. According to Gryphen, its 5 pm Alaska time.
I am listening to the station now and they are talking about bears. Funny…. I have an “Alaska” clock on my computer and it says it is 2:45 Alaska time…..
I don’t think I can stand to go look at her Facebook rant. Is this her same statement she is behind bars. “I left for my country!!!” “Really can you all now see that.” She is nuts……
I wonder what the fans are saying today. Do they still think this is a “brilliant political move?”
July 4th, 2009 at 2:40 PM
the leaving unsaid reasons up in the air is what Halcro made a post about, she’s created the speculation vacuum! she’s creating the “what could it be” talk! She is off her rocker delusional.
okay, here’s another speculation……..is she doing this to create more book sales?
July 4th, 2009 at 2:45 PM
She again calls her responsibilities as Governor as simply a title in her facebook rant. That’s all she gave to it, true, but someone must let Sarah know there really was more to it than a sash.
Goodnight all!
July 4th, 2009 at 2:45 PM
sorry this has morphed AKM……it’s just that Scarah has blurred the lines so much it all flows together, lol.
wonder how the new gov appreciates being called a liar, he told the press first he’d heard was last wed., Scarahs saying months…….someone’s lying.
“For months now, I have consulted with friends and family, and with the Lieutenant Governor”
July 4th, 2009 at 2:48 PM
Village Reader Says:
July 4th, 2009 at 12:29 PM
Listening to her resignation speech (quitting) yesterday, I couldn’t help but overhear other people talk about how ‘great she is without a teleprompter’. How she can do a ’speech without help’. ‘Very smart’.
———————————–
At 9.15 to 9.36 in the video of her speech you can see the mobile teleprompter.
I looked and can confirm it so nobody else needs to.
July 4th, 2009 at 2:50 PM
what is she referring to here?
“Those who know me know this is the right decision and obvious decision at that, including Senator John McCain. I thank him for his kind, insightful comments.”
July 4th, 2009 at 2:53 PM
how many people have left without finishing at least “1″ term? she is playing to the people who don’t pay attention and she know it.
“And though it’s honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make.”
July 4th, 2009 at 2:56 PM
ARG!!!! then WHY did she run for GOV? clearly she didn’t need to.
“I shared with you yesterday my heartfelt and candid reasons for this change; I’ve never thought I needed a title before one’s name to forge progress in America.”
July 4th, 2009 at 2:58 PM
LOL……Well Scarah, people don’t know what the H*LL joining you means. Can you be a little more vague?
“I hope you will join me.”
July 4th, 2009 at 2:59 PM
I have to go for a walk, she’s off the deep end scary.
July 4th, 2009 at 3:09 PM
you have got to be kidding me, now Scarah has pulled a Sanford? how original.
AK do you know where your gov is? Does Lisa? typical no show communication.
Here’s more speculation, perhaps she’s gone on a 2 wk vacation or checked herself into a mental health facility. either choice being on the AK state dime.
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/853469.html
“David Murrow, said Palin told him she was flying to Juneau, the state capital, for the Fourth of July weekend, but he wasn’t sure what activities she planned to attend.
The governor didn’t show up at a 50th anniversary statehood celebration or Juneau’s parade. She wasn’t in the Capitol’s office. And no one answered the door at the governor’s mansion.”
“….was invited again to this year’s event. She never responded, but parade organizers drew up banners in case she showed.
She didn’t.”
July 4th, 2009 at 3:10 PM
she is crazy and crazy people don’t make sense to the non-crazy.
i have lived with this kind of crazy – they suck you into their world and it takes every ounce of courage to extricate yourself and leave.
i know i watch her with morbid fascination just to see if there can be a happy ending for the rest of her family. i tend to doubt it. the kids are most likely toast unless they can physically remove themselves from her influence.
todd is beyond help. he has no other identity except as her confidant.
btw – did anyone see the posture of chuck heath in the “announcement”? he had his arms clenched across his chest, his head down, and eyes closed. looked like he was either asleep standing up or completely there against his will. NOT the posture of a proud father. the mother, on the other hand, was nodding and smiling……quite odd.
oh and i have to add just a bit of snark — who dresses piper? seriously? mom could find her red cork shoes – but couldn’t take a hair brush to piper’s hair?
ACK. like i said — you can make crazy make sense.
July 4th, 2009 at 3:12 PM
you CAN’T make crazy make sense.
off to watch fireworks. a huge thankyou and tip of the hat to AKM and all of the alaskans who blog, talk, make signs, and took part in the exposure of the crazy side of palin. we are all forever in your debt.
July 4th, 2009 at 3:14 PM
“Listening to her resignation speech (quitting) yesterday, I couldn’t help but overhear other people talk about how ‘great she is without a teleprompter’. How she can do a ’speech without help’. ‘Very smart’.
———————————–
At 9.15 to 9.36 in the video of her speech you can see the mobile teleprompter.”
She actually got that garbled, nonsensical, rambling, manic mess of a speech off a TELEPROMPTER????????
July 4th, 2009 at 3:26 PM
i just want the other shoe to drop already. her facebook post was like giving the middle finger to the entire country. does she expect to be elected for any office, even if it is president of the local Burger King, with a support base the size of a kindergarten class?
i am tired of looking for answers. i just want someone with information, who has heard these rumors first-hand, to tell us what the hell is going on or what appears to be going on. if the rumors are true, an indictment could still be a very long ways off, even though her resignation came abruptly and implied otherwise. she is so frustrating. and i thought MY governor sucked (David Paterson). i don’t know how you alaskans dealt with her before McCain put her on the map. all i know is that i am so so sorry that you were forced to endure her reign; it must have been like being led by a muppet. a corrupt muppet. in evil high heels.
July 4th, 2009 at 3:31 PM
After listening to her resignation speech yesterday, I wondered why anyone would pay to hear her speak. Seriously, she makes no sense.
There is dumb and there is dumber. “dumber” means dumb enough to pay to listen to that garbled mess.
If she is no longer governor and is really nothin’ (since Palin doesn’t need a title except Ms God), what’s her draw?
Let’s get real… she can’t even claim to be a one term governor, she is a 1/2 term governor and a quiter.
July 4th, 2009 at 3:32 PM
Evil in high heels….I like that.
July 4th, 2009 at 3:33 PM
New tweet from Shannyn Moore:
“WOW, I just got a mention in Palin’s latest press release…WTF? That’s crazy”
Hmmm, that is weird. I can’t find this press release. But in my opinion, the lady doth protest too much. What is Palin doing? Why draw direct attention to whatever it is that she is running from? Just by mentioning Shannyn’s name, she gives credibility to everything that Shannyn says. I will say though, so far, Shannyn is the only “named” source for her to attack. But this is strange, even for Palin. And really immature. She is the brunette version of Regina George from Mean Girls.
July 4th, 2009 at 3:43 PM
168 Jhop
It’s all very baffling. The media has known all about Todd’s AIP connections since the get go. This blog amongst others feed them the info. when Sarah was a candidate along with all the housegate info. It’s not a matter of the media not getting it, it’s what they do with it & when they do it. Think SP is making us all a little looney, but as one one they “liberal elite” (the new media term) I’m wondering if they are manipulating the news. ….& yes worrying about right wing conspiracy.
July 4th, 2009 at 3:57 PM
#171- I always think of her as Tracy Flick from Election
UK Lady maybe sister sarah will have a family intervention rather than us…
d*mn she needs one, I really am beginning to think that she’s bipolar….
July 4th, 2009 at 3:58 PM
If you read the CNN political ticker, it is clear that she is telling people she is leaving “because she was targeted” by bloggers, by the media, by the left. She is blaming the ethics complaints and saying she can’t stand sitting by to watch her government losing money. So she is doing it for Alaska. So when she is indicted, I guess she will say she was innocent and did nothing wrong. It is the bloggers fault!
July 4th, 2009 at 4:10 PM
Karen Loeffler US ATTY, AK. Dem. Dartmouth and Harvard Law
July 4th, 2009 at 4:11 PM
@171 – Breitbart just picked it up. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D997UFUO1&show_article=1&catnum=0
Van Flein is getting all mean lawyerly, threatening to sue basement-dwelling bloggers for saying not nice things. I guess he hasn’t heard of the legal requirement of “actual malice.” Sorry, Van Flein, she wanted the spotlight, so the public has the right to talk about her.
July 4th, 2009 at 4:24 PM
#91 JHop:
There has been a lot of talk about Todd’s affiliation with the secessionist party, especially in light of the recent CBS article about the emails/infighting of the McCain campaign.…
You might find this 10/08 Salon.com article interesting; it’s about Sarah’s early secessionist ties:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/10/10/palin_chryson/index.html
Contrary to the anti-AIP stance she claimed during the campaign (referring to it as an “anti-American political party” in those leaked emails, per the CBS article), Palin actually videotaped a welcome address for the AIP annual convention in 2008; AKM has a link in her 7/1/09 “Accidental Secessionist” post.
July 4th, 2009 at 4:29 PM
jc in co
Flippin’ woman is blinking GAGA! never mind bipolar!
July 4th, 2009 at 4:43 PM
There’s a major scandal in the works, there’s got to be. She’s resigning before she gets impeached. (Good riddance, Sarah Failin).
July 4th, 2009 at 5:01 PM
Palin family at Juneau paradehttp://www.breitbart.com/image.php?id=app-ee33ae7a-c1a8-4887-8e5d-57dcf12cb118&show_article=1&article_id=D997UFUO1
July 4th, 2009 at 5:22 PM
I just want her to shut up and go away. totally, completely. now.
July 4th, 2009 at 5:31 PM
One can’t be “abandoned” when all that was there in the first place was a “vacancy”.
July 4th, 2009 at 6:24 PM
Bipolar is right! That rambling incoherent speech filled with loud gasps of air is exactly how someone who is in a “manic” phase.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen her do a news conference without her children. If she seriously wanted her kids left alone, she wouldn’t parade them around as much as she does. If you use kids for political gain, you have to take the bad with the good. Can you imagine if she had to put up with the stuff Hilary & Bill had to take from the media?
July 4th, 2009 at 7:35 PM
Sarah Palin has thick skin??
Yeah, right. Her epidermus is showing.
July 4th, 2009 at 8:35 PM
Hey #43 Seagull. I agree with you.
Everybody always talks about Sarah palin getting some type of show. But like you; I disagree. Not going to happen. Sarah Palin is a dunce! She is not equipped to carry a 4hr radio or 1hr TV show. She doesn’t know anything. Secondly; republicans will retire of her non-meaty talking points/speeches as well, if she doesn’t add more meat to her bones.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:19 PM
I dunno. Elizabeth Hasselback has a show, or at least is featured prominently on one, and if that screeching dunce can get airtime then brainless Sarah could also land one.
July 5th, 2009 at 8:22 AM
Bailin’ Palin
(or adios, sayonara, au revoir, so long)
or Don’t cry for me Argentina