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With Obama, we get supremely nuanced speeches and expiration dates on every one of his pronouncements. NJ Gov. Chris Christie Cristie could not be more the opposite in virtually all respects. I sincerely hope Christie succeeds in turning around NJ. If he does, there is no limit on how high he can go in elective politics. Below is his most recent youtube appearance, directed at a news reporter describing his tone as confrontational. Enjoy.
Showing posts with label governor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label governor. Show all posts
Saturday, May 15, 2010
The Anti-Obama
Friday, July 3, 2009
Farewell Sarah
In a bizarre decision, Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, announced today that she will step down from her post effective 26 July. It is not clear precisely what is driving this decision, and the reasons she gave in the speech above seem, as Ed Morrisey describes them, near "incoherent." If its because she is fed up with the unprecedented personal vitriol leveled at her and her family by a media gone wild, that's understandable. If she is dropping out with an eye towards running for the Presidency at some point in the future, she just shot herself in the foot. She ran and was elected governor in Alaska. She has a duty of loyalty to the people of her state. If she is now putting that aside for her own personal ambition, that would be an extremely poor decision indeed. At this moment, we are getting more than our fill of narcissists with extremely poor judgment in the White House. I doubt many will want to trade one for another in 2012.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Gov. Sanford - Time To Resign Or Be Prosecuted
Carrying on an affair while in office - very poor judgment, but let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
Leaving for a roll in the hay with mistress over Father's Day - judgment now at slimeball level. Give me the stone, I'll throw it.
The governor goes off the radar and is uncontactable, leaving the state without its Executive and without turning power over to the Lt. Governor - its time to resign with whatever grace he can muster.
The governor gets caught and makes a tearful mea culpa - cry me a river. Actions have consequences, and while I may feel some remorse for the governor, saying "sorry" does not begin to fix the problem of a governor whose lack of judgment in his personal life held out the potential for serious damage to his state.
Making the trip on the public's dime - you're out of there, Bozo. And if the state wants to file criminal charges over misuse of funds, they are completely warranted.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Finally, A Fair & Balanced Article On Gov. Palin's Background
While its some of the finest work I've seen, this fair and detailed work is not from the MSM. It is from the blogger Baseball Crank. It really is a must read, particularly after a month of reading the Washington Post try to take down Palin for taking per diem expenses or the New York Times give the narrative of every Palin enemy they could find for their own front page story. Baseball Crank does the work an objective MSM should have done. Read it here.
(H/T Soccer Dad)
Sunday, September 14, 2008
The NYT Comes Out Flinging
The charismatic 44-year-old governor draws enthusiastic audiences and high approval ratings. And as the Republican vice-presidential nominee, she points to her management experience while deriding her Democratic rivals, Senators Barack Obama and Joseph R. Biden Jr., as speechmakers who never have run anything. (Emphasis added)In other words, don't trust to this woman's highly successful track record, her reformist credentials, or her 80% approval rating after two years in office. She may have tons more executive experience than Obama and Biden combined, but it doesn't count because _________. The NYT leaves it to you to fill in the blank from the ton of material they provide. Pick your favorite. Among other things you will learn: Read the entire post. Jennifer Rubin has an equally scathing commentary on this tsunami of scatalogical minutia from the NYT: The New York Times does the all-so predictable Sarah Palin bill of indictment for its Sunday front page. It certainly sounds compelling in the paragraph called the “nut graf”: Throughout her political career, she has pursued vendettas, fired officials who crossed her and sometimes blurred the line between government and personal grievance, according to a review of public records and interviews with 60 Republican and Democratic legislators and local officials. But what is so remarkable is how little there is in the page after page of minutiae thrown against the wall by the Times. And indeed there’s plenty of favorable material there. Up front we learn: Ms. Palin has many supporters. As a two-term mayor she paved roads and built an ice rink, and as governor she has pushed through higher taxes on the oil companies that dominate one-third of the state’s economy. She stirs deep emotions. In Wasilla, many residents display unflagging affection, cheering “our Sarah” and hissing at her critics. In just the first few paragraphs you have testimony that she was “effective and accessible.” So where are we going here? Well, despite the testimony that she was ”accessible,” others find her “secretive” and inclined to put a premium on “loyalty.” The evidence? The Governor’s office declined a request for emails that would have cost over $400,000. Proof positive. Oh, and the records sought (about Polar Bears and such) were in fact obtained. Read the entire post. You'll find more blogs talking about this at Memorandum. 
Following the Washington Post's front page non-story of Gov. Sarah Palin's per diem expenses a few days ago, the NYT follows with an equal non-story of its own on Gov. Palin - this one being an all out effort to diminish her highly successful executive experience - you know, that bit on the resume missing from both sides of the Democratic ticket. It ends up being nothing more than an effort in throwing a bevy of tiny flecks of manure at the large wall of Gov. Palin's tenure in office and hoping that a piece or two might stick.
________________________________________________________
You can find the entire article here. Lest you not get the premise, the NYT spells it out half way through the article, after fertilizing the ground with the first half of their article:
But an examination of her swift rise and record as mayor of Wasilla and then governor finds that her visceral style and penchant for attacking critics — she sometimes calls local opponents “haters” — contrasts with her carefully crafted public image.
Tom Smith's analysis of this NYT article is probably more cogent than my own. Here is how he puts it:
-- Upon getting elected, Palin fires people who have held jobs for years ("professionals") and puts in people she has known for years, often going back to her high school days. Why a reform-minded politician would do this in a notoriously corrupt state is, of course, baffling.
-- Palin bears grudges and takes them personally. This is a rare fault in politicians and not to be endured. The Clintons, for example, have set a fine example in letting bygones be bygones.
-- Palin is an evangelical Christian who went so far as to inquire about taking the inoffensive book "Daddy's Roommate" out of the public library.
-- Todd Palin called somebody and let them know he and his wife were unhappy that he had hired somebody or other who had broken up with somebody or other over something. This one made a deep impression on me I will not soon forget.
-- Sarah Palin when she was mayor put pressure on the town council to fire the town attorney, whom she did not like, possibly because he was not pro-development enough. I earnestly pray this is not true.
-- Sarah Palin often uses lots of notes when she speaks, even going so far as to use tabs and different colors of notecards. This is just so unbelievably tacky and small town I am considering killing myself.
-- Not only Governor Palin but members of her staff sometimes use their personal email accounts to do public business. This charge is perhaps the most deeply shocking of all. Then, these same officials have sometimes resisted turning over their personal emails on public business to their opponents in political disputes.
All this, taken together, goes far beyond Maureen Dowd's searing revelation that Sarah Palin wears shoes that are really intended for much younger women. Now we know that far from a pit bull with lipstick, Governor Palin is a merely human politician who rewards friends, punishes enemies and plays "hardball" just like one of the guys. Who does she think she is? And, she's ambitious. She confided to a friend that she wants to be president someday. Should such a person be allowed inside the White House?
Then there is the ” she blurs personal and public behavior” charge. The evidence? A phone call from Todd Palin to a state legislator about the latter’s chief of staff, which Palin denies was mentioned. Pretty thin gruel.
Next we have her tenure as mayor, where again all heck breaks loose because — are ya sitting down? — she brought in her own team. No! Unheard of. Jeeez. Next she’ll be firing the town museum director. Oh no– it’s true! Palin says (”Oh yeah, she says,” you can hear the Times reporters hrrumphing) she was cutting the budget.
This is pathetic, really. Is there something illegal here? Is there something nefarious? What is the point? . . .
Other than those on the far left, there is nothing in this article that will resonate with the sole exception of Palin's choice to head the state's Agriculture department, and that will make one night at Comedy Central and be gone.
If this is the best the NYT can do after combing through her life with a microscope, they have problems and I am feeling a bit more confident this morning. Oh, and stay tuned, I understand the NYT, in an effort to be fair, is finally going to get around to do a similarly detailed piece on Obama. Its slated to go to the presses on or about Nov. 6.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Experience . . . Judgement . . . . Dissimulation
Anderson Cooper asks the right question, just not the obvious followup.
Wow. Why didn't Cooper ask Obama why he ignoring that she has been a governor of one of the 57 states, running a $13 billion budget and 25,000 employees. You can't get much more deceptive or be more dissumlating then B.H. Obama.
And if Obama wants apples and apples comparisons, what was he managing while she was Mayor of Wasilla? Recall from Biden's speech, he praised how Obama got 150 people improved health care during his time as a Saul Alinsky follower.
Snowball . . . meet hill.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Palin In Comparison
This is Sarah Palin
. . . America’s hottest governor and the Republican nominee for Vice President.
She is the governor of Alaska
. . . the northernmost of our fifty some odd states.
She has an approval rating over 80%. That is . . .
. . . almost better than God's.
She likes fishing . . .
. . . for salmon
She likes hunting . . .
. . . for moose.
And Mooseburgers . . .
. . . are whats for dinner at the Alaska Governor's mansion.
What she doesn't eat . . .
. . . makes for comfortable office decor.
She started out her adult life as a working woman, a hockey mom, . . .
. . . and a runner up for Miss Alaska.
Obama started out as . . .
. . . a follower of the Marxist organizer Saul Alinsky.
Palin won her first election for executive office to become . . .
. . . the Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska in 1996.
She did so by beating a three term incumbent . . .
. . . in a hotly contested election.
Obama won his first election to the Illinois State Senate . . .
. . . by having his competition, Alice Palmer, a civil rights icon, decertified from the ballot by his attorneys. Likewise, none of his subsequent elections to office were models of democracy.
Palin is famous for blowing the whistle on massive corruption
. . . at the very top of Alaska's Republican Party.
Obama is famous for meeting corrupt people . . .
. . . befriending them and doing business deals.
Palin has a twenty year old son . . .
. . . in the U.S. Army Infantry, a job that requires he put his life on the line in order to serve our country.
Obama attended Trinity United Church for 20 years . . .
. . . exposing his children to the deeply racist, seperatist and anti-American Black Liberation Theology and a preacher who damns America.
Palin has run businesses, including. . . .
. . . a commercial fishing business with her husband
That gives her more business experience than . . .
. . . these two combined.
Palin has been a mayor and is now a governor. That gives her more executive experience than . . .
. . . these two combined.
Palin went to Germany. She gave no speeches while there, but . . .
. . . she did visit wounded soldiers in Landstuhl
Obama went to Germany. He gave a speech to Germans . . .
. . . then exercised near Landstuhl
Palin has fought against . . .
. . . tax increases and earmarks
Obama has . . .
. . . sought millions in earmarks for special interests.
Obama voted against a bill that would have killed the funding for the most infamous pork project of the last decade, the $200+ million earmark for the Bridge to Nowhere . . .
When she became Governor of Alaska . . .
. . . Palin killed the Bridge to Nowhere project.
Palin is a huge proponent of . . .
. . . drilling in ANWR and off the coast to bring down gas prices.
Obama is a huge proponent of
. . . inflating your tires.
And Obama is fine with . . .
. . . $4 a gallon for gas
Palin is a lifetime member . . .
. . . of the NRA
Obama voted . . .
. . . against a bill to allow people threatened with domestic violence to carry a firearm for self protection and against a bill to protect a man from prosecution who had used a hand gun unlawful in Chicago to defend his family inside his own home.
The McCains adopted . . .
. . . an infant with heart ailments from an orphanage in Bangladesh and raised her to health and as one of their own children.
Obama adopted . . .
. . . the symbols of the presidency.
Palin is a working mom with five children . . .
Her fifth child was born four months ago. His name is Trig and they knew five months before he was born that he had Down's Syndrome . . .
They chose not to abort the child because she is pro-life.
That puts her at odds with Obama . . .
. . . who voted against an Illinois bill designed to stop infanticide of children born alive from botched abortions.
The Left says that Gov. Palin . . .
. . . is inexperienced and not ready to be one heartbeat away from the Presidency.
Who would have guessed . . .
. . . that lack of experience is now a disqualifier - for the position Vice President.
Indeed, putting aside foreign policy, Gov. Palin has more and varied experience than
. . . these two combined
Some on the left are questioning her intelligence and trying to label her the second coming of . . .
. . . Mr. "potato-e," former Vice President Dan Quayle.
The MSM of the day magnified Qualye's gaffes, while it seems that the MSM of today is ignoring . . .
. . . the serial gaffes of at least one of the candidates who makes Dan Quayle seem erudite by comparison.
McCain wants the Left and the MSM to speak up about this stuff so that he and . . .
. . . his new BFF's can hear also.
Of one thing there is no question. Of all the four candidates for President and Vice President from the two parties . . .
. . . Gov. Palin is the only one I would want to see both in the White House and on the cover of Vogue showing a bit of cleavage.
(Update 2: I included the above photo in the belief that it was the actual cover of the edition of Vogue for which Gov. Palin posed in February, 2008. Yes, she posed for Vogue, no, the above is not one of the photos. It is a photoshop. I thank one of the commentors, Mare, for pointing this out.)
(Update: Jim at Bright & Early has an additional comparison worth a view)
Friday, August 29, 2008
Er . . . .
As I look around the net at the reaction to Gov. Sarah Palin as the VP pick and dig more into her background, one of the things I see repeatedly popping up on the left is that Alaska's Governor has too little experience to be vice president, one 72 year old heartbeat away from the presidency.
I am confused. As I look at Gov. Palin, . . .
- She has years of experience in the private sector. She has run a business. Between them, Biden and Obama have less private sector experience and no comprable experience running a business.
- She has years of executive experience, including two years as governor. Obama and Biden between them have no executive experience.
- She bucked her party, and brought down much of the old boy Republican network in Alaska through ethics investigations. Obama and Biden are doctranaire progresives who have never bucked their party.
- When she met people like Rezo in Alaska, she got them tossed from office. When Obama met Rezko, he made friends and became involved in deals.
- She has never been in the military. Neither Obama nor Biden have any military experience.
- She has no foreign policy experience. Obama has no foreign policy experience. Leaving questons of judgment out of the calculus for the moment, Biden has years of foreign policy experience.
Adding all of this up, it would appear that the bottom of the Republican party ticket now has more relevant experience than the top of the Democratic one. I just do not see why anyone on the left would want to make a charge of lack of experience - or invite the above comparison.
The Maverick Strikes - Its Sarah Palin
Republican presumptive presidential nominee John McCain has chosen first-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, according to a senior McCain adviser. Read the entire article. I am amazed that the Obama camp is denigrating her already. Sarah Palin, John McCain’s vice presidential pick and the first female governor of Alaska, is seen as a rising star within the Republican Party. My hats off to McCain. I was hoping he would make a bold pick. This certainly foots the bill. I was going to write an analysis of this, but I think Ed Morissey has done a better job than I can do on this one. This is his take on it all at Hot Air: . . . Palin has served less than two years as Governor of Alaska, which tends to eat into the experience message on which McCain has relied thus far. At 44, she’s younger than Barack Obama by three years. She has served as a mayor and as the Ethics Commissioner on the state board regulating oil and natural gas, for a total of eight years political experience before her election as governor. That’s also less than Obama has, with seven years in the Illinois legislature and three in the US Senate.
Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin is the Republican VP Pick. This is a brilliant pick. She is a strong conservative and a true Washington outside. She has had private sector business experience, she has executive experience, she is pro-life, she is a mother of five, including a soldier and Down's Syndrome child, she is a strong proponent of drilling in ANWR, and she is a maverick herself by all accounts, having taken on the corrupt Republican Party in Alaska and won. This just threw a wild card into the race.
This from the Washington Post:
Palin, 44, will be the first woman nominated to the ticket by the Republican Party, and is a surprise choice after McCain considered more experienced politicians, including several of his former rivals for the GOP nomination. Palin was elected in 2006, and before that was mayor of tiny Wasilla, population 6,715.
She is a favorite of conservatives, who say she brings a reform-minded agenda and is what one called a "feminist for life.'' She is the mother of five; her youngest child, born in April, has Down's syndrome.
Palin had been before mentioned as a dark-horse candidate for the pick, but speculation in recent days had focused on McCain's primary rival Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, and on Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. The choice--to be announced at a noon rally here--was kept secret by the McCain campaign despite a frenzy of speculation from the 24/7 world of cable news and political blogs.
. . . McCain's communications director, Jill Hazelbaker, playfully declined to provide any confirmation Friday morning. Speaking on CBS' "Early Show," she provided only a vague sense of the motivation that has driven McCain's decision. "John McCain is going to make the choice from his heart," she said.
"He's going to choose someone who can be a partner in governing. He's going to choose someone who brings character and principle to the table and who shares his priorities. And I'm confident that he's going to make a great pick."
. . . Karl Rove, President Bush's former top political advisers, said on Fox News that picking Palin would "shake up" the traditional coalitions in both parties. He called Palin a "breath of fresh air," and said picking her would be an indication that McCain is hoping to make a direct appeal to women voters, especially those who voted for Sen. Hillary Clinton, not Sen. Barack Obama, during the Democratic primary.
"It would be a clear sign by the McCain campaign that they would be making a bid" for women voters, Rove said. "In the last 24 hours, we've seen both campaigns refocus themselves in a powerful way on the Hillary Clinton supporters."
One GOP source who said McCain had chosen Palin call it a "stunning pick" and said he was still trying to get his arms around it. The source, who did not want to be named since McCain has not commented publicly, said conservatives will be pleased since she is an anti-abortion Republican.
But he acknowledged that Palin is "not really that well known."
Aides to Obama said they are salivating at the prospect of a Palin pick, readying talking points to question McCain's choice. With 18 months in office, little foreign policy experience -- or experience of any kind -- Palin would be, in the words of one senior Obama adviser, "a gift."
Democratic officials expressed surprise about Palin but predicted that she will make it more difficult for McCain to use one of his central attacks on Obama: that the first-term senator lacks the experience the White House requires.
"He cannot say any more that Barack Obama doesn't have the experience to be commander in chief when he chooses a woman whose signature achievement two years ago was that they won an award from the National Arbor Day Foundation," a Democratic operative said.
Democrats began quickly scouring Palin's past. They pointed out that she had once raised the sales tax to support construction of a recreation center in her city. And they noted that Palin has been accused of improperly using her office to have her ex-brother-in-law fired from his state trooper's job.
"She's under investigation right now," the Democrat said.
Geraldine Ferrarro was the only other woman ever chosen to run on a major ticket. She is on Fox News at the moment saying that this is a big reach across the aisle to the PUMA folks that Obama just spent the last week trying to bring back into the fold.
And there is this bio from Fox:
She became the youngest person to assume the top office of the 49th State in 2006. Her anti-abortion stance is certain to appeal to evangelicals, while her views on the threats of climate change mirror those of Senator McCain.
“Palin is becoming a star in the conservative movement, a fiscal conservative in a state that is looking like a boondoggle for pork barrel spending,” Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway has said. “She’s young, vibrant, fresh and now, and a new mother of five. She should be in the top tier. If the Republican Party wants to wrestle itself free from the perception that it is royalist and not open to putting new talent on the bench, this would be the real opportunity.”
Palin’s presence adds youth to a McCain ticket, but it is her gender that could help sway women, especially the “security moms” who helped President Bush win re-election in 2004, to vote GOP.
Born in Sandpoint, Idaho, on Feb. 11, 1964, Palin moved with her family at the age of three months to Wasilla, Alaska, though she returned to her birth state to attend the University of Idaho, where she studied journalism and graduated in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree.
Palin is the mother of five children — Bristol, Willow, Piper, Track and Trig, who was born in April with Down syndrome.
She grew up in Wasilla, just outside of Anchorage, played on Wasilla’s state champion girls’ basketball team in 1982, wore the crown of Miss Wasilla in 1984 and competed in the Miss Alaska contest.
She began her professional career as a television sports reporter, but after she married her husband, Todd, she helped run his family’s commercial fishing business. Other professional endeavors included the ownership of a snow machine, watercraft and all-terrain-vehicle business.
She ran for Wasilla City Council in 1992, winning her seat by opposing tax increases. Four years later, she was elected mayor of Wasilla at age 32 by knocking off a three-term incumbent.
At the end of her second term, party leaders encouraged her to enter the 2002 race for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. Against veteran legislators with far more experience, Palin finished second by fewer than 2,000 votes, making a name for herself in statewide politics.
Palin had exceptionally high approval ratings through mid-2007 and received high marks for her accessibility, a change from Frank Murkowski’s administration.
However, the nature of the experience couldn’t be more different. Palin spent her entire political career crusading against the political machine that rules Alaska — which exists in her own Republican party. She blew the whistle on the state GOP chair, who had abused his power on the same commission to conduct party business. Obama, in contrast, talked a great deal about reform in Chicago but never challenged the party machine, preferring to take an easy ride as a protegé of Richard Daley instead.
Palin has no formal foreign-policy experience, which puts her at a disadvantage to Joe Biden. However, in nineteen months as governor, she certainly has had more practical experience in diplomacy than Biden or Obama have ever seen. She runs the only American state bordered only by two foreign countries, one of which has increasingly grown hostile to the US again, Russia.
And let’s face it — Team Obama can hardly attack Palin for a lack of foreign-policy experience. Obama has none at all, and neither Obama or Biden have any executive experience. Palin has almost over seven years of executive experience.
Politically, this puts Obama in a very tough position. The Democrats had prepared to launch a full assault on McCain’s running mate, but having Palin as a target creates one large headache. If they go after her like they went after Hillary Clinton, Obama risks alienating women all over again. If they don’t go after her like they went after Hillary, he risks alienating Hillary supporters, who will see this as a sign of disrespect for Hillary.
For McCain, this gives him a boost like no other in several different ways. First, the media will eat this up. That effectively buries Obama’s acceptance speech and steals the oxygen he needs for a long-term convention bump. A Romney or Pawlenty pick would not have accomplished that.
Second, Palin will re-energize the base. She’s not just a pro-life advocate, she’s lived the issue herself. That will attract the elements of the GOP that had held McCain at a distance since the primaries and provide positive motivation for Republicans, rather than just rely on anti-Democrat sentiment to get them to the polls.
Third, and I think maybe most importantly, Palin addresses the energy issue better and more attuned to the American electorate than maybe any of the other three principals in this election. Even beyond her efforts to reform the Oil and Natural Gas Commission, she has demonstrated her independence from so-called “Big Oil” while promoting domestic production. She brings instant credibility to the ticket on energy policy, and reminds independents and centrists that the Obama-Biden ticket offers nothing but the same excuses we’ve heard for 30 years.
Finally, based on all of the above, McCain can remind voters who has the real record of reform. Obama talks a lot about it but has no actual record of reform, and for a running mate, he chose a 35-year Washington insider with all sorts of connections to lobbyists and pork. McCain has fought pork, taken real political risks to fight undue influence of lobbyists, and he picked an outsider who took on her own party — and won.
This is change you can believe in, and not change that amounts to all talk. McCain changed the trajectory of the race today by stealing Obama’s strength and turning it against him. Obama provided that opening by picking Biden as his running mate, and McCain was smart enough to take advantage of the opening.
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