VP Palin: What's in it for Alaska?

[toasty]

First, take note of this post, in which Palin highlights the need for the "VP slot [to] be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans."

Now check this out, because it looks like this Alaska-centric focus is a continuing theme for Palin:

The reporter, Kyle Hopkins, asked, according to the transcript posted today, "Are you ready to be President Palin if necessary?"

"I am ... I am up to the task, of course, of focusing on the challenges that face America," she answered, and that was all she could say on her behalf on this question. Then she abruptly shifted to how her candidacy would help Alaska. "And I am very pleased with the situation that I am in, when, when you consider the situation now that Alaska will be in.

"And that is Alaska, and Alaskans will be allowed to contribute more to our great country and they'll be allowed to do that because I -- if we're elected -- will be in a position of opening the eyes of the country to what it is that Alaska is all about and what Alaska has to offer. So, I am happy to and very honored to be asked to do this. I know it's going to be great for Alaska."

http://www.huffingtonpost.c om/greg-mitchell/cindy-mccain-on-abc-today_b_122759.html

She is aware that there are 50 states in the Union, right? You don't hear Biden talking about what a kick ass deal this is for Delaware, or even McCain giving a wink to Arizona. Can you say "earmark?"

[88Mariner]

Re: VP Palin: What's in it for Alaska?

earmark

[toasty]

Re: VP Palin: What's in it for Alaska?

earmark

Surely you can't be serious...

[thesightless]

Re: VP Palin: What's in it for Alaska?

im summing this up and close the thread.

she knows she is gonna lose and has to go back there.

[88Mariner]

Re: VP Palin: What's in it for Alaska?

hah, bill me for a new keyboard, k?

i'll be honest, i think this is one of the lesser concerns i have over palin. not saying it isn't valid, but it adds to a long, suffocating list of problems I find with her.

[toasty]

Re: VP Palin: What's in it for Alaska?

i'll be honest, i think this is one of the lesser concerns i have over palin. not saying it isn't valid, but it adds to a long, suffocating list of problems I find with her.

I hear ya there, and if this were all that was wrong with her, I wouldn't even bring it up, but it does add to a laundry list of issues. It is an odd thing to just come out and say, though...

[Localizer]

Re: VP Palin: What's in it for Alaska?

Ahh the bridge to no-where. I'm sure it's already been discussed

Nation & World | Palin's swift rise wins both admirers, enemies | Seattle Times Newspaper

Quote:
Crafting an image
Her critics say that Palin often appears to be better at crafting her image than digging down into the policy details that make government work.
They note that Palin failed to appear at four major debates conducted during the 2006 general-election campaign that pitted her against former Gov. Tony Knowles and Andrew Halcro, an independent. Knowles said that when Palin did show up for debates, she typically kept a stack of cards cached behind her lectern's nameplate. Knowles said they were color-coded for different topics, full of notes, and that Palin constantly referred to them as she answered questions.
"When the questions came up, she would roll her fingers down to the right area ... ," Knowles said. "It was quite bizarre."
Knowles also recalls one memorable debate in Ketchikan, when the national press had pounced on a giant federal earmark to fund a $233 million bridge connecting this southeast Alaska town to an island airport. It had been dubbed "the bridge to nowhere," and attacked by Sen. John McCain and others as a shameful example of misguided pork-barrel spending.
During that debate, Knowles, local reporters and politicians recall, Palin was quick to back the bridge. "We're going to make a good team as we progress that bridge project," she was quoted in the Ketchikan Daily News in September 2006.
In September 2007, Congress finally appropriated money for major Alaska projects, with no dollar amount specified for the bridge but containing enough funds to cover its construction.
Palin accepted the federal money but then directed it to other projects, and she announced her decision to scuttle the bridge project in a pre-dawn press statement released to meet East Coast media deadlines, according to Ketchikan Mayor Bob Weinstein.
Many in Ketchikan feel betrayed, the mayor said.
When Palin introduced herself to the nation last Friday in Dayton, Ohio, as McCain's vice-presidential pick, she recalled the bridge project.
"I championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress," Palin said as a crowd of thousands cheered. "In fact, I told Congress — I told Congress, 'Thanks, but no thanks' on that bridge to nowhere."

[toasty]

Re: VP Palin: What's in it for Alaska?

Something jogged my memory on this, the "this could be a good thing for Alaska" sentiment.

I gotta say, thinking about it now, I'm not sure that Palin's candidacy was a net positive for the state. Before Palin, when I thought about Alaska, I -- well, to be truthful, I didn't really think of Alaska at all. I thought of it as a place that might be fun to take a cruise to at some point, but that's about it. Basically, though, my thought on the state was pretty neutral -- it's one of two states I've never visited (North Dakota being the other) and I just had no sense of it at all.

Now, I do have an impression of Alaska, and I can't say that it's overwhelmingly positive. Kinda seems like Arkansas (sorry Arkansas, nothing personal), only colder. That Alaskan cruise just got bumped down the "to-do" list a ways. Hate to lump a whole state together based upon Palin, but hey, they elected her and evidently love her up there...

[toasty]

Re: VP Palin: What's in it for Alaska?

More evidence that Alaska is pretty much like rural Arkansas, only colder: Sherry Johnston -- the 42 year old mother of soon-to-be-father-and-husband-of-Bristol-Palin Levi Johnston -- has been arrested on six felony counts on drug charges.

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/crime/story/628010.html

Who wants to bet she was running a meth lab out of her basement?

[Huggie Smiles]

Re: VP Palin: What's in it for Alaska?

i thought for sure Palin was gonna try and buy the senate seat from Blaggo !