Wonderful Wasilla
Just another day in Sarahdice....Mudflats takes us on a photo tour of a recent trip through the city of Wasilla. Sarah's old digs at City Hall are in one of the nicest buildings in town.
The rest of the local businesses look mostly like converted warehouses and storage sheds and the churches, well the ones that don't look like converted garages look like repurposed tar paper shacks.
He (or she) has lots more pix. Check out the whole gallery. I'm sure that after viewing her training ground, you will be as convinced as I am about Sarah's executive experience.
[More posts daily at The Newshoggers and The Detroit News.]
The rest of the local businesses look mostly like converted warehouses and storage sheds and the churches, well the ones that don't look like converted garages look like repurposed tar paper shacks.
He (or she) has lots more pix. Check out the whole gallery. I'm sure that after viewing her training ground, you will be as convinced as I am about Sarah's executive experience.
[More posts daily at The Newshoggers and The Detroit News.]
Labels: Election 08, Sarah Palin
posted by Libby Spencer at 5:34 PM
21 Comments:
As Wasilla goes, so goes the nation.
No room for pics of the governer's mansion? Oh wait. Let's ignore that "training ground".
Hey porthos. I was hoping to see her three houses myself. I can't believe the media hasn't picked up on that yet.
Oh by the way, she doesn't live in the governor's mansion, she has three houses of her own.
Hey, Libby.
Didn't know she didn't live in the govener's mansion, but I wasn't really talking about where she lived.
I was using it to illustrate that you choose to ignore that she currently governs the largest state in the nation, oversees 15k+ state employees, and handles a budget of over $11 billion. Quite a different picture than the one you'd like the paint with Wasilla.
You're not going to show the law offices where Obama used to work and claim those as his only "training grounds", are you?
And since when was home ownership a negative? What kind of homes are they anyway? Could be a four-bedroom house and two hunting shacks out on an acre each in the woods. Feels like a cheap shot. Either way, I'd be surprised if all three of hers don't equal one Al Gore or John Edwards estate.
And you choose to ignore the fact that Alaska has 675,000 people - far fewer than it has Reindeer. Let's keep it real please and let's not do the Republican thing and chastise people for saying what you wish they'd say.
Do you really think she's in the top 1% as concerns IQ or education or anything at all really? If not, why should we have to settle for that? Tell me why. Tell me what's more important.
Real estate is cheap in Alaska and I don't care what she owns - unless some of that money is dirty and I have my suspicions.
I care very much about a party that continually gives us dull and dogmatic puppets that can be controlled by people we didn't elect.
Most of all I'm furious about the ever increasing level of religious fanaticism and the bald and blatant lies these insurgent jihadists tell about American history and law.
If you don't think she's there for one reason only - to make a bid for the far right fundamentalist vote you're fooling yourself. It's about abortion, it's about gay rights, It's about abstinance-only sex education, it's about the Christian agenda and it's about nothing else whatsoever. Nothing.
But go ahead and tell us how smart is this someone who thinks George Washington wrote the Pledge of Allegiance - the one she's "willing to fight for". Tell me how shes the one you'd have chosen all by yourself if the Maverick hadn't suggested her.
Or is it that you just agree that "mediocre people need representation too?"
Hey Porthos, but I do want to address one point since I have this post at DetNews already addressing the gubernatorial experience. It's not the first time I've seen the false contention that she handled a 11 billion dollar budget. AK has about that much in revenue, but she signed off on a 2.3 billion budget and the cuts she made were bizarre and will not support the fiscal prudence argument so much as it illustrates her tendency towards abuse of power.
And does anyone think she kept the books herself? My 5 year old grandson can sign his name too. Even in Alaska, the governor has employees who do the work - lots of them. Bush signs off on the biggest budget in American history and he's an idiot. BFD.
The way her experience was presented last night was so dishonest that even AP had to publish a "fact check" that tore it to ribbons.
Anyone who lies like that doesn't deserve office, no matter what their qualifications may be - and of course her's are essentially non-existent (other than being an intransigent, dogmatic fundamentalist extremist)
Despite the enthusiasm of our friend the Musketeer, even the Republican intelligentsia like Peggy Noonan thinks they've shot themselves in the foot - or hoof, if you prefer.
Wow. You guys really like rabbit trails. IQ? Education? Religious fanaticism? Tax cuts? Intransigent, dogmatic fundamentalist extremist?
My only point was that, Libby, you threw out unappealing pictures of Wasilla, claiming it to be her "training ground" and source of her "executive experience".
But you completely ignore her work as governor. Fine. It's a $2.3 billion dollar budget instead of $11 bil. Point still stands: she's actually led an entire state (and a city). I didn't hear anyone raising a ruckus that Obama has never had executive responsibilities, large or small.
To string a few adjectives together ala Capt. Fogg, your "point" with this post comes off as snarky elitist partisan belittling, not anything of substance.
Oh, as for Noonan, she says this today:
"Gut: The Sarah Palin choice is really going to work, or really not going to work. It's not going to be a little successful or a little not; it's not going to be a wash. She is either going to be magic or one of history's accidents. She is either going to be brilliant and groundbreaking, or will soon be the target of unattributed quotes by bitter staffers shifting blame in all the Making of the President 2008 books."
Later adding, "She could become a transformative political presence."
http://online.wsj.com/article/declarations.html
Sounds a little more balanced than "shot themselves in the foot".
LOL porthos. The off the cuff musing when she didn't know her mike was live is much more telling of her true thoughts. The rest is just CYA stuff.
The "nothing of substance" response is pretty much an IQ test right there, Porthy. First standard deviation dullards, second raters and second graders all say things like that, so let's not pull that sticky lollipop out of your pocket again. It's full of lint.
Bogus detachment notwithstanding, you have a bias and an agenda and I'd think more of you if you simply admitted it instead of trying to convince me that I'm stupid.
"Balance" is for circus seals and con men. The truth is always biased to those with a different bias and smart always seems dumb to the dumber. Yep, I know that cuts both ways, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Why can't you two respond to the actual criticism I made?
As for this:
"Bogus detachment notwithstanding, you have a bias and an agenda and I'd think more of you if you simply admitted it instead of trying to convince me that I'm stupid."
1. Of course I have bias. We all do. But that doesn't change the fact that she is governor. Who oversees a budget. And a staff. And has leadership experience. And etc.
2. My only agenda was to point out the senseless cherry picking of facts. And that the "point" being made in this post is elitist nonsense.
3. I never tried to convince you that you're stupid. See #2. On the contrary, I'm being told that I'm stupid for pointing out there's more to her qualifications than you want to show.
Where did I say there anything wrong with Wasilla? The point you seem determined to avoid is that it's a tiny little town and that forms the bulk of her experience. It's like saying Barney Fife is qualified to be DefSec because he has a lifetime of experience as a deputy in Mayberry. I mean even Sheriff Andy Taylor who was the smart one wouldn't be able to handle the job.
As far as Palin's gubernatorial experience, again, presiding over the the 4th smallest state in the nation (by pop., for only 18 months, where a visit by Ivana Trump is a major event, is hardly preparation for dealing with world leaders and she has NO KNOWLEDGE of world affairs. Look at her public statements. She didn't even understand what the surge was all about. I have a better grasp of what's going on than she does and I don't think I should be VP either.
Not to mention, even if I thought she was qualified, her record such as it is in politics, is fraught with abuse of power. We just went through 8 years of this crap. Do you really want four more?
And Fogg darling. You're slaying me. I wish I could turn a phrase like you. I wish you were running for president. I would feel a lot safer right now.
Libby, thanks for getting to the issue at hand.
I'm curious, how big of a state does someone need to be governor of to qualify for your standard for experience? Arkansas is only 33rd (not even in the top half!) in population, but Clinton seemed to do okay in DC. And after seeing her this last week, do you really think she wouldn't be able to handle herself with world leaders? You may not like her policies, but I don't think composure or presentation is going to be a problem.
And let's assume I accept your assessment about her statements about the surge and whatnot. Wouldn't one expect a writer/politico focused on national politics be more prepared about issues like that as opposed to someone focused on state issues? Do you really think she isn't already getting up to speed on all the relevant issues?
And the "foreign affairs" calls are bogus. What governors ever have foreign policy experience before becoming Presidents? Clinton didn't. Reagan didn't. Carter didn't. It's a red herring.
Besides, we're talking about the #2 on the Rep ticket. The TOP of your ticket has NO executive or foreign policy experience. And as Los Texas Tornados once said, "A little bit is better than nada."
The "issue at hand" is that you're telling us a Yugo is better than a Mercedes because neither has many miles on it. That's not factually or logically true. That's the "issue" not my adjective count.
Simple enough for you?
And oh, we're not being fair to the Yugo because we didn't tell you how much trunk room it has. How dumb do you think I am that you could sell me on the superiority or even the equivalence of Obama and Palin?
Like Sports metaphors better? You're telling me the 7' 6" athlete won't make as good a basketball player as a 5' 4" one-eyed fat man because the latter played half a season of high school ball?
The difference in intelligence between the two candidates is stunning, but that's not the point. The difference in education is dramatic, but that's not the point either. We both know that even if she could come close to matching his ability, her evangelistic vision for this country is at odds with our history and our values and constitution.
She doesn't like science. She doesn't like secular democracy. She wants to teach creationism in the public schools. Her ideas about taxation resemble an extreme libertarian fantasy. She doesn't think we should have national parks or environmental regulation and she would like to impose neo-puritan Sharia on all of us. She says continuing the Iraq war is "God's will." Her inauguration party was paid for by BP. She lied about opposing the infamous bridge. She has openly supported Alaskan independence. She's not comfortable with public libraries that contain works she opposes on religious grounds.
That's your girl!
Above all she hides it, staying far away from giving us any ideas about how to turn around a country that over 80% of us think is going the wrong way. Just slogans and more advertising for the same damned, intransigent, moronic dogma that got us here. Sorry it that's too many adjectives for a musketeer.
And now we're being superficial and unfair by not dignifying your pretended offense, at not showing that Wasilla is the Paris of Alaska.
Forget it, you've lost the sale. I can tell first rate from recycled junk and all your diversions and distortions won't work.
Thank you Fogg. I don't think I have anything to add to that. I don't have the time for straw man arguments.
Porthos, If you bother to read my archives at DetNews, I have described at length what makes Palin unqualified. If you continue this discussion with me, please give me a list of 10 SPECIFIC executive deicisions she made that demonstrate her preparedness for the second highest national office.
Give me ten pubic statements she made that indicate she has a clue about what's going on in the lower 48.
You know, I'm not defending her, but shouldn't pubic statements be off limits?
LOL Fogg. I was clearly not awake when I posted that one.
Wow, what a thread. My only comment is this. While she IS the governor of a state, albiet a small one with a small budget, she hasn't been there long enough to show that she is a GOOD one. Just because we have the job title on our resume doesn't mean anything. The quality of the work is the question and she is just too new at her job to pass that test.
Personally, with her ultra conservative and in my opinion, ridiculous religious views, between her and McCain they could and surely would eliminate decades of intellectual progress.
Hey Brian. It would be a doubly huge disaster if this ticket gets elected now.
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