Sarah Palin To Resign As Governor of Alaska

[~sudsshane]

Chuck~

I'd gladly welcome Bill and Hillary back to The White House.
Clinton was a moderate, and fiscal conservative. He did screw the gay community on "Don't ask, Don't tell" though.

Obama, on the other hand is a radical.

Sorry, just my opinion. =)

 

[jeffg]

Obama is not a radical. He's simply keeping his campaign promises, on which he was elected president.

In fact the biggest criticism leveled at Obama so far is that he tries way too hard to appease Republicans.

 

[hydralique]

I surely can't see how Obama can be called radical. He's continued Bush's large government bailouts of bankrupt institutions when it's generally accepted that the alternative is an unacceptable loss of American jobs, and he's trying to get some sort of agreement on health care. The latter has been an issue for many years and it looks like the solution will use existing private insurance companies, which is hardly radical.

Take a good look at the changes wrought by FDR's administration in the '30s and you'll see some radical thought at work, way more than Obama could dream of.

 

[perc-o-prince]

No need to be sorry, Shane!

Yes, DADT sucked, sucks and will continue to suck.

But, as we're both not "one issue voters," there are certain things we'd give up for the greater good! I know I potentially gave up locking up the borders when I wrote Hillary in for '08!

Chuck

 

[~sudsshane]

He's simply keeping his campaign promises, on which he w

Oh, really?

Tell that to the countless number of gay supporters who were suckered by Obama's promises of
overturning DOMA and "Don't ask, Don't tell".

If memory serves me correct, he promised to do this within the first 100 days of his Presidency.

Make all the excuses for him you wish. If he doesn't accomplish this before next year;s midterms, it won't happen.
Mark my words, the Dems will lose seats in Congress next year. It always happens. Then, all will be lost.

 

[charger]

The Republicans already know the next election is as good as lost. That was the situation with incumbent Presidents Reagan and Clinton as well. The GOP is just going to throw a long shot as it has nothing to loose it will likely be a woman or a Mormon.... However a third party spoiler could mix things up, say someone who calls out President Obama for being the closet gay hater that he is, as Nader is also a gay hater it can’t be him.

Its OK with me that he is a hater as long as he panders to me for my vote and money. Unless/until he comes through on DOMA or "Don't ask, Don't tell" (at this point I can accept just one), He and the national Democratic party are cut off from my bank account. I take joy in sending empty envelopes with this message when they ask for donations and got hung up on by someone who called asking for funds last week.

As has been pointed out already NOW is the time that he must act if he is serious, the historic trend is for the presidents party to loose seats in congress during the mid cycle election.

 

[jeffg]

Shane, the man has been in office six months, and unlike his predecessor, who was a virtual dictator (governing via executive orders, signing statements etc), Obama works by consensus as much as possible. He's not going to rescind DADT until consensus is reached on a new policy.

IMO criticism of Clinton for DADT is valid, however it's also true that, compared to the policy it replaced, DADT was a huge step forward for gay people.

 

[launderess]

No,

Obama is looking out for himself, just like any politican.

The democrats like Obama won with votes by moderate and conservative democrats along with republicans unhappy with GWB. Those votes could go either way in any election and Obama is NOT going to tick anyone off. The man is the most vanilla "cellophane" blackman one has ever seen. He said little to nothing during his election run, and it is still that way. Everything is spoken of in general terms while he stands up there looking Sidney Poitier slick.

Democrats won victories in VERY marginal districts, especially in the Mid-West and the South. They know very well those seats could swing back if too much liberal left comes out of the White House.

Obama has to also contend with the Black churches, another VERY powerful group. Now that electing a first black president of the United States is done, there isn't going to be that same pull if Obama does things that does not please them

One said it the time when you all elected that man, it is not going to be possible to make everyone happy, somebody is going to leave the table with their belly less than full. Now that democrats control both houses of government and the White House all this whinging about republicans holding things up and or other such nonesense is moot.

 

[polkanut]

Stick her on a melting chunk of ice and set it adrift! Who would give a rat's ass what happened to the dumb broad? Obama in 2012 all the way!!!

 

[jaxsunst]

Did anyone else see the Rick Sanchez speculation? He said that she may be pregnant again.

 

[frigilux]

Launderess, if you want to hear "little-to-nothing" being said, go to YouTube and listen to all seven minutes of Palin's announcement.

Oh, I get it, now! Politicians should just resign during the second half of their term for the good of their state, as well as the country. Get Alaska embroiled in the whole pipeline controversy, and then just bail in the middle of it. That's what real leadership is. This must be what she means when she says "Real dreams for real people."

Once again: That anyone sees Presidential material in this woman is dumbfounding. To borrow from Gertrude Stein "There is no THERE, there."

 

[jeffg]

> The democrats like Obama won with votes by moderate and conservative democrats along with republicans unhappy with GWB. <

Sorry, t'aint true. Independents have been deciding U.S. presidential elections for the last 20+ years, including the last election. Even if every Republican had voted for McCain, he still would have lost.

> The man is the most vanilla "cellophane" blackman one has ever seen. <

Well, Shane thinks he's a radical. There's just no pleasing you people.

 

[jeffg]

And by the way, if Shane wants "radical", all he has to do is read the current platform of the Republican Party, which calls for things like eliminating reproductive rights for women, assigning 14th Amendment equal protection rights to fetuses, etc etc.

The two major threats to America's freedoms today are "fundamentalist" (read: fake) Islamics, and our own far right-wing, which is comprised almost exclusively of fundamentalist (read: fake) Christians. Ideologically the two groups are very similar. "They hate our freedoms."

 

[~sudsshane]

Current platform of the Republican Party

"The two major threats to America's freedoms today are "fundamentalist" (read: fake) Islamics, and our own far right-wing"

The far left, IMO, is just as dangerous as the far right.

Obama's base is the far left.

 

[hydralique]

Back to Caribou Barbie . . .

Looks like there's some speculation the old rumors about the Palin's house having been built via graft and corruption may be coming back to bite, and hard. So far it seems that:

-The house was built without permits, due to Palin blocking any objections that they should get permits. Todd Palin claims that he built the house himself. Normally in a situation like this permits must be pulled as an "Owner-Builder", which means that the owner must comply with the same building and zoning codes as everyone else.

-The house supposedly contains many materials which are identical to a new civic building constructed at great expense in Wasilla.

-There is a Federal investigation involved with these matters.

As a professional in the building industry, I find it appalling that the Palins refused to go through the normal plancheck process and get building permits; using her power to do this clearly created a two-class society in Wasilla where normal people had to pay for permits and abide by zoning and building standards, while the Palins were considered exempt from that. I don't know about Alaska, but in many places substantial taxes for schools and other entities must be paid on residential building permits, so the lack of permits not only allows carte blanche with the building process but gives the owner a nice free ride on taxation compared to those who pay taxes. Maybe, like the late Leona Helmsley, the Palins feel that "taxes are for the little people."

 

[peterh770]

Obama was elected by slogan only -- change -- and riding the coat tails of Bush Derangement Syndrome. He had nothing, has nothing. Everyone deriding Palin can't see beyond their own miasma. She had tons more experience in her litter finger than Mr. Slogan. Nut just keep hating on. No use speculating what a Republican would do; they lost. All we have is more government, more debt, more taxes, more slogans and empty promises.

 

[frigilux]

Obama's base is not the far left. They find him entirely too centrist. His base is nearer the middle than you care to admit.

 

[jeffg]

Bush Derangement Syndrome?? It's official, now I've heard everything.

Rabid right Republicans did absolutely nothing in Congress for nearly six years, other than try and remove Bill Clinton from office... Travelgate, Filegate, Vince Foster, Monica Lewinsky, and on and on and on.

And now we have to read about "Bush Derangement Syndrome".

Pick any standard by which to judge the Bush Administration, it was a disaster in nearly all respects.

 

[charger]

Its seems to me the GOP is doing the same thing they always did with Governor Palin – taking her out of public scrutiny as much as possible to reduce the damage caused by her ignorance, additionally I suspect she will be going to “How to appear less ignorant school’

I picture her in "A Clockwork Orange" type chair being fed "HATE Gays and Government”... "LOVE God and Guns" … over and over again.

 

[peterh770]

Bush Derangement Syndrome?? It's official, now I've

That term been around for years. You're late to the party!

 

[jeffg]

Well, New England congressional Republicans have become an extinct species, and the same is almost true here in California. The harder Republicans dig in to the right, the faster they're losing membership and elections.

We've seen this movie before in other countries, and it always has the same ending: Listen to ten minutes of Fox News or Rush Limbaugh, their increasingly desperate and outrageous rhetoric, and it's clear that today's Neocons are fast becoming tomorrow's Neo-fascists.

 

[~sudsshane]

"Obama's base is not the far left. They find him entirely too centrist"

Oh really? wasn't it the far left that chose Obama over Hillary? Hillary, believe it or not, was the conservative alternative to Obama. Now that Obama is President, on social issues, he is governing from the center. Yes, that is what you call a true politician people! Tell us what we want to hear, and then do the opposite!

Yes, that sure is CHANGE you can believe in! =)

 

[~sudsshane]

Jeff~

No offense, but I wouldn't brag too loudly about the Democrat majority in your state. Isn't your state just about bankrupt?

Poor Arnold, Gray Davis sure did leave him a mess didn't he!

 

[jeffg]

Yeah, eight years of Reagan-style State Starvation, courtesy of George W. Bush has resulted in a royal mess, not just in California but all across the U.S.

 

[~sudsshane]

no argument from me...

about George W. Bush. I didn't vote for him either time.

Arnold, on the other hand, I would vote for in a heartbeat.

 

[hydralique]

I don't think we can pin our current troubles here in California on Bush. Bush mostly just ignored California, which was mostly OK with me. The biggest exception was when his administration worked hard to quash any investigation into Enron and it's cronies manipulating energy prices here in California. It didn't work and we all know what happened - lots of people lost their savings, and thousands lost their jobs as well.

Shwartzenegger is my kind of Republican in concept, although in reality he's been mostly ineffectual. Part of that may be due to his inexperience, but quite a bit of it is due to the fact that his own party doesn't support him much. The root of the problem lies in Proposition 13, which basically requires that any property tax increase be determined by how long an owner has owned the property, as well as the value of the property. Since it passed in '78 lots of people have paid way less than their share of property taxes simply because they've been lucky enough to buy a house and hold onto it for decades. Add in a dysfunctional legislature that often acts like a class of disgruntled kindergartners, and there is no way any governor can fix the mess. We badly need a new state consitution and fair taxation.

 

[sudsmaster]

As I recall, Bush's refusal to step in and halt the Enron instigated rape of the California utilities customers was pivotal in tipping California's budget over the edge in 2000. The state had to step in a purchase electricity on the spot market for 1,000 times or more its actual value. It was all engineered by Enron and company. I remember those tapes of traders convincing power plant operators to stage phony shutdowns at peak demand times, and then laughing about how "Aunt Millie" was going to go without electricity for a while.

Evil, pure evil.

 

[frigilux]

Arnold will never be accepted by the Republican base. Just ain't gonna happen. He's too centrist on social issues to please the Christian right.

Face it Shane, the Christian right is the base of your party. They think the Earth is only 6,000 years old, and they hate the gays. They're anti-intellectual and anti-science. Aren't you glad your party spent two decades courting them? Now, you're stuck with them. And frankly, you can have them!

Atop that, the days when the Republican party represented less spending/smaller government are in the dim, distant past.

 

[alr2903]

Well there was an investigation into Ted Stevens and his VECO cronies. It's difficult not to wonder.

 

[mattl]

You know it's funny. We were just sitting around tonight after our 4th cookout discussing one of our relatives. He is married to a great woman who earns lots of money, has 2 cute little boys, is able to pursue what ever he wants and they are looking for a vacation home of the lake. But he is the most unhappy person you'd ever meet. He listens to all the right wing crap on the radio and spouts it insistently, and actually believes it.

Everyone is out to get him, they want his money, they are going to take this or that from him. Instead of enjoying all he has and living life like the rest of the family he is always in turmoil. The consensus of everyone around the table was that he needs to turn off the crappy radio and live life, but we all know he won't. He's what being a Republican has become. It's sad.