Jackson County Democratic Committee

Since we don’t know all that much about Sarah Palin and I had a little time on my hands, I searched for a good Alaska perspective of what Alaskans call Trooper-Gate.  This is from a  much longer post entitled What Is McCain thinking? One Alaskan’s Perspective. The post has a wonderful picture of downtown Wasilla, Alaska.  Wasilla is the town where Gov. Palin was mayor until two years ago.  Anyway as the post’s author says Gov. Palin’s scandal reads like a trashy novel.  I can’t wait for the movie.

Sarah Palin’s sister Molly married a guy named Mike Wooten who is an Alaska State Trooper. Mike and Molly had a rocky marriage. When the marriage broke up, there was a bitter custody fight that is still ongoing. During the custody investigation, all sorts of things were brought up about Wooten including the fact that he had illegally shot a moose (yes folks this is Alaska), driven drunk, and used a taser (on the test setting, he reminds us) on his 11-year old stepson, who supposedly had asked to see what it felt like. While Wooten has turned out to be a less than stellar figure, the fact that Palin’s father accompanied him on the infamous moose hunt, and that many of the dozens of charges brought up by the Palin family happened long before they were ever reported smacked of desperate custody fight. Wooten’s story is that he was basically stalked by the family.

After all this, Wooten was investigated and disciplined on two counts and allowed to kept his position with the troopers. Enter Walt Monegan, Palin’s appointed new chief of the Department of Public Safety and head of the troopers. Monegan was beloved by the troopers, did a bang-up job with minimal funding and suddenly got axed. Palin was out of town and Monegan got “offered another job” (aka fired) with no explanation to Alaskans. Pressure was put on the governor to give details, because rumors started to swirl around the fact that the highly respected Monegan was fired because he refused to fire the aforementioned Mike Wooten. Palin vehemently denied ever talking to Monegan or pressuring Monegan in any way to fire Wooten, or that anyone on her staff did. Over the weeks it has come out that not only was pressure applied, there were literally dozens of conversations in which pressure was applied to fire him. Monegan has testified to this fact, spurring an ongoing investigation by the Alaska state legislature. But, before this investigation got underway, Palin sent the Alaska State Attorney General out to do some investigative work of his own so she could find out in advance what the real investigation was going to find. (No, I’m not making this up). The AG interviewed several people, unbeknownst to the actual appointed investigator or the Legislature! Palin’s investigation of herself uncovered a recorded phone call retained by the Alaska State Troopers from Frank Bailey, a Palin underling, putting pressure on a trooper about the Wooten non-firing. Todd Palin (governor’s husband) even talked to Monegan himself in Palin’s office while she was away. Bailey is now on paid administrative leave.

As if this weren’t enough, Monegan’s appointed replacement Chuck Kopp, turns out to have been the center of his own little scandal. He received a letter of reprimand and was reassigned after sexual harrassment allegations by a former coworker who didn’t like all the unwanted kissing and hugging in the office. Was he vetted? Obviously not. When he was questioned about all this, his comment was that no one had asked him and he thought they all knew. Kopp, defiant, still claimed to have done nothing wrong and said to the press that there was no way he was stepping down from his new position. Twenty four hours later, he stepped down. Later it was uncovered that he received a $10,000 severance package for his two weeks on the job from Palin. Monegan got nothing.

Here is an interesting quote from Alaskan State Representative Mike Doogan (D):

“Either Sarah Palin has talents and skills we were not aware of”, or “John McCain fell down and hit his head”.

Time Magazine’s Mark Halperin on McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential nominee.

On the face of it, McCain has failed the ultimate test that any presidential candidate must face in picking a running mate: selecting someone who is unambiguously qualified to be president.

Lee Stranahan’s videos are usually funny.  This one isn’t.  Lee is really upset with McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his VP.  He makes a really good point.  Give the video a look.

What Lee is getting at is that Republicans don’t govern. They rule. It doesn’t matter if the government works well for everybody.  All that matters is that it works well for them and their pals.

If you hear somebody say that Gov. Palin is a reformer remember this endorsement from indicted and hopelessly corrupt  Senator Ted Stevens.

Apparently “reformer” in Alaska means she isn’t under investigation for bribery yet.

Apparently Gov. Palin’s life in Alaska is some sort of soap opera.  Currently she is being investigated on charges that she tried to secure the firing of her former brother-in-law,  an Alaska State Trooper, who is involved in a nasty legal fight with the Governor’s sister.  The story goes that when the official she tried to pressure refused to can the Trooper, she fired the official.

Apparently this is a big issue in Alaska.  The local CBS affiliate has filed a report.

I have been thinking about Gov. Palin’s nomination all day and I can’t get out of my mind the notion that a short term governor from a small state with zero foreign policy experience,  and little experience with the press and pressures of national office  might be President of the United States any time soon.   The first important decision of any Presidential nominee is his choice of running mate.  John McCain’s selection of Gov. Palin demonstrates a profound lack of judgment.  Naming Gov. Palin proves that electing John McCain would be pretty risky.

Last night was great, but it wasn’t the end. It was just the beginning.  Time for all of us to get out there and change the world.  Call all your friends and neighbors and ask them if they are  “FIRED UP, READY TO GO.”

Video provided by Bervinbrothers.

Barack Obama’s speech last night was many things, but for me it was a stinging indictment of the Republican betrayal of the American promise. The following passage is key in that indictment.

Tonight, more Americans are out of work and more are working harder for less. More of you have lost your homes and even more are watching your home values plummet. More of you have cars you can’t afford to drive, credit card bills you can’t afford to pay, and tuition that’s beyond your reach.

These challenges are not all of government’s making. But the failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush.

America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better country than this.

This country is more decent than one where a woman in Ohio, on the brink of retirement, finds herself one illness away from disaster after a lifetime of hard work.

This country is more generous than one where a man in Indiana has to pack up the equipment he’s worked on for twenty years and watch it shipped off to China, and then chokes up as he explains how he felt like a failure when he went home to tell his family the news.

We are more compassionate than a government that lets veterans sleep on our streets and families slide into poverty; that sits on its hands while a major American city drowns before our eyes.

Tonight, I say to the American people, to Democrats and Republicans and Independents across this great land – enough! This moment – this election – is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive. Because next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third. And we are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight. On November 4th, we must stand up and say: “Eight is enough.”

The promise of America is not slash and grab legislation, nor “heck of a job Brownie” government. It isn’t trickle down tax policy. It isn’t socialism for Wall Street, but the cruel discipline of the “you are on your own” for the rest of us on main street. No, the promise of America is that if you study hard, work harder and play by the rules a bright and secure future is genuinely possible. All of us rise and fall together. If you slip, America will extend a hand to help you up.

Movement conservatism as practiced by modern Republicans has proven to be a disaster for America. We have all had enough.

Here is an interesting take on tonight’s speech from Chuck Todd after listening to McCain’s initial reaction. Give it a look. He is right. McCain was speechless.

I am sure they will have a response by tomorrow.

Here is Bill Clinton’s wonderful address.  If you watched C-Span last night you would agree that it is one of a collection of outstanding speeches making a powerful case for change.  If you watched the networks, you missed most of the story.  I have posted the Kerry and Biden speeches already.  Watch all three.  They explain exactly why we must abandon the Republican past and embrace the Democratic future.   They explain exactly why we need Barack Obama now.

Everything I learned in my eight years as president and in the work I’ve done since, in America and across the globe, has convinced me that Barack Obama is the man for this job.

You can find the full transcript at NPR.

“Ladies and gentlemen, but today, today that American dream feels like it’s slowly slipping away. I don’t have to tell you that. You feel it every single day in your own lives. I’ve never seen a time when Washington has watched so many people get knocked down without doing anything to help them get back up.

“Almost every single night, I take the train home to Wilmington, Delaware, sometimes very late. As I sit there in my seat and I look out that window, I see those flickering lights of the homes that pass by, I can almost hear the conversation they’re having at their kitchen tables after they put their kids to bed.

“Like millions of Americans, they’re asking questions as ordinary as they are profound, questions they never, ever thought they’d have to ask themselves.

“Should Mom move in with us now that Dad’s gone? Fifty, sixty, seventy dollars just to fill up the gas tank? How in God’s name, with winter coming, how are we going to heat the home? Another year, no raise. Did you hear they may be cutting our health care at the company? Now we owe more money on our home than our home is worth. How in God’s name are we going to send the kids to college? How are we going to retire, Joe?

You know, folks, that’s the America that George Bush has left us. And that’s the America we’ll continue to get if George — excuse me, if John McCain is elected president of the United States of America. Freudian slip. Freudian slip.”

Joe Biden spoke from the heart last night.

Joe Biden spoke from the heart last night.  It is time for a change.

I have been watching C-Span.  I am told this speech was not on any of the networks.  It might be the best speech John Kerry has ever given. If you were watching the gasbags on one of the networks, give this speech a look.

Thanks to TPM for the video.

Hubert H. Humphrey was known as the Happy Warrior.   Well  there is a new Happy Warrior in America.  If you watched one of the cable news networks last night you didn’t see this speech.   Governor Brian Schweitzer (D-MT) gives John McCain hell, but does it with a smile.  If you haven’t seen this speech, watch it.  Share it. This guy is a rising new star.

Lee Stranahan watched John McCain’s appearance on Jay Leno the other night and was reminded of his mom.  Give his video a look.

Hillary Clinton made a powerful case for opposing John McCain’s plan to impose a third Bush term on America.  Her speech was pitch perfect and puts an end to  any lingering doubt that she truly believes all of her supporters must now turn their efforts to defeating John McCain.  This is a fight for the future. It is a fight we must win now.