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Yes, well believe it. Probably why he is way too busy to play dad and husband-to-be. You did hear that Bristol Palin has dropped him for the second time? Just a few weeks ago they got re-engaged and swore everlasting love. Now he is single – again – and will “maybe a run for city council and go from there.”
The current outspoken Mayor of Wasilla Verne Rupright, pointed out that it’s too early to declare running for the 2012 mayorial post but offered some advice in the meantime: “But since I am nearly old enough to be Levi’s grandfather I think it would be wise for him to get a high school diploma and keep his clothes on. The voters like that!”
In her departing speech yesterday, Palin attacked the media – again:
“You represent what could and should be a respected, honest profession that could and should be a cornerstone of our democracy,” she said. “Democracy depends on you, and that is why-that’s why our troops are willing to die for you. So how about in honor of the American soldier, you quit makin’ things up.”
The speech has been called mad. Alex Koppelman in Salon said that: The speech itself was utterly disjointed, jumping from the patriotism of America’s troops to energy independence, Hollywood starlets threatening the Second Amendment and a repeat of Palin’s argument that remaining a lame-duck governor wouldn’t have served the people of Alaska well. It was combative, too — the outgoing governor argued with a heckler about that lame-duck rationale.”
Well she’s gone for now. Back later I am sure. She’s due to address the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California on the 8th August. Perhaps she will give us a clue about what she plans to do next. Run for president?
In the meantime, I doubt her replacement, Sean Parnell, and his “very nice family” will entertain us nearly as much as the Palin clan have done.
Here he is, arriving in Russia, looking ever so cool, with his glamorous family, at the start of his tour which ends in Ghana (I am not going…). I am back at work today feeling lost in a sea of news. I missed Sarah Palin’s resignation as Governor of Alaska – what a great bit of drama! I also missed most of the Michael Jackson coverage. I am catching up slowly with all the stuff. I’ll get there. But in the meantime here is the joint statement by Obama and President Medvedev on Nuclear Cooperation after their first meeting today.
Read More…
The Turkeygate video, which has been viewed on YouTube by more than 2 million people, has been a real Alaskan news item over the last few days.
Apparently when she was interviewed, Palin knew that turkeys were being slaugthered behind her. An Alaskan blogger wrote that when the governor chose the spot, the photographer pointed out what was going on and asked her if she wanted to move. She said, “No worries.”
But now she’s denying knowing anything about the slaughter behind her:
“The [Alaska] governor did not know it was going on behind her,” Palin’s spokesperson tells ET of the reportedly grisly scene at Triple D Farm & Hatchery outside Wasilla. Cameras captured Palin extending the annual Thanksgiving pardon to one turkey while a farm hand slaughtered the bird’s feathered friends in the background.
Palin’s spokesperson tells ET the bird butchering wasn’t going on when the shot was set up, and a cameraman “ignored” the governor’s staff’s request to remove the graphic sight once cameras were rolling.
“We’re unhappy about it and the station is not happy either,” Palin’s rep tells ET, adding, “this was an attempt to lighten up and do something non-controversial.”
Thank god she’s staying in Alaska and is not anywhere near the White House for now.
While Palin talks incessantly to the press (such restraint she showed during the campaigning!), the ballots in the Alaskan race for Senate are being counted. Yesterday, Ted Stevens, the convicted felon, was slightly behind his Democratic rival, Mark Begich!
The New York Times said that in an initial count after Election Day, Stevens led Begich, the mayor of Anchorage, by 3,257 votes. But Begich led Stevens by just 814 votes after about 57,000 additional ballots were counted on Wednesday.
So far, about 279,000 votes have been counted in the Senate race, and about 35,000 more remain to be counted. It could be next week before the count is complete. It’s one of the United States’ most closely fought Senate races.
If Alaska’s choice goes Democratic, will Palin pause to think a little?
PS: Stevens was convicted eight days before the election on seven felony counts of failing to disclose gifts he had received, mostly renovations to his home. If he wins, he could be fired from the Senate. And Palin could run for the seat in a special election.
Yesterday on Larry King Live, Sarah Palin said about the Katie Couric interviews that “Some of those questions, you know, regarding what do I read up in Alaska, were, to me, a bit irrelevant”.
(BTW Couric this week offered Palin some advice saying Palin should keep her head down, work really hard and learn about governing before contemplating a presidential run. )
ON the show, Palin also spoke about the historic campaign, how she thinks she affected the Republican ticket, the concession speech she never got to make, her family’s coverage in the media and her plans now that the election is over.
Here’s an edited transcript of the show (thanks to CNN): Read More…
Not only are a growing number of voters saying that Sarah Palin is not qualified to be vice president, a former Republican Secretary of State and one of John McCain’s most prominent supporters ‘offered a stunningly frank and remarkably bleak assessment of her capacity to handle the presidency should such a scenario arise.’
Lawrence Eagleburger said on Thursday that the Alaska governor is not only unprepared to take over the job on a moment’s notice but, even after some time in office, would only amount to an “adequate” commander in chief.
“And I devoutly hope that [she] would never be tested,” he added.
According to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll 59 percent of voters surveyed said Palin was not prepared for the job, up nine percentage points since the beginning of the month.
Obama is still in the lead, with 51 percent of likely voters supporting him and 40 percent supporting McCain.
PS: Headline stolen from Eric Zorn quoted on Daily Kos.
My fellow blogger, The Frock Report sent this to me:
From the MANITOBA HERALD, Canada: Liberals sneak into Canada
The flood of American liberals sneaking across the border into Canada has intensified in the past week, sparking calls for increased patrols to stop the illegal immigration.
The possibility of a McCain/Palin election is prompting the exodus among left-leaning citizens who fear they’ll soon be required to hunt, pray, and agree with Bill O’Reilly.
Canadian border farmers say it’s not uncommon to see dozens of sociology professors, animal rights activists and Unitarians crossing their fields at night. Read More…
Palin is proud of her long record of cutting wasteful spending. She has used her Governor’s position to cut nearly a half-billion dollars from the budget, she tells her supporters. She sold the state’s luxury jet, scrapped the governor’s personal chef and got rid of the personal driver.
But… the Boston Herald has reported that Palin spent more than $51,000 in taxpayers money to renovate the governor’s Anchorage office suite and spruce up her mansion and office in Juneau.
Lyda Green, a Republican who has clashed with Palin over policy, said the cost to remodel the Anchorage offices was “extravagant”.
