Have you seen the Les Gara vs Meg Stapleton video?

[liberalaska]

Wonder what the other Alaskans around here think about this one. I have a whole new admiration for Gara, and I have been a fan for a long time.

I posted it on DU in the video thread,
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x214149

there is also link to part 2 of the video on that page. It's about 11 minutes total. Well worth checking out I think, but I am kind of biased as it is my video.

[AlaskaVet]

1. Good Job

Les did a good job of making Ms. Stapleton look like an idiot and expressing our collective dismay at the mendacious Palin.

[Blue_In_AK]

2. I've seen this from two different angles

the one posted at KTUU and then this one from the other side. I like this one better. Les was great. I'm so disappointed in Meg -- I used to think she was a fairly good reporter when she was on KTUU. Now I can't even stand to look at her.

[Steerpike]

3. I suppose, at this point, I should just shut up...

I hate the fact that Les Gara and the Dem's in the Lege have teamed up with the Republican Big Oil Corporatists to destroy Governor Palin. The Governor made big oil operatives furious by; streamlining Randy Ruidrich, and by championing ACES. She had the audacity to stand up to big oil, take a huge bite out of their ass and then pass the profits on to the public. For that she was marked for political death. She has challenged the oil companies on all fronts...from Point Thompson to The North Slope. And of course this could not be condoned. So we see a coalition of Dem's and Repugs working together to knock the governor down. The corporatists have to show the public, and other politicians that you cannot challenge big oil. And if you do cross BO you will be destroyed.
I am a populist and a Democrat and that's the way I vote. And sure Tony Knowles is a heck of a nice guy...but he was always in the pocket of big oil. But, I voted for him, and in a lot of ways it was a compromise. One of many I have had to put up with...
I just want to say...just because you disagree with someone politically does not mean they are a monster. Politics in Alaska is complicated...
And don't get me started on the Troopers...

[Steerpike]

4. and by the way

West High sucks!

[Blue_In_AK]

6. What's your issue with West High?

Two of my daughters graduated from there, one in 1995 and one in 2004.

[Steerpike]

11. heh

my wife graduated from east...so she requires i diss west at every available opportunity...bartlett too...

EAST RULES!

[Blue_In_AK]

5. Steerpike, I would have agreed with you a couple of months

ago, but surely you can't condone the way she has behaved on the national stage. I sat down the night of the Republican convention hoping and anticipating that Sarah would do us proud by her speech, but instead we got the attack dog -- and she hasn't let up, only gotten worse. I personally feel like she has embarrassed the entire state -- people Outside don't know anything about the good things that she was accomplishing before this, and now I even wonder if her motivations were pure back then or if she was just using Alaska as a stepping stone.

If she truly had had Alaska's best interests at heart, she would have told John McCain "thanks but no thanks" and finished the work she started here. If she had cooperated with the investigation as she said she would, it probably would have been resolved and blown over with very little damage. She took all the wrong steps -- probably the McCain campaign's doing, but still ....


I'm just very disappointed in her.


By the way, I voted for Tony, too, but I wasn't real happy about it.

[Steerpike]

7. in another post

I described her as a monster...her transformation on the national scene is chilling...she is just not ready for this...not ready for the media circus and not ready to be vice president...in no way do I endorse her for any political office...but she did make me smile when she screwed over Randy Ruidrich...and she was instrumental in driving Greg Renkes out of town...and passing ACES was a master stroke of evil against BIG OIL...something Tony Knowles would never have done...never...and then she gave me and my wife and kids 12 thousand dollars...money she was instrumental in snagging from Big Oil...and you know what the Alaskan Motto is...screw the other guy and pass the saving on to me...

well I just hate to see a first class troublemaker get taken down like this...it's almost Shakespearean in it's tragic scope...

[Blue_In_AK]

8. I agree, it's sad.

I believe the word is "hubris." On a monumental scale.

[liberalaska]

9. You mean the Randy Ruuidrich

that is still the head of the Republican party? All she did was seize a political opportunity. She knew that doing that would help her politically, and would allow her to get out of a job that by all accounts she was underqualified for and hated.

She may have been instrumental in ACES but it was the legislature that did the work, they took her plan and put some teeth into it and that is what we have now. One of her talking points that everyone seems to buy into is that she took on big oil, but she hasn't done anything that wasn't first and foremost to score political points. She hasn't done anything that wasn't extremely popular with average Alaskans, and that is not becuase she is an average Alaskan or gives a damn about average Alaskans, it is because all she cares about is her popularity rating.

And the Democrats are not "teaming up" with republicans to destroy the governor. They are doing their constitutional mandated duty. They are investigating CRIMES committed by this governor. SHE BROKE ETHICS LAWS, SHE WAS FOUND TO HAVE ABUSED HER POWER. Should the Democrats in the legislature just sit back and let that happen because some republicans don't like her for completely different reasons?

I don't care if she is Jesus Christ, if she broke the law, broke ethics laws, abused her power she should pay for it, even if she did heal some blind kids and turned bread into fish.

[Steerpike]

10. ok pontious pilate

You have a totally different take on this.
Why do you give a rats ass that she fired Walt Monegan? Did you get so worked up when Begich fired him? He served at the whim of the Governor...end of story.
I suppose you are a "Wootenista"? You believe wholeheartedly that stepfathers should be allowed to taser their pre teen stepsons? And of course you support state employees, with guns, their right to threaten the lives of citizens, who have commited no crimes. Perhaps you support the right of troopers to drive drunk while on the job? I don't get your enthusiasms for Wooten.
And once again I want to add that ACES would never have passed or even be proposed without Palin. Democrats and Republicans stood against it. But, Sarah shamed them into passing it. And yes she did it becouse the average Alaskan wanted it. Wow! What a novel idea! Politicians doing the right thing becouse the people want it! Call the TV Stations! Film at 11!

[liberalaska]

12. wow. I see your true colors now.

First off let me correct a factual mistake in your post. Begich did not fire Monnegan. It is customary for the Mayor to bring in a new Police Chief. Monnegan was leaving already, offered to stay on, and Begich said thanks but no thanks. He did not fire him.

As far as Wooten goes, from what I have heard he sounds like a scumbag who is not fit to wear the uniform of an Alaska State Trooper. But that doesn't have a thing to do with whether or not Palin acted within the scope of her job and the law in trying to get rid of him.

He was punished by the previous administration, and even though I think we can all agree that he probably got off much too easy, the case was closed at that point. I don't even remember saying anything about Wooten in this discussion. I don't have any enthusiasm for him, let alone multiple "enthusiasms." The only people that bring up Wooten are the people trying to defend her. In your heart you have to know she was wrong, there is little question to anyone willing to hear the truth after Finding #1 of the Branchflower Report came out. But you try to muddy the waters with an emotional plea about a scumbag trooper, and he has nothing to do with what my problems with Palin are.

[Ken Burch]

13. I'm sure you're right about all that, EXCEPT that...

Mark Begich almost certainly did NOT use the phrase "Thanks, but no thanks!"

:eyes:

[Steerpike]

14. ok

no mas no mas