First report from Alaska back to the NY Times Tom Smith

You have to check this out. It looks like the reporters the NY Times sent up to Alaska to dig up what they could on Palin have sent back their first missive. I would say the great Klondike strike, it ain't. But, I do agree Sarah Palin's case for canonization is now in serious doubt.

Among other things you will learn:

-- Upon getting elected, Palin fires people who have held jobs for years ("professionals") and puts in people she has known for years, often going back to her high school days. Why a reform-minded politician would do this in a notoriously corrupt state is, of course, baffling.

-- Palin bears grudges and takes them personally. This is a rare fault in politicians and not to be endured. The Clintons, for example, have set a fine example in letting bygones be bygones.

-- Palin is an evangelical Christian who went so far as to inquire about taking the inoffensive book "Daddy's Roommate" out of the public library.

-- Todd Palin called somebody and let them know he and his wife were unhappy that he had hired somebody or other who had broken up with somebody or other over something. This one made a deep impression on me I will not soon forget.

-- Sarah Palin when she was mayor put pressure on the town council to fire the town attorney, whom she did not like, possibly because he was not pro-development enough. I earnestly pray this is not true.

-- Sarah Palin often uses lots of notes when she speaks, even going so far as to use tabs and different colors of notecards. This is just so unbelievably tacky and small town I am considering killing myself.

-- Not only Governor Palin but members of her staff sometimes use their personal email accounts to do public business. This charge is perhaps the most deeply shocking of all. Then, these same officials have sometimes resisted turning over their personal emails on public business to their opponents in political disputes.

All this, taken together, goes far beyond Maureen Dowd's searing revelation that Sarah Palin wears shoes that are really intended for much younger women. Now we know that far from a pit bull with lipstick, Governor Palin is a merely human politician who rewards friends, punishes enemies and plays "hardball" just like one of the guys. Who does she think she is? And, she's ambitious. She confided to a friend that she wants to be president someday. Should such a person be allowed inside the White House?

But, seriously now, if the NY Times wants to bring down their favorite hockey mom, they are going to have to do a lot better than this. Forget about sending anybody to Chicago to go through Sen. Obama's record with a similarly fine toothed comb. Or more like a manure fork. I know that's not going to happen. Politics in Alaska is a lot like everywhere else, with friends, enemies, grudges, favors made and repaid, and those who get ahead often have sharp elbows. If Palin does become VP she will need every bit of those skills she may have.

Comments

[reliapundit]

she really pisses off the gun-grabbin baby-killers.

she and mccain gotta believe that's worth the price of admission right there!

and luckily: we out number them.

and we are glad we finally have a champion.

an imperfect one, but a champ, nonetheless.

[bob]

The funny thing is, far from turning me off from Palin, every one of the NYT's so-called "revelations" makes me like her even more. She seems like the Maggie Thatcher/Golda Meir of the great north. She's a lovely person, a great mom, and a friggin' Hardass that doesn't take sh-t from embedded interests. I think that the left is massively, massively underestimating her.

[Moptop]

How about how the Obama campaign is threatening to send the IRS after her on account of her per diems? That is what we want in a president? Somebody who uses the IRS to go after his political enemies?

[Buford Gooch]

Putting Sarah Palin in front of the news media was like putting chum in front of sharks, but having it in a steel cage. The sharks can't help themselves. They will go after the chum, even though they break their own teeth off every time they try o take a bite.

[jon]

My favorite part is this:

"Since taking office in 2007, Ms. Palin has spent 312 nights at her Wasilla home, some 600 miles to the north of the governor’s mansion in Juneau, records show."

They neglect to mention that "Her Wasilla home" is 30 miles from the city of Anchorage, which is where 40% of the population of Alaska lives.

[Carol]

Me too! Everytime I read a MSM hit piece on Palin I just like her even more. And I am a registred Democrat. By the way, I live in Denver and tried to get tickets to the Palin event in Golden tomorrow. It was sold out in less than an hour. The Obama event there tomorrow is still accepting RVSPs...LOL

[Mister Snitch]

The attacks are the best PR in the world for her, really far better than anything the GOP could ever hope to buy. But let's not get complacent. All in all, I'd say we could use a bit more Obermann.

[Mustang0302]

Maureen Dowd's searing revelation that Sarah Palin wears shoes that are really intended for much younger women

Best of all...no more cankles, no more pantsuits.

MoDo weeps.

[Neil]

I would like to see how Palin's governing style compares to Obama's when he was running...oh wait, never mind.

[Junk Science Skeptic]

"The Clintons, for example, have set a fine example in letting bygones be bygones."

Just ask Vince Foster. Er, well, um, maybe not.