Unfortunately, his legacy will be reduced to his grasping for conservative “edginess” embodied in a person who’s sole political attributes at the time were her looks, her ability to show up to work and raise her kids and deliver a wink on cue.

If the McCain clan and the GOP’s brand would have not been so desperate and damaged they might have fully vetted her and found out that when faced with delivering substance or faced with tough opposition (gasp! including partisan attacks – get a clue its part of the game) her philosophical stance was indeed, “Does any of this really matter.”

It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad, to see so many conservatives offering up excuses and embodying what they claim to despise – victimhood.

Real progressives have finally come to the realization that corporate democrats do not represent the true interests of the people, regardless of the political catchphrases.

When are middle-class Republicans gonna wake up and not be duped by “family values”, “smaller gov’t”, “fiscal responsibility” – they don’t mean it.

By their fruit they will be known.

leg?is?la?tor??[lej-is-ley-ter]
–noun
1. a person who gives or makes laws.
2. a member of a legislative body.

Brigette Russell-
Don’t worry! I just added more information as I ran across it.

You should have a talk with any state’s state auditor or ethics commission, sit in on their meetings. I have. It’s my job.

And of course there isn’t. Should there be? How do you know if they’re frivolous until afterward? It’d be too easy for an agency to throw away legitimate complaints…legitimate complaints like the one Palin filed against fellow Republicans.

But if there isn’t a section of the law allowing a court to decide if a request is malicious, then maybe the legislature should fix that.

I’m not saying that frivolous complaints are right. I’m saying they’re common, wherever you go.

Just take a look at the “legal food fight” going on in New Mexico right now between the state auditor and the attorney general. Both Democrats.
http://newmexicoindependent.com/23440/ag-auditor-caught-in-a-%E2%80%98legal-food-fight%E2%80%99

New Mexico doesn’t have a formal ethics system. Brigette can tell you how that’s working out for us. The Feds have to come in investigate our ethics for us…two terms in and lord knows how many majillions later.

“Factually wrong”

What how?

Biegel is an Alaskan. So what if she went to the DNC. That doesn’t revoke her Alaskan citizenship. I mean, it’s conceivable that Brigette could be picked to be the New Mexico blogger at the next RNC. I’d vote for her. That wouldn’t make Brigette a national party figure; she’d still be a representative of New Mexico.

I also didn’t mean to make it sound like it was exclusively legislators. It was just “the bulk” of the cost.
http://www.adn.com/palin/story/850854.html

I am too beat to look at any of the links now. Need coffee, need quiet, need to waste some more time on Facebook. You on there, Foxfier? Send me a friends request if so. Dave’s already on my friends list, so I know about all the odd food combinations he likes.

This has a list of complaints, along with a timeline.

This rather nicely gathers some information on how unusual the wave of bogus ethics complaints are, and there’s an official statement from the Alaska state board wanting to know if there’s anything they can do to counter baseless, harassment-level filings. (There isn’t.)

It’s important to note this debt isn’t coming from the national stage, at least not directly. It’s coming from ethics complaints filed against her by republican and democratic state legislators.

Factually wrong. The complaints have been filed by various folks, including “by Linda Kellen Biegel, a blogger designated by the 2008 Democratic National Convention to represent Alaska bloggers.”

I don’t have the time to look up what you *might* be referring to in your claims, and barring proof, I’m going to stick you right back at the “arguing by making claims, then ignoring when the claims are countered” camp.

Now to get back into the fray.

“Most governors don’t come out, at the end, with half a million in personal debt through no wrong-doing of their own. She’s *already* at that level.”

I’d disagree with that for a few reasons. First of all, governors and other high ranking politicians do frequently pay hundreds of thousands in legal fees. It kinda comes with the job, particularly if you’re going to shake the status quo, which Sarah most certainly set out to do.

In fact, Sarah’s trust fund website includes examples of legal trust funds set up for Dick Gephardt, Hilary Clinton, Tom DeLay, Ted Stevens, etc.

The potential is always there and it was her decision to run for governor and her decision to accept the nomination.

She also should’ve known the bills were going to hit half a mil a long time back. If she didn’t, then she chose the wrong advisers. Why not leave office back then?

It’s important to note this debt isn’t coming from the national stage, at least not directly. It’s coming from ethics complaints filed against her by republican and democratic state legislators.

The debt isn’t for trial fees, but just for the lawyers she hired to “set the record straight.” Here’s my question: if she was innocent, why did it cost her so much to prove it?

“I’ve never seen a politician attacked as viciously as Palin has been. All of them are the subject of partisan attacks, it’s true, but with her the level of intensity is just beyond anything I’ve ever seen.”

As a reporter covering state politics for awhile now, I have to respectfully disagree. I’ve seen a lot of nasty attacks.

But you’re thinking on the national level: Again, this is state level, and coming from both parties.

“As for Huckabee and Romney, let them take their best shots. They didn’t impress all that many Republicans last time around, so we’ll see if they can do better this time by trying to tear Sarah Palin down.”

Wow. That’s really unfair to those candidates, particularly Huckabee. I’ll tell you why.

Huckabee won Iowa. He won Iowa and he stuck in through Texas. Huckabee proved that Christian values aren’t irrelevant in politics. He also showed that the Republican Party isn’t the party of the rich and powerful. He also got a tv show out of it.

Of course, Romney is certainly the rich and powerful, but still, you have to give him credit. Had he won the nomination, he would’ve given Obama a much better run for his money, simply because of his strength on economic issues. He also formed a pretty competent infrastructure, which is a major reason he’s widely considered the Republican front runner.

I’m not saying Palin can’t pull out of it. I’m just saying she hasn’t made her case yet. If she wants to stick around in politics, she’ll need to PROVE, not just say, that it was the right and respectable decision.

So far, she just hasn’t met my standard.

ONE FINAL POINT that was just made very well on CNN.

Sarah leaving office doesn’t make these investigations stop. Leaving doesn’t save Alaskans money. The investigations still go on…And they’re kinda par for the course. All governors are investigated: It’s how we keep them honest.

Most governors don’t come out, at the end, with half a million in personal debt through no wrong-doing of their own. She’s *already* at that level.

When you’ve got kids at home to think of, that matters a lot.

Much, much worse. Last fall was a largely partisan attack. This would open her up for a huge primary attack, especially if she’s debating Romney and Huckabee, both former governors who served full terms.

“f she stays on as governor and spends the next year and a half fighting off one damn charge after another, getting nothing done, racking up the bills for her own family and the taxpayers of the state, probably not getting much accomplished because every two-bit Alaska politician would like to make a name for himself by standing up to Sarah Palin…”

How is this different from what any other governor had to deal with? And can’t the argument be made that she should’ve thought about this a year ago and resigned when she accepted the nomination?

I’m just saying when Romney, Huckabee or any of the other prez candidates call her a quitter, it’ll stick…because in the end, her motives aren’t clear. Is it for money? Is it to run for president? Is it for family?

Then the question becomes: If she was to become president, what could make her abandon her post mid-way through?

Upon reflection, however, I conclude (and possibly she did as well) that how much worse could the attacks over quitting be than the vilification she received last fall? If she stays on as governor and spends the next year and a half fighting off one damn charge after another, getting nothing done, racking up the bills for her own family and the taxpayers of the state, probably not getting much accomplished because every two-bit Alaska politician would like to make a name for himself by standing up to Sarah Palin…

Yes, now they’ll say she’s a quitter. But really, so what? If they couldn’t say that, they’d still say she was a lightweight, a diva, a lowbrow hick, a shopaholic, a whatever. What’s one more insult added to a very long list, if it frees her up to go do what Romney’s doing?

Yes, Romney finished his term and she didn’t, but as I said, so what, if you really think about it. Would YOU vote for her if she finished what she started up in Alaska? Of course not. You’d never ever in a million years vote for her, so basically why should she give a damn if you and people like you call her a quitter? She’s not losing any votes.

Now, people like me, on the other hand, might decide she’s a quitter and bail. As I said, that was my first reaction: “Oh well, so much for Sarah.” But then I thought about it some more, and thought, “Maybe not. We’ll see.”

I don’t know, B. It sounds like you’re very sure what her plans are. She just wasn’t very clear, so I wonder why you’re so confident in your assumptions.

Also, I still think her argument about saving the state money by quitting is weak. What precedent does that set? That a legislature can ethics-complaint a governor out of office? That a hostile press can paparazzi a governor out of office?

If she does run for higher office, this is going to be her primary opponents’ easy point to keep hitting on, since it’s not party or policy or personal: It’s just a straight up weakness. Would she quit the senate/presidency under the same circumstances?

What’s do you think the “Hell Yeah” story is about?

He may yet be the Archduke Ferdinand that destroys the moderate (ie, Dems 45 years ago) Repubs in favor of, oh, you know, *conservatives*….