The Winds of Change in Alaska
This is going to be a VERY bad year for Republicans in Alaska.
As if Frank Murkowski's own botched term as governor, a term executed so badly that as the incumbent he came in THIRD in the Republican primaries, defeated by a one term small town mayor who garnered over 50% of the vote, and by a little known businessman from Fairbanks who garnered around 35% of the vote. As if this wasn't bad enough, widespread corruption among Republicans in the state senate, a thing long suspected, has been confirmed as several top Republicans had thier offices raided by the FBI on charges of accepting bribes and corruption.
Alaskans are nothing if not independent, and trust trumps all party loyalties. This year the Republicans have come out dirty, and it is unlikely that the Republicans will recover this election. I expect a sweeping victory by the Democrats in both the State House and Senate, and fromer (Democrat) Governor Tony Knowles, who is the Democrat's candidate for Governor, is poised to retake the Governorship.
Among the casualties is the now former heir apparrent to Senator Ted Stevens in the US Senate, his son Ben Stevens. Long known to be at least slightly shady, he is the most prominent Republican to come under investigation, and the one everyone beleves is most likely to go to prison for corruption. In my own personal analysis, the most likely man to replace Ted Stevens in the Senate is now Tony Knowles, and I do not like it one bit. While he may have a reputation for social conservatism and fiscal liberalism, I do not believe that any Democrat can be a social conservative and succeed on the national scene. This is why the Democrats have turned so wildly to the left, and why those who do not go that far are being defeated in the primaries, like soon to be former Senator Joe Lieberman.
Alaska will be fine, this state is so conservative that many of us say the difference between a liberal and a conservative is the size of his concealed firearm. But having a Democrat poised to enter the national scene, with a Republican senator (Lisa Murkowski) who is admittedly working from a weak position in this state due to her father poised to be the next senior Senator for Alaska, well . . . it does not bode well for America at all.
As if Frank Murkowski's own botched term as governor, a term executed so badly that as the incumbent he came in THIRD in the Republican primaries, defeated by a one term small town mayor who garnered over 50% of the vote, and by a little known businessman from Fairbanks who garnered around 35% of the vote. As if this wasn't bad enough, widespread corruption among Republicans in the state senate, a thing long suspected, has been confirmed as several top Republicans had thier offices raided by the FBI on charges of accepting bribes and corruption.
Alaskans are nothing if not independent, and trust trumps all party loyalties. This year the Republicans have come out dirty, and it is unlikely that the Republicans will recover this election. I expect a sweeping victory by the Democrats in both the State House and Senate, and fromer (Democrat) Governor Tony Knowles, who is the Democrat's candidate for Governor, is poised to retake the Governorship.
Among the casualties is the now former heir apparrent to Senator Ted Stevens in the US Senate, his son Ben Stevens. Long known to be at least slightly shady, he is the most prominent Republican to come under investigation, and the one everyone beleves is most likely to go to prison for corruption. In my own personal analysis, the most likely man to replace Ted Stevens in the Senate is now Tony Knowles, and I do not like it one bit. While he may have a reputation for social conservatism and fiscal liberalism, I do not believe that any Democrat can be a social conservative and succeed on the national scene. This is why the Democrats have turned so wildly to the left, and why those who do not go that far are being defeated in the primaries, like soon to be former Senator Joe Lieberman.
Alaska will be fine, this state is so conservative that many of us say the difference between a liberal and a conservative is the size of his concealed firearm. But having a Democrat poised to enter the national scene, with a Republican senator (Lisa Murkowski) who is admittedly working from a weak position in this state due to her father poised to be the next senior Senator for Alaska, well . . . it does not bode well for America at all.
posted by Daniel Levesque at
10:15 PM
9 Comments:
We're pretty much screwed in Ohio, too. The governer is a criminal, and the Senator running is a liberal.
They've damaged the party here for some time to come, I'm afraid.
Thanks to our gov and Senator, that will put the Dems one seat closer to a majority in the Senate.
Good luck in Alaska, BTW. I feel for you.
By
The Conservative UAW Guy, at 5:12 AM
And the Republican gov in KY (who ran on a "run the criminal scoundrels out of office" ticket) has become corrupted and is on his way out.
The Dems can be pretty lame, but it appears they've given the Republicans enough rope to hang themselves. Brilliant strategy.
By
Dan Trabue, at 12:00 PM
So . . . the possibility of Dems gaining power is worse for America than the Corrupt Bastards' Caucus?
I have to disagree, if for no other reason than that the Reeps are actually sort of good at fighting against corruption and pork when they're in the minority. The Dems are utter crap as an opposition party.
If the Dems manage to make any gains out of this mess, it'll be because the Reeps defeated themselves. Somehow, I don't see it happening. Some people are going down, though -- that's for sure, especially with all the criminal conduct bubbling up.
By the way, welcome back. I'm glad you're alive. ;)
By
catastrophile, at 10:05 PM
As much as I can't stand Republicans for their transparent BS and their pandering to ignorant masses, I must admit that their economic policies make me giggle like a gleeful child.
By
Vile Blasphemer, at 4:43 PM
I was actually hoping Murkowski would win the primary, since his poll numbers were so awful against any Dem challenger. Still, I'd be pretty surprised to see AK trade up parties just yet.
This is why the Democrats have turned so wildly to the left
Yeah, if only that were true...
Look, we have two parties in the U.S.: the conservative party and the extremely conservative party. How many Dems do you hear talking about giving up capitalism for socialism? Or decommissioning our standing military? Or setting a maximum wage/net worth to eliminate the wealthy class? Those are truly "wildly leftist" ideas and I seriously doubt you'd find more than 1 or 2 elected Dems anywhere that would go for that.
As for Joementum, you guys can have him. We liberals are done tolerating Dems that spout RNC talking points. If Joe is so convinced of the righteousness of Bush's Iraq debacle, then Joe can feel free to slip that "R" after his name and we'll put someone in his seat that actually represents our views.
By
Samurai Sam, at 12:10 PM
Welcome back, by the way!
By
Samurai Sam, at 12:10 PM
Sam reminds me of an excellent point: Lieberman was a social conservative when he was the Dem VP candidate in 2000.
He became a pariah when he started publicly attacking members of his own party for speaking their minds.
I don't know if I'd necessarily call the Dems a "conservative" party, though . . . just as I wouldn't call the Reeps a "conservative" party.
There is certainly a strong corporatist/opportunist faction in the Dem party, very similar to the tribe of Reeps who are now simultaneously running their party and fending off indictments left and right, but neither qualifies as genuinely conservative. Hopefully, the genuine conservatives will take their party back soon, just as actual liberals are trying to take control of the Dems away from the Clintonite faction.
By
catastrophile, at 3:21 PM
Dan, glad to see you back and active!
Yes, political corruption is at an all time high across the nation but I must admit, Alaska has really produced some crooks this time.
Hopefully we can work together, progressives and conservatives, to purging our government. I think the most important thing to consider is that of our forefathers.
None of them ever ran for political office with the intention of being career politicians. They ran because it was their duty and when their time was up, they went back to their lives, be it a carpenter, apple farmer, or banker.
Let's find our roots.
By
Neo-Con Tastic, at 4:07 PM
Amen, NeoCon!
By
Dan Trabue, at 11:20 AM
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