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Monday, September 8, 2008

The Politician Sarah Palin Reminds Me Of

posted by on September 8 at 18:18 PM

Charismatic: Check.
Petty, dictatorial ambitions: Check.
Believes the sale of state-owned oil is the solution of all problems: Check.

Palin: America’s Chavez.

Updated, because this apparently was too confusing:

Yes, I understand Chavez and Palin have quite different stances on social policies.

What they share—and I find maddening—is the false confidence of trust-fund governance.

As Mahtli69 notes:

And, despite Palin increasing taxes on oil companies in her state, Alaska doesn’t have income tax, sales tax, or property tax, so I would hardly characterize her policies as socialist.

That’s the problem. Any success as a governor—or as a mayor—was due to an ability to tap unearned wealth. Think of it this way: the State of Alaska can be run as a total loss—no taxes, no economic function beyond pumping oil—and it would still be solvent just because of the State-owned oil fields. Palin’s big addition was a windfall tax on oil company profits—to cover up her own profligate spending. When she was mayor, each citizen of her town received about $4000 a year in Federal pork projects. That’s about 30 times more than someone in Boise, Idaho received.

Palin’s entire worldview—her sense of her great “executive experience”— comes from the ease by which she could lobby the feds or pump her way our of troubles in Alaska. I fear she’ll run the country with the same attitude. As we’re discovering today, we can no longer borrow, pump and steal our way out of our economic and governing problems.

Chavez, despite nationalizing Venezuela’s oil resources, hasn’t exactly been a great success. Drawing down one-time-only resources isn’t a replacement for actually solving national problems. Palin is the poster child for this false notion. Hence, my comparison.

RSS icon Comments

1

Huh? Maybe I haven't been paying enough attention, but somehow I don't think Sarah Palin wants the government to seize private oil companies and turn them into state assets. Do you know something I don't?

Socialization is kind of the antithesis of the republican agenda.

Posted by Super Jesse | September 8, 2008 6:30 PM
2

Say what? The Repubs just nationalized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, mere months after doing the same to Bear Stearns (they may have arranged a shotgun marriage with that other bank, but it's the Fed that owns their book and is running it).

Posted by Toe Tag | September 8, 2008 6:38 PM
3

Say what? The Repubs just nationalized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, mere months after doing the same to Bear Stearns (they may have arranged a shotgun marriage with that other bank, but it's the Fed that owns their book and is running it).

Posted by Toe Tag | September 8, 2008 6:38 PM
4

Beautiful. This meme has legs; let's hope it finds its way into the larger political arena.

Posted by rob | September 8, 2008 6:43 PM
5

Is this what Goodwin's Law has reduced us to?

Posted by Dubcek | September 8, 2008 6:47 PM
6

Chavez believes in social spending. Probably understands how condoms work, too. Also, he has military experience.

Posted by flamingbanjo | September 8, 2008 6:54 PM
7

And he hates GWB.

Posted by M | September 8, 2008 7:01 PM
8

Hugo is Pro-Choice and referred to the Catholic Church leadership as a "tumor".

And, despite Palin increasing taxes on oil companies in her state, Alaska doesn't have income tax, sales tax, or property tax, so I would hardly characterize her policies as socialist.

Posted by Mahtli69 | September 8, 2008 7:03 PM
9

@1

Um... Yeah... Actually that's a part of the Democrats plan. Maxine Waters called for nationalizing the US Oil industry several months ago...

Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me | September 8, 2008 7:05 PM
10

Joe Biden reminds me of one of the priests (not Karl Malden) from On the Waterfront.

Here he is in Pittsburgh:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3011/2841005903_505e4d425b_b.jpg

Here's a picture of Rachel Ray. Why? Why not!

http://www.seattlest.com/attachments/seattle_clint/rachael_ray.jpg

Posted by John Bailo | September 8, 2008 7:07 PM
11

Very loony.

Keep it up.

Attacking her for being a mother didn't work; attacking her for lack of experience didn't work once everyone remembered Obama said for 19 months that experience doesn't count; attacking her as a nazi didn't work; attacking her for being pro life didn't work (she's a fucking GOP what do you expect?) and now folks are truly desperate.

Clearly she's hit a nerve.

The nerve is change, reform, outside the beltway outsider.

Here's how you get back change.

You have to get back on the economic message that Obama will make a real tangible immediate difference in people's lives, esp. those swing voters.

Talk to *them.*

They don't even fucking know who Chavez is and they don't get your double reverse super intellectual ironic critique, OK?

Obama needs to set the message, we all have to be explaining it to our friends and relatives in OH IN MI PA FL NH CO NM.

Telling ourselves Palin = Chavez just makes the whole blogosphere of the left look totally stupid.

Posted by PC | September 8, 2008 7:09 PM
12

You think Sarah Palin is Charismatic?!

Posted by Dougsf | September 8, 2008 7:25 PM
13

"...double reverse super intellectual ironic critique..." I love it. That sums the left up perfectly!

And the Democrats wonder why middle America won't buy their brand.

PC nails it!

Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me | September 8, 2008 7:31 PM
14

the younger generation thinks they are hi and all -but - their politics are the product of shopping mall conversations

Palin twisted arms at big oil and in return forced more royalties for the State of Alaska. The, rebatted the windfll to all Alaskans to pay for heating bill this winter.

Oh she sure is fucking stupid when it comes to the political winds. As VP she might chair energy policy and make it work.

She is the most popular gov. in America for some very good reasons. 80 per cent plus from the governed.

Obama does not seem to know what to do, he is debating her not Mc Cain which moves the action to the most capable of speaking back.

Plus it is demeaning. Presidential does have implications.

I get the feeling Obama is speaking to rigged audiences too.

But, boy is this great political theater. The Clintons will save Obama's ass, not the dreary hacks he hired for the big one. and thank god the cash is gushing.

Maybe they are just all tired.

Posted by PAUL | September 8, 2008 7:47 PM
15

Ok, ok. I've modified the post! Egads.

Is my point now painfully clear?

Posted by Jonathan Golob | September 8, 2008 7:48 PM
16

@14,

She's the most popular governor because she bought off her constituency -- something that's not quite going to work on a national level. And your writing style is showing again. Do you really think by posting under all these different names you're actually fooling people into thinking that Palin has wide spread support? You are a joke.

Posted by keshmeshi | September 8, 2008 8:03 PM
17

I completely agree with Jonathan's point.

The entire Alaska government, both local and statewide, has been funded entirely by pork and largesse from the Alaska oil fields for more than a half century. By comparison, Chavez has only tried to run his government by oil profits for about a decade. Palin has no more clue how to manage a national economy than Chavez does.

Posted by Reverse Polarity | September 8, 2008 8:59 PM
18

Let's see ...

Friend of Fidel Castro and sells him oil at huge discounts ... un-check.

Stays in power via rigged elections which feature goon squads ... un-check.

Shuts down independent media ... un-check.

Hobnobs with Iranian ayatollahs ... un-check.

Is a colonel (and a bloke) ... un-check twice.

Can't stand George W. Bush ... un-check.

I'd say the weight of the evidence is against this one mate. Though I have to agree on the charisma bit.

Posted by Seajay | September 8, 2008 9:16 PM
19

Bush/Cheney and a rightward-tilted federal court created a dangerous precedent that has undermined government checks and balances, and turned the office of the Vice Presidency into a locked wall of secrecy. So, why should we be surprised they picked a Hockey Mom who also happens to be shill for big Oil? Oh, and she thinks global warming is hogwash, and supports a "culture of life". Gee...I wonder why didn't they just pick a boring old white guy middle-of-the road pro-choice Republican? Does any of this make us wonder who might really be pulling strings at the McCain campaign? I'm not yet ready to abandon hope and embrace nihilism and dystopia. I want to believe we are collectively smarter than this, as a nation of supposedly free persons.

Posted by BoB | September 8, 2008 9:17 PM
20

Golab, Chavez is not a dictator, he was elected, and when Bush and Co tried to oust him, he fought back and killed the coup. I wish the Democrats had 1/10 of his courage and know how. What did Kerry do after Bush fixed the last election? He prattled about how we just have to go along with the right. I was enthusiastic about Obama until he received the nomination and voted for wiretaps. Also, Obama just said he might extend the Bush tax cuts. The Democrats are the problem, and not the solution. Fuck you Golab, you idiot, you spoiled child of empire. I can see why the right always wins against the spineless fucktard left in this country.

Posted by Fucktards | September 8, 2008 9:18 PM
21

Charisma: check. She'd make a great televangelist.

Posted by Brucie | September 8, 2008 9:22 PM
22

Hello. Sarah Palin == Anne Coulter.

Posted by Sean | September 8, 2008 9:29 PM
23

Let me get this straight. If a government taxes its citizens' income, purchases, and property, that's money the government has "earned", and funding its operations thusly is commendable. But if it taxes extracted resources -- something that many might actually agree really belongs to the government -- then that money is "unearned" and a government that funds itself thusly has shown itself incapeable or responsible governance. Okay, got it.

Posted by David Wright | September 8, 2008 10:38 PM
24

Gosh, you're right. Corporate executives (aka "extractors of resources") should be enriched at the expense of the rest of us taxpayers, and at the expense of the funding of public services. Oh wait... they already are, how's about that?!? But, I'm pointing that out, which is class warfare. Jesus Fucking Christ.

Posted by BoB | September 8, 2008 10:59 PM
25

David, the ratio of oil profits to the population of Alaska is ridiculously large. The ratio of Domestic Oil to the country is ridiculously small, even including untapped reserves.

Asserting that Sarah Palin is experienced because she ran a state that has 32 billion dollars in oil profits a year is like asserting that a child is good with money, because after getting his $10,000 weekly allowance, he's able to put a few dollars away and save for his future.

Also, in a state where citizens receive money directly back from the government because of the sheer volume of oil profits, I don't think popularity is hard to come by.

Posted by Chris in Tampa | September 8, 2008 10:59 PM
26

Thanks for changing the post, now I look like an idiot.

I'm still having a hard time stretching the definition of "state-owned oil fields". They're "state-owned" in the sense that the government "owns" the land, but not at all in the sense that the government owns the "fields", if that makes sense. Also, just because the government allows the usage of that land for a specific purpose and then taxes the usage in NO WAY implies or infers that the state is owns or actually runs that operation. The "fields" are still privately owned and operated (under license by the state), but that's still a far cry from "state-owned".

Did you and Charles get drunk at work today or something? The logical connections here are exceedingly tenuous.

Posted by Super Jesse | September 8, 2008 11:47 PM
27

Unrelated, but on Nightline just now, her inner circle of pals, the "Elite 6", said that SARAH PALIN DISLIKES CATS! There goes the cat lady vote. And the cat vote.

Posted by Greg | September 8, 2008 11:48 PM
28

I think Sarah Palin is the female version of Greg Stilson from The Dead Zone.

Posted by laterite | September 8, 2008 11:50 PM
29

no taxes - money from the state after residency

WHAT A TERRIBLE MODEL FOR THE LOWER FORTY EIGHT

Posted by Albert | September 9, 2008 3:03 AM
30

this is one of the dumbest posts ever.

Posted by um | September 9, 2008 5:32 AM
31

She's not like Chavez. But being governor of Alaska when oil is above $100/bbl. is a bit like being the Grand Duke of Luxembourg or the Princess of Monaco. It doesn't exactly involve making tough choices to fund competing needs from limited resources. Her principal fiscal policy has been to increase corporate taxes on the oil industry. Which means that the rest of us who pay $4/gallon at the pump are footing the bill for the energy subsidy checks she wants to send to her constituents. (Meanwhile, as a typical debt-addicted Republican, she's proposing to borrow up to $5 billion in an attempt to finance the State's $9 billion accrued pension liability.) She's basically fortunate that the oil in Alaska can't move the way a business can be moved. We don't tax the consumers of Boeing airplanes or Microsoft software to benefit our state's residents.

Posted by kk | September 9, 2008 7:49 AM
32

ALASKA
Sales Taxes
State Sales Tax: The state currently does not have a sales and use tax. However, some jurisdictions impose local sales taxes that range up to 7%. Anchorage does not have a sales tax.
Gasoline Tax: 8 cents/gallon
Diesel Fuel Tax: 8 cents/gallon
Cigarette Tax: $2.00/pack of 20 (Anchorage - add $1.32)

Personal Income Taxes
No state income tax
Retirement Income: Not taxed.

Property Taxes
Property taxes are assessed in 25 of 161 municipalities. Homeowners 65 and older (or surviving spouses 60 and older) are exempt from municipal taxes on the first $150,000 of the assessed value of their property. This also applies to disabled veterans. Intangible personal property is exempt from taxation. Call 907-269-6620 (Anchorage) or 907-465-2320 (Juneau) for details.

Inheritance and Estate Taxes
There is no inheritance tax and the estate tax is limited to federal estate tax collection.

For further information, visit the Alaska Department of Revenue site.

Posted by Alaska Tax Info | September 9, 2008 9:00 AM
33

Hey Fucktards, why aren't you moving to the paradise of Venezuela?

Posted by Bellevue Ave | September 9, 2008 9:23 AM
34

@27: Fuck you, get a new handle. I've said this before to your sock-puppeting ass.

Posted by Greg | September 9, 2008 11:05 AM
35

@32: If that's true, I might sell the house and pack my bags. There still appears to be one place the Looters (in the Randian sense of the word) haven't taken over yet.

Posted by Seajay | September 10, 2008 1:34 AM

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