Without Feathers

For me: Unexpected but not surprising. I didn’t expect Sarah Palin to run for a second term as Governor of Alaska. Even if it was a job she enjoyed and arguably executed well, her post November ‘08 tenure has surely been excruciating.

I can’t think of another example of one party hounding an office holder of the other party so relentlessly for simply being a politically successful member of the opposition. True, the pressure on Palin can be considered a politically legitimate effort to short circuit the ambitions of a potentially dangerous adversary. Still the remorseless onslaught against Sarah has a bad odor about it.

You may not be aware of just how pernicious the campaign against Governor Palin has been. It isn’t just dry-drunk Maureen Dowd, professional gossipist Gail Collins, Keith Olbermann (who famously resigned from MSNBC in 1998 because he was expected to report on the Monica Lewinsky, obstruction of justice scandal) and Trig-truther Andrew Sullivan.

The Governor has also been under the constant duress of 15 lawsuits claiming ethics violations since last November, with no end in sight, running up a legal bill of over half a million dollars despite the fact that 13 of those lawsuits have been summarily dismissed and, of the other two, one was settled for $8,200 (reimbursement of travel expenses claimed for family members) and the other appears to be heading for a fate similar to the 13 non-starters..

This — along with simple malicious slander (such as the gross misrepresentation of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s policies on predator control) — has proven to be an effective way to counter a governor who must otherwise be considered one of the most competent and effective in her state’s (at least recent) history. I only wish the Republicans could work up the gumption to challenge the two squalid crony-masters currently looting NY and NJ! What? You don’t think a relentless campaign of ethics challenges would stand up any better against Corzine and Patterson? Bear in mind, both of these guys have already been caught morally compromised.

So if (like me) you are a Palin fan, this looks like the start of bigger things for Sarah. If you curdle at the words “you betcha!” this must look like a hard-won victory to you. Just Remember: More than one moose became moose-burger by underestimating the lethality of that hockey mom.

Sorry, I couldn’t get it to rhyme exactly.

The drawn out victory of Al Franken over Norm Coleman in the Minnesota senate race is interesting to me for exactly one reason: Al Franken won because the rules say he won.

It is almost certain that Coleman received hundreds or maybe even a few thousand more votes than Franken. But more of the valid, countable votes went to Franken, not Coleman. Under the rules that were in effect on November 4, 2008, absentee ballots were required to be cast in a precise, well defined and adequately disseminated manner and, as it turns out, a big clump of absentee ballots cast for Coleman did not meet that standard. Too bad for Norm Coleman.

This reminds me of an election held eight years earlier in Florida in which Republican county commissioners ran their elections a damn sight better than Democrat county commissioners ran theirs. The Republicans focused on making sure that the voting machines in their counties were in good working order and that polling station staff were well trained and knew what to do in the event of an unforeseen issue. They also took the time, trouble and expense to assure that Republican voters knew how to operate the machines and cast their ballots.

The Democrats focused almost entirely on rounding up people who had never voted in their lives and dumped them en masse at polling stations staffed by people with grossly inadequate training. The inevitable results were as predictable as an Al-Qaeda attack using airplanes. Everyone should have known exactly what the outcome was going to be.

Well, this time the chads fell the other way. Norm Coleman won more votes, but Al Franken won the election — fair and square. You won’t be hearing me saying: “Not my senator!” Well, actually, you might, because I don’t live in Minnesota, but you get the point. Should Coleman have disputed the election as vigorously and tenaciously as he did? Absolutely yes! And, apparently, he did a much better job of following the law and leaving no stone unturned than Al Gore in 2000.

Gore might have actually beaten Bush in Florida if he hadn’t tried to finagle his way to victory by cherry-picking Democrat controlled counties in which to fight. But the fact remains: Under the rules in effect on November 7, 2000, George Bush won the Florida Presidential election — both in votes and in allocation of electors. So get over it if you are still simmering about Katherine Harris (whose only role in the election was to certify the results) and some Fox News consultant (who happened to be related to Bush).