It's really hard to top SP's lack of class

“Oh! Ye’ll Take the High Road and I’ll Take the Low Road, and I’ll See Governor Palin Afore Ye.”

Before that song starts running through your head and you learn to hate me, pleas stand.

(Hand on heart, clearing throat) I pledge allegiance to the Democratic Presidential Candidate of the United States of America…

In my humble opinion, pledging allegiance to a flag is a bit odd to begin with. I’d rather be pledging allegiance to the Constitution, or the Democratic Process, or Representative Democracy, or the Rule of Law, or a dozen other things. But I’m willing to stretch the metaphor a bit and think of “the flag” as being representational of those things.

But never would I “pledge my allegiance” to a person, be they a member of my own political party or not. And accusing someone of pledging allegiance to a person, seems snarky at best, and downright accusatory at worst. And yet, this is how Governor Palin reacted to the impressive appointment of Juneau Senator Kim Elton as the Director of Alaska Affairs for the U.S. Department of the Interior. It’s her “opening line” as a matter of fact. Here is the governor’s nastygram press release in its entirety.



How very…..curt. Hardly a glowing press release, wishing a respected member of the Senate well, and sending him off to Washington D.C. with the support and pride of his governor. Why, you’d almost think that Governor Palin didn’t like Senator Elton….like she was harboring some kind of grudge, perhaps. Let’s think….why might that be?

Ohhh. That’s right, Senator Elton was the head of the Legislative Council this past fall; the very Legislative Council that hired Stephen Branchflower to investigate Palin’s role in the Troopergate ethics scandal! And now that I think of it, wasn’t Elton on the receiving end of a lawsuit to stonewall that investigation? And didn’t that report find that Palin did abuse her power under the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act? Ahh. The pieces are falling into place.

So, according to Sarah Palin, ”pledging allegiance to Barack Obama” must be what you do when you head up the council that said she was guilty of abusing her power. So, does the governor, then, believe that everyone who has supported her on the other side of this investigation has pledged allegiance to her? Someone should ask.

But back to the subject at hand. Senator Elton has represented Alaskans for over two decades. He’s been in the Juneau Assembly, the House of Representatives, and the State Senate. And the governor “hopes” he can represent Alaskans? I wonder if the Governor actually knows that there IS, a “High Road” and that it’s not only navigable, but it can be taken at any time. Really. It’s quite convenient, and it often takes you beautiful scenic vistas where the low road doesn’t go. Here’s an example.

Let’s try Senator Begich’s response.



Much nicer.

Now, it falls to Governor Palin to appoint another Juneau Democrat to fill Elton’s position. Rumor says that Rep. Beth Kerttula, the current House Minority Leader is under consideration. And if that happens, we’ll be looking for a new Minority Leader. Interested parties have until Wednesday to apply for the position. If I were a betting person, I’d also be scanning the Wasilla High School Yearbook to see if there are actually any alumnae who happen to be living in Juneau, and have become Democrats in the last week or so.

Either I’m just plain cynical, or it’s the Nyquil talking…