Lisa Murkowski just can’t let go
It’s not often that I agree with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, but their statement that Lisa Murkowski’s decision to run as a write-in candidate for the Senate after losing the Alaskan primary is “the latest example of the Republican Party cannibalizing itself” seems about right to me.
It’s a transparently selfish act masquerading rhetorically as selflessness. There is something truly and chillingly Evita-like about her statement:
As of last night, I was still wrestling with this,” she said. “I looked into my heart and I said, ‘Where is my heart?’ And my heart is Alaska. I cannot leave you. I cannot stop what we have started…
It’s got everything but the song, the balcony, and the blond bun.
Murkowski is from a political family in Alaska with a long history that includes a feud with Sarah Palin, who defeated Murkowski’s father and then supported Murkowski’s opponent Joe Miller in the recent primary:
Palin was one of a handful of candidates Murkowski’s father, Frank, had picked to replace him in the U.S. Senate when he became governor in 2002. In the end, however, he ended up choosing his daughter, Lisa, despite allegations of nepotism.
Palin beat Frank Murkowski in the 2006 gubernatorial race as his ratings tanked.
Just what the Republican Party needs right now: a revenge catfight. Hugh Hewitt suggests that the proper response to Murkowski’s announcement might be to donate to Joe Miller’s campaign. It’s not a bad idea.
Donation made this morning.
Turns out we didn’t need policy reasons to dump this woman. She’s a child in a grown person’s body. Otherwise known as a model progressive.
If true, the allegations that Frank Murkowski passed over Palin for a Senate seat cast doubt on her image as an Alaskan political reformer. Did she become a reformer only after being denied a seat at the head table?
The point is whether the allegations are true. Given all the lying and mudslinging regarding Palin, what’s needed is contemporaneous evidence that she was considered for Senator: a news report, a candidate list from Frank Murkowski’s gubernatorial papers, interview notes, or something similar. Obviously, an unsupported after-the-fact statement by Frank Murkowski would not be credible.
This isn’t about Palin, GS. It’s about Lisa Murkowski.
Oh and when the media makes ANY sort of attempt to fact-check ANYTHING having to do with their chosen Statist candidates (by the way, have we EVER found out how John Kerry received each and every one of those four combat wounds, so serious as to merit a Purple Heart? Didn’t think so…..media got a tad pre-occupied trying to track down W’s dental records to see if he might have skipped out on his Guard duty a few months early) – wake me up.
Donating to Miller is fine, but not enough. As Ace of Spades suggested:
“Mitch McConnell says he’s accepted her resignation from the GOP Senate leadership. ….She should not be allowed to resign, she should be kicked to the curb. Kicked out of the leadership, Kicked out of her committee slots. Kicked out of the caucus.”
And the grass roots GOP voters should be putting big pressure on McConnell to do this.
This is part Lisa ego and Schadenfreude, and part Revenge of The Ruling Class. Disgusting.
I have to observe that Evita died of cancer of the uterine cervix; probably virus-induced, and infected as a result of either her promiscuity or that of the esteemed Juan. Am I allowed to say, “Well-deserved”?
Am I wrong in seeing the Democrats, pols and pundits alike, as being in self-induced freefall? It seems that the more their greedy egos expand, the faster they sink into the political quicksand. It’s like the end of “Days of Wine and Roses,” but on the Party’s KoolAide.
On the Conservative side, I watched Palin’s and O’Donnell’s speeches yesterday evening. They were both fired up and flying politically, and that can only inspire us armchair and field activists.
Murkowski sat on her butt (and her campaign coffers), choosing to ignore the national trends and signs that Tea Party candidates were gaining traction and especially that her opponent, a former West Point cadet, decorated veteran and Ivy League law school grad (ok, two out of three ain’t bad) could be an attractive alternative and effective opponent.
She has no one to blame but herself, and now she’s mad at Palin and the Tea Party? Puh-leeeeeze.
” As of last night, I was still wrestling with this,” she said. “I looked into my heart and I said, ‘Where is my heart?’ And my heart is Alaska. I cannot leave you. I cannot stop what we have started…”
,,,,,,,So please vote for me so I can move to Washington D.C.
Is she Liza Murkowski?
Lisa Murckowski?
I bet it’s Lisa Murkowsky.
Or maybe Liza Murkoski
Or perhaps Lisa Murkoski.
Is it legal for her to use her franking privelegs to send a letter to every household in Alaska informing them of the exact spelling of her name and exactly how they can write it in?
My gut says that in the name of fairness, it should be illegal since she would be using taxpyer funds to facilitate her candidacy giving an incumbent write-in candidate a clear finanicial advantage over non incumbent write-ins who have no taxpayer funded franking privelege. But since the incumbents write the rules, I suspect it is perfectly legal.
Anybody know?
Since she is not on the ballot she KNOWS that she has about a zero chance of being elected. Unlike Joe Lieberman who was on the ballot and stood a very good chance of being elected (which he was but i am focusing here on the political situation he faced when he chose to run as an independent), Murkowski is running purely as a spoiler to keep Joe Miller and the Republican Party from gaining HER seat in the Senate. She will never again be able to run as a Republican and will not be welcome in the Democrat Party. They would want to run a real Democrat, not a Democrat light. So, this is the end of her political career.
Whether Joe Miller can win in a three way race is still up in the air, but it feels good to have flushed a RINO from power. No matter how she voted before there would have come a vote on which she would have to fall back on her basic principles (of which self preservation is her first and, perhaps, overriding principle), and leave the Republicans to fend for themselves. Since she has shown that she looks after herself first she would choose self preservation over any other consideration. Good riddance.
Neo, off topic, but I keep getting a malware warning when i try to get on your site. It’s a new thing, just a couple of days.
I just read David Freddoso’s report linked from Insty, about a few close races that have suddenly gone Republican, and a few write-offs to the Dems that are suddenly close.
I wonder if the O’Donnell and Murkowski stories going national, though the situations in those states are bad for Republican chances, are having a spillover effect into other states. Tea Party types around the country are perhaps encouraged by the idea that they are not alone, and that voters in other states are serious about changing the American political balance, even at high risk to unworthy Republicans. The worthier Republicans are possibly getting some goodwill from this.
marine’s mom: a couple of people have written me to say they’re getting that warning, too, and that it seems connected to blogrolling.com, which I use for my blogroll. I’ve temporarily taken my blogroll of the blog in an attempt to diagnose the problem. Do you still get the warning?
“If true, the allegations that Frank Murkowski passed over Palin for a Senate seat cast doubt on her image as an Alaskan political reformer.”
Yea, because running for governor because a corrupt political machine tried to get rid of you for being honest is not being a reformer and just petty. Plus as we all know the only way you should run for an incumbents seat in the primaries is if the sitting Governor approves of you.
Much better to have lost the primaries and become so angry that you run anyway as an independent, especially against that upstart whom your father doesn’t like. That seat was, after all, purchased fair and square through bribery and intimidation over many decades of work and how *dare* someone get it by actually getting people to *vote* for them!
All Murkowski did was confirm that her father was corrupt and is mad that all the hard work got smashed to bits by those things called “voters”.
So yes, by all means, lets investigate this thing where in a democratically elected republic someone runs and wins the popular vote at each stage against a governor who said she can’t run and thought that should be enough to stop it. Lets break that idea of a reformer of a corrupt political machine by showing how she got elected through hard work and popular vote against bribery and corruption – I’m sure that idea will work wonders!
I do not think Palin will make a good President yet (like I said about about Obama – in another ten to fifteen years and the other side should fear them in that position), I think she is doing a great job where she is and will be MUCH more effective there. I do not see how you can call her *anything* other than a reformer and in both cases she is doing it against the wishes of the establishment *precisely* because it is against their wishes. You can also trace not only the roots but one of the primary thoughts of the so called “Tea Party” to that idea.
My thoughts upon reading Murkowski’s oh, so heart touching declaration of love for Alaska went immediately to where your earlier commenter John went. “Please, God, don’t make me actually have to live full time in this state.” By the way, I am not going to struggle to spell her name correctly so that was my phonetic version and I’m leaving it at that!
Agreed. Regardless of the outcome of this particular election, the episode sends an unmistakable message to opportunists in the Republican Party: fail to reflect the wishes of the electorate at your peril. Fat cats in smoke-filled rooms can’t save your ass anymore. The American people are reasserting their authority over their elected representatives.
About time, too.
Joe Miller can’t win.
Nyom, Joe Miller mentioned God during his lifetime ! 🙂
Oh Lordy, I wish I lived in Alaska and Delaware and Nyom’s home state. 🙂
O’Donnell cancels Sunday appearances
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9IAMDV80&show_article=1
GOOD FOR HER !!!
I’ll be watching Fox News Sunday in about 19 minutes. Let’s see what happens in her absence.
Karl Rove ??? WTH ???
I can’t stand to look at him anymore. Get off my TV !!!
Chris Wallace seems to fall into the class warfare rhetoric repeatedly. He doesn’t seem to get Economics 101.
His questions seem to be cantakerous for years about tax cutting.
Maybe he’s giving his guests an opportunity to deliver a message – but his way of asking the questions seem very odd.
Karl Rove messaged well on the tax cut for the rich argument.
Karl Rove giving orders to Sarah?
Came off as sexist to me.
Lisa Murkowski should be stuffed, mounted, and placed in a museum exhibit, with a sign that says RINO and a plaque with a definition of the word and a lengthy description of her sad, farcical history.
Dice are rolling.
The knives are out.
Would-be senators are all around!
A RINO is better than a snake.
Having written the above, I must add that Murkowski’s campaign site is gag-inducing.