Obama's Man In AK: Hollis French Speaks Out On Palin

Talk about a conflict of interest. This guy French heading the Palin inquiry should either step down, or at least stop talking to the media. He's been an Obama guy all along and is even listed on his site. What do you want to bet he won't do either?

Hmm

Alaska state senator Hollis French, who is running an investigation of Gov. Sarah Palin, says the McCain campaign is using stall tactics to prevent him from releasing his final report by Oct. 31st.

That's funny. Here is what he was saying not all that long ago.

In August 2008, the Alaska Legislature hired Steve Branchflower to investigate Palin and her staff for possible abuse of power surrounding the dismissal.[58] Democratic State Senator Hollis French, who is overseeing the investigation, says that the Palin administration has been cooperating and that subpoenas are unnecessary.[59]

Would that be the Hollis French talking about the "energy" behind Obama's campaign back in August?

Said state Sen. Hollis French, an Anchorage Democrat: “There is a real sense of energy coming off that campaign that is completely lacking from the other side.”

The same Hollis French listed on Obama's website?

The following Alaska elected officials are supporting Senator Obama’s campaign for president:

State Senators (8)
Bettye Davis, Anchorage
Johnny Ellis, Anchorage
Kim Elton, Juneau
Hollis French, Anchorage
Lyman Hoffman, Bethel
Albert Kookesh, Angoon
Joe Thomas, Fairbanks
Bill Wielechowski, Anchorage

Sen. Hollis French:

“Senator Biden is one of America’s leading voices on national security. With decades of foreign policy experience and a son headed to Iraq, he will help make the right decisions that allow America to defeat terrorism, keep our country strong, and ensure that our veterans are honored for their service.”

“Senator Obama has a plan to end our dependence on foreign oil and reduce skyrocketing energy prices,” said Senator Hollis French of Anchorage, a former oil rig worker.  “Having worked in the oil business in Alaska for twelve years, I know firsthand the importance of oil and natural gas to Alaska.  Senator Obama will not only invest in renewable fuels and increase car fuel efficiency standards, he strongly supports construction of an Alaska natural gas pipeline and accelerated drilling in the Alaska National Petroleum Reserve which will provide affordable energy to Alaska and our country and good jobs for Alaskans.”

Comments

[SacTownmMan]

So there is just a little bit of Democrat insider politics at work here, so what!

We can always count on the Dems to do the right thing can't we?

Nothing to see here.. move along!

[Aussie in Sydney]

Dan. I'm a big fan of the 1990's TV series Northern Exposure set in an Alaskan town. Back then it seemed that Alaskan towns were the coolest places to work out 'why we are here' and 'how can we all get along'.

Yeah it was just a TV show but it had to use some 'real Alaska' moments occasionally too.

Someone should watch NE episodes, I'm sure there's ammunition there to roast the Dems with.

[Aussie in Sydney]

I mean, per Northern Exposure, Alaska is the liberal small town paradise.

[roy]

If the McCain campaign is unhappy with the bi-partisan investigation of Palin, wouldn't it have been smarter to choose someone who wasn't being investigated?

Oh wait.. that would have required a vetting process.

[SacTownmMan]

Ah the latest moonbat talking point "she wasn't vetted properly"

Okay we get your latest TP now go back to Uncle George for some new ones will ya!

Man you guys just sneak out from under your rocks whenever you are told to by your puppet masters.

The real issue is the NY Slimes, US magazine, Daily Koz and Alan Colmes devoting so much time and effort to try and destroy this woman and her family and to hell with any real news.

The lunacy of the left is on display for the American public to see here and their stategy will backfire on them with another ass whopping in November

[Spartan112]

Wait, so it's not possible that last month before she was the VP candidate that the Governor was being cooperative, but now the McCain campaign is trying to delay the release of findings? How is that difficult to follow?

[joeb]

Sarah! Sarah! Sarah! Next VP of the USA. We need some Alaska type person to come here to DC and clean up this mess in government. Do you think Obama and Biden can do it? I don't think so. After all Joe Biden is an old white guy. ha ha ha. We got not only the old white guy we want(McCain)but now we have the good looking female VP we went. The non Hillary female!

[PA]

Hollis French just made himself a nice target for an investigation of his own. Jaggofs like that are never clean, never.

[Spartan112]

Lol, ok PA just what has he done to indicate he isn't clean besides investigate your little Ms. Palin?

[Lala]

* n Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Palin files ethics complaint against self in 'troopergate'
More on this Story
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/51592.html

By Lisa Demer | Anchorage Daily News

Gov. Sarah Palin wants a state board to review the circumstances surrounding the dismissal of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan -- taking the unusual step of making an ethics complaint against herself.

Her lawyer sent an "ethics disclosure" Monday night to Attorney General Talis Colberg. The governor asked that it go to the three-person Personnel Board as a complaint. While ethics complaints are usually confidential, Palin wants the matter open.
read more at link

[ra]

JUST FOLLOW THE TRAIL...LIL MISS MUFFET LAWYERED UP RATHER THAN BE REPRESENTED AS GOVERNOR BY THE STATE ATTORNEY, SHES SHAKING IN HER BOOTS, CLAIMING EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE TO HIDE DAMNING E-MAIL EVIDENCE, EMAILS WHICH SHE ALSO SENT TO A NON EXEC...TODD PALIN, HER HUSBAND..WHICH TAKES THOSE EMAILS OUT OF THE REALM OF EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE, WHEN THIS THING STARTED, SHE WAS A NOBODY, NOW SHE DOESN'T WANT HER LAUNDRY EXPOSED BEFORE THE ELECTIONS..TOUGH...SOMEONE SHOULD TEACH McCain THAT VET DOESN'T MEAN VETERINARY

[Anon]

I tend to think the media's attacks on Palin via her daughter and their santimoneous insistance that they really feel sorry for her, and hate what they're doing is going to fall flat with most Americans who are already not frothing at the mouth liberal nuts.

Liberal Democrats seem to have forgotton that they won the White House with Bill Clinton who ran as a conservative and that they got their ass kicked in 04 even though it was obvious by then that Bush was a disaster.

Why anyone with half a brain thinks bashing a pregnant teenager is going to get votes for Obama is hard to follow. Obama can now kiss all of those alleged "swing" states in the South good bye. Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia...not happening. Conservatives and blue collar families are going to come out in droves to vote for McCain. Obama knows this, thats why he tried to tamp down the hate machine, but as always, Liberals Know Best. Unless Palin turns out to be a terrible speaker, I can't see anything but a big backfire here.

[Totally Heterosexual Conservative]

Uh oh. The wingers are already whining about the investigators.

I wonder when we'll start hearing about Ms. Palin's Jew-hating-preacher problem:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13098.html

Nice work, ladies. St. McMaverick impulsively and recklessly picked a VP candidate about whom he knew NOTHING. I guess that's what happens when you interview her once - a day before selecting her.

Judgment matters, losers.

[Totally Heterosexual Conservative]

I love how, anon is lying about (a) Obama bashing anyone and (b) anyone bashing Palin's daughter. I also wonder where are the poutrage was when Rush and the rest of the winger noise machine was bashing Chelsea Clinton. *crickets*

Anon, can you kindly point out a couple of examples of "liberals" bashing Sara Palin's daughter? And I don't mean a couple of posts on blogs somewhere. I'm talking about people who matter.

[Lala]

FRONT PAGE OF NY TIMES - PALIN'S DAUGHTER PREGNANT - BIG NEWS

Jewish World Review Sept. 3, 2008 / 3 Elul 5768

A Knock or a Boost?

By Thomas Sowell

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Since Governor Sarah Palin's daughter is not running for election this year, it is amazing how much the media has suddenly become obsessed with her. Her pregnancy not only made the front page of the New York Times, a printed announcement of her pregnancy stayed at the bottom of the television screen on CNN for what seemed to me to be about an hour or more.

Investigative reporters have obviously been burning a lot of midnight oil, digging deep into the history of Governor Palin's family, for they also found a drunk driving incident involving her husband decades ago— before they were married.

"The public's right to know" is often invoked by the mainstream media, when what they are really talking about is the media's right to smear those that they disagree with politically.

It is doubtful whether the public is half as obsessed with Sarah Palin's daughter as CNN obviously is. Even before this particular story was hyped, CNN was among those in the media who had become something of a laughingstock for how they had gone overboard in favor of Barack Obama.

Increasingly, over the years, CNN has become less of a news reporting organization and more of a propaganda machine for liberal-left politics. Unfortunately, CNN is not alone.

[Totally Heterosexual Conservative]

Oh no:

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/1126/cover2xc3.jpg

Celebrity?

[anon]

Anon, can you kindly point out a couple of examples of "liberals" bashing Sara Palin's daughter? And I don't mean a couple of posts on blogs somewhere. I'm talking about people who matter.
------------------------------------------------------

You must be joking? Google "Sarah Palin" or "Bristol Palin" and you will find literally thousands of articles discussing how the daughter's situation shows a 'failure' of Palin's philosophy, of her as a parent, as well as articles about whether or not Palin should have 'thrown her daughter to the wolves' or even run for VP, because, apparently, now the liberals think she should be at home caring for her family.

The very fact of running the story on the front page of practically every newspaper in the country is BASHING her because (1) she is 17, (2) she is not running for office (3) no one knows the circumstances of her pregnancy, whether she used birth control (4) insinuating that a 17 year old having sex makes her parents a failure.

The media thinks that people can't see through this, but they can. They know that a liberal Democrat doesn't care if their 17 year old is having sex, indeed, they expect it....they also know that a liberal Democrat, especially a politician would almost certainly ensure that if their 17 year old got pregnant she would have an abortion and so they could continue to ignore whatever sex she was having.

The media isn't upset that a 17 year old had sex, they are upset that a 17 year old is going to have a baby, because if it were their daughter she would have had an abortion. All this crap about how its not about the daughter, but about the mother is a hypocritical lie that ANYONE who is not a liberal nut is going to see right through. You can say its all about the mother's policy stance on sex education but everyone knows that's false. I wonder if its all about the mother's policy why there are now also hundreds of stories about the girl's boyfriend?

I didnt' say Obama attacked anyone, I said, that Obama knows this will backfire but that his stupid supporters aren't listening to him.

[templar knight]

anon, Obama has several stupid supporters on this blog, namely Totally, chris/Boob, and Spartan. And several more, none of whom are worth mentioning, or worth anything, for that matter. They all get their talking points from the sewers of the Democratic Party.

[Spartan112]

I've not said anything negative about Palin's daughter nor will I. I have not attacked her parenting skills and I won't. By all accounts she is a loving mother and will soon be a loving grandmother and that seems to make her and her family happy. Good for them.

Any attacks I've waged upon her have to do with policy, experience, ideology and hypocrisy and I stand by what I have said. Temp, I don't think you are stupid for supporting McCain I just think we have a difference of opinion. Maybe your belief in your candidate is so low that you feel the need to wage ad hominem attacks on people you don't even know.

The thing that's becoming clearer everyday is that Palin wasn't fully vetted by the McCain campaign and that she wasn't his first (or even second) choice but that she was foisted on him by the more conservative wing of the party.

It's also becoming clearer daily that this is not the same John McCain that ran in 2000. John McCain runs on his honor but he might want to scope out some alternate definitions of the word the next time he speaks at Liberty University.

[anon]

Any attacks I've waged upon her have to do with policy, experience, ideology and hypocrisy and I stand by what I have said.
---------------------------------------------------

1) Policy: The US has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the developed world, that means that NEITHER abstinance only education or holistic sex education is very effective. So, its a bit of the pot calling the kettle black here, especially since no one knows what kind of info. her daughter got about birth control. Teenagers are going to have sex, I think even the religious right acknowledges and understands this, they think that abstinance only will minimize it, I don't happen to agree with that, I think teens should be taught the negatives of having early unprotected sex and given info. on preventing disease and pregnancy. But since nobody knows exactly what Palin's daughter was told, taught, believes, it is wholly inappropriate to use her situation to beat up her mother. It also reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the evangelical mindset...they know that people will fail, they care about how that failure is addressed.

2) Experience: has nothing to do with her family life, but it should be noted that as far as I can tell she has more executive experience in terms of running a town and a state than either Obama, Biden or McCain.

3) Ideology: She is living her ideology on her pro life position and so is her daughter. I happen to be pro choice, but I fail to see how her ideology is in any way related to her family situation since, as I said, teens of all stripes get pregnant and sex education while it is more effective than abstinance only education, is still not very effective.

4) Hypocrisy: Again there is no hypocrisy coming from Sarah Palin. She is living her beliefs and so is her family. The hypocrisy is coming from the left, who take teen sex for granted, who constantly criticize the right for making moral judgements and who are NOW making moral judgements about Palin and her daughter and her parenting skills because her daughter had sex as a teenager, something that if you read any articles/opinions or Dem policy statements is taken as a fact of life. Thus, what is the big deal? Like half of teenagers in this country, she had sex by the time she became a HS senior. She got pregnant. She didn't have an abortion, if she had an abortion that Palin supported that would make her a hypocrite. What you and Obama's stupid supporters don't understand is that evangelicals KNOW that teens will have sex anyway, even despite all their teaching, that is why they are so against the sex starched culture, and why they are so against anything that looks like it approves of teenager sex, they already know the odds are stacked against them by mother nature. Evangelicals expect people to fail and sin, what they care about is the reaction to it. You are not going to find ANY PARENT in the country who is going to say they prefer their teenager is having sex, which would mean that 50% of parents in this country are both failures and hypocrites...see how silly that sounds when you put it in its proper context?

Keep beating up her, keep floating the rumors, all it will do is ensure that all those voters who might have stayed home in November because they don't like John McCain are going to vote now.

[Fred Beloit]

I feel one should remind oil rig worker Hollis French what Diddy said about Alaska and Alaskans. CAUTION CAUTION...A-S H--e ALERT.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thmueS0ngAs

[Fred Beloit]

Now here they go again:
"...she was foisted on him by the more conservative wing of the party."

Evidence please.

[Spartan112]

"The US has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the developed world, that means that NEITHER abstinance only education or holistic sex education is very effective."

Check the teen pregnancy rates during the Clinton years when sex ed was more widely taught, the numbers of both teen pregnancy and abortion dropped and didn't start going back up again until W was in office. Sex ed works, it may never eliminate the issue but it mitigates it.

As for points 2-4 I fail to see what any of that has to do with what I have said about Palin. None of my attacks on her have had anything to do with her children. I agree they are off limits. What I was saying is my position on her has to do with:

Policy
Experience
Ideology
Hypocrisy

none of which is related in anyway to her current family situation. In fact I hope that it works out as they hope it does.

"Evidence please."

I know it doesn't come from Freepers or Fox Noise but here you go Fred.

From the NYT-

"advisers close to the campaign said, Mr. McCain had wanted to name as his running mate his good friend Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, the Democrat turned independent. But by the end of last weekend, the outrage from Christian conservatives over the possibility that Mr. McCain would fill out the Republican ticket with Mr. Lieberman, a supporter of abortion rights, had become too intense to be ignored."

[Trish]

Spartan112--

Please to show evidence that "sex education was more widely taught" in the Clinton years that it is now. Please also to note that during those years we had a Republican congress, which we do not have now.
Please also to note that it is local school boards who make policy in this matter.

And please to note one further point: even if you truly believe that an anonymous quote in the New York Times is factual evidence, nothing in that quote even begins to suggest that anyone, right or left, foisted Sarah Palin on McCain. There is another, much more obvious reason for McCain's not choosing Lieberman as a running mate--Lieberman is not a member of the Republican party.

[Trish]

Spartan112--

Please to show evidence that "sex education was more widely taught" in the Clinton years that it is now. Please also to note that during those years we had a Republican congress, which we do not have now.
Please also to note that it is local school boards who make policy in this matter.

And please to note one further point: even if you truly believe that an anonymous quote in the New York Times is factual evidence, nothing in that quote even begins to suggest that anyone, right or left, foisted Sarah Palin on McCain. There is another, much more obvious reason for McCain's not choosing Lieberman as a running mate--Lieberman is not a member of the Republican party.

[Spartan112]

"Spartan112--

Please to show evidence that "sex education was more widely taught" in the Clinton years that it is now."

That's actually quite simple, it's the same method used by Reagan to raise the drinking age to 21. States make the call, but the feds fund highways and Reagan threatened to withhold funds from states that didn't raise the drinking age. W did about the same thing with Abstinence only education. He created guidelines for funding that required schools to teach abstinence only to receive funding. Sure schools could teach what they wanted to but if they wanted financial assistance to do it they needed to teach abstinence only.

Gee, I wonder...did Bush abstain until marriage? McCain? Palin?

[MJS D soon to be R]

Sarah (now I know why you are the Gov. of Alaska) Palin just wiped the floor up with Mr. Memoirs (that's a french word so I may have misspelled it... alert the big BO!) at the RNC. Quick! Someone teach the rookie senator how to drink a shot and a beer... nope, too late... Sarah and Hillary just did that job too. Stay tuned for the dismemberment of the Hon. Sen. Biden, courtesy of the shock and awe of Sarah the barracuda!

[Cynthia Behrens]

Hollis French is an upstanding guy who has nothing to hide. So what if he supoorts Obama that doesnt mean he is going to not do whats right when it comes to the investigation. What is the big deal anyways. Sarah should just admit that she got her brother in law fired (who wouldnt have done the same thing) Its no big deal. Stop trying to use a diverson tactic with Hollis French and move on to the real issues

[Mark Mattington]

Make the BUSH TAX CUTS PERMANENT!!

Why should the rich pay more for social programs like education, healthcare, and housing?!?! The middle class are the ones using these services!!!

McCain 08!!!!

[Trochilus]

"First the sentence; then the verdict!"

Democratic State Senator Hollis French is proving that Ronnie Earle was an even-handed guy by way of comparison with this clown in the way he tried to go after Kay Baily Hutchinson!

Two days ago, French was complaining that McCain was trying to prevent him from announcing the results of the probe by October 31st, and now announces that he refuses to share discovery with her attorney, but nevertheless will release the probe results three weeks early -- and strongly implies she will be found guilty, even though they have not heard from several of the witnesses, including her!!

Maybe he should move to Durham, NC and run for district attorney! What a clown!

[jhh]

I have read the reports in the Alaska paper websites about the Troopergate affair. I suggest posters do the same and form conclusions carefully.

As I understand it, there is clear evidence---a taped phone call, which I have heard, it was even broadcast by ABC---that a Palin staffer (Bailey) called a state trooper in a supervisory position and said that the Palin family was not happy that Wooten (ex husband of Palin's sister) had not been removed from his position. Palin herself admitted (heard that too) that such a conversation might be interpreted as pressure, and said she would cooperate with an investigation, which was put in place with unanimous, bipartisan support in the Alaska senate committee concerned. Members of both parties are on the investigating committee, and the chairman (French) is from the Democratic minority. (how that was determined I didn't find out, but the whole business did not sound very partisan to me.)

A number of items said that the Wooten-Palin sister divorce was unpleasant, with an acrimonious custody battle.

Separately, there was a proceeding that examined Wooten's conduct, and found that he did kill a moose illegally and drank beer in a patrol car. One item said that the moose was eaten by various family members, incl. Palin herself---I could not tell how believable that was. The more exotic accusations---including tasering the son (who apparently asked to try, wow)---were not sustained.

(Moose--impressively big----are rare, shy, and rather protected down here in the lower 48, but seem to be more numerous, more frequently hunted, and sometimes a public nuisance in Alaska).

The plan of the was to take voluntary testimony from Palin and various staff members in the coming months. However, after McCain picked Palin as VP, Palin suddenly engaged an Alaska lawyer who wrote to French (letter and reply published in paper) asking for access ahead of time to the investigator reports and subsequent exchanges of information and so on. French replied that this was not how official Senate investigations worked.

Subsequently Bailey and Palin both withdrew their offers of voluntary depositions, and Palin filed an ethics complaint against herself so as to move the investigation to a different body whose members were appointed by the governor---Palin in this instance.
This was widely seen as a way to delay or control the investigation. French, for the committee, then sought subpoenas, though not for Palin. I believe the key change here is that subpoenaed testimony must be under oath.

The latest development is the moveup of the committee report to early in Oct rather than just before election. Not clear what this means--maybe they will need less time because there is less testimony, and it can be argued that it makes it easier for Palin to respond (a plus for McCain) OR more time for public to learn of it (a minus for McCain if rpt is unfavorable).

Now, all of the people involved---GOP and Dem---are professional politicians, and of course they are active in their parties' campaigns. They have to be---there are not that many mavericks who survive without party support. But I fail to see a lot of outageously partisan reasoning or talk in the communications quoted in public that I have seen up til now.

My outsider take is that everyone--and esp. McCain/Palin--- would have been happier if the whole affair had been settled months ago. Whatever the outcome. one side or the other could have apologized, some sort of settlement reached, and the air cleared. If McCain and Palin had known back then that she was on a short list for VP, I am sure that she (with full support of McCain camp) would have sought to close the affair with a minimum of rancor and attention so as to move on, transparent govt and all. What I guess must have happened is that McCain did not show interest in choosing Palin for VP back then, and Palin thought she was not in the running, so things stretched out (summer vacations, the pregnancy business, or whatever). And then, McCain suddenly changed tack last week, and the VP selection was rushed thru. And so now the whole affair---whatever its original character---has blown up in perceived importance. Now that it is national politics with a high media profile, each action by one side is seen by the other side as a gambit, which provokes a riposte.

Nevertheless, it all seems like regular politics, on both sides. As for the Alaska political players in their local turf, it seems really unfair to call one side or the other an Evil Entity. I do think it was unwise of Palin and her staff to expose her to this risk in the first place---and that she/they did so is a sign that Alaska is a provincial political environment (entire state population is roughly that of Memphis TN) and that she and her team are inexperienced. If she has a real authoritarian issue here, as some say, well that is much more worrying, but I cannot judge that now.

But the big, unforced, technical error here is the failure of the McCain, his staff, and the national GOP---who as major league players have have decades of experience and resources---to look into this earlier and at least signal secretly to Palin et al that it would be wise to put everything in order just in case a VP pick occurred. To me at least, that suggests some combination of sloppy judgement, internal discord among factions, and perhaps desperation.

[Tim]

This is excellent work. Not WRIGHT for America (http://www.notwrightforamerica.com) has been all over Hollis French this week also, slamming him for leaking information about how the final investigation report will be damaging to Palin, even though the investigation is just getting under way, and also for how he is trying to hide critical information from Palin so she won't even have a chance to respond to French's inquisition.

Flopping Aces has a very good detailed timeline on this whole thing, which should be a nonstory.

This story is not going away, so it's critical that Hollis French be discredited based on his clear bias.

[SkippyFlipjack]

LOL. Right, what a flip-flopper that Hollis French is. I can see why you'd find it suspicious that one day he's saying that Palin is cooperating, and the next he'd say that she's stonewalling. It couldn't have to do with the fact that one day she did say she'd cooperate and the next she said that she wouldn't give a statement for the committee, would it? "Cooperate" means one thing: speaking with the committee. It's that simple. And since McCain's team flew into town, she's decided not to stonewall. Boy Hollis French is a flip-flopper.

[SkippyFlipjack]

"Tim" -- the story isn't going away because Palin appears to have done something pretty wrong, which is to continue a personal vendetta after getting into office, and using the power of her office to continue that vendetta. You want that to go away on the basis of statements by a guy who a) initiated the probe so of course thinks there were problems and b) doesn't by himself have any power over the outcome? That doesn't seem right.

[SkippyFlipjack]

"Trish": you write "There is another, much more obvious reason for McCain's not choosing Lieberman as a running mate--Lieberman is not a member of the Republican party."

McCain wants to win the election. There are more registered democrats than republicans these days, and McCain needs to win over a lot of independents and republicans in order to win. Lieberman's choice would have helped in that regard, so your statement isn't necessarily true.

[MarkRGVnTexas]

How can Alaska produce someone as well thought of as Sarah Palin and someone as biased and unfair and unethical as Hollis French! You guys up in Alaska ever hear of 'impeachemnt"......? What's with this French guy anyway ? Oh yeah, he's a Democrat!

[MARK SMYTH]

POINTS TO REMEMBER ABOUT SARH PALIN:
When she complained about her former brother-in-law, a state trooper, she was not yet governor. Her former b-i-l had threatened to shoot Palin's father. Who would not suggest that any cop anywhere, should be forced from the job if they threaten to shoot a family member out of anger?
As for experience and responsibility, Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla that has a yearly budget of $30 million. Wasilla has one of the best ratings of any town in Alaska due to proper management of Sarah Palin and her reaching across to Dems on the other side. Palin had served 4 terms in an executive position BEFORE Obama was elected even once. She has an 80% approval rating as Alaskan governor and congress, under the Obama Democrats, has the lowest rating in history at only 11%. JUST THE FACTS MAMM, JUST THE FACTS.

[Ray6]

I knew Hollis French when I worked in the Court System in Alaska in the mid-90's. He was a prosecutor and was as straight an arrow as I ever met.
On the "flip-flop" accusation, here is the way that I see it. It appears that Palin's administration was cooperating. But things changed when she was chosen as McCain's running mate. See http://www.newsweek.com/id/157439/output/print Since then, they have made efforts to quash the investigation. That is not a "flip-flop," it is a reaction to a change in the situation. Pre-nomination there was cooperation. Post nomination, there has been opposition and efforts to derail the investigation.

As far as "Points to Remember ..." is concerned, lets keep in mind that while she may have written her letter while she was between political positions, she fired the head of the Alaska State Troopers, who refused to fire her ex-brother-in-law, after she was elected. That is why there is an investigation. The investigation was pending when McCain selected her. It was not invented in response to her selection. If she acted unethically, isn't that something that you'd want to know about?
As far as the point that anyone would try to get a cop fired if they threatened a family member, I tend to agree. However, I have to scratch my head when Palin says that Wooten was a dangerous loose cannon, who carried a gun, and who she claims to have heard threaten her father, but she nonetheless failed to report it at the time that it happened. She only claimed to have personally heard that threat some time later. If I was in her shoes, and someone who fit the profile that Palin claims Wooten fits, and the guy threatened my dad, I'd be on the phone to internal affairs ten minutes later.
From what I've read, Wasilla had no debt when she took office, and a fair amount when she left. From what I've read, she hired a professional town manager to assist her -- assistance the previous mayor did not need. As far as the value of her "executive experience" goes, I'm not sure that I buy it. Wasilla had a population of five or six thousand people when she was first elected. The budget of the town is 1/100,0000 that of the US. She is very popular with Alaskans, but one of the ways she achieved that popularity was by boosting the permanent fund distribution (money paid by the state to every man, woman, and child who lives there) up to more than $3,000. As far as Congress's popularity numbers are concerned, those numbers are meaningless when applied to an individual. People seem to hate congress as a whole, but by an overwhelming margin, they reelect their congressmen and senators. I'd be curious to know what Congress' approval rating would be if they had a veto-proof majority and they were able to get the legislation passed that they want passed.

[Ed Merritt]

Hollis French says he was in the USMC. Later he admitted he attended a six-
week course with a reserve unit. In 1963, I joined the USMC Reserves to avoid the draft. As a result of a paper-work problem, I was drafted into the US Army. It was my good fortune. During boot-camp, it was quite a
spectacle when I received my Honorable Discharge from Navy (USMC) as a
private at mail-call. I was sent to Nam with a Hqs Unit and assisted in the landing of Fist Cav and ROK Divisions. I became acquainted with those brave Marines guarding our perimeter. I later learned that my Reserve unit
was mobilized and took heavy casualties. By Hollis French's definition,I
guess that makes me a Marine Veteran who served in Vietnam. Semper Fi

[Ed Merritt]

There is a rumor that John McCain was a great poker player in
his Top-Gun days. When Obama chose Biden for his running-mate,
McCain said: "I'll see your One-Eyed Jack and I'll raise you
with a Queen-of-Hearts".

[R.K. Moore]

That so many, as you claim in the Alaska legislature are in support of Obama is proof that this is in fact a bi-partisan with hunt is ridiculous. Perhaps they all have first hand experience as to just how Sarah Palin conducts herself when no one is looking and she can just deny it, because of cours, she's the governor, who would take just anyone's word over hers. She's a laughing stock that doesn't provide much humor and McCain is right there with her. If they get into power, I hate to say it because so many innocent people will suffer, but I pray that it doesn't take long for their phony guise of actually caring about hometown values and the people who might truly possess them blows and their true colors which aren't anywhere close to red, white and blue become apparent. Unless of course you equate the color red with "anger or short temperedness", white for "snow-job", or blue for "the deoxygenated blood of the pseudo-elitist".