It’s funny because I know this really conservative guy who said he voted for John McCain because while he hated McCain, he really liked Sarah Palin. But this guy was also in an uproar over the whole Tom Daschle tax mess, really pissed off about it. He said he was going to write his “U.S. senator” Jim Cooper.
Brick to forehead, please.
Anyway, it's fine to rake Daschle and Geithner over the coals for their tax problems, force Daschle to withdraw his name from a cabinet position, and all that. No one is above paying taxes, folks! But cue outrage over media coverage of Sarah Palin's tax mess as more liberal hypocrisy in five ... four ... three .... Wow. that didn't take long (check the comments).
Between this and daughter Bristol’s surprise Fox News interview where the kid stated the obvious about abstinence, it appears the Governor is having a tough time, post-election.
Check out this hypersensitivity at an Alaska state senate retreat:
Accompanied by a retinue of advisers, she took a seat at one end of a conference table and listened passively as Gary Stevens, the president of the Alaska Senate, a former college history professor and a low-key Republican with a reputation for congeniality, expressed delight at her presence.
Would the governor, a smiling Stevens asked, like to share some of her plans and proposals for the coming legislative session?
Palin looked around the room and paused, according to several senators present. "I feel like you guys are always trying to put me on the spot," she said finally, as the room became silent.
Dang, and Katie Couric wasn’t even anywhere nearby.
Perhaps Palin is a little oversensitive because of this:
The rapid decline of oil prices has left the state in a looming budget crisis and a late-entrant in the national recession. And that could have political repercussions for the former Republican vice presidential hopeful, who has signaled an interest in a 2012 presidential run but must stay visible in the Lower 48 to be successful.
[...]
Oil accounts for as much as 90 percent of state revenues. So the plunge of North Slope crude from an all-time high of $144.59 per barrel last July threatens to give the state an estimated budget shortfall of up to $1.5 billion in the fiscal year that ends June 30.
Palin bills herself as a fiscal conservative and has called for reducing state spending by $268 million in this budget year, but lawmakers and others say these aren't reductions at all and do nothing to curtail spending. For example, the bulk of that sum -- $200 million -- is unspent tax credits for companies investing in oil and gas development that are being returned to the treasury.
We all knew that Gov. Palin’s “Alaska miracle” was built on a whole mess of false assumptions which no one in the national media ever bothered to address.
No one could have predicted this. Oh, wait. Never mind.
