IT’S MILLER TIME IN ALASKA…SEE NOTE PLEASE
http://frontpagemag.com/2010/09/02/its-miller-time-in-alaska/
I HOPE HIS DESERVED VICTORY DOES NOT GIVE PALIN UNDERVED ASPIRATIONS FOR THE WHITE HOUSE….SHE COULD BE A REAL SPOILER AND THERE ARE GOOD GOP CANDIDATES TO CONSIDER….RSK
BY RICH TRZUPEK
Joe Miller’s stunning victory over Lisa Murkowski to win the Alaska’s GOP primary for the Senate is remarkable on many levels, yet the bottom line makes perfect sense. Miller’s victory is the latest part of a continuing saga that began when Scott Brown defeated Martha Coakley in Massachusetts in January. Voters are fed up with big government, fed up with enormous debt, and fed up with professional politicians of every stripe. There’s a scene in the 1969 film “Patton†that illustrates the mood of the electorate today. George C. Scott, portraying the famed general, is frustrated with what he perceives to be a subordinate’s incompetence. Patton relieves the man of command, turns the unit over to the former commander’s executive officer and snarls menacingly: “You’ve got four hours to break through that beachhead. If you don’t make it, I’ll fire you!â€
In this election cycle, the fact that a politician has a “D†or an “R†behind his name is not a critical factor. Party affiliation still matters of course, but not nearly so much as being an outsider matters. It’s a tough year to be an incumbent or to be viewed, as Lisa Murkowski was, as a Washington insider. For years, candidates have promised to break away from “politics as usual†if elected to Congress. Few have actually delivered on that promise on either side of the aisle. Fed up, a large portion of the populace is applying a new kind of test before they cast their votes: the more disconnected from the political mainstream a candidate is, the more likely the candidate is to win votes of vast swaths of the discontented, disillusioned electorate. The Tea Party movement is surely the most tangible manifestation of this sentiment, but it’s clear that this ballot box rebellion isn’t just about the Tea Party. Nor is it just about dissatisfaction with Congress, or the administration, or big government. It’s about all of the above, and more. It is, at the most basic level, about the direction that the country is headed and who has been responsible for steering the ship of state.
In ordinary times, there is no way that a candidate like Joe Miller would have stood a chance in this primary. Lisa Murkowski is part of a powerful family that has long been a force in Alaskan politics. She raised more than ten times as much money as her virtually unknown opponent did. While far from a solid conservative, she is still right of center on most issues. In the reliably Republican, sparsely-populated, state of Alaska, Murkowski’s combination of power, money, and name recognition should have made her a shoo-in.
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