Okay, it’s the liberal blogging equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel, but Gov. Palin just extended Christmas a wee bit. Special thanks to the folks at The Mudflats for finding this gem. The interview with Gov. Pain took place over at Human Events.
GIZZI: You made it clear in our interviews earlier this year that you were not close to fellow Republicans Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young from your state, both of whom you said had a different vision of Alaska’s dealings with the federal government than you did. Were you pleased with the election of Democrat Mark Begich who defeated Stevens and with the re-election of Rep. Young?
PALIN: I met yesterday with Sen.-elect Begich to see that we are on the same page as we move forward as he starts his new job representing Alaska.
I thought that Sen. Stevens was going to be re-elected, and it was so close, and that if he were to step aside because he was convicted [on corruption charges], then I would get to appoint a Republican. So I was kind of surprised at the outcome there.
It is what it is, and I wish Sen. Begich well. We’ll work well together. He’s going to be in the majority party and that’s all the more reason for Mark Begich and me to work closely together. We will.
Um, Gov. Palin, no, you wouldn’t have had the opportunity to pick Stevens’ successor. I’ll let the folks from The Mudflats explain.
If you didn’t get it, I’ll remind you of the background. And keep in mind while I recount, that Sarah Palin was Frank Murkowski’s immediate successor. She ran for Lt. Governor in 2002 when all this started. She was not living in the woods, subsistence hunting, and cut off from civilization.
Once upon a time Alaska had a Senator named Frank Murkowski. He and Ted Stevens were Alaska’s senators for a long, long time. Then, Murkowski decided that he was going to run for governor. So he ran, and he won. Now came the question of who would succeed Frank in his Senate seat. All the Republicans in the state who felt they were qualified, puffed up their chests, and preened their feathers, and paraded themselves in front of the Senator-now-Governor hoping to be “the chosen one.” This was one of the big power seats in the state, and they don’t come open that often.
And finally, after reviewing the candidates, he made his decision. Frank chose his daughter, Lisa Murkowski to fill his seat. She was a state representative at the time, and Frank decided to hand the crown to the next generation. Everyone who wasn’t Lisa Murkowski went ballistic. There was hand-wringing, gnashing of teeth, kicking of dogs, and Republicans and Democrats alike across the state were seeing red. It was a huge, big, fat, major deal.
Great stuff. Maybe it was in one of those newspapers that is put in front of Sarah Palin that she read every morning.
Or should voters hold a special election, foregoing the continuity, in favor of keeping control over who actually gets the seat.
The special election won hands down. The governor was stripped of the power of appointment. And during the same election that this ballot measure passed, Lisa Murkowski was re-elected to the seat. Go figure. But nonetheless, the law was writ, and everybody who wasn’t living in a cave knew it.
Apparently Sarah Palin was living in a cave, because she just told the planet how bummed she was that Ted Stevens didn’t win, and then get convicted, so she could appoint a Republican to his seat.
Ah, I love it that Gov. Palin is considered the only hope for the Radical Right.