I've had enough of Alaska.  I hadn't really thought much about it until recently.  Yeah, watched a little Northern Exposure, which at the time I took to be a dramedy and now realize was more of a documentary.  But otherwise, didn't think much of Alaska.  Cute state. Lots of fun trivia about how big it is. Keeps Texas in its place.

Now, I'm thinking that maybe Alaskan independence isn't such a bad idea.  It's not so much that they foisted this empty pantsuit on the rest of the country in Sarah Palin, who couldn't make it to the second round of "Are You Smarter Than a First Grader".  But I could understand that -- she gives a good speech, and they probably didn't ask her tough questions up there in Alaska like "what newspapers do you read?" or "what's the name of the country that's attached to our eastern border?"

But now it's the Stevens thing.  The guy gets convicted -- trial, evidence, jury of his peers, "do you have a verdict," the whole shebang -- and still he might get elected (though it's looking better).  And they definitely elected this Young guy, whose probably spending more on legal bills to defend his pending legal problems than Sarah is spending on First Dude's suits.   

So I've had enough.  I heard about this Alaskan Independence Party, which First Dude belonged to until recently, and it sounds good to me.  Let them be independent.  They can keep the natural gas, which they're apparently doing anyway.  They can keep the caribou.  Above all, they can keep Sarah, and Stevens, and Donny, and the whole corrupt lot of them. 

So join up!  Let's get them their independence.  President Obama will even invite Alaskan President Palin to the White House for state dinners, where she can mean the real Sark-Kozy, whom I've heard she "just LOVES!".  Join their yahoo group here, and encourage these plucky Alaskans to fly, fly away. 

But joining isn't enough.  Their homepage has a donation page, where you can contribute to this effort to turn Alaska from Red to whatever-other-color-they-want.  So give, give as much as you can.  Give till it hurts. 

As Kos would sort of say, leave it all on the road to nowhere.

 

Wall Street sent a clear message to House Republicans today: pass something to get us out of this mess, or we're going to blow up this economy.

It's pretty clear the House GOP didn't see this coming. They thought they could oppose the bailout, get some political points, and let retiring members and Dems do the right thing.  Now, they've got a 777 point mess on their hands, and those 10-1 calls against are going to start turning around.

I wonder whether or not the plan going in was to pass it with the fewest votes possible, protect GOP members in tight races, but still get the necessary bill passed. But not enough members played ball, and they ended up with the bill upside down.  By the time they realized thatno one was willing to step forward, change their vote, and take the hit. 

So they waved their guns around, threatening to shoot it down, but accidentally fired.

With the rejection of the bailout plan today, I'm concerned that we're going to see the spin that "George Bush and the Democratic leadership tried to bail out their Wall Street friends with this massive new government giveaway, only to be stopped by John McCain and his reform-minded Republican allies.”  How did the Democrats become the party of George Bush, or Wall Street fatcats?  How did we get partial ownership of a financial crisis generated by eight years of failed Republican deregulatory policies?

I am worried that the Democrats have allowed themselves to be out-maneuvered on the bailout, specifically because the Republicans took advantage of their Achilles heel: the Democratic impulse to actually do the right thing, rather than the smart political thing.  Instead of taking a “you broke it, you bought” attitude when Bush and Paulsen came calling for help last week, and at least requiring Bush to get his own (H)ouse in order before the Democratic leadership would make a commitment, the Democratic leadership got themselves elbow-deep into the mess. 

Essentially, they allowed the House Republicans to follow THEIR [insert whatever is the opposite of an Achilles heel….], which is to do the smart political thing rather than the right thing -- to demagogue on any issue that will divide the American people. So the Republicans played the “we’re protecting the American people” card, a deeply cynical and laughable position considering that it was the Republicans’ fetish for deregulation that cause the problem in the first place.

But they’ve been successful in muddying the waters.  The proven failure of Bush deregulatory ideologies should be the final nail in the coffin of the Bush legacy.  A 777 point selloff in the Dow, bringing the market back to where it was at the beginning of the Bush presidency, should be the stake in the heart of the McCain-Palin campaign. The failure of a Bush-sponsored bailout plan should provide an opportunity for Obama and the Democrats to put forward their OWN bailout plan that would be tougher and cheaper and provide a contrast with the original three-page Paulsen plan. 

Instead, the Democrats did the unfathomable – they tied themselves to Bush, taking his side of things.  They chose to take a stand on that low ground beneath the levees where honorable politicians take principled stands and drown while dishonorable politicians demagogue from the high ground.  So this is what I fear happening.

1.      The Republicans and McCain tie Obama and the Democrats to Bush, performing the final act of separation initiated at the Bush-less GOP convention.

2.      McCain takes ownership of a “better” reform bill, ironically infused with the deregulatory impulses pushed by the House Republican plan, but accepted because the American people will realize that we need SOMETHING, the Republicans will celebrate it as THEIR bill, and the Democrats won’t be able to stop it.

3.      The new plan passes, and Republicans celebrate McCain’s leadership and the rescue of the economy.

As a result, McCain minimizes his disadvantage on the economy, steals the issue from Obama (who “favored the bailout”), and knocks down Obama’s lead in the polls.  Why? Because the Democrats joined with George Bush, the most disliked and distrusted politician maybe in American history.