The Moderate Voice - Latest Comments in Alaskan GOP Voters Give Present To Democrats

Re: Alaskan GOP Voters Give Present To Democrats

kritt11 — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:40:54 -0000

APR- Interesting perspective-- thanks for the information!

Usually states like Louisiana are seen as hopelessly corrupt-- but we know very little (until recent events exposed the truth) about corruption in Alaska.

Re: Alaskan GOP Voters Give Present To Democrats

kritt11 — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:38:01 -0000

BTW- I think "Dollar Bill" Jefferson got plenty of media exposure, despite his party or race. And stories about the Abramoff and Cunningham scandal have actually died out. When was the last time you read about Tom Delay? There are many corrupt GOP members involved in these or other scandals who are quietly chosing not to run again.

Re: Alaskan GOP Voters Give Present To Democrats

kritt11 — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -0000

SD- Guys like Stevens make the GOP corrupt members look corrupt AND hypocritical, because they are supposed to stand for small government, yet use positions of power to pile on the pork with the best of them. Democrats never pretend to be the party of small government, so porkers are the norm.

Re: Alaskan GOP Voters Give Present To Democrats

superdestroyer — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 04:46:32 -0000

This also shows that the party that tries to market itself as the small government party is more vulnerable to bad members than the big government party. It is easy to associates all Repubilcans with a corrupt politicains but Democrats are never associates with their corrupt members. It also helps the Democrats that many of their corrupt members are minorities and thus assured that the MSM will ignore them.

Re: Alaskan GOP Voters Give Present To Democrats

APR — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 01:26:55 -0000

Actually, Steven's popularity goes way beyond the appropriations. His popularity goes way back to the push for statehood in the 1950s. He's seen as thoroughly Alaskan, from his independence in Washington to his feisty temper. He's maintained very close ties to communities in AK and is seen as a champion of the Alaskan way of life (mainly by supporting extractive industries).

There's a very large 'circle the wagons' mentality in AK. I'm not sure that the indictment and national attention won't cause many people to rally to support Stevens (as evidenced by his huge primary win, though against weak opposition). Alaskans tend to protect their own.

This all could be changing though. As Anchorage grows and more people from outside come into the state, the demographics are changing. The recent attention on 'old style politics', including the FBI investigations into VECO and the nepotism of Frank Murkowski has caused some changes to the political system. Nepotism, bribery, and political favors have long been the operating system in Alaska and really only in the past few years has this started to change. The Palin-Parnell wing of the R's has come on strong lately and could substantially change the political climate up there.

If anyone is interested, there are a number of interesting articles on the Anchorage Daily News discussing recent political scandals. It gives some interesting insight into the 49th state.
http://www.adn.com/fbi/

Re: Alaskan GOP Voters Give Present To Democrats

kritt11 — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:22:10 -0000

They love Uncle Ted up there because he builds bridges to nowhere. Seriously, the man has seniority and knows how to work the system to make sure lots of federal taxpayer dollars go to projects in his state. Its no real mystery.

Re: Alaskan GOP Voters Give Present To Democrats

StockBoySF — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:44:19 -0000

Maybe Alaska just likes dark nights and dark days. :)

Re: Alaskan GOP Voters Give Present To Democrats

pacatrue — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:44:00 -0000

Hey, it's good for every party to have their corrupt politicians. Without them, we couldn't have so many politician jokes.

Re: Alaskan GOP Voters Give Present To Democrats

APR — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:10:22 -0000

Alaska is sort of a strange political state though and can be hard to predict. Stevens has been an overwhelmingly popular figure in Alaskan politics for many decades and the indictment could actually garner some support from Alaskans keen to rally around "Uncle Ted". I think in the end Begich will win, but it will be close. In most other states, an old, sometimes embarrassing, indicted senator would lose in a landslide to a popular mayor. Alaska is different though.