Personal agendas by the crab pot though.

"Nobody thought to ask?"

How about nearly EVERYone with a brain thought to ask?

I read that that while playing the benny hill theme song.

Especially for Republicans. I expect those guys to pull out all the stops and do anything to win, not show up on a tricycle with one loose wheel.

That Wooten guy kinda looks like the psychic cop from Heroes.

bronyaur1: "Nobody thought to ask?"

How about nearly EVERYone with a brain thought to ask?

You'd be surprised how many people assume she's supposed to be there by virtue of her actually being there. Most people have a blind spot in their perception where someone who goes through the proper motions to appear normal. She's appearing at all these rallies and giving speeches. Sure, they're incoherent, but how many people do you think are actually listening? Besides, Several Important People have shown their confidence in her abilities, so she's gotta be competent, right?

Just for fun, walk into a bookstore with a book. Walk around for a bit, browse, then walk out the door reading your book. You won't be stopped. You won't be questioned. Because if you look like you know what you're doing, most people are too busy, too bored, or too self-absorbed to even register who you are or what you're doing.

bronyaur1: "Nobody thought to ask?"

How about nearly EVERYone with a brain thought to ask?

Yes and No. In every thread, there may have been a few references to how crappy a chief exec Palin is, since she can't even abuse the power of her office efficiently based upon outcomes (Trooper Wooten still on the job). But that was never the focus, probably because we didn't really have a full play-by-play that the investigation has provided.

Post-report, I assume the bungling of the Palin administration will be a regular feature of Fark commentary.

/jmho

What the report shows, more than anything, is that Alaskan local and state government experience does not prepare someone in the LEAST for national politics.

Imagine what would have happened to this idiot had she tried to run for President. Does any sentient being believe that she would have won any primaries outside of her own state? - and maybe not even THAT one.

drnugget: I read that that while playing the benny hill theme song.

Excellent!

I ♥ ♥ ^♥ ♥ ♥_♥♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ _♥♥this woman.

I didn't need to ask the question.
The answer was already quite obvious.

well goshdarnit, you betcha!

fta:

The head of her Anchorage office followed up with a call to Monegan berating him for his insensitivity. (Monegan swears he didn't know it was Monegan in the picture, and that he didn't even know what Wooten looked like.)

good job, editor

Occam's Chainsaw: Just for fun, walk into a bookstore with a book. Walk around for a bit, browse, then walk out the door reading your book. You won't be stopped. You won't be questioned. Because if you look like you know what you're doing, most people are too busy, too bored, or too self-absorbed to even register who you are or what you're doing.

or maybe they noticed your book when you walked in, and don't stop you because they realize you're not stealing it?

Does anyone else think Wooten looks like Parkman from Heroes?

(Monegan swears he didn't know it was Monegan in the picture, and that he didn't even know what Wooten looked like.)

That's some good editoring there, Lou.

I think it's a big stretch for Time to conclude that just because so many of Palin's staff cooperated with Todd Palin's personal vendetta and ignored somewhat obvious legal problems with their personal intrusions into the Wooten case, that the whole administration was amateurish.

A governor has impact on 1000 different actions of the State government. This is only one instance.

There may indeed be a case to be made that her governance was amateurish. But this one instance doesn't prove that point.

Dread Pirate Slasher: Does anyone else think Wooten looks like Parkman from Heroes?

I absolutely saw the same thing. It's like Parkman six months after he moved in above an Old Country Buffet.

Megain: or maybe they noticed your book when you walked in, and don't stop you because they realize you're not stealing it?

Congratulations. You've found a 5%er.

Even the false positives who actually do stop you will usually only challenge you once. Unless you suck at the confident sell, most will respond to polite and reasonable speech in kind. So long as it doesn't have enormous "30% OFF!" stickers on the cover or something similar, they buy your story that it's your book at face value.

Dread Pirate Slasher: Does anyone else think Wooten looks like Parkman from Heroes?

Toss up between him or Christopher Knight if he really let himself go.

Shrew2u: bronyaur1: "Nobody thought to ask?"

How about nearly EVERYone with a brain thought to ask?

Yes and No. In every thread, there may have been a few references to how crappy a chief exec Palin is, since she can't even abuse the power of her office efficiently based upon outcomes (Trooper Wooten still on the job). But that was never the focus, probably because we didn't really have a full play-by-play that the investigation has provided.

Post-report, I assume the bungling of the Palin administration will be a regular feature of Fark commentary.

/jmho

Please note that I qualified my statement with the phrase "with a brain." :p

notmtwain: I think it's a big stretch for Time to conclude that just because so many of Palin's staff cooperated with Todd Palin's personal vendetta and ignored somewhat obvious legal problems with their personal intrusions into the Wooten case, that the whole administration was amateurish.

A governor has impact on 1000 different actions of the State government. This is only one instance.

There may indeed be a case to be made that her governance was amateurish. But this one instance doesn't prove that point.

No, it doesn't.

Here's what lead me to conclude that Sarah Palin is a grossly incompetent governor: She removed the requirement that all the various state agencies be based in the same town and has spent most of her time at her home, far from the capital.

These might not seem like much to someone who has never worked for a state government, but they are huge. Here in CA, walking from a legislator's office to any number of state agencies to discuss possible legislation takes a 5-10 minute walk. This allows meetings to be scheduled on the same day if necessary, with multiple interested parties involved. Having half the agencies running out of Anchorage and the other half out of Juneau is farking insane.

Please note that an amateur is just a professional waiting to be acknowledged as such.

Occam's Chainsaw: Megain: or maybe they noticed your book when you walked in, and don't stop you because they realize you're not stealing it?

Congratulations. You've found a 5%er.

Even the false positives who actually do stop you will usually only challenge you once. Unless you suck at the confident sell, most will respond to polite and reasonable speech in kind. So long as it doesn't have enormous "30% OFF!" stickers on the cover or something similar, they buy your story that it's your book at face value.

hey, i was just countering your definitive statements "You won't be stopped. You won't be questioned. Because ..." people are lazy and stupid. i'd agree to 'you probably won't be stopped' and 'you probably won't be questioned' though

/because generally, people are lazy and stupid
//but not all people
///lazy and stupid

Megain: hey, i was just countering your definitive statements "You won't be stopped. You won't be questioned. Because ..." people are lazy and stupid. i'd agree to 'you probably won't be stopped' and 'you probably won't be questioned' though

/because generally, people are lazy and stupid
//but not all people
///lazy and stupid

Yeah, I was more playing the odds than giving a definitive statement. There are always exceptions.

notmtwain: There may indeed be a case to be made that her governance was amateurish. But this one instance doesn't prove that point.

Of course not, but neither is it a proverbial drop in the bucket. When you look at this next to the several other accusations of petty, manipulative, and unethical behavior that have been made about her, it's pretty damning.

If you read or listen to the accounts of people who knew her, she's the kind of executive who brings the weight of her office to bear on anyone who resists her in any way, and who values social engineering over ideology. She did it to the librarian in the "book banning" thing, she did it to Wooten and Monegan, she did it to one of her city administrators... she's been known for being petty and ruthless since high school.

This stuff, combined with the single-mindedness of her actions during the campaign, her obvious ignorance of national issues, and her seeming lack of political integrity, make it easy to see why people just don't like her, and don't think she belongs in the White House.

the Palin camp displays a childish impetuousness and sense of entitlement.

Hell, I noticed that from the way they have been campaigning.

Incompetence and arrogance in MY Republican party?

Dread Pirate Slasher: Does anyone else think Wooten looks like Parkman from Heroes?

the face is a bit fatter on Wooten, but yeah, i see the resemblance.

They're like A-Team villains, or maybe darker versions Boss Hogg and his operation in Hazzard County.

Yes, I had to reach all the way back to the 80s to find caricatures of villains as incompetent and corrupt. If a writer tried to do characters like them, no one would buy it.

It is unconscionable that she is even part of a campaign for the President of the United States, let alone the Vice Presidential ticket.

submitter: Is the Palin administration shockingly amateurish?

No worse than the Bush administration.

And thats the truly sad thing.

notmtwain: I think it's a big stretch for Time to conclude that just because so many of Palin's staff cooperated with Todd Palin's personal vendetta and ignored somewhat obvious legal problems with their personal intrusions into the Wooten case, that the whole administration was amateurish.

A governor has impact on 1000 different actions of the State government. This is only one instance.

There may indeed be a case to be made that her governance was amateurish. But this one instance doesn't prove that point.

I think there are other examples of her failures as an executive leader. A good example is her time as mayor. She created a lot of polarizing figures for a position that really shouldn't/ and didn't before she was elected create a lot of anamosity.

Further, anyone who eliminates anyone who disagrees with them is grossly incompetent to lead. Anecdotally, many writers and former staffers have claimed that is what Bush does. But in general terms, you simply can't make effective policies that benefit the broader public good if you aren't even willing to acknowledge counter opinion.

unlikely: Yes, I had to reach all the way back to the 80s to find caricatures of villains as incompetent and corrupt.

Here's some villains as incompetent and corrupt as McCain/Palin

BTW,

To clarify, I understand that small town mayors can often be vary polarizing- but in my experience less often in a town her size. Part of the reason she was so polarizing is she consistently tried to polarize her opposition. That works for a time, but it builds enemies quickly and hurts when you need to make broad policy.

Monegan consistently emerges as the adult in these conversations, while the Palin camp displays a childish impetuousness and sense of entitlement.
...
[Sarah Palin] can thank Monegan for not having her hands dirtier; it was he who told her to keep herself at "arm's length" from any Wooten conversations.

Sounds like McCain should have picked Monegan...

That's only, like, your opinion, man.

That trooper looks like that cop in Heroes.

2wolves: Personal agendas by the crab pot though.

On the next Deadliest Catch!

//filmed in Alaska!

Now that Palin is confirmed to be a corrupt liar, Republicans long for a time when she was merely an embarrassing fraud.

The Branchflower report convincingly answers a question nobody had even thought to ask: Is the Palin administration shockingly amateurish?

Uh, I asked this on like, day 3 of the campaign. And I asked this about 500 more times after that as details leaked out about her husband following around Trooper Wooten on a snow machine and taking photos, the Yahoo accounts for official governor business, Palin's personal, the high-school-like vendettas with half of her own party, appointing her childhood friends as state officials, her resting on her laurels as a pipeline approver (and having really nothing else to bring up as a positive after 18 months of governorship), after hearing the words coming out of her mouth in interviews, etc.

bobbette: The Branchflower report convincingly answers a question nobody had even thought to ask: Is the Palin administration shockingly amateurish?

Uh, I asked this on like, day 3 of the campaign. And I asked this about 500 more times after that as details leaked out about her husband following around Trooper Wooten on a snow machine and taking photos, the Yahoo accounts for official governor business, Palin's personality, the high-school-like vendettas with half of her own party, appointing her childhood friends as state officials, her resting on her laurels as a pipeline approver (and having really nothing else to bring up as a positive after 18 months of governorship), after hearing the words coming out of her mouth in interviews, etc.

FTFM.

So, the October surprise is ditching Palin?

While the Palin camp displays a childish impetuousness and sense of entitlement.

They really are Bush Republicans.

PartTimeBuddha: So, the October surprise is ditching Palin?

At this point, it would be an October Surprise if McCain made a single decision without it exploding in his face

This couldn't have been more obvious than the time we first found out how she picks her appointees. She tests their loyalty by asking them to resign or by telling her librarian to ban books. In her farked up mind, she thinks that those who go along with her request aren't loyal and lets them go to be replaced by a friend of her's who has no business in governance. If they tell her they won't resign, then they're loyal because, in her mind, they sincerely want to work with her...unless she doesn't like them, then she fires them anyways.

No, wait, I can think of an even more obvious time we found out she's a total amateur: the time we learned she conducts state business through a Yahoo! e-mail account!

Tits and social policy are the only three reasons any of us in the other 49 states even know who she is. McCain is a tremendous ass.

SilentStrider: Dread Pirate Slasher: Does anyone else think Wooten looks like Parkman from Heroes?

the face is a bit fatter on Wooten, but yeah, i see the resemblance.

No. No. No. The guy who plays Parkman (and the dude in Alias) is actually kind of hot. I don't normally go for overweight guys, but I'd do him in a heartbeat.

This Wooten guy is a pasty, overinflated sausage.

Lumi: This Wooten guy is a pasty, overinflated sausage.

Let's be fair. It's almost time for the Alaskan men to all go into hibernation for the winter and he needs to store his energy.

Lumi: SilentStrider: Dread Pirate Slasher: Does anyone else think Wooten looks like Parkman from Heroes?

the face is a bit fatter on Wooten, but yeah, i see the resemblance.

No. No. No. The guy who plays Parkman (and the dude in Alias) is actually kind of hot. I don't normally go for overweight guys, but I'd do him in a heartbeat.

This Wooten guy is a pasty, overinflated sausage.

So true. I thought he was totally cute in Alias and I normally don't like fatties, and only occasionally even like men.

Government runs more efficiently when you're unethical.

sloppy shoes: To clarify, I understand that small town mayors can often be vary polarizing- but in my experience less often in a town her size. Part of the reason she was so polarizing is she consistently tried to polarize her opposition. That works for a time, but it builds enemies quickly and hurts when you need to make broad policy.

She comes across as the type of person who wanted to be the big fish in the little pond, and then realized that her little pond wasn't big enough. I'm not sure how they can recover from this report. Even a lot of members of the base are going to be rattled into realizing that Palin is just another phony populist.