Comments on ASk (Alaska Skeptics): Palin: Wrong for Alaska, Wrong for America

Thanks for your insightful blog. I've heard it im...

2008-09-26T09:03:00.000-07:00

Thanks for your insightful blog.
I've heard it implied that Gov. Palin's husband exerts excessive influence on her actions as a politician. Do you have any insights that support or negate that idea? If it does seem to be true, can you tell us your ideas about Mr. Palin's character & beliefs?

David Chacon's response to Peter Broady:As far as ...

2008-09-19T10:23:00.000-07:00

David Chacon's response to Peter Broady:

As far as I know, Palin is primarily motivated by "populism" and her personal psychological need for power; therefore, she doesn't set her policies based on deeply held principles.

As an example, just today (Thursday, September 18th) while at a rally, Palin criticized Obama as someone who would raise taxes for Americans and then when on to say that increasing taxes would destroy jobs and investment. Well, as my article made clear, that's exactly what Palin did as Alaska's Governor - she raised taxes and destroyed jobs and investment.

Aside from being narcissistic, the greatest problem with Palin as a possible replacement for McCain is the reckless judgment that she has demonstrated time and time again. I plan to write more on this aspect of Palin's character in the next few weeks. (Sorry for the wait, but I have a full time job, so I do my writing at night and on weekends).

Thanks for reading.

I still don't "get" Palin - is she even a Republic...

2008-09-18T18:39:00.000-07:00

I still don't "get" Palin - is she even a Republican?

Concerning the previous comment - I think she's very hard headed, not very bright and inexperienced.

It's a mixture that adds up to very erratic behavior.

She makes Lyndon Johnson look like Einstein. I shudder to think that she could become president.

Thanks so much for posting here at the ASk blog, D...

2008-09-18T09:17:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much for posting here at the ASk blog, David!

I do have one question: according to your analysis Palin looks both like someone who raises taxes AND throws state money away...in the case of ACES you say that she raised taxes to a level that hurt the Alaska economy but in the case of AGIA she pretty much gave state money away. Do you have any insight into why she made such different decisions in these cases? Was it just incompetence, or is there some unknown principle of goverance behind this?