After watching the two of them tonight, I was left with the impression that Palin and Rudi are cut from the same political cloth---and that their careers are going to follow the same paths, even though they come from opposite sides of the country.
1. They both cite being mayors as "executive" experience.
2. They both spent a large part of their speeches attacking Obama, resorting to sarcasm, hyperbole and other rhetorical tricks, while making fun of Obama's rhetoric. In Palin's case, the decision to cast her as pit bull---and her joke about hockey moms (i.e. Palin)
being pit bull's in lipstick---was a very unfortunate one. Due to the influence of television and movies, America is already predisposed to assume that the brunette woman with heavy lipstick and glasses will be the villain. If she makes a mistake it is never by accident. All her crimes are deliberate, because everyone knows that the brunette is always on top of things, always scheming to get ahead of her more fortunate blonde rivals. When her GOP handlers handed her a script that called for her to use sarcasm and some downright nastiness to attack Obama they cast her as the thing that they are so found of calling Hillary Clinton. And, in the world of US television, Sarah Palin
looks like one. Especially when she does that thing with her nose and upper lip. Face it. Guiliani's biggest problem with the public is that he came off as a bastard. In the wake of 9/11, that was ok, because it took a real SOB to battle terrorists. But do we really need a female SOB to fight polar bears, global warming and the health care crisis?
3. Remember how Rudi went from being the front runner to Mr. Finished Last? He made a secret deal with Roger Aisles. In exchange for extra help from the NewsCorp empire, his FCC would give the NewsCorp empire special favors, essentially making them the top dogs in the news and entertainment industry in the U.S. once Rudi was president of the United States of 9/11. Once the rivals of NewsCorp----Disney/ABC, AOL-Time Warner-CNN, GE-NBC---found out about this cozy arrangement, they torpedoed Rudi's campaign.
Well, as I have documented in my last two journals, the conservative government of Canada and some oil and gas interests such as TransCanada have been lobbying the U.S. presidential candidates and U.S. politicians. Seems they do not like the thought of this country reducing its dependence upon foreign oil, since our major source of imports is Canada. Alberta in particular is worried, because its dirty oilsands fields have only just begun to be profitable in the last few years thanks to the Bush administration's screwy policies and the Iraq War causing oil prices to rise. It is in the interests of these Canadian folks (not the majority of Canadians) to continue Bush policies.
TransCanada's U.S. lobbying firm has had bundlers working for all the major presidential candidates except Obama. TransCanada's major claim to fame in the U.S. has been, until recently, its project to build an oil pipeline for dirty oilsands crude that would be shipped from Alberta to Port Arthur. They have made enemies in the lower 48 with their aggressive use of eminent domain to snatch up land for the project. They were caught off guard this summer when the nation's mayors---and Barrack Obama---got together to condemn oilsands oil out of Alberta, because its production causes three times the greenhouse emissions of other forms of oil. Ouchies.
In addition, in the wake of Ted Stevens' indictment for taking bribes from VECO for advocating its natural gas pipeline in Alaska, Gov. Sarah Palin was induced to sign a deal allowing TransCanada to build Alaska a $30 billion natural gas pipeline to the Northern Slopes. There are problems with this deal, which the Alaska legislature ok'd early August. For one thing, BP and Conoco, which actually pump the gas, are already working on their own pipeline and no one has committed to use the second pipeline.
For another, the land on which the pipeline would be built is already leased to
oil companies, Exxon and others who intend to start drilling this winter.
http://www.adn.com/oil/story/439752.htmlhttp://www.adn.com/oil/story/509568.htmlAs Exxon and the state of Alaska battle in court over control of the fields which Exxon has leased from the state, Exxon has moved in drilling supplies and is preparing to drill. I wonder what the "drill, drill, drill" people at the GOP convention would say if they knew that Palin wants to keep them from drilling for oil in Alaska so that Canada can build a gas pipeline, while Canada sends us its dirty oilsands crude at an inflated price?
Here is an article from March 2008 in which critics of the TransCanada deal argued that it would force Alaska to ship only through TransCanada's pipeline network, allowing them to create a monopoly and set exorbitant rates.
http://www.adn.com/money/industries/oil/pipeline/story/355212.htmlI am not even going to attempt to try to figure out who is right or wrong on this one. This is a battle of the corporate titans. All I can say for certain is that Sarah Palin has hitched her wagon to TransCanada and has pissed off a bunch of its competitors---something a truly skillful Republican governor would never do.
What is Team McCain going to do to make the business community look at Sarah Palin as something besides a loose cannon? I can't wait to see. They need to bring in Kissinger for these peace talks. I can say for certain that this is the exact same mistake that cost Rudi Guliani his chance at the presidency.
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