It's Just A Flesh Wound

Yeah, Joe "Noun, Verb, Unconstitutional" Miller is still trying to win in Alaska.

Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller announced late Sunday that he would continue his challenge in federal court of the write-in election of rival Sen. Lisa Murkowski, but added he would not oppose certification of Murkowski's victory by state election officials.

U.S. District Court Judge Ralph Beistline, who is hearing Miller's federal challenge, had already said he would probably lift his order staying certification, allowing Murkowski to assume office Jan. 5 without losing seniority or leaving the state short a U.S. Senator. In a prepared statement e-mailed to the media about 10:20 p.m., Miller said he planned to go ahead with his federal lawsuit "for the sake of the integrity of the election."

Integrity?

Miller's modern interpretation of the "Black Knight" from Monty Python isn't really helping him within the modern conservative movement - unless we are talking about people that think that anytime a conservative loses an election that it must mean that The Black Panthers, ACORN, Jeremiah Wright, and William Ayers met in a secret bunker in China to ensure that only the "socialist" would win.

Here's your visual aid for the day......

Who Are The Thugs Again?

Conservatives are willing to go to bat for their own in just about any instance these days, it seems.

From claiming that Sharron Angle can win a debate by saying "man up" to Harry Reid all the way up to Sarah Palin saying is perfectly fine for Limbaugh to call people a "retard", conservatives are letting their own kind get away with that which they once decried not two years ago.

And while that hypocrisy is blinding in and of itself, one can't but marvel at the spin that Tea Bagger candidate Joe Wilson of Alaska is getting after his rented squad of goons temporarily detained a man at a recent rally.

Here's Ed Morrissey doing his best to cast Joe Miller's crew in a positive light:

If a reporter starts shoving security guards in any setting, he should expect to get arrested by the security guards as a consequence. That’s battery, and that charge does result in arrest. Miller has the right — and probably the duty — to provide security for his events, and private security guards have the ability to detain people who violate the peace. Anyone doubting that has never worked in retail and watched private security detain suspected shoplifters, as well as those who become disruptive. They had better be clear on the basis of the detention, however, because if they have no basis for it, they can themselves be charged with false arrest.

That doesn’t seem to be a problem here, though, since Hopfinger himself admits to shoving a security guard. Throwing the first punch doesn’t make one a martyr for the cause. It may, however, make for a lively debate tonight.

Funny how Morrissey left out some key information.

From the ADN website:

One of the guards grabbed Hopfinger's video camera. Later, Hopfinger said that when he got the camera back, the segment covering the span of the arrest was missing. An Anchorage police officer offered to take the camera into custody and have it examined in the crime lab to investigate whether evidence had been destroyed, but Hopfinger declined. He said he needed the camera and the remaining video for his work.

The guard who grabbed the camera said Hopfinger had dropped it in the scuffle and denied erasing anything. The guard wouldn't give his name.

But it's the paragraph immediately following that takes this story to another level.While Hopfinger was still in handcuffs, the guards attempted to prevent other reporters from talking to him and threatened them too with arrest for trespass. A Daily News reporter interviewed Hopfinger anyway. No other reporters were arrested, though a few shoving matches and chest bumps ensued as the guards attempted to cordon off Hopfinger and block photographs and videos from being taken of the bizarre school scene.

Not only does Miller's security team sound more like trigger-happy SS officers, but they certainly don't understand what constitutes trespassing. After all, this is the candidate that had people literally parading for him in the streets with assault rifles.

I'm not completely convinced that Hopfinger assaulted a person at the rally in such a manner that it would require physical restraints. Then again, conservatives too often dive into semantics when it comes to these types of stories. Moreover, what does Miller have to say about this? He did witness it. I'm not expecting much of an answer outside of he was protecting his Constitutional rights.

I'm reminded of people like Michelle Malkin who consistently level specious and false allegations at Democrats, utilizing the "thug" meme in order to paint a picture that anyone that voted for Obama obviously has ties to the mob in some way and are more than willing to overstep authority and use physical force to silence their opposition. Guess Malkin has decided to opt out of this one until she can find away to blame Obama for this happening.

UPDATE:

Karoli at Crooks And Liars takes a deeper look into Miller's "security force".

Their Alex Jones fans. 'Nuff said.

Per Diem Palin

Are you serious?

The Governor, for instance, charged the state of Alaska a $60 per diem expense for an appearance on Fox News on November 9, 2008. A few weeks later, she billed taxpayers another $60 for a "phone call with Sen. Elizabeth Dole." (Dole had lost her reelection bid weeks earlier). On the 26th of November, Palin again turned in a $60 meal/incidental expense per diem report for "Phone call with Gov. Rendell, interview."

While all this appears to be "legal", I'm sure that the Alaskan taxpayers that have to foot this bill won't exactly be pleased.

You can read Palin's November and December expense reports to see how these charges are either a bit much or just curious in nature.

So, She Has Tax Issues Too? Interesting.

I'm not going to be holding my breath waiting to hear this mentioned on Fox"News"

Gov. Sarah Palin must pay income taxes on thousands of dollars in expense money she received while living at her Wasilla home, under a new determination by state officials.



The governor's office wouldn't say this week how much she owes in back taxes for meal money, or whether she intends to continue to receive the per diem allowance. As of December, she was still charging the state for meals and incidentals.

"The amount of taxes owed is a private matter," Sharon Leighow, Palin's spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. "If the governor collects future per diem, those documents would be a matter of public record."

While within Palin's cheerleading squad will defend the woman no matter what she does, it should be reminded to them that these taxes are owed, in part, because Palin billed the state for staying in her own home.

Sex, Drugs, And GOP Control

The Palin family is full of great news stories.

Aside from Sarah's lackluster performance during the final months of the Presidential campaign, her daughters pre-marital sexual escapades that led to her pregnancy, witch-hunting preachers, and an adminstrative record that wasn't as sparkling as she was wanting everyone to believe, there's Bristol Palin's soon-to-be-husband's mother.

Sherry Johnston was arrested / charged with selling Rush Limbaugh's favorite afternoon snack, Oxycontin, on December 18th.

But, there is allegedly a twist to this:

A Mat-Su drug investigator and the union representing Alaska State Troopers are alleging political meddling in the Sherry Johnston drug case, including a delay in serving the search warrant because of the November election.

Political and Law Enforcement shenanigans involving a would-be VP just weeks before the election? No, surely not?

But now comes the "he said, she said" part:

Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Joe Masters and troopers director Col. Audie Holloway vigorously dispute that there was anything irregular in how this case was handled.

"We worked very hard to make sure we conducted it just as fairly and as normally as any other investigation," Holloway said.

More from the Anchorage Daily News.

While Michelle Malkin, and many other mouth-agape conservative bloggers and pundits, will claim that I suffer form PDS ( that's Palin Derangement Syndrome for those that aren't as clever as the conservatives that make up stuff like that ) and it's wildly inappropriate to even consider that local law enforecement would cover for a nationally recognizable politician.

Not to live in the "what if" world that conservatives continually inhabit, but how great it would have been to hear Sarah Palin and her cultish fanbase talk about the "values" associated with hard-working women peddling drugs to teens. The "trickle-down" effect through the conservative blogging community would have been equally as incredible. We might have even gotten to hear Dennis Prager talk about dosing your wife up with Extacy so she would have sex with you.

McCain's Campaign And EBay - Selling The Conservative Ideology One Lie At A Time

While Watching Palin's speech at the RNC, I kept asking questions to myself regarding more statements from her than I can count at this point.

The one that is still clear in my mind is the "private jet on EBay" schtick.

McCain has already used EBay as a talking-point in his speeches on the campaign trail. It's not suprising, as EBay founder Meg Whitman works for John McCain.

But, Palin's insistance that she sold the jet on EBay just seemed way too contrived for even her.

Come to find out, it's not true *queue shocking music*

From the Anchorage Daily News - April 22, 2007

The state has tried selling its unwanted jet online four times and failed. So last week, the Palin administration signed a contract with an Anchorage aircraft broker who thinks he can succeed where eBay couldn't The eBay thing didn't work out very well, said Dan Spencer, director of administrative services for the Department of Public Safety. He's the person charged with trying to get rid of the infamous Westwind II.

So, what is the jet used for now?

Why, flying wealthy hunters around, of course.

Blogger Jason Linkins shares the same questions as I do:

So why on earth would Palin lie about this, knowing that it would bring scrutiny to this story, and knowing that the scrutiny would reveal that a) the auction wasn't successful, b) she lost the State of Alaska's money on the deal, and c) the state's valuable resource had basically become a luxury for wealthy elites? I have no idea! But whatever!