"She's got...HUGE...tracts of land...!"

[PCIntern]

That's really all Palin's got...she 'governs' a huge state, one which is so gi-normous that it doesn't even represent well in maps due to the projections of the globe in the Arctic area. It is a vast wasteland with all manner of wildlife and frozen tundra, but nary a person per square hectare. It resembles the asteroid base in the movie Outland with various and sundry rough, tough, and criminal-types but it's a profitable regime.

She aggressively pursued the Governorship and was successful and would have had a remarkable existence...quiet payoffs for deals, her husband acting as intercessor, low heat on the burner...everyone makes money...nobody cares.

But she threw it all away for a roll of the dice at the big table. And she may have crapped out. There will be constant surveillance of her actions forever. There will be Federal prosecutors someday who will be able to make a career out of bringing down the hot-shots in Anchorage and make a name for themselves in that fashion. The spotlights are now on the minutest of details and I seriously doubt whether she or her family or cronies or cronies who are family, will be able to withstand the scrutiny. My guess is that all the enemies she's made over the years by stabbing her buddies in the back will give people like Issikoff, who's bucking for a Pulitzer himself, plenty of information about her. The National Enquirer may discover something which makes all the rest of these things pale by comparison, and there aren't any folks to send any more anthrax to dissuade them.

Just one man's opinion, of course.

[DURHAM D]

1. You are right - just one man's opinion.

Love your sourcing.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. And since it was Michael Palin saying the original lines,

I think a clip is only appropriate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3YiPC91QUk

Other coincidences:

" Look, you're marrying Princess Lucky, so you'd better get used to the idea!" (shotgun marriage?)

and, in rather black humour, Sir Lancelot's 'idiom' is to get carried away and kill wedding guests. Rather like Bush, in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

3. You could be right

but if through some great stroke of misfortune she actually becomes the next Vice President, will her entire past be covered up the way they did with Bush? Will Rove and company send legal hitmen into Alaska to cover up Palin's trail on everything? It may have already occurred.

Look at Bush's enormous scandal in Texas in 1999 involving "Funeralgate", where he fired a state employee beneath him who blew the whistle on one of Bush's cronies that ran the largest funeral home corporation in the United States. In that case, Bush's friend was dumping bodies from cemeteries to make room for others, an incredible and disgusting practice. The case was settled out of court, the whistle blower was given a deal she couldn't refuse, and Bush refused to honor a subpeona and testify ... and that was that.

Or Bush's National Guard duty where the memos showing he received favorable treatment mysteriously disappeared.

Or Bush's insider trading in the Harken Energy scandal where his father got the SEC appointees of his to close the case without explanation.

Or Bush's theft of city land in Arlington Texas to build a new stadium whereby Bush reaped a clean $6 million when he sold his interest in the team?

Sarah Palin seems like a two-bit huckster by comparison with Bush. If she somehow gains national political power and becomes one of the protected ones of the Republican Party, I expect more stonewalling, more destruction of records, and the usual intimidation of every witness.

If Palin loses, however, I think you are right. She will no longer be of any use to Karl Rove, she will lose the Governorship in Alaska, and it will be open season on her and she will possibly get some prison time depending on what they uncover about her.

[Disturbed]

4. I suspect that if McLiar doesn't win the Pres. spot that Palin

will be Impeached. She should be Impeached right now. The Spotlight on her has revealed just how corrupt she is. Palin screwed up by allowing her ego to outweigh her common sense, if she has any.

[PCIntern]

5. I agree with you in toto except for:

The prison term: never ever. I think that's the deal with these idiots...once they're losers, they have this stuff lifted so that there's no chance of jail. That is not to say that they're not levered and have the crap beaten out of them financially or politically/socially. Not to argue with you at all, however...great post.

[krispos42]

6. And what percentage of it is actually federally-managed land?

Like national parks and stuff?

[PCIntern]

7. That's an excellent point...

her 'stewardship' is limited in a certain senses, unlimited in others.