Instead of accepting defeat after the 2014 drubbing at the polls, President Obama has decided to come out swinging.

"So you're saying I can just kick ass, and not bother to take names?"

Courtesy of Politico: 

Obama’s turnaround in recent weeks – he’s seized the offensive with a series of controversial executive actions and challenges to leaders in his own party on the budget — can be attributed to a fundamental change in his political mindset, according to current and former aides. He’s gone from thinking of himself as a sitting (lame) duck, they tell me, to a president diving headlong into what amounts to a final campaign – this one to preserve his legacy, add policy points to the scoreboard, and – last but definitely not least – to inflict the same kind of punishment on his newly empowered Republican enemies, who delighted in tormenting him when he was on top. 

“'Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose' — Barack and Bobby McGee,” says former Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry. “President Obama is free to take the risks and use executive authority that will either make him a much more popular president with rising approval rates or get him impeached by a Republican Congress that won’t be able to control itself. We can contemplate the possibility of each result while smoking a Cuban cigar.” 

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says Obama’s newly aggressive stance – exemplified by his unilateral moves on immigration and Cuba – poses an early challenge to new Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and to House Speaker John Boehner, who are trying to re-shape the GOP into a party that can actually run a government. “Mitch and Boehner have to deal with the fact that Obama is becoming bolder and more radical,” Gingrich told me a few days before Obama announced his move to normalize relations with Cuba. 

I don't know about everybody else but I REALLY like the change in our President and I hope he only gets more confident and aggressive as the last of his final term plays itself out.

Hell he may actually finally achieve that fundamental change in American that Sarah Palin is always warning us about. And it will most likely be a good fundamental change that history will forever attribute to the hard work and tenacity of the 44th President.

Mark Begich concedes.

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:  

After holding on to dwindling hope for days, Sen. Mark Begich on Monday conceded he had lost his U.S. Senate race to Republican Dan Sullivan. 

With the concession coming nearly two weeks after the Nov. 4 general election and with few votes left to count, the statement was largely a formality.

As you know I already called this race the day after the election.

The reason I did that is because even though I may be an optimist, I am still a realist and I knew the numbers simply did not add up.

However I would be lying if I did not admit that a part of me secretly hoped that I was wrong and would have to eat crow. Crow would taste so much better than bitter defeat.

Mark was a good guy, and a hard worker for Alaska, who actually understands the people and lives they live up here in the Last Frontier.

Sure many of Mark's votes were in line with President Obama, but much of those votes were ultimately beneficial to the people of our state.

Sullivan does not work for us, and his votes in the Senate will be guided by outside forces. And trust me, few of those will ultimate be of benefit to Alaskans.

Just for fun, SNL's hilarious take on New York's new marijuana laws.

Okay that's damn pretty funny.

I have a feeling a whole lot of people, in a whole lot of states, are going to be trying to figure just what is, and what is not, legal when it comes to pot in the next several years. 

Sean Parnell concedes!

So last night Captain Zero conceded the election to Bill Walker, making Walker Alaska's new Governor.

This from Parnell's Facebook page:  

It has been an honor to serve as Governor of Alaska for more than five years. Sandy and I will always remain thankful and humble that we could work for you to create opportunities for every Alaskan. After Friday’s vote counting by the Division of Elections, it became clear that while a win for the Parnell-Sullivan ticket was numerically possible, it is highly improbable. Where Alaska’s swearing-in date this year for the governor-elect is December 1st and where some ballots still must be counted, I deemed it in Alaskans’ interest to begin coordinating transition activities now with the Walker-Mallott ticket in the event the vote count holds. 

I met this morning with Bill Walker to pledge an orderly transition. In line with this pledge, I offered office space for transition activities to the Walker-Mallott ticket as well as resources to accomplish the transition. We had what I believe to be a very productive discussion about how to work together for the benefit of Alaskans in this time of change in administration. 

It is my fervent hope that Alaska’s trajectory for economic growth and individual safety and opportunity will be maintained. From bringing the Alaska LNG Project further than ever before; to creating Alaska Performance Scholarships for our young people; to being on track for natural gas to Fairbanks by 2016; to a Cook Inlet gas and economic resurgence; to reforming Alaska’s oil tax system to bring more North Slope investment and job activity than we’ve seen in decades (and more state revenue at these lower oil prices); to resolving the Point Thomson dispute and gaining first production there by 2016; and to leading our state in fighting the epidemic of domestic violence, sexual abuse, and sex trafficking – we have achieved a great deal for our state. 

We respect the will of the voters, and offer Bill Walker, Byron Mallott and their families our sincere congratulations. Again, I want to thank our citizens for the honor of a lifetime.

Yeah, yeah, blah, blah, don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out. 

I could NOT be happier to see this creepy little POS leave office, I only hope that Walker proves to be the Governor that Alaska needs right now and is not yet another socially conservative toady of the oil companies masquerading as a moderate in order to garner votes, who will now rip off his mask of reasonableness to reveal the slathering wolfish grin beneath.

(Well great now I have THAT image to get out of my head before bedtime.)

Alaska has a new Governor!

Sean Parnell out, Bill Walker in.

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:

Independent gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker maintained his lead after thousands of additional votes were counted Friday, leading the Associated Press to declare the race for Walker over Republican Gov. Sean Parnell. 

Walker, running with Democrat Byron Mallott on an independent ticket, held a narrow advantage for the entire race starting on election night Nov. 4. 

At the end of the counting on Friday, Walker led by 4,634 votes or 1.7 percent, with about 270,000 total votes counted. 

The ticket is expected to become the state's first non-party team to win a gubernatorial race. 

I have to admit that this is not nearly as satisfying for me as I hoped it would be. And that is for the simple reason that Sarah Palin also endorsed Walker in this race over her former Lt. Governor, Sean Parnell.

I cannot remember a time when Sarah Palin and I both wanted the same candidate to win an election, and not that one has done exactly that it fills me with concern.

No matter how you look at it Bill Walker is the superior choice to Sean Parnell. However is he a good choice for Alaska?

Walker is a strong supporter of public education, against the Pebble Mine, and for allowing the expansion of Medicaid.  He also advocated the increase in minimum wage and is by all accounts a much more reasonable person than Parnell ever was on anything.

Still, did Sarah Palin endorse him simply because she is the quintessential mean girl punishing her former friend after he dismantled her tax on oil companies? Or is Bill Walker her candidate of choice even if he had NOT been running against Parnell?

It was reported that Todd was sitting with Walker's family during a recent debate, so it certainly appears that they are chummy.

All of which makes me want to keep the celebratory champagne on ice until I get a better idea of exactly who we just elected to run our state.

President Obama takes on the blame for the midterm shellacking. "The buck stops right here."

Courtesy of Politico:  

President Barack Obama is taking blame for the Democratic drubbing in last week’s midterm elections, saying “the buck stops right here at my desk.” 

“Whenever, as the head of the party, it doesn’t do well, I’ve got to take responsibility for it,” the president said in a wide-ranging interview aired Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation."

Obama also said one lesson from the midterms was that his party has to do a better job selling its policies. 

“We’ve got to reach out to the other side and, where possible, persuade,” he told host Bob Schieffer in the interview taped Friday at the White House before he left on a week-long trip to Asia. “I think there are times, there’s no doubt about it, where, you know, I think we have not been successful in going out there and letting people know what it is that we’re trying to do and why this is the right direction.” 

I think this is bullshit.

I think the President is being very magnanimous by taking on the blame for something that ultimately is the fault of timidity by the Democrats and candidates who believed that if they hid from their progressive ideas, and the successes of this President, that it would make them more attractive to the voters.

I think if Democrats would have walked out among their  constituents with their chests puffed out with pride over what they had accomplished and sold it with the same fervor that Republicans used to sell us the Iraq war, many of them could have emerged victorious.

And at least if they lost they could still look at themselves in the mirror and say that they stayed true to themselves, true to the President, and true to their party.

It's time to face the facts.

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:  

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan appeared to grab an insurmountable lead over incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Begich early Wednesday, with all of Alaska's precincts reporting. 

With results from all 441 precincts counted, Sullivan led 49 percent to 45 percent. The margin remained essentially the same from the first returns early in the evening. 

Speaking just after midnight at his election night party in a packed ballroom at the Hotel Captain Cook, Sullivan praised his supporters and told them: “We are taking back our country!” 

“We’re still going to be respectful of the process,” Sullivan said. But he nonetheless touted Republicans’ successes in Senate races across the country Tuesday, and to hearty cheers, he proclaimed that the party had sidelined Harry Reid, the Democratic leader in the Senate.

Look I am as much of an optimist as you could expect from a liberal living in Alaska, but currently Sullivan leads Begich by  over 8,000 votes with all precincts having reported in.

Even if EVERY SINGLE uncounted absentee ballot had the circle next to Mark's name colored in it would probably still not be enough to give him the victory.

I understand why Mark does not want to concede yet, and I seriously doubt it has anything to do with his faith that he can still pull this off.

He can't. And as much as I hate to say it out loud, it looks like the Koch brothers bought themselves a Senator from the once great state of Alaska.

I am incredibly disappointed in my state right now. And while many of the election outcomes put a smile on my face, this one was for all the marbles, and the voters just did not make the right call in my opinion.

Now I could bitch about the political strategy of making distance between the candidates and President Obama, I really feel if they had embraced the successes of the last six years and bragged about the accomplishments of the Affordable Care Act and saving the economy that might have made a difference, but this is no time to throw stones or trot out "I told you so's."

No this is the time to learn from our mistakes and move forward. 

So that is what I am going to do. But first I want to say that I was proud of having helped elect our first Democratic Senator since Mike Gravel was elected back in 1974. I think Mark did a good job, and the reason he lost had almost nothing to do with him, and everything to do with corporate money and the irrational hatred for our President.

Hold you head up high Senator Begich, ya done good.

Sarah Palin brags that Ted Cruz came to her house for dinner, and encourages people to get out and vote. Finally, something we agree on.

Courtesy of the Ted Cruz groupie's Facebook page:

In Alaska, even the moose help with "Get Out The Vote" efforts. This little guy has been door-knocking since summer! Even our friend Senator Ted Cruz got to see him in the yard this weekend when the Senator stopped by for a bowl of moose chili (I assured him he wasn't eating this adorable ungulate's kin!). 

All over the political spectrum it's so important we all exercise our right to vote. Our democracy is the envy of the world, and to protect it our country's bravest have sacrificed more than most of us will ever know. To honor their service, please vote.

 - Sarah Palin

First off let me say that in NONE of the coverage of Cruz's visit to Alaska to stump for Dan Sullivan, was Sarah Palin's name mentioned. 

However it is clear that Palin was not about to let this opportunity go by without serving Rafael Cruz her infamous moose slop, and giving him a tour of the part of the house that Todd is forced to live in.

Gee I wonder why Palin was not standing with Cruz and Romney while they were stumping for Dan Sullivan? You would think that they could not keep her away if they tried.

Or perhaps they could, and did.

Don't let this be you.

The conservatives expect us to stay home, the pundits expect us to fail our representatives, and Koch brothers have spent a fortune to convince us that we are wasting our time and the election is already lost to us.

I want to prove all of them wrong.

How about you?

Republican women in Alaska have officially kicked Sarah Palin out of "Only Girlz Allowed" clubhouse.

Of course I disagree with all of that about Bill Walker, as well as any description of Sean Parnell as being competent, but the part about Palin's need to be seen with a winner is certainly spot on.

Which once again begs the question, just WHY has she still not endorsed her former AG Dan Sullivan?

(H/T to my friend Syrin.)

Sean Parnell puts the brakes on Alaska same sex marriage. Good political move there Captain Zero.

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary stay halting same-sex marriage in Alaska Wednesday, a day after a lower court denied a similar request. 

The two-page order granted a temporary stay in Sunday's Hamby v. Parnell ruling until 11 a.m. Alaska time Friday, giving the state an opportunity to seek a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court. 

The state said it would seek the higher court stay and enforce the stay at the 9th Circuit. Department of Law Spokeswoman Cori Mills said in an email “the state cannot issue any marriage licenses until the stay is lifted.” 

“The state will be filing a request for a stay with the U.S. Supreme Court, as suggested by the Ninth Circuit in its order granting a temporary stay,” she wrote. 

Wednesday's decision marks another day of a legal back and forth in the ruling. Sunday U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Burgess found Alaska's same-sex marriage ban to be unconstitutional. He denied a stay for the order Tuesday. The state quickly appealed for a decision at the 9th Circuit.

Here's the thing.

Alaska IS going to have same sex marriage. That is a certainty.

All Parnell is doing is delaying the inevitable, and absolutely losing the support of any reasonable Alaskan who is not some Bible thumping fundamentalist asshole.

Parnell was already slightly behind Bill Walker in polls back in September, but once you combine this decision with the ongoing Alaska National Guard scandal, it looks as if Parnell is a drowning man reflexively putting rocks in his pockets.

All I can do at this time is cheer him on, "Go Sean, go!"

You idiot!