"SP's Personal Efforts on Behalf of Rural Alaska" - The Mudflats

[Blue_In_AK]

http://www.themudflats.net/2009/02/12/sarah-palins-personal-efforts-on-behalf-of-rural-alaska/

I suppose I could save myself some effort and make this post completely blank, but Alaskans were treated yesterday to a press conference from Governor Sarah Palin, so I suppose I should mention it.

And I was pleased to see that a reporter asked exactly the question I would have asked the governor regarding the energy/food crisis in Western Alaska.

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Q - “What have you done on a personal level, NOT a governmental level to help people in the Lower Yukon…”

I would like to know the answer to this. Politically we hear all kinds of reasons that things can’t be done. But each of us has the ability to direct personal efforts at whatever matters to us. What does the governor have to say to this question?

“We have certainly sent the message to those in Emmonak and those that are hurting that I will do everything I can personally and in my position as governor to help, including offering to travel to those specific villages.”

The governor WILL do everything she can, personally? We might ask “What, exactly, is she waiting for?” The letter from Emmonak resident Nicholas Tucker which put a glaring spotlight on this situation, appeared in the Bristol Bay Times on January 12. One month ago today. And by answering the above question in the future tense, the governor states loud and clear that she HAS done NOTHING.

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I hate to be cynical, but watching all the opportunities that the governor has had to help, like lending her image and support to a food drive, or making a statement at the Iron Dog start, or utilizing her national celebrity to ask donors to her PAC or members of Team Sarah, or Human Events to make donations, or recording a public service announcement, or donating her energy rebate check, or one of a hundred other things she could have done but didn’t, has led me to this conclusion. She just doesn’t want to help. And if she suddenly decides to do something now, a month later, I’m going to have to assume it’s only because her lack of compassion and unwillingness to help so far has made her look bad.

Because this, I know. If people want to help, they generally do.