The Governor of Alaska Approves of Exxon v. Baker

/in /by

This ought to be news to the Sarah Palin who, after SCOTUS cut the penalty on Exxon for ruining Alaska, made a statement condemning the decision (h/t Undiplomatic via Sully):

"I am extremely disappointed with today’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court," Palin said. "While the decision brings some degree of closure to Alaskans suffering from 19 years of litigation and delay, the court gutted the jury’s decision on punitive damages."

Palin added, "It is tragic that so many Alaska fishermen and their families have had their lives put on hold waiting for this decision. My heart goes out to those affected, especially the families of the thousands of Alaskans who passed away while waiting for justice."

Palin said the decision today undercut one of the principal legs of deterrence for those engaged in maritime shipping in Alaska waters. She called on state and federal agencies to be vigilant and firm in regulating such activities.

But this Sarah Palin, the Sarah Palin running to be Vice President, and terrified of saying the wrong thing, apparently doesn’t disapprove of the decision.

COURIC: What other Supreme Court decisions [than Roe v. Wade] do you disagree with?

PALIN: Well, let’s see. There’s –of course –in the great history of America rulings there have been rulings, that’s never going to be absolute consensus by every American. And there are–those issues, again, like Roe v Wade where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So you know–going through the history of America, there would be others but–

COURIC: Can you think of any?

PALIN: Well, I could think of–of any again, that could be best dealt with on a more local level. Maybe I would take issue with. But you know, as mayor, and then as governor and even as a Vice President, if I’m so privileged to serve, wouldn’t be in a position of changing those things but in supporting the law of the land as it reads today.

No Sarah, contrary to what Dick Cheney believes, you would not be in a position of changing a SCOTUS decision. But surely, even as a plain old "Joe Six Pack" living in Alaska, you must still oppose the Exxon v. Baker decision?

For some unfathomable reason, Sarah wasn’t even able to muster the name of the case that has been obsessing Alaska for almost two decades.

This may not just hurt her chances to be VP. If I were the Governor of Alaska forgetting that ordinary Alaskans just got screwed out of fair payment for being treated cavalierly by the richest company in the world, I might start worrying about whether I’d still be Governor in a few months. 

Update: For comparison, here’s Biden’s answer to the same question:

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  1. Teddy Partridge says:

    She will probably be impeached next spring.

    Especially since the question was about “other rulings you disagree with?”

    Over-prepped?

    Under-prepped?

    Does it matter?

    Thanks for the YouTube, Marcy!

  2. emptywheel says:

    Yup. The one question she couldn’t–absolutely shouldn’t–botch for her continued political success in Alaska. And she goes ahead and botches it.

    • MadDog says:

      I see 2 contradictory sides to that MsBull.winkle response.

      The one you’ve accurately described and then the one that says:

      “Ooohhh…Big Oil. The lifeblood of Alaskans, and particularly Alaskan politicians. Better not piss on Big Oil’s shoes or my livelihood/campaign contributions will dry up. Luv me some Big Oil!”

      This attitude is not a monopoly of Alaskan politicians. Many of the Alaskan populace also ain’t interested in biting the hand that feeds them.

      Shorter MsBull..winkle, in spite of Exxon Valdez: “Drill baby, drill!”

      • emptywheel says:

        I can’t tell whether she just flubbed this, didn’t want to say the wrong thing, or what.

        But I can imagine her dilemma if she DID remember the case, but not want to mention it.

        Not mentioning it should get her in heaps of trouble in AK. As an Alaskan, much less Governor of Alaska, much less the Governor who claims she was willing to take on big oil, it was unforgivable for her not to mention Exxon.

        But as someone running for a campaign funded by big oil, she can’t say it. Curious dilemma. One I’m glad I don’t have.

        • bmaz says:

          Oh, come on, she could have babbled about the Kelo property rights case and scored gratuitous points in any direction she desired. She choked.

        • MadDog says:

          Perhaps it was Hometown “Populism” getting pushed aside for Big Stage “Opportunism”.

          The Sugar Daddy Express is powered by the likes of Big Oil, and pleasing Daddy takes priority?

          Trying to figure out the screwball mind of MsBull…winkle is kinda like Ricky trying to figure out Lucy (for those of a too young generation, that reference is to Lucille Ball of I Love Lucy *g*).

      • readerOfTeaLeaves says:

        Spot on.
        She’s more like the elected chairwarmer of a very large resource entity, which just happens to fall in certain respects under US federal law, but where — given it’s wealth — basically, she gets to hand out very large wads of money rather than ask taxpayers to share sacrifice or dig deep.

  3. Ishmael says:

    I thought this was indicative of either poor prep by the McCain campaign, or Palin really isn’t capable of cramming all she needs to get in – the home run answer was Boumedienne, which McCain has already condemned for being too due processy and fair and stuff.

    http://www.johnmccain.com/mcca…..5051a1989c

  4. chrisc says:

    Sarah Palin is a bullshit artist.
    She should be trying out for a role in a sit-com, not for VP of the United States.

    If “Joe Six Pack” wants some schmo in the highest positions of power- making policy decisions that affect every American and many others, then one needs to question why we are spending so much money on education in this country. Heck, why send kids to school at all?

    And btw, Sarah Palin hasn’t released her college records yet. What courses did she take? How well did she do? Does it matter?

    • Ishmael says:

      She made a point of talking about her journalism degree when she was “interviewed” by Hugh Hewitt, and her study of journalistic ethics, so she has made that fair game.

      • chrisc says:

        Even George Bush released his grades before the 2000 election.

        A local guy who was the president of the chamber of commerce was running for city council and continuously mentioned things he learned in his class at San Diego State. He gave the impression it was a post-grad seminar. Well, it wasn’t. In fact, it was paid for by the city in a grant to the chamber and they selected him to attend. He had never received a college degree but no one ever asked. He was elected and even served a second term- pretty much as a chamber + church candidate.

        After his second term was over, I looked him up to see what he was doing. Turns out he was managing a nudist colony out in the east county. I guess he couldn’t bamboozle anything better.

        And, come to think of it, he could wing it better than Sarah Palin. Not much better, but a little better.

    • jayt says:

      And btw, Sarah Palin hasn’t released her college records yet. What courses did she take? How well did she do? Does it matter?

      did she do any better than her mavericky running-mate?

      Seriously, ya gotta know that she sucked.

      Too bad that there’s no way to find out *why* she went to so many different schools….

      • chrisc says:

        Sarah went to 2 colleges in Hawaii that she paid for with her beauty queen money. The first was in Hilo. She transferred after she found out it was too rainy for her liking. Then she went to a junior college in Idaho and I think another in Alaska. She transferred to a college in Idaho that had an agreement with the junior college, but attended the JC in Alaska- maybe to pick up a few lower class credits she needed.

        I’ve got nothing against kids attending multiple colleges. Lots of kids haven’t a clue what they want to do at 18 yrs old. I also have the greatest respect for junior colleges. I took my 3 semesters of calculus at a junior college and it was a serious task. More than half the class failed.

        If Palin had futzed around in college and later gone on to get a post graduate degree that indicated she took classes that required critical thinking skills and analysis, I would probably say her years of wandering from college to college don’t matter. And being well educated is only one aspect of being ready to be president. A curious mind is important as well as good judgment and management skills and an understanding of the constitution and history of our country. She is applying as backup for the job of president of the United States. No one should let her get away with saying being Jo or Joe Sixpack is sufficient qualification for the job.

      • Minnesotachuck says:

        As Kathleen Parker was quoted as saying yesterday, “Sarah Palins is so full of it that if BS were cash she could bail out the financial crisis all by herself.” (Or words to that effect, considering we’re at about the half-life point of my memory.)

  6. Ishmael says:

    I remember when Bush made a point of saying during the debates that he disagreed with the Dred Scott case – everyone thought it was weird, because you know, the 13th and 14th Amendment made the case moot. I would have thought that a pro life zealot like Palin would have known this dog whistle, but maybe she isn’t even up on Wingnut 101.

  7. Ishmael says:

    Didn’t SCOTUS rule that the federal government controlled the continental shelf off of Alaska, and not the state? She must disagree with that. Hey, I just realized that even though I can’t see Alaska from my house, I’m qualified to be Governor!!!!

  8. SanderO says:

    The woman is a moron…uneducated example of how fundies are.. dumb as a fence post.

    Hard to believe she isn’t embarrassed by now and going back home. Some people have balls.

    We are in deep do if she were VP.

    • MadDog says:

      Hard to believe she isn’t embarrassed by now and going back home.

      But…but…but, its warmer in Washington DC. Puleeeeeze, can’t I be a Villager? Oh puleeeeeeeze!

  11. perris says:

    you know, I saw this in bush, bush was a far more coherent and intelligent candidate when he ran for Governor

    the clips I saw of her running for governor were not nearly so embarrassing

    here mental capacities have devolved somehow

    I also saw the clip of her beuty pagent swimsuit

    gotta say, she did not have an attractive bod

  12. neurophius says:

    “COURIC: Can you think of any?”

    EWWW, nasty partisan liberal media attach gotcha journalism…

    What an unfair question. Of course she can’t.

  13. SanderO says:

    What is amazing that McPalin have as much support as they do. jeez loius they are such obvious creeps and jerks… how could anyone in their right mind want them in the white house.

    • newspaperbrat says:

      Take heart. FWIW We reside in most conservative neighborhood of a world renowned seaside city on the central CA coast. In August on our street some three blocks long the only yard sign was for Ron Paul. Today there are five Obama, the now mouldy Ron Paul sign and none for McCain. Our popular mayor, in her third term, is a George H. Walker Bush I republican who served as the first woman CIA director for Europe and made it clear she isn’t endorsing anyone in this election cycle. She succeeded the world famous and then Republican Dirty Harry (who proved to be so unpopular he didn’t dare risk a run for reelection) and now calls himself an Independent. ;~D

      • freepatriot says:

        Take heart. FWIW We reside in most conservative neighborhood of a world renowned seaside city on the central CA coast.

        Bolenas ???

  16. ExcuseMeExcuseMe says:

    If one has any familiarity with bullshit, and one has watched all of these clips, you can predict with great accuracy exactly what she is going to say and how she will say it. IANAL or even a brain surgeon, and if I was able to predict her responses and her framework, Biden is in good shape unless he goes into blowhard mode.

    Then again, it’s not a debate so there may be no advantage to Biden even IF everyone thinks she’s full of shit.

    • neurophius says:

      so the debate is just going to be an exercise in finding out how well she memorized the coached answers to the predictable questions, and how effective she was at matching the right memorized coached answer to the right predictable question?

    • MadDog says:

      And Howie Kurtz makes three peas in a pod:

      Asked About Court Rulings, Palin Draws a Blank

      After a lengthy, smiling pause, Sarah Palin could not name a Supreme Court decision she disagrees with, beyond Roe v. Wade, in an interview that aired tonight on CBS…

      …”Well, let’s see,” Palin said, stalling for time. “There’s, of course — in the great history of America rulings, there have been rulings, that’s never going to be absolute consensus by every American. And there are those issues, again, like Roe v. Wade where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So, you know, going through the history of America, there would be, there would be others but…”

  19. WilliamOckham says:

    When Olbermann talked about this last night on Countdown, my 13 year old daughter said, “What about Dred Scott and Brown vs Board of Education? And what’s name vs Madison, Mayberry?” That’s both really funny and better than Palin could do. Of course, my daughter watches the news.

  23. KayInMaine says:

    I wonder if Sarah Palin has moments where she feels light headed when thinking of what she has allowed herself and her family to be thrown into. Oh boy.

        • Twain says:

          She’s interesting. She doesn’t seem to know the things that the average person would know. How has she lived all this time without learning anything? I find it fascinating.

        • Hmmm says:

          I dunno, maybe she’s actually a great genius like T.E. Lawrence: “Of course it hurts that I don’t know anything. The trick is not minding that it hurts that I don’t know anything.”

  28. SouthernDragon says:

    Reid is so full of shit. Saying the bailout bill is not for Wall Street but the middle class. How can he stand up there and say this shit with a straight face? Asshole.

  31. Frank33 says:

    Neo-con Ben Stein on CNN: “Paulson took $1.2 billion untaxed dollars from Goldman Sachs by getting into the sub prime market.”

    That amount that Paulson got from GS is about twice what other public sources say. Paulson is a thief but he is a bigger thief than I thought.

    • bmaz says:

      Considering the job she is applying for, Cheney v. District Court ought to be in the wheelhouse.

      For me though, the minimal price of admission is Boumediene and Hamdan. Mary will be along to ditto that. (Actually she remembered hamdan earlier when i didn’t)

      • WilliamOckham says:

        I’ll always have a soft spot for the most aptly named court decision of all time:

        Loving v. Virginia

  34. rdwdkw says:

    Marci, what two questions would you ask Palin if you could? (Remember don’t use to many big words)

  36. emptywheel says:

    1) Do you believe that the public should not pay to make emergency contraception available to rape victims.

    2) Did you sign off on the plan to offer Murlene Wilkes an inflated workers comp package for lying in the TrooperGate investigation?

    • masaccio says:

      These are good questions. They require either a yes or no answer, so when you don’t get either a yes or no, the moderator says: this is a yes or no question, please answer yes or no, and then you can explain as much as you want to.

      People see this on TV all the time, and in fact, lawyers use this formulation all the time, so they expect the witness to respond yes or no, and if they don’t the viewer realizes that the witness is not being forthright.

  37. anwaya says:

    The following quotes are from Orwell’s Appendix to 1984, titled The Principles of Newspeak:

    The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible. It was intended that when Newspeak had been adopted once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten, a heretical thought — that is, a thought diverging from the principles of Ingsoc — should be literally unthinkable, at least so far as thought is dependent on words.

    Orwell continued:

    Pre-revolutionary literature could only be subjected to
    ideological translation — that is, alteration in sense as well as language. Take for example the well-known passage from the Declaration of Independence:

    We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men
    are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of those ends, it is the right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government. . .

    It would have been quite impossible to render this into Newspeak while keeping to the sense of the original. The nearest one could come to doing so would be to swallow the whole passage up in the single word crimethink.

    Are we not close? Does not Palin duckspeak?

  38. rdwdkw says:

    Marci, please correct me if I am wrong, but doesn’t Palin believe that if her own husband raped her own daughter, her daughter should be forced to have the child and pay for the rape kit to prosecute him?