Nor has she proven particularly attentive to the details of public policy. “She’s not known for burning the midnight oil on in-depth policy issues,” said Larry Persily, a former journalist who was associate director of the governor’s Washington office until the spring.
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But those who know her say Palin, 44, is uncommonly deft at something else: sensing the mood of her constituents, shaping her public messages and harnessing a remarkable personal popularity to accomplish what she wants. “She has an incredible pulse on the public will,” said Bruce Botelho, a Democrat who is mayor of Juneau, the state capital.
“She tends to . . . create a situation where legislators are cornered — going against her would be political suicide,” said John Bitney, who grew up with Palin, was her campaign policy director and became her first legislative liaison.
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must worship at temple of government.
lorien1973 on September 19, 2008 at 2:18 PM
She knows, and in spite of it she will get things done!
Tom
marinetbryant on September 19, 2008 at 2:19 PM
Isn’t this the whole point of “change” in Washington? That someone not fall in line with the typical political crap that goes on?
ballz2wallz on September 19, 2008 at 2:21 PM
She can break procedure and protocol all day long as long as she’s practicing principled conservative leadership. Screw populism. That’s a weak handed cop out for power.
Fletch54 on September 19, 2008 at 2:21 PM
This is what she means when she says “putting government back on the side of the people”.
CP on September 19, 2008 at 2:21 PM
for lack of a better term “god forbid” she contact her own constituents… would they rather her make a public address with their phone numbers? keep on trying people… all you’re doing is making the case for Palin. right now I’m ready to boot McCain for Palin, of course I never really wanted to vote for him anyway… she’s much closer to Fred whom I wished to be in this position…
Kaptain Amerika on September 19, 2008 at 2:24 PM
I’m not ready to compare Sarah Palin to Reagan just yet, but it is telling that this was one of the main critiques his detractors threw at him during his rise and 2 terms in office.
thirteen28 on September 19, 2008 at 2:25 PM
Shocker, another story on Palin!!!
nickj116 on September 19, 2008 at 2:26 PM
p.s. I had to go look up “incurious” I guessed correctly but I had to look it up to make sure… something HotAir.com makes me do often… don’t they know I’m a bitter, midwesterner and need to be talked down too?
Kaptain Amerika on September 19, 2008 at 2:27 PM
too many o’s on my “to” sorry
Kaptain Amerika on September 19, 2008 at 2:27 PM
ZOMG! She had the will of the people on their side; and the senate went along with it. What an awful governor.
Saving businesses in her state money and doing something they liked.
What is her problem?
lorien1973 on September 19, 2008 at 2:28 PM
Hmmm.. Democratic form of government.
Mechanism to achieve goals: Build consensus
Palin doesn’t understand government but seems to have a magickal ability to…
In other words… she builds consensus…
Who doesn’t understand the mechanism of government here?
Skywise on September 19, 2008 at 2:28 PM
I really DO love OPEN SECRETS…
Larry Persily gave money to the Dems…. duh… may just be a BIT biased?
Romeo13 on September 19, 2008 at 2:28 PM
“mechanism of government”? “public policy”? Code words for Washington corruption. Gov. Palin knows quite enough about it and she intends to get rid of it. Woe is you WaPo hacks.
Blake on September 19, 2008 at 2:28 PM
This was a meme they tried against Bush, too. “Incurious” about the world, iirc.
capitalist piglet on September 19, 2008 at 2:29 PM
This is extremely high praise indeed! Is there any other way to reform and clean up? Nope.
Spirit of 1776 on September 19, 2008 at 2:32 PM
A note to Michelle
ObamaMalkin… this is why you need to quit your pessimistic meme and throw it on the: to-date-garbage-dump-of-whine-and-cheese solutions.Or, take some advil and get a spine anchor replacement.
Mcguyver on September 19, 2008 at 2:32 PM
“Brevity is the soul of wit” ~ Rush Limbaugh regarding Sarah Palin’s ability to simplify things so that average people ‘Get It’. Rush went on to say that most politicians and people in Washington want us to believe their jobs are too complex for us average citizen to do or understand. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid couldn’t want to get out of Dodge so as to not have to address these issues. That this is complex just isn’t true.
I’m sorry but I’ll take Rush’s wisdom over anyone in Washington. Rush could singlehandedly bail out the financial market. These morons who got us in this mess want us to give them more oversight and control because they talk a good game? I’d rather have someone up there I know has already opened the accounting books of a state and started redline a lot of unnecessary crap!
Sultry Beauty on September 19, 2008 at 2:33 PM
Sounds pretty awesome to me.
lodge on September 19, 2008 at 2:34 PM
This is an interesting criticism. She invites people to hear a plan, then claim she is incurious in discussing a plan she’s already approved? Sounds fine to me, unless they were expecting her to make the sale.
Spirit of 1776 on September 19, 2008 at 2:34 PM
So does WaPo want change or not?
Connie on September 19, 2008 at 2:35 PM
Oh, by the way Michelle Malkin, you’re welcome.
Mcguyver on September 19, 2008 at 2:35 PM
More praise. Seriously, this is an impressive woman.
Spirit of 1776 on September 19, 2008 at 2:35 PM
I thought this was what people loved about Obama.
Esthier on September 19, 2008 at 2:35 PM
Why understand a such a massively broken system. Let’s do things correctly. Cut headcount 40%+ and those who remain will be forced to figure out how do it efficiently.
phreshone on September 19, 2008 at 2:36 PM
In other words: She knows exactly what mechanisms are working, and has the courtesy to invite you over for an hour and have her staff fill you in. She might even be polite enough not to leave the room while YOU are being brought up to speed, but she’s already way ahead of you on other business.
Funny. Pelosi got heaps of praise for “multitasking”.
RushBaby on September 19, 2008 at 2:37 PM
And to top it all off, she reduced the business license fee. This means more businesses will be created and people will be working for themselves or others, and not for government.
quelle horreur
rbj on September 19, 2008 at 2:38 PM
I hate it when people try to blame constituents for the problems of candidates.
Esthier on September 19, 2008 at 2:38 PM
Whatevs. Next.
You don’t f*ck with a moose hunter. ’cause next time the choice will be the moose of your head. I’m personally looking for someone to get sh!t done in Washington.
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on September 19, 2008 at 2:39 PM
Interesting thing about that Washington Post story: It took (3) Staff Writers to write that thing? WOW! Finger pointing at its best.
Sultry Beauty on September 19, 2008 at 2:39 PM
OMGosh, she actually governs FOR the people and not for her political peers?
What has the world come to?
/sarc
Conservative_SAHM on September 19, 2008 at 2:40 PM
What are you Michelle Malkin?
A Charlie Horse conservative?
P.S. For more information go to malkin-is-a-charlie-horse-conservative.com
Mcguyver on September 19, 2008 at 2:42 PM
If she’s more interested in keeping people happy than keeping politicians happy, she’s the perfect politician.
jimmy the notable on September 19, 2008 at 2:42 PM
She didn’t need to pay attention to her aides briefing the senators on a plan that she and the aides had already discussed thoroughly. She only had to be prepared to step in if the senators indicated resistance to the plan, which they apparently didn’t do, because her staff did their homework.
And there is a fact about the difference between male and female brains that must be considered. Women are generally much better than men at thinking about several things at once, while we men often suffer from a “one-track mind”.
It’s how they’re able to have a load of clothes in the washer, another in the dryer, a roast in the oven, potatoes on the stove, a hand on the iron, another around a baby, while watching TV, with one ear on it, another on the phone conversation with Mom, and a third ear somehow attuned to the kids playing in the yard so that the moment one of them skins a knee, she shows up from nowhere with Bactine and Band-Aids in the hand she held the iron with mere moments ago, hands the baby to one of the other kids, and is already fixing the boo-boo before the hurt kid has a chance to cry about it.
You can’t have four kids under 18 and be governor without knowing how to multi-task.
The Monster on September 19, 2008 at 2:42 PM
I hate it when pundit constituents shoot themselves in the foot and cut off their nose to spite their face.
Mcguyver on September 19, 2008 at 2:44 PM
WaPo writer – is that what you do when you can’t get work as a prostitute?
jdkchem on September 19, 2008 at 2:46 PM
Completely off topic.
And your second link isn’t a link.
Esthier on September 19, 2008 at 2:46 PM
Like Jimmy Carter? With the Oval Office light on late into the night? We all know what a great success he was.
Django on September 19, 2008 at 2:47 PM
I don’t care either way so long as they are being honest.
Esthier on September 19, 2008 at 2:50 PM
I have a very hard time believing that Presidents–or maybe even national legislators–routinely “burn the midnight oil” “hashing out policy details”. They have staff that does that.
DaveS on September 19, 2008 at 2:50 PM
Well we just can’t have that can we? A politician who is in touch with the constituents. She is Washington’s worse nightmare.
We have a had a couple of times in recent history where the citizens in this country have mobilized to send a message such as the Shammnesty bill, the Dems refusal to allow votes on drilling and energy bills, but alas these are few and far between. Of course congress does what it can to circumvent the public too, like their recent passage of whatever that damn thing is the Dem call it about energy policy.
Have you ever wondered why your elected officials, with all of this new fangled technology, don’t send out emails to tell you about upcoming legislation?
Just A Grunt on September 19, 2008 at 2:59 PM
My baiting you’re comments has just resulted in exposing what I suspected:
ImPalin’ part two: jealous conservative woman.
Platinum award goes to Michelle
ObamaMalkin.Gold award goes to…. [drum roll] Esthier.
Mcguyver on September 19, 2008 at 3:00 PM
Thanks WaPo, I’m now completely sold on voting for Sarah Palin.
Calm Before the Storm on September 19, 2008 at 3:02 PM
Right.
And the least Michelle
ObamaMalkin could do to replace the whine-and-cheese is provide a service to every certified U.S. citizen with a voluntary email alert list, on every current issue, on a daily basis.Mcguyver on September 19, 2008 at 3:05 PM
How clueless is the Washington Post? They tried to write a hit piece and ended up giving the majority of AMericians a reason to vote for her.
unseen on September 19, 2008 at 3:12 PM
Maybe it’s not really a hit piece. Maybe it’s just designed to feign a hit piece, while actually trying to promote her.
I dunno, the WaPo has been confused lately.
darwin on September 19, 2008 at 3:14 PM
You think I’m jealous?
I think she’s an incredible woman, and I’d even rather have her than McCain for president (though I do wish she had been given a chance to finish her first term as governor first). I even donated to the campaign for the first time in my entire life simply because McCain picked her.
However, I do not envy her at all. I don’t think I could handle even half the negative press she’s had.
I still stand by what I wrote. I don’t care what pundits say so long as they are telling the truth. I don’t want one who tows the party line simply to get people elected, nor do I want one who always argues with the party just to argue.
Integrity is important to me. If it’s not important to you, that’s really not my problem.
Esthier on September 19, 2008 at 3:17 PM
But, but, Obama says her and McCain will be just like Bush. I’m so confused.
Buford on September 19, 2008 at 3:20 PM
OH the INHUMANITY!!!
These leftists are so scared spitless that they must stay up nights just trying to conjure up “What the heck haven’t we accused her of yet???”
Always Right on September 19, 2008 at 3:21 PM
Horrors! She’s not a wonkish bureaucrat and she actually gets things done, people like Lyda Green be damned.
I also love the fact that she focuses on a few issues and priorities instead of the usual mile wide/inch deep method of governing. You can never please everybody, so you may as well have some tangible accomplishments under your belt.
Buy Danish on September 19, 2008 at 4:09 PM
Attempting to use logic when dealing with, or trying to understand liberals .. shame on you.
wise_man on September 19, 2008 at 4:23 PM
OK, I deserve that one.
Esthier on September 19, 2008 at 5:01 PM
Bravo Esthier! My feelings precisely!
Shelby on September 19, 2008 at 5:20 PM
She is a one-woman bureaucratic wrecking ball with spikes. Just another reason to take the maverick from Alaska and put her in the White House.
econavenger on September 19, 2008 at 5:31 PM