This article in Portfolio will answer several questions about Sarah Palin, her shaky grasp of reality, and how that affects her ability to bring her gas pipeline fantasies to fruition.
That was when Sarah Palin reared her head. (I love that mental image.)
She saw the launching of a natural-gas-pipeline project as a God-given opportunity to prove herself bigger than Big Oil. Thus was born, in the spring of 2007, the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, or AGIA, under the terms of which the state would pay up to $500 million in startup money to the company it selected to build the pipeline. The chosen company would have to comply with AGIA’s stringent, inflexible terms. Certain provisions, such as the state’s refusal to set tax rates in advance or even specify the formula by which they would be calculated, seemed designed specifically to discourage Exxon Mobil, BP, and Conoco Phillips from participating.
In fact, the terms discouraged almost everybody. In the end, the only bidder to meet AGIA’s requirements was the Calgary-based pipeline-construction company TransCanada. Nonetheless, Palin was thrilled. She felt that with AGIA, she’d stuck her thumb in the eye of Big Oil as no governor before her ever had. She was good, and they were bad, and she’d defeated them. She was Joan of Arc at Orleans.
There was only one problem: Trans Canada didn’t have any gas. Exxon Mobil, BP, and ConocoPhillips had the gas. In her populist fervor, what Palin had done—aided and abetted by the state legislature—was contrive to pay as much as $500 million to a foreign company to look into the possibility of someday building a line.
Here are a few delicious quotes just to wet your appetite:
As Mike Hawker, the Republican co-chairman of Alaska’s House Finance Committee, told me one night in Juneau not long ago, “The only thing standing in the way of an Alaska gas pipeline is the Sarah Palin administration.”
“Facts to her are like Silly Putty,” said Larry Persily, former deputy commissioner of Alaska’s Department of Revenue, who later worked for Palin in the state’s office in Washington. “She shapes them into whatever people want to hear.”
“She just doesn’t think it’s important to know things,” said Andrew Halcro, the conservative who ran against her for governor in 2006. “Issues register on her brain only in terms of populist appeal. She never thinks through the policy implications.”
From the other end of the political spectrum, state representative Les Gara of Anchorage, a liberal, said, “She doesn’t spend time studying problems. She’d much rather deliver a sound bite than do the hard work of governing.”
She may not be “a fucking psychopath,” as one very prominent Alaskan told me she was, but Palin does seem prone to what psychologists call magical thinking.
Please take some time to read the whole article as it is VERY well written and informative. (Besides it is not from ADN so we know they appreciate the traffic.)
And before I forget I must give a hat tip to my pal AKM over at Mudflats where I found this and who also did a great write up as well. Wow you have SO much reading to do today. LOL!
I haven't read the McGinnis article yet, and I will. But I was esp. intrigued by this quote: "The bottom line is that for all her posturing, and as much as she might wish it were not so, Palin’s only accomplishment in two years of work on the pipeline project has been to give $500 million from Alaska’s budget to Canadians and to leave Alaska, once again, at the not-so-tender mercies of Big Oil."
ReplyDeleteThere is one staunch Palin defender on PD in particular who uses Canadian/British/Australian, etc., spellings (non-American in origin). I have often wondered WHY someone from Canada would be so ardently defending Palin on U.S. message boards. Now I clearly see one possible motive.
Partially off-topic but you've gotta see this video of Robin Williams talking about the election. He talks about Palin, too!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puMz1Q3E000
"There is one staunch Palin defender on PD in particular who uses Canadian/British/Australian, etc., spellings (non-American in origin). I have often wondered WHY someone from Canada would be so ardently defending Palin on U.S. message boards. Now I clearly see one possible motive."
ReplyDeleteHi again, Pipsqueak!
Just so you know there are many more Canadians/ Brits/ Aussies who have far more interest in keeping GINO far, far away from power. I've already outed myself as an "-our" endings user. There are ALOT of us.
But, yes, there are deranged conservatives all over the Commonwealth, and some of them are bound to like GINO.
Hi, Problem Child. To be clear, I LOVE Canadians, the entire U.K., and Australians; I have LOVED visiting Canada, the U.K. and Australia too. (I would like very much to go to New Zealand, too.)
ReplyDeleteThanks for making that point; I do not mean to slander any group of people or country, far from it... I guess I am in pursuit of a corporate motive for Palin's defense, from a Canadian perspective (or from a trans-continental perspective, such as the spelling indicates).
I have been trying to follow some of the linguistic origins of her constant Message Board defenders, and I just didn't see why some of them would be "assigned" to defend her, as part of their jobs. But now I suspect that it IS someone's job--perhaps someone who has benefited from her pro-TransCanada dealings....
Hey, I do believe there was someone posting on Gryphen's comments board with the same spellings, defending Palin and threatening him re: the "photo" publication....just a few days ago! Hm....Could it possibly be for the same reason?
The McGinnis article is so well written and points out so many of GINO's inadequacies (after all, there are too many to address them all in one article). Anyone that is remotely interested in what this idiotic woman does and says is a must read. I think his analogy of the fact that GINO has "built a career our of putting up dragons she could then slay" pretty well wraps it in a nice pink bow!
ReplyDeleteThere is a quote about Sarah's "Magical Thinking" meaning you "believe that you exert more control over events than you actually do." I think that this explains alot of Sarah Palin. It follows through the "if I tell people that I'm pregnant then they will believe that I'm preganant" or "I told them that Bristol had that baby in December, and because I said it, it must be so." If it is contradicted someplace, she'll just call them up and tell them that it IS so. The legislature found an ethical lapse regarding Troopergate, and she said, "No they didn't." It's the reason that she doesn't answer the questions asked of her in a debate; she has her own answers to her own questions. It's the reason that we can look at the recent photo of Bristol (looking post partum) and she doesn't see it the same way. She really doesn't see how any of this plays out to us-- she says it or thinks it, and it is so. This kind of thinking and acting characterizes every part of her life, and unfortunately, the lives of her family, extended family and Alaska citizens. It's dangerous.
ReplyDeleteI read the McGinnis article, and totally agree with my other favorite blogger, AKM @Mudflats, that he knocked it out of the park! The quotes from the people McGinnis interviewed were priceless!
ReplyDeleteAonn@9:07
ReplyDeleteI believe you are quite right about the magical thinking of GINO...its not "it is what is is" but "it is what I want it to be" If you note the pic with the article is titled "my way or no way"!
And her minions also have the same magical thinking, they get very upset at "troofers" that try to find the truth behind GINO's lies! See previous post by Gryphen. Now they've started censorship to stop what they don't want to hear. Just like GINO trying to ban books!
Just like the Taliban!
lol...I am Canadian, and I spell it "rumour". Is that how americans spell it, or is it rumor. I always get confused by it.
ReplyDeleteAnyway...the article in question is hilarious...and Gryphen your blog posts are wonderful.
As an aside..many Canadians were confused with Palin's choice of TransCanada...most of us laughed. If...and that is a big if...it ever gets built, it will be a long drawn out affair. Native Canadians are very well organized, and have a pretty good in with the Cdn. government. That pipeline has to go through a whole lot of Native Canadian land..lol....this will be intersting indeed. I feel bad though, that Alaska gave away $500 million dollars.
Keep going Gryphen...I am loving you more by the day.
Laurie
Thanks for the good point, Crystal Wolf, about censorship. The picture that I have in my head is of a little kid holding hands over ears to make the bad sound go away. Or better, when we played peek-a-boo with a baby-- the baby put the blanket over its head, pretending that we couldn't see him/her anymore-- Censorship really doesn't make it go away; they just don't see or hear it any more. Some one thought that Palin or her people read these comments-- must be getting to them, even through the blanket, the cotton stuffed in the ears and the tinfoil.Anon 9:07 aka ML
ReplyDeleteMcGuinness descibes Palin beatifully. I am assuming, since he is not a psychologist, he does not feel comfortable labeling her a Narcissist, since he is in no position to legally diagnose her; nonetheless that is exactly what he is describing.
ReplyDeleteHopefully more writers of his caliber and respectability will be as straight forward as he is in this article and call this spade a shovel !
Palin cannot remain --or as is happening now, become more--unbalanced psyhologically and not have it noticed and brought to the attention of the populace through such writings.
Her house of cards is getting shakier by the day.
Soon, a dark stage, curtains drawn, empty audience seats and Palin will have no one but herself to lister to her delusional word salads.
Pass the dressing, Blue Cheese please.
This Palin piece of fluff just doesn't have a clue, not a clue. The ony thing she has going for her is that she's pretty in pink in a sort of gaudy way, similar to how a back alley hooker is gaudy in her black highheel boots. But what she has going for her is going to disappear too as soon as she opens her mouth in public.
ReplyDelete"Magical Thinking"
ReplyDeleteThis is actually a component of numerous personality disorders. My ex used to do something similar--simply deny that a thing had ever happened, even if the evidence of it was right in front of him. If you pointed to the evidence, he would just state his version LOUDER. If that didn't work, he would start blaming others.
BTW, he's someone else's psych project now! :-)
There's lively debate at AKM.
ReplyDeleteGlobe and Mail - "First nations blur the pipeline picture"
11/17/2006
First nations blur the pipeline picture
DEBORAH YEDLIN
CALGARY -- Just when you thought the Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline might dislodge itself from the political and bureaucratic quagmire, along comes another ruling that could stop everything. Again.
This time, it's assuaging the concerns of the 2,500 members of the Dene Tha First Nation about the $7.5-billion project. This group, which controls 70 kilometres of the area from which the pipeline will enter northern Alberta, received a ruling last week from the Federal Court saying they were unfairly excluded from the consultation process. In other words, the federal government made a mistake. As a result, another hearing has to be held to determine the remedies due to the Dene Tha before the joint review panel can file its final report. The hearings were set to wrap up in April, with a report expected by late 2007 or early 2008.
Let's be honest: Remedies are a nice euphemism for "how much money will it take to satisfy the aggrieved party." However you choose to look at it, even if the Dene Tha were unfairly excluded, how much would their participation change the outcome of the joint review panel? They are a small group and represent a small slice of land.
This movie has been seen before, only last time the starring role was played by the Deh Cho First Nations. They settled with the federal government for $31.5-million. Now it's the Dene Tha's turn.
Setting aside the obvious frustration being felt by Imperial Oil, the lead proponent of the Mackenzie Valley project, there are bigger questions that need to be addressed and answered.
Is it right that projects go forward solely on the basis of what companies or governments are prepared to pay, beyond what is covered under the various treaties? Isn't the bigger elephant in the room the one that deals with constitutional rights of aboriginal groups and how far these extend? Why can't there be a clear set of rules that sets out the standards for consultations on both sides of the table?
The Dene Tha argued they had been trying to get a seat at the table for the past six years. What's interesting is that they, like many other first nation groups, engage consultants to work on their behalf. What exactly did the consultant(s) get paid for, if not to ensure the Dene Tha's voice was heard? And did it need to take six years or is this a tactic employed at the last minute for the greatest impact?
At issue is the same old story of traditional lands. While the Dene Tha are covered by the terms of Treaty 8, which effectively covers northern Alberta and northeastern B.C. and sets out regulatory requirements, the aspect of traditional lands in the southern Northwest Territories adds another dimension. This has to do with whether the areas in question, though not included in the treaty provisions, have been traditionally used by the band in question for its livelihood.
Common practice in the oil patch in these cases is to simply pay the group in question if there is an issue regarding access. And this is effectively what will happen here, though on a bigger scale, over a longer time and in the public domain.
Think about how this all plays out beyond Canada's borders.
Pipeline giant Enbridge was in China this week, with one of its goals being to reignite its Gateway project that will send oils sands crude to China via Kitimat, B.C. Enbridge signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Petro-China back in April, 2005, in which Petro-China would commit to taking half of the pipeline's capacity of 400,000 barrels a day. The intent was to have the deal firmly in place by the end of that year. It's almost a full year later and there's still no deal. One of the obstacles has to do with the more than 200 first nation bands in British Columbia that are not covered by the same treaty provisions and have many outstanding land claims. The Carrier Sekani Tribal Council, representing 5,000 people in seven first nations covering about one-third of the Gateway route, argued that it has not been properly consulted and in October it sued the government in Federal Court.
In light of this, the ruling in favour of the Dene Tha doesn't help Enbridge at all. The thinking very likely goes like this: If the Dene Tha, who are covered by Treaty 8, are doing this, what is possible in B.C., where no such agreements exist?
And that's one of the reasons Enbridge is having trouble getting someone to sign on the dotted line.
Adding a bit more uncertainty to the entire pipeline picture in Canada is Alaska's incoming governor Sarah Palin, who is determined to get the Alaska pipeline under way and has called a meeting for Dec. 5, the day after she is sworn in as governor. And as testament to her determination, the same folks who were advising her predecessor, Frank Murkowski, will be at that meeting.
In other words, this woman means business: She doesn't want to waste time getting a new team up to speed.
While many say there is more than enough room for both the Mackenzie Valley and Alaska pipelines, in the current labour-squeezed environment being first to market in terms of getting things going is critical. Stalling only adds to the time and cost -- in the billions of dollars -- not to mention the probability of compromising an entire project.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper wants to sell Canada as an energy superpower but there are billions of dollars in pipeline projects in a holding pattern today, which could be interpreted as running contrary to what he wants the world to believe. In order for Canada to live up to that lofty moniker, a regulatory framework capable of supporting all the resource-based activity must be put in place. And this includes finally addressing the role and impact of the country's first nations.
dyedlin at globeandmail.com
The TINY "article" is a lame shot by a has-been '60s liberal -Democrat, paid as a hired gun to bring Palin down like he imagines he brought Nixon down in '68. Trouble is he's too old and too rusty to even get his gun out of its holster. primarily this "article gave the magazine an excuse to use Palin's pics and name to boost their sales...that's about IT!
ReplyDeletePalin's response:
Palin pipes up on pipeline
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/news/energy/1017-updated-palin-pipes-up-on-pipeline
(excerpts):
"I won't call that reporter an idiot, because I don't know that reporter, but that headline was idiotic... We're not standing in the way,"
"I believe Rep. Ramras and Rep. Johnson are instructing us to be vigilant in pursuit of this gasline. I agree with the premise, but I don't believe this resolution is necessary, and I certainly don't agree that there should be an AGIA ‘re-do.'
"Finally, we expect the oil and gas industry to abide by contracts and agreements they sign with us as they develop our resources, just as they have a right to expect us to abide by our agreements. AGIA is a contract. Why would we take it off the table, especially in this economy and at a time of great need for energy independence?"
Anonymous @ 8:30 p.m., if things are going so well for the pipeline, where is it?
ReplyDeleteIf Joe McGinnis is so wrong, where's the pipeline?
Here's my prediction, Palin will leave office when her term ends, and the pipeline will STILL be at this same stage....You heard it here first...
That woman knows as much about pipelines as she does the U.S. Constitution, or what the V.P. does...
Joe McGinnis, you're a pathetic liar and propagandist. If you really want to do investigative reporting and expose the truth, there are plenty of skeletons in the closets of the current president and liberal leaders in congress but you refuse to expose them. Their laundry is so dirty you could write a volume of books that would keep you busy for the next few years.
ReplyDeleteJoe Mcginniss has no honor at all. So whatever valid things he might have to say are shrouded by his stench of character. He is a stalker at best. He is on the side of a president, and many other socialist "moles" that are failing to keep any of their promises, including upholding the constitution of The United States.
ReplyDeleteTo one of the "Anonymous" above:
ReplyDelete(Paraphrasing):"Don't drag my guy's dirty laundry out in public! Go air the dirty laundry of his political opposites!"
How about this for a compromise: Air EVERYONE'S dirty laundry! Making the "opposition" look bad doesn't automatically whitewash your candidate, you know: it's just a magician's misdirection trick, and ultimately meaningless. IF THEY ARE DIRTY, THEY SHOULD BE EXPOSED. IF THEIR CONSTITUENCY DOESN'T LIKE THE TRUTH ABOUT THEM, THEY SHOULD BE REPLACED. (The politician, not the constituency!)
Here's a radical piece of truth for you, Bubba: There IS NO "Us and Them": there is ONLY "Us".
According to her facebook page Sarah Palin fears that Joe will one night leap out of the woods in last year’s Halloween costume and make her and the kids cry.
ReplyDeletehttp://scallywagandvagabond.com/2010/05/meet-sarah-palins-new-neighbor/
What a slick spook he is. Obama's hinchmen must be paying him a bunch. They sure have proven to be extremely afraid of her. The way they dug up as much trivia dirt on her & even compaired her parties cloths spending with Obama's. What a joke. Trouble is, there aren't enough brains in the voters to search past the media rederic..
ReplyDeleteBoycott Random House Books!!!!!