Leave it to Sarah

Since it's a different point of view, here's the Iowa paper of record on Moose Killer's resignation.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's decision to leave office this month could help her begin laying the groundwork for Iowa's 2012 Republican presidential caucuses, influential Iowa and national party insiders said Friday.

. .Dave Roederer, top Iowa adviser to former President George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain, said it would be difficult for Palin to begin making contacts in Iowa next year in anticipation of a bid for the leadoff caucuses were she still governor.

. . "Geographically, I just don't know if she could do both jobs. The distance is huge," said Roederer, who was McCain's 2008 Iowa campaign chairman. "You can't just give a speech and fly home the next day."

Remember what I said the other day about the GOP gubernatorial hopefuls? Guess which county also weighs in.

Sac County Republican Ann Trimble-Ray, who was a strong supporter of Palin last year, said she would be disappointed if Palin were stepping down in order to get a jump on a 2012 campaign.

"If she is thinking of running for higher office, she's not done the right thing," said Trimble-Ray, who is county party vice chairwoman and was a delegate to the 2008 Republican National Convention. "You need to be loyal to the people who elected you. It shakes my faith in her judgment, which I had thought was very good."

Sarah will be forgiven, especially if Huckabee decides not to run or won't walk away from his less-than-ideologically pure positions.

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If its July 4th, its time to think of traitors

How do you know it's a holiday? It's because I crawled out of the woodwork.

Anyway, something to consider from This American Life that was broadcast last month: Turncoats

Brandon Darby was a radical activist and one of the founders of the incredibly effective relief organization Common Ground. Michael May reports on how Darby changed from a revolutionary who wanted the overthrow of the U.S. government into an informant working with the FBI against his former radical allies.

The event in question is related to the RNC Welcoming Committee that was formed in opposition to the August 2008 Republican Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. One of the things that protest groups struggle with is the presence of police or federal provocateurs whom insinuate themselves undercover into the groups and then either provoke or initiate violent or destructive acts. The assumption is that the agents are working with the knowledge of their superiors or handlers. I think that's probably too clear cut - with the extreme personalities attracted to these roles or missions, how often do they go out on their own either to inflate their own self-importance or so they can be heroes and kick ass?

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Follow Up to the Republicans Without Rhythm

Deeth - History of the recent Iowa Gub contests and speculation from the Iowa BlogFather.
Early odds on the GOP Race for Governor at Bleeding Heartland
Enter Dennis Fong - from Radio Iowa

I know no one paid attention, but remember - this will all shake out 2 hours before the 2012 caucus campaign begins on November 3rd, 2010. This will be a proxy war, and whomever wins will articulate the early message in the presidential campaigns.

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My annual Fourth of July whine

Why are we the only Americans? If you've taken Spanish, you might be aware that our continental neighbors to the South bristle a bit at our arrogance in claiming sole ownership of being American. We're obliquely referred as norteamericanos, as much as we may address them as Latin Americans or South Americans; to the rest of the Spanish speaking hemisphere any citizen of the Americas is called americano.

The architect (and ego) Frank Lloyd Wright proposed the use of the adjective Usonian in place of American to describe the particular New World character of the American landscape as distinct and free of previous architectural conventions. Wright also thought that the post-WWI war America, known to Europe now as US, Uncle Sam, USA from its army initials, should be USonian. Although rarely used in the sense of "U.S. citizen", Usonian is more common than the alternatives.

It'll never happen of course. Too many of our contemporaries are wrapped up in the identity of being American. To these people, using Usonian is about as Socialist as Single-Payer health care or the public option.

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