Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
Monday was the one-year anniversary of the day that Sarah Palin cut and ran from her job as Alaska's governor -- or if you're congenitally insane, the day "the lower 48 needed her and she heeded the call." You might recall that during her resignation speech she declared that "nothing's more important to me than our beloved Alaska."
She promised to "take a stand" and to effect "positive change outside government at this moment in time, on another scale, and actually make a difference for our priorities - and so we will, for Alaskans" and to "taking my fight for what's right - for Alaska - in a new direction."
And rest assured, Alaskans. Sarah Palin wasn't going away, she would "always be standing by, ready to assist. We have a good, positive agenda for Alaska." So after one year, perhaps it's time to ask what Palin has actually done for Alaska in the meantime. The Mudflats has the answer: Not a damn thing.
The last great wild salmon run on the continent in Bristol Bay is threatened by the looming specter of a huge copper and gold mine at its headwaters. The potential for environmental disaster from the Pebble Mine is epic, and would arguably affect the nation's seafood supply more than the current Gulf tragedy.Domestic violence, sexual assault, alcohol and drug abuse, incest, and the desperate and tragic migration of Native Alaskans from village life into big cities all continue to plague our state. Our high school drop out rate is astronomical. Each of these issues and so many more could benefit from a powerful national voice speaking up for those who can't.
Palin, instead, has used her time, her energy and her star power to - write a book about herself and tour the nation. She's become a contributor on Fox News to repeat talking points about (irony alert) what an ineffectual leader the President has become. She has continued to chant the mantra "drill baby, drill" even as the southeast faces an environmental holocaust. She's Facebook blasted a journalist who rented the house next door that she refused to buy.
In a painful demonstration of philosophical inconsistency, she's endorsed candidates from former campaign supporter Fairbanks attorney Joe Miller, to exporter of American jobs Carly Fiorinna, to establishment candidate John McCain to "anti-Marxist utopia" Tea Party candidate Clint Didier. She slammed two students at their own college while raking in six figures for speaking there. She's courted conventions of bowlers, loggers and liquor wholesalers, built a giant "fortress of solitude" next to her house, written on her hand, almost got away with another year of shirking her property taxes, spent $14,000 de-icing the wings of private jets using her PAC money, and has somehow managed to pull in an estimated $20 million by putting English-like words in random order and speaking them aloud.
She's even demonstrated xenophobia and religious intolerance in 140 characters or less, by telling New Yorkers what should and should not be built near the World Trade Center site. Mayor Michael Bloomberg told her to mind her own business.
Speaking of her own business, that brings us back to the question - what has she done to help the state of Alaska?
Not much. It's been a busy year.
Politics
Comments
Now, Ed, be fair. She clearly did something positive for Alaska by resigning.
Posted by: psweet | July 29, 2010 11:06 AM
@psweet
That's I always assumed she meant when she said "... a good, positive agenda for Alaska.".
Posted by: NoAstronomer | July 29, 2010 11:14 AM
Palin Derangement Syndrome. You guys are so amusing. November is going to be so much fun.
Posted by: uke | July 29, 2010 11:20 AM
There is Alaska and the lower 48.
What is Hawaii? The Outer One?
Posted by: Reverend Rodney | July 29, 2010 11:25 AM
I can see November from my house.
Poor libs.....LOL
Posted by: idesign | July 29, 2010 11:28 AM
A far flung province of Kenya.
Posted by: carlsonjok | July 29, 2010 11:35 AM
@Rev. Rodney - I always thought Hawaii was the lucky one. Palin governed Alaska (well, for a little while anyway) and now she's out to inflict her presence on the lower 48, so Hawaii remains blissfully Palin-free. Except of course for when she briefly attended the University of Hawaii. But still, Hawaii gets off pretty easily, imo.
Posted by: Imrryr | July 29, 2010 11:35 AM
It's really all a question of framing - you could describe her as having done absolutely, f***ing nothing, or you could equally truthfully state that she has "fulfilled all of our expectations" and "lived up to her full potential".
Posted by: Phillip IV | July 29, 2010 11:50 AM
@3 and 4:
Yeah, y'all just keep counting those chickens.
Posted by: Moon Jaguar | July 29, 2010 11:53 AM
Even knowing that she attended university there, I'm going to go ahead and guess her answer would be, "One of our strongest allies in the Pacific."
Posted by: Abby Normal | July 29, 2010 11:53 AM
I don't understand. Do Alaskans really want Palin back? I should think they'd be grateful she left.
Now if we non-Alaskans could just find someplace else to send her ...
Posted by: wheatdogg | July 29, 2010 12:00 PM
What he said
//what he might have meant
The last great wild salmon run on the continent in Bristol Bay is threatened by the looming specter of a huge copper and gold mine at its headwaters. The potential for environmental disaster from the Pebble Mine is epic, and would arguably affect the nation's seafood supply more than the current Gulf tragedy.
//Sarah Palin's boobies shut down mines that don't even exist yet and cause fish to leap eagerly into baskets. They're *that* *fucking* *powerful.*
Domestic violence, sexual assault, alcohol and drug abuse, incest, and the desperate and tragic migration of Native Alaskans from village life into big cities all continue to plague our state.
//If Palin hadn't taken her immense ta-ta's and magic wand away, Alaska would now be a happy place with free candy and no tooth decay. Even the "tragic" migration (a.k.a. "loss of the noble savage") could've been prevented with a snap of her fingers, because keeping natives in their little scrub villages is the only way to preserve their authenticity.
Each of these issues and so many more could benefit from a powerful national voice speaking up for those who can't.
//If she'd shaken those immense ta-ta's in just the right direction, maybe somebody ELSE would've come up and fixed everything wrong with alaska that is in fact, just about average, just like every other place
She has continued to chant the mantra "drill baby, drill" even as the southeast faces an environmental holocaust.
//Sarah Palin's boobies prevent accidents. If we had her boobies back in alaska where they belong, all enterprise would be safe, forever, and solar panels would suddenly be so clean to make, and so much sunlight would reflect off her boobies that they would be so efficient and cheap to install that we would never need oil again ever ever the END.
"written on her hand"
//But obviously, with such big boobies, she couldn't possibly actually reach the paper, so it excuses her from this otherwise capital and inhuman crime
"by telling New Yorkers what should and should not be built near the World Trade Center site" //she effectively ensures that legions of real americans see her for her knee-jerk, sensitive side, not just her huge boobies, she's totally not playing to her constituency just like other shitty politicians
"Speaking of her own business, that brings us back to the question - what has she done to help the state of Alaska" //as problems so clearly defined and obviously solvable (if you missed them, they're up there in the first like, 3 lines of this fact-filled document) besides flaunting her big boobies all around like the dirty, dirty whore that I disagree with that she is?
Sarah Palin is a fucktard, I hate almost everything about her (except those big magical boobies,) and yet this (/sarc) carefully worded and documented list of Palin's actions and their effect on Alaska is definately concrete proof that she hasn't done anything for alaska at all. (/sarcoff) Or it's a big piece of shit article that just complains about Palin and provides no real facts and does nothing but whine and nag because the author doesn't like palin either.
Posted by: Buffoon | July 29, 2010 12:03 PM
Abby
Wouldn't it be more like,
"One of our strongest allies in the, you know... the... dammit I shouldn't have used that cheap pen it's all smudged... Oh your still there, geography's hard. You bechya."
Posted by: Doug Little | July 29, 2010 12:04 PM
"She promised to "take a stand" and to effect "positive change..."
The only that RushBimbo airhead has changed in a positive way is her bank balance.
Posted by: democommie | July 29, 2010 12:44 PM
Now if we non-Alaskans could just find someplace else to send her ...
Since she can see Russia from her bedroom why not send her to Russia?
Posted by: Tom | July 29, 2010 12:55 PM
I think buffoon really, really likes Sarah Palin's boobs. I would love to hear how got "boobs boobs boobs" out of what he thinks the author really meant, but it's probably a lot like how Ellis Washington knows how to paraphrase what Obama really thinks.
Posted by: debaser | July 29, 2010 1:37 PM
Definately
Posted by: Dr X | July 29, 2010 1:50 PM
I think you (at 16) really, really missed my point. Sarah Palin has no magical characteristic about her that should make the spirit of this article valid.
At the beginning of the post, there is a specific, looming (not existent) problem identified. Palin as governor would have very little control over it, and as a recklessly conservative (against environmentalism) would be unlikely to prevent the mine from opening anyway.
Then, there is a laundry list of ongoing problems that affect all states in the union (or really, municipalities of the world,) like drug abuse, incest and alcoholism, which are unlikely to be solved or really mitigated by ANY politician, as they are symptomatic of human condition and behaviour and not necessarily subject to the immediate control of the government. (Also, why should we ask the government to fix problems like alcoholism? It's a personal behaviour and a responsibility. Prohibition again? Maybe by making victimless drugs like marijuana illegal? Oh wait.)
Then, there is the particular framing of the migration of natives from villages to cities as "tragic," even though it reflects the overall trend in human population basically everywhere. It is, quite specifically, the poster's anguish over the loss of authenticity of the "noble savage" native.
There's nothing tragic about people just like us doing stuff just like us. That's the spirit of real equality.
Then, all the "problems" of alaska that palin should be fixing are done being described, and the author goes into a lambast of palin herself, in some cases on merit (spending, which is not just palin specific, for reals son) and in some cases on stupidity (writing on her hand. who gives a flying f**k)
I'm using the "boobs boobs boobs" to satire the guy as representing the "magical" (nonexistent or fake) quality of palin that would use, if she was still in alaska, to somehow fix all these "problems."
Sorry I didn't really spell out what I thought would be obvious satire for you in a separate post. I know this will help now. If Palin were still in Alaska, her magical boobs would have of course rendered my original satire quite plain, as Palin's boobs solve all problems worldwide.
Posted by: Buffoon | July 29, 2010 1:56 PM
She did heed the call! The Call of Comedy!
Coll of Comedy: Modern LOLfare!
Posted by: Ian | July 29, 2010 1:57 PM
X - Can't read link, but I did misspell a word, thanks for refudiating it.
Posted by: Buffoon | July 29, 2010 2:00 PM
I think you (at 16) really, really missed my point.
You dragged Bible Spice's boobs into a completely unrelated thread, and he picked up on it. He didn't miss a thing.
Congratulations, Buffoon, you've once again earned your handle. You can piss off and go back to watchin' "Who's Nailin' Palin?" now.
Posted by: Raging Bee | July 29, 2010 2:15 PM
In the words of the moose killer herself 'Watch out for those pink elephants.
Posted by: Paen | July 29, 2010 2:19 PM
@21:
"I'm using the "boobs boobs boobs" to satire the guy as representing the "magical" (nonexistent or fake) quality of palin"
No, I didn't. Eventually you'll be free of jumping at things with your douche attitude before you use your brains. Until the next time you decide to be a prick, of course. Which should be any minute now.
One is an informationless, substanceless politician that thronged masses are rallying behind for all the wrong reasons. The other is an informationless, substanceless article that Ed rallied behind for all the wrong reasons (to express his dislike of Palin through criticism of her lack of attention to alaska, which the article 100% fails to substantiate.)
You followed with hateful little comment at 21. If you're too obtuse to grasp my point, just say, "I'm too obtuse to grasp your point." Instead, you're a venomous little dick. gg noob
Posted by: Buffoon | July 29, 2010 3:46 PM
@debaser #16: I would love to hear how got "boobs boobs boobs" out of what he thinks the author really meant
Because he assumes that everyone, no matter what their politics, has the same all-consuming obsessions that he does?
Posted by: Emily | July 29, 2010 4:53 PM
Pssst, Buffoon @ 23:
The question is, had we been discussing a male politician, would you have brought up his massive pecs or testicles or something along those lines?
Didn't think so.
Posted by: Kyorosuke | July 29, 2010 5:03 PM
Buffoon,
When you write something completely incomprehensible by sane folk, you can't blame the sane for not getting it.
I do appreciate you telling us it was meant to be humorous somehow. The explicit explanation was definately necessary for that craptastically bad effort.
Posted by: James Hanley | July 29, 2010 7:53 PM
Tom @15:
Sounds OK. You think Putin (I mean, Medvedev) would let her in? She might lower the average Russian IQ several notches. Of course, Siberia might be appropriate place. Lots of cold. Lots of oil.
Posted by: wheatdogg | July 30, 2010 6:05 AM