The Wreck That Is Sarah Palin-- And Her Secessionist Followers

Alaska has a small state legislature, the smallest bicameral legislature in the U.S., in fact-- 40 House members and 20 Senate members. The Republicans have a majority in the House and the Senate is evenly split. But just as the state's ex-governor was getting ready for another hilarious and raucous episode of Palin Livin', the bicameral legislature did a very bipartisan thing: they overrode Palin's veto of $28 million in federal stimulus money for energy cost relief. To over turn a veto in Alaska, you need 75% of the two chambers, almost an impossibility, especially when the governor's own party has a majority. But they did it, 45-14.

Supporters argued Palin badly overstated the "strings" attached to taking the money, and that frigid Alaska could use the assistance.

"Instead of being the last state in the union to take this money we should have been the first," said Bethel Democratic Sen. Lyman Hoffman. "We live in the coldest state in the union and we should be setting the standard in efficiencies and how energy is being used throughout this state."

Anti-U.S. radicals and secessionists, basically the last of Palin's political support, came flooding in from Wasilla and the rest of the meth belt to demand her veto stand "with signs like 'Fed $=Tyranny' and 'Override=You're fired.' Others urging legislators to override the veto mixed in with their own signs like 'Efficiency Makes Cents.' There was arguing between the two camps and legislators had to walk a gantlet through the protesters to get into the Egan Center, where the special session was being held.

Palin's political exile-- headquartered on her Facebook page-- bleated out a message yesterday warning of the dire consequences of... Alaska being part of the United States of America.

"As governor, I did my utmost to warn our legislators that accepting stimulus funds will further tie Alaska to the federal government and chip away at Alaska's right to chart its own course. Enforcing the federal building code requirements, which Governor Parnell and future governors will be forced to adopt in order to accept these energy funds, will eventually cost the state more than it receives. There are clear ropes attached."

Now that that's done, Palin can get back to lying about President Obama and fomenting trouble among the lunatic fringe that takes her seriously with talk about death panels (not the real ones that do exist, the made up ones she dreams about) and euthanasia and competing with Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Michael Savage for who can do the most damage to America.

Roger Simon skewers what he calls the GOP's "rabid" responders -- i.e. Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck. On Palin's death panel claim, Simon writes, "In olden times, Palin might have made this claim at a speech or during a news conference where reporters might have asked questions like: 'What proof do you have?' or 'Aren’t you just trying to scare people?' But Palin does not risk that. She takes no questions. She has done her duty as a rabid responder. She has rung the tocsin, sounded the alarm, lit the signal fire. Truth? Accuracy? Responsibility? Not her territory… Glenn Beck is a rabid responder on race… Rush Limbaugh is a rabid responder on Nazis and swastikas. He knows a lot about swastikas. He sees them everywhere."

This could all end very tragically for this country. It's almost as though we're on the verge of another Ft Sumter. As Jeff Cook pointed out at The Gawker today, there are plenty of reasons to be very worried. "There are always people who want to kill the president. Generally speaking, they are politically marginalized, insane, and/or too incompetent to come close to achieving their ends. But in the past six months, people who would be inclined to do violence to our political leaders have been affirmatively embraced by the Republican Party and its messaging operation. It's as if there had been a 24-hour cable news channel in 1981 devoted to coverage of Jodie Foster, and what it would take for someone to get her attention."