Month: September 2016

I got to know Bill McConkey in the ’78 Hammond campaign, and we became friends.  He taught me a lot, like KISS, Keep it Simple, Stupid.  He was from Illinois, a political pro sent to Alaska by the RNC to try to save the doomed Senatorial Candidacy of State Senator C. R. Lewis in 1974.  That was a mountain that was way too high, but he liked Alaska, wanted to stay, and was hired by the Hammond administration in some capacity.  I forget what his job supposedly was, but his real responsibility was to get Hammond reelected.

In politics, Bill liked to play rough.  He was a big guy, a guy most people wouldn’t want to mess with.   He was also a bit of a nut.  There was this big Irish heavyweight from New York named Gerry Cooney who was in Anchorage for some some tune up bout.  This guy was a contender, tall and strong, with a left hook that some think was one of the most powerful punches in boxing history.  He went on to fight heavyweight champ Larry Holmes, but he was never able to get a clean shot at him, and lost in the 13th round.

Bill, a professional Irishman, loved this guy, and decided he wanted to go a few rounds with him.  They arranged an exhibition match in some local bar, and Bill spent weeks trying to get in shape.  I was there when they went at it, and it wasn’t pretty.  Cooney didn’t bother knocking him out.  Bill was all hunched up in a defensive crouch, so Cooney just started pounding on his arms, and, as I recall, actually broke one.  I think Bill made it into the second round.

But he was game, and can say to this day that he got in the ring with the mighty New York Irishman, Gerry Cooney.  Bill read my post from yesterday and wasn’t impressed.  He says he thinks I’m going soft.  But you don’t tell all in a public blog.  Wouldn’t be prudent.  When the time comes, and the hit is made, Bill won’t accuse me of being soft any more.

Like me, Bill was a Hammond man.  He’s strayed, politically, but at heart that’s who he’ll always be, so we’ll always be friends.

 

It’s called Bipartisan Alaskans Against Mark Begich (BAAMB).  The FEC forms have been express mailed to Washington, and we’re official.  Donations will be accepted at P. O. Box 100, Standard, CA 95373.  We have one and only one purpose  — to take down Mark Begich. I confirmed today my financial backing, and I’m loaded for bear.

I already know enough about this guy to take him down, and I haven’t even started looking.  When I was in my last term in the Alaska House, in 1989, the little brown noser came to Juneau as an aide to Democratic Representative Dave Donley of Anchorage.  He then brown nosed his way on to the Anchorage Assembly, where he was a willing tool of the downtown merchants, led by his political mentor, Tony “The Grinner” Knowles.  Of all the things that used to annoy me about former Governor Tony Knowles, it was that s— eating grin of his that was the worst.

You might say, wait, Fritz, you’re not an Alaskan any more.  I say it all depends on your definition of Alaskan.  I’m physically located in California, but my home is Alaska, and always will be.  And what’s this bipartisan stuff?  Well, there’s the Democratic nominee for the U. S. Senate, Ray Metcalfe.  He represents the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democratic Party, and those people are no friends of Mark Begich.  They may have taken over the Democratic Party of Alaska, and Slippery Mark is not their kind of guy.  He will not have a united Democratic Party behind him.  Metcalfe wants his political legacy to be the takeover of the Alaska Democratic Party by the Sanders forces, represented by him.   His nomination, and his campaign, aren’t about him.  It’s all about the issues that motivated the Bernie people to begin with.

I almost called Ray up today, to let him know what I was doing.  But I can’t coordinate with any of the candidates, so that would have been wrong.  But I’ll bet old Ray has a few stories to tell about Begich.  He’ll have to find a way for me to learn about them.  Metcalfe thinks he’s got dirt on every one, even me.  He writes a blog, and lied about me on it.  But he does have some legitimate points.  I’ve never really looked into them, but they sound reasonable.  If you go to his campaign web site you can see his picture.  He’s aged, as have we all.  But he looks kind of scary.

Picture this line up on the Senatorial debate stage.  Odd looking 70 year old Ray Metcalfe, with his shiny bright blue eyes.  The kind you see on a dog sometimes, sort of weird looking.  He’ll be kind of like Bernie Sanders, on crack.  Then the nitwit, Lisa Murkowski, pretending that she knows what the hell she’s doing.  Then slimy Mark Begich, a Bill Clinton wannabe.  Then the fire breathing zealot, Joe Miller, itching for combat.  You’ve got to see this to believe it. This is politics, Alaska style.  We get all kinds.

I was watching the Fox Business Channel and saw Trump’s address to the New York Economic Club.  It was the best I’ve seen him give, though I really haven’t seen many.  He sounded, and acted, intelligent and reasonable.  And he scored his points.  He ticked them off, one by one, and he got every one right.  If this is the Trump who shows up at the debate this election is over.  He was that good.

His political timing is perfect.  He’s peaking just before the debate.  It’s almost as though this was part of the strategy.  If that is the case, it’s truly brilliant, politically.  A classic.  My hat is off.

I guess there’s still a chance, technically, that this might not happen, and Begich doesn’t run a write in.  In which case BAAMB would have no purpose.  Oh, well, back to the drawing board.  I’ve never formed a Superpac before.  It’s ridiculous how easy it is.  And the staff back at the FEC are very helpful, making sure you’re filling out the form correctly.  I’ll have to do it again, some time.

Clinton’s got the rockin’ pneumonia, and the boogy woogy blues.  Trump’s got that girl, the one we all want our granddaughters to be.  I saw a clip of Ivanka on WADR, beautiful, well spoken, and poised.   She was talking to the famous suburban Republican women of Philadelphia, the one group Trump probably can’t win without.  She was delivering a message tailored to their concerns.  It was brilliant, and I expect to see a lot more of it.

I couldn’t help thinking, where’s Chelsea?   But we all know the answer to that.  She’s been out on the trail for her mother, but no one wants to see her.  She can’t draw a crowd.  I’m too much of a gentleman to say why.  They’ll sure as hell turn out to see Ivanka.  My second, adopted, granddaughter is eight or nine, and I’ll bet she’d love to see the glamorous Ivanka.  She doesn’t need a last name.  She’s just Ivanka, like some rock star.  What an asset for a campaign, and a motivator for the old man to keep it on the straight and narrow.  I’ve been waiting for this roll out, and I am impressed.

The pollster’s pollster, Ann Selzer of Des Moines, was also on WADR, explaining the results of her Ohio poll, showing Trump up by five.  It’s one state, but it’s the one he’s got to have, and if he can get Ohio he’s got a shot in Pennsylvania, and the White House.  Selzer made two salient points.  Trump’s almost winning the union vote, based on their opposition to these trade deals.  That should hold true in Pennsylvania as well.  And Clinton is losing like 22% of the youth vote to Gary Johnson.  If that’s true in Ohio, it could also be true in Pennsylvania.  Add it all up, and he’s got a five point lead.  As Donny Deutsch pointed out, this gives him bragging rights, going into the debate, just ten days away.  For him, that’s huge.

How many days would her doctor recommend that she takes off before the debate?  Whatever it is, she’ll take less.  It should be a ninety minute debate, one on one with Trump, the moment which could decide the election.  Will she, physically, be up to it?  If she stays fresh to the end, she’s on drugs.

I’m glad to see the word “deplorable” sticking around.  The reason it sticks to the craw is because it’s so condescending.  To deplore is to feel sorry for, to look down on.  We can’t let that word go.  To do so would be deplorable.  I watch the market on the Fox Business channel, and Varney had these two women on, wearing black T-shirts that read “Deplorable”.  I bet they’re selling like hotcakes.

Things continue to be of interest in Alaska.  However it sorts out, I’ve figured out a way to get involved.  It would be deplorable if I didn’t.

 

 

Democrats can’t win in Alaska anymore, at least not statewide.  The last one to do it was Mark Begich in 2008, when he beat a convicted felon, and lifetime political criminal, Sen. Ted Stevens.  Those circumstances were special.  Begich is a talented politician, and spent six years readying himself for reelection, but he was a D, and he went down.

So when they came up with a challenger to Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a woman named Margaret Stock, they had her run as an Independent.  The formal Democratic candidate, who won the primary, is former Republican legislator Ray Metcalfe, who’s turned into a Bernie Sanders man.  With the recent entry of the 2010 Republican nominee for Senate, Joe Miller, running now as a Libertarian, it changed everything, from the Democrat perspective.  Before Miller, or B.M., the Democrats didn’t really have a chance of beating Murkowski.  Now, A.M., they do.  The Republican vote will be split.

But they can’t win with Margaret Scott.  She doesn’t have the skills required.  And certainly not with former State Representative Mercalfe, who’s a fruitcake.  The only person in the State who could pull it off is former Sen. Begich.  The Democrats have asked Metcalfe to withdraw, but there’s no chance of that.   Metcalfe has been a political nuisance ever since Jan Faiks beat him out of a State Senate seat in 1982.  He’s waited for 34 years to get in the spotlight, and he’s not giving it up.  He’s a strange man.

So the only way Begich can run is as a write in.  Margaret Scott will withdraw, but as an Independent she can’t be replaced.  So it would be Murkowski and Miller splitting the Republican vote, and Begich gets all the Democrats to write him in.  Metcalfe won’t get enough votes to matter.

In Alaska, this kind of a thing can get done.  It’s a very small voter pool, and a little money goes a long way.  This exactly what Lisa Murkowski did in 2010.  It can be done.  Begich has until Thursday to come up with about $8 million to do it.  If he can get the money he will.

I mentioned at the end of yesterday’s post that I might have a way to raise some money, and it turns out I was right.  The signs are all positive.  I was going to have some fun up in Alaska, at Murkowski’s expense.  But this morning I heard what Begich was up to, and that put a screeching halt to that.  If I went after Murkowski, it might wind up electing Begich, and I wouldn’t want to take that chance.  Instead, I’ll go after Begich.  If I hit him just right, I could knock as many as ten points off him.

That’s exactly what I did to Frank Murkowski’s Democratic opponent in 1980.  Look it up in the 1980 edition of the Almanac of American Politics, by political genius Michael Barone, as nice a man as you’ll ever meet.  I had in on my radio show in the early 90’s, when he was in Anchorage for some reason.  I told him I was amazed that he got the 1980 Alaska Senate race so spot on.  No one in the Alaska media understood what had happened, but Michael Barone did.  How the hell did he know that?  Who follows a race for U. S. Senate seat in Alaska that closely?  He just shrugged, and smiled.  What a great guy.

When Begich was on the Anchorage Assembly he sponsored some traffic camera scam out of Arizona for the City of Anchorage Parking Authority.  It was just a way to fleece the common man, and extort traffic fines from him, all to support the payment of parking garages that needed the money.  They wouldn’t increase taxes to get the revenue, they’d get the money from traffic fines.

Some listener of my radio show got so pissed off at this that he organized a city initiative to repeal the traffic camera law.  I had him on my show all the time.  When it was coming up for a vote, Begich came on to explain his sponsorship of this stupid law.  He never got any campaign contributions out of the deal, did he?  He was a weaselly son of a bitch.  And like all so called “moderate” Democrats, he’s the devil in disguise.  He’s not going back to the Senate.

I enjoy this kind of stuff.

It must be hard being a liar.  It’s got to take its toll.  And when you’re constantly lying, and have lied your whole life, it’s a full time job just remembering what lies you’ve told, and to who.  It wears me out just thinking about it.  And when everyone knows you’re a liar, and you get away with it, it’s even tougher.

I don’t think Clinton’s problem is pneumonia so much as it is sheer exhaustion, from all the lying she’s doing.  She learned from her husband, but he’s a psychopath, and it’s easy for him.  She’s been caught, and will be caught again.  And again.  It’s got to be hard to put on a smiley face under that kind of pressure.

What the hell is she even doing, running for President?  She’s a 68 year old grandmother with health issues.  I can understand why she ran eight years ago. But now?  The only explanation that I can come up with is that if she hadn’t made clear her intention to run, the Clinton Crime Family Foundation would soon run have out of donors.  They’ve shared a lot of booty in the last eight years.  It’s all a big money laundering scam, and I guess she and, especially, Billy Jeff, really like to keep the big bucks rolling in.  I think maybe the whole idea is more Billy Jeff’s than hers.  He’s used her his whole life, so why stop now?

People going to Trump rallies ought to start wearing T shirts that say, “I’m a Deplorable, are you?”  They used to have an Optimist Club, with chapters, buildings and a creed.  Maybe we should start Deplorable Clubs.  In order to get in you’d have to prove you’re not only deplorable, but irredeemable. If I was Trump I’d open up my next rally by asking “Are we all deplorable, or what?”  Romney’s 47% comment was chicken feed.  Trump can ride his deplorability to the White House.  I wouldn’t let this word go.  In the debate, Trump ought to slip it in whenever he can.  “I think that’s a deplorable idea.”  or “That question is deplorable.”  Have a little fun with it.

How could she possibly be so stupid?  Only one explanation  – – exhaustion.  She’s so worn out from lying, and pretending to enjoy herself, that she can’t think straight.  This does not bode well for her candidacy.  But the only way the DNC is going to be able to get her to drop out is to promise her a Presidential pardon, with an ironclad commitment to a lot of cash.  Otherwise she’s in to the end.  If she loses she’ll be a victim, the role she’s played her entire married life.  I guess it suits her.

Trump continues to get the breaks.  The “Libertarian” ticket of Johnson/Weld seem determined to take votes away from Clinton, rather than Trump.  This guy Johnson is proving to be a flake.  There were a lot of Libertarians in Alaska.  I even served a term in the House with an Alaska State Legislator who ran as a Libertarian, from Homer, Andre Maroux.  There was one flaky son of a bitch.  He claimed to be a graduate of MIT.  I told him the only way he could have gotten in to MIT was on a football scholarship.  Actually, some scientific types are drawn to the Libertarian Party.  They like straight lines, black and white, no grays.  It makes for a simple minded kind of politics, sort of like for beginners.  When it came to his politics, Albert Einstein was dumber than a stump.  It’s odd, really.

I’m really starting to think Joe Miller can beat Murkowski.  He just needs a little money.  I’ve come up with an idea which might work, and I’m going to look into it tomorrow.  I’ve got to be able to find a way to watch the Senatorial TV debate from Alaska.  If Miller’s half the man I think he is, he’ll tear her up.  And, for comic relief, there’ll be the Democrat, former State Representative Ray Metcalfe, or Disco Ray, as everybody called him.  I have rarely met a man with the combination of personal vanity and dimwittedness of Ray Metcalfe.  This will be must watch TV.

In Alaska we’ve had our share of characters.  I liked old Joe Vogler the best.  He was a miner from Fairbanks, and he founded the Alaska Independence Party.  He wanted to secede from the Union.  One of his favorite expressions was “No man that wears shoe leather” by which he meant non-Indians.  As in, “No man that wears shoe leather has ever told me what to do.”

Wally Hickel won the governorship in 1990, running on the Alaska Independence Party ticket.  If Clinton wins, that party has a future.