Posted on 12/23/2010 5:46:08 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
Lisa Murkowski isnt gunning down caribou on national TV like that other famous Alaskan, but the Republican lawmaker is going rogue in the Senate just weeks after staging the most stunning back-from-the-dead political win of the 2010 cycle.
Murkowski is already showing a fierce independent streak, becoming the only Republican to cast votes for all four items on President Barack Obamas wish list: a repeal of dont ask, dont tell, a tax cut compromise, the START treaty and cloture for the DREAM Act.
The lame duck votes capped a strange political odyssey for the Alaska Republican one that started Aug. 31 when she conceded the GOP primary to tea party-backed Joe Miller, continued when she resigned her leadership job in September and ended when she waged Alaskas first successful statewide write-in bid to retain her seat.
Now, she heads back to the Senate with a fresh six-year term without owing much to either her home state party establishment or her Washington leadership.
Murkowskis willingness to defy Republican top brass after a bitter fight to keep her seat may mark a pivot point in her career as she emerges as a real maverick foil to Sarah Palin, the conservative idol who put Alaska politics on the national map. And while conservatives who helped oust Murkowski from the GOP ticket in Alaska may howl about her being a Republican In Name Only, Murkowski could enjoy a powerful perch as a much-sought-after moderate in an almost evenly divided Senate.
She's a person who makes up her own mind, does what she thinks is right and always keeps the concerns of her state at the forefront, moderate Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told POLITICO of Murkowski, adding that the Alaskan was an important ally in helping to overturn DADT.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
I certainly hope and wish that those Alaskans that wrote her in are ashamed of themselves. Has she voted against anything on Obama’s agenda since November 2nd?
Susan Collins praising Murcowski.
One POS praising another.
Please do not post commie propaganda on FR!
What I’d like to call lying Lisa would cause me banned from FR.
She can only go “rogue” if the Republican caucus allows her to. They have the ultimate power, in that they can bounce her right off of any committee assignments, as well they should.
I think giving state legislatures the power to recall senators is a good idea. It would help undo some of the problems of direct election of senators but would have the political advantage of not seeking to reverse it outright. It could be sold as empowering the people by giving them a way to control an out of control senator via their state legislature. Maybe it could even be done by popular referendum within the state — in which case it really would be a “power to the people” thing rather than a “states rights” thing.
In the next congress will she officially be an Independent? Miller was the Republican candidate.
She’ll be for sale to the highest bidder. Exactly what she has wanted all along.
Typical politician.
As long as she votes the right way and continues to feed the Alaskan mafia the pipeline of federal tax dollars, she is golden. eh?
Some maverick.
...And this is ALL thanks to the spineless GOP leadership under Mr Lockjaw himself: Mitch McConnell. When Murkowski launched her write-in campaign and pledged to bring Alaska home more pork than Miller, Jim DeMint urged McConnell to strip her of all seniority, thus depriving her of that argument. McConnell refused, in an apparent attempt to appease her, so she would vote the party line if she won. How is that appeasement working for him NOW? McConnell is pathetic and needs to go.
If you mean the Democrats, the crooked Native Corporations, and the unionistas, they probably are. They pulled off a voter fraud in Alaska that even puts the Al Franken mess in second place. As for the REAL Alaskans, we are extremely that the LOSER of the primary race is about to steal a rightfully-won seat right under our noses.
Heh!
You have just PERFECTLY described the existing situation up here.
I'm sure you are not referring to the good Tea Party Alaskans who turned out in droves to vote for Joe Miller. You must be referring to the Democrat, crooked Native Corporation exectutives and their ability to move entire village votes to the (D) column, and the slimy unionistas who defrauded the Conservative electorate of the State of Alaska.
LOL! I was think of calling her "Olympia"
Well! Whattaya know?? SOMEBODY was paying attention! Thank you.
Wouldn't surprise me a bit if she does. Right now the only reason I'm keeping the "R" on my voters registration is to vote against her in the 2016 primary.
Merry Christmas Meek
This isn’t anything I didn’t expect. Alaska, you get what you voted for in the election. Miller would have been an asset to Alaska.
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