hatepalin.com

In a significant rebuff, Palin’s nominee for Alaska’s Attorney General, the controversial Wayne A. Ross (known as WAR, according to the vanity license plate on his Hummer, with his wife answering to “Mrs. War”), was defeated by the legislature.  Nine Republicans, including the House Speaker and Senate President, crossed party lines and voted with the Democrats to defeat the nomination 35 to 23.

Ross is an ultra-conservative board member of the National Rifle Association, whose earlier writings calling gays and lesbians “degenerates” in a letter to the state bar association, gained particular scrutiny and coverage in the progressive press.  When asked about this during the AG confirmation hearings, he failed to provide a direct answer, but instead attempted to hide behind the weak defense that his personal views should have no bearing on his fitness for the position.  Perhaps finally the independent spirit of populist Alaskan Republicans is overwhelming the small-mindedness of the evangelical right wing of the party.

Palin was away at an anti-abortion fund raiser in Indiana during this stunning and surprising defeat.

With sky-high oil prices a thing of the past, Palin is now fighting her political fights in Alaska without the benefit of huge tax windfalls, and against local politicians resentful of what they see as a Governor more concerned about her national standing and future positioning than about dealing with the issues facing Alaska.

A few more embarrassments like the one Palin suffered today, and suddenly McCain’s short list of promising Republican Governors, which excluded Palin, seems all too on-the-money.