Murkiness: Alaska Radio Host Off the Air and Murkowski Plays the Dyslexic Card
[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; send your tips here.]
Yesterday I noted how, in a very Army of Davids sort of way, ordinary voters put a serious monkey wrench in Murkowski’s reelection bid:
An effort by Lisa Murkowski to increase her chances to win seems to have backfired. As you know, Murky was defeated by Joe Miller in the primary but chose to run as a write in. Of course she has one really huge barrier winning: her challenging-to-spell last name. She previously urged the election board to accept entries like “Lisa” and “Lisa M.” as meaning her, which in the second case, I guess it is not unreasonable. Then she convinced the Alaska Division of Elections to give out lists of write in candidates. This approach was eventually approved by the Alaskan Supreme Court: “The lists can be shown to voters who request them, the high court ruled, but candidates’ party affiliation must be removed.”
So then some radio host says to his listeners, more or less, “Hey, why don’t a bunch of regular people, my listeners, go and register as official write in candidates?” And they did, well over one hundred of them. You can read the list, here. Now there are several Lisas and at least one other “Lisa M.” (its her middle name) and a few Polish-sounding names that end in “ski.” So this might actually have set her back. Heh.
I wonder if calling her “Murky” would count?
Since then I have learned that Dan Reihl at Big Government also made a similar solicitation, which was promoted by Conservatives For Palin, so who knows who had the most influence.
But whoever was responsible, Murkowski is pissed. First, that Radio Host, Dan Fagan, is off the air. On her facebook page, Sarah Palin unloaded with both barrels:
Does all this sound heavy handed? It is. It is an interference with Dan Fagan’s constitutional right to free speech. It is also a shocking indictment against Lisa Murkowski. How low will she go to hold onto power? First, she gets the Division of Elections to change its write-in process – a process that Judge Pfiffner correctly determined had been in place without change for 50 years. She is accepting financial support from federal contractors, an act that is highly questionable and now pending before the FEC. And today, she played her last card. She made it clear that if you disagree with her and encourage others to exercise their civic rights, she’ll take you off the air.
Meanwhile via her spokemodel, Murky is complaining that how utterly unfair this all is, saying:
Murkowski campaign spokesman Steve Wackowski tells Salon that “Operation Alaska Chaos” could cause problems for people in Alaska — including native Alaskans — whose first language is not English.
“I think it shows the desperation of Miller’s supporters. Quite frankly, I think it’s pretty sad,” he said. “For someone who is dyslexic or needs assistance, it’s dissappointing [sic] … but we’re not shocked. “
The Murkowski camp is distributing wristbands, cards, and buttons with the candidate’s name to assist write-in voters.
Murky, let me tell you, I am dyslexic, and you can go to Hell for trying to invoke the serious issue of disability discrimination for your petty political ambitions. Guess what? Daddy can give you that Senate seat, but he can’t guarantee reelection.
Update: Minor correction.
[Posted and authored by Aaron Worthing.]