Alaska Rep. Don Young on way to DC: Returning to “monkeyland”

By GottaLaff

The Mudflats has a quote from Alaska's Republican representative Don Young as he was on his way back to Washington D.C. And what a quote it is!

This was what a Mudflatter overheard at the airport, and I'm surprised it's not getting more attention:

I flew into Seattle yesterday with Mr. Young. Waiting in line to board he remarked to someone beside him that he was returning to “monkeyland”… I almost lost control when I heard this, but decided to not create a “situation.”

Um... is that what the insiders are calling it these days? Really?


More here.

Ted Stevens should run against Palin for governor, Alaska Republican says

By GottaLaff

Ohhh, really now?

Now that the corruption case against former Sen. Ted Stevens has been dropped, Alaska Rep. Don Young wants Stevens to run for governor — a move that would set up a Republican primary between the veteran lawmaker and Sarah Palin, if she decides to seek a second term in 2010.

"Personally I'd like to see him run for governor, and that's my personal feeling," Young told the Alaska Public Radio Network on Thursday. "So, we'll see what happens down the line. He probably won't, but I think that would be a great way to cap off a great career as being the governor of the state of Alaska."

Wow, he really took a risk there, because, you know, the likelihood of Young running when he's (wait for it).... 87... is enormous. Gigantic. HUGE.

But it's the thought that counts.

I give Young credit. He knows how to mix things up. Here's another example: He doesn't think Mark Begich should step down.

Young dismissed those demands, calling them "a lot of noise."

"Sen. Begich, in all due respect, won the race," he said. "There is no other recourse. He has taken office, he is now the new senator."

Can someone please pass the popcorn? I'm nearly out.

Operation Chaos a Success! Don Young Wins by a Nose!

By GottaLaff

Via our favorite Alasakan blogger:

Operation Chaos, it seems, may have been a diabolical success. You’ll all recall when Rush Limbaugh urged all his supporters to vote for Hillary Clinton in states with open primaries. The theory was that she’d be easier to defeat than Barack Obama. [...]

It was no secret in the polling, that Democratic candidate Ethan Berkowitz was much more likely to defeat long-term but desperately corrupt incumbent Don Young, than Republican newcomer (and some would say Palin-bot) rival Lt. Governor Sean Parnell.

So, devious Independants and Non-partisans (who make up well over 50% of the voters in Alaska), chose the Republican ballot and voted for Young in a desperate attempt to swing the general election in favor of a viable Democratic candidate. How do I know this? Because, just in general chit-chatty conversation, I personally came across FIVE people who did it. I didn’t ask. It was almost like people needed to make this guilty, yet gleeful confession. ....[T]he idea obviously sprang up independently in the minds of those hungry to get the old-guard corrupt politicians out of office.

Weeks after Alaska’s primary, the absentee ballots now counted, Don Young can claim victory by the razor-thin margin of 304 votes. I know five of the voters by name, and I’m guessing that Alaskans like them have put him over the top. Alaska politics makes strange bedfellows.

Parnell will probably call for a recount, so keep those champagne bottles corked for now. The recount could take another 10 days. But, things may be looking up in one branch of Alaska politics.

Go, Mudflats!