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Tshibaka is a carpetbagger

I received a phone call from a gentleman who wanted me to save America from President Biden. I laughed so hard I thought I was going to throw up. I finally asked if he could tell me who the Republicans were planning to run for president if I helped him do that. He couldn’t answer; or maybe he just didn’t want to answer.

This year’s midterms seem to be hinging on the Supreme Court’s religious ruling that a woman’s right to see her doctor in private without the government interfering is somehow illegal. No word yet on when the Supremes, or Congress for that matter, plan to institute a similar condition on a man’s ability to get Viagra.

So, the Republicans seem to be trying to draw our attention away from that little imbroglio by telling us we have to save America from Biden. But the real problem is that if we follow the Republicans down that rabbit hole, at the other end is Donald Trump. And the thought of that nauseates me beyond belief.

All of which leads me to this year’s race for US Senate here in Alaska. God bless Pat Chesbro for trying but honestly, I had an embarrassing amount of people tell me that when they saw her name on the ballot, they wondered who she was. So clearly the Democrats have already lost this race which means it’s down to Lisa Murkowski and Kelly Tshibaka.

I’ve been in Alaska for fifty years. During that time, I have seen a lot of carpetbaggers come here with the idea that in a small state they could win a national audience with some ease. Kelly Tshibaka is, for me, the worse of that ilk. She charged us almost $88,000 to come here. She quit her job two years in. Her husband gets a politically appointed job for which he is clearly not qualified to keep the finances flowing. Meanwhile she tries to win a seat in Congress that will get her out of Alaska. Yep, she’s a carpetbagger of the worse kind.

I have never tried to conceal my more liberal tendencies. But Alaska is a hard place to be a liberal. Oftentimes, there is no viable candidate to vote for who doesn’t come with the Republican label. All of which is a long way around to my point – I’ll be voting for Lisa Murkowski for US Senate.

Now I realize that what I’ve written can be viewed as a very back handed compliment since I’ve basically implied, I’m voting for her because she is the best of a questionable lot. But the truth is that I like Lisa. No, I don’t like everything she does or says. But I respect her. And being able to say that I respect a politician in this day and age is quite something.

Lisa has honor and integrity. That matters to me. I am still angry at her for her vote on the last two Supreme Court nominees. That’s a given. Honestly, I’m willing to bet that she is no longer so thrilled with them either. But my anger doesn’t blind me to the good she has done for Alaska and to her willingness to stand up for what she thinks is right. Voting to impeach the former president was a show of courage. Alaska’s Republican party named Kelly Tshibaka as their nominee to punish her for that courage. And then, just in case we didn’t get it, they had the former president come up to officially crown her his favorite Alaskan Republican. (Sorry, Sarah. You lost and he doesn’t like losers.)

I wish Alaska could figure out a way to create a viable Democratic Party. I wish I didn’t have to spend hours justifying my vote in my head as the best of a lot of bad choices. Because, you see, I was brought up in a household that considered voting a very important way to acknowledge this country that took us in.

So, whether you like Lisa or her opponent; whether you like Peltola or Palin; whether you plan to write in Caspar the Friendly Ghost; it doesn’t matter so long as you vote. It’s the only way to keep this country strong and out of the hands of radical right wing crazies… and Donald Trump.