"I am Oz the Um, Great and Uh...Powerful..."

How many of the citizens of Oz wanted to lynch Dorothy when she pulled down the curtain and exposed the Wizard?

Let's face it, the illusion had been working pretty well.

Here in Alaska Palin the Great and Powerful had the people praising her and the Legislature on a leash. Likewise, Uncle Ted, the Wizard of Washington, conjured up golden earmarks for the grateful peasants.

These days there is a definite mood of Dorothy hatred wafting through the state.

Did we really want to know about the governor's efforts to sell herself nationally using an east coast PR firm, paid for by the state? Or that she has charged Alaska a daily fee to work from home? Or that she charged the state to fly her kids around with her to events and put them up in hotels so they could act in "official capacity" such as drawing a raffle ticket, and sometimes just popping up with kids in tow, like that friend who obliviously shows up at an adult party with her children: "Hi! What do you have for the kids to do?"

No. Nobody really wants to know about that stuff, and its embarrassing that the whole world knows, too. Its hard to not resent the McCain campaign for luring her out into the spotlight.
On the other hand truth is good. A big wave is going to roll through Alaska politics, and we will see which boats stay afloat.

Uncle Ted's troubles amount to a second wave of change. He has pointed an angry finger his prosecutorial Dorothys for their bumbling, and some foolish minor obfuscation. But even if you judge the case by what uncle Ted himself admitted on the witness stand, well, let's face it, he accepted gifts and merchandise and did not write them down on the form. Case closed.

Even if reelected he will return to the US Senate nicked as no Senator before him, to a Democratic controlled Congress and a fractured Republican minority that has largely turned its back to him.

Hopefully the majority of the electorate will see the wisdom of sending Begich in. The old quarterback has had his day, and taken too many hits lately.
http://www.slate.com/id/2203348/
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081021/ap_on_el_pr/palin_family_travel