Murkowski vs Miller: Face-Off

Well let me tell you, folks, the senate race up here in the north just keeps getting nastier and nastier.  Murkowski and Miller are tearing each other up on the radio and television waves.  And while their political cat-fight is beamed into our homes and hearts, I am left wondering...who indeed will be the less offensive candidate?

Miller has promised that, like his supporter Mama Grizzly Palin, he will shake up Washington and bring change.  Yes, this tea party boy talks a good game.  I'll even admit that he's quite likable, and the idea of smaller government is appealing.  Yet I can't forget that same party that promised to downsize government has repeatedly failed to deliver on any of their promises. (Remember those multi-billion dollar wars we got involved in?  The unchecked growth of executive powers?)

Unfortunately, what I truly believe is that Joe Miller, like many who came before and many who will come after, is all talk.  I think that he can't be a strong force in a senate that is already deeply divided and largely ineffective.  His rhetoric leads me to the conclusion that he is inflexible and unwilling to play nice with the Dems.  If he refuses to reach across the aisles and bring human understanding and common sense instead of rigid party-line politics to the table then he will bring no change.  He will play right into the established decaying order.

As for Murkowski, I think she is making a brave move running as a write-in.  All of those smear ads that pointed out how she has often failed to vote with other members of the Republican party made her infinitely more attractive to centrists like myself.  I'm not saying the woman has any more answers than Miller.  If she had everything figured out she wouldn't have lost that primary.

The glimmer of hope I see in Murkowski is that she has used her own moral and intellectual compass while casting her vote.  I do not look to her to make sweeping changes.  I look to her for what is more realistic...keeping the interests of our wonderfully unique state at heart and making sure that if federal money is going to be spent, it gets spent on us.

Speaking of channeling money into the 49th state, all of this makes me yearn for the golden years of Uncle Ted...