“Yeah, screw that freshman stuff, let me get right on in there with all the other Congressmen. Or Congresswomen? Congressman, please call me,” Sarah Palin told Steve Bannon as she campaigned in Texas, agreeing that she should be in the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Palin whined about the Murkowski and Begich “dynasties” in a fact-free and error-filled airing of grievances, repeating her tried and true right-wing applause lines and reliving the greatest hits of 2008. She mentioned Benghazi, “Crooked Hillary,” the missing emails, corruption, how “they” are always making false claims about Palin and how she has nothing to lose.

But she failed to mention any Alaska priorities during the disjointed Dallas screechfest that followed with Bannon and Erik Prince on Bannon’s podcast.

As Prince pontificated on the need to “starve the beast,” reduce federal spending and force people in D.C. to get “real jobs,” Palin smiled and nodded. Bannon stepped in to mention how Palin did exactly what Prince was proposing in Wasilla a quarter-century ago. The Wasilla budget grew from about $4 million to $6 million when she was mayor.

Palin isn’t looking for votes in her frequent appearances Outside. She is looking for publicity and money. The real work of Alaska’s single representative is to get money for Alaska for military spending, infrastructure and a host of federal services, while solving specific problems and claiming that Alaska should be an exception. Palin is not conversant or coherent on any of those tasks.

She claims her campaign is going well. And she is already suggesting that the vote count will be corrupt, copying the Trump lies, spreading suspicion.

“It’s Alaska. Alaskans know me. They know why I’m running. Drill baby drill. Energy independence. Freedom! All about freedom. Stopping the RINOs. Stopping the Democrats,” she told Bannon.

“And it’s bizarre though Steve because you’ll appreciate this, this new-fangled weirdo voting system we have where it’s mail-in only ballots, Dominion computerized counting, no hand counting. And it’s ranked choice voting.”

Bannon acted appalled. “Hold it. No paper ballots? Only machines?”

“Polling machines,” Palin said. “Computerized Dominion. And even in a little tiny village where maybe five people vote. Nope. Can’t count ‘em by hand. Gotta go through the system. So, just keep your eyes and ears open.”

She made it clear she doesn’t know how ranked choice voting works, falsely claiming that “the third place, the third most popular candidate can actually win the thing through a process of elimination and a weird counting system.”

Facts matter little to Palin. Or to Bannon. She rarely does her homework. She is either lying about Alaska elections or uninformed. I’m not sure which is worse.

“Alaska is a paper-based ballot voting system. All voters vote a paper ballot,” the Division of Elections says.

“Hand-count precincts are typically in rural areas of the state where precincts have a small number of voters. After voting, voters drop their ballot into a ballot box throughout the day. After the polls close, the precinct officials hand-count the ballots and record results on a summary sheet,” the state says.

There are 131 hand-count precincts in Alaska.

Third Great Awakening

Palin has been talking about the “Great Awakening” since the failed 2008 campaign.

“We’ve had awakenings before in the history of mankind. It is time for The Awakening. It will be the Third Great Awakening. But everyone, rising up, awakening to what these young people are feeling. What they actually desire. And no, it’s gonna be all about activism, you know putting our feet to the floor, running with this idea, with this principle, with this truth that we are made to be free. Not to be subservient to government.”

Bannon replied that when Palin talks about “Great Awakening,” critics will accuse her that these are code words for white Christian nationalism and asked for her response.

“Wow and that’s all they got? No, it’s so far from it. You know, it’s all about tolerance. It’s tolerating other people’s beliefs, allowing them to have the freedom—as long as they’re not hurting somebody else—along. That’s part of the awakening that we need. This cancel culture and all this political correctness, all the political correct speech. They try to tell us what to think, what to say. No. People, I think people are awakening to the truth. That we were not created to be that. And we will fight back. And anybody who wants to accuse me of inciting violence, like they tried to accuse you of. Well A, it’s not the first time I’ve been falsely accused of anything. The false, the falsehood in that alone, tells you whoever’s gonna spew that kind of falsehood, tells you how narrow-minded and intolerant and how dense they are. So, you know, I’m gonna, I’m gonna consider the source if they’re gonna accuse me of that.”

I agree with her on this: Consider the source.

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