Thursday was a debate marathon for Rep. Mary Peltola and her Republican challenger Nick Begich, who ran circles around the out-of-sorts Democrat, who continued her pattern of looking up at the ceiling and saying “um” whenever faced with a question, and repeatedly asking for the question to be asked a second time.
There was the Alaska Chamber of Commerce debate at noon, and then another debate, this one televised by KTUU, in the evening.
Peltola spoke in vague generalities in the KTUU-Alaska Public Media debate. While she continued to take credit for things she had nothing to do with, such as the Willow oil project on the North Slope, she could not answer basic questions posed by the two moderators, who were sympathetic left-leaning Rebecca Palsha of KTUU and Lori Townsend of Alaska Public Media.
For example, when asked about the $2 million in donations her campaign has received from a major crypto political action committee, Peltola said she had no idea what crypto even is. Fairshake PAC has mega-donors such as Marc Andreessen, who gave the political committee more than $19 million to spend on candidates. It has put $2 million into supporting Peltola, and Begich pointed out that this is how politicians end up getting bought — taking money from industries they don’t even understand.
But what caught the attention of many in the viewing audience is that when asked about Israel, Peltola would not say that she supports the country’s right to exist.
In fact, she would not even say the term “Israel” in her answer. Instead, she said, “The conflict in Palestine and, uh, in Gaza is terrible. It’s a real humanitarian crisis. And as a mother of seven, as a grandmother of two, of course, I want peace and prosperity everywhere. I think that it’s really important that we continue to provide humanitarian relief wherever we can. We need to make sure people are getting adequate amounts of food and water, and that we are preventing as many youth, um, civilians from being killed as possible.”
The terms “Palestine” and “Gaza” mimic how Israel is referred to by Rep. Ilhan Omar, who Peltola supported when Omar faced removal from the Foreign Affairs Committee due to her radical anti-semitic takes.
But then Peltola pivoted, and said clearly said she supports helping Ukraine and its fight against Russian aggression.
“I think that they’re fighting our war in many ways and I do support the efforts that they’re making,” Peltola said.
She just refused to make that same statement about Israel.
She also refused to say who she will vote for as president, and when challenged by the moderators, she snipped back at them: “It’s a secret ballot.”
While she wore a fisherman’s knit sweater for the Kodiak fish debate over the weekend, Peltola dressed in more business attire for the KTUU Debate for the State event. She wore black.
Another Democrat, voting against Alaska and America.
Mary, like lisa murky, does what Nancy Pelosi tells her, she votes like the squad.
Traitor to us all.
, never forget.
Good. The colony of Israel can’t continue to suck the US dry. Look what it’s done to the UK, they are crumbling while they sign billions of dollars to a foreign country that has sleeper agents worldwide. Israel is hell bent on war, they always have been, let them pay for it themselves.
9/11 was because the US sent arms to Israel, do we want another 9/11?
To be fair, Mary should focus on the problems we have here at home.
If Israel and Palestine want to blow each other up, let them at it. It is obvious their own people (on both sides) aren’t doing anything to settle their differences. Always some “holy” war to be had. Whatever.
We got our own problems to deal with.
Peltola can’t think on her feet. She’s been indoctrinated and doesn’t like hardball questions which expose her ideology. In her mind, it’s RACIST.
Well then I don’t support her villages rights.
Cut off all bush aid.
Does Israel have a right to exist?
You’re suggesting that the US has an obligation to beat up whomever Israel acts as an aggressor toward next? You know, by, like, choreographed personal electronics explosions, etc?
This is the first thing Peltola has said that’s made sense. Sending American troops through a meat grinder that an artificial foreign nation provoked is a path only the least capable among us might deem appropriate.
Yeah, that’s the thing about being a Member of Congress, they never let you vote for the important stuff like “hope”, “prosperity”, or “world peace”. The votes are on complicated “bills” with lots of multi-syllable words and big numbers. And people argue a lot. But the offices are nice and you get invited to lots of nice receptions. Auntie Nancy P. helps me a lot.
Why does everyone give her flack? She won a election that she had no chance of winning, (why every current D in Alaska kicks themselves for not putting their name on that ballot). She knows she cannot win here without rank choice so she is enjoying the cake deal she has until the last minute. She will forever be known as Congresswoman Petola and will get some $$$$ cushy lobbyist job starting in 2025 making more money than she ever thought she could. She can visit DC and take the Congressional elevator and be very happy and people will invite her to their parties.
We should all be envious. Thanks to either Begich or Palin not pulling out of the 2022 election, she got the job of a lifetime that will pay her handsomely for years and years to come.
Is Peltola showing signs of early dementia, or is she just really that stupid?
It’s not surprising that she doesn’t support Israel’s right to exist and couldn’t even say the name of Israel. Those on the left do not support democracy, instead they prefer to support terrorists and those who support terrorism as a means to control the populace.
I thought one of the funnier answers she gave was when she was asked about mental health issues she talked about wasting $2,000,000,000.00 on broadband access for remote villages. Begich talked about the Alaska Mental Health Trust. Begich was prepared and had logical thought out responses to the questions whereas Peltola stammered on trying to avoid the question and giving any actual answer until her time ran out. When asked a direct followup question about how to pay for beds for those in need of mental health care she talked about the need for beds for alcohol treatment, narcotic treatment, and other mental health treatment and when the buzzer went off she let out a sigh of relief.
When asked about FEMA running out of funds she talked about the weather and offered no solutions. Simply put, she isn’t and hasn’t been up to the task. I’m not a fan of political dynasties, especially when coming from a prominent leftwing family, but Begich is prepared and ready for the task to represent Alaska.
I quit watching any debates when they are use “moderators” of Rebecca Palsha’s caliber. She’s the reason I don’t watch KTUU news anymore. The last debate I watched was the Parnell – Walker debate where she was definitely in Walker corner.
That requires taking a position. Something Mary doesn’t do until she’s told to