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Talk:Joe Miller (Alaska politician)/Archive 2

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Archive 1Archive 2

West Point Record Unsubstantiated

The article states that Joe Miller graduated "with honors" from West Point, which is an unsubstantiated claim from his campaign website (www.joemiller.us). The website does not list the specific name of the honor(s). West Point does not use a Latin honors system, but the following four awards would have been considered honors at the time of Miller's graduation:

  • Distinguished cadet award (i.e., star) -- awarded in 1989 to the cadets with the top 5% of academic GPAs
  • Dean's List -- awarded in 1989 to cadets with an academic GPA of 3.0 or higher
  • Superintendent's Award for Achievement (i.e., wreath) -- awarded in 1989 to cadets with a GPA of 3.0 or higher in all three areas of evaluation (academic, military, physical)
  • Superintendent's Award for Excellence (i.e., star-wreath) -- awarded in 1989 to cadets in the top 5% of academic GPAs and also with GPAs of 3.0 or higher in the military and physical evaluation areas

Miller's claim would be duplicitous if:

  • Miller earned any of the four awards above in his final year at USMA rather than earning it for his performance over all four years; or
  • Miller is referring to any other honor (for example, a department-level academic award, the Indoor Obstacle Course Test Tab, or the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) badge) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Factcheck2101 (talk • contribs) 06:24, 12 November 2010 (UTC)
A NYT article that is now being used as a reference says he graduated from West Point with honors, so the statement is backed by a RS, and not just his campaign website.--KeptSouth (talk) 20:55, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

I made an inquiry of West Point weeks before the election about Miller's alleged academic record. I never received a response. Activist (talk) 14:49, 17 April 2011 (UTC)

Icon for bronze star?

I don't know what to think about this - it certainly draws attention to his military award, but is it undue emphasis to put the icon in the infobox? I notice that other bios, (with the exception of Congressional Medal of Honor winners), do not include medal icons in the info boxes e.g. Charles Robb, Charles Rangel, John Kerry, John McCain. So, I am wondering whether others here think the Bronze Star icon should be removed from Miller's infobox. Thanks. - KeptSouth (talk) 11:38, 18 November 2010 (UTC)

After 5 days, I still don't see any objections here, so I will remove the icon. - KeptSouth (talk) 13:38, 23 November 2010 (UTC)

Miller's Bronze Star was for "meritorious service," in the First Gulf "War." The war was actually an unrelenting, long term air attack on Saddam's troops, with subsequent extremely limited engagements on the ground while pursuing fleeing Iraqis. Miller, if he got anywhere near action, was secure in a tank that was impervious to any weapons possessed by the routed Iraqis. Three of the four military branches took more casualties from friendly fire than from the Iraqis. The award had reached the nadir of its cheapening, started when Reagan gave them out like MRE's in the invasion of Grenada.

"Over the years, though, "Bronze Star creep" has set in, he and other critics say. In the 1991 Persian Gulf War, for example, more than 27,000 meritorious Bronze Stars were awarded -- nearly as many as were handed out during the Korean War and significantly more than in the ongoing Iraq operation, which has been longer and bloodier than the first Iraq engagement." http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-12455.html

Miller touted his Bronze Star, implying that it had been awarded for bravery. I added the designation "Meritorious Service," to the description on his Wikipedia page. Activist (talk) 15:06, 17 April 2011 (UTC)

Removing opinion piece as a source

I am removing a Weekly Standard article Who is Joe Miller as an inline source because although it does contain some factual information, it is in actuality, an opinion piece which is more of a candidate endorsement than a reliable source for factual information about Miller. For example, Miller is described as having a "sterling resume", as being the "superior candidate" to Murkowski "based on merit alone", as having "superior credentials", and finally, as being "more qualified". Some of the facts related are imprecise and vague, such as the statement that the Tea Party Express put 500,000 into the primary. This article also quotes the Red State blog which is not a RS. Nothing is lost by removing the Weekly Standard article as a reference; the facts it is being used as a source for -- Miller's non-denominational Christianity and his run as a Tea Party candidate -- are found in more reliable sources. I am putting the cite to this Weekly Standard article into the External links section for now KeptSouth (talk) 09:07, 27 November 2010 (UTC)

Recent changes to lead

At this point the lead is inadequate; it does not describe major points per WP:LEAD. [1] It is so brief and conclusory that it is slightly misleading. A confusing sentence literally indicates Miler's opponent lost the primary in the general election. It says Miller continued to battle on "principle" but the principle worth fighting for is not defined. The edit summary for the changes says "two duplications" are being removed - I think the editor meant to remove one of them, but actually he or she created a duplication of material in the Election result section. Obviously the objective of the edit was to shorten the prior version and add new information, I completely agree with that, but will make some changes and re-write the lead and possibly the election results section. - KeptSouth (talk) 19:56, 30 November 2010 (UTC)

Now the lead appears to be too long, and overly-specific. Perhaps the second paragraph should be moved to the "Election Result" section, or start a new subsection? TheLabryinth (talk) 15:57, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

His appeal date is due

"The judge is expected to rule on the case on December 10, and will allow a brief stay so that either side can appeal to the Alaska Supreme Court. [13]" Um, it is past December 10, but I can't find anything stating the outcome of his appeal. Perhaps someone who know the outcome of that appeal could add to the article it's impact. J390 (talk) 00:36, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

The section has been updated to reflect his losses in the Alaska Supreme Court and the Federal Court. Miller withdrew his appeal on New Years Eve, as had Senator Murkowski's swearing in been delayed any longer, Alaska would have lost her seniority in the Senate. Activist (talk) 15:13, 17 April 2011 (UTC)

Ties to militias

Would be good to document Miller's ties to Alaska militias and various extremists such as Norm Olsen. Black Max (talk) 05:31, 3 February 2011 (UTC) Black Max

This may be more germane than you suspect. "Militia" members in the Fairbanks area were arrested on March 10th, 2010. It would appear that Miller's thuggish "security" chief, Bill Fulton, either supplied the militia with illegal weapons or acted as a federal informant to incriminate them. He disappeared the day of the arrest and signed over his business and properties to an employee through his lawyer, ex-NRA VP, failed nominee for AK Attorney General Wayne Anthony Ross. http://www.adn.com/2011/04/10/v-printer/1803244/surplus-dealer-disappears-after.html Activist (talk) 14:46, 17 April 2011 (UTC)

Archive 1Archive 2

Libertarian?

I'm not sure the info box should identify Miller as a libertarian. While he did run as their candidate it was clearly a flag of convenience for him, he has never indicated support for the party's platform and supported Trump for president. Thoughts? Beeblebrox (talk) 05:37, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

Joe Miller (Alaska politician)/Archive 2
Personal details
Political partyRepublican
Other political
affiliations		Libertarian
(2016 campaign)
The example at right shows that {{Infobox officeholder}} is equipped to accommodate such a scenario through the use of the |otherparty= parameter. This is hardly the only political biography where such a problem has occurred. The editors responsible for the problem are likely either not up to speed on the existence of that parameter, could care less and are strictly interested in making the article conform to current circumstances, or both. To me, a bigger problem exists in political biographies with using |party= for independents, as it implies that "Independent" is a political party when in fact the term denotes the absence of a political party. RadioKAOS / Talk to me, Billy / Transmissions 00:34, 1 December 2016 (UTC)
This is what happens when you spen almost all of your time doing admin work, I had no idea that was an option. I think that is the perfect solution for this case. Beeblebrox (talk) 04:16, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

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Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. Community Tech bot (talk) 19:36, 19 June 2018 (UTC)

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