Sarah Palin Troopergate Report
Yeah, the headline makes about as much sense as this report just released finding that, while Governor Palin did not break the law, and she was perfectly within her right to fire Monegan, she some how abused her power in doing so. You can read more about the report here. To quote the report:
I find that, although Walt Monegan’s refusal to fire Trooper Michael Wooten was not the sole reason he was fired by Gov. Sarah Palin, it was likely a contributing factor to his termination as a commissioner of public safety. In spite of that, Governor Palin’s firing of Commissioner Monegan was a proper and lawful exercie of her constitutional and statutory authority to hire and fire executive branch department heads.
I’m pretty sure the second part of the “findings” negates the first part, but perhaps this is some liberal logic that just escapes me, kind of like how Obama is going to give us Universal Healthcare without raising our taxes. What is clear though, is that this “October Surprise” has no there there. If there was actually anything damning in this report, they would not have released it on a Friday evening, they would have waited until Monday. This is an old Clintonesque Friday document dump so the news cycle moves on without it.
I love how ABC News spins this story. Apparently Trooper Wooten and Palin’s sister were only involved in a “messy divorce.” Never mind the fact that Wooten threatened to kill Palin’s father, or that he tasered his step-son. Its just a “messy divorce”, nothing to see here folks. No media bias or anything. Does anyone even watch ABC any more?
October 10th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
KV, there is a decent chance it could come down to a tie (I wrote a lengthy explanation of possible ties and outcomes here, http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=2109). The most likely scenario being McCain flips NH and Obama flips CO. Man, I would need some serious popcorn if that happened.
October 10th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Okay, fair enough, but this is “rightpundits” after all, expect some hyperbole
October 10th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
I know the chances… it can also happen if Barrack gets NV and McCain sweeps all those states I mentioned.. SO if that happens the VP breaks ties in Senate.. and I assume there would be a tie.. so it comes down to Dick?? lol
October 10th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Ok sorry I read your article..I though it was the senate not House..
October 10th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Well, not exactly, the Senate only chooses the Vice-President, it is the House that chooses the President. So, Dick could possibly break a tie selecting Palin as VP, but not McCain as president. However, it could lead to the situation where Obama is elected by the House, but Palin would actually end up being his VP by being elected from the senate. Its a wacky system we have.
October 10th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
No worries, it is confusing. Also, there is no clear answer to what happens if we go past Jan. 20th with no president elected from the House. I’m guessing its revolution time by then.
October 10th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
It seems that this legislative panel did not have any jurisdiction over ethics codes. No violations were found. In fact the panel said that the “ethicsâ€? ruling was based on an assumption by Branchflower and not based on fact. The only thing that was true was Palin had every right to fire Walt Monegan. Isn’t the media fun.
October 10th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Someone say revolution ?
We gotta get this chick on our side.
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/che-date-a-revolutionary-dating-service/1040477253
October 11th, 2008 at 3:29 am
You’re all missing the point: it’s not about whether Palin did something wrong or not; it’s about whether the vague notion of some kind of wrongdoing can be made to stick in people’s minds. Republicans have been doing this for years, including in their campaign against Obama. You know, Obama associates with terrorists, he’s a socialist, a communist, an alien from Andromeda… anything that will turn at least a handful of voters against him. Well,this is the same. Nice to see that sometimes, the shoe is on the other foot. How does it feel, “my friends”?
Daniel
October 11th, 2008 at 6:35 am
Re:Saxifrage, did you even read the story you linked or did you just copy and paste it from mybarakobama.com?
*amused
Yes to the former, no to the latter. And the report details personal gain.
It’s a good read. You should try it.
Re: Billy, the second part of the statement explicitly states that Palin acted “lawfully�, yet he finds an ethical violation. So, in other words, even though she did nothing wrong, she did something wrong. I guess it is kind of like it depends on the definition of “is�. Liberal logic.
Mmm, nope.
October 11th, 2008 at 8:33 am
The trooper sounded too disturbed to be entrusted with the law in Alaska and to carry a gun. Tasering your son with a state issued weopon is totally irresponsible. etc etc. It should be the governour of a states right to terminate an state employee with this kind of personnel file when their ordinary supervisors fail in their duty. And it should be the governors perogative to terminate the supervisors when they don’t do their duty. They would need cause of course and documentation as to why to prevent arbitrary and capriousness. Nothing is perfect and the trooper had the bad luck of being on the outs personally with the governors family. What does he expect. Everyone has to be somewhat astute to the politics of life and the question the people of the state should ask, is this trooper fit for duty in their state? The governor is responsible to them to make that decision when other steps haven’t delivered a reasonable solution. I am sure cheney has ruined many a career as he doesn’t suffer fools at all. They may still be employed in some lost office somewhere, but their careers are ruined. I think the American people accept that and know there are political prices to pay in life that aren’t always enumerated. Ultimately, did Palin show good judgement as to who to entrust with the law in Alaska.? Sounds like it.