The republicans fanned the media storm on Palin for the first week. They desperately wanted to:
a) shine the light somewhere else, while they
b) assembled the team to quash any investigation in Alaska and than
c) be prepared for when the media ‘discovered’ Troopergate to say "mean, nasty, sexist media! Leave her alone and stop asking questions!
I’m really surprised that they haven’t hit them with this at all. For somebody who’s all about reform and transparency, Sarah Palin is resisting this investigation and is rumored to be using personal email to avoid putting things on the public record as governor.
This isn’t a quote attributable to anyone, I don’t think, but the fact of the matter is that a lot more people have been wildly successful in politics by underestimating the average person’s intelligence than overestimating it.
So how does the Obama campaign bring this scumbaggery to the forefront without making Sarah the headliner again? Obama does better when the issues are the focus, not that Alaskan dirtlicker.
I hope this stunt comes back to bite her in the ass. Given that no one would testify on her behalf, all they have to go on is the testimony of the victim and his corroborating evidence, so it’s more likely she’ll be found guilty.
They’ll call it partisan but it won’t matter. Another question mark is put up next to Sarah Palin’s name. That and the countless other reasons to be wary of her will add up.
Probably enough. Those who pay attention to these things can clearly see that the Palin Pods are struggling furiously to cover this shit up, stifle and delay. The true believers, the ones commited to seeing this as liberal media persecution won’t be swayed by any evidence, including an affidavit by God Almighty countersigned by Archangel Gabriel.
It could very well be the McCain strategy to get this campaign non-issue to gain some traction and distract the Obama engine from the issues. If he gets all embroiled in ‘look at what Sarah is doing’, it takes him away from the news cycle.
Harborwolf: the private email accounts are no rumor. Her immediate staff all have them, as well. This is on advice from the AG. Makes you wonder what they think they need to be hiding, dunnit?
We’ve been watching the first season of The Wire. Little did I know it would also serve as a primer on Alaskan politics.
(And I thought polar bear head. They’re not endangered you know. No Alaskan scientist thinks so - so long as you do a
s/endangerd/not endangered/
Breaking news on the local TV channel: Someone from the workman’s comp agency testified by phone that she was told by her boss that she had been advised by the Palin administration to deny Wooten’s comp claim. Wooten had already been drawing workman’s comp, but after this episode, his claim was denied.
I’m not at all clear why you term this a campaign non-issue. It’s very much an issue in my opinion.
Not so much for what Palin may or may not have done that may or may not be legal or if legal may or may not be moral. But rather that the moment she was picked for VP, the McCain campaign rolled in and announced that the investigation was unfair, that it was purely partisan - which is completely incompatible with the facts.
The people behind this are not Palin’s Alaska people (they are only getting in line); they are McCain’s campaign people. This is the way McCain wants his campaign to deal with it.
This is exactly what the Bush administration has done for the last eight years: accused inquiries of being only partisan politics; denied access to the people who were witnesses or actors in the matter being inquired on; defied subpoenas. In short, they have simply refused to be accountable.
It is absolutely an issue to ask if the United States wants another four years of unaccountability.
There’s yoiur problem, right there. It is true that the unimproved, outdated Constitution envisions three equal and mutually accountable branches of government. Mr Cheney astutely observed the fact of a fourth branch, the Vice-President, a fact that had eluded scholars for two centures and more!
The fourth branch does not participate in the mutual accountability of the “standard” branches of Constitution 1.0, it is accountable only to the Executive. (See the Principle of the Unitary Executive for further obfuscation…)
True enough. What I meant was that it was a local issue being handled locally, and if McCainCo hadn’t decided to put it on the national stage, it might have just been a footnote to the election and not gained the traction it now has. Now they’ve pissed off a bunch of people who are going to bulldog this thing to resolution and air all the dirt before the election. I’m not complaining, mind you.
What hasn’t yet been reported to any extent was what happened in the aftermath of the Monegan dismissal. Mooselini appointed Chuck Kopp, former police chief of Kenai, AK as his replacement. With her usual keen eye for personnel and her thorough vetting process, she managed to miss the fact that Kopp had been disciplined for sexual harassment in his old job (or she didn’t care). After going through all of the gyrations of denial when this came to light (when the victim went public with it), she had to dismiss the jerk, who walked away with a $10,000 severancewhen he signed a document agreeing he wouldn’t sue the state.
You have to ask the obvious question: Why would an “at-will” state government be worried about a lawsuit? The answer, of course, is that they would not be worried in the least. So why the payoff?