Smearing Palin [Updated]
By Larry Johnson on August 30, 2008 at 10:01 PM in Barack Obama, Corruption, Current Affairs, Sarah Palin
Boy, that 44 year old Governor is scaring the hell out of the Democrats. How else to explain the wild and misleading rumors being put out against her? Let’s start with the nonsense that she’s going to be impeached for trying to get her brother-in-law, an Alaskan State Trooper fired. As Susan noted below the Mata Harley at Flopping Aces has the timeline of the events. (And Memeorandum has a bunch of links.)
Palin stands accused of firing trying to remove Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan allegedly as retaliation for Monegan’s foot dragging in firing Palin’s former brother-in-law, Alaska State Trooper Mike Wooten, who had been involved in a nasty divorce and child custody battle with Palin’s sister. But the allegation does not hold up to the facts. Let’s start with the fact that the investigation of Wooten, which led to his dismissal suspension , started before Sara Palin was elected Governor. And this is not just some messy case of he said/she said. Turns out the Wooten was an out of control law enforcement officer. An investigation of his conduct concluded that he was guilty of the following:
Three incidents of Unbecoming Conduct
Three incidents of Personal Misconduct
One incident of Failure to Perform Duties Properly, Use of Government Property
Two incidents of Conformance to Laws
One incident Use of Alcohol
One incident Operation to Be Prudent and Lawful
These violations included using a taser on his ten-year old stepson, shooting a cow moose without a valid permit, and drinking beer while operating a marked Alaska State Trooper vehicle. (The dude sounds like the cop Seth Rogen played in Superbad.)
Some Dems as well as Palin’s Republican foes in Alaska want you to believe that poor officer Wooten was booted faces disciplinary action by the State Police because he was cheating on his wife, the Governor’s sister, and she is a vicious, vindictive bitch. But no one tells you that the guys pushing this story line–Walt Monegan and Andrew Halcro–have political axes to grind. Halcro, for example, is a Republican but ran as an independent against Palin. And Palin sought to remove Monegan for the following reasons:
- He was not making headway on achieving key goals such as resolving the trooper shortfall.
- He was not making satisfactory progress on resolving alcohol issues.
- He was not a team player in regards to budget issues.
The more I learn about Palin the more I like her. She may be far more conservative than me on social issues, but she is a person of courage and principle. Alaska is to Republicans what Louisiana is to Democrats–it is a cesspool of corruption. Palin took on the Republican establishment. She got a nice appointment on a public board and could have made some extra cash if she just kept her mouth shut and went along with the insider corruption. Instead she resigned in protest as the Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission charging fellow Alaskan Republican leaders, who ignored her whistleblowing complaints of legal violations and conflicts of interest, with lack of ethics. Yeah, that’s a sure path to political success. Just ask Sibel Edmonds and other whistleblowers how much “love” they get from cronies accused of raiding the cookie jar.
But she did not stop there. Next she went after fellow Oil & Gas commissioner, Randy Ruedrich, who also happened to be the state Republican Party’s chairman, for doing work for the party on public time and supplying a lobbyist with a sensitive e-mail. Goddamn her. Doesn’t she realize how this game of back scratching is supposed to be played? Speaking of audacity, she then filed formal complaints against both Ruedrich and former Alaska Attorney General Gregg Renkes, who subsequently form the Oil and Gas Commission. Randy Ruedrich also paid a record $12,000 fine, which I suspect left him a bit grumpy.
Unlike George Bush, who sought out a war but kept his daughters at home, Sara Palin does not seek to use her position to protect her son. He’s in the Army on the way to Iraq. She says she is pro-life and, when informed that she is pregnant with a Down’s syndrome baby, she carries the boy to term.
These incidents, taken together, tell us something very important about this woman–she talks the talk and walks the walk. She does not ask other people to do what she will not do herself. I challenge anyone to cite just one anecdote about Barack Obama that exhibits this kind of character and courage. Just one.
This is the kind of person we want and need in public office. Hell, I want her as President. McCain can learn a thing or two from her.
Here’s a fun site offering a comparison between Palin and Obama:
by Ronald Scott
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