Hardly surprising.

Liberals, "progressives," Dems have got to stop this obsessive hope for a "gotcha" moment, no matter how minor, beside the point, of little interest to or impact on most people, and/or the magical character-destroying scandal.

It's the economy, stupid.

Not only is that the most important issue right now -- it is the Democrats' strength. Use it.

Many in the Obama camp seem to have decided that the only way to beat a Republican is to run like a Republican. To win, they think, everyone in the beauty contest has to demonstrate the same "talent" rather than demonstrating how really good they are at their own thing.

What I have gathered from this story is not going to bring Palin down.  Unless there is more to this story or a pattern of abuse of power, I don't see any real political fall out.

she fires the librarian because she refuses to aid Palin in censoring books; then she fires Monegan for reasons having nothing to do with his fitness or performance.

She didn't fire the librarian - she asked for the librarian's resignation, and then the next day rescinded the request (which she had every right to do as the librarian was an appointee who served at the pleasure of the mayor).  It had nothing to do with censoring books - that was a rhetorical question asked of the librarian to see how she would respond.  Even if Palin wanted to ban books, no books were ever removed from the library, so it's a moot point.

SEPTEMBER 06, 2008

Gunning to Lose
Last evening, I listened to a local radio talk show here in Los Angeles. The show has a conservative orientation, but it's not what I would call "hard" right, like Limbaugh or Hannity. It's moderately conservative, and the commentary falls well within the boundaries of sanity most of the time (perhaps generous boundaries at moments, but it is not cringe-inducing as a rule). The show offers views that I almost always disagree with, but they are views well within accepted and acceptable American political opinion.

The cohosts (a man and a woman) were discussing Sarah Palin, the major topic on every such show these days, right and left. The woman said she hadn't been certain she was going to vote in November; neither candidate excited her that much. But, she continued, after seeing and hearing how many Democrats and liberals treated Palin, she was now determined to vote. I didn't take down exactly what she said, but it went pretty much like this: "After hearing these awful people go after Sarah Palin, I am definitely voting in November. I'm going to vote against Keith Olbermann."

I suspect there are quite a number of women (and probably men) who are reacting in this manner to the sickening spectacle provided by many Democrats and liberals -- the same Democrats and liberals who so insistently declare their own dedication to "pluralism" and "diversity."

And

Beyond the misogyny that the candidacies of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin have revealed, a hatred which is staggering in its intensity, what most strikes me is the absolute tone-deafness of many Democrats. They appear to be completely incapable of grasping that people actually exist -- that there are human beings who lead happy, successful lives -- who hold views diametrically opposed to their own, and that such people are disgusted by the attacks on Palin that do not address her political views and policy prescriptions, but focus on the fact that Sarah Palin is not "the right kind" of woman. Such Democrats and their supporters convey one message above all: not content to target their criticisms on Palin's views about the proper role of government, they tell us that Palin is not "our kind of people." More than that, by reducing Palin to certain biological attributes and then heaping scorn and contempt on the attributes they have isolated, they announce that Palin and others like her are not fully human, not in the way the Democrats themselves are. Palin is one of them. Whenever this kind of perspective makes itself known, you can be certain of one thing: nothing good is going to happen to them.

And then the same Democrats are astonished that voters don't intend to support them. "Don't they know what's good for them?", they demand to know -- "good for them" according to the Democrats. So much for pluralism and diversity.

And how do you defend the firing of the public safety commissioner who did nothing more than refuse to reopen the disciplinary hearings after they were concluded?

Irrespective of what Trooper Wooten did, Governor Palin clearly acted improperly in firing the public safety commissioner, lied about it, and is now obstructing the investigation.

In 2000 she wrote Wooten a glowing letter of recommendation. She changed her tune during the divorce battle.

If Wooten was such a terrible trooper, he should have been fired. But he wasn't. He got a ten day suspension shaved down to five. This was before Palin became Governor. Once she became Governor, that wasn't enough.

And if the facts are as Palin says, that she didn't fire Monegan because he wouldn't/couldn't fire Wooten, then why all the stonewalling? As the Anchorage Daily News pointed out, before Palin was nominated for VP, she was all for the investigation. If anything, she and her aides should be pushing to resolve this thing quickly, and give their full co-operation. Instead, she lawyered up, and her aides who formerly said they would co-operate as well.

Honestly, Palin would get a hell of a lot more sympathy if she just admitted, yeah, I tried to get Wooten fired, I honestly thought he was a danger to me and my family, but I went about it the wrong way.

his actions aren't the issue, gov. palin's are. her's, and her family's and members of her staff's actions, with respect to trooper wooten, are what's being investigated by the alaska state legislature. let's please not forget that. she currently has a cloud hanging over her head, due to what appears to be a clear conflict of interest.

It may be that Palin's office exerted influence inappropriately, but pushing it is not going to make the Democrats looks good. The Obama campaign is already operating under a dark cloud of sexism because of the way they treated Hillary.

Palin becomes Governor, still wants Wooten out. Okay, bring NEW charges against him, not the old killing the moose with an illegal permit (cos Wooten used the father-in-law's permit and Sarah and her family also ate the moose) and the Taser incident.

Instead, Palin, through her aides, make calls to Monegan (along with e-mails) putting pressure on him to fire Wooten based on the old allegations. And Todd Palin is cc'd on all these e-mails. Monegan refused. He's terminated. No severance package.

Guy who replaces Monegan leaves after two weeks due to sexual harrassment allegations. He gets a $10,000 severance package.

Outcry ensues, investigation is launched.

Before nomination, Palin promises full co-operation.

And Josh and others have wasted a valuable week going after it. Early voting in Ohio begins Set. 30.  

"It's getting more and more difficult to believe that Governor Sarah Palin's mishandling of Troopergate is attributable only to incompetence. On September 6th, 2008, KTUU Channel 2 reported flat out that Governor Palin, for all intents and purposes, "bought" the resignation of former Public Safety Commissioner Charles "Chuck" Kopp for $10,000.

KTUU confirms that a $10,000 severance payment made to Chuck Kopp concomitant with his resignation was accompanied with a specific promise from Kopp not to sue. Even though Kopp had not threatened to sue, the Palin Administration had Kopp sign the release anyway. Commissioners are normally considered "at will" employees, and generally receive no severance pay. The Department of Administration says that money for the payment will come from the office of the governor."

"In her public explanation, Governor Palin said she decided to toss in the severance pay in addition to the salary Kopp received during his short tenure to compensate for the "abuse" he'd been put through.