Guiltee-hee

[HarryKeogh]

It's amazing how McCain/Palin was the best ticket the GOP could come up with. Jeez.

What else is going to happen? Maybe we'll find out Palin's kids never even played hockey.

 

[EGarrett]

Good. It's time for that angry cynical old man and his insultingly picked, dishonest idiot of a running mate to lose and lose shamefully.

The American people are smarter than this crap he tried to pull, and I hope every politician learns this lesson for the future.

 

[HarryKeogh]

What do reasonable people think?

 

[Matthew Best]

That is a pretty interesting site.

I enjoyed this thread:

http://rr-bb.com/showthread.php?t=63363

 

[not_so_new]

That is a pretty interesting site.

I enjoyed this thread:

http://rr-bb.com/showthread.php?t=63363

You did?

Because that thread just bothers me on many many levels. There is nothing enjoyable about that thread at all.

To the OP. I think this should be a big deal but it isn't going to turn out that way. There is wiggle room in this report and, in classic Rove'ien style they will find a way to capitalize on it.

I don't think this is going to HELP McCain but it's not going to hurt much either. Net effect will be a slight bump down that will level out quickly. Call me cynical but that's how I read it.

 

[Oliver]

Surprisingly enough, Sarah doesn't confirm that she's a terrorist:
Palin denies state report she abused power

 

[davefoc]

Were the rapture ready links a joke or had they removed the thread already?

The link went to an error screen. I looked around a bit and didn't see any troopergate threads, but I didn't look very hard.

From Time magazine:

But the Branchflower report still makes for good reading, if only because it convincingly answers a question nobody had even thought to ask: Is the Palin administration shockingly amateurish? Yes, it is. Disturbingly so.

The 263 pages of the report show a coordinated application of pressure on Monegan so transparent and ham-handed that it was almost certain to end in public embarrassment for the governor. The only surprise is that Troopergate is national news, not just a sorry piece of political gristle to be chewed on by Alaska politicos over steaks at Anchorage's Club Paris.

A harsh verdict? Consider the report's findings. Not only did people at almost every level of the Palin administration engage in repeated inappropriate contact with Walt Monegan and other high-ranking officials at the Department of Public Safety, but Monegan and his peers constantly warned these Palin disciples that the contact was inappropriate and probably unlawful. Still, the emails and calls continued — in at least one instance on recorded state trooper phone lines.

OK, this looks pretty damning to me, but I decided to vote for Obama quite awhile ago and confirmation bias could be in play here.

Did any of the JREF McCain/Palin base find this a little offputting?

Were any of the JREF undecided voters leanings affected by this news?

Did any JREF Obama supporters think this was no big deal?

 

[Puppycow]

Palin denies abuse of power

The Alaska Governor tells the press as she boarded her campaign bus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Saturday “you got to read the report.”

“If you read the report, you will see that there was nothing unlawful or unethical about replacing a cabinet member.”

The report says Palin violated state ethics law by attempting to get her former brother-in-law fired from the state police.

This is like getting busted for shoplifting and bragging that you were cleared of armed robbery.

The ethics violation was not firing Monegan, but pressuring him and others to fire Wooten. The report states unambiguously that she violated the law and abused her power.

 

[Puppycow]

Just to highlight a couple things from the article that davefoc quoted:

What the Troopergate Report Really Says (TIME Magazine)

Friday's report from special investigator Stephen Branchflower to Alaska's Legislative Council answered some basic questions about the political and personal bog known as Troopergate.

Did Governor Sarah Palin abuse the power of her office in trying to get her former brother-in-law, State Trooper Mike Wooten, fired? Yes.

Was the refusal to fire Mike Wooten the reason Palin fired Commissioner of Public Safety Walt Monegan? Not exclusively, and it was within her rights as the states' chief executive to fire him for just about any reason, even without cause.

Those answers were expected, given that most of the best pieces of evidence have been part of the public record for months. The result is not a mortal wound to Palin, nor does it put her at much risk of being forced to leave the ticket her presence succeeded in energizing.

But the Branchflower report still makes for good reading, if only because it convincingly answers a question nobody had even thought to ask: Is the Palin administration shockingly amateurish? Yes, it is. Disturbingly so.

The 263 pages of the report show a co-ordinated application of pressure on Monegan so transparent and ham-handed that it was almost certain to end in public embarrassment for the governor. The only surprise is that Troopergate is national news, not just a sorry piece of political gristle to be chewed on by Alaska politicos over steaks at Anchorage's Club Paris.

A harsh verdict? Consider the report's findings. Not only did people at almost every level of the Palin administration engage in repeated inappropriate contact with Walt Monegan and other high-ranking officials at the Department of Public Safety, but Monegan and his peers constantly warned these Palin disciples that the contact was inappropriate and probably unlawful. Still, the emails and calls continued — in at least one instance on recorded state trooper phone lines.

The state's head of personnel, Annette Kreitzer, called Monegan and had to be warned that personnel issues were confidential. The state's attorney general, Talis Colberg, called Monegan and had to be reminded that the call was putting both men in legal jeopardy, should Wooten decide to sue. The governor's chief of staff met with Monegan and had to be reminded by Monegan that, "This conversation is discoverable ... You don't want Wooten to own your house, do you?"

Monegan consistently emerges as the adult in these conversations, while the Palin camp displays a childish impetuousness and sense of entitlement.

 

[corplinx]

Finding 1 is that Palin violated a vague platitude in the law. The evidence for this is that her inaction amounted to action. I'm not kidding, read the report.

Finding 2 is that she acted legally and within her power as governor.

Does anyone feel like its the Florida supreme court all over again?

 

[MaGZ]

I did not read the report; just listened to the synopsis on a few of the programs on MSNBC. My response is “Big Deal”. Does anyone here think this will lose supporters for the Palin ticket (that's what you have to call it now since McCain is a zero to conservatives) after this comes out? If anything it will rile her base all the more. Just listen to the liberal talking heads on the news programs. You would think this is the political crime of the century.

 

[corplinx]

Well if you don't want to bother reading it, I won't bother finishing to read your post. I'll just listen to what MSNBC has to say about it.

 

[davefoc]

Finding 1 is that Palin violated a vague platitude in the law. The evidence for this is that her inaction amounted to action. I'm not kidding, read the report.

Finding 2 is that she acted legally and within her power as governor.

Does anyone feel like its the Florida supreme court all over again?

I think you're spinning a bit on Finding 1. I heard a Republican spinster make the same claim but the actual finding is that she didn't do anything while her husband ran amok. I don't think that's a vaguely defined idea nor is standing idly by while one's agent runs amok exculpatory.

It is very hard for me to understand exactly what I might have thought about all this if I was still the dedicated Republican voter that I was a few years ago but I think I would have found it very troubling. I see dealing appropriately with conflict of interest as one of the most important responsibilities of anybody that is in a position of power and Palin's actions on this clearly indicate that she sees the use of government by political leaders to promote personal agendas as appropriate. That seems like a very problematic view in a candidate to me.

 

[corplinx]

I think you're spinning a bit on Finding 1.

I'm not spinning at all. I read the report last night. Do you know they basically scanned the report into PDF? So you can't just copy and paste the text. But yes, action through inaction to violate the spirit of the law. That's essentially it. Followed by stating she acted legally and in her power.

Ghosts of the 2000 Florida supreme court are back.

 

[davefoc]

I'm not spinning at all. I read the report last night. Do you know they basically scanned the report into PDF? So you can't just copy and paste the text. But yes, action through inaction to violate the spirit of the law. That's essentially it. Followed by stating she acted legally and in her power.

Ghosts of the 2000 Florida supreme court are back.

OK, I think you're spinning but I'm ready to move on. I also don't quite get the reference to the 2000 Florida supreme court case. But I do get the idea that both situations involved political disputes and lawyers.

On a slightly different subject I was curious how the FoxNews website was handling this. I couldn't find any reference to the story on the FoxNews site. It turns out that somebody else was curious about this also and went to the trouble of checking on how Fox handled the story after its release. It turned out they did run the story but gradually down played it until at 4:24 this afternoon they had removed the story entirely.
http://www.newshounds.us/2008/10/11...ing_news_to_a_one_liner_in_under_20_hours.php

I checked a variety of other news sites to see how they were handling the story. Every one of them had it on their home page. The promenance varied from site to site and the emphasis of the headline varied. The LA Times headline listed Todd Palin as the recipient of most of the report's criticism.

 

[Tricky]

I did not read the report; just listened to the synopsis on a few of the programs on MSNBC. My response is “Big Deal”. Does anyone here think this will lose supporters for the Palin ticket (that's what you have to call it now since McCain is a zero to conservatives) after this comes out? If anything it will rile her base all the more. Just listen to the liberal talking heads on the news programs. You would think this is the political crime of the century.

It will lose some "undecideds", and that is more important to the McCain/Palin campaign right now than anything else. Obviously it is not going to affect her hard-core supporters. Nothing would.

 

[davefoc]

It will lose some "undecideds", and that is more important to the McCain/Palin campaign right now than anything else. Obviously it is not going to affect her hard-core supporters. Nothing would.

Care to venture a quantitative estimate?

 

[Puppycow]

Finding 1 is that Palin violated a vague platitude in the law. The evidence for this is that her inaction amounted to action. I'm not kidding, read the report.

Finding 2 is that she acted legally and within her power as governor.

Does anyone feel like its the Florida supreme court all over again?

So you are saying that she should be given a pass because her husband is the one who did it and she didn't stop him?

Do you think it is OK for public officials to use their office to advance private agendas? Because that's the "vague platitude." One example of that might be using a public office to steer lucrative contracts to family members or cronies.

 

[Matthew Best]

Were the rapture ready links a joke or had they removed the thread already?

The link went to an error screen. I looked around a bit and didn't see any troopergate threads, but I didn't look very hard.

It wasn't a joke, but it does look like the admins have removed the threads. It had a few people saying things like they hoped their children would be taken by the Lord before Obama came to power and the like. I suppose I shouldn't have found it amusing but if you didn't laugh you'd have to cry.

 

[Meadmaker]

I'm not spinning at all. I read the report last night. Do you know they basically scanned the report into PDF? So you can't just copy and paste the text. But yes, action through inaction to violate the spirit of the law. That's essentially it. Followed by stating she acted legally and in her power.

I did find the non-searchable, non pasteable format curious.

I also agree with your analysis, sort of. On the core of the charges, it said she acted legally in firing Monegan, which was the only really serious charge.

Then there was this stuff about advancing a personal agenda. Whatever. If we fired every politician who advanced a personal agenda, we wouldn't have any left. Hmmm..... :