The McCain team response to the determination that Sarah Palin abused her office in TrooperGate is one for the ages:
Today’s report shows that the Governor acted within her proper and lawful authority in the reassignment of Walt Monegan. The report also illustrates what we’ve known all along: this was a partisan led inquiry run by Obama supporters and the Palins were completely justified in their concern regarding Trooper Wooten given his violent and rogue behavior. Lacking evidence to support the original Monegan allegation, the Legislative Council seriously overreached, making a tortured argument to find fault without basis in law or fact. The Governor is looking forward to cooperating with the Personnel Board and continuing her conversation with the American people regarding the important issues facing the country.
The other finding, again:
For the reasons explained in section IV of this report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) provides
The legislature reaffirms that each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust.
That was released by a unanimous vote of 12-0, with the group composed of eight Republicans and four Democrats. Two Republicans were absent, or it would have been 14-0 with ten Republicans.
In other words, they can’t read, because the report actually finds she abused her office. They can not count, because eight Republicans and four Democrats is most assuredly not a “partisan” inquiry. And finally, those important issues she wants to get back to, the ones she spent the entire week on up until now? That would be Bill Ayers, and McCain just put the kaibosh on that earlier today because the pitchforks were starting to scare him.
The original mavericks.
Comrade Jake
Heh. I’m enjoying watching these fuckers squirm.
Grover StL
God damn DFH partisan Alaskan Republicans. Shows you the wide stroke of that terrist Obama and his terrist posse extends.
Josh E.
Eh, you and your facts. Hockey moms make their own facts.
Isn’t it "kibosh"?
The Moar You Know
Oh, they can read and count, have no fear about that. What would they do at this point, in all seriousness – acknowledge the truth?
No, they treated it the only way they could. It doesn’t really matter anymore – barring an asteroid hitting America, Barack Obama is going to be the next President of the United States. And may God help him, because he is inheriting one big fucking mess.
Genine
Education isn’t part of their agenda… and such mistakes are a result.
But I disagree that McCain stopped because the pitchforks scared him. It was combination of it not working and being slammed for it- even from the right.
The funny thing is he was booed for calling Obama a decent man and they were speculating that McCain might lost support among Hannity and some others of his ilk. He isn’t going to pick that up with independents.
He really screwed himself. And with a barbed dildo at that.
ShiddyButt
" They can not count, because eight Republicans and four Democrats is most assuredly not a “partisan” inquiry"
A 2 to 1 ratio of Repugs to Dems is most certainly partisan. Just not on the Dems side.
Comrade Jake
I’ve reached the point of cynicism with Team McCain where part of me wonders if the woman who said "I’m afraid of Barack Obama. I think he’s an Arab terrorist" wasn’t a campaign plant. I just can’t believe someone would say that in public.
The Moar You Know
I want to know who leaned on McCain today. His little walkback act wasn’t of his doing – it’s obvious from his past demeanor that he’d help string Obama up himself if he could only get his hands over his head – so the question.
Who told McCain to walk the crowds back from Lynchville and why?
John Cole
@The Moar You Know: If I had to guess, I would say his pollsters leaned on him.
Lawrence O’Donnell predicted the other night that he is super impatient and would drop this as soon as he saw polling that it was not working. He probably saw his negatives plummet while the race did not change.
San
Yeah, let them get back to issues. Every time they do (Ayers! Bloodlines! Terrorist!) I go to ActBlue and donate.
Oh, and yesterday I told the local campaign office that I am taking the Election Day off and will work as a chauffeur all day if needed. And I signed up to provide lodging to the out-of-state volunteers.
Going canvassing tomorrow.
Also.
The Bag of Health and Politics
If the McCain campaign wasn’t so dangerous–and I think stoking up the hate is dangerous–it’d be down right funny. Funnier than Saturday Night Live…
Phil
It’s surreal how very hard McCain screwed the pooch when he chose this shallow individual as his running mate.
Soylent Green
next post
Soylent Green
Maybe on behalf of their coworkers trying to protect Obama, his Secret Service guys said they might be coming down with a little blue flu if he didn’t cut that shit out.
Comrade Jake
A little trivia for the BJ fans. Here are the SS codenames for the two candidates and their wives:
Barack Obama: Renegade
Michelle Obama: Renaissance
John McCain: Phoenix
Cindy McCain: Parasol
boonagain
That’s what I want to know, too. I thought it was obvious, by his body language and general demeanor, that he was saying the rollbacks under duress.
cain
His wife or maybe his mother?
cain
Ned R.
@Soylent Green: I’ve been wondering all week if/when the Secret Service were going to pull him and the campaign aside and say "Look…"
The reality of it probably covers a lot of bases — whatever sense of honor he has (no matter how compromised — else why kick against it so?), polling disasters, unsubtle hints from major GOP power players, possibly the Secret Service. However calculated, there it is.
I will say this, though — if we didn’t live in an YouTube world, most of this would have been secondhand information at best regarding these rallies. Pool reports and the like. TV coverage without instant Net sharing only goes so far. Where we are in the historical moment may be a little stressful, to say the least, but there are upsides.
TheFountainHead
I can’t put my finger on why, but that makes my night.
Zuzu's Petals
Uh, no. Check out page 67, especially the conclusion:
AkaDad
This was a shameless witch hunt organized and orchestrated by Obama, ACORN, William Ayers, and NAMBLA.
Comrade Warren Terra
The statement from the Palin flack can be translated as:
In other news, police are asking that anyone who might be one of the last people to see Irony alive to contact them and possibly assist them with their inquiries. According to our current information, Irony was last seen wearing a moose suit and wandering the Fairbanks suburbs.
plus C
Well, see, the two missing republicans were the only real republicans on the council, the other eight were moles planted by the Obama campaign during the conveniently overlooked "before he was born" stage of the campaign.
When the mainstream media claimed Obama had a double digit lead even though everyone knows the opposite is true, that was the signal for the operatives to go into action. They arranged for Putin’s spies (who were disguised as moose) to dispose of the two real republicans, so that they could unleash the coup de gras: a report that said Sarah Palin abused her power, yet did not recommend any disciplinary action.
PaulW
Of course the official report is partisan. It:
a) doesn’t include graphic descriptions of Bill Clinton getting blowjobs, and
b) anything that accuses a Republican of illegal behavior is clearly biased.
by the by, I just wanna celebrate tonight, because I got my first anonymous troll on my political blog! Sure, all it did was call me retarded for wanting to see the stock market crash to zero, but man… MY FIRST TROLL! I’m SO THRILLED! :)
Oh, I did go in and change the setting on the blog to remove Anonymous posting options. If you wanna post, you gotta be brave enough to leave an ID.
Punchy
The mere fact that there were Democrats involved at all just proves that this was a partisan, politically-biased joke. The other report will exonerate her.
Some Guy
Monegan once had coffee with Bill Ayers. He had to be fired to protect this great nation we so love.
PaulW
Obama is renegade?! Well, that explains the cowboy hat…
Comrade Jake
Michelle’s codename says it all, if you ask me.
p.a.
Forgot corrupt, or does that go without saying anymore? Maybe you should copyright the phrase John; might be useful and profitable for their epitaph- although they came back from Hoover and Watergate; those suckers are tough (although if anyone can kill a century-old institution like the GOP, my $$$ is on GWB). A few years in the wilderness and they’ll be back- there’s always a sufficient reservoir of stupid to tap into.
AkaDad
[Insert Baghdad Bob pic here]
Dennis - SGMM
Someone who remembers what the Pol Pot unleashed in Kampuchea?
Comrade Jake
This is Renegade.
TheFountainHead
I think you’re right. It’s perfect, for her and for the country.
ComradeJ. Michael Neal
Well, we all know from the bipartisan membership of the board who worked with William Ayers, all of the Republicans in
ChicagoAlaska are actually leftists.Stevenovitch
As someone who isn’t a master of nuance I’m interested in the finer points of the difference between a rogue and a maverick.
Comrade Jake
"I like John McCain he looks like a guy who falls asleep testing a mattress at Macys"
-Letterman, just now
TheFountainHead
Letterman has earned regular viewing from me this year.
Dennis - SGMM
John, Sarah, it’s "underestimating the intelligence" not, "insulting the intelligence."
Palin/McCain are making idiocy seem like a Bad Thing.
Michael Drake
To borrow from myself:
jcricket
Once again, this ruling proves that the Peak Schadenfreude theory is a bunch of liberal claptrap.
Seriously – the report couldn’t be more clear. And short of Palin clicking "Sarah Palin would like to recall this report implicating her in a crime" I don’t think the public’s gonna buy her spin.
What’s great is that after McCain loses, Palin’s still gonna pay dividends as the punishments get doled out for the Monegan firing and her many other serious violations. There’s the tax problem, this firing, the private email accounts, etc.
If we can’t take down Bush/Cheney, this is the next best thing.
kommrade jakevich
Man, they are one pathetic bunch of mo-fos. Not only could McPOW’s crack squad of lawyers not rein this in, but I bet McPOW’s crack squad of lawyers contributed directly to the unanimous vote. Too bad She Who Must Be Obeyed didn’t warn them the sudden influx of "Southerners," would piss off everyone.
Now they’re reduced to the tried and tired tactic of screaming everyone who disagrees wants the terrorists to win.
I can’t keep eating all this popcorn. I’m switching to nachos for a while.
Comrade Nixon Hailfire Palin
I would give a lot to know what names the Secret Service has come up with for the Palin clan. They can always come here for suggestions.
jcricket
Let’s call it the Palin gambit.
Or the Cheney manuver.
Kobayashi Palin Maru?
Comrade Jake
Sarah is
DenialDenali. Todd is Driller (heh).Biden is Celtic.
AkaDad
Who is the real Sarah Palin?
jcricket
You think? She already had a fractured relationship with some of the GOP leadership in the state. I bet a bunch of carpet-baggers coming in and her sudden refusal to cooperate won over lots of friends :-)
I want to see Palin eventually recalled by her own GOP buddies after she loses. Not sure if that’s possible – but it would be great :-)
kommrade jakevich
I wonder if McPOW’s name has anything to do with his experience in Vietnam.
I wonder what they call imPalin and First Dude. Scylla & Snowman?
ComradeJ. Michael Neal
For five and a half years, John McCain didn’t have any ethics.
Comrade Nixon Hailfire Palin
Thanks. Those could come in handy if they have more kids.
Comrade Darkness
Queenbee was taken, eh?
Will Hunting
One drawback to this political meltdown by Team McCain:
It is concurrent with (if not directly influenced by) the market meltdown. The two combined will lead many in the Republican party to conclude not that their ideology is bankrupt, but rather that they were the victims of circumstance. I don’t think the good folks at NRO, the RNC, Red State etc. are the soul-searching types. They will just convince themselves that they got jobbed this year by a bad economy, an unpopular war (and sitting President), the media and an incompetent McCain who was not their pick anyway.
Too bad. I think they are more likely now to have the cover to shift blame and continue right on bomb throwing during Obama’s first term (I realize they would have shifted the blame anyway without the cover, but to less effect).
These is a small quibble I guess!
Question: What will fall more in value next week? A basket of stocks from the S&P 500 or the McCain campaign?
Brian J
I just got home now and have yet to make my rounds to see any updates my favorite blogs, so I am not sure if what you say is really accurate. At this point, I’m not sure I believe the idea that he was scared by the irate and disruptive individuals. My guess is, he felt it wasn’t working, because Obama’s numbers hadn’t changed much, if at all, and he ditched the strategy. I’d like to believe because it’s he realized that he was pouring grease on a slippery slope, but he’s done very little in this campaign that would make me give him the benefit of the doubt.
Comrade Darkness
You’re a cheap date. I wouldn’t settle for less than Rove going down in Pflames. And then the punishment would be relocation for five years to Baghdad. Sadr City, not the Green Zone. He can build schools. By hand. Do something useful for once in his life.
That would be the next best thing.
Zuzu's Petals
@Michael Drake:
Van Flein is full of bull puckey. Read pages 65 and 66 of the report, where Branchflower sets out the statutory definitions and explains that the prohibited "benefit" for these purposes "is very broadly defined, and includes anything that is to the person’s advantage or personal self-interest."
And Branchflower concludes that Sarah certainly did operate to her personal advantage and self-interest in this regard.
Keith
Bu-bu-but this story is not currently on Drudge. Therefore, it must not be newsworthy.
And now I must shower with a Brillo pad to remove the stain on my soul for saying that.
ppcli
:
Also I doubt that the legislators were too impressed when they showed up for the meeting and were greeted by a gaggle of people in clown suits handing out kangaroo balloons, obviously orchestrated by the McCain campaign. If I were in their shoes, I would be voting to impeach Palin just for that reason alone. Surprisingly, most people don’t like being played for suckers. When Palin returns to Alaska, tail between her legs, I dare say she’ll be astonished at just how many bridges she has burned. (Or perhaps I should say: at how many bridges have become bridges to nowhere.)
AnotherBruce
"I would give a lot to know what names the Secret Service has come up with for the Palin clan. They can always come here for suggestions."
Milf,Sump,Droog,Pillow,Trog,Bristle,Meth.
Redleg
Palin just hopes that the rubes supporting her can’t count up the 8 Republicants and the 4 Dems who found she abused her power.
Comrade Stuck
The true believers will never stop. They will never change. They will never admit they are wrong and will foist their ideology on America with every last ounce of energy they can muster. And their ideology is all they have. These are people who are wired in such a way that brings them into perpetual conflict with the notion of a liberal constitutional democracy. They crave an ordered society that bans the objective into submission with simplistic rules of the absolute that they create — like good and evil, black and white, and the ever present dog eat dog mentality that gets top slot as human virtue.
For the rest of us, it requires constant vigilance and neverending effort to expose what they’re really up to, and to fight them in the appropriate way. :-)
PeakVT
The silence over at the Corner is deafening.
The Moar You Know
/footbullet
I am seriously impressed with McCain’s bipartisanship. He has embraced the traditional losing Democratic campaign and all the attendant humiliating nuances with a vengeance.
Comrade grumpy realist
Geez, Palin’s attorney had better not be arguing that way in front of a) the FAA or b) the IRS. It’s absolutely *amazing* what gets found to be "of personal benefit" and "financial gain." In fact, that’s dimwitted enough that I think one could make some pretty pointed comments about his legal expertise….
oh really
McCain is not just erratic; he’s unstable.
Crazy J and Daisy Mae. The Republicans have really outdone themselves this time.
Mylegacy
Yea, yea, Sarah’s has a breach of faith. Bush is the worse President in history. McCain’s only effective destruction has been to his own reputation.
We Americans elected the dumbest, evilist, bat sh*t crazy President in history AND we did it TWICE! Blame the Republicans? BS – if you want to hand out blame just go look in the mirror.
Now our country is in ruin, our reputation is in tatters and we’ve dragged the freaking world down with us – and NOW we might actually elect a guy that can chew bubble gum and tie his own shoe laces. Too friggin late – too friggin little. America deserves better than Americans – we have all dishonored this country – we don’t deserve it’s past – hopefully we can fulfill at least some of its promise.
25+ years ago a CRAZY FU*KING asshole named Reagan came and spewed INSANITY – and America liked the way he delivered the shit. Now after 25+ years of GOVERNMENT IS THE ENEMY – TRICKLE DOWN – DEREGULATE there is nothing left – nothing left to prime the pump with – hell we’re lucky we’ve got the pump.
If our children are as crazy as we are – the US as a beacon of hope will be no more than a distant memory – if it isn’t already.
Obama – you’d better be at LEAST an FDR or we are totally FU*KED!
jcricket
Look, my expectations are low at this point. Bush and Cheney have been deleting their tracks since 2003, and the gang of "sternly worded letters" ain’t going after them.
A symbolic victory by having Palin frog-marched out of office will be a nice secondary effect of McCain picking her and dooming his ticket.
Sarah and Todd can go back and pal around with the AIP. Let Alaska secede for all I fucking care. Seriously.
jcricket
Which is why bipartisanship should be dead.
This isn’t easy, but Democrats, at least nationally, need to figure out a way to say/sell, "We will work with anyone willing to be reasonable. But not these jack-booted morons over here".
Nothing could hasten the time when Republicans either return to sanity, or complete their transformation into the party of imbecilic, racist, homophobic end-timers more than a refusal to work with any of them. The righties will go apopletic – which is fucking fine by me. Let’s see what types they promote when there’s nothing to hold them back.
Carville is right. Throw the Republicans an anvil.
Brian J
I guess McCain was genuine in trying to tamper down the insane comments at his events. Give him credit for that, I guess. The next step, of course, is to continue with this tone and make sure it’s reflected at all levels of his campaign.
TenguPhule
So easily rickrodgered by the Fuckstain.
This is his ‘pretense’ of refuting his crazies.
It’s business as usual tomorrow.
YellowJournalism
A few of the education blogs I read support Palin unconditionally, unfortunately. People whose opinions I respected even when I disagreed with them are making me shake my head in awe and disappointment at the incredible way they are taking the official (not McCain’s version) report as "Sarah did nothing wrong". One even highlighted the part of the report that said the firing itself was not illegal while ignoring the part about her personal reasons being one of the factors behind the termination and without recognizing the part right above that said she was abusing her power and unlawfully violated the public trust.
Soylent Green
Yo, Paul Wartenberg, I visited your blog where you said:
What your first commenter anonymous said. It’s not the "financial elites" money that the market is vaporizing, it’s mine. It’s a big chunk of my savings, just like millions of other ordinary working people who have been putting it aside for retirement all their lives, you brainless little pissant.
plus C
Maybe McCain finally sees the writing on the wall and is realigning the campaign to lose gracefully.
Or maybe tomorrow we’ll find out that Obama’s been performing unsolicited abortions with utero bombs built by Bill Ayers.
Eh.
Zuzu's Petals
I’m actually sort of surprised they haven’t been pushing the "he’s for killing babies after they’re born" meme. It seems like an easier soundbite and thus an easier sell.
tripletee (formerly tBone)
Fixed. It’s not enough to just bring the crazy anymore; you have to bring the crazy and then quadruple it just to keep up with the McCainiacs.
They have to save something for when he’s President.
Actually, I’ve heard all about that from some of my wingnuttier acquaintances. It’s out there, even if the official Republican spokenozzles aren’t pushing it.
Brian J
If he does start this shit again, then I’l have no problem calling him a dick. But the consensus seems to be that his comments were genuine, so I’ll give credit where credit is due.
At least one blog on the right seemed to seriously entertain the idea that Ayers wrote Obama’s books. I’d bet large amounts of money that this blogger, Confederate Yankee, didn’t read either of them, let alone set foot in a book store in the last month.
ATinNM
@ Michael Drake
This is an example of a little known sub-case of the Fallacy of Affirming the Consequent known as the Fallacy of Being a Dumb Fuck.
On the other hand we have to thank Mr. Stephen Branchflower for discovering a new energy source. Now all we have to do is figure out a way to attach a flywheel to the tens of thousands of dead Logicians spinning in their graves and sealed cylinders and pistons to capture the energy from living Logicians as their heads explode.
You see? It’s not all bad.
Eric U.
Killing babies after they are born would be a feature for today’s republicans, not a bug.
Jeff
Good news from New York:
Someone needs to be brought up on charges for this type of shit. Typo my ass.
Janet Strange
"Innumerate, illiterate, and anmesia prone"?
Please. You give them far too much credit.
They are flat-out lying. They know that their base will believe whatever they tell them, so they tell them bald-faced lies that stoke the fires of hatred. Up is down. Black is white. Orwell lives.
It’s all of a piece with what McCain said at the debate the other night. "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac caused this economic disaster."
And of course, ACORN.
And the CRA.
Dog-whistle for "that pain that’s about to hit you, your lost job, your lost retirement, inflation, stagflation, recession, depression . . . when it comes, remember this: It’s the greedy lazy black people who did this to you. And those immoral, communist liberals who encouraged them. That’s who your enemy is."
Scares the shit outta me.
oh really
My understanding is that within minutes of his conciliatory words he was right back at the same old horseshit. So much for the genuineness of his comments.
He’s a dick. For all time.
oh really
Strange blockquoting error above.
I blockquoted "If he does…where credit is due"
Then, I wrote "My understanding…of his comments."
For some reason the first part (written by someone else) appears outside the blockquote.
???
Mwangangi
@TheFountainHead:
It enhances my appreciation (as an ideal since I don’t actually know her personally) for Michelle. Having Renaissance as your a.k.a is the new hotness.
Lesley
And here I thought she couldn’t fill Cheney’s shoes.
There was a time I sympathized with McCainiac; you know, because of his POW experience. (Boy has he milked that with the voters.) If he hadn’t been a POW there’d be nothing to be sympathetic about and no meaningful difference between he and Bush. During the Vietnam war, McCain was an incompetent pilot, crashing five planes before he was caught by the enemy. Vietnam war vets can’t stomach the ass. When he returned from Vietnam he cheated on his long suffering loyal wife because she didn’t look like a beauty queen anymore (due to an accident that crippled her). Even his closest friends questioned his integrity. Now he pals around with the treasonous Joe Lieberman and hugs Bush in public and consults Karl Rove and chooses Palin for VP on the advice of Bill Kristol, the man who has been wrong about everything.
He’s a fool who has sold his soul to the devil in an attempt to win an election. He’s stirring up the crazies to increase polarity between the right and the centre, for God’s sake. Not even the left, but the centre. He may as well be wearing a white hood and brandishing a fiery torch. He has no interest in uniting Americans. Just dividing them to get votes. There’s nothing to like about McCain and whatever sympathy I had is dried up.
Choosing Palin was the last straw.
Rosali
Via Crooked Timber
His campaign finance people must’ve been the ones to tell McCain that he should try to quell the hatemongering.
Comrade Napoleon
This news makes me so happy. Countdown was awesome last night.
I can’t wait until Palin (hopefully) is sent back to Alaska. I think her career is toast and we are going to see one increadible flameout when even her own party in the state turns on her.
Laura W
I’m rushing out the door and don’t have time to research origins of the word, but Obama sure does use "hoodwink" a lot to describe what McFailin are trying to do to the public.
A very "colorful" choice of words. Brings up all sorts of graphic images.
Atanarjuat
The "Troopergate" report did not declare that Governor Sarah Palin violated any law. In fact, the report stated that she had the right to fire the insubordinate Walt Monegan. It’s a firing he deserved, too.
Seriously, wow can anyone defend the Tasering of a young boy? Monegan flatly refused to fire State Trooper Wooten who’d joyfully applied the Taser to his young stepson until he staggered into unconsciousness. Today, the trooper in question is still walking around free, on the state payroll, and still equipped with a taser with which he can victimize even more minors at will.
And the Ayers-applauding left thinks this is a wonderful outcome. Decent, morally-upright Americans shake their head with disbelief at the ongoing injustice. Meanwhile, Democrats, Marxist liberals and BJ parasites cheer with glee and toast each other with expensive French wine.
As I said before, enjoy your pyrrhic moment in the sun, all of you white flag-surrendering haters of America. Governor Sarah Palin is not down for the count yet, despite all of your fevered fantasies to the contrary.
Country First.
JL
@Comrade Napoleon: Since the McCain camp is spinning this as a win for Palin, watch in horror as the MSM mentions little about it. We all know that spending time discussing Ayers is more important.
Comrade Napoleon
@JL: Well the story is on the front page of todays Cleveland Plain Dealer. It will be interesting how much play it gets.
Comrade Jake
Is Atanarjuat an Arab/Muslim/terrorist name?
JL
@Atanarjuat: I’m confused as to which country you are putting first? Calling BJ readers parasites indicates to me that it’s not the USA because we are all patriots here.
SGEW
Today’s my birthday. Happy birthday to SGEW!
Watching the McCain campaign spiral into crumbly remains of toasted croutons is the best birthday gift I could ever hope for. Sigh. Who could ask for anything more?
Also:
Absofuckinglutely. There are going to be posters of Michelle "Renaissance" Obama in teenage boys’ bedrooms. Eat it, Jackie O.
Atanarjuat
Comrade Jake said:
Nice try at misdirection. Since you failed to address my argument, I suppose that means you think zapping young boys with a Taser is just peachy keen, right?
A small correction from my post above. This sentence:
Should instead be:
Country First.
Conservatively Liberal
@Atanarjuat: The "Troopergate" report did not declare that Governor Sarah Palin violated any law.
Her actions were "unlawful", and the above points out why. What I find hilarious is that for all of the wingnuts embracing the English language as the "true" language of our nation, I wish they would learn how to read, interpret and elucidate the language before insisting everyone has to speak it.
Great spoof though. It was spoof, wasn’t it? I like the attempted diversion of focus by trying to make it like anyone who faults Palin for her actions must support tasering a child. Nice little twist there, but only good for two points out of ten. Why? It is the obvious line of attack, hence it is nothing new.
Try again? :)
Happy B-day SGEW, may you have a few hundred more! :)
SGEW
The kid was asking for it.
(wait . . . am I now spoofing a spoof? This could get real meta, real fast)
Comrade Wasilla
"The "Troopergate" report did not declare that Governor Sarah Palin violated any law. "
I suggest you actually read the report. Governor Sarah Palin did violate the law, as the report clearly states. CNN’s website made the same mistake and later corrected it. Perhaps you were relying on this secondary source.
Carry on.
TenguPhule
Because lying about why she fired him and then trying to illegally deny his medical benefits is not a crime. After all, abusing authority for personal benefit is a feature, not a bug.
Fuckstain McCain’s base shrinks to a pool of Talibanistic Domestic Terrorists. And we all know how terrorists are supposed to be dealt with.
Comrade Jake
You made an argument? I must have missed that.
So, are you a terrorist or what? What’s your middle name? Is it Bin Laden?
TenguPhule
Corrected.
SGEW
Well put. What I find even more hilarious is watching politicians who supposedly favor "strict constructionism" in judicial interpretation gleefully adopt the most fanciful penumbras and emanations that would make the most liberal "activist" judge proud whenever their own asses are hauled into court.
JL
@Atanarjuat:
By the time Sarah became governor, Wooten had been investigated, suspended and then reinstated. It was not in Monegan’s power to reopen the case. The abuse of power charge arose because surrogates were afraid to do their job for the citizens of Alaska without repercussions from the governors office. Change you name to gop-spin and learn to write posts without accusing folks of being parasites because they don’t agree with you.
SGEW
Arrested, interrogated humanely, and fairly convicted under the rule of law, right? I hope that was where you were going . . . .
JL
@SGEW: Happy Birthday
TenguPhule
Certainly. Unless they resist with deadly force. Then it would be less a matter of arresting then of identifying the body.
And then once they’re fairly convicted, Execute them.
boonagain
As for the tasering, the kid DID ask for it.
He asked because he wanted to know what it felt like.
While it was poor judgment to do it, it wasn’t as if he used tasering as punishment.
And , oddly, this wasn’t addressed by the Palin family until divorce proceedings started.
SGEW
Hee hee. (ahem) I mean, oh that would be a terribly unfortunate sequence of events. Yes. (cough)
Well, I’m against the death penalty . . . but I certainly do understand the retributive desire. Oh yes.
TenguPhule
I don’t consider it retribution so much as being pragmatic.
The Right is insane to point where they pose a threat to everyone around them. As long as their wingnuts live, they will keep trying to destroy the ‘liberals’. Only they consider everyone else who is ‘not them’ to be liberal.
tripletee (formerly tBone)
@Atanarjuat:
Well said, but I wouldn’t expect yours words of wisdom to sink in with the filthy Leftists around here. They’re supporting a terrorist-supporting radical for the Presidency of the United States, after all; you can’t expect them to respond to reason.
No, it’s Country Last (unless that country is Iran, Russia or one of our other enemies) with these kooks. It’s just who they are.
TenguPhule
On Noes! Someone tell the Whitehouse that Russia is one of our enemies! Why, he’s actually shaken hands with Dear Leader!! He might have passed on Commie-cooties to him!
We must mobilize the Palin Ranger Force Neo to watch for Putin’s head from their secret base in Alaska!
SGEW
Putin’s Giant Head Of Doom! It rears, it rears! Aaaargh!
TenguPhule
The Great Putin sees EVERYTHING!
Bring him the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West and he will give the Scarecrow a brain, Palin a heart and McCain the courage to look Obama in the face.
eyeball
The report is actually good for McCain. Shows how mavericky he is.
Remember how the repubs used to wig out because Clinton couldn’t control his spouse. …
by the way, will someone out there do a utube mash-up of the past 3 weeks of Kristol-Dick-Morris predictions about how the mccainites were going to turn things around at every step ? that would be quite funny.
tripletee (formerly tBone)
See, Atanarjuat? These lefties would rather make jokes about one of our mortal enemies than elect someone who has experience protecting our vulnerable borders from them. Actually they would probably cheer a Soviet takeover of the US, so they could finally live out their neo-Marxist fantasies.
There’s just no reasoning with people like them.
SGEW
PUTIN HEAD DOES NOT REASON. PUTIN HEAD REARS!
The Ayers-Applauding Left
Nah. We just find this all kind of weird. What would make us really stand up and applaud would be if he showed up at your front door and tasered your ass.
Decent, morally-upright Americans have too much going on right now to pay too much attention to the personnel policies of the Alaska State Troopers.
And the finest brie. Don’t forget the brie. We’re eliteists, gosh darnit! Also.
We don’t see anything remotely pyrrhic about it. Our biggest concern is Peak Schadenfreude.
Bwaaaahahaha…
jcricket
I’m not scared of Republicans. Seriously. Yes, there are some that are like Eric Rudolph in waiting (probably hanging out with the AIP right now), but most are just frightened.
Moreover, I welcome the Republicans embrace of the 2-minute-hate and red-meat-all-the-time strategy.
1) It solidifies liberals support for their own party, as it’s a lot harder to claim there’s no difference between the parties when one party is out there calling black people terrorists.
2) It turns off independents and "undecideds" by about 9-1. This includes classic "fiscal conservatives" and "Reagan Democrats".
3) It brands Republicans in a way that will destroy their chances of getting the youth vote (outside of the Aryan youth). Do you think people that grew up in the era of MTV/Real World are gonna "vote their Arab/gay/Latino-hate" as a way to feel better?
Fundamentally, we cannot control what Republicans are going to say or do – which is the folly of "appeasing them" with bipartisanship (i.e. stop being Charlie Brown when the Republicans are, at best, Lucy). But we can control what we do, and how we brand ourselves.
Make sure everyone knows Republicans are full of shit.
Fix some shit.
Makes sure everyone knows you fixed the shit.
Rinse. Repeat.
Brachiator
@Atanarjuat:
It’s because you don’t have one. The trooper had been disciplined for his conduct before Palin had been elected governor. Palin’s attempt to get the trooper fired was extra-legal. She had no grounds to get an investigation into his conduct re-opened, and no valid reasons to demand that he be fired.
The Palin family were clearly upset that they could not get the result that they wanted in her sister’s divorce proceedings, where some of the claims made against the trooper were thoroughly investigated — and found to be groundless.
So the question is: how can you defend Palin’s behaving like a vindictive, petty tyrant in firing Monegan simply because he failed to submit to her irrational desire to punish the trooper? How can you defend Palin when she has clearly exhibited a pattern of behavior, with respect to seeking to punish or remove from office competent officials who refuse to kowtow to her?
jcricket
Doesn’t this election prove that theory is liberal hooey? Like evolution, global warming and algebra.
BTW – As much as this will (and it will) hurt McCain/Palin and all the Republicans running right now, it won’t "take her down" in Alaska.
Simple abuse of power is punishable by a tiny ($5k) fine (if I read the statutes correctly) and something like censure. So when Palin goes back to Alaska the most she’ll face is a really hostile public and legislature. Now, there are other scandals waiting in the wings for her, and her ability to resist is pretty much toast. There’s the private email thing, the tax problem, other abuses of power (many similar cases).
Her already fractured relationship with the state GOP will descend into outright hostility. Expect it to be all investigations for the rest of her term.
Fine by me.