The Palin Plot Thickens

[symbiosis 0]

The Washington Post reports, that Palin “wrote e-mails that harshly criticized Alaska state troopers for failing to fire her former brother-in-law and ridiculed an internal affairs investigation into his conduct. The e-mails were shown to The Washington Post by a former public safety commissioner, Walter Monegan, who was fired by Palin in July. Monegan has given copies of the e-mails to state ethics investigators to support his contention that he was dismissed for failing to fire Trooper Mike Wooten, who at the time was feuding with Palin's family.”

“‘This trooper is still out on the street, in fact he's been promoted,’ said a Feb. 7, 2007, e-mail sent from Palin's personal Yahoo account and written to give Monegan permission to speak on a violent-crime bill before the state legislature. ‘It was a joke, the whole year long “investigation” of him," the e-mail said. ‘This is the same trooper who's out there today telling people the new administration is going to destroy the trooper organization, and that he'd “never work for that b****', Palin”.)’”

”Asked about the e-mails, Palin's campaign spokeswoman, Maria Comella, said that Palin was merely alerting officials to potential threats to her family and that there is no evidence that Palin ever ordered Wooten to be fired. ‘Let's be clear, Governor Palin has done nothing wrong and is an open book in this process. Mr. Monegan even stated himself that no one ever told him to fire anyone, period,’ Comella said later in a statement. ‘The Governor was rightly expressing concern about Mr. Wooten.’”

Per NBC’s Aram Roston and Amna Nawaz, the head of the troopers Union in Alaska, John Cyr, says that Gov. Palin is using her office to "demonize" her ex-brother-in-law, Trooper Mike Wooten. Cyr also says the union is filing an ethics complaint against Palin on behalf of Wooten. He says the union is accusing the governor's office of violating Wooten's rights. "The Governor is using her bully pulpit to demonize this man," Cyr said.

It’s worth noting that the troopers union, the Public Safety Employees Association, is an AFSCME local.

The New York Times writes that governing Alaska is in many ways much easier than in the other 49 states. “Alaska’s economic well-being - sustained, as most things are here, by oil and federal spending - has allowed Ms. Palin to avoid some of the tough budgetary choices vexing governors in dozens of other states. That in turn raises questions for some people about how much her experience is relevant to the rest of the nation and how much she can relate to the troubles of struggling blue-collar workers in places like Ohio and Pennsylvania, worried about the winter gas bills and the mortgage.”

“That said, by other measures, Alaska is harder to govern than a smaller, more settled realm in the Lower 48. With vast distances, large numbers of indigenous peoples and a narrowly based extraction economy - with a handful of giant multinational oil corporations dominating the game - some economists say a country like Nigeria might be an apter comparison. ‘Alaska really is a colonial place,’ said Stephen Haycox, a professor of history at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. ‘One third of the economic base is oil; another third is federal spending. The economy is extremely narrow and highly dependent. It’s not to say that Alaska is a beggar state, but it certainly is true that Alaska is dependent on decisions made outside it, and over which Alaskans don’t have great control.’”

Her first passport was in 2006? "Palin got her first passport in 2006 and has visited just four countries, and has had little involvement in her state's cross-border issues, raising questions about her supporters' assertions that Alaska's proximity to Russia has given her unique experience on foreign affairs. In seeking to demonstrate the first-term Alaska governor's readiness to be John McCain's second-in-command, campaign officials have maintained that Palin has had to deal with unusual security challenges and a variety of diplomatic and trade issues in a state sandwiched between Russia and Canada.”

"However, a review of Palin's 20 months in office shows that aside from overseeing the National Guard's state-level emergency missions, as all governors do, the first-term governor played no role in any territorial defense or other national defense operations involving military forces. Palin has also visited one fewer country than originally stated by her Alaska office. Earlier in the week, the governor's Alaska spokeswoman was quoted as saying Palin had traveled to Iraq, Kuwait, Germany, and Ireland, in addition to Canada." But Ireland was just for a refueling stop."

[metta 0]

[SteveLaura 0]

But Ireland was just for a refueling stop.

Even so, it's amazing what one can learn about a country from perusing its airport gift shops. If the question of Ireland's perchant for ties or boxes of shortbread comes up in the VP debate, she's got Biden licked.

[Ban Hammer 13,621]

[IAMX 3,055]

The way it should be. And it should be on McCain. I think these tactics need to go lower and lower before people start actually making politicians get off their ### and actually do the people's work, as well as, during election season, actually debate. So far it's just parties with corporate interests and blahblahblah.

[almaty 19]

so, her wrong doings are overlooked cause why?? she is the gop v-p.

[metta 0]

The way it should be. And it should be on McCain. I think these tactics need to go lower and lower before people start actually making politicians get off their ### and actually do the people's work, as well as, during election season, actually debate. So far it's just parties with corporate interests and blahblahblah.

The way it should be. And it should be on McCain.

I agree. But how about the other candidate.

I think the media has totally disempowered themselves by displaying egregious partisanship. They don't notice it because they live and breath among their own. So called conservative and liberal alike. It's an incestuous crowd.

Olberman and Noonan, they subscribe to the same memes in their world.

They assume themselves to be the College of Cardinals. The only ones entitled to send out black smoke or white smoke in choosing the Pope or POTUS in this case.

example

Then how about this story that appeared 8 days ago?

MSM had totally ignored.

technorati

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Minor disagreement--the picture would be apter had it shown rats instead of wolves.

[symbiosis 0]

The way it should be. And it should be on McCain. I think these tactics need to go lower and lower before people start actually making politicians get off their ### and actually do the people's work, as well as, during election season, actually debate. So far it's just parties with corporate interests and blahblahblah.

The way it should be. And it should be on McCain.

I agree. But how about the other candidate.

I think the media has totally disempowered themselves by displaying egregious partisanship. They don't notice it because they live and breath among their own. So called conservative and liberal alike. It's an incestuous crowd.

Olberman and Noonan, they subscribe to the same memes in their world.

They assume themselves to be the College of Cardinals. The only ones entitled to send out black smoke or white smoke in choosing the Pope or POTUS in this case.

example

Then how about this story that appeared 8 days ago?

MSM had totally ignored.

technorati

Fox News and Rush Limbaugh aren't part of the media? WHat about Ann Coulter? Bill O'Rielly? Sean Hannity? Pat Buchanan? Lou Dobbs? The whole "liberal" media thing is a complete joke. If anything, it's the conservative media and has been for more than a decade.

[IAMX 3,055]

The way it should be. And it should be on McCain. I think these tactics need to go lower and lower before people start actually making politicians get off their ### and actually do the people's work, as well as, during election season, actually debate. So far it's just parties with corporate interests and blahblahblah.

The way it should be. And it should be on McCain.

I agree. But how about the other candidate.

I think the media has totally disempowered themselves by displaying egregious partisanship. They don't notice it because they live and breath among their own. So called conservative and liberal alike. It's an incestuous crowd.

Olberman and Noonan, they subscribe to the same memes in their world.

They assume themselves to be the College of Cardinals. The only ones entitled to send out black smoke or white smoke in choosing the Pope or POTUS in this case.

Smear is all across the board. See my "Fox News" thread on their smear. They don't hide it one bit.

You know what they call "news" today used to be called "yellow journalism" of yesteryear. Oh how the times have indeed changed.

Edited September 4, 2008 by SRVT

[metta 0]

The way it should be. And it should be on McCain. I think these tactics need to go lower and lower before people start actually making politicians get off their ### and actually do the people's work, as well as, during election season, actually debate. So far it's just parties with corporate interests and blahblahblah.

The way it should be. And it should be on McCain.

I agree. But how about the other candidate.

I think the media has totally disempowered themselves by displaying egregious partisanship. They don't notice it because they live and breath among their own. So called conservative and liberal alike. It's an incestuous crowd.

Olberman and Noonan, they subscribe to the same memes in their world.

They assume themselves to be the College of Cardinals. The only ones entitled to send out black smoke or white smoke in choosing the Pope or POTUS in this case.

example

Then how about this story that appeared 8 days ago?

MSM had totally ignored.

technorati

Fox News and Rush Limbaugh aren't part of the media? WHat about Ann Coulter? Bill O'Rielly? Sean Hannity? Pat Buchanan? Lou Dobbs? The whole "liberal" media thing is a complete joke. If anything, it's the conservative media and has been for more than a decade.

Correction. The media not just conservative or liberal. They're pot calling kettle black. The end result is that they -the American media -have DISEMPOWERED themselves.

People do not believe in them as objective purveyors of news . They just bombard people with opinions.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Correction. The media not just conservative or liberal. They're pot calling kettle black. The end result is that they -the American media -have DISEMPOWERED themselves.

People do not believe in them as objective purveyors of news . They just bombard people with opinions.

I agree in general. However, there are some really good journalists out there who give great insight into our politics...but you have to find them past all the riff-raff. People like Charlie Rose, Bill Moyers, Jim Lehrer represent the cream of the crop for TV journalism.

[metta 0]

Correction. The media not just conservative or liberal. They're pot calling kettle black. The end result is that they -the American media -have DISEMPOWERED themselves.

People do not believe in them as objective purveyors of news . They just bombard people with opinions.

I agree in general. However, there are some really good journalists out there who give great insight into our politics...but you have to find them past all the riff-raff. People like Charlie Rose, Bill Moyers, Jim Lehrer represent the cream of the crop for TV journalism.

I agree with you on this Steve. I also listen carefully to the more intellectual ones like David Brooks and David Gergen. As for Keith Doberman and O'Reily, I just watch them occasionally when I'm really bored and as source of entertainment.

[HAL 9000 96]

I love the cartoon. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite go with the topic.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

The way it should be. And it should be on McCain. I think these tactics need to go lower and lower before people start actually making politicians get off their ### and actually do the people's work, as well as, during election season, actually debate. So far it's just parties with corporate interests and blahblahblah.

The way it should be. And it should be on McCain.

I agree. But how about the other candidate.

I think the media has totally disempowered themselves by displaying egregious partisanship. They don't notice it because they live and breath among their own. So called conservative and liberal alike. It's an incestuous crowd.

Olberman and Noonan, they subscribe to the same memes in their world.

They assume themselves to be the College of Cardinals. The only ones entitled to send out black smoke or white smoke in choosing the Pope or POTUS in this case.

example

Then how about this story that appeared 8 days ago?

MSM had totally ignored.

technorati

Fox News and Rush Limbaugh aren't part of the media? WHat about Ann Coulter? Bill O'Rielly? Sean Hannity? Pat Buchanan? Lou Dobbs? The whole "liberal" media thing is a complete joke. If anything, it's the conservative media and has been for more than a decade.

Correction. The media not just conservative or liberal. They're pot calling kettle black. The end result is that they -the American media -have DISEMPOWERED themselves.

People do not believe in them as objective purveyors of news . They just bombard people with opinions.

Yep - that's as I see it too. The media has failed in its duty to provide the public with a means of objective oversight of government. And people have become used to it now - quite apart from any official affiliations with parties, the US media has basically become a mouthpiece for the partisan system. Its totally useless as a tool to make sense of things.