Electronic Writer

As a child, I was chastized that sometimes it takes big lies to cover up the little ones.  The point of the advice was to not tell lies.  I think Sarah Palin’s Troopergate scenario is EXACTLY what my mother was talking about.

Here are the events:

1. Mike Wooten marries Sarah Palin’s little sister.  After 3 – 4 years, they call it quits, and have a bitter child custody dispute.
2. Sarah Palin and her husband Todd hire an investigator, and contact Walt Monegan (Mike Wooten’s Boss) more than 20 times saying that he wasn’t an asset.
3. Sarah Palin fires Walt Monegan because he refuses to break the law and fire Wooten (who had already been disciplined).  This takes place in early July of 2008.
4. The Alaska State legislature begins investigating the firing of Walt Monegan.  Sarah Palin denies knowing anything about it.
5. The Audio tape of her aide making a phone call surfaces.  Sarah Palin says, I didn’t know about it.  My staffer did it without my knowledge.  I am going to put him on PAID leave until this is resolved.  The aide indicates that they got into Wooten’s personnel and workman’s compensation files while they were conducting other business at the same location.
6. Sarah Palin becomes Vice Presidential nominee with Senator John McCain.
7. Sarah Palin’s personal attorney (hired to defend her in the investigation because Alaska State Attorney General made phone calls to pressure Monegan) on behalf of the Governor filed an ethics complaint from the Governor against herself to move the case to a review by the Personnel Board and out of the hands of the investigation taking place with the Alaska State Legislature.  The judge denies this request.
8. We find out yesterday that the ethics adviser for the Governor warned her that firing Monegan raised “grave” concerns in a letter on July 24, 2008–only 9 days after Monegan was fired.

So what does all this mean?

Everyone has been saying all along that divorces are personal and emotional topics.  We can understand how they can affect someone so deeply–especially in custody cases.  But, abuses of power, are not acceptable.  When you are elected, it is your responsibility to NOT abuse your power.  And, the evidence is mounting that the claims may be credible that Sarah Palin abused her power in the firing of Walt Monegan BECAUSE he would not fire Trooper Wooten.  Ironically, she had praised him for his hard work a mere three weeks prior, saying she wanted to honor him publicly.

According to Time’s article, Palin and Troopergate: A Primer, in 2005 the judge was concerned with the fervor of the Palin family pursuing Mike Wooten:

Court records from 2005 show that the judge in the divorce case was concerned at the aggressiveness even then with which the family was trying to get Wooten fired, saying from the bench that “the bitterness of whatever who did what to whom has overridden good judgment.”

The most recent events involve 8 of her senior staffers refusing to testify, the Alaska State Legislature being forced to subpeona witnesses for their refusal to cooperate with the investigation, and attacks the this is a partisan witch-hunt: 8 Republicans and 4 Democrats are on the Investigation committee.

All in all, this is just ugly.  Lies told to cover up more lies.  And, now our potential Vice President using Bush/Cheney tactics to avoid accountability.  What makes this stink all the more is that Palin has lauded herself as the champion of reform.

From what I can see, there is not one shred of transparency left in Sarah Palin’s Office of Governor.

Read the entire article at CNN here >>

This was added last November, in which an elderly woman asked Senator John McCain a question about beating Senator Hillary Clinton.  Her phrasing was:

How do we beat the BITCH?

I certainly hope that this Republican cheerleader is not part of the faction calling Barack Obama a sexist.

Unfortunately, there are no responses from John McCain in the video clip that say anything like, “Senator Clinton is my long-time friend.”  Or, “she is a skillful politician” to reuse the words that the Obama campaign used to describe Sarah Palin.

There is no response–other than laughter.

Part of my reaction has to do with the direct misquotation that is happening.  The lies on the part of John McCain, Sara Palin and company have gotten out of control–especially when they alleged that Obama’s remarks about putting “lipstick on a pig” were about Sarah Palin–when in fact, they referenced McCain’s plan for the economy.

The smear campaign from the McCain/Palin camp certainly grabbed headlines as well as occupying valuable discussion time that the candidates could be talking about issues like: economy, energy independence, health car, war in Iraq, war in Iran, veterans’ benefits . . . .

Here’s the clip:

There has been a recurring theme, of late:

“I don’t care what they say about me, but I love this country too much to let them take over another election with lies and phony outrage and swift boat politics. Enough is enough.”

The New York Times has an interesting article about Barack Obama defending himself over the lipstick on a pig garbage.

The Republicans published an advertisement that asserted that Barack Obama made sexist remarks.

Read the article and watch the video of Barack Obama’s response >>

My friend sent me a link to this video of Joe Biden, Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate speaking in Langhorne, PA immediately following the Republican National Convention.

To quote my friend, Give em Hell, Joe!

I talk politics a lot–even with people who do not like politics.  I have found, in all my talking about politics, that people who do not like politics ESPECIALLY think that politicians are liars.  There is usually some quip like, they are all a bunch of lying, thieving . . . .  It clearly is an overgeneralization, redactive thinking, and for many hard-working legislators, it is simply not fair.

But, I can see why someone would think that.  The media is on the witch-hunt.  Gossip and dirt sells stories in the form of online viewers, television viewers, and it newspapers.  The public hears every story about every bad thing that every politician has ever done.

Never before have I seen a politician ADMIT that lying was indeed part of their campaign STRATEGY until this quote from John Feehery–a Republican strategist (BIO here >>).

John Feehery, a Republican strategist, said the campaign is entering a stage in which skirmishes over the facts are less important than the dominant themes that are forming voters’ opinions of the candidates.

“The more the New York Times and The Washington Post go after Sarah Palin, the better off she is, because there’s a bigger truth out there and the bigger truths are she’s new, she’s popular in Alaska and she is an insurgent,” Feehery said. “As long as those are out there, these little facts don’t really matter.”

Let me see if got this correct: “the facts are less important than the dominant themes”– you can add whatever you want after this point because you have lost me.

I disagree.  The facts ARE important.  The ends DO NOT justify the means.

John Feehery’s admission, however, articulates something larger.  With the pending Republican loss of 20+ seats in the House of Representatives and perhaps losing 8 or more Republican seats in the Senate, and conservative lamenting that “the Republican brand is tarnished” (see HERE, HERE, HERE — heck, Google “republican brand is tarnished” and see what happens), the Republican Party is acting out of sheer desperation.

Like the falling Roman Empire, the Republican Party is clearly willing to do whatever that takes to keep control of their power: including but not limited to lying, manipulating the facts, manipulating the media, and agitating (or energizing–depends upon your perspective) your base voters with an unqualified candidate for Vice President, Sarah Palin.

There is a simple truth: John Feehery and other strategists are really out of touch with the American people.  This is not some game.  We tell our children that lying is not acceptable, and that facts are important.

Perhaps I missed the memo saying that all that had changed . . . .

(Quote from Washington Post)

This has become a skipping record for the McCain/Palin team.

A reporter starts digging around, and talks with someone who worked fro Sarah Palin.  At some point in their working relationship, she stopped liking them.  So, she tries or succeeds at firing them.  I suppose, we haven’t seen this kind of open brazenness since LBJ . . . .

The details THIS TIME are:

• The person fired is John Bitney, a long-time friend of 30 years and a key aide in her 2006 gubernatorial campaign
• John gets a divorce
• Sarah Palin gets a call from another friend, Scott Richter, that his wife and John Bitney are having an affair
• Sarah Palin fires John Bitney for “poor job performance” a few days later

So they say that history repeats itself.  I guess in the case of Alaska Governor and now Vice Presidential Candidate, Sarah Palin, those historical circles are repeating quickly.  So far, the firing because I don’t like you list consists of:

1. Wasilia Town Librarian , Mary Ellen Baker’s, job was threatened by Sarah Palin because she would NOT remove books from the library shelved because Sarah Palin found them objectionable.  (NOTE: This was a botched attempt because 2% of Wasilia’s population rallied behind the Librarian.)
2. Mike Wooten married Sarah Palin’s little sister.  During their divorce and custody dispute, Sarah Palin and her Husband, Todd, contacted Mike Wooten’s boss more than 20 times to get him fired–and, even broke into confidential records and hired a personal investigator.  (NOTE: This was also an unsuccessful attempt.  Fortunately for Wooten, the Alaska State Troopers and their union have a very impartial way of dealing with disciplinary actions, and Mike Wooten had a great boss who respected those processes.)
3. Sarah Palin fired Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan–Mike Wooten’s boss.  Palin refused initially to articulate why Monegan was fired, but her office recently stated, “Palin said he wasn’t doing enough to fill state trooper vacancies and battle alcohol abuse issues. She said he “did not turn out to be a team player on budgeting issues.””
4. And now, John Bitney (see above).
5. [ This space is currently available. ]

Who is next?

Read the entire Huffington Post article >>

Read the entire Wall Street Journal article >>

There is this game going on right now in this presidential campaign, and it could particularly cost the Democrats this Presidential election–especially because this is our election to lose.  The entire UNIVERSE is fed up with the Bush Administration and the Republican party letting corporations, big-oil, and big-government run amuck.

Now is clearly the time to restore some sanity to our country, and now is CLEARLY the time to restore the United States to pre-bush levels on just about everything: privacy, economy, world standing, military levels, etc.

Instead, we are playing this game since the VERY moment that Sarah Palin was announced as Vice President.

• Karl Rove and Steve Schmidt have held up a blank canvas.
• John McCain and Sarah Palin are painting their WILDEST fantasies upon that canvas.
• The MEDIA are ooohhing and ahhhhhing over the contents of the canvas.
• No one is addressing the facts versus the fiction that is emerging on that canvas.

The problem is that Barack Obama is waiting for the media (or someone else) to correct those falsehoods.  The media is eating up the website traffic, tv traffic and newspaper sales.  And the liars are patting themselves on the back in disbelief that this scheme is working.

Steve Almond, a writer at the Huffington Post, has done a little fictionalizing.  His fiction is what would happen if Barack Obama actually called the Republican liars what they are–liars.  Almond posits that if Barack Obama was strong about it (the same truth and strength we would want from him as President of the United States), that it would force the media to deal with it.  And, us outsiders could watch us win the election . . . as opposed to the liars stealing another one . . . .

Read Steve Almond’s entire article >>

She talks a mean speech, but Sarah Palin’s actions tell a different story.  As a self-proclaimed “fiscal reformer,” Palin’s actions do not seem to agree.  According to the Washington Post article,

ANCHORAGE, Sept. 8 — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has billed taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a “per diem” allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business.

The governor also has charged the state for travel expenses to take her children on official out-of-town missions. And her husband, Todd, has billed the state for expenses and a daily allowance for trips he makes on official business for his wife.

Palin, who earns $125,000 a year, claimed and received $16,951 as her allowance, which officials say was permitted because her official “duty station” is Juneau, according to an analysis of her travel documents by The Washington Post.

The governor’s daughters and husband charged the state $43,490 to travel, and many of the trips were between their house in Wasilla and Juneau, the capital city 600 miles away, the documents show.

This may seem like business as usual to some, but not me.  I see no Fiscal Reform in any of this.

Read the article at The Washington Post >>

This is almost getting a little redundant: there is more in the news today about the investigation of Sarah Palin’s power abuse in the Anchorage Daily News.

Republican Rep. John Coghill last week asked the Alaska Legislature’s Legislative Council, the body that appointed French to oversee the investigation, to discuss replacing French.

Coghill said he believed the investigation was lacking in fairness, neutrality and due process after French was quoted in media reports that the probe’s results were going to be an “October surprise” that is “likely to be damaging to the administration.”

On Monday, Democratic Sen. Kim Elton, the head of the Legislative Council, turned down his request. French’s decisions to date have been appropriate, bipartisan and unchallenged, Elton wrote to Coghill. And the comments French made were “corrected in a very public way in the media,” Elton wrote.

Seems there are a bunch of “mavericks” up in Alaska . . . .

Read the entire article at Anchorage Daily News >>

This is an impressive example of courage, bravery and patriotism on the part of a 21-year old protester at the Republican National Convetion.

Fox news provides the video, the story, and the commentary.  In true sincerity, it is good reporting–even when the reporters were ordered to leave.

Watch the Video HERE >>