by Denis Campbell
I feel like a Cheshire cat who swallowed a big-haired ‘g’ dropping canary whole ‘dontchaknow,’ gives me energy and sustenance without leaving a bad taste in my mouth. Saturday Night Live’s writers are feverishly re-working tonight’s Palin sketch having been handed today’s gift, Sarah Palin was found guilt of abusing the powers of her office in violation of state law by an Alaskan legislative committee when she fired public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan for not firing her State Trooper ex-brother-in-law. The sun shines brighter in Wales and birds sing more beautifully this morning because the lipsticked pit bull finally got caught going “a bridge too far.” Enough twisted metaphors for one paragraph?
I was thinking back to Spiro Agnew, the last Vice President from this party to resign in disgrace. He was investigated by the U.S. attorney in Baltimore for allegedly receiving payoffs from engineers seeking contracts when Agnew was Baltimore county executive and governor of Maryland.
Agnew asserted his innocence, then resigned the Vice Presidency eight months ahead of his boss, Richard Nixon, in 1973. He pleaded nolo contendere, or ‘no contest,’ to a single charge he had failed to report $29,500 of income received in 1967. He was fined $10,000 and placed on three years’ probation. After his resignation he started a successful business career as an international broker.
That seems quaint and honourable compared to destroying a man’s career and opening the state of Alaska to criminal and civil cases that will ensure that former Walt Monegan becomes a very rich man and earns big bucks on the speaking circuit for his troubles.
So the MSM will spend this weekend finally doing their job and digging deeply into Ms. Palin’s questionable tenure as Governor. This is a gift to them because the major networks have been cowed into submission for weeks by McCain campaign attacks of sexism in their coverage. Their gloves now come off and there is nowhere Governor Palin can now go without being hounded by the press to answer all the charges.
I’m halfway through the book written about her Vice Presidential idol, Dick Cheney, subject of the book Angler by Pulitzer Prize Winning author Barton Gellman and can see his fingerprints already all over the predicted McCain/Republican response. “We fully support Governor Palin and will appeal this decision all the way to the Supreme Court. This is a partisan witch hunt. My friends, Sarah Palin is a dedicated public servant persecuted and abused by Democratic demagogues. Who is Barack Obama, why are you not focused on that? The MSM is in the tank for Obama. Obama’s team influenced this.” and the list will go on and on and on.
And the there is the whole secessionist movement where she pals around with terrorists… scary stuff.
The GOP (that’s their new brand hoping we’re dumb enough not to know that those initials stand for the Republican Party) will completely fracture itself live over the next week as moderate Republicans fighting to stay in office try to wipe the stain of BCMP (Bush, Cheney, McCain & Palin) onto flaming wood to distance themselves from the top of this fiasco of ticket.
The word ‘Republican’ will be further eliminated from even more adverts and flyers as the down-ticket races for Senate and House arrange deck chairs on this Titanic and pray nothing else bad hits in the last 24-days of the campaign. And the whacked out far right will fill arenas rushing to defend their poor, poor Sarah, the GOP’s money and celebrity machine.
And this is all so deserving of a woman who snidely and smilingly incited such racial hatred on the campaign trail. See, no one notices this stuff in Alaska. Walt must be very happy she was selected to come under the national spotlight. Is benefits would have run out and been stuck. Now McCain and Co. are sick this morning knowing that the vetting process is exposed as a complete sham.
Like I said, I’m grinning from ear-to-ear because it couldn’t happen to a nicer pit bull and her pals. Now if she and Cindy McCain could also be charged by the Secret Service for inciting crowds against a protectee, I will dance all weekend.
From Phil who posted this comment at LA Progressive:
I’m grinning like a beauty queen at the Miss Alaska pageant about this news, however…
I wish someone in the media would point out that the “Troopergate” investigation was started in July, almost 2 months before McCain picked Palin for his running mate when she was enjoying an 80% approval rating in Alaska. This being the case, why would the Obama campaign want to drag her name through the mud as claimed by McCain spokes person Meg Stapleton? Obama probably had not even heard of Sarah Palin in July.
Also if this is just a partisan witch hunt as claimed by Meg Stapleton, people need to realize that the committee that voted unanimously to initiated the investigation and to release the findings before the election was made up of 10 Republicans and 4 Democrats. When it started in July the Governor and her spokesperson, not Meg Stapleton at that time, said she had nothing to hide and welcomed the chance to prove it.
Apparently the bi-partisan committee made up of mostly her own party members, who should know her better then most, thought it was important that this information get out before people make their choice in November.
Finally I find it interesting that the ethics law that she was found to have violated was a law that she had pushed through the legislature last year. Something she had promised to do in her campaign for governor.