N4mddissent
Active Member
- Sep 30, 2008
- 878
- 140
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If you read the transcripts in the Palin document, you will see that it really does not matter whether either Palin directly said the exact words "You must fire Wooten". It's not that difficult to interpret the message the Palins were sending. What this report shows is the Palins think they are entitled to special treatment and have no respect for the rules. It is sick, pathetic, and frankly childish the way they behaved. And if you're going to quote Monegan, provide the entire quote:
It's clear he was saying that they pressured him to fire Wooten without using the specific words: Fire Wooten! And it is clear if you read the testimonies in the investigative report as well. Let's have a little folksy chat about this mess.
A McCain campaign press release from August 30 stated
So apparently Palin thought it was reasonable for the investigation to be completed in October.
On August 30 Palin stated,
But just 2 days after making the statements above (in an investigation that had started before she was ever selected as running mate) she requested that the committee and Mr. Branchflower drop their investigation
They made the claim that the Personnel Board had authority. However it would not be difficult to see the conflicts inherent in allowing the investigation into whether Ms. Palin improperly used her authority to fire someone, to be conducted by a board which she had the authority to fire. Later it was ruled by the court that the committee did have authority to investigate the matter.
During her Gibson interview, Palin stated,:
But of course, her attorneys did not request the personnel board to investigate until Sept. 1st, and prior to that- like the Aug 30th statements- she was not saying that it was the jurisdiction of the personnel board, she was saying she would "cooperate with the legislative probe".
Furthermore she made statements about the trooper like
But how much should we believe this? The threat of "killing her dad: and "bringing down her family" was not found to have any merit. The memorandum of findings from the investigation of the trooper could not verify that he made these comments. Sarah Palin did not hear these comments directly, and when Todd asked the trooper about them, Wooten denied it then. The only person who heard those comments was Molly, Sarah's sister. Molly- who also suddenly claimed physical abuse for the first time when a custody battle began and could not remember whether she had been injured or specific instances of pain when questioned and thus her abuse charges were found to be without merit. The Molly who tried to get a larger split in the divorce, apparently claiming that she might hurt her back or get carpal tunnel syndrome if she worked more. Third party witnesses who had seen them argue through a window stated it did not seem to get out of hand. Molly did get a restraining order on Wooten. If you file a complaint, you get an automatic restraining order until a hearing can be held to determine if the need for one is legitimate. When the hearing was held, the restraining order was dismissed. Of course, from the McCain camp all you heard was that this was a guy who had a restraining order against him. (Or DVPO, but I'm using the colloquial term for convenience).
I thought this was interesting. Sarah Palin claimed that she and her son Track listened to a phone conversation between her sister and Wooten for Molly's safety. But when investigators asked Track, he stated they were only listening to hear if Wooten acknowledged having an affair. One of them was less than honest it seems. I put my money on the kid being honest.
Finally, as the investigative report stated (p.67), it is inconsistent that Palin would begin significantly reducing her security detail if she feared this violent and dangerous man who had threatened her family.
They hired a private investigator to dig up dirt on this guy and though everything was properly investigated and reprimands made, it did not produce the result they wanted. They could not tolerate this and committed to getting what they wanted regardless of what was appropriate. Todd Palin even complained about Wooten dropping his kids off at school in his patrol car. I know that is against regulations, except of course, he had gotten permission from his supervisor. Can we call Todd Palin an asshole at this point?
Is that a good ol' hockey mom, Joe Sixpack thing to do? This is family that 1) doesn't respect truth very much and 2) acts like spoiled brats when they can't get their way. At least that's my interpretation.
But what's not my interpretation is that Sarah Palin, occasionally directly, more often through surrogates- especially her husband, violated the public trust by using her elected office to pursue a personal conflict. When the commissioner she selected showed too much integrity to violate the rules and regulations for her personal vendetta, she fired him and replaced him with a guy who was forced to resign 2 weeks later for a sexual harassment complaint that occurred before she hired him (so I guess she and McCain share similar views on the vetting process- it's unnecessary). She has lied repeatedly to you and me about cooperating with the investigation and about her conduct. I know some people have claimed that this committee, despite being heavily Republican, is biased. The usual claim is that the Republicans on the committee don't like Sarah Palin because she embarrassed them while she was "shaking things up" in Alaska. But I have yet to see any specific evidence related to this. If someone could provide me with information about how she embarrassed specific members of the committee, I would be more inclined to consider such arguments. And surely that's not asking too much, assuming those who claim such are not just reciting claims out of McCain's campaign but have checked the information out themselves.
I do not think Sarah Palin will be impeached. It is true, that legally she had the authority to fire the Commissioner. She has been cleared of any legal wrongdoing. However, it is serious to be found guilty of ethics charges. Especially when you wanted the focus of your campaign to be judgment and character. Abuse of power is an extremely serious charge in my opinion. If she was willing to abuse her power as governor of Alaska, what good reason do we have to believe that she would not abuse power in any higher office? We still have an ongoing investigation in Washington over abuse of power in the firing of the attorney generals. If we don't stand up to politicians who abuse the power of their office, they will continue to feel entitled to that power and it can only end badly when leaders begin to feel they are above the law and/or entitled to have their will given authority over others rights.
Conclusion- Sarah Palin is a poor leader.
In the same interview he stated:
It's clear he was saying that they pressured him to fire Wooten without using the specific words: Fire Wooten! And it is clear if you read the testimonies in the investigative report as well. Let's have a little folksy chat about this mess.
A McCain campaign press release from August 30 stated
So apparently Palin thought it was reasonable for the investigation to be completed in October.
On August 30 Palin stated,
But just 2 days after making the statements above (in an investigation that had started before she was ever selected as running mate) she requested that the committee and Mr. Branchflower drop their investigation
They made the claim that the Personnel Board had authority. However it would not be difficult to see the conflicts inherent in allowing the investigation into whether Ms. Palin improperly used her authority to fire someone, to be conducted by a board which she had the authority to fire. Later it was ruled by the court that the committee did have authority to investigate the matter.
During her Gibson interview, Palin stated,:
But of course, her attorneys did not request the personnel board to investigate until Sept. 1st, and prior to that- like the Aug 30th statements- she was not saying that it was the jurisdiction of the personnel board, she was saying she would "cooperate with the legislative probe".
Furthermore she made statements about the trooper like
But how much should we believe this? The threat of "killing her dad: and "bringing down her family" was not found to have any merit. The memorandum of findings from the investigation of the trooper could not verify that he made these comments. Sarah Palin did not hear these comments directly, and when Todd asked the trooper about them, Wooten denied it then. The only person who heard those comments was Molly, Sarah's sister. Molly- who also suddenly claimed physical abuse for the first time when a custody battle began and could not remember whether she had been injured or specific instances of pain when questioned and thus her abuse charges were found to be without merit. The Molly who tried to get a larger split in the divorce, apparently claiming that she might hurt her back or get carpal tunnel syndrome if she worked more. Third party witnesses who had seen them argue through a window stated it did not seem to get out of hand. Molly did get a restraining order on Wooten. If you file a complaint, you get an automatic restraining order until a hearing can be held to determine if the need for one is legitimate. When the hearing was held, the restraining order was dismissed. Of course, from the McCain camp all you heard was that this was a guy who had a restraining order against him. (Or DVPO, but I'm using the colloquial term for convenience).
I thought this was interesting. Sarah Palin claimed that she and her son Track listened to a phone conversation between her sister and Wooten for Molly's safety. But when investigators asked Track, he stated they were only listening to hear if Wooten acknowledged having an affair. One of them was less than honest it seems. I put my money on the kid being honest.
Finally, as the investigative report stated (p.67), it is inconsistent that Palin would begin significantly reducing her security detail if she feared this violent and dangerous man who had threatened her family.
They hired a private investigator to dig up dirt on this guy and though everything was properly investigated and reprimands made, it did not produce the result they wanted. They could not tolerate this and committed to getting what they wanted regardless of what was appropriate. Todd Palin even complained about Wooten dropping his kids off at school in his patrol car. I know that is against regulations, except of course, he had gotten permission from his supervisor. Can we call Todd Palin an asshole at this point?
Is that a good ol' hockey mom, Joe Sixpack thing to do? This is family that 1) doesn't respect truth very much and 2) acts like spoiled brats when they can't get their way. At least that's my interpretation.
But what's not my interpretation is that Sarah Palin, occasionally directly, more often through surrogates- especially her husband, violated the public trust by using her elected office to pursue a personal conflict. When the commissioner she selected showed too much integrity to violate the rules and regulations for her personal vendetta, she fired him and replaced him with a guy who was forced to resign 2 weeks later for a sexual harassment complaint that occurred before she hired him (so I guess she and McCain share similar views on the vetting process- it's unnecessary). She has lied repeatedly to you and me about cooperating with the investigation and about her conduct. I know some people have claimed that this committee, despite being heavily Republican, is biased. The usual claim is that the Republicans on the committee don't like Sarah Palin because she embarrassed them while she was "shaking things up" in Alaska. But I have yet to see any specific evidence related to this. If someone could provide me with information about how she embarrassed specific members of the committee, I would be more inclined to consider such arguments. And surely that's not asking too much, assuming those who claim such are not just reciting claims out of McCain's campaign but have checked the information out themselves.
I do not think Sarah Palin will be impeached. It is true, that legally she had the authority to fire the Commissioner. She has been cleared of any legal wrongdoing. However, it is serious to be found guilty of ethics charges. Especially when you wanted the focus of your campaign to be judgment and character. Abuse of power is an extremely serious charge in my opinion. If she was willing to abuse her power as governor of Alaska, what good reason do we have to believe that she would not abuse power in any higher office? We still have an ongoing investigation in Washington over abuse of power in the firing of the attorney generals. If we don't stand up to politicians who abuse the power of their office, they will continue to feel entitled to that power and it can only end badly when leaders begin to feel they are above the law and/or entitled to have their will given authority over others rights.
Conclusion- Sarah Palin is a poor leader.
