Michael Isikoff, writing for Newsweek, has a story on Palin-McCain’s efforts to stonewall the Alaska investigation in which Palin had previously promised cooperation. The team McCain sent up north appears to have had obstruction on its mind more than the thorough vetting previously thought. (Or, maybe they found something they really didn’t like in the course of the post-selection vetting, hard telling.)
One major reason the probe is so sensitive is that it raises the prospect that Governor Palin’s credibility could be called into a question in a major state probe on the eve of the election. When the “troopergate” story broke over the summer, Palin adamantly denied that anybody in her administration exerted any pressure on Monegan to fire Wooten. But only weeks later, a tape recording surfaced in which another one of her top aides, Frank Bailey, was heard telling a police lieutenant, “Todd and Sarah are scratching their heads, ‘Why on earth hasn’t this, why is this guy [Wooten] still representing the department?'”
After the McCain forces got involved, seven people who had previously agreed to provide depositions for the bipartisan-ordered investigation decided to cancel.
I’ll be clear here. I have no idea if Palin did anything wrong. She had to back off on her earlier story when hard evidence surfaced which makes her look bad. But, whether she acted appropriately or inappropriately, the McCain strategy here is the same as the Bush strategy we’ve seen so often — delay, obstruct, and most of all avoid testifying under oath so that any investigation into potential wrongdoing is either avoided altogether or put off long enough that the investigation has no political consequences. That’s what the Bush administration did in the case of investigating how they ginned up the Iraq War and in political firings of Attorneys General.
I saw what the Republicans did to Clinton. I’m as skeptical of investigatory witch-hunts as anyone. But this one in Alaska seems to have gotten started under bipartisan conditions and only hit a roadblock when Palin got involved with McCain.
and the campaign is trying to say they aren’t a third bush term. If this isn’t a Bush / Rove tactic, I don’t none what is!
correction: we don’t know if she did anything wrong in the firing of walter monegan. we already know for a fact that she lied to the media about her involvement, and the involvement of her administration.
I know I sound like a broken record, but because elections aren’t so much about policy, and because they are a whole bunch about ‘Gotcha!’ games, this should surprise nobody. I expect investigations to start and stall- on both sides.
Mike, not “broken record” — in the context of campaign politics, it’s called “message discipline!”
Excellent.
And they’re all partisan witchhunts, of course. It just takes time to realize it sometimes. Like the lawyer for the Republican Palin, who now says Ken Starr’s office engaged in inappropriateness. How convenient to realize that at this very moment.
Like the old Dead Kennedy’s song “I Am The Owl” goes,
Then in 10 years or so we’ll leak the truth
But by then, it’s only so much paper
we don’t know if she did anything wrong in the firing of walter monegan. we already know for a fact that she lied to the media about her involvement
If it’s a fact, then tell us, what did she “lie” about?
C’mon, even the media labeling this witch-hunt as “Troopergate” is itself somewhat of a smear, as it’s a term associated with real scandal, most recently with disgraced former NY Dem Gov. Eliot Spizter. Why not coin it “Taser-gate”? That would be more accurate.
There is no scandal here. It’s a trumped up investigation led by Obama surrogate Hollis French, who has been publicly calling for “impeachment” and promising an “October surprise”, in the hopes of throwing mud days before the election before Palin would have a chance to air her side. Nice, huh? One of the most obvious problems facing the Obama smear machine is Monegan’s own statement “For the record, no one ever said fire Wooten. Not the governor. Not Todd. Not any of the other staff”. More importantly, if there was impropriety, why didn’t Monegan file a complaint against Palin at the time, as would be his obligation to if he believed at that time there had been misconduct involved?
Look, I’m not expecting a leftist media and Obamabot followers to become Palin cheerleaders, but some semblance of fairness and objectivity would seem to be in order in this case.