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Uh-Oh
Talking Points Memo — ... The Post's James Grimaldi got an exclusive interview with Walter Monegan, the canned Alaska Public Safety Commissioner at the center of Palin trooper-gate scandal. And he basically says Palin is lying in her assertion that while some of her aides contacting Monegan about firing her brother-in-law, that she herself did not. ...

Fired Police Commissioner Speaks About Gov. Palin
TalkLeft — The right wing spin machine is agog over Gov. Sarah Palin's crusading role in ethics reform. The Washington Post reports on a conversation its reporter had today with the fired Alaska Safety Commissioner I referenced earlier: The July firing of Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan by Gov. Sarah Palin, who was announced as John McCain's running mate on Friday, has unearthed a stream of soap-opera-like details about Palin, her husband, her family and top state appointees. The controversy has also cut against Palin's reputation for ...

Wash. Post interviews Public Safety chief fired by Sarah Palin -- and it seems Todd Palin was very involved in this process
AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth — ... Because on the day of the v.p. roll out, the Washington Post talked to the former Commissioner of Public Safety, Walter Monegan, who was fired by Sarah Palin over what appears to be a messy family issue. Sarah Palin -- and her husband, Todd -- sound more and more like operatives who worked for Karl Rove: ...

Roger Ailes — Billy Dale, Meet Walter Monegan Something is rotten in the State of Alaska. [Walter] Monegan, 57, a respected former chief of the Anchorage Police Department, said in an interview with The Washington Post's James V. Grimaldi on Friday that the governor repeatedly brought up the topic of her ex-brother-in-law, Michael Wooten, after Monegan became the state's commissioner of public safety in December 2006. Palin's husband, Todd, met with Monegan and presented a dossier of information about Wooten, who was going through a bitter custody battle with Palin's ...

Battered Base Syndrome
Obsidian Wings — ... But what about the long term? There’s no way she’s been properly vetted. Hell, the Post is reporting just today — within the first 24 hours — that the fired state official in Alaska has emails from Palin illustrating her involvement. (See also ...

Sarah's Soap Opera
Taylor Marsh — BY TAYLOR MARSH Reporting from the road in Utah Before she applauded Clinton, she didn’t like her, er... "whining". The Washington Post’s report about a "stream of soap-opera-like details about Palin, her husband, her family and top state appointees" isn’t exactly vice presidential resume enhancers either. ...

Oh My
Eschaton — This'll be fun. The July firing of Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan by Gov. Sarah Palin, who was announced as John McCain's running mate on Friday, has unearthed a stream of soap-opera-like details about Palin, her husband, her family and top state appointees. The controversy has also cut against Palin's reputation for holding an ethical line and standing up to colleagues in the Republican Party over matters of principle. Monegan, 57, a respected former chief of the Anchorage Police Department, said in an interview with The Washington Post's ...

Art Levine: Sarah Palin: The New Harriet Miers -- or Dan Quayle in Drag?
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — McCain's stunning choice of the ex-beauty queen, evangelical half-term Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin may be one of the biggest political gambles in modern political history. But if the Democrats can avoid over-the-top sexism in belittling her, the pick could be a major boon to the Obama-Biden ticket. And as an added gift to Democrats, The Anchorage Daily News reports, Palin is scheduled to be deposed before the election in a blossoming scandal involving the apparently improper firing of the state's top public safety officer as revenge for not sacking Palin's former brother-in-law. Now Democrats can say ...

Palin: A Brilliant Trap?
JammieWearingFool — Kirsten Powers seems to think John McCain laid out the trap for Team Obama, and they bit right away. SHE'S just a beauty queen. She's another Dan Quayle. And ironically, the biggest criticism of Sarah Palin, John McCain's veep choice, is she has no experience. Funny, coming from the Barack Obama camp . Following McCain's announcement of Palin - the first female to be put on a GOP ticket for the White House, and only the second in US history - the Obama campaign skipped the niceties and blasted her as the "former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience." She's also a governor of Alaska (my home state), the first woman in that office and the youngest elected in state history. She ...

Palin’s Real Trooper Problem
Balloon Juice — ... . Walt Monegan, the Alaska official who Palin fired, has already disclosed that Palin repeatedly harassed him about her ex-brother in law, and he has a sheaf of emails that he plans to show to investigators. The guy who Palin appointed to replace Monegan, Chuck Kopp, had a ...

Flailin at Palin
Jules Crittenden — [image] « Tropic Thunder Flailin at Palin [image] A picture’s worth a thousand words as NYT kicks off its hit on Palin. Cutline: “Decidedly Alaskan touch.”  Subtext: “Right-wing yokel belongs to endangered species death cult.” Here’s the rest , which wants make sure you know she’s no acceptable Hillary substitute and shares only charm with the Anointed One. WaPo wants you to know about Palin’s trooper problem  but doesn’t want to tell you too much about it. It’s not quite like Bill’s trooper problem, but maybe the Clinton backers will get nostalgic. OK, sorry, that was unkind. WaPo’s short on details about whether this was bitter divorce/family acrimony out of control, ...

Media Continues Smear Campaign Against Governor Sarah Palin
Gateway Pundit — The media continued its smear campaign today against Sarah Palin after its sexist attacks from yesterday. The Washington Post even interviewed the chief fired by Palin in its lead story. You can bet that's fair and balanced! Flopping Aces has the lowdown on the latest smears and distortions against Governor Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin Faces Ethics Investigation In Alaska
The Huffington Post | Full News Feed — ... Walt Monegan, who was fired by Palin, gave an interview to the Washington Post Friday in which he discussed the background of the case: ...

The Next Few Days
The Mahablog — Beautiful Downtown Wasilla, Alaska! Kinda reminds me of back home, except the Ozarks has hills and more foliage. I picked up the photograph of beautiful downtown Wasilla from this site, which has a must-read background article on the new nominee for VPOTUS, Sarah Palin. Read it, and then ask yourself: Is Palin another Dan Quayle? Or another Katherine Harris, albeit with less money? See also “Chief Fired by Palin Speaks Out.” Wasilla, Alaska, is where Palin gained nearly all of her executive experience. She was on the Wasilla city council from 1992 to 1996 — I envision a meeting room graced by cheap ...

The crime and the cover-up
Political Animal — ... the McCain campaign barely knows who Palin is. That's probably true. But lying about an alleged abuse of power is far more serious. Remember the expression, the cover-up is worse than the crime? It's plainly true in the case of Palin firing Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan. Take a look at this video, from the ABC affiliate in Alaska, and notice that Palin seems to have been caught, rather blatantly, misusing her power and then lying about it. While we're at it, read this rather extraordinary report from the Washington Post about just how embarrassing this ...

Who Vetted Her?
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan — It's beginning to sound a little like Arkansas. Check out the details of the Troopergate scandal, and the "soap-opera-style" details of the firing of a police chief, who is now venting to the press. No one looks good in all this, and Palin was caught in a lie she had to concede, and her husband comes off as a bit of a bully, and no one seems to doubt she used her public office to pursue a personal issue. It's pretty trivial stuff, but it's messy. And the legislative inquiry, headed by a Democrat, is scheduled to report on October 31. I'd love to know if McCain knew all this. Or was this as impulsive and as rashly decided as it seems? ...

Getting Real
Talking Points Memo — ... When Palin became governor they went for another bite at the apple. Palin, her husband and several members of her staff began pressuring Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan -- a respected former Chief of the Anchorage police department -- to can Wooten. Monegan resisted, arguing that the official process regarding Wooten was closed. And there was nothing more that could be done. In fact, during one of the conversations in which Palin's husband Todd was putting on pressure, Monegan told Todd Palin, "You can't head hunt like this. What you need to do is back off, because ...

McCain-Palin: Sloppy To No Vetting? How Can Anyone Trust McCain?
Firedoglake — ... " allegations in the midst of a family custody wrangle a fairly big deal when you are looking at a running mate? Or where there are allegations of a wrongful firing to spite the man who wouldn't fire her former brother-in-law? ...

Troopergate: What is Palin hiding?
The Reaction — ... who has denied any wrongdoing and has said she has nothing to hide, hired private lawyers on Saturday, the day after Sen. McCain announced her as his running mate. She denies and denies, but her staff was involved, as well as her family (including her husband), and her story keep changing as details emerge. But did Palin really know nothing about what was going on? Monegan... said in an interview with The Washington Post's James V. ...

Wednesday Mostly Palin Bashing
Discourse.net — ... No kidding. See the picture. BoBo2020 at Kos, PALIN-tology - 45+ Problems for McCain’s VP in just 35 hours Kos, McCain Hates (Other People’s) Property Editor & Publisher, Surprise? First Two National Polls Find Palin Gains LESS Support from Women Rep. Diana DeGette: Palin Choice an “Insult to Women” Palintology Exclusive: Chief Fired by Palin Speaks Out Crooks & Liars, POWn’d, You Lose! ...

Susan L. Travis: Peas In a Pod: Palin's Troopergate And Bush's Attorneygate
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... Palin: Troopergate, involves the 2008 firing of Alaska's Public Safety Commissioner by Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin. ...