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We Have Not Come A Long Way, Babe
Taylor Marsh — ... Yet we are supposed to ignore her resume, including her ethics issues and the tawdry soap opera dogging her that has her being investigated, and not call her what she is. An unqualified embarrassment to all women who have the requisite experience to be seriously considered for leadership jobs of great importance, as well as a potential danger to our country’s national security. ...

Apparently, Maverick Means Abusing Your Authority
Balloon Juice — ... not getting my vote. So for me, at least, I don’t have to even bother with the issues of experience and her complete lack of knowledge regarding foreign affairs and well, hell, the fact she didn’t even know what the VP did a few weeks ago. I don’t have to think about any of that, as her extreme religious views already disqualify her in my eyes. No more social conservatives. Ever. Having said that, it really does seem there is something to this trooper stuff: We rely on elected officials not to use the power of their ...

Who Chose Sarah Palin?
The Washington Note — Rumors are swirling that Tim Pawlenty is furious - that he was on the edge of McCain announcing he was the GOP VP running mate - but that at the last moment, that course was rejected in favor of a person McCain met once, six months ago, and did not interview again. Huckabee is not pleased that he wasn't even vetted - and he's letting his followers know. But it may be that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin wasn't vetted either! How did Palin get the job? This piece by Tristan Snell at Open Left is worth ...

"Troopergate" requires a "disambiguation" page in Wikipedia.
Althouse — Isn't it strange that the scandal being pushed against Sarah Palin has the same moniker as a scandal that dogged Bill Clinton and another one that ruined Eliot Spitzer? ...

Foolishness?
TalkLeft — ... Josh Marshall defends his reporting on Gov. Sarah Palin's alleged abuse of power involving her ex-brother in law, state trooper Mike Wooten: ...

Amazing
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan — From Josh: The investigator appointed by the state legislature began trying to arrange a time to depose Gov. Palin last week -- in other words, in the final days before her selection. I ask again: who vetted her? Josh has a sober and clear overview of Troopergate and why it matters here. Money quote: We rely on elected officials not to use the power of their office to pursue personal agendas or vendettas. It's called an abuse of power. There is ample evidence that Palin used her power as governor to get her ...

Josh Micah Marshall on Palin and Troopergate
J. Bradford DeLong's Grasping Reality with All Eight Tentacles — ... Talking Points Memo | Getting Real About Palin: The Palin family had a feud with Wooten prior to her becoming governor. They put together a list of 14 accusations which they took to the state police to investigate -- a list that ranged from the quite serious to the truly absurd. The state police did an investigation, decided that 5 of the charges had some merit and suspended Wooten for ten days -- a suspension later reduced to five days. The Palin's weren't satisfied but there wasn't much they could do. ...

Missing the Point on Troopergate… Entirely
The Moderate Voice — ... EARLY UPDATE: While the linked author and I rarely agree on many political issues, Josh Marshall seems to have hit on very nearly the same point, at least in the broad sense. ...

Beyond Troopergate: McCain/Palin Judgment & Ethics Problems--Hush Money? Witness Tampering?
Open Left - Front Page — ... , by Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle, TPM has a new, up-to-date overview of Sarah Palin's Troopergate scandal here.  This is the scandal over the pressuring, and eventual firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, for his refusal to fire state trooper Mike Wooten, Palin's ex-brother-in-law who's involved in a bitter custody dispute with Palin's sister. ...

Don’t Go There
The Mahablog — ... It’s not much of a chorus; more of a small chamber ensemble. In any event, don’t go there. The late Benazir Bhutto gave birth while she was President of Pakistan, for pity’s sake. And yes, I’ve heard the rumor that Palin’s youngest baby isn’t hers. I’m not going there, either, unless more evidence shows up. Making wild accusations that turn out to be stupid makes you look like a rightie. On the other hand, Josh Marshall explains in detail why Palin’s troopergate issue needs to be ...

Bart Motes: Palin Baby Shocker!
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... There are plenty of great reasons to oppose John McCain and Sarah Palin. McCain has an Ahab like addiction to winning the lost war and Palin is a person who is so intellectually incurious that she said she hadn't thought much about the Iraq War, despite her son being shipped off there soon. PLUS a very serious question about judgment in Josh Marshall's as ever brilliant examination of Palin's abuse of power in brotherinlawgate. ...

More from Palinland
Lawyers, Guns and Money — ... Obviously, the choices made by a first-term, small-town mayor in early 1997 tell us very little about Sarah Palin as a vice presidential candidate nearly a dozen years later. Unless, that is, you realize that what Palin was up to in early 1997 bears a strong resemblance to the road she took toward firing Walt Monegan last month. Likable though she may be, Palin has established an obvious pattern of using public office to settle private scores and to retaliate against fellow public officials who have been deemed insufficiently helpful. ...

Paul Loeb: The Rovian Choice of Sarah Palin
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere" while campaigning for governor, then later claiming to disavow it; her Cheney-style vendetta of firing the Alaska public safety director who refused to fire her former brother-in-law from his job as a state trooper. Leave aside Palin's actual record, because John McCain barely knows it. What choosing her shows instead is a politics that once again subordinates any greater common good to a raw pursuit of power. It echoes McCain praising Jerry Falwell after once calling him an "agent of intolerance." Or embracing Bush's campaign and administration ...

John Kerry: Palin Choice Proves McCain’s a “Prisoner of the Right Wing”
Crooks and Liars — ... some good advice, as always, on what our response to Palin might ought to be. While I tend to agree, that might be a tall order, as this well just keeps getting deeper. Your thoughts? ...

McCain-Palin: Sloppy To No Vetting? How Can Anyone Trust McCain?
Firedoglake — ... about their involvement in "abuse of power" 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 ...

Chris Weigant: Framing Sarah Palin
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... declared itself the Creamery Board, and quickly approved keeping Matanuska Maid open. Later in the year, the dairy failed anyway. Sure shows Palin knows how to handle the entire American economy, doesn't it? It also shows how Palin deals with any political problem -- by firing everyone in sight who doesn't agree with her. And if you can't fire them, fire their boss. Haven't we had enough of that already under Bush and Cheney?" (6c)  "And then, in the scandal that Alaskans have come to know as 'Troopergate,' Sarah Palin is ...

Palin lawyers up
Political Animal — ... in the case. She will, in all likelihood, have to take time away from the campaign trail to answer questions, under oath, about her role in this scandal. And if you're fuzzy on some of the details on this controversy, Josh Marshall had a terrific item over the weekend, summarizing the story to date. He concluded: We rely on elected officials not to use the power of their office to pursue personal agendas or vendettas. It's called an abuse of power.... The available evidence now suggests that she 1) tried to have an ex-relative fired from his job for personal reasons, ...

Obstruction: McCain tries to delay Troopergate report
Crooks and Liars — ... Van Flein said in an interview. You heard right: Palin’s attorney is admitting that Ken Starr’s investigation into former President Clinton wasn’t an honest inquiry, but rather a politically-motivated vendetta. I certainly have sympathy for the victims of poltically-motivated vendettas, but in this case Sarah Palin isn’t the victim; the upstanding public safety commissioner she fired, Walt Monegan, is. Josh has a great breakdown of the scandal in case anyone needs refreshing. ...

Wednesday Mostly Palin Bashing
Discourse.net — ... as McCain’s running mate - she decided to flat out lie about her accomplishments?” (That she’s in a long tradition of GOP Veeps from Agnew to Cheney?) Bob Geiger, McCain To Katrina Victims In 2005: You’re On Your Own HuffPo, McCain Camp Didn’t Search Palin’s Hometown Paper Archives — and they want to run the country? Goldy,Tippecanoe and Palin Too TPM, Getting Real About Palin Ruth Marcus, WashPo, A Heartbeat Away From Cynicism ...

The crime vs. the cover-up
Political Animal — ... . Josh Marshall had a terrific item over the weekend, summarizing the scandal. He concluded : "We rely on elected officials not to use the power of their office to pursue personal agendas or vendettas. It's called an abuse of power.... The available evidence now suggests that she 1) tried to have an ex-relative fired from his job for personal reasons, something that was clearly inappropriate, and perhaps illegal, though possibly understandable in human terms, 2) fired a state official for not himself acting inappropriately by firing the relative, 3) lied to the public about ...

Working the Refs
If I Ran the Zoo — On the Friday of the Palin announcement, the first profiles to come out were all puff pieces, heavy on the bio and 'reformer' label, with no mention of her little abuse of power problem. My fear was that she would get a whole news cycle with no real challenge to the official campaign version. So I wrote to the Times' public editor, complaining about the omission of Troopergate from their first piece. ...

Half-Baked Alaska
The American Scene — ... not to say that the charges against Palin aren’t serious. Far from it. But it is important to note that the Wooten case does not imply that Palin is part of Alaska’s culture of corruption. Rather, it implies that she might have been overzealous in going after a state employee she knew to be an abusive lout — perhaps she should be punished for this somehow, but note how politically important it is to collapse these distinctions. Josh Marshall insists at great length that the Wooten case reflects a dangerous abuse of power. ...

Whatever It Takes, Including Emotional Abuse? Nothing Like A Little Abuse Of Power…
Firedoglake — ... It's beginning to look like a pattern of behavior for abusing a position of power to settle personal grudges, isn't it? Via Newsweek: ...

Troopergate endgame
Political Animal — ... top aides, indicates that, to a far greater degree than was previously known, the governor, her husband and her administration pressed the commissioner and his staff to get Trooper Wooten off the force, though without directly ordering it. In all, the commissioner and his aides were contacted about Trooper Wooten three dozen times over 19 months by the governor, her husband and seven administration officials, interviews and documents show. About a month ago, Josh Marshall had a good item on Palin's scandal, and concluded, "We rely on elected officials not to use the power of ...

Never let hypocrisy get in the way of a complaint
Rising Hegemon — Sarah Palin's "Governoratin'" Twitter page, soon to lose it's elected designation and be a mere privately held twitter page accessorized with the Bedazzler begins its final days with yet another twatting of irony ...

How Will Palin Respond This Time?
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan — by Chris Bodenner Andrew's take on the latest dish from Levi is here. Mudflats also nails it: One can imagine “Mrs. Palin” in some undisclosed location furiously unloading into a recording device for her ghost writer, adding an extra chapter in her book called “Levi Johnston is a Liar Again.” That comes right after the other chapters entitled, “Levi Johnston is a Liar,”  “Those Ethics Complaint Filers are Liars,” “That Ex-Public Safety Commissioner is a Liar,”  “Those McCain Staffers are Liars,” “That Former Wasilla ...