Heck of job, Johnny Mac! you just picked a scandal for VP.

The Gov Sarah Palin pick for VP proves something I've suspected all along:

John McCain is not a regular reader of TPM Muckraker.

Great job y'all,

And for the unusually large number of contributors from Alaska that have done so much to document Don Young, and Ted Stevens, Thank You Too!! Hell, I think there's more Muckrakers in Alaska then all of Texas!

snip - Beginning in spring of 2005 and for the next ten months, over 25 formal complaints were filed by Palin and Heath family members against Trooper Mike Wooten. From drinking while driving his patrol car to making threats to shooting a moose without a permit.

snip- In all cases except one, the charges were ruled unfounded after an internal investigation. And the one charge that was valid, Wooten immediately admitted to.

and that was ...

snip- In 2003, Wooten, his wife and a friend were moose hunting. Upon spotting a moose, Wooten instructed his wife to shoot the moose since she had the permit, she refused so Wooten did.

After carting the moose back to town, Sarah's father actually butchered it in his garage, and Wooten shared the meat with both Sarah and Todd Palin as well as her parents. Two years later, during the divorce battle, the family filed a complaint alleging that Wooten had taken that moose illegally. At least they waited until they finished the meat to file the complaint against Wooten.

and there is more ...

snip- Meanwhile in court, Wooten prevailed at every turn as Judge Suddock quickly realized there was a concerted effort to damage Wooten. Finally the judge warned that if any of their actions caused Wooten to lose his job or pay in anyway, Molly and her family would be held liable.

After the divorce was final in late 2005 things settled down, until last fall.

At the request of the court, Wooten and his ex-wife were instructed to return to re-visit the custody schedule. Once the paper work started in April of 2008, the complaints and the intimidation started all over again.

A couple of the more recent complaints involve misuse of his patrol car by Wooten. In both incidents it was to visit his kids at school and in both cases he had his Sargent's permission.

But there is even on bigger problem that Palin might face. This past spring she directed Monegan to fire Wooten. Monegan refused and shortly thereafter Wooten's Administrative Investigation file, which are strictly confidential, were released to Wooten's ex-wife and her attorney. No one in Palin's office has yet to explain how that released occurred.

Upon learning of the confidential data release, both Monegan and Colonel Audie Halloway warned that if they learned the leak was from the governors office, the would pursue charges.

There is more here.

This is like a Barney Fife version of the Justice Department scandal.

Abuse of power,it's so Republican.

This is an interesting site to catch up on more info on Gov. Palin.
http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/08/29

Palin simply has too much baggage and too many negatives accumulated along the way to be a credible addition to the McCain ticket.

In particular, she seems to have gone off the deep end after winning the governors mansion. The number of official improprieties committed under her direction will negate any positive contribution she might have made. People will be stirring this pot right up to election day. It'll never be far from voters eyes and ears. The continuous barrage will distract voters and create more than enough doubt in voters minds to not only make them shy away from her but also cast doubt upon the judgement of McCain. And if whatever happens with the political circumstance in Alaska should happen to go against her it'll be all over. Anything short of a positive outcome on that front is not a good outcome for McCain / Palin. And I mean positive. Not negative and not indecisive.

Attention George Soros: PLEASE PAY THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER WHATEVER IT TAKES TO FIND OUT IF THE FIFTH "SPECIAL NEEDS" CHILD WAS HER DAUGHTER'S BRISTOL'S OR THE GOVERNOR'S AND DO TO PALIN WHAT YOU DID TO EDWARDS.

This guy's most likely got an axe to grind (ran against Palin for gov as an independent in 2006), but that doesn't mean that some of what he says might not be legit. He says her hubbie is all up in AK's business.

This was posted in the comments of a previously linked WaPo article:

http://www.andrewhalcro.com/shadow_governor

There is a lot of other dirt on the site-- legit or not, I don't know. If it is, she's packed a lot of skeezy dealings in 2 yrs, so maybe she is some kind of prodigy.

m in athens

Vote For The Ticket Of McCain and Palin
Vote For More Of The Same Old Failings

Sorry, OldSarg. I haven't posted much here and thought you were into satire. i guess not.

Here's People magazine's interview with the Palins and McCains.

Notice that McCain's adopted daughter isn't in the photo. She seems to always be hidden away.

From the article:

"Do you feel ready to be a heartbeat away from the presidency?

SARAH: Absolutely. Yup, yup. Especially with a good team around us. "

Scary.

Palin DID support the "bridge to nowhere" when she ran for Governor of Alaska 20 months ago. And now McCain selects her because she fought against earmarks! What a joke. That is a flip-flop that needs some national attention!

Also, I can't believe the Repubs are pushing this "Alaska is the closest to Russia" meme to excuse a lock of foreign policy knowledge. By these standards, Barak Obama is obviously the more qualified candidate since Illinois is closer to Russia than Arizona. Is this how dumbed-down our political discussion has become?

McShitstain's selection of Palin is significant in one way in particular: It highlights how little it mattered to the McShitstain campaign who was selected. I can see two possible explanations for this seeming lack of concern: either the fix is in, and everyubody knows it and McShitstain's gonna be #44, and nothing really matters because of that, or the fix is in and the GOPs know they're fucked and it doesn't really matter...

Because he cannot be serious selecting this feculent slag to be the 'prezimunch-in-waiting."

Woof! Woof! Oops! You guys were barking up the wrong tree again!

Lets see if this devious plan has worked.

No Bush impeachment!, Check!
No Cheney secret governments, Check!
No 911 inside jobs, Check!
No AG scandals, Check!
We win in Iraq, Check!
Afghanistan, Check!
Governor Palin becomes the Vice!, Check!

Conspiracy Complete!
Ahhh HaHa!!!!!

This seems of little importance to her, since she loves babies born on any circumstance, including rape, so why this 'insignificant' be important when handling official business?