Obviously all of Karl Rove's practice with legal stalling tactics is paying off. This will go nowhere.

Obama CANNOT miss his small window of oppty here: NOW is the time for Palin ads painting her as deceitful, out-of-touch right-wing fanatic and incomptent BEFORE the GOP puts them on the defense or successfully completes her branding.

She is not doing interviews, so set the agenda in regards to Palin NOW.

The Obama team is SO SLOW and needs to be more aggressive.

Palin and her machine, with the help of Washington Republicans, are clearly moving fast to shut this thing down. They've gotten to 7 of the key witnesses and told them to clam up, and you'd be a fool to think it ends there: the kicker for me here is that the Judiciary Committee is composed of 8 Republicans and 4 Democrats. Those 8 Republicans will absolutely, without question be leaned on, and instructed to obstruct any issuance of subpoenas (subpoenae?). There's absolutely no way in hell this thing is going forward.

And mk3872, I couldn't agree more on the Obama campaign's slowness and shocking lack of vitality when it comes to taking on McCain. They are constantly given McCain gaffes that for some utterly unfathomable reason they refuse -- refuse! -- to capitalize on. McCain says "Social security is a disgrace," while still collecting it himself. Has the Obama campaign turned that into an ad that's playing non-stop in Florida and other states with huge elderly populations? Nope. McCain goes to Colorado and mentions that he wants to revisit the water-rights pact between it and AZ and CA, etc. -- a suggestion that sends Coloradans through the roof. Did Obama turn it into an ad? Nope. Has anyone seen an ad made from Phil Gramm calling unemployed Americans whiners? Nope. The list goes on, of course, and the 8 houses thing is the exception that proves the rule. Every time McDroolCup makes a new gaffe it joins the rest of them, blithely passed over and left uncontested. It's crazy. I had no idea Axelrod and Plouffe et al were so passive.

Well, here's hoping the GOTV is as vaunted and effective as all the hype is telling us it is, because it's all Obama's got now that he's ceded message, perception, character and personality to the Republicans.

It's an interesting development that 7 key witnesses have said that they would not provide depositions. There's more here than what's being printed. I'm wondering if those 7 aren't being coached by some of the Bu$h operatives working with McCain's campaign to always answer with "I don't remember" like so many Senate and House hearings have had to endure?

Sometimes traps simply need longer to spring. They are giving Palin all the oppty to come forward. Essentially the Brother-in-law and State Police Chief have come forward to the press and told their stories, the emails are released so what if she came forward and said in a Checkers like speech....my brother-in-law tazored my nephew....I thought it was so grievousness to fire him....I was wrong....

But now as she goes around stonewalling and going back on the promise to her citizens of AK then a narrative can be made that she is no different than what is in DC now with Bush and Cheney.....Thus the trap.....That McCain knew and he still chose her....more of the same....

It is the independents and unaffiliated that is the audience....

Let her go and hide for a few weeks and then paint her in the old pol corner who simply is wearing lipstick (her words not mine)

Know the difference in the Alaskan hockey mom and a pitbull? 1 ball!

Why no subpoena for Sarah? Did the Bush-Cheney-Rove Goon Squad that went up to Anchorage leave some horse heads in beds?

Seems to me that ... www.notwrightforamerica ... is a white trash url. Just like Palin.

This isn't good news for the Dems, but it's not terribly surprising and in the end maybe not all that important. The media still seems to be pursuing her aggressively enough that I think the Obama camp is smart not to "define her". Let this play out a while longer. See if the NE does to her what it did to John Edwards and keep to the (accurate) message that McCain/Palin promises more of Bush/Cheney.

Isn't this whole Sarah Palin soap opera getting to be a big bluf by the McCain camp?

We're supposed to just believe them when they say she's "ready to be VP"? Because the media can't question her, we're supposed to take a pig in a poke and vote for her? How far would all this get if the shoe was on the other foot and it was Barack Obama not taking questions?

On top of all the secrecy, now the campaign is doing all it can to cover up "TrooperGate". When I heard last weekend that the McCain camp was sending its' own lawyers up to Alaska to "check things out", my first thought was that they'd try to cover it up.

Looks like I was CORRECT!

I read the transcript of Bailey's call to the Highway Patrol on Palin's behalf. It was released by the troopers' union when they filed their lawsuit on 9/3. It's very damaging to Palin, in my opinion. Bailey is very uncomfortable, as is the Lieutenant he is talking to, especially when Bailey mentions Wooten's worker's compensation files, which they both know are confidential. But Bailey also throws in asides about the governor's support for department funding and how she really likes Walt (Monegan, the guy she eventually fired), but they just can't understand how Wooten can still be on the force. I think a good prosecutor would eat her for lunch.

Another sad day for the democracy. Justice is being laughed at every day. And now, we have someone said first she was going to help with the investigation, and now decides otherwise.

Only in America, you can see such as scam. A total unexperienced politician may become one heartbeat from the presidency...

MSNBC is selling the idea that Pitt bull is the most experienced person in the country, more than any other politician, and sadly more than 50% in the country believe it.

This is really sad, but i guess at the end, Americans deserve their politicians...

Why the Airplane EBay Story matters. John McCain repeated the lie today that Sarah Palin sold the state plane on EBay "for a profit". Of course she did put it on EBay, but ultimately sold it through a private plane broker for loss. It appears that the purchaser was a Palin campaign contributer, but that part of the story is still being confirmed. This is important because it not only amplifies that McCain has bad judgment because he doesn't properly research things before he says them, but it shows how bad a VP Palin would be. She'll stand by and let her boss get it wrong when she herself knows the truth. This is the same old GOP with lipstick.

The good news is that the MSM is just now catching up on the reporting on this story.

There's so much to attack where do we begin?

Mike Wooten is a loose cannon that needed to be tossed over board.

The Alaska State Troopers have a long history of high profile cases involving their own, gone bad.

A little digging into the blunders and errors of the AST over the years would reveal a pattern of behavior very similar to Trooper Wooten by various members of the AST.

JS

Wooten has not been fired, and he is still a trooper in the state of Alaska...

Palin is accused of using her power to fire Walter Monegan, the Public Safety Commissioner of Alaska because he refused to fire Wooten...

The larger issue about troopergate and the firing of Walt Monegan is that it reveals how Palin's actions as mayor and governor replicate the Bush administration's abuse of office scandals - particularly the Department of Justice firing of 7 US District Attorneys. In their article "Palin's Start in Alaska - Not Politics as Usual", the NY Times reports that even as mayor Palin fired a librarian (later reinstating her after protests) who refused to censor books she took exception to. They also report she forced out and fired several government employees who were less ideologically committed introducing a form of ideological wedge politics they describe as unheard of in small-town Alaska.

The firing of Walt Monegan, allegedly because he refused to fire Palin's brother-in-law, seems not exceptional but part of a pattern of abuse of office. And it is an abuse of office that is at the heart of the Department of Justice firings and points to how closely Palin's governing style mimics that of the Bush administration. This is the picture the Obama campaign should be emphasising: that Palin abuses office; that Palin is too ideologically committed to govern competently; that she hires and fires people not because of their skills or how well they do their job but by how much they serve her agenda.

The window is closing, you are so correct.
NOW is the time to brand Mrs. Palin as a deceitful, out of touch right wing fanatic.

I think it is eally important that the following information gets out to the MSM. We need to know more about this person. God forbid this scary woman ever gets elected to a major office...we will be screwed!

http://www.laprogressive.com/2008/09/05/alaskans-speak-in-a-frightened-whisper-palin-is-%e2%80%9cracist-sexist-vindictive-and-mean%e2%80%9d/

I think it is eally important that the following information gets out to the MSM. We need to know more about this person. God forbid this scary woman ever gets elected to a major office...we will be screwed!

http://www.laprogressive.com/2008/09/05/alaskans-speak-in-a-frightened-whisper-palin-is-%e2%80%9cracist-sexist-vindictive-and-mean%e2%80%9d/

WOW, I hope this gets properly confirmed. She needs to go away!

Little known facts about Ms. Palin: 1) pushed for censorship in Alaskan libraries. 2)Sarah Palin refused the building of the bridge only after she saw it was advantageous to her politically but she kept the MONEY! all $223 mil...[talk about more of the same...uuuggghhh!]

Sarah Palin is complete and utter scum of the earth. If the repugs get elected, this country is done for. We either get on the right path now or never. Four years will be too late. Someday soon, I hope to retire to a sane place and watch the meltdown from afar.

I strongly agree that SOUTH DAKOTA BOUGHT OFF PUNK, TOM BROKAW has sold out......and is a worthless self serving punk putz.

Brokaw actually stated that "....the bloggers are responsible for the school shooters" after the West Virginia shooter went nuts???????????

How many people think that BLOGGERS are the cause of the MK ULTRA MANCHURIAN CANDIDATES SHOOTING UP SCHOOLS?????????????

So what will these "family values" people spin if the National Enquirer allegations are correct that wholesome Sarah had an affair with her husband's business...who tried to close his divorce records to the public and lost?

I agree with the earlier poster that we need to attack her NOW. Attack her extremist views on abortion and global warming. Point out her husband's membership in the Alaskan Independence Party. Paint her as the nutjob she really is. The choice issue, especially, is one that could swing independents - not even being in favor of abortion in case of rape or incest is far out of the mainstream - it isn't even in the river.

TPM, Daily Kos, Politico, and Huffington and the established mediaisare not putting alleged Palin's affair on their sites. Why not? This would really hit the right wing in their family values pretensons. Check www.thefirstpost.co.uk

Currently, all voters (regardless of party affiliation or where they fit on the conservative/liberal continuum) should be interested in having the following three questions answered: 1) Is Sarah Palin qualified to be "one heartbeat" away from the presidency (especially when her party's presidential candidate is a 72 year-old cancer survivor)? 2) Is Sarah Palin in actuality a political reformer (keeping in mind the reports concerning her ties to a Ted Stevens 527 fundraising unit, her retention of a lobbyist associated with Jack Abramoff, her love of earmarks, etc.)? 3) Does Sarah Palin -- who compares herself with a pit bull and was once nicknamed Sarah Barracuda -- have the right set of social skills and the temperament to be Vice President (at a time when voters of both parties want there to be more cooperation, compromise and bipartisanship in Washington, as a means to address major problems such as the souring economy, the energy crisis, etc.)? In addition to the three questions above, there is a fourth question for moderates and independents: 4) Is Sarah Palin a conservative or do her positions on certain issues make her an ultra-conservative with radical views (keeping in mind her failed attempt at banning books from the public library, her views on abortion in the event of rape or incest, her support of teaching creationism in the public schools, etc.)?