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Palin Falsely Claimed Report Cleared Her of Legal Wrong-Doing
It's fair to say that Trooper-Gate hasn't exactly burnished Sarah Palin's reputation for honesty. And in a conference call she gave Saturday to respond to the legislature's report on the affair released Friday night, that reputation took another hit.
Palin opened her remarks by declaring:
I'm very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing ... any hint of any kind of unethical activity there.
But of course, it's simply untrue that the report cleared Palin of legal wrongdoing or unethical activity.
Steve Branchflower did conclude that Palin was within her rights to fire Walt Monegan -- since, as governor, she can fire any executive branch official for any reason.
But he also concluded, just as definitively, that Palin pressured and intimidated subordinates in trying to force the firing of Mike Wooten. In doing so, Branchflower wrote, she violated a state ethics law which says that "any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action" is a violation of the public trust.
When an Anchorage Daily News reporter followed up by reminding the governor of this finding, she did not respond directly.
(Below is the audio from the call, preceded by some video footage from over the weekend of Palin calling the Trooper-Gate inquiry "a partisan kind of process.")
In the call, Palin also asserted that the inquiry "did turn into a partisan circus" -- perhaps forgetting that it had been launched through a unanimous vote of the bipartisan legislative council, and that the council voted unanimously again on Friday to release the report to the public.
And asked how she felt about having called Walt Monegan, a widely respected public servant, a "rogue", she replied: "'Rogue' isn't a negative term."
Josh
Zachary
It's pretty clear that Sarah Palin is a narcisist and a pathological liar. "Mean girl" in highschool; beauty queen; TV celebrity;
and does anyone believe that Trig is her baby and not her daughter's? I mean, if she would lie about that, what wouldn't she lie about?
October 13, 2008 9:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
When you combine narcissist and pathological liar, you get "Anti-social Personality." (or you could use "sociopath" or "psychopath") She also seems to be pathologically greedy - both for money and attention. Others can feel free to add more attributes.
October 13, 2008 9:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
She's also proud to be a knave, a malefactor, and a miscreant.
October 13, 2008 2:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Rogue" is not a "negative term".
So, Saddam Hussein, head of a "rogue state," wasn't negative.
So Pain approves of him.
So they have in common being anti-terrorist.
Yay.
October 14, 2008 2:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
What the hell is wrong with the NYT and WaPo? Not only is this an easily demonstrable lie, but we're really talking crazy-town territory here. Yet neither paper even mentions this today.
On the other hand, both papers prominently feature their 8,000th story on McCain's POW biography. I guess they're not going to let their Bush tax cuts go without a fight.
October 13, 2008 9:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
Not that it's a great journalistic piece, but the Rolling Stone did a story on McCain's military and POW life. Graduated near bottom of his Naval Academy class and was not as "heroic" as he claims during his capture. Cried like a baby and actually broke "The Code" the article claims. Their source- a fellow POW who was with McCain. I mean, how else did they find out he was a high ranking military official's son? Yep- he told them in an effort to exchange info for care. Unbelievable.
October 13, 2008 11:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
And this lady claims to be a Christian.....
October 13, 2008 9:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Did she shoot that fur herself?
October 14, 2008 2:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Her cronyistic and vindictive behavior as governor in Alaska makes the "Mayberry Machiavelis" look like urbane sophisticates. It will never happen, but I would love to see her try to debate Hillary Clinton. Nothing would bring out her true self like the envy of, and hatred for the real thing.. a powerful, intelligent and admired woman.
October 13, 2008 10:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
The new improved American version of Christianity allows for lying, cheating, killing.... all those things God used to implement for defining a loving person who cared for his fellow man.
We have progressed far beyond this concept to include dominance, judgement, and goals which cannot be diverted by such nonsenses spoken thousands (seven thousand years, according to the "Right" christian belief) of years ago...
Too bad these politicians are roll models, awaiting future converts...
October 13, 2008 10:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Apparently she can't read? Because the report says the exact opposite in it's first finding.
I want to know when the media is going to glow on the fact that she supports her teenage daughter's marriage- even if it means the boy had to drop out of high school.
October 13, 2008 11:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's a subliminal message to the base:
October 13, 2008 11:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
I've been a research psychologist studying temperament and motivation for several decades. Palin lies brazenly (e.g., about the ethics violation) and repeatedly (e.g. about the bridge to nowhere). She continues to pressure Monegan, even after being warned that the pressure is inappropriate. All of this suggests a pathological lack of fear or guilt (see TheraP above). This type of psychopathy is quite scary in itself. But in Palin, it is aggravated by her very strong power motivation and charisma. This combination of traits is like revving up the accelerator (the power motivation) and taking the brakes off (the lack of fear/guilt). (Bush also has the pathological lack of fear/guilt, but I don't think he is as ambitious and certainly not as charismatic). Palin's psychopathy may be further amplified by vindictiveness and lack of empathy (she seems more than willing to fire subordinates, and her use of the new baby as a stage prop in extremely loud, noisy settings is very disturbing).
I hope I'm exaggerating, but I think Palin's is the last type of personality we would want in a politician. She may crash and burn in the present election, but we need to make sure she doesn't rise from the ashes.
October 14, 2008 1:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm tired of comments -- especially from males -- about PAlin being "attracitve," and "charaimatic".
Both are in the eye of the beholder. And certainly the ugly personality she is cancels the bullshit "charisma" being projected ONTO her.
October 14, 2008 2:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
You are right charisma is in the eye of the beholder. But you miss the point that she is charasmatic to many right wingers, especially young right-wing females. My whole point was that this makes her especially dangerous.
October 14, 2008 2:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Llittle things don't always mean much, but in the VP debate Gov. Calin did something that I think characterizes her mean-spirited, truly evil character. After she mentioned her efforts in raising six children, Sen. Biden told of how he, too, had to raise children, alone, when his wife died prematurely. It was an emotional moment for the audience and for him -- he choked up a bit as he spoke and there was dead silence as an empathetic audience felt his pain for a moment. The only person who didn't let there be even a full second of silence was Palin, who jumped in immediately with one of her programmed snippets on a totally different subject without even an expression of respect or sympathy. She just couldn't let Biden have his moment of grief.
A bully, an oaf, and devoid of the humanity that would qualify her to hold a powerful position; a pit bill with lipstick, indeed: Sarah Palin, would-be dictator.
October 14, 2008 9:43 PM | Reply | Permalink