Business as usual - Republicans try to derail Palin investigation

You can read some tidbits about the Palin investigation here.

Yesterday Newsweek reported that some friends of John McCain are busily trying to derail the investigation of Sarah Palin by the Alaska State Legislature. Why is that not surprising?

They are afraid. They are very afraid. They don't know what to expect and it could be bad, bad, bad for the McCain team!

John Coghill, who is the Republican chair of the state House Rules Committee, "wrote a letter seeking a meeting of Alaska's bipartisan Legislative Council in order to remove the Democratic state senator in charge of the so-called 'troopergate' investigation."

This action was "endorsed" by the McCain campaign last night!

Coghill is charging that Hollis French, the senator in question, has "politicized" the investigation by making various comments in public! He even had the gall to suggest to ABC News that Palin had a "credibility problem." Furthermore, Senator French expressed the thought that "the investigation into the firing of public safety commissioner Walter Monegan was 'likely to be damaging to the administration' and could be an 'October surprise.'"

Senator French hired a special counsel to discover whether or not Palin "used her public office to settle a private score." [Here's some unsolicited advice: Check Palin's emails to see if she's been corresponding with Karl Rove or Dickie Cheney!]

Coghill, who claims to have the support of the Republican Speaker of the House, wants the investigation shut down completely. He says it has been "botched."

Newsweek reports that a Democratic legislative aide asked, "How can this possibly be read as anything but a partisan attempt to shut down a legitimate investigation that was approved and funded with bipartisan support?"

It gets juicier. Todd Palin has hired his own lawyer. It's been said that he was one of those who made phone calls on behalf of the governor to get Wooten fired.


Now here's the problem. Palin strongly denied that anyone in her administration had put any pressure on Walter Monegon to fire Wooten. Oops! A few weeks later a tape recording came to light where one of her aides, Frank Baily, talking to a police lieutenant, said "Todd and Sarah are scratching their heads, 'Why on earth hasn't this, why is this guy [Wooten] still representing the department?'"

Bailey has, in a deposition, said that "Palin had herself raised Wooten's name with the state police during her first security briefing after she won election as governor in November 2006." She was concerned, he said, about the safety of "their family, their kids, their nieces, nephews, her father, regarding Trooper Wooten."

Additionally, Bailey claimed Palin "never asked him to do anything about Trooper Wooten, but that Todd Palin did talk to him about 'issues about Trooper Wooten,' and expressed 'frustration' that the state police were doing nothing to respond to the Palins' concerns."


It just never ends. Why, if Sarah Palin was not personally involved in trying to get Trooper Wooten fired, do they worry about the investigation?

Well, hell, they're Republicans. They always worry about investigations because they don't tell the truth about their chicanery.

One thing for sure. If the Repugs win this election, Sarah Palin can move right into Dick Cheney's chair without breaking stride. We're finding out she can dissemble as well as he can - or better!

(h/t to Andrew Sullivan)