Why Troopergate is important to Alaskans

AlaskaReal comments:

A reader emailed me and wanted to know why Alaskans seemed "obsessed" with this Troopergate thing, and the "real" issues we should be focusing on are McCain, McCain, McCain.

Well, I don't know about other Alaskans, but I feel that we have a lose/lose situation going on with the election. If McCain/Palin were to win (you must visualize me turning around three times and spitting) we get her as VP/presidential candidate 2016 (if she can withhold the knife from McCain's back that long.) If they were to lose (looking more likely every day) we get her back. And she hasn't even been Gov. for two years yet, so we've got her back for awhile.

To understand the "obsession" with Troopergate is to have to look at Alaska politics over the last few years. You'd have to visit Progressive Alaska or Celtic Diva or Alaska Report for more detail, because I've simply lost count of how many of our state legislators are under indictment, in jail, or under investigation. (Despite what the Gov. will imply, she didn't have anything to do with that - those were all FBI.) In fact, that Sen. Ted Stevens is on trial now was a surprise not because people didn't know it was coming - but everyone thought Ben Stevens would be indicted first.

It does not seem to be a surprise to many Wasilla folk, but much of Alaska (you've seen the high numbers) was really hoping Sarah Palin would be different. She seemed to come in as a reformer, promising politics that weren't the same as the rest of her party. She hasn't done much of that reforming yet, but still, hope.

When Troopergate hit, it was all sort of, "We knew it was too good to be true." There were already red flags popping up with her, some more in the know than others, but I think it wasn't so much the initial accusation that was shocking, but the proverbial nail in the coffin. Even her hiring the "sex harrasser" in place of the guy she fired was just like, "Well, maybe she just sucks at hiring people (she's done a lot of that.)"

The nail in the coffin (for me anyways) was after however many times she or her administration said there was absolutely no pressure put on Monegan to fire Wooten - none whatsoever - not so much as a nudge or wink.

Then the tape gets discovered and she holds the press conference that essentially says (let me just paraphrase), "Just kidding."

Now even Todd Palin is "proudly" saying (or at least writing) that yes, he was aggressively talking about getting Wooten fired... and, wierdly enough, maybe some of the "real" reason about bad blood was the audacity of Monegan sending a heads up to Mama Palin about a report from a legislator that she was not putting her baby in a car seat. Uhh.... really? The absolute nerve of the top law enforcement official to, you know, make sure the top government official in the state was following the law? (Not to mention making sure her child was being protected.) That's the argument?

[Note: According to Todd Palin's affidavit, what was false about the rumor that Sarah did not use a car seat for Trigg was that it was not she who was driving and that they were never on public roads. The truth, as he told it, was that Sarah and Trigg were riding in the front seat of a pick up truck on private property. Another small example of them saying, hell no, we didn't do that, and later, yes, but it was under circumstances where the law does not or should not apply to us.]

And this from AlaskaPolitics:

My capacity to be shocked by the "nothing is beneath us" attitude of the McCain thugs is pretty much gone. They've completely usurped the functions of the governor's office, with the full complicity of the spineless pieces of crap and devoted loyalists in that office, starting with the Lieutenant Governor and virtually including everyone but the janitor. Today's reminder of the surreal world in the Palin dark circle of friends comes with the release by the McCain campaign of their own investigation's results. (We had no idea that they were conducting an investigation. It apparently consisted of them reading the happy horseshit in Todd Palin's bizarre affidavit and then chatting with a couple people who are friends of Todd's, or something. Similar to the lengthy effort they put in when they vetted Sarah after McCain picked her name out of a hat.)

Get ready to be floored by this unexpected announcement: After a thorough review, the McCain campaign has released a 21-page report that absolutely absolves Palin and her staff of ethically ignorant devotees of any and all misfeasance, and lays the blame for this fiasco where it rightfully belongs: Andrew Halcro!
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Okay, I get it. We're a state that doesn't have the big issues that plague other states, so we tend to blow out of proportion these minor spats between our beloved governor and our grudgingly voted-in legislature. We make mountains out of molehills when we act like it's a big deal for a governor, her self-admitted obsessive husband, and half a dozen of her creepy staff members to relentlessly pursue the firing of her ex brother in law for things he allegedly did and was already either disciplined for or was cleared of doing. We're petty that way. We elect someone on the platform of openness, ethics, transparency and a change in the way government is run. We find out we were sold a bill of bullshit goods. We take it personally.
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The way I see it, I think it is important to follow this story, both as to the facts and the perspective of the Alaskan bloggers, not only because of what it reveals about the Palins but also about how the McCain campaign staff operates. The way they have camped out in Alaska ever since Palin was selected as the VP candidate, taking over communications from the governor's office, bringing in a Texas neo-con legal team with ties to both big oil and the religious right, trying to muzzle and re-invent the Palins at every turn, and overall treating the people of Alaska with utmost contempt, is... well, telling, to say the least. No doubt that is the way they will treat us all if they ever come to power.