Palin E-Mails Criticize Failure to Fire Trooper

Rob
Sep 5, 2008 5:51 AM CST

Palin will resonate with the blue collar constituency that Obama will NEVER get.  Her husband is a snowmobile rider and fisherman, she approves of aerial killing of poor animals, her 17 year old daughter is knocked up, the daughter’s boyfriend has the daughter’s name tattoed on his ring finger (how touching!!) , and Palin herself had a DUI for drunken driving and was just plain angry about the way her sister was treated and wanted retribution even if it meant an abuse of power.  She also believes that our presence in Iraq is the “will of God”  which is apparently consistent with Bush’s reference to it as a “crusade” (which it truly is)  and the fact that our soldiers over there have been using the Koran as target practice and humiliating the Iraqis for their belief in the Koran (Shame on them and America for that!!)  On that point, it is well-known that many American military commanders are proselytizing Chrisitanity over there and punishing troops who are not “believers.”  So, Palin is just the personification of America today. America is dumbed down, self-indulgent and self-righteous.  McCain’s choice of her as a running mate was a stroke of genius.  More Americans will identify with her than Obama.  What better way to get the blue collar vote than to have a blue collar candidate.  I tip my hat to McCaiin for political savvy!!

Flag this comment

Ed
Sep 5, 2008 6:50 AM CST

Governor Sarah Palin had a DUI?
I thought it was her husband, about
20-odd years ago, about the same time
Obama admitted he was doing cocaine.
Is there new info out?

Flag this comment

Rena
Sep 5, 2008 7:09 AM CST

Rob, when you make such ridiculous statements without getting all your facts right you sound no differnt that a right wing nut case. We need less nutcases in this country and more individuals who are concerned with facts—not propaganda (of either side). Also, Ed is correct. Palin’s husband received the DUI.  Furthermore, there is no punishing of troops who are not deemed “Christian” in Iraq. I have no idea where you get your information, but you are an embarassment to the Obama campaign and certainly no better than the religious right wing with all of their conjecture and moral certainties. Please feel free to start a debate—not a massive dumping campaign.

P.S. I am an Obama supporter.

Flag this comment

AK
Sep 5, 2008 7:14 AM CST

Here are the facts as reported by the Anchorage Daily News:

• Wooten used a Taser on his stepson.

• He illegally shot a moose.

• He drank beer in his patrol car on one occasion.

• He told others his father-in-law would “eat a f’ing lead bullet” if he helped his daughter get an attorney for the divorce.
I would hope that any citizen, governor or not, would report and request the investigation of anyone, law enforcement officer or not.  I would hope any governor would call for the head of the trooper in a a case like this - family or not. Palin urged action after the investigation stalled for more thana year.  “The record clearly indicates a serious and concentrated pattern of unacceptable and at times, illegal activity occurring over a lengthy period, which establishes a course of conduct totally at odds with the ethics of our profession,” Col. Julia Grimes, then head of Alaska State Troopers, wrote in March 1, 2006.  The real story is: why is is this news and why aren’t all of the facts being reported.  In my book this is a plus for Palin.

Flag this comment

DR
Sep 5, 2008 7:22 AM CST

While I don’t agree with the policies of McCain and Palin (and especially the evangelical ideologies espoused by Palin and her very rabid supporters)(and by the way - that doesn’t mean I support abortion - it means I try to look at all the issues), I think that the so-called working class is a little smarter, Rob, than you make them out to be.  I don’t think McCain picked Palin for her appeal to blue-collar people…I think he picked her to clinch his evangelical base (you know, the people that threatened to sit out of this election).  But then again, he could have picked Huckabee…but I think he wanted to clinch the on-the-fence-women voters.  Politics as ususal…in my opinion.

Flag this comment

Commento
Sep 5, 2008 7:45 AM CST

A negative article about Sara Palin after a positive article about Michele Obama last week.  Also an article this week about the guy who is going to quit his job so he can work for Obama’s campaign. 
Interesting choices by the ABA.

Flag this comment

Jim
Sep 5, 2008 7:45 AM CST

Could the criticism of the religious right’s “moral certainties” stem in a willful refusal to live by them?

Flag this comment

Edge
Sep 5, 2008 7:58 AM CST

Journal, you really need to report the news and not cheerlead your views which are apparent.  Bias and prejudice are notorious siblings when not watched.

Flag this comment

DR
Sep 5, 2008 8:10 AM CST

I’m sorry, Bill, and everyone else who thinks the article is a trashing of Sarah Palin, but after reading it several times…I couldn’t glean anything negative from it other than that she had hired a lawyer (hmm…that might be negative).  The negativity started with Rob’s personal opinion and started snowballing and now, suddenly, the whole is a trashing of everything apple pie!  You people are a tad touchy!  I could complain about how the ABA writes about “BigLaw” all the time without any interest in the middle guy/gal (which represents a majority of American attorneys).  BigLaw firms don’t strike me as lefties with leftie policies.  So get off your high horses when something you like gets criticized.  We all deal with it.

Flag this comment

Agree
Sep 5, 2008 8:13 AM CST

Post #10 and 11 have it right.

I thought the ABA was neutral? 

This is one of the top legal stories of the week?  How so?

What garbagio.

Flag this comment

Ed
Sep 5, 2008 8:20 AM CST

Even the source story contradicts it.

Thomas Van Flein now represents Palin and her office.

“The governor is entitled to representation through council, and her attorney general was unable to provide it in this case,” Van Flein said. “There’s nothing unusual or surprising about that.”

Van Flein said he was hired by the Department of Law because Attorney General Talis Colberg is unable to represent Palin.

“The Department of Law had a potential conflict of interest, because Mr. Colberg, Attorney General Colberg, made contact with Mr. Monegan about Trooper Wooten,” Van Flein said. “That would make him a potential witness, and thus there’s a potential conflict.”

Flag this comment

Stevie B
Sep 5, 2008 8:21 AM CST

The thing that truly amazes me is the number of people who fall for pure propaganda—saying all else is irrelevant (including the issues) given B Hussein O’s “message of hope” and “change”.  I’m reminded of others swept into office on hope and change - Hitler, Castro, etc…we must look at the issues from BOTH sides.

The scary thing here is that this cop was allegedly abusing tasers and threatening to shoot people.  Tasers are a potentially lethal weapon—they have little margin of safety.  They should ONLY be used when the only other alternative is to use a bullet. 

It sounds as though the cop may have really needed discipline.

A governor should ensure that complaints against her state’s police are investigated and resolved in a timely manner.  If there was a pattern and practice of stalling and dropping investigations against officers, then heads should have rolled.

Flag this comment

AK
Sep 5, 2008 8:28 AM CST

Sorry Melissa, your’re wrong.  If you took the time - as I did - to read the ADN article, you would find that the “facts” were contained in an investigative record contained in 482 pages and many hours of recorded interviews.  You would also have read that Wooten was represented by his union in the proceedings and that the discipline was reduced from 10 to 5 days suspension and that union rep believed he was punished appropriately.  So there was a process for response, and he was represented.  As one would expect, there are differing accounts of some of the events, but one fact is he tasered a 10 or 11 year old.  Here, I’ll save you the work:  http://www.adn.com/politics/story/476430.html - but my guess is the facts don’t actually interest you.

Flag this comment

Craig
Sep 5, 2008 8:55 AM CST

And what does this have to do with “Evidence” or the proper mission of the ABA?  Does it matter to the ABA or this author that the state-employed trooper possessing a firearm furnished by the state is alleged to have threatened the life of the Governor and members of her family?  Did that bit of information get edited out of the article?

Flag this comment

Anita Flinn
Sep 5, 2008 9:07 AM CST

It’s time for America to grow up and stop hiding behind religion.  Palin and the conservatives views on Pro-life do not negate the majority of folks who are pro-choice.  Pro- choice doesn’t mean a disregard for the life of another, it means freedom to choose PERIOD!  It is this narrow way of thinking that divides and destroys our Spiritual Freedom. 

Sarah Palin exercises her right to choose to carry her down syndrome baby and her daughter Bristol chooses to keep her baby.  That’s great!,  but it doesn’t give her or anyone else the right to legislate our right to choose for our family. 
The Rick Warren forum with Senator MCCain and Senator Obama was very disheartening to me.  I think it clearly crosses the line with seperation of church and state.  Hindu, Judism, Islam, and any other religion is excluded from such clearly staged and blatant attempt to push christianity in the faces of the public.  One’s religion and social preferences need to stay out of the political arena.

Flag this comment

Rob
Sep 5, 2008 9:08 AM CST

Rena—You apparently don’t read the New York Times.  About a month ago they did a long article about how troops are harrassed for not attending prayer meetings and badgered for not being true beilievers. They are also discriminated against in terms of promotions etc.  Even though it sounds like something that seems impossible ,my source was the NYT.  So go find the article in their archives and read it before you dismiss my statement.  When I read it , I too was shocked but when I considered how the right wingers view this whole thing as a way of “christianizing the heathens” it all makes sense.  They want to export our corrupt government (which has pork-barrel legislation, sexual abuse of congressional and White House interns, legislation crafted and enacted with money and expertise from lobbyists, senators in bathroom stalls wanting sex from other men, and on and on and on) all over the world and have been doing that for years out of a warped sense of self-righteousness.  How about killing the Indians off, enslaving black people , stealing Texas, Nevada and other states from the Mexicans in Mexican American War in 1845, using the sinking of the USS Maine as a pretext for starting the Spanish American War, the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba in 1962, using the Guk of Tonkin incident in 1964 as a pretext to get into Viet Nam after assassinating then- Vietnamese President Diem in 1963, the CIA assassination of President Allende of Chile in 1971 and ,of course, using the “weapons of mass destruction” (which they STILL haven’t found despite the American occupation of that country for years!!!!) , as a pretext to accomplish a “regime change “.  Yet we have the gall to criticize Russia for invading Georgia for invading Georgia because it is a sovereign nation??!!!  Last time I checked, Iraq used to be a sovereign nation until we occupied it and took it over. But it was ok for us to invade them to effectuate a “regime change”  without any provocation.
I saw a float at a parade recently which depicted an american soldier with a gun in one hand and the bible in the other.  That tells the whole story about what this atrocity is all about and the what the American mindset is on all of this:  Ignorance, hubris, self-righteousness and arrogance to do whatever they want to do just because they think they can.  Read your history, folks!!

Flag this comment

AK attorney
Sep 5, 2008 9:09 AM CST

This is NOT about tazering. THis IS about “Abuse of Power” at the highest level of state government.

Flag this comment

Common sensical
Sep 5, 2008 9:23 AM CST

The entire issue is a sideshow.  The entire campaign is being covered like an entertainment festival.  The most important facts are that McCain, whether you like him or not, is in questionable health and that Palin is about as qualified to be President as the man or woman in the moon.

Flag this comment

ABA CRITIC
Sep 5, 2008 9:26 AM CST

Hey…I’m just a mid-life career changer (aka “baby lawyer” - by the way, Army Commander - and, apparently, crusading coverter of Iraqis) but, after ignorantly getting involved with the ABA, it absolutely disgusts me (similar to commentors 14, 15, 19, 22 & 24) to see this association (via Debra Cassens Weiss and others) devolve into a Democratic PAC.  ABA, you lament losing membership while, at the same time, alienating attorneys like me who can’t stand the leftist tripe you spew forth for the masses.  STOP IT or fade into irrelevance.

Flag this comment

Anita Flinn
Sep 5, 2008 9:35 AM CST

Politics as usual!  That’s the point.  Neither candidates would refuse to go, because they’re both courting the evangelical votes. They’re both running for a government job P.O.TU.S. When does life begin? These questions were all designed by a christian pastor to get christian based idealogy answers.  When does life begin? Good & Evil? Sorry, one group of folks don’t get to seek the answers they’re looking for and make life altering decisions for me.

Flag this comment

Craig
Sep 5, 2008 9:55 AM CST

Andy the Lawyer, what “simple bedrock principle” says it is unethical for the Governor of a state to insist that a state trooper (who works for state and carries state issued firearms) be fired for threatening the lives of the state’s chief elected official and her family?  This is not Hillary Clinton and the White House Travel Office. Are you seriously suggesting that it would have been wrong for Richard Nixon to insist that a Secret Service or ATF Agent who threatened to shoot him or his family members should have been fired?

Flag this comment

John Phillips
Sep 5, 2008 10:10 AM CST

Another troopergate.  I seem to recall that while Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas, he used troopers to protect his trysts with Gennifer Flowers and others.  That didn’t disqualify him from being President, so I wouldn’t think this would disqualify Palin from being Vice President.

Flag this comment

john
Sep 5, 2008 10:36 AM CST

Can someone please tell me what Sarah Palin’s accomplishments are and why she’s qualified to be VP and possibly Pres. other than she is extreme right wing, a woman, and kinda good looking (I think Tina Fey is sexy)???  Everyone is saying she has all these accomplishments but I still haven’t heard anything significant. Please don’t bore me with “she took on the corrupt Republicans.”  Besides the fact that that makes Republicans admit they were corrupt, HOW did she take them on?  Also, please don’t start on Obama perceived lack of exprience - my question is specific - what are HER accomplishments as governor of Alaska?  Please omit any BS about how she ran a town of 6,000 people.  That is just laughable when used to tout “experience.”  Any clown can get elected in tiny towns where everyone knows each other and you grew up there all your life and it is basically just a popularity contest like high school (incidentally my high school had just slightly less people than that entire town).

Flag this comment

Ed
Sep 5, 2008 10:40 AM CST

Can someone please tell me what Barak Obama’s accompllishemnts are and why he’s qualified to be President other than he is extreme left wind liberal?

Flag this comment

Charles Paul Gallagher
Sep 5, 2008 10:59 AM CST

I assume the Journal will have an Article on Biden’s Plagiarisms. Perhaps he could hire as a Speech Writrer the former Fordham Law Student from whom he plagiased the Jurisdiction Article..Any other Law School would have expelled Biden.

Flag this comment