Sarah Palin visitng wounded troops in Germany!
Posted on 08/30/2008 8:19:27 AM PDT by bobsunshine
Sarah Palin was a hockey mom, small-town mayor and rising young Republican star in Alaska in 2003 when she ran afoul of her party's establishment as a whistleblower and was cast into the political wilderness.
But she came charging back as an ethics crusader to win the governor's office in 2006 (including a landslide primary victory over incumbent Republican governor Frank Murkowski) and has remained one of the most popular local politicians in America even as she continued to take on such powerful figures as the oil companies and the leaders of her own state party.
Palin, 44, has been the Joan of Arc of Alaska politics, marching into battle against long odds on such big local issues as oil taxes and construction of a natural gas pipeline only to see her opposition crumble. Days after her 2006 primary victory, an FBI investigation into political corruption involving the oil industry and Republican legislators burst into view with surprise raids of legislative offices. Criminal indictments and convictions followed, often just in time for the headlines to help her win another contest in Juneau.
Though fearless in choosing the outsider's path in politics, she remains relatively untested as a campaigner, a politician and as a governor who has held office less than two years. And even as she drew increasing attention nationally as a potential vice presidential nominee in recent months, she has come under withering criticism at home from business-minded Republicans who consider her a misguided populist and an intellectual lightweight.
Her criticism of congressional earmarks, for instance, seemed out-of-touch to Alaska political veterans who saw them as essential to getting money to a small-population state. But her rejection of Ketchikan's "Bridge to Nowhere" funding was one of the first thing's John McCain mentioned Friday.
(Excerpt) Read more at adn.com ...
Me, too. Finally decided it was safe to donate to John McCain's campaign. :)
Hubby and I are planning to take a Alaskan cruise am looking forward to learning all about the Alaskan culture and our new VP.
Fascinating!
I expect the “War on Palin” to begin subtly, but begin it must. They have no choice but to slime her.
Fortunately, she clearly appears to be a person who can handle it.
I don’t the Anchorage Daily News is big fans of Palin the first half is biography (probably taken from Wiki) and the second half focus is the whole Trooper story.
her bio makes me think of Teddy Roosevelt, thinking she may be a lady Teddy Roosevelt - with no San Juan Hill to charge up but a WDC to conquer.
I don't know if it's still the same but when I lived in Alaska in the sixties, you never drove past anyone whose car was broken down beside the highway outside of town. You ALWAYS stopped and offered assistance.
At issue is whether Palin, her administration or family improperly pressured state Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan to fire a state trooper — the ex-husband of Palin’s sister — and whether Palin fired Monegan when that didn't happen. Trooper Michael Wooten and Palin’s sister, Molly McCann, are divorced but still battling in court over custody and visitation.
The McCain campaign says Palin “was never directly involved” and blamed the controversy on the campaign of the Democratic nominee, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama.
“The Governor did nothing wrong and has nothing to hide. It's outrageous that the Obama campaign is trying to attack her over a family issue. As a reformer and a leader on ethics reform, she has been happy to help out in the investigation of this matter, because she was never directly involved,” the campaign said in a statement.
Palin has repeatedly said she did not pressure Monegan and did not know until recently that anyone on her staff might have done so.
...
Palin recently acknowledged, based on an internal inquiry, that a half dozen people in her administration had initiated contacts with the Department of Public Safety about Wooten.
Monegan also disclosed for the first time Friday that Palin sent him two or three e-mails that referenced her ex-brother-in-law and his status with troopers but he wouldn't provide them because of the ongoing investigation.
Monegan said he believes his firing was directly related to the fact Wooten stayed on the job.
“It was a significant factor if not the factor,” Monegan said.
...
The Legislature is spending up to $100,000 “to investigate the circumstances and events surrounding the termination of former Public Safety Commissioner Monegan, and potential abuses of power and/or improper actions by members of the executive branch.”
The investigation is supposed to wrap up by Oct. 31, just days before the general election.
...
Before she was governor, Palin pushed for a trooper investigation of Wooten over a number of matters, including using a Taser on his stepson, illegally shooting a moose, and accusations of driving drunk. At one point, Palin and her husband hired a private investigator.
Troopers did investigate, and Wooten was suspended for 10 days, later reduced to five. That took care of it, Monegan said. But the Palin administration and Todd Palin wouldn't let go, he said.
Palin initially said that, after she took office in December 2006, she broached the subject of Wooten with Monegan just once, when they discussed her security detail. She said that she told Monegan that Wooten “had threatened to kill my dad and bring me down.” She said she thought that was the end of it.
Monegan said Palin called him on his cell phone one night in January 2007 about Wooten, but it wasn't related to her security detail. He said he had already met with Todd Palin about Wooten, whom he hadn't heard of before, and had looked into the family's complaints only to learn they already had been investigated. Palin seemed frustrated that nothing more could be done, he said.
“For the record, no one ever said fire Wooten. Not the governor. Not Todd. Not any of the other staff,” Monegan said Friday from Portland. “What they said directly was more along the lines of ‘this isn't a person that we would want to be representing our state troopers.’”
...
This stuff could be troublesome.
It started immediately following the announcement. The Kossacks and the DUmmies are floating a ridiculous story that she didn't give birth to her new baby - that her teen, unmarried daughter is actually the mother. Disgusting beyond words.
looks like ADN has their fair share of moonbats on staff! Now if Palin would make her Campaign Song “Super woman” by Alicia Keyes...she might even grab 50% of the Black vote! Palin so far has taken on Repub Corruption, Dem Corruption, and Union Corruption and won at every turn! (tho’ it looks like the Union will be the longest holdout). yep...super woman!
This story was in a local Montgomery County PA newspaper this morning. The best was the headline of the paper....
“Brilliant Choice”
Nope, at issue is the time honored Rogue Cop protected by a powerful Union...no more, no less. In Mexico, the Union always wins...in the USA, mebbe 50-50 (until we lose the secret ballot).
Hmmm.
Reminds me of another Republican Governor at the start of a different century.
Theodore Rex.
It's the same deal as Atty. Gen. Gonzales. These pols serve at the pleasure of the Exec. but the rats will not let go of this one.
Quite a story about the ‘trooper’ story.
NYPost today reporting that the trooper in question was suspended for threatening to kill her dad.
He is now accused of tasering his eleven year old step son.
GO SARAH GO
Suspended for threatening to kill her dad
Driving drunk
Is this the kind of trooper any town in America would want?
Too bad Barak couldn't find the time.
Palin might lose the Republicans the copsucker vote?
As well he should have been for letting a DUI police officer with a history of racism against the local Indian population, bar fights, threats of murder and misuse of his office stay in that office with no more than a five day suspension.
This guy was nothing but some of the ole boy garbage she has cleaned out of the local politics. He is an example of why she is a hero.
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