[CottonBall]

These attacks on Palin are, without question, the most serious evidence yet of the total collapse of the liberal establishment. I consider myself something of an historian and I cannot think of a single candidate for high office in the history of the United States who has been subject to so many unwarranted, vicious, abominable attacks as Governor Palin. We’ve had presidents and vice presidents, and candidates to both offices who had plenty of baggage, known and unknown, and not a single one—no, not all of them put together have ever had to suffer anything like this in the whole of American history.

She has them running scared.

[Ilya Mourometz]

Ok. First, if it’s not already been done, I think everyone should read Malkin’s latest blog posting on what happened here. It explains the hack itself, as well as how the account was “deleted” (hint: it wasn’t; it was closed because of the number of hackers who tried to get into it):

http://michellemalkin.com/2008/09/17/the-story-behind-the-palin-e-mail-hacking/

Note, in particular, how the hacker himself is exasperated at the fact that there’s “no there there,” as one might say.

That out of the way, let me explain the issue here. Most people (even here) seem to have forgotten one of the early smears against Palin was that, as mayor, she did get into a minor bit of trouble when she used her official e-mail account to do political mailings. All of the emails that were on the Yahoo account are *political* in nature, not governmental. That is, there is thus far no evidence that she used her Yahoo account for governmental or “official” business. In other words, she was using a private account for exactly the right reasons. Now, one may question the wisdom of using a Yahoo account, but so far, there is nothing (nada, zip, zilch) in these emails that in any way, shape, or form incriminates her. It’s a non-story (I am not going to discuss the criminal nature of the hacking itself, which is a big story).

I am a practicing attorney; I have been to numerous seminars regarding the use of electronic documents, and the danger of using email. Rule Number One, by every single attorney who deals in this area—never use email if you can help it. In other words, we are expressly instructed NOT to use email for matters that require any semblance of confidentiality for the simple fact that emails are “discoverable”. To avoid using official email for business is not “trying to hide” something—it is prudent and exactly what one is supposed to do. It is what every single government attorney, for example, is expressly told to do—don’t use official email for anything that should not be discovered in litigation. That’s not hiding something, that’s doing what anyone with any brains would do.

I cannot express in words how angry I am at the posters on the other sites who are completely side-stepping the real issues here (illegal hacking, no incriminating documents, etc.) and are, instead, now making the story about how Palin was somehow “stupid” to use a private account. She is doing exactly what she should do, short of avoiding email altogether (which is what I do—I talk to my clients via my own personal cell phone).