The Palin Emails

I won't go into all of the details of Troopergate here; they're obviously important to the understanding of this post but if you want to educate yourself you can do that at this site. I'm just calling attention to the glaring discrepancies in Sarah Palin's account of those events. Her official statement on the controversy:

Palin has said previously that she discussed Wooten with Monegan only in the context of security concerns for the family. Monegan has said that Palin never directly told him to fire Wooten but that the message was clearly conveyed through repeated messages from Palin, her husband and three members of her Cabinet.

"To allege that I, or any member of my family . . . directed disciplinary action be taken against any employee of the Department of Public Safety, is, quite simply, outrageous," Palin said in a statement in mid-July after Monegan's dismissal.

In August, Palin acknowledged that "pressure could have been perceived to exist, although I have only now become aware of it."

I believe that she should be taken at her word on this unless there is evidence that she isn't telling the truth about the matter. Oh right, the emails:

"This trooper is still out on the street, in fact he's been promoted," said a Feb. 7, 2007, e-mail sent from Palin's personal Yahoo account and written to give Monegan permission to speak on a violent-crime bill before the state legislature...

"He's still bragging about it in my hometown and after another cop confessed to witnessing the [moose] kill, the trooper was 'investigated' for over a year and merely given a slap on the wrist," the e-mail said. "Though he's out there arresting people today for the same crime!"

"He threatened to kill his estranged wife's parent, refused to be transferred to rural Alaska and continued to disparage Natives in words and tone, he continues to harass and intimidate his ex. -- even after being slapped with a restraining order that was lifted when his supervisors intervened," the e-mail said. "He threatens to always be able to come out on top because he's 'got the badge', etc. etc. etc.)"

I'm not saying that these lies should disqualify her from being the vice-president of the United States but I do think that the publicized lies and denials about her abuse of power as governor do speak directly to her character as a public servant while also underlying McCain's imprudence in choosing her as his running mate to satiate the Christianist base of the modern Republican party without performing due diligence in the vetting process of her history and record. Character counts; it's definitely not the most important trait I look at in a person running for office but it does count.