Apparently Palin Is As Bad A Vetter As Is McCain

But, alas, there IS substance… and is it ever extreme!

The TV report below on Palin’s ethics problems in Alaska was aired on August 14th. Was McCain’s so-called vetting operation so lame that they missed this? I mean it was on the biggest TV station in the state. And as for Palin’s earth-shattering approval ratings… well 87.8% of people who took this poll think she’s lying about Trooper-gate. And McCain is trying to sell her to the American public– despite her thin resume and lack of qualifications– based on her being a supposed squeaky clean reformer? In fact, her flippitty-floppitty relationship to the Bridge(s) to Nowhere doesn’t fit in with the McCain meme and it’s all very public so their attempts to just paper over it with blatant lies isn’t going to work. McCain’s operation is looking more and more like the gang that can’t shoot straight.

There’s another part of the whole Trooper-gate scandal that a sharp vetting team would have picked up on– or even a dull vetting team. It’s now apparent that there was no vetting team other than Lindsey Graham ascertaining that she hunts moose at 3AM and Ralph Reed giving McCain the thumbs up from the lobbying and religionist right communities.

After Palin fired Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan on July 11, she replaced him with an appointee, Chuck Kopp, who was nearly as awful as John McCain’s pick as his running mate. And two weeks late he resigned too! Why? Apparently an unvetted 2005 sexual harassment complaint!

Kopp’s decision to resign came after spending hours with the governor Friday. Thursday night, asked if he was considering stepping down, he said: “No, not at all. I’ve had an enormous outpouring of support from people across Alaska, from people down in Juneau right now, from people in the Anchorage Bowl area, from southwest Alaska in the Bristol Bay Borough and in the Lake and Peninsula Borough, and, of course, the Kenai Peninsula and Southeast Alaska. It’s been a nonstop stream of support. I’m very encouraged. Things are going well at work.”

“I’m positive and I’m encouraged,” he said Thursday night.

Kopp came under increasing scrutiny from the governor after he acknowledged this week that a 2005 sexual harassment complaint while he was chief of Kenai Police resulted in a letter of reprimand from the city. The governor learned of the reprimand when the public did during a press conference that Kopp held Tuesday.

…Kopp and Palin entered the governor’s conference room, read their statements, then departed three minutes later. Neither Kopp nor the governor would answer questions after reading from their prepared notes.

…”The recent media firestorm has been detrimental to the Department of Public Safety mission, the citizens of Alaska and my family,” Kopp said. “While I have been portrayed in a negative light, my personal worth is found in the person of Jesus Christ, and not on the one who accepts or rejects me.”

Said Palin: “This has been a tumultuous week in the Department of Public Safety, and as your governor, I apologize.

“This is in the best interest of Alaska at this point.”

Meanwhile, the first polls on McCain’s ill-starred choice of Sarah Palin yesterday came out today– and contrary to what the GOP probably hoped, she scored less well with women than men. Here’s a finding from Gallup: Among Democratic women– including those who may be disappointed that Hillary Clinton did not win the Democratic nomination– 9% say Palin makes them more likely to support McCain, 15% less likely.” They also polled Obama’s acceptance speech Thursday and found that Americans viewed it positively by significantly greater margins than they viewed either of George Bush’s convention speeches, or, for that matter, speeches acceptance speeches by John Kerry, Al Gore or the Republican candidate most similar to McCain, Bob Dole. 58% had a favorable impression and 35% graded it “excellent.” The latest Gallup tracking shows Obama at 49% and McCain at 41%, and it includes registered voters on Friday who had already heard about McCain’s terrible running mate selection. Most Americans are still unaware of Palin’s extreme political positions and her ethical problems in Alaska. Once that starts sinking in, McCain’s polling numbers are expected to sink back into the 30s.

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