[Vision2020] Palin: Governor offers Orwellian spin

[No Weatherman]

Orwell . . . wasn't he the guy who warned about authoritarian
societies that prohibited free speech?


On 10/14/08, Saundra Lund <sslund_2007 at verizon.net> wrote:
> Anchorage Daily News Editorial
>
>  Palin vindicated?
>  Governor offers Orwellian spin
>  (10/13/08 22:02:58)
>
>  Sarah Palin's reaction to the Legislature's Troopergate report is an
>  embarrassment to Alaskans and the nation.
>
>  She claims the report "vindicates" her. She said that the investigation
>  found "no unlawful or unethical activity on my part."
>
>  Her response is either astoundingly ignorant or downright Orwellian.
>
>  Page 8, Finding Number One of the report says: "I find that Governor Sarah
>  Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the
>  Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act."
>
>  In plain English, she did something "unlawful." She broke the state ethics
>  law.
>
>  Perhaps Gov. Palin has been too busy to actually read the Troopergate
>  report. Perhaps she is relying on briefings from McCain campaign
>  spinmeisters.
>
>  That's the charitable interpretation.
>
>  Because if she had actually read it, she couldn't claim "vindication" with a
>  straight face.
>
>  Palin asserted that the report found "there was no abuse of authority at all
>  in trying to get Officer Wooten fired."
>
>  In fact, the report concluded that "impermissible pressure was placed on
>  several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get
>  Trooper Michael Wooten fired."
>
>  Palin's response is the kind of political "big lie" that George Orwell
>  warned against. War is peace. Black is white. Up is down.
>
>  Gov. Palin and her camp trumpeted the report's second finding: that she was
>  within her legal authority to fire Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.
>  But the report also said it's likely one of the reasons she fired him was
>  his failure to get rid of her ex-brother-in-law trooper.
>
>  That's not "vindication," and surely Gov. Palin knows it.
>
>  Gov. Palin does have a defense. She could have said:
>
>  "I'm gratified that the report confirmed what I said all along, that I had
>  the authority to terminate Walt Monegan as public safety commissioner.
>
>  "I absolutely disagree that I violated state ethics law. In repeatedly
>  complaining about trooper Mike Wooten, Todd and I were not pursuing a
>  personal vendetta. We were trying to protect the integrity of the Alaska
>  State Troopers from having an arrogant, almost-out-of-control law-breaker in
>  their ranks. Because the action we were seeking was in the public interest,
>  not purely our personal interest, there is no ethics law violation."
>
>  Gov. Palin and her husband felt so passionately about Wooten because the
>  case was so personal to them. Their passion blinded them to any other
>  considerations.
>
>  They had no sense that the power of the governor's office carries a special
>  responsibility not to use it to settle family scores. They had no sense that
>  legal restrictions might prevent the troopers from firing Wooten. They had
>  no sense that persistent queries from the governor's office might be
>  perceived as pressure to bend state personnel laws.
>
>  Gov. Palin and her husband were obsessed with Wooten the way Capt. Ahab was
>  obsessed with the Great White Whale. No Wooten, no peace.
>
>  Has Gov. Palin committed an impeachable offense? Hardly.
>
>  Is what she did indictable? No.
>
>  But it wasn't appropriate, especially for someone elected as an ethical
>  reformer. And her Orwellian claims of "vindication" make this blemish on her
>  record look even worse.
>
>  You asked us to hold you accountable, Gov. Palin. Did you mean it?
>
>  Bottom line: Gov. Palin, read the report. It says you violated the ethics
>  law.
>
>  http://www.adn.com/opinion/view/story/555236.html
>
>
>  =======================================================
>   List services made available by First Step Internet,
>   serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>                http://www.fsr.net
>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>  =======================================================
>