Sarah In Wonderland

Oh, the horror.

Another bunch of those horrid and annoying, non-six-packy groups who “buy ink by the barrelful“—-namely the press—has had a go at Sarah Palin.

But this time it wasn’t the vicious MSM-ish, annoyer-in-chief-Katie Couric news types who are so obviously out to get Palin.

It was (gasp) the ALASKAN MEDIA.

After the release of the Branchflower Report on Friday (aka the Troopergate report), the good governer of Alaska saw fit to give a single interview to a three-reporter group from her home state. The interview, which lasted a full five minutes and 30 seconds, consisted of a single question from each reporter with no follow-ups. (Although one sorta snuck in a semi-follow-up.)

The reporters were Lisa Demer from the Anchorage Daily News, and news women from local TV stations KTVA, and KTUU.

During the interview, which was moderated, not by a member of the media, but by McCain/Palin campaign spokesperson, Meghan Stapleton, Palin asserted in her now extremely familiar pleasant, folksy tones that black is in fact white, up is really down, and day is and always has been night.

For the record, I don’t think this report is a hideously big deal, in the greater scheme of things. It does, however, show a governor and her staff who behave in a way that is, as Time Magazine points out, shockingly amateurish, “disturbingly so,” displaying “a childish impetuousness and sense of entitlement. ” (Yep, that sounds like our Sarah.)

Still and all, Palin could have handled the report fairly easily, if she’d just been vaguely truthful. The ex-brother-in-law sounds like a loathsome weasel and, while the report concludes that Palin violated state ethics regulations, and that her husband and staff bullied and pressed to get their way over and over, on a purely human level most people can understand the temptation—even if not the actual actions.

But the way in which Palin deals with the—three, count ’em three—questions from her home state press suggests that lying comes so naturally to her, she can no longer tell the difference between truth and the bull-pucky she shovels by the, you know, barrelful.

Before you read the transcript please remember, as the Alaskan blog Mudflats noted, the Legislative Council that triggered this Troopergate investigation is made up of TEN REPUBLICANS and FOUR DEMOCRATS.

And here’s Finding One of the report.

“For the reasons explained in section IV of the report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.11(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.

“The legislature reaffirms that each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust.”

Here’s a link to the full audio of the interview. It’s VERY interesting.

Now, here is the transcript (italics are mine);

Palin: Hey, thank you so, Meg. Thank you so much. Thank you also to our local reporters up there in Alaska. Even hearing your names make me feel like I’m right there with you at home. It’s good to get to speak with you. Let me talk a little bit about the Tasergate issue if you guys would let me and, Meg, you want me to just jump right on in there? [“Tasergate”???]

Stapleton: Sure governor, go ahead.

Palin: OK cool.

Well, I’m very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing … any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that. Todd did what anyone would have done given this state trooper’s very, very troubling behavior and his dangerous threats against our family. Todd did what I think any Alaskan would do.

[read the rest after the jump. My personal favorite out of her remarks is her use of the word “rogue“]

And he, Todd did what the state’s Department of Law Web site tells anyone to do if they have a concern about a state trooper. And that’s you go to the commissioner and you express your concern. And Todd did what our personal detail asked him to do. Bob Cockrell early on as I was elected and was asked are there any threats against you, and Todd brought the concern as I did to Commissioner Monegan about the state trooper’s threats. He did what any – I think — any rational person would do so again, nothing to apologize there with Todd’s actions and again very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing.

(Stapleton invites the first question).

ADN: Governor, finding No.1 on the report was that you abused your power by violating state law. Do you think you did anything wrong at all in this Troopergate case?

Palin: Not at all and I’ll tell you, it, I think that you’re always going to ruffle feathers as you do what you believe is in the best interest of the people whom you are serving. In this case I knew that I had to have the right people in the right position at the right time in this cabinet to best serve Alaskans, and Walt Monegan was not the right person at the right time to meet the goals that we had set out in our administration. So no, not having done anything wrong, and again very much appreciating being cleared of any legal wrongdoing or unethical activity at all.

ADN: Have you read the whole report? (No response; Stapleton invites question from KTVA reporter).

KTVA-Channel 11: … The report that came out yesterday, do you think that the end result is partisan?

Palin: Yeah, I did think it did turn into a partisan circus to tell you the truth. Yes I did. You know from Day One it’s been the Personnel Board that clearly laid out in state statute there — Personnel Board deals with any issue of question regarding a governor, a lieutenant governor or an attorney general in the state of Alaska. What this legislative investigation — quote unquote — turned into was a political circus.

KTUU-Channel 2: Governor, so good to hear from you. Do you approve of the way that your campaign has handled themselves here in Alaska? We’ve had a lot of people voice concerns about what they call attacks of good people in our state while you are away.

Palin: Well I haven’t heard of any attacks on good people in Alaska from our campaign. If you have specifics there, maybe I could answer specifically. But no, in John McCain’s mission here, in taking the high road, as you’re going to see too with a lot of unfair shots he has taken in this campaign with some of his opponents’ supporters, McCain and I taking the high road, being positive. I wouldn’t support nor would I condone taking shots at any good Alaskans.

KTUU-Channel 2: Let me answer your question since you asked for specifics.

Palin: Sure.

KTUU-Channel 2: Walt Monegan was called “rogue.” How do you feel about that?

Palin: Rogue isn’t a negative term when you consider that in a cabinet you need a team effort going forward with a governor’s agenda. [WTF??? Have you ever, like, looked up the word or is a dictionary not on your reading list either?] And our agenda has been to find efficiencies in every department and make sure that we are serving the people of Alaska to the best of our ability given the resources that we have. And remember I fought very hard to increase funding for state troopers so that we could fill positions there and goals not being met that included not being able to recruit and retain all the state troopers that I wanted to best serve Alaska. That could be characterized I think as a cabinet member who – it’s not a negative term I think — being rogue in terms of not meeting those goals.