Rachel Maddow, who went from Air America to her own show recently on MSNBC, interviewed Walter Monegan, former head of Alaska's Department of Public Safety tonight on her show. This came in the wake of Sarah Palin's denial to Charles Gibson that she or her husband pressured Monegan to fire Palin's ex-brother-in-law, State Trooper Mike Wooten. (Wooten, who was involved in a bitter divorce from Palin's sister, has admitted that, at one point, he tasered his 10-year-old stepson.) Monegan was eventually terminated by Governor Palin, according to her, for reasons having nothing to do with Wooten. (It has been reported today that Governor Palin has declined to be interviewed by an investigator regarding the controversy.)
As the telephone interview opened, Maddow asked Monegan if Palin had told the truth to Gibson about not pressuring him to fire Wooten. In his answer, he stated, "not exactly".
Here is where it gets dicey. Monegan stated, as he has in the past, that Palin never told him to fire Wooten. Instead, he recounted how Todd Palin had attempted to bring certain items to his attention about Wooten's fitness to be a trooper. (He did not specify what those items were.) Monegan also recounted a series of contacts (e-mails, etc) from staffers of Governor Palin, again bringing up information about Wooten's fitness to be a trooper.
I am in no way attempting to cast doubt on what Mr Monegan is saying. Like everyone else, I don't really know what the facts are. Whether Governor Palin, her husband and her staff tried to get Wooten fired and how they may have attempted to do that is open to interpretation at this point.
What I have noticed, however, is the reticence of people like Maddow and Keith Olbermann to spell out a fact that even Wooten has publicly admitted to; that he tasered his 10-year-old stepson. (I have heard Olbermann concede on one show that Wooten may be less than a good guy.) It seems to me that there was ample reason to fire Wooten. (There were other allegations against Wooten which he has not admitted to, such as drinking in his patrol car.) My point here is that Wooten definitely should have been fired for the taser gun incident. Whether it was proper for the Governor to intercede in this matter given her personal relationship is open to debate, but who outside of the family would have known of the incident and been able to bring it to Monegan's attention? At any rate, Monegan could not give Maddow the answer that she clearly wanted in the interview.
Let me ask the reader a question: If you were a governor, and this happened within your family, would you say the following to the Director of Public Safety (who reports to you), "Do you know what one of your troopers did to my ten-year-old nephew? Do you think this kind of person should be working for you as a trooper? Are you going to look into this?"
I think I would. Anyway, that's the way I see it-at this point.
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3 comments:
I think the issue with the trooper case is not that Palin allegedly pressured Monegan to fire Wooten; rather, that Palin eventually fired Monegan. I do agree with you that "pressuring" Monegan to look into the matter isn't really a big deal. However, Monegan's subsequent firing does seem like an abuse of power. I guess the real question is: was he fired for other reasons, as Palin claims? Or was he fired because he refused to cave in to their pressure? If it's the latter, then Palin should lose some credibility.
But who can say for sure? These are such fine points that I think Troopergate shouldn't be such a big deal; the liberal press ought to let it go. In deciding on Mrs. Palin's fitness for this job, what does matter is that she clearly knows nothing about foreign policy. Assuming McCain does survive his term, one of the traditional roles of the vice president is to make trips abroad to represent our country on diplomatic missions. I know McCain's staff has been briefing her on the issues... but I don't want a vice president who just crammed for a test! (And who, if you watched her with Gibson, didn't exactly pass with flying colors.)Obama's ideas on foreign policy are well-thought out, original, and geared towards helping America come out on top in a complicated, globalizing world. Imagining Mrs. Palin-- with her sound-byte phrases and memorized generalizations-- as a an ambassador for this great country makes me want to throw up.
Anonymous,
With all due respect, you should at least consider the fact that the ABC interview was severely edited in a way I think made her look uncomfortable and hawk-like.
As for Obama's ideas on foreign policy, I don't know how well thought out they are. His vision and ideas may be well thought out, but that doesn't mean they are wise-or in the best interest of America.
Great post! Thanks ;)
A little update to the story...
Hollis French admits the Troopergate investigation was more about politics than getting to the truth:
"French says the McCain campaign failed to contact any of the Senators involved in the investigation during the vetting process of Gov. Palin.
"'If they had done their job they never would have picked her,' said French. 'Now they may have to deal with an October surprise,' he said, referring to the scheduled release Oct. 31 of the committee's final report."
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