Sarah Palin Scandal

[Jacaylbaro]

The 17-year-old unmarried daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is pregnant

 

 

 

Bristol Palin, one of the Alaska Governor's five children, is about five months pregnant and is going to keep the child and marry the father, according to aides of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

 

Bristol made the decision on her own to keep the baby, the aides said.

 

The Palins, in a statement released by the McCain campaign, said Bristol "came to us with news that we as parents knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned".

 

Senior McCain campaign officials said Senator McCain knew of the daughter's pregnancy when he selected Mrs Palin last week as his vice presidential running mate.

 

McCain officials said the news of the daughter's pregnancy was being released to rebut what one aide called "mud-slinging and lies" that have circulated on liberal blog sites.

 

According to these rumours, Sarah Palin had faked a pregnancy and pretended to have given birth in April to her fifth child, a son named Trig who has Down's syndrome.

 

The rumour was that Trig was actually Bristol Palin's child and that Sarah Palin was the grandmother.

 

Mrs Palin is staunchly anti-abortion, and pro-life groups welcomed the decision to keep the child.

 

Sky News political analyst Jon-Christopher Bua said: "This surprise announcement by Ms Palin raises more questions about the thoroughness of the McCain vetting process.

 

"Some believe that Mr McCain made the last minute decision to select Mrs Palin in an attempt to appeal to the Christain Evangelical Republican base and disgruntled Hillary Clinton voters.

 

"Since the normal vetting process may have been truncated, what other surprises could be in store?"

[Jacaylbaro]

McCain's VP Pick Palin Facing Ethics Investigation

 

For most of her tenure as governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin has enjoyed widespread popularity and a reputation as a maverick who refused to stand by fellow Alaska Republicans facing their own ethics scandals.

 

But the 44-year-old Palin, who was selected as Sen. John McCain's running mate today, is now the focus of her own state ethics investigation as part of the so-called "Troopergate" scandal, a bizarre controversy involving the firing of a state police chief and his reluctance to fire an Alaska state trooper, Palin's former brother-in-law who has been involved in a bitter custody fight with her younger sister.

 

Just two weeks ago, Palin revealed an audio recording of an aide pressuring the state's Public Safety Department to fire trooper Mike Wooten, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

 

Palin also acknowledged that her staff had contacted Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan about two dozen times about Wooten. Monegan himself was fired July 11 (the dismissal was "out of the blue," he told reporters) and he later said that he was pressured by Palin's staff and family to get rid of Wooten, a trooper based in Palmer, Alaska.

 

(To counter the "Troopergate" tag, the alternative-weekly Anchorage Press has dubbed the firing scandal "Wootengate")

 

The accusations first surfaced via the blog of former Alaska state rep. Andrew Halcro, who unsuccessfully ran against Palin in 2006.

 

(On Palin's selection as McCain's vice-presidential pick, Halcro wrote that "this shocking choice says more about McCain's desparation than it does about Palin's qualifications.")

 

In July, Palin came under a state ethics investigation and critics have said Palin's claim that she did not know of the political pressure being placed on Monegan was a "little too convenient." One fellow lawmaker, state Sen. Hollis French, a Democrat, told The Wall Street Journal that Palin could face impeachment. After French's comments, Palin ordered the investigation into Monegan's firing and told CNBC last month that lawmakers were unfairly targeting her.

 

"It's cool. I want them to ask me the questions. I don't have anything to hide," she said during the interview. "Didn't do anything wrong there."

 

The investigation is expected to cost about $100,000 and last at least three months, according to The Associated Press.

 

The governor has insisted that her decision to fire Monegan in July had nothing to do with former brother-in-law Wooten. Instead, she argued that Monegan "wasn't doing enough to fill state trooper vacancies and battle alcohol abuse issues," according to the Daily News.

 

The Daily News reports the Palins' fight with Wooten has been especially nasty and public, with the family accusing Wooten of drunken driving, illegal hunting and child abuse, among other charges, based on information culled from private investigators. Wooten and Palin's sister, Molly McCann, divorced in 2005.

 

The governor's husband, Todd Palin, told the Daily News that his family was also concerned about the governor's safety, saying Wooten threatened to kill the governor's father and made vague threats to her that he would bring Palin down.

[Jacaylbaro]

John McCain VP Sarah Palin Scandal in Alaska

[Khayr]

Palin rebuts rumors, says daughter pregnant

Module body

 

Mon Sep 1, 4:57 PM

 

 

 

22

 

What's this

By Steve Holland

 

ADVERTISEMENT

 

ST. PAUL (Reuters) - The 17-year-old unmarried daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is pregnant, Palin said on Monday in an announcement intended to knock down rumors by liberal bloggers that Palin faked her own pregnancy to cover up for her child.

 

 

Bristol Palin, one of Alaska Gov. Palin's five children with her husband Todd, is about five months pregnant and is going to keep the child and marry the father, according to aides of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

 

 

Bristol Palin made the decision on her own to keep the baby, the aides said.

 

 

The Palins, in a statement released by the McCain campaign, said Bristol "came to us with news that we as parents knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned" and that their daughter "has our unconditional love and support."

 

 

"We ask the media to respect our daughter and Levi's privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates," their statement said.

 

 

Senior McCain campaign officials said McCain knew of the daughter's pregnancy when he selected Palin last week as his vice presidential running mate, deciding that it did not disqualify the 44-year-old governor in any way.

 

 

McCain officials said the news of the daughter's pregnancy was being released to rebut what one aide called "mud-slinging and lies" that have circulated on liberal blog sites.

 

 

According to these rumors, Sarah Palin had faked a pregnancy and pretended to have given birth in April to her fifth child, a son named Trig who has Down syndrome. The rumor was that Trig was actually Bristol Palin's child and that Sarah Palin was the grandmother.

 

 

PRO-LIFE GROUPS OFFER SUPPORT

 

 

Palin is staunchly anti-abortion, and pro-life groups welcomed the decision to keep the child.

 

 

James Dobson, an influential Christian evangelical conservative, said his Focus on the Family group had always counseled young mothers to see their pregnancies through, "even though there will be of course challenges along the way."

 

 

"That is what the Palins are doing, and they should be commended once again for not just talking about their pro-life and pro-family values, but living them out even in the midst of trying circumstances," he said in a statement.

 

 

Charmaine Yoest, head of Americans United for Life, said, "We join them in welcoming this new life."

 

 

The McCain campaign was outraged by the blog rumors.

 

 

"There's no doubt that liberal blogs such as one called

www.barackoblogger.com

and some in the mainstream media were pushing a false story about Gov. Palin's most recent pregnancy with fervor," said senior McCain adviser Nicolle Wallace.

 

 

A senior McCain official said its camp had no evidence that the campaign of Democrat Barack Obama was pushing the story, but said the blog rumors circulating on websites that appeared to support Obama had the effect of being "a real anchor around the Democratic ticket."

 

 

OBAMA OFFENDED

 

Speaking to reporters in Monroe, Michigan, Obama said he was offended by the McCain aide's statement and that he considered people's families off-limits.

 

"We don't go after people's families. We don't get them involved in the politics. It's not appropriate and it's not relevant. Our people were not involved in any way in this and they will not be. And if I ever thought there was somebody in my campaign that was involved in something like that, they'd be fired," Obama said.

 

Obama also said: "This shouldn't be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin's performance as a governor or potential performance as a vice president. So I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories."

 

The news broke as Republicans gathered in St. Paul for their convention to formally nominate McCain and Palin as the party's candidates. Palin is only the second woman picked as a U.S. vice presidential nominee.

 

In the short period since she was announced last Friday, Palin has helped to energize the Republican Party's conservative base, giving McCain fresh energy going into the campaign for the November 4 election against Obama and his No. 2 Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware.

 

(Additional reporting by Caren Bohan and Ed Stoddard)

Politricks at their best.

 

Since when did it not matter what your family does or what you do in your home in Politics??? :confused:

[Cara.]

^Should it matter though?

 

You can be a terrible family man/woman and a fine leader, hard as it is to believe. Reminds me of this email that used to circulate a few years ago:

 

It is time to elect a new world leader, and only your vote counts. Here are the facts about the three leading candidates.

 

Candidate A: Associates with crooked politicians, and consults with astrologists. He's had two Mistresses. He also chain smokes and drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day.

 

Candidate B He was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon, used opium in college and drinks a quart of whiskey every evening.

 

Candidate C He is a decorated war hero. He's a vegetarian, doesn't smoke, drinks an occasional beer and never cheated on his wife.

 

Which of these candidates would be your choice? Decide first, no peeking, then scroll down for the answer.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Candidate A is Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Candidate B is Winston Churchill.

Candidate C is Adolph Hitler.

[Sir-Qalbi-Adeyg]

^ Winston churchil was a racist and was not a better leader than Adolph hitler. Here's the simple definition of leadership: "the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal"

 

I would say by that measure, Hitler was the better leader of all three.

[Cara.]

^By your own metric, what's the fact that Churchill was a racist got to do with his leadership abilities? Hitler was a bigger racist, and while he did inspire Nazi Germany, he was also profoundly wrong about the outcome of the Second World War and ended up killing himself in disgrace as his nation was defeated. In other words, a common goal is worthless if it leads you down the wrong path, wouldn't you say?

[Sir-Qalbi-Adeyg]

^ It has to do with the fact that just like hitler, Churchill was not a good man, and great britain and America was responsible for massacre, enslavement of other ethnicities.

 

If you look at Germany before Hitler and after hitler, you would realize the accomplishments Hitler achieved. He basically took a beaten, demoralized, unemployed, economically and military weak germany and made it into the most feared nation. If that is not great leadership, I don't know what is.

 

Now in the end he did loose, but leadership isn't about the final outcome, but looking at someone's overall achievements, he's ability to guide people to common goal etc. It's not about who was 'bad' or who was good.

 

And him committing suicide makes him honorable, it's better to die at your own hands than die by the hands of your enemy. The japanese sumarai had a similar code of honor called seppuk.

 

This palin woman is far from a great leader though, she's friggin hockey mom with five kids and former beauty pageant, a nice piece of booty but that's all she is.

[FatB]

if macain wins and dies in office.... this woman who has never had the "sex" talk with her kids will have her finger on the button.... its not a very comforting thought

[Jacaylbaro]

Palin won't meet with 'Troopergate' investigator

 

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Gov. Sarah Palin is unlikely to speak with an independent counsel hired by Alaska lawmakers to review the firing of her public safety commissioner, a spokesman for Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Monday.

 

Spokesman Ed O'Callaghan said he has not spoken with Palin, but she was "unlikely to cooperate" with the inquiry "as long as it remains tainted."

 

Democrats charged that the McCain campaign was trying to stall the investigation.

 

"The partisan presidential campaign of McCain/Palin has interfered and is picking partisan targets to smear in order to make this investigation look like something it isn't," said Patti Higgins, chairwoman of the Alaska Democratic Party. "Rather than cooperating with the investigation, the Republican presidential campaign is doing everything it can to stall and smear."

 

O'Callaghan also said he did not know whether Palin's husband, Todd, would challenge a subpoena issued Friday to compel his cooperation. Thomas Van Flein, the Palins' lawyer, who has accepted service of the subpoena, did not return messages seeking comment. The governor herself has not been subpoenaed, but the Legislature's investigator, Steve Branchflower, has said he hopes to speak with her.

 

Palin and her husband campaigned Monday in Colorado and Ohio. Palin also planned appearances Tuesday in Ohio.

 

McCain's campaign insists the investigation into the firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan has been hijacked by Democrats.

 

Palin initially said she welcomed the inquiry. But after she became McCain's running mate on Aug. 29 her lawyer sought to have the three-member state Personnel Board take over the investigation, alleging that public statements by the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Democratic state Sen. Hollis French, indicated the probe was politically motivated.

 

French said Sept. 2 that the results of the investigation could constitute an "October surprise" for the McCain campaign. He later apologized for the remark, but Palin's lawyer has said the biased impression it created can't be undone.

 

The McCain campaign says it can prove Monegan was fired in July because of insubordination on budget issues, and not because he refused to fire a state trooper who went through a nasty divorce from Palin's sister.

 

To that end, the campaign released a series of e-mails detailing the frustration several Palin administration officials experienced in dealing with Monegan. The "last straw," the campaign said, was a trip Monegan planned to Washington in July to seek federal money for investigating and prosecuting sexual assault cases.

 

In a July 7 e-mail, John Katz, the governor's special counsel, noted two problems with the trip: the governor hadn't agreed the money should be sought, and the request "is out of sequence with our other appropriations requests and could put a strain on the evolving relationship between the Governor and Sen. Stevens."

 

Monegan was fired four days later.

 

In the weeks since, it has emerged that the Palins and her staff repeatedly had contacted Monegan expressing their dismay at the continued employment of Trooper Mike Wooten, who divorced Palin's sister in 2005. The following year, Wooten was suspended for five days based on complaints filed by the Palins, including that he drank in his patrol car, used a Taser on his 10-year-old stepson and illegally shot a moose.

 

A bipartisan panel of the Legislature voted unanimously to authorize an investigation into the circumstances of Monegan's firing.

 

In an effort to move the investigation into the Personnel Board's court, Van Flein filed a complaint there. But on Monday, he asked the board to dismiss the matter, citing the e-mails about budget issues as proving the real reason for Monegan's dismissal.

 

"The Governor decided to replace Mr. Monegan based on his refusal to execute her administration's policy on fiscal and budget matters, a refusal that between late 2007 and the middle of 2008 blossomed into outright insubordination."

 

Monegan's attorney said he had no immediate comment.

 

Also made clear in the e-mails is that some Palin staffers believed Monegan worked outside normal channels in making budget requests, in one case writing a letter to the governor in support of a funding for a project she had already vetoed.

[Jacaylbaro]

Hackers break into Sarah Palin's e-mail account

 

 

WASHINGTON - Hackers broke into the Yahoo! e-mail account that Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin used for official business as Alaska's governor, revealing as evidence a few inconsequential personal messages she has received since John McCain selected her as his running mate.

 

 

"This is a shocking invasion of the governor's privacy and a violation of law. The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities and we hope that anyone in possession of these e-mails will destroy them," the McCain campaign said in a statement.

 

The Secret Service contacted The Associated Press on Wednesday and asked for copies of the leaked e-mails, which circulated widely on the Internet. The AP did not comply.

 

The disclosure Wednesday raises new questions about the propriety of the Palin administration's use of nongovernment e-mail accounts to conduct state business. The practice was revealed months ago — prior to Palin's selection as a vice presidential candidate — after political critics obtained internal e-mails documenting the practice by some aides.

 

One person whose e-mail to Palin apparently was among those disclosed, Amy B. McCorkell, declined to discuss her correspondence. "I do not know anything about it," McCorkell said. "I'm not giving you any comment." Wired.com said McCorkell later confirmed that she did send the e-mail to Palin.

 

Another of the e-mails apparently revealed Wednesday was an exchange in July with Alaska Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell discussing a talk show host who had been critical of Parnell. Parnell declined to discuss the matter.

 

Palin herself used "gov.sarah" in one of her e-mail addresses, but the hackers targeted her "gov.palin" account. Her husband used "fek9wnr" in his address. "Fe" is the representation for iron, and "k9" is an abbreviation for canine. Todd Palin was the winner of the grueling Iron Dog snowmobile race, and "fek9wnr" also is Todd Palin's vehicle license tag in Alaska.

 

It wasn't immediately clear how hackers broke into Palin's Yahoo! account, but it would have been possible to trick the service into revealing her password knowing personal details about Palin that include her birthdate and ZIP code. A hacker also might have sent a forged e-mail to her account tricking her into revealing her own password.

 

McCorkell was appointed by Palin to an advisory board on issues involving alcohol and drug abuse. One of the leaked e-mails suggested McCorkell wrote to Palin on Sunday to say she was praying for Palin. "Don't let the negative press get you down!" the message said.

 

(This version CORRECTS Corrects in 7th graf that hackers targeted 'gov.palin' account sted 'gov.sarah' account.)

[Pujah]

Palin probe has parallels to 2000 recount fight

 

By DAVID ESPO

 

WASHINGTON (AP)

— This time, there are no hanging chads.

 

Yet the Republicans' drive to derail an abuse of power investigation against Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the GOP vice presidential candidate, reflects the same determination and many of the same methods employed in shutting down the 2000 presidential recount in Florida.

 

Now, as then, the playbook includes lawsuits, the exercise of power by sympathetic state officials, and appeals to the court of public opinion — all in an operation directed by out-of-state Republicans.

 

"Hold me accountable," Palin said when the Republican-controlled legislature launched the investigation in mid-August.

 

Now John McCain's running mate, she declines to cooperate. She calls the investigation tainted, her husband won't honor a subpoena to testify, and Republican lawmakers are in court with a pair of lawsuits challenging the legitimacy of the probe.

 

Republican lawyers, researchers and public relations specialists have been dispatched to Alaska. The Anchorage lawyer originally hired by the state to represent Palin is no longer paid by taxpayers and instead is part of the McCain-Palin campaign's legal team.