Say Anything Blog

I’ll admit that the news about Bristol Palin’s pregnancy did shock me, but I think the Associated Press is reaching a bit with this:

ST. PAUL, Minn. - John McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin, said Monday her 17-year-old unmarried daughter was five months pregnant, the latest in a string of disclosures that left the McCain campaign defending his choice and the thoroughness of the background check of the little-known Alaska governor.

It was also revealed Monday that an attorney had been hired to represent Palin in a state ethics probe and that her husband, Todd, had been arrested for drunken driving two decades ago. The man who led McCain’s vice presidential search team said he thought everything that came up as a possible red flag during the background check had now been made public.

Todd Palin got a DUI twenty years ago.  So what?  President Bush got a DUI in 1976 and America elected him.  Twice.

Hell, Ted Kennedy drove off a bridge in a drunken stupor in 1968 and killed a former member of his brother’s campaign staff and he’s been re-elected to the Senate every six years since.

As for Palin getting an attorney in “Troopergate,” it’s worth noting (though the Associated Press doesn’t until a couple of dozen paragraphs into the story) that the State of Alaska hired him to represent Palin.

As for the Alaska probe, a Republican-dominated legislative committee is investigating whether Palin dismissed Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan after he refused to fire a state trooper who had divorced Palin’s sister.

The state’s attorney general, Talis Colberg, hired Thomas V. Van Flein more than two weeks ago to represent Palin and members of her staff, according to Van Flein.

Besides, I didn’t think that hiring a lawyer was supposed to incriminate you.  Aren’t innocent people entitled to legal counsel as well?  Plus, “Troopergate” is such a pathetic scandal as to not even warrant the ubiquitous (and annoying) “-gate” nomenclature.  The worst case scenario is that Palin pressured the Commissioner of Public Safety to fire a bad cop who had been making death threats and had been found drinking alcohol in his patrol car.  Big flippin’ deal.

If a pregnant daughter, a canned dirty cop and a two-decades-old misdemeanor are the best the slime-slingers on the left can come up with on Palin color me underwhelmed.