Anchorage Daily News

AFTERNOON PALIN UPDATES:

> College profs debate Tina Fey impact on Palin career (New York Post)

Academics are divided over whether a comedian can derail a political career. Two views.

Yes: "In a political culture that takes its cues from popular culture, a good impersonator may be worth a million votes," said Jerald Podair, a professor of American Studies at Lawrence University.

No: "Jokes and impersonations only leave lasting damage if they resonate with existing narratives the voter internalized," said Dorothy James, a professor of Government at Connecticut College.

> What's in a wink? (Los Angeles Times)

She's a winker. She winks on rope lines and at rallies. She winked at least six times at 70 million viewers on the vice presidential debate platform opposite her rival, Sen. Joe Biden, who weighed in on the nonverbal communication scale by grinning like a nutcracker.

But it was the wink that ricocheted like a bullet across America, leaving some voters smitten, some confused and others nauseated.

> Palin's Troopergate is disturbing (Dallas Morning News editorial)

Ms. Palin would be wise to quit trying to spin her way out of this mess. It would be far more plausible if she admitted error but said she and her husband acted out of fear - perhaps misplaced - for the family's safety. But to claim vindication when the report is actually fairly damning should give even McCain-Palin supporters pause.

This story would be confined to local newspapers in the moose belt if the Alaska governor weren't running to become vice president. Since she is, Americans have a right to expect that politicians asking for their votes will be good stewards of their trust.

> Palin flunks Pinnochio test on Troopergate (Washington Post Fact Checker blog)

Whether or not the Branchflower report -- which was launched by a bipartisan committee -- was a partisan smear job is debatable. What is not debatable is that the report clearly states that she violated the State Ethics Act. Palin has reasonable grounds for arguing that the report cleared her of "legal wrongdoing," since she did have the authority to fire Monegan. But it is the reverse of the truth to claim that she was cleared of "any hint of any kind of unethical activity."

The blog awarded Palin four Pinnochios, which translates into calling her statement "a whopper."

***

Here's the start of the Newsreader as it began the day:

Good morning, it's Monday.

Levi Johnston, Bristol's intended, meets the press. Walt Monegan is on the "Today" show this morning over the Troopergate report, and you will find audio and video links below to the post-report sidewalk smackdown between McCain-Palin spokesperson Megan Stapleton and Rep. Les Gara.

The Voice of the Times announces its ends, and you can read the obit below. A 2005 Lathrop High grad is the now-dead suspect in a Colorado shooting this weekend that killed two before the shooter turned the gun on himself.

Sen. Ted Stevens' tape-recorded phone conversations end up in a national Democratic ad.

To the links.

***

Dems hit Stevens over taped FBI calls. The Hill reports this morning that national Democrats have released an ad this morning using taped phone conversations from the Ted Stevens corruption trial now ongoing in Washington DC.

In the first national ad to use evidence presented at the trial, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee's spot (DSCC) features audio from a 2006 phone call between Stevens and his friend Bill Allen in which the two men fret about an FBI investigation into the elaborate renovations at the senator’s home in Girdwood, Alaska.

"The worst that can happen to us is we round up a bunch of legal fees and might lose and we might have to pay a fine, might have to serve a little time in jail," Stevens is heard saying in the ad, which suggests this private statement contradicts an August 2008 interview with an Alaska television station where he proclaims his innocence.

But the ad leaves out Stevens's repeatedly telling Allen that he was innocent and had done nothing wrong.

***

Walt Monegan this morning on Troopergate: He's "relieved." The former public safety commissioner at the heart of the Troopergate investigation was on NBC's "Today" show this morning, expressing satisfaction with results of the report released Friday.

"Actually, I feel relieved," he said. "My wife and I have been through a lot. It's not a matter of being revenged. It's just strictly a matter of being relieved." Monegan was interviewed by telephone from Alaska.

He said he never contested the governor's right to fire him, he just wanted to know why it happened. He declined to comment on any legal actions he might take and said he thought the report "took a big blow to (Palin's) credibility and more significantly to her promises of being open and transparent."

For complete coverage of the legislative investigation report released Friday, including the full Branchflower document and video of legislators reacting, see the Anchorage Daily News Troopergate section.

Other Troopergate reaction (see sidewalk "smackdown" links further down):

> Is impeachment in Palin's future? (Don Mitchell, Alaska Dispatch)

But the point has been made. And the point is that from the beginning of her administration Sarah Palin and, with her knowledge and approval, the people around her repeatedly attempted to persuade Commissioner of Public Safety Walt Monegan to commit a criminal misdemeanor by firing Michael Wooten from his job as an Alaska State Trooper in violation of the State Personnel Act. Doing so is "malfeasance in the performance of official duties" that, adjusted for time and circumstance, is near identical to the alleged "malfeasance in the performance of official duties" that in 1985 almost got Alaska Governor Bill Sheffield impeached.

Whether as a consequence of the Troopergate investigation Alaska Governor Sarah Palin soon will face her own impeachment depends on the extent to which the Republican members of the Alaska Senate believe that their constitutional duty to ensure that every Alaska governor "faithfully executes the laws" trumps party loyalty. As of today, I would rate that a toss-up.

> Post Troopergate, Palin still popular in Alaska, just not as much (Reuters)

Senate President Lyda Green, a Republican from Palin's hometown of Wasilla, says the investigation shows a serious ethical breach.

"I understand that when you have a personal interest in something, it's very tempting to do everything you can," she says. "But there's still that very, very fragile balance of power that has to be observed. This is probably a really good reminder of ways not to do business."

> Problems with the Troopergate report (Weekly Standard)

So even if you concede Branchflower's speculation that Monegan's refusal to fire Wooten was "likely" one reason among many why Palin fired her political appointee, it's hard to see how firing this trooper would not "generally" benefit the public.

> The Palin report (Obsidion Wings, blog identified as Voice of Moderation...)

To my mind, what's interesting about the report is completely independent of what one thinks of Trooper Wooten. If he did something wrong, there are legal remedies for that fact. It would, to my mind, be OK for Palin to ask someone to make sure that the investigation into his conduct had been thorough and fair, but it is not at all OK to try to use her power to strip him of his livelihood.

> Palin falsely claimed report cleared her of legal wrongdoing (TPM Muckraker)

Steve Branchflower did conclude that Palin was within her rights to fire Walt Monegan since, as governor, she can fire any executive branch official for any reason.

But he also concluded, just as definitively, that Palin pressured and intimidated subordinates in trying to force the firing of Mike Wooten. In doing so, Branchflower wrote, she violated a state ethics law which says that "any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action" is a violation of the public trust.

> Nick Jans on Sarah Palin (Salon.com)

In the end, Palin's attempt to cash in on the Eau d'Alaska mystique as she supports its destruction sickens those of us who do love this land, not for what it will be some day, after the roads and mines and pipelines and cities and malls are all in, but for what it is now. What we see before us is the soul of an ambitious, ruthless, Parks Highway hillbilly, a woman who represents the Alaska you probably never want to meet and the one we wish never existed. That said, we're all too willing to take her back. The alternative is just too damn frightening.

***

Testy tempers over Troopergate lead to sidewalk "smackdown." Alaska Dispatch has the audio report and a story, and Shannyn Moore: Just a girl from Homer has the video.

What you see and hear is Rep. Les Gara and McCain-Palin spokesperson Meg Stapleton having it out on a downtown sidewalk shortly after the Troopergate decision.

State Rep. Les Gara, a Democrat, confronted Meg Stapleton, the Palin flack, as she was talking to reporters and demanded that she and the McCain-Palin camp apologize to Walt Monegan, the public safety commissioner the governor fired in July. Gara accused Stapleton and her "Palin Truth Squad" of smearing Monegan in an effort to raise doubts with the Troopergate investigation. Stapleton denied the accusation, with the two arguing for more than 10 minutes as reporters, bums and bystanders watched.

***

Anchorage Times remnant, Voice of the Times, to die at month's end. The VOT Web site announces its own demise.

The Voice has a fine readership base of about 20,000 largely conservative readers in Alaska and elsewhere, one that generates about 1.2 million hits per month. In ordinary times, that audience would be attractive for a media organization with the ability to attract advertisers and sell space on the site for a profit.

But these are not ordinary times in the media world. . .

Alaska Dispatch writer Amanda Coyne provides the obit. Here's an excerpt:

I'd also like them to write about how, in retrospect, the VOT's staunch objections to Sarah Palin were prescient. Way back when, when we were all Sarah-smitten, it was the only media outlet in town sounding the bells. Way back it was questioning her truthfulness, her commitment to ethics. It even had some proof, but none of us in the press listened much, and many used the anti-Palin VOT columns as confirmation that the good old boys were just on the run.

And even though it's going against their party, they're still at it. In an Oct. 2 column, Paul Jenkins wrote, "The two axioms to remember about Palin are these: The rules do not apply to her, and she is an opportunist always looking for buses with lots of room underneath, lots of room for all the political bodies."

***

Palin ratchets down campaign rhetoric. ABC News this morning reports on Palin's Sunday speeches and their new mollified tone.

But her comments on Sunday were far more gentle, couched in nearly-apologetic language.

"It's not negative and it's not mean-spirited in a campaign for me to ask you to check out our opponent's record, and I would ask you to check out our opponent's record on a couple of the legislative opportunities that Barack Obama has had to reflect his feelings on the same issue that I just talked about," Palin said. "I'm not being negative, not mean-spirited, but please check out his record on partial birth abortion and on the Child Born-Alive Act, and I'll let you judge for yourself." The crowd booed at her mention of the controversial abortion procedure called "partial birth abortion" by some critics, but Palin did not follow the crowd's mood.

Other stories on this campaign change:

> Vote for Obama (Christopher Hitchins, Slate.com)

The most insulting thing that a politician can do is to compel you to ask yourself: "What does he take me for?" Precisely this question is provoked by the selection of Gov. Sarah Palin. I wrote not long ago that it was not right to condescend to her just because of her provincial roots or her piety, let alone her slight flirtatiousness, but really her conduct since then has been a national disgrace. It turns out that none of her early claims to political courage was founded in fact, and it further turns out that some of the untested rumors about her-her vindictiveness in local quarrels, her bizarre religious and political affiliations-were very well-founded, indeed. Moreover, given the nasty and lowly task of stirring up the whack-job fringe of the party's right wing and of recycling patent falsehoods about Obama's position on Afghanistan, she has drawn upon the only talent that she apparently possesses.

> McCain tussles with Palin over whipping up a mob mentality (Times of London)

McCain has become alarmed about the fury unleashed by Sarah Palin, the moose-hunting "pitbull in lipstick", against Sen. Barack Obama. Cries of "terrorist" and "kill him" have accompanied the tirades by the governor of Alaska against the Democratic nominee at Republican rallies.

Mark Salter, McCain's long-serving chief of staff, is understood to have told campaign insiders that he would prefer his boss, a former Vietnam prisoner of war, to suffer an "honorable defeat" rather than conduct a campaign that would be out of character and likely to lose him the election.

Palin, 44, has led the character attacks on Obama in the belief that McCain may be throwing away the election and her chance of becoming vice president. Her supporters think that if the Republican ticket loses on Nov. 4, she should run for president in 2012.

> Obama, McCain trade kinder comments (Seattle Times)

"I appreciated his reminder that we can disagree while still being respectful of each other," Obama told thousands of supporters at the first of four outdoor rallies in Philadelphia.

"Sen. McCain has served this country with honor," he said two hours later, in the city's Germantown neighborhood. "He deserves our thanks for that."

At a town hall event Friday in Minnesota, McCain took the microphone from a woman who called Obama an Arab, saying "No, ma'am," and called Obama "a decent, family man."

***

Troopergate comes down hardest on Todd Palin. The Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times both point out that Branchflower's report raises issues with Todd's extensive role in his wife's administration.

But Attorney General Talis J. Colberg, during his interview with Branchflower, was unable to explain the presence of the governor's husband at Cabinet meetings.

"If someone said that they have seen him at more than one or two Cabinet meetings, would that give you pause?" Branchflower asked.

"That would give me pause, but it's possible," Colberg responded.

"Are Cabinet meetings open to the public?"

"Not to my knowledge."

"Is Todd Palin a state employee, to your knowledge?"

"No."

"Do you know why he was allowed to remain there?"

"No."

Taylor Griffin, a spokesman for the McCain-Palin campaign, said the answer to his involvement was simple: Palin often asked her husband, who was at home with the children, to print out government e-mails so she could read them at home at night.

"Todd has played an appropriate and similar role to that played by the spouses of dozens of governors throughout the country," Griffin said.

***

Levi speaks. The Associated Press caught up with the young man in the driveway of his Wasilla home. He has dropped out of high school and taken a job on the North Slope oil fields as an apprentice electrician.

Levi Johnston, who's having a baby with the daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin, can't believe all the things he's hearing.

No, he wasn't held against his will on the campaign trail. No, he's not being forced into a shotgun wedding with 17-year-old Bristol Palin.

"None of that's true," Johnston, 18, said in a rare interview. "We both love each other. We both want to marry each other. And that's what we are going to do."

***

2005 Lathrop High grad kills two in Colorado, shoots self. The Denver Post covered the story over the weekend.

Former Fairbanks resident, 22-year-old Strefan Martin-Urban, a 2005 graduate of Lathrop High, allegedly shot four people, killing two of them and then fatally wounded himself Saturday. He had come to Lakewood to live with his aunt a few weeks ago, after temporarily living in a motel in Riverside County. His mother and 19-year-old brother still live in Fairbanks.

Investigators also have not been able to uncover a motive in what Smith termed "an act of horrific violence."

"We have not been able to determine any link or connection between the suspect and the victims," Smith said Sunday.

The Fairbanks News-Miner is also following the story.

***

Other headlines of interest to Alaskans:

> Alaska's pollock fishery could be in trouble (Reuters)

> Legislators take aim at Interior Alaska gas bullet line (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)

> Salmon returns are a "mixed bag" across the state (Alaska Journal of Commerce

> New Japanese study warns of carbon load from warming tundra (Reuters)

> Alaska vet reunited with long-lost dog (York Times)

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