Anchorage Daily News Rips Palin Over Dishonesty

The Anchorage Daily News, the most widely read newspaper in Alaska, ran an editorial on Monday shredding Governor Sarah Palin for her ridiculous assertion that the state legislature's "Troopergate" report had "vindicated" her -- despite the findings clearly stating that she had broken the law.

The Daily News ripped into Palin as "an embarrassment to Alaskans and the nation" after she continued to claim that she was cleared of all wrongdoing and that the investigation found "no unlawful or unethical activity on my part."

Citing Finding Number One of the report that says "I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act," the Daily News said of Palin that "her response is either astoundingly ignorant or downright Orwellian."

"In plain English, she did something 'unlawful.' She broke the state ethics law," reads the editorial in Palin's home-state newspaper. "Perhaps Gov. Palin has been too busy to actually read the Troopergate report. Perhaps she is relying on briefings from McCain campaign spinmeisters. That's the charitable interpretation. Because if she had actually read it, she couldn't claim 'vindication' with a straight face."

Here's more:

Palin asserted that the report found "there was no abuse of authority at all in trying to get Officer Wooten fired."

In fact, the report concluded that "impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired."

Palin's response is the kind of political "big lie" that George Orwell warned against. War is peace. Black is white. Up is down.

Gov. Palin and her camp trumpeted the report's second finding: that she was within her legal authority to fire Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. But the report also said it's likely one of the reasons she fired him was his failure to get rid of her ex-brother-in-law trooper.

That's not "vindication," and surely Gov. Palin knows it.

And the editorial ends with this bottom line: "Gov. Palin, read the report. It says you violated the ethics law."

You can see the entire column at the Anchorage Daily News.