Re: Report: Palin Misused Legal Defense Fund

This morning’s headline from The Fix, “Report: Palin Misused Legal Defense Fund”, is a perfect summation of why Governor Palin made the controversial decision to resign as governor of Alaska – and why that decision may not have been so crazy. 

Story: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/republican-party/ap-claims-palin-misused-legal.html  Despite having all 15 ethics complaints filed against her since the November election dismissed and almost literally having one foot out of the office, she continues to face new complaints at every turn. This one in particular reveals a Democrat tactic that is becoming routine. Like Scooter Libby, Dems have pressed and pressed where there existed no underlying crime until their target makes a mistake in the process of defending themselves. In Libby’s case, that was perjury; in Governor Palin’s case, that may be nothing at all. While I won’t dismiss the possibility that Palin erred in some way in the formation of her Legal Defense Fund, it seems unlikely to me given the track record of these complaints thus far and the way Palin was so thoroughly “lawyered up” on the formation of the fund.   Given that, one must ask, “why did the sitting Governor of Alaska need a Legal Defense Fund in the first place?” Has she attempted to sell a Senate seat? Has she been a frequent customer of escort services? Has she run off to South America on the state’s dime? No, no, and (good grief, let’s hope) no. But need it, she did. At the time of her stunning announcement, reports were that the Palins had spent as much as $500,000 of their own money defending themselves against ethics complaints. That’s just in the 10 months since she became a national figure with a potential presidential future, and thus the target of the Dem destruction machine. The very fact that she required a Legal Defense Fund, and that the allegation of impropriety in its formation is a national headline, is indicative of the dilemma Sarah Palin faced as she considered whether or not to step down. She wasn’t a Lame Duck, she was a Sitting Duck.   The target of vicious attacks at every turn, unable to adequately defend herself to a national audience, draining her personal resources to fend off frivolous ethics complaints, and watching the power of her stardom wasting away on the shelf, Governor Palin made a perfectly reasonable decision to save herself and her political future. She had to move because a sitting duck soon becomes a dead duck. 

UPDATE: Sorry for the lines - having some formatting issues.  I'm still a Rookie!  WT