Oh, Yes. Palin's "TrooperGate."

Over at Flopping Aces, MataHarley meticulously goes over the history of Palin's connections to both Trooper Wooten and Commissioner Monegan. She examines many sources, including some that are clearly antagonistic toward Palin, and yet still appear to support the notion that there was no attempt by Palin or her husband to use their influence to get this scumbag troubled trooper fired.

MataHarley:

First, the [. . .] accusation is that the Governor’s office had questionable reasons (meaning removing Wooten from the AST) for firing Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan in July 2008. As we know, documented complaints from Palin about Wooten started prior to Monegan’s appointment . . . which Monegan may, or may not, have been aware [of].

Yet Monegan was appointed by Palin. She was certainly within her rights to fire him. And if complaints were already lodged about Wooten to his immediate superior, Col. Julia Grimes, why did she [Palin] need to pressure him [Monegan] to fire Wooten? After all, if Palin was going to “abuse” her power to get Wooten fired, why not direct that power over Grimes as the superior of the Troopers?

And if getting Wooten fired was her quest, why did she not take steps to do that in 2005 during the complaint period, instead of specifically stating under deposition that she was staying silent in order not to put his job at risk? Not to mention the gap in time . . . why would it take her two and a half years to fire Monegan because of Wooten?

Read Ms. Harley's comprehensive account. It's clear that Palin removed Monegan for (1) performance issues, and (2) disagreements over how they were going to handle specific challenges, including matters pertaining to budget. When a subordinate is not "on board" with one's strategy, and will not support it, eventually he/she is going to have to go, no?

Palin didn't acquire a bunch of power, and then fire her entire Travel Office Public Safety Commissioner for reasons of nepotism. She fired him for lack of performance, and even offered him another post in order to allow him to save face.

And when Palin's husband discussed Trooper Out-of-Control with Monegan, it was under orders based on safety concerns regarding Alaska's First Family:

Todd Palin was ORDERED by the head of the Governor’s security detail, Special Agent Bob Cockrell, to discuss Trooper Wooten with Walt Monegan, as Wooten presented a credible threat to the Governor’s safety. Here’s a direct quote from Special Agent Cockrell, who is now providing security for his sixth consecutive governor:

“When made aware of the security concerns regarding a state trooper, I instructed the First Gentleman to contact the Commissioner of Public Safety. It is standard protocol to ask every Governor about any threats they perceive or have realized. “I will not hesitate to set the record straight in answering these false allegations by former Commissioner Monegan.”

(emphasis added [first one by Little Miss Attila; second one by Flopping Aces])

And now Monegan wants to make a scandal out of it. Good luck with that. Hey, Buddy? You might try Michael Moore; I'm sure he'll bite. Or maybe Keith Olbermann, who states that when he initially heard about McCain's VP pick, he thought McCain was "talking about Michael Palin, of Monty Python's Flying Circus."

Our mainstream media are, for the most part, a bad joke.

(X-posted over at Right-Wing News.)