Author, blogger and Valerie Plame expert, Marcy Wheeler, followed the Alaska Legislative Council's reception and acceptance of the Branchflower Report from afar today. This evening, at her blog, emptywheel, she posted a thoughtful early post-mortem on the report's likely effects on the remainder of the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, called What Does TrooperGate Mean For November 4?Here are a couple of excerpts from Wheeler's essay:
....at least for the moment, the McCain team is standing behind Palin. They released a statement that claimed that the report had found Palin had not done anything wrong, that the investigation was partisan, and that Palin looked forward to the Personnel Board investigation results as she continues her conversation with the American people.
and:
McCain's whole campaign since he picked Palin was about "mavericks" who take on the old way of doing things. Was. That's not going to work anymore. So now he's got an unqualified but charismatic fundie fire breather, but a really tainted claim to maverickyness (though I think McCain will claim that his refusal to push the lynch mobs is more maverickyness).
In other words, since his poll numbers are already in the 42% range, McCain's bid to be President just got even more tougher, because his brand is for shit.
Wheeler's entire essay is well worth a read, and is the best I've seen out there yet, on the national implications of the twelve-to-zero decision to release the public portions of this document.
My reading of the Branchflower Report, especially given the discretion he showed in its writing, shows that he was quite generous toward the Palins' conduct in this matter. But in the hidden gems, I find the probability that both Palins committed multiple misdemeanors.
We're checking on this right now, but if it is possible to file criminal complaints based upon information in the report, expect those charges to be filed.
Soon.
Which brings me to the title of this essay. There isn't much I can think of that can save the McCain-Palin ticket at this point. From the start - August 29th - some of us realized that it was only a matter of time before Palin became the hole in the bottom of McCain's under-sized campaign vessel it certainly deserves to be. But she will still be our governor the day after the election.
For how long? How the national narrative on the Palins' power abuse plays out, will have an important effect on presidential politics, but how much will that effect have an impact on our Alaska races?
For one thing, I'd like to see more of our Democrats running for state-level office, to now weigh in on this 12-to-zip bi-partisan vote. And on the contents of the report itself.
I'm not convinced yet, but part of Ethan Berkowitz's recent rise in the Alaska polls may be his resonance as a corruption fighter. It was only this past weekend, at the Alaskans for Truth rally, that Berkowitz started directing comments straight toward Palin, so I don't think his finally getting his cajones re Mooselini had anything to do with the bump.
But the time has come for Democratic Party candidates in Alaska to attack Palin. Not just Ethan. All of them!
It is time to attack her ties to nutty religious ideas that disenfranchise gays.
It is time to attack her anti-science stances that undermine the ability of American students to compete globally.
It is time to attack her race-baiting appearances over the past three weeks.
It is time to attack her overall rise for what it is - proto-fascist politics, disguised as populism.
It is time to attack her manipulation of Alaska oil politics for what it is - a confused jumble of ideas that lead to no rational conclusion.
It is time to attack her manipulation of governmental machinery to glorify her personal image.
And so on......
attack - Attack - ATTACK - ATTACK!