I am, as my wife says, prone to fret; this is because, as she also says, I am my mother’s son. At least I come by it honestly . . .In any case, however much of it is a clear assessment of the circumstances and however much is simply me, I’ve been concerned about the effect the Monegan affair could have on Sarah Palin’s VP chances. It’s not that I thought she was guilty of any significant improper conduct—like Carlos Echevarria, I believe in her; but the whole thing has been generating more than enough smoke to drive John McCain another direction in looking for his running mate, and in the long run, I don’t believe that would be good. Unfortunately, whether or not there’s any real fire to the story, there has been a fair bit of sizzle, and that makes it harder to combat; it’s not enough to make a dry, rational case that Gov. Palin made a reasonable decision to fire Commissioner Walt Monegan, you have to put out the sizzle. If Adam Brickley’s right, though, she may have managed enough to do that: the latest statement from the governor’s office certainly seems to have buried Monegan’s allegations in an avalanche of documented facts. I’m sure this won’t stop her political opponents from trying to use this whole affair to hurt her—that, alas, is politics in this day and age; I’m hopeful, though, that it will be enough to render this a minor or non-story on the national stage, and thus remove the issue as a reason for Sen. McCain not to pick Gov. Palin. No matter how hard the Romneyites try to flog this thing, if it’s a dead moose, it’s a dead moose.The other good news Adam reported is that the Alaska House has passed the governor’s pipeline plan, leaving only Senate approval still ahead. This is one of the things for which I greatly admire Gov. Palin, that she put the welfare of the state of Alaska ahead of the welfare of our oil companies—when they wouldn’t give the state a square deal, she made sure the job went to someone else who would. This is how you build a position that’s for energy exploration without being in the pocket of Big Oil. Bravo, Governor. Bravo.
