Dan Fagan: Hey, Ethics Charges Against Palin for Wearing Her Husband's Jacket Are a Great Idea

Just a follow-up on some of the media reactions to yesterday's story about the latest frivolous ethics complaint...

First, the Anchorage Daily News has a story up about the complaint, penned by the ADN's top Trig Truth Researcher, Lisa Demer. The headline says Palin was "livid" about the complaint, and that she "hit the roof" when she found out about it. (Demer also used the "hit the roof" phrasing in her blog entry about the story yesterday.) I sent an e-mail to Demer and her editors asking if they had a source who witnessed the Governor's reaction, or if Lisa is just making crap up to portray the Governor as overly emotional.

Dan Fagan's reaction, published in The Alaska Standard, is utterly predictable...he bolsters his "conservative" cred by siding with the complainant, left-wing blogger Linda Kellen Biegel, and he attacks Palin for responding to the complaint. Wow, what a shock! I wonder what side of the issue "conservative" Andrew Halcro will come down on?

I'll admit that at first I had some doubts about the wisdom of Palin responding to these ethics charges with a press release. I thought that the morons filing these complaints are so far beneath Palin it isn't even close, and engaging with ankle-biters can make it look like you're stooping to their level.

But I've now come to the conclusion that it was a politically sound move, especially in regards to her Alaskan constituency. When the news broke the other day about the huge bills being racked up by Palin in fighting these charges, she mentioned that the charges were frivolous.

And indeed, they have been frivolous. For instance, one of the complaints was filed in the name of a soap opera character. Another charged that her picture was used by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, which is actually a public corporation established by state law. Other complaints - she issued a press release announcing she was running for Vice President. She allowed a reporter to interview her in the Governor's office. She allowed her press spokesman to answer questions about her Governor's record at the Republican National Convention, and then she recently allowed him to answer a question about her travel schedule. I'm not kidding, folks. Martin Knight at RedState has done a great roundup of the various personalities involved in the ongoing smear campaign.

But this latest charge is so absolutely ludicrous that it's the perfect one to highlight as an example of frivolity and idiocy. As a matter of fact, it's so damned stupid that I'm starting to wonder if Celtic Diva is part of some elaborate Palin false-flag operation to garner sympathy from voters, and generate outrage against the ankle-biters. To test this out, I talked to some friends who don't normally follow politics outside the election season. The conversations all went something like this:

ME: Hey, did you hear about the latest ethics charges against Sarah Palin?

FRIEND: No...what are they?

ME: Well, you know her husband races snowmachines, right? She's now been charged with violating ethics by wearing a jacket with the logo of her husband's sponsor.

FRIEND: (starts laughing, then stops) Wait, you're serious? What the ****?

I'm curious at how this will play with real Alaskans. Judging from the comments on the ADN articles, there are quite a few who think this is pretty idiotic. Ugafish generally does a pretty good job of monitoring places like the Bob & Mark and Eddie Burke Shows, that should give us a pretty good read.

UPDATE by RAM: The good and brave "Lone Republican" at the Boston Herald has a blog post up on this latest inanity. Also, Tammy Bruce guest hosted for Laura Ingraham today and was all over this story.

UPDATE by VO: Women on the Web, which seems to go back and forth in its tone on Governor Palin, has also picked up the story. And check out the reader comments at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

UPDATE II by VO: Tommy Christopher at AOL thinks it's all a conspiracy to get the Governor to take off her clothes. (h/t Jody in the comments)

UPDATE III by VO: The complaint filer was the official Alaskan blogger for the Democratic National Convention.