Questions of character

The “Troopergate” enquiry has found that Sarah Palin was guilty of abuse of power and violation of ethics laws, though it also concluded that her decision to fire Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan was “a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority”.

Even with my partisan bias I’m struggling to see this as a fatal blow for the McCain/Palin ticket, though clearly it raises serious questions about her judgement. It’s likely that this report will just strengthen people’s existing views; the left will think that it proves that Palin is unfit for office, and the right will point to it as more evidence that the liberal media elite are out to get her.

It’s a sideshow to the main event anyhow; the economy continues to slide, which is bad news for the GOP, hence McCain’s increasingly desperate attempts to shift the debate on to the “character” issue. Things are likely to get even worse before November, and the election is Obama’s to lose.