I really, for the life of me, cannot understand why Jake Tapper would spend time debunking the idea that Palin was “cleared of wrongdoing” only to turn around let Sarah Palin call it rain when it comes to the idea that the Branchflower report was a “partisan witch-hunt”:
One can make the argument, as Palin and her allies have tried to do, that this investigation — launched by a bipartisan Republican-controlled legislative body — was somehow a partisan Democratic witch hunt, but one cannot honestly make the argument that the report concluded that Palin was “cleared of any legal wrongdoing” or “any hint of unethical activity.”
The legislative council is indeed chaired by a Democrat. But its 14-member body consists of ten Republicans and four Democrats, all of whom voted unanimously.
How is that a partisan witch-hunt? Even if Tapper were going to say that hey, the McCain campaign can make any argument it wants, why would he then omit the fact that the council itself was dominated by Republicans? Isn’t that information relevant enough to mention, so that readers who might be trying to decide if that argument is in fact, as valid as Tapper seems to think it is can decide for themselves?
–A. Serwer
