McCain camp on the defensive re: Troopergate

[karsen]

[quote guitarist]I'm waiting for Paperclipgate.
My eye!

[kj]

[quote Filliam H. Muffman]

Please read up on the story just a tiny bit more. A quick summary is his boss got fired for not firing the trooper.
He was probably being "punished" for "noncompliance", but it isn't quite that simple. He was offered a different job, etc., so it isn't at all a fact that he was fired for refusing to fire the trooper. It's not hard to believe the trooper should have been fired. Police folk are sort of known to protect their own. kj.

[MacMagus]

> Please, someone tell me why tasing a child is defensible

Allegedly, the child begged him to do it for fun, he did it in low power mode and he clipped the lines to the kid instead of shooting him. Also, supposedly, the kid was fine afterwards and begged him to do it again.

But either way, the scandal is not over the dismissal of the trooper.

The scandal is over the dismissal of the police commissioner who wanted to follow official procedure.

The police review-panel meted out punishment short of dismissal. That should have been the end of it, but for Palin's intercession.

The judge in the trooper's divorce hearing gave special notice to the fact that there was a pattern of harassment in the series of complaints made against the guy by the Palin family that seemed to point towards the goal of vindictively depriving him of his livelihood.

That's an exceptional conclusion to come out in a judge's opinion and it warrants an investigation.

[karsen]

LOL, the kid asked him to do it, so that makes it ok!

[JoeH]

karsen Wrote:
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> LOL, the kid asked him to do it, so that makes it
> ok!

No, but that is why he was just reprimanded for the bad judgement shown in granting the kid's request. There is another article on the CBS site where it is stated by the police union rep that he had no other official complaints in 8 years on the force besides the ones from the Palin family members. Now I have not followed that story up further, but if true, the finding by the divorce court judge that MacMagus mentioned seems to back that up.

[Black Landlord]

Karsen, Palin's 'people' are claiming the firing of the commissioner was unrelated to the brother-in-law. Your response is completely non-sequitir.

[Filliam H. Muffman]

karsen Wrote:
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> I didn't read the article.
>

Oh great, don't let something like the facts color your opinions. 8-) Have you ever tried to fire someone represented by a union or a strong contract?

[PeterB]

MacMagus Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > Please, someone tell me why tasing a child is
> defensible
>
> Allegedly, the child begged him to do it for fun,
> he did it in low power mode and he clipped the
> lines to the kid instead of shooting him. Also,
> supposedly, the kid was fine afterwards and begged
> him to do it again.
>
> But either way, the scandal is not over the
> dismissal of the trooper.
>
> The scandal is over the dismissal of the police
> commissioner who wanted to follow official
> procedure.
>
> The police review-panel meted out punishment short
> of dismissal. That should have been the end of it,
> but for Palin's intercession.
>
> The judge in the trooper's divorce hearing gave
> special notice to the fact that there was a
> pattern of harassment in the series of complaints
> made against the guy by the Palin family that
> seemed to point towards the goal of vindictively
> depriving him of his livelihood.
>
> That's an exceptional conclusion to come out in a
> judge's opinion and it warrants an investigation.

Yes, that was pretty much my understanding of the situation too. That had they just asked for a suspension (with or without pay), it wouldn't have gone as far as it did, but they wanted the police commissioner to outright fire the trooper; the trooper in question certainly had his share of problems, but nothing to the level to justify an outright firing (by way of union standards). Giving this a thorough read:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Publ..._dismissal

... you definitely get the impression that the whole thing is a huge mess. Also, I'd pointed out before that the role of Palin's husband Todd definitely bears watching: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Palin

[Black Landlord]

I've just got to get a message to Karsen,
All hours,
All hours,
One more moment and my message gets through,
All hours,
All hours

[karsen]

Filliam H. Muffman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> karsen Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I didn't read the article.
> >
>
> Oh great, don't let something like the facts color
> your opinions. 8-) Have you ever tried to fire
> someone represented by a union or a strong
> contract?

I didn't read the article because I don't see a link to the article because I happen to have the original poster blocked. I've read articles about this though and from what you've all posted here the above article is more of the same.

The only opinion I need to have is a State Trooper who tased a child SHOULD BE FIRED! I don't care who the governor was, it's irrelevant. I don't care that the child "asked him to do it" that's a laughable excuse. A taser can EASILY kill a child http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/207...ers10.html. If the child died would you still defend this clown? The other incidents involving the Trooper are icing on the cake.

I think if this was some other Governor, especially a Democratic one and not he Republican VP nominee, I bet most f you would be glad the trooper was fired. To me it's your opinions of Palin that are getting in the way of the facts.

So let's just pretend for a minute you have a child, and your kids sees a cop and asks the cop to tase him. The cop does, because "heck, the kid asked me to do it." Would you want the cop fired, or not?