Clocking Troopergate, and The Lady V.

The switch of Alaska State Government officials to an uncooperative posture toward the legislative investigation of possible improper influence by Gov. Palin in the Troopergate case makes it plain that McPalin & McCampaign will play to run out the clock on this one: rather than seeking Palin's exoneration, they will seek to make sure nothing comes out of the investigation until after Election Day.

I am not particularly interested in this petty provincial squabble, particularly since it doesn't appear it's going to deliver us from having Mooseburgers around, at least, not anytime soon. I was struck, though, with a feeling of deja vu. This time of year in 2004, the Bush-Cheney ticket was successfully sitting on the investigation of who had outed our favorite ex-covert agent, Valerie Plame Wilson (or as I call her, after Pynchon, "The Lady V.")

That was a much more important clocking exercise conducted by the Bushites, but there a couple of common threads. Contempt of authorized investigatory processes, executive authority trumping other branches, abuse of power, and the position of the Vice President of the United States (in Palin's case, aspiring towards it). The main common thread is fear that cooperating with a politically-embarrassing investigation could harm the Republicans' national political chances.