Enormous Searchlight Burning That Gigantic "P" Tonight

Well, it won't be lox and bagels, or a nice, leisurely brunch for the Palin Truth Squad tomorrow.

Nosireebob ... Likely, they'll be churning for days after this.

So, oil up your Lie-O-Meters, as the PT Squad will have to come out with gatling guns, just to catch up and attempt to be in the game on this one (and, of course, they'll get to claim their per diems).

The "this" we refer to is an in-depth profile of the person Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain chased to the gates of the Arctic Circle, Mommy Mayor Moose, Sarah "I'm not really a Vice-Presidential candidate, I just play one on the campaign trail" Palin by the New York Times, and it ain't pretty.

Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes

Gov. Sarah Palin lives by the maxim that all politics is local, not to mention personal.

So when there was a vacancy at the top of the State Division of Agriculture, she appointed a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, to the $95,000-a-year directorship. A former real estate agent, Ms. Havemeister cited her childhood love of cows as a qualification for running the roughly $2 million agency.

Ms. Havemeister was one of at least five schoolmates Ms. Palin hired, often at salaries far exceeding their private sector wages.

When Ms. Palin had to cut her first state budget, she avoided the legion of frustrated legislators and mayors. Instead, she huddled with her budget director and her husband, Todd, an oil field worker who is not a state employee, and vetoed millions of dollars of legislative projects.

And four months ago, a Wasilla blogger, Sherry Whitstine, who chronicles the governor’s career with an astringent eye, answered her phone to hear an assistant to the governor on the line, she said.

“You should be ashamed!” Ivy Frye, the assistant, told her. “Stop blogging. Stop blogging right now!”

That's just for openers.

How's this;

In Wasilla, a builder said he complained to Mayor Palin when the city attorney put a stop-work order on his housing project. She responded, he said, by engineering the attorney’s firing.

It's as if the West Wing of the Bush Grindhouse was located up there in Alaska.

Monica Goodling wouldn't last a day in a Palin Administration, she'd be viewed as too soft.

There's more;

But an examination of her swift rise and record as mayor of Wasilla and then governor finds that her visceral style and penchant for attacking critics — she sometimes calls local opponents “haters” — contrasts with her carefully crafted public image.

Throughout her political career, she has pursued vendettas, fired officials who crossed her and sometimes blurred the line between government and personal grievance, according to a review of public records and interviews with 60 Republican and Democratic legislators and local officials.

Interviews show that Ms. Palin runs an administration that puts a premium on loyalty and secrecy. The governor and her top officials sometimes use personal e-mail accounts for state business; dozens of e-mail messages obtained by The New York Times show that her staff members studied whether that could allow them to circumvent subpoenas seeking public records.

Now, I can just imagine the reaction from the Right Wing Freak Show.

It will be along the lines of "Yeah, so ..." ... And, "What's the big deal?"

More level minds see the Second Coming of Junior.

Anonymous Liberal, in his "Bush with Lipstick;

It really is remarkable. In an attempt to distance himself from the Bush Administration, John McCain scoured the country in search of a running mate and eventually chose, from all appearances, the one politician who most closely resembles George W. Bush. God help us if this person ever becomes president.

Andrew Sullivan;

Does that not seem eerily reminiscent of George W. Bush's appointment of Michael Brown to FEMA? Cronyism, debt, lies, religious fanaticism, and utter ignorance about foreign policy. You want another four years of Bush? McCain-Palin is the ticket

Politico offers "To put it more bluntly, the piece portrays Palin as, in the words of a friend, the Rudy Giuliani of the Last Frontier."

Jesse Taylor, from Pandagon;

The entire article’s a must read, but do so replacing “Palin” with “Bush” and see if it strikes you as a redux of the past eight years. Plus, there’s something really disturbing about someone who keeps appointing their high school classmates to things - there’s a level of corruption I think we’ll all agree is indicative of a certain level of competence at the evil thing. Putting Wasilla High’s Class of ‘82 in charge of a state is something out of a shitty dark comedy.

This piece coming, after the two-week-plus "Prevaricationpalooza" from Stumblin' Bumblin' Johnny, and Whiz Kid from Wasilla, makes the McCain-Palin ticket play like the last few minutes of 'The Invasion of the Body Snatchers', with Kevin McCarthy hysterically screaming, as he runs along the highway "They're here already! You're next! You're next, You're next...!"

Go out and read Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes

And be afraid ... Very afraid ...