While Sarah Palin was boarding her campaign bus this morning, a reporter seeking comment on the new Troopergate report shouted out to her, “Governor, did you abuse your power?” She responded:
If you read the report, you’ll see that there’s nothing unlawful or unethical about replacing a cabinet member. You’ve got to read the report, sir.
Watch it:
As Jake Tapper notes, Palin is dodging the question and parsing her answer. “It’s true that there’s nothing ‘unlawful or unethical about replacing a cabinet member’ in principle,” he writes, “but the report is not as Gov. Palin is presenting it.” The report explicitly states that she did abuse her power and acted unethically:
For the reasons explained in section IV of this report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 2952.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.
Moreover, the report states that compliance with this Act “is not optional,” and that her conduct violated the Ethics Act.
You’ve got to read the report, Governor Palin.
Update:
Steve Benen comments, “If the first question is ‘Governor, did you abuse your power?’ maybe the second should be, ‘Governor, when do you plan on reading the report about your ethics scandal?’”