Spin Cycle

Gov. Palin and the McCain campaign have apparently settled on a response to the finding of a Legislative Council investigation that she violated Alaska's Executive Branch Ethics Act and abused her power: Deny that it happened.

The investigative report, released Friday night, found that Palin violated the act by pursuing and allowing her husband and aides to pursue a family grudge -- getting her ex-brother-in-law, Michael Wooten, fired from his state trooper job -- but that she was within her power in firing the state's public safety director, even though the firing was partly motivated by his refusal to ax Wooten.

According to a transcript of a conference call with Alaska reporters -- in which follow up questions were banned -- Palin seemed simply refused to acknowledge the first finding, as if only facts that are good for her count.

"I’m very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing … any hint of any kind of unethical activity there," she said in an opening statement. "Very pleased to be cleared of any of that."

The first question, from the Anchorage Daily News: "Governor, finding No.1 on the report was that you abused your power by violating state law. Do you think you did anything wrong at all in this Troopergate case?"

Palin: "Not at all and I’ll tell you, it, I think that you’re always going to ruffle feathers as you do what you believe is in the best interest of the people whom you are serving..... So no, not having done anything wrong, and again very much appreciating being cleared of any legal wrongdoing or unethical activity at all."

The News reporter, before questioning turned to other reporters: "Have you read the whole report?"

Of course she has. But, as she noted during the 1984 Miss Alaska pageant caught on tape, she's a gal who focuses on the mountains, not the mosquitoes. Why tell the truth, when it's annoying?