The Sarah Palin perpetual denial machine

Sarah Palin held court for five minutes yesterday with a handful of representatives from the Alaskan media. The topic of the conversation was the Branchflower report, which held that Palin violated the Executive Branch Ethics Act by permitting — or at least not restraining — her husband and various staffers as they pestered officials in the Public Safety Commission and the Alaska State Troopers to fire Mike Wooten. The five reporters were permitted one query each, and their individual phone lines were apparently switched off after their questions had been asked — presumably to avoid the self-inflicted damage Palin usually suffers during follow-up questions.

To cover all potential bases, Palin provided two completely incongruous reactions to the report — proving to all doubters that, at least when it comes to spinning bad news, she isn’t quite the slow learner she’s been made out to be. Palin bitter-enders should feel free to select from the following two alternatives:

Option A: It’s total vindication!

Well, I’m very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing … any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that.

Option B: It’s a partisan smear job!

Yeah, I did think [the report] did turn into a partisan circus to tell you the truth. Yes I did.

Palin also advises that the word “rogue” — invoked recently by her lawyer to characterize Walt Monegan’s performance in office — “isn’t a negative term.” She must have meant it in the sense of being “a playfully mischievous person.”

Assuming the polls hold up from her through the first week of November, it will be interesting to see how Palin interprets the results of the election. Could be awkward.