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Palin Emails: A Disappointment To Her Detractors

Reut Cohen |
June 14, 2011 | 2:43 p.m. PDT

Opinion Editor

(Photo by David Shankbone, Creative Commons)
(Photo by David Shankbone, Creative Commons)
On Friday, following a two-year-old request, the state of Alaska released more than 24,000 pages of Sarah Palin's emails.

The messages, from both a state and private Yahoo account, were sent during the former Alaska governor’s term from 2006 to 2008.

So what do the emails show? Nothing, really. At least not yet.

The Anchorage Daily News reported that there are very few emails from Palin’s first month in office, which has led officials to investigate the alleged gap.

Palin isn’t worried about the emails.

“I think every rock in the Palin household that could ever be kicked over and uncovered anything, it's already been kicked over,” Palin said on "Fox News Sunday" earlier this month. “I don't think there's anything private in our family now. A lot of those emails obviously weren't meant for public consumption. They are between staff members. They're probably between family members.”

On a personal level, the messages show the former vice presidential hopeful is a likable person who cares about her family. She was the recipient of nasty messages and death threats in the run up to the 2008 presidential race and worried about the media’s treatment of her family. Nothing in the slew of messages is shocking or new.

So what’s the point of the irrational witch-hunt against Palin?

Chances are she won’t run for president. If she did, she is unlikely to win the GOP nomination.

As the Daily Telegraph’s Toby Harnden notes, the emails paint her as an “idealistic” woman who is “slightly bemused by the world of politics.” Hardly a nefarious individual worthy of such negative scrutiny.

 

Reach Reut Cohen here or follow her on Twitter.



 

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