Palin Makes Troopergate Assertions That Are Flatly False

That's the headline from Jake Tapper, senior national correspondent for ABC News.

One can make the argument, as Palin and her allies have tried to do, that this investigation -- launched by a bipartisan Republican-controlled legislative body -- was somehow a partisan Democratic witch hunt, but one cannot honestly make the argument that the report concluded that Palin was "cleared of any legal wrongdoing" or "any hint of unethical activity."

Asked "Governor, did you abuse your power?" she said, "No, and if you read the report you'll see that there was nothing unlawful or unethical about replacing a cabinet member. You gotta read the report, sir."

It's true that there's nothing "unlawful or unethical about replacing a cabinet member" in principle. And the report concluded that she had the power to fire Monegan.

But the report concluded that she had abused her power, and there was indeed something "unethical" about her behavior, insofar as it violated the state Ethics Act.

But now Palin has moved on from parsing to assertions that are not true.

I'm not sure which is more frightening - the thought that she knows that she's lying and doesn't care, or the chance that she's incapable of distinguishing truth because her mind won't allow it if it stands in the way of her advancing her agenda.