Sunday, April 22, 2012

An Inconvenient Truth (Sarah Palin vs. Facts)

The only regret I'd have if I were making a documentary about Sarah Palin's attitude toward facts is that the ideal title has already been used by another fairly recent film, An Inconvenient Truth. The latest example is the former governor's comments suggesting that the recent Secret Service scandal can be traced to "poor management skills" on the part of President Obama.

As usual, Palin seems to have missed a few key facts, including one that was right in front of her (or, technically speaking, behind her). One of the agents caught up in the Colombia scandal, David Chaney, was part of her security detail during the 2008 campaign. In short, if Chaney is somehow indicative of a "boys will be boys" culture at work in the Secret Service, it's a culture that predates the current administration.

Even if you want to make the case that the current administration should be trying to change the culture of the Secret Service, the facts are still not on your side. As reported in The Washington Post and other outlets, the decisive action of Paula Reid, head of the Service's Miami office (which oversees its operations in South America), once she first heard the allegations about the agents in Colombia was key to limiting damage and putting the current investigations in motion.

Reid is a 21-year veteran of the Secret Service who's steadily risen up the ranks of a decidedly male-dominated agency. She was promoted to her current position, one with international ramifications, on President Obama's watch. I'll be curious to see if Sarah Palin weighs in on how Reid reflects on the President's management skills or whether she represents another inconvenient truth the former governor would rather avoid.

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