In a recent post, I discussed Sarah Palin’s endorsement of Vaughn Ward and the unethical history of each. Additional facts have come to light that give new meaning to Ward’s unethical behavior. In the previous post I documented the web site Ward used for his campaign, and the allegation that he plagiarized that site from another politician. Ward’s response to the allegations was to fire his campaign manager, suggesting that the plagiarism was not something Ward condoned or about which he knew. Now it is clear that Ward, himself, is comfortable with the concept of plagiarism. It doesn’t seem to matter to Ward if the author is a well-known Democrat. Even if Ward wasn’t smart enough to write his own speeches, we would expect that he would be smart enough not to plagiarize a speech by a famous Democrat.

In spite of the plagiarism of the very person Palin repeatedly criticizes and mocks, Sarah Palin endorsed Ward with the following words, quoted by Ward on his web site:

“I’m happy to support Vaughn Ward because I know that he believes in the same common sense conservative ideals that we cherish…”

Funny that Ward’s idea of “common sense conservative ideals” sounds so much like Obama’s.

Palin was also quoted as saying:

“The left and some of the lamestream media, they can really play dirty sometimes, trust me on this one, I know this one…The things that they can do could be quite hurtful, so now more than ever Vaughn’s going to need your support. They see Vaughn as a threat. … They’re afraid of him because a vote for Vaughn is that vote to take the gavel away from the Obama-Pelosi-Reid agenda.”

Isn’t it interesting that (1) most people would consider plagiarism to be “dirty”, (2) the hurtful things done by the media would include pointing out that Ward violated military regulations with one of his campaign ads, he was late paying some taxes, he plagiarized statements from other candidates on his web site, and he failed to vote in the 2008 election even though he was on staff with McCain/Palin. (3) Palin has suggested a vote for Ward would be a vote against Obama-Pelosi-Reid, but obviously Ward sounds a lot like Obama.

Finally Palin said that Vaughn Ward stands for:

“… common-sense conservatives, who understand the Constitution, and they understand that freedom isn’t free, freedom is a God-given right and is worth fighting for.”

Palin’s comments are often nonsensical, and these comments about Ward are no exception. Consider:

Why doesn’t Ward have the “common sense” not to plagiarize the President, who is a Democrat, and who is not considered to be a “conservative”? If Freedom is “God-given”, why did the founding fathers have to write it down? If freedom is “God-given” why would anyone ever have to fight for it? How would Palin know if Ward understood the Constitution if she doesn’t have any understanding of it, and neither Palin nor Ward has ever been to law school?

Palin has repeatedly proved that she doesn’t hold any politician to a higher standard than that to which she holds herself. If Palin behaves unethically, why would we expect any candidate she endorses to behave any differently? Palin lied about the very findings of a board commissioned to investigate her unethical behavior. Sarah Palin gives new meaning to the term “unethical behavior”.

It seems that the only thing that predictably provokes criticism by Palin is if a politician is (1) a Democrat, (2) a Constitutional Law Scholar, or (3) he believes that we should respect the rule of law in Roe v. Wade, mandated by the United States Supreme Court, over 30 years ago. Palin’s remarks about Ward remind us of the lesson that one GOP strategist articulated. Matt Rexroad explained that, “if Sarah Palin endorsed me I would be too embarrassed to tell anyone.”