What most Americans in general and even many conservatives in particular do not realize or understand is that the Moonbat Left’s obsession with Sarah Palin did not abate in the wake of the 2008 election. If anything, it intensified. I understand the reasons for this and outlined them often on this site, particularly here, here and here.

These people understand she is the perfect embodiment of the Reagan conservatism which prevailed two decades ago, except that she’s young, attractive and a woman of strong convictions and principles. They saw the throngs of Americans who flocked to see her when she campaigned with that old guy and realized she connects on a visceral level with average Americans - not a good sign for elitists determined to keep the common folk in their place. Sarah Palin is the Real Deal. She knows it, we know it and, most importantly, THEY know it - which is why they are determined to completely destroy her.

In addition to the usual written and verbal attacks that continue to ooze from the Drive-By media, the cesspool of Hollywood and the snake pit of the liberal blogosphere, the enemies of Sarah Palin have adopted a “death by a thousand cuts” strategy of assailing her at every opportunity with frivolous “ethics complaints” that are actually lawsuits in which she is compelled to expend ever increasing amounts of money and time defending herself. The goal, of course, is to bankrupt her and drive her out of politics altogether.

The trend was established with Troopergate - an investigation in which she was exonerated. Since then, the bar for the seriousness of the allegations has been lowered continually until it practically touches the ground. The floodgates have been opened and she is routinely assailed from all sides. Although I have never seen anything like this before, I’m not surprised and it serves to assure me her conservatism is of 24-caret purity, unalloyed with any baser ideology.

Were the deadly seriousness of her enemies not of grave and immediate concern, the complaints themselves would be excellent fodder for a snarkfest and I’m surprised only half of them have been thrown out of court as frivolous.

In all, Palin said, there have been 10 ethics complaints, counting Troopergate, though she did not provide a list. State ethics complaints are confidential unless a public accusation is filed or the accused person agrees in writing to make to make it public. State officials said they could not discuss any pending ethics cases.

Out of the 10 complaints, Palin said six have been dismissed, one had “concluded,” and three are pending.

The onslaught of complaints necessitates mounting a legal defense and that kind of firepower does not come cheap.

Palin made $131,891 last year, counting her $125,000 salary and expense payments she collects when she’s away from Juneau, according to the disclosure. Todd Palin made $86,150 from his two jobs, as a commercial fisherman and a BP production operator.

“Obviously we cannot afford to personally pay these bills — and really no future governor should feel the sense of financial vulnerability at the hands of those with a political vendetta bent on personal destruction,” Palin wrote. “Some have suggested a legal fund to pay these bills. We’ll have to pursue that.”

No sooner had a legal fund been established to defend Sarah Palin against frivolous lawsuits then, well, a frivolous lawsuit was filed arguing it is unethical for the Governor to defend herself against frivolous lawsuits. I swear I’m not making this up.

The complainant, Kim Chatman of Eagle River, claims that she voted for Palin in the 2006 gubernatorial election and further claims she was never politically active until she started watching Palin more closely.

Ms. Chatman is no ordinary citizen and this isn’t the first time she’s been involved in a complaint against the Governor.

In the latest development in the brewing federal lawsuit against Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for her snubbing of Alaska’s 2007 Juneteenth holiday observance, a former supporter has joined the suit as a co-plaintiff, announces lead plaintiff Gregory Charles Royal.

Kim Chatman, an Alaskan resident, Air Force veteran and mother of six, might seem an unlikely litigant in the suit which claims that Governor Palin violated Alaska law by failing to issue the 2007 Juneteenth Proclamation, because she voted for Palin for governor in 2006 and she is white.

Chatman, seen in this AP file photo, released in a statement that she “has been very active when it comes to history and celebrations regarding African Americans” as well as European and Asian Pacific cultures. Chatman’s children, who range in age from 28-11, are bi-racial and her husband is African American.

I seriously doubt Chatman voted for Palin in 2006. I’m willing to wager she’s a registered Democrat with an agenda who was approached to file this suit.

The new complaint targets the Alaska Fund Trust, which Palin supporter and friend Kristan Cole established last week. Palin has said has said she’s accumulated more than $500,000 in legal fees from defending herself against ethics complaints and in Troopergate, the Legislature’s probe into the firing of Palin’s former public safety commissioner.

Chatman’s complaint cites as potential donors the 500,000 supporters signed up for Palin’s Facebook account and various political organizations.

“Gov. Palin is perched to improperly receive an enormous amount of money for herself and her family and position a pool of pre-paid defense lawyers organized to deflect consequences of wrongdoings,” the complaint says.

The irony of this ethics complaint is the fact that Ms. Chatman has made it public in an unethical and possibly illegal fashion. According to the laws of Alaska, complaints of this nature must be kept confidential and only the subject of the complaint is permitted to waive that requirement. Chatman went public with it right out of the gate.

The fund wasn’t organized by Governor Palin but by Kristan Cole and it was not organized for the purpose of enriching Mrs. Palin but covering the expenses she is incurring from frivolous lawsuits.

The latest complaint beggars belief.

Anchorage resident Sondra Tompkins, child disability advocate and mother of a special needs child, is filing the complaint after observing Governor Palin repeatedly display “a pattern of unethical behavior.” Sondra believes that the tipping point for her was Sarah Palin’s most recent abdication of her role as Governor and apparent conflict-of-interest when she spoke at two outside events in Indiana rather than work with the Alaska Legislature during the most critical time, the end of the session. The complaint alleges:

a) Governor Palin has entered into a contract outside of her official duties with the donors, employees, partners and any or all other participants involved in Sarah PAC.

b) The recent partisan trip to Indiana by the Governor was purely to benefit personal interests, had no benefit for the State of Alaska and was in direct conflict with her official duties.

c) The Governor left the State to participate in these events during the most critical end-of-session Legislative activities, at a time where the legislators themselves are not permitted to leave.

For how long was she absent from Alaska and what was she doing?

She traveled from Alaska to Indiana and then back to Alaska over a period of 36 hours - approximately 16 of which were spent in an airliner. The purpose of her trip was to give a 40-minute speech to the Vanderburgh County Right to Life Spring Banquet on Thursday, April 16 followed by an appearance on Friday morning at a breakfast for a nonprofit organization supporting families with members with Down syndrome.

Much of her speech in Evansville was devoted to talking about Alaska and the rest about abortion and her decision not to abort her son Trig, who has Down Syndrome. The appearance was arranged by the Right-to-Life organization and she was not compensated for the speech although SarahPAC did pick up the travel and accommodation expenses. There was nothing about her trip that conflicted in any way with her duties as Governor of Alaska.

The event was not a partisan one in that it had no express connection to the Republican Party. In fact, while there she was approached by the Vanderburgh County Republican Party to appear at a fundraiser for her political action committee. She declined. The only tangible benefit she received from the event was the gift of a hockey stick.

And the legislature? By law they are not allowed to leave the state at the end of the legislative session. It must have been frantic, with all sorts of rushed and anxious legislating.

To be sure, the was considerable caterwauling on the part of Rep. Jay Ramras, who whined “I would challenge anyone to question my work ethic. I’m here for the final two weeks, which is when all the decision-making happens. The Legislature functions like an NBA basketball game. It’s much more important in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter. Everyone should be on the floor.”

It should be noted that Ramras was absent from two Saturday meetings of the  Energy Committee and participated via teleconferencing. He traveled with the committee to three days’ worth of meetings in rural Alaska, and has flown home most weekends, as do a number of legislators.

So what, precisely, was the legislature doing while Governor Palin was absent? According to the legislative agenda posted on the House Majority web page, they were doing…nothing.

And who is Sondra Tompkins? She’s the special needs mother who is standing up to a Governor who is also a special needs mother - sort of like the way the “Jersey Girls” (widows of 911 victims who became very weathly afterward) played the victim card to deflect criticism of their pro-Democrat, pro-Kerry campaigning.

We first heard from her after Sarah Palin announced she was seven months along with Trig:

Sondra Tompkins is staying at home with two little boys, one of whom has special needs. She doesn’t like what she sees as a subtext in all the Palin talk this week — that somehow a woman with a job works harder.

“I think there needs to be some way to quantify what is hard,” she said.

Tompkins has been a nurse, a soldier, and a pharmaceutical sales representative. She’d love to go back to work, but there’d be a heavy cost. Her husband is a physician, and her children would never see a parent, she said.

“Sometimes the choices aren’t really yours.”

Often, it’s a matter of support, she said.

“Sarah Palin snaps her fingers and she’ll get what she wants,” she said. “You go to Elmendorf, and you see a woman with children that’s about to deploy, she doesn’t get to do that.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m picking up a green-eyed vibe from Ms. Tompkins, who went public again during the Troopergate Scandal.

Sondra Tompkins, a reliably Republican voter, found herself speaking out at the rally — upset, she said, because of Palin’s handling of the trooper issue and the example it sets for children in the state.

“They’re listening, they’re watching, and they’re asking questions,” Tompkins called out to the crowd. “Do we tell them it’s OK not to tell the truth? Do we tell them it’s OK to bend the truth? Do we tell them it’s OK to distort the truth if you have a gaggle of lawyers to defend you?

“It’s not OK, and I think Alaskans have had enough.”

As we all know by now, Gov. Palin was cleared of any wrongdoing in the so-called Troopergate affair. At a September 2008 rally against Sarah Palin, Ms. Tomkins said “We feel very strongly that Sarah Palin is not the right choice.”

She’s a reliably Republican voter, alright…an Arlen Specter Republican. And, like Ms Chatman, she rushed to publicize her complaint right out the starting gate - in violation of Alaskan law.

This is getting out of hand and the time has come to stand up to it. I urge those of you who live in Alaska as well as the lower 49 to make your presence known and voice your opinions on the blog sites that support Sarah Palin. Contact the Governor’s office at 907-465-3500 or e-mail her at www.gov.state.ak.us and show your support.

You and I know these frivolous lawsuits are not going away and, if anything, will only intensify. As a result, Sarah’s legal bills will continue to mount.

Please visit the official site for Sarah Palin’s legal defense and donate what you can.

It’s time that we conservatives came to the defense of the Arctic Fox and engage in some liberal jackal hunting.