"Troopergate" just got a whole lot grimier.

Earlier this week, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told the press she would refuse to speak with an independent counsel about the abrupt firing of her public safety commissioner because the inquiry is "tainted" by Democrats. Let's bypass the obvious rebuttal -- that a majority of the panel are Republicans -- and get to the good stuff. Initially, it was believed Palin fired Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan because he refused to dismiss a state trooper who went through a nasty divorce with her sister. The McCain campaign and Palin responded that her efforts were not the result of any personal vendetta surrounding the trooper. Instead, they are now claiming Monegan was relieved of his duties because of insubordination on budget issues.

For what program was Monegan so interested in securing funding? Talking Points Memo's Zachary Roth has the details:

[I]t now appears that the program in question is one that most elected officials would be wary of admitting they hadn't strongly backed. According to Peggy Brown, who heads the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Monegan wanted to use the federal money to hire retired troopers and law enforcement officials, and assign them to investigate the most egregious cases of sexual assault -- including those against children.

In other words, if Palin's new story is true, she fired Monegan for being too aggressive in going after child molesters.

So let's get this straight ...

On the one hand, we have Barack Obama, who supported the protection of children against sexual predators in the Illinois State Senate. John McCain distorted this position in an ad that CBS2's Mike Flannery described as "disgraceful" and said "made Obama look like a pedophile."

On the other hand, McCain chose as his running mate a governor who fired her public safety commissioner for pursuing a policy aimed at reducing rape and sexual assault in her state (which happens to boast the nation's highest reported rapes per capita).

Enough said.