Politics / Sarah Palin Ethics Scandal Is No Waterloo for Palin Gov will skate past latest allegations unscathed: Nate Silver By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff Posted Jul 22, 2009 10:50 AM CDT Copied This Feb. 8, 2009 file photo shows Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin at the start of the 2009 Iron Dog snow machine race in Big Lake, Alaska. (AP Photo/Al Grillo, FILE) The latest ethics complaint against Sarah Palin—investigators believe she misused her position to solicit personal legal donations—won’t leave a scratch, writes Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com. Here’s how to predict which scandals will make it big: Can it be reduced to a sound bite? Nope. Heck, the AP struggled to summarize it at all. Does it cut against a core element of her brand? Nope. McCain’s attempts to paint Palin as an ethics crusader never stuck. Does it reinforce a core negative? Yes, because it dusts off doubts about her resignation. Can the opposition use it? Probably not. The public dislikes Palin, but doesn’t like it much better when Democrats pick on her. Does it have enough tabloid oomph? Not normally… but “a meteor would pretty much have to hit the earth for the media not to amplify a piece of Palin gossip.” (More Sarah Palin stories.) Report an error