An Open Letter to Dale Dudley

Dear Dale Dudley:

During one of my rare forays across the radio dial to your morning show (to which I'm not giving a link), I, yet again, heard you slamming Alaska's soon-to-be-ex-Governor Sarah Palin. That, I'm used to hearing from you, just as I expect certain CBS late-night hosts to be one-sided and bitter. (Actually, you seem to be on a similar track, but I digress.) You, of course, are entitled to dislike Governor Palin, just as I am entitled to dislike your show.

Your entitlement, however, does not give you carte blanche to make totally unfounded comments about Governor Palin, as you blatantly did during your show of Friday morning, July 10. If I remember correctly (as you might expect, I was not recording the show), and I believe I do, you called Sarah Palin a liar for stating that her family had amassed personal debt related to the filing of, to date, 19 ethics violations, most of which have already been dismissed as frivolous (and I have no doubt that the remaining ones will be dismissed as well).

While I am sure that some of your listeners will be quick to believe that an Austin radio personality knows more about Alaska state law than the governor of said state (who happens to be on the other side of the political spectrum from said radio personality), I can show that you are factually incorrect about the situation. The answer to your assertion may be found in this Weekly Standard article by Matthew Continetti. While the whole article is very informative, the specific phrase that refutes your assertion is the following:

Furthermore, because state ethics law requires the accused to pay for her own defense, the Palins' personal legal bills add up to around $500,000.

That's right, she does, in fact, have to pay her own legal bills for her defense. She wasn't lying when she said that. And you, Mr. Dudley, in your ongoing quest to crucify the woman, slandered her on air.

Who's the liar now?

p.s. I regret that I will not be listening to your show to hear the apology you ought to be delivering to Governor Palin, as I can only take a little bit of your show every couple of weeks, and only when every other station is at a commercial. (Yes, that happens in Austin radio...they all seem to break right around :45 after, except for your station.) But I don't expect you to apologize anyway; I expect you to continue to be your charming self. Stay classy.