Mayberry was never like this

The common wisdom is that the Obama campaign should be focusing on issues and not letting the McPalin campaign distract them with sideshows like the great porcine lipstick controversy.

I agree.

However since your humble blogger doesn't work for Campaign Obama I feel free to reveal the latest bit of nastiness from the GOP's goddess.

The USA Today headline says it all:

"Palin's town used to bill victims for rape kits"

But the Anchorage Daily News (which I highly recommend for all things Palinesque) has the more complete story:

Eight years ago, complaints about charging rape victims for medical exams in Wasilla prompted the Alaska Legislature to pass a bill -- signed into law by Knowles -- that banned the practice statewide.

"There was one town in Alaska that was charging victims for this, and that was Wasilla," Knowles said

A May 23, 2000, article in Wasilla's newspaper, The Frontiersman, noted that Alaska State Troopers and most municipal police agencies regularly pay for such exams, which cost between $300 and $1,200 apiece.

"(But) the Wasilla police department does charge the victims of sexual assault for the tests," the newspaper reported.

Presumably they were trying to encourage competition between rape kit companies by encouraging rape victims to shop around.

As the O-man said, with Republicans, you're on your own.

And one rape, apparently, deserves another.