The fact is this, Palin matters because she's not a Democrat. Democrats have Stockholm Syndrome. When a Republican is corrupt, much of the time, they resign. When a Democrat is corrupt, they get reelected. Re: Marion Berry, Maxine Waters, Charlie Rangel, Chris Dodd. Tom Delay was another bad one, however he was actually charged with a crime and he resigned.
Palin is nothing more than a proxy to rationalize bad behavior.
Democrats most definitely don't have a monopoly on corruption; however how Democrat voters deal with the corruption is markedly telling.
And was then vindicated in the courts.
Texas has a weird arrangement where the very Blue Austin area prosecutor has a remit for political corruption in the entire state. The same officer recently indicted (now former) Governor Perry for threatening a veto, a rather unique take on a constitutionally enshrined executive action.