This is one of Saul Alinksy’s tactics that the Democrats have adopted gleefully: take an issue, blow it all out of proportion hoping that the unwashed masses will eventually believe in the opposite of the truth. Meanwhile, try to get your opposition to commit a gaffe, then pounce on it as a further example of guilt. The continue to talk about the gaffe instead of the real issue, and so on, ad nauseum.
The standard way of referring to the trooper is to identify him as a brother-in-law or ex-brother-in-law and omit his offensive actions, so that the people who aren’t aware of the details will think Gov. Palin wanted him fired because her sister was dumping him.