"WHY IS THIS A BIG DEAL?"
It's an abuse of power, genius.
"If the cop in question were beating up the sister-in-law of a Democratic governor, and tasering his child, I'm somewhat certain the predictable cadre of DR lefties would be easily roused to his defense."
I can tell you without a doubt that I could care less what party she's from. This is an abuse of power. If the stuff you are alleging really happened, they should have called the cops and had it documented. The didn't. Instead, they went the weasely route of going behind the scenes. So tought shit on them when they don't get their way.
Put yourself in the position of the guy being pressured to fire the trooper: Do you fire a man and deny him a living based solely on the word of his ex-sister in law? Does it seem fishy to you at all that this guy could such a maniac and not once did anyone call the cops on him? Do you consider at all that this trooper has a right to due process or do you fire him to score some brownie points?
He did the decent thing and didn't cave into pressure and got fired for it. We don't need more corrupt politicians who think they can just make up the rules as it suits them and I don't give a crap what party they are from...
"Had any other candidate running for POTUS in the last 60 years been caught blatantly lying like Obama, they would have been crucified by the media and forced to step down."
The president we have now lied about our reasons for going into Iraq and pretty much admitted as much by changing his justification after the fact from WMDs to "freedom". He lied when he said he wasn't into nation building because he got us involved in two such projects/disasters. He lied when he said he wanted Bin Laden "dead or alive" then years later said the guy wasn't a priority.
And not only was he not crucified when he ran for re-election, but hardly anyone bothered to mention any of this despite the fact that these are literally life and death issues. He never once had to explain himself to anyone.
So why are you pretending that the media is tough on GOP candidates when it doesn't stand up to the slightest scrutiny?