Sarah Palin To Quit As Alaska Governor
Late last year, I spoke with a number of Republican Party activists about Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. What would she need to do to have a chance in 2012? Could she be the conservative star that the media seemed to think?
The answers were more or less the same. She was a clear talent, they said, with a lot of drawing power. There was a lot of potential there. But she still had to prove herself as a candidate. In practice, that meant doing the hard work that she had never done before John McCain picked her as a running mate--what conservative activist Richard Viguerie called the "rubber-chicken circuit" of bad Lincoln Day GOP dinners in the primary states of Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire.
Eight months later, Sarah Palin may be taking their advice, or choosing to bow out of elected politics for good. In a hastily called news conference at her house in Wasilla Friday, Palin announced that she would resign the governorship in a few weeks to "take a stand and effect change." Just what that will mean she left unclear, though she left little doubt that she would try to continue in public service. "We know we can effect positive change outside of government at this point in time," she said, in a rambling, rapid-fire address, that included references to wounded soldiers, "political bloodsport," and her background as a high school basketball player.
She compared herself to a point guard who being picked away at by a "full court press" from "the national level." Palin explained how that metaphorical point guard should respond. "She drives through a full court press, protecting the ball, keeping her head up because she needs to keep her eye on the basket, and she knows exactly when to pass the ball so that the team can win," Palin said. "And that is what I am doing, keeping her eye on the ball that represents sound priorities. Remember they include energy independence, and smaller government, and national security and freedom. And I know when it's time to pass the ball for victory."
Palin's description of a full court press from the national media and political establishment is hardly an exaggeration. Within the last week, she has withstood a withering Vanity Fair profile, the leaks of once-private, unflattering emails she sent to McCain campaign staff, and a public cat fight between former McCain advisers that dealt with her role in the campaign. Meanwhile, in Alaska, she has been beset by continuing state sniping from both political parties, ongoing ethics complaints and the recent controversy over the the state's public health director, who said she was forced out because she did not agree with Palin's stand on social issues.
At the same time, Palin has struggled with the logistical challenge of trying to commute to the lower 48 states from Alaska for public events. In her comments Friday, Palin said she did not want to waste "public dollars and state time" in the second half of her first term or "accept that lame duck status" that politicians sometimes face. "I polled the most important people in my life, my kids, where the count was unanimous," she continued. "In response to asking, 'Hey, do you want me to make a positive difference and fight for all of our children's future from outside the governor's office?,' it was four yes's and one 'hell yeah,' and the hell yeah sealed it." Palin has five children; the youngest, Trig, was born in 2008.
Palin gave no hints as to whether her future of public service would involve a campaign for the presidency in 2012. In recent weeks, the potential field of Republican candidates, has narrowed, with the admission by two potentials, Nevada Senator John Ensign and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, of extramarital affairs. If she does decide to run for future office, Palin will now face the challenge of explaining to voters why she should be president of the United States despite serving less than three of the four years of her elected term as Alaska's governor, and spending months of her second year as governor campaigning for the vice presidency.
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1
I hope she's quitting to devote herself full time to making an ass of herself.
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2
Thanks Mike. Did you watch that press conference? And she wonders why John wouldn't let her make a concession speech. That was a complete train wreck she hasn't learn a thing and is completely sounding bitter to me. Some thing else is going on here.
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3
"I hope she's quitting to devote herself full time to making an ass of herself."
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Please don't say that when I have mouth full of beer. -
4
The animals sounds during her speech. Good effect.
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5
Are all her high school buddies that she hired for positions they weren't qualified for going to follow her?
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6
In practice, that meant doing the hard work that she had never done before John McCain picked her as a running mate
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So hard work is talking to fat white men at golf clubs, as opposed to knowing a f--king thing she's talking about? -
7
If this is a prelude to a presidential bid, her rambling and incoherent off the cuff remarks on why she's quitting as Governor of Alaska will not only NOT HELP HER, but is already being widely mocked, even on cable news.
If she had the sense God made her with, she would have had a real speechwriter write her a solid, short and to-the-point address, and then just stop and STFU...but Sarah seems incapable of something so intelligent!
Another Republican candidate for president down, even if the wingnut base still loves her!
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8
I think it's drugs.
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9
She's going to move to SC and run there instead.
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10
Well...she lost my vote for the party last fall. I wonder how many more she can lose just on her own?!
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11
I got satellite TV the other day, and promised myself I wouldn't watch any of the cable news shows, but I had to break it to watch the speech. Is she saying that she's already done 4 years worth of work in 2 and a half?
What an utter turd of a human being. -
12
And by "affect change," does she mean she's going to go form a superhero team with Joe Wurzelbacher?
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"Wonder twin powers activate! Form of...gap-toothed hillbilly!"
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"Form of...illiterate cretin!" -
13
I'm trying to understand how running around on the rubber-chicken circuit would give her more seasoning that being a sitting Governor?
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Oh, that's right, when you are a Republican it doesn't matter what you do. What matters is getting on television. IOKIYAR.
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Odds that someone has the goods on her: 5%
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Odds that she is doing this to spend more time with her kids: 0%
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Odds that she is running for President: 99%
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Odds that she has a new show on Fox: 99% -
14
There were like 10 people at her presser and it look like half of those were kids and the rest the LtGov's family.
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His entire family seemed to be looking on in horror as she rambled all over the place talking about basketball and slings and arrows and turning down all sorts of govment dallers. She retold the same lies in the same old manner. That's our Sarah. Well Alaska's Sarah anyway. -
15
From TPM:
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So what happened exactly? As I just mentioned in our editorial chat, this clearly happened so quickly that Palin hasn't even had a chance to come up with a coherent cover story for her resignation. Some context is probably helpful here, however. Remember that based on the public record, Palin is a wildly unethical public official, guilty at a minimum of numerous instances of abusing her authority as governor. And a lot of very damaging information has come out about her in the last few days -- though mainly embarrassing information about her character rather than new evidence of bad acts. I would not be surprised if this latest round of revelations shook something else loose that we haven't heard about yet. -
16
I think that it's a tossup between drugs and a soon-to-be revealed skeleton in her closet.
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We will see.
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My $5 is on drugs. -
17
I appreciate that you call a spade a spade on rambling, Michael, but where do you get the characterization that the rubber chicken circuit represents harder work than actually governing a state? Are you saying that being the governor of Alaska is a cake walk, or is there something about laying out the groundwork for a national campaign that is fundamentally more difficult than trying to work while in office?
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18
X-Mas has come early this year. Sarah Palin is simply the gift that keeps on giving. I didn't watch the press conference, but does she or anyone else seriously think that stepping down in the middle of her first term as governor of will somehow HELP her politically? Its hard to believe even she could be that stupid.
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19
One thing for sure, it is very hard to do something stupid while governor for people to latch on to when you're not governor anymore.
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20
Mmm, well, drug abuse would explain just about every weird and obnoxious aspect of her character. Anybody seen her in short sleeves?
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21
That does fit with her "point guard" analogy...
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22
"Anybody seen her in short sleeves?"
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Hells, you may be onto something... -
23
Wingnuts are building a narrative. And it's incoherent tooo!!
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.[Kathryn Jean Lopez]
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If she is stepping down because of what politics has done to her family, because of something in her family life she doesn't want to see as David Letterman fodder, because it's impossible to be governor, a star, and a mom to an infant … this is good. It demonstrates good judgment and priorities.
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http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NGZlMWI5YmQxODVmODZhYTU1MzQxNWFiNzVlZmMyNTQ= -
24
Check out her Twitter feed:
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We'll soon attach info on decision to not seek re-election... this is in Alaska's best interest, my family's happy... it is good, stay tuned
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Prior to that she had a constant stream of politico chatter then, boom!, she quits. Somebody must have dropped a dime on her. A very large dime. -
25
My best guess is that she's going to try to steal Glenn Beck's gig as Top Wingnut on Fox "News."
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