Sarah Palin just announced that she is resigning as Governor of Alaska, effective the end of the month. Twitter is afire with commentary, mostly from folks watching her announcement. Still, it’s a pretty big shock.
I’m not going to speculate about why she’s stepping down. I have no earthly idea. I have to think, though, that being out of the public spotlight will mostly end the incessant, vicious attacks against her family from the verminous left. Andrew Sullivan can now put his Trig-Truther tinfoil hat away, David Letterman can find some other minor child to tell rape jokes about, and the majority of the gay community can sleep easily knowing the bad ol’ bogeyman is not going to eat it all up. The left will no doubt be throwing parties all over this weekend, much like the Munchkins did when they learned Dorothy landed a house on the Wicked Witch of the West.
I also imagine this will end the flood of ethics complaints against her from leftists with nothing better to do. The last I saw, there had been 15 of them in just a few months. I have to think they took appreciable time to fight — time that she could have been spending doing her job as Governor.
It doesn’t look like this is the last we’ll see of Palin in public office. I suspect that we won’t see her in 2012 as a Presidential candidate but you never know. She’s taken an unusual route to where she’s gotten. I won’t rule anything out.
Updates aplenty below the jump.
UPDATE: The Anchoress also has a running thread. Keep your eyes there as well. She’s prone to outbursts of keen insight.
UPDATE 2: NTC News is bloggregating the story as quickly as good sources can be found.
UPDATE 3: Video from Dan Riehl and good analysis from Donald Douglas.
UPDATE 4: Of all the Palin criticisms I’ve read today, this one is the most nonsensical by a country mile. Lumping Palin in with John Ensign and Mark Sanford is nonsense on stilts. There are many ways of quitting something that don’t merit being called a “quitter” and Palin gave one of those reasons. She’s had to defend herself and her family from more than a few scurrilous left-wing attacks from the left. Her state has been hurt by those attacks as well. Getting herself out of the way for a while is not a dishonorable move, even if you think it’s a foolish one. Not only will her state no longer suffer collateral damage from progressive hate, but she’ll be able to fight back against the mainstream left-wing idea that smart, strong conservative women must be hounded out of public life at any cost.
That, I think is the exact opposite of selfish. Holmes need to take a few deep breaths and think a bit before she opines again.
UPDATE 5: Jon Henke thinks that Palin’s done as a leader in the Republican Party. I think that’s incredibly premature. Let’s see what things look like in a year or so before we throw dirt on Palin’s influence in the party.
UPDATE 6: Fausta: Sarah Palin, the next Ross Perot?
Joy McCann at Pajamas Media has a thought worth keeping in your back pocket:
And, to the unending distress of the militant left, she is not the idiot that Katie Couric attempted to make her into, so there likely is some reason Palin wanted to “bury” this news, or at least keep the political paparazzi at bay for a little while.
Andrew Malcom takes a look at the situation in his usual calm-headed and insightful way. I tend to agree with Andrew that Palin has successfully gone against the conventional wisdom often enough that ruling her out of the race in 2012 is very premature. On the other hand, a Presidential run in 2012 is exactly what the CW expect her to do, which means that she’s just as likely to do something else entirely. Wait and watch seems to be the best advice at this point.
Tags: Republicans, Sarah Palin
[...] Leftist Christmas in July: Sarah Palin Resigns : The Sundries Shack [...]
[...] Shack: Christmas in July for the Left and the press! 4:49 [...]
[...] “It hurts to make this choice. But I’m doing what’s best for Alaska” The Sundries Shack: Leftist Christmas in July: Sarah Palin Resigns Conservative Compendium: Palin Resigns As Alaska [...]
The timingand prescience of the move is impeccable and indicative of the “formidable” political instincts Palin possesses.
The biggest story of the year, rivaling even that of President Obama’s election, is clearly the death of Michael Jackson. Counted in the top five would be a korean missile launched in the direction of Hawaii. Sarah Palin’s resignation has even rated the headline on the U.K.’s Financial Times “World” page above these stories.
The left, of course, will have no end of fun with this but as they demonstrated during the early returns on election night 2008, democrats have a penchant for popping corks a little too early.
Today’s stunning 180 has allowed her to do again what she does almost effortlessly: dominate the news like no one, with the exception of the President (and the late Michael Jackson) can.
[...] She’s resigning because of scandal, she is resigning because she can’t take it, etc etc etc [...]
Calling my shot: she noted she’s a half mill in the can. Next up: a fellowship @ AEI, a book, and the speaker circuit. She’ll try to hone policy chops & look toward 2012 or 2016.
(there will be a standard politicians’ bio / policy book, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a mother / daughter book, too)
I don’t think that’s a bad prediction. AEI seems reasonable, since she’s strong on energy policy. It’s possible that she’ll start her own organization like Newt has, though she’ll need some help. It’s not something she’s ever done before.
Jimmie,
Are you taking in a Tea Party in DC tomorrow? I got a cup o’ coffee what says the Palinistas go effing-conservative-ape-s**t tomorrow, and this proves to have been a master-stroke.
Cheers,
Chris
I won’t be at one tomorrow, but I know several folks who will be (and who should be reporting).
I wouldn’t dare take that bet either. The Palinistas (and I admit to being at least an entry-level Palinista) have yet another rallying point and I expect them to be loud and proud.
I’ll roger up for “entry-level”. I’m slightly turned off by personality-over-policy in these discussions. Insofar as her policies are Federalist, she’s got my support.
[...] … Fausta – pulling a Perot? Jimmie – Sully can finally take off his Trig-Truther Tinfoil hat Smitty and more Smitty – sphincter [...]
The sad thing about this is that the lefty trolls will think they all have won.
They’re lefty trolls. They always think they’ve won. Even when they’ve lost so hard they can hardly utter a coherent syllable, they think they’ve won.
She cost McCain the election, her folkyness, accent and winking do not ring true, her intellect is below par (our vivid memory of the last one who delegates and follows because of their lack of intellect), but lets face it with the right type of marketing (vote folky, vote god) it can be sold to US, history tends to repeat itself. God help us!
[...] the full text here. (HT: Hot Air). Sundries Shack believes Governor Palin gave the left “Christmas in July.” Dan Riehl believes that the harkening of her political death is [...]
She cost McCain the election? Please. What poll numbers were you watching? The only time John McCain ran ahead of Barack Obama was right after he chose Palin as his running mate.
Why she’s stepping down. I have no earthly idea.
[...] trashed your family, come on my show! and Media Malpractice: The documentary The Sundries Shack: Leftist Christmas in July: Sarah Palin Resigns 2SecondsFaster.com: Palin Resigns Hot Air: Video: Palin resigns; Video: Andrea Mitchell says [...]
Following the surprise Palin announcement, website supporters are gathering across the nation to support Sarah Palin for President in 2012 can be found online at http://www.palin4pres2012.com
Our the website is in danger of crashing due to the flood of readers and supporters signing up to show their interest in a Palin Candidacy. The GOP establishment had better watch out, Sarah Palin and Ron Paul combined with the power of the internet will remove the stranglehold of GOP special interests and the elites who have brought the party to its knees in defeat in the 2008 elections.
Wow. That’s some spin. But face it, she’s quitting because she’s not competent enough to do the job. The job was easy when oil prices were high and she could send out fat checks. But she can’t do that anymore, and the only way to be popular is to actually govern effectively. But that’s not going to happen, so it’s time to check out. But we haven’t seen the last of her, so comedy shows can breathe a sigh of relief. Her resignation speech ran just as true as Nixon’s “you won’t have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore” speech. She’ll be back and we will kick her around some more. She’s a fraud and deserves the scorn she gets.
And whatever the “Liberal Media” might have done, they didn’t write that speech. Seriously Jimmie, that speech was insane. If you can weave a thought out of that, you are truly a master. I would never have thought that a governor could really be that stupid. And this isn’t some spin, it’s her words. Read them, it’s stunning. Do you really want to defend this person?
[...] Leftist Christmas in July: Sarah Palin Resigns : The Sundries Shack [...]
fostert – Hey, at least she didn’t ramble on for 3000 words about nothing at all in the comment section of someone else’s blog.
Sari is a quitter! I hate quitters! Especially those that want to be President!
Maybe so Jimmie, but I don’t claim to be a governor. Apparently, she doesn’t either.
What happened to Sarah Palin
It was obvious from the start.
Consider, Sarah Palin was a popular Governor of Alaska of whom nobody would know about in the lower 48 states. She was dragged into McCain’s presidential campaign when it was imploding for good reasons. She nearly dragged John McCain to victory. Where the Republican’s justly gained their hard won reputation for being brain dead was not only nominating McCain but not hitting back at the Democratic attacks. From the very start Sarah Palin was under attack by nonsensical criminal and civil lawsuits. Not only did John McCain or the Republican party did not support her, but when Sarah Palin outshined McCain, she was thrown to the media wolves. The McCain staffers even went so far as to sabotage Patin’s part of the campaign through media leaks.
When the campaign season came to a end, the attacks from the left did not stop. Even when all the current lawsuits were proved to be pure bulls—t, more lawsuits were filled. Not one Republican “leader” stood up for her. The Republican party members treated her as a competitor and rival.
The leadership must be brain dead to allow one of its members to be savaged by the political opposition without response. By leaving one of its members deep in debt by political opposition lawsuits, the party elders have proved themselves unworthy. If a party does not support its members, why should the members support the party or its leadership.
What was over the top despicable was no one considered Sarah Palin was telling the truth when she said she was calling it quits. Why should she go on without party support. She did not have the family wealth to absorb the lawsuits. The sad fact was Sarah Palin was too good for Republican party politics.
She was too honest for both the Democratic and Republican party’s politics. Now she is gone, to the Republican party’s loss.
[...] The documentary Why Mommy Is a Republican: Mocking Trig Palin Continues The Sundries Shack: Leftist Christmas in July: Sarah Palin Resigns 2SecondsFaster.com: Palin Resigns Hot Air: Video: Matalin thinks Palin is “brilliant” for [...]
Palin was a subpar vice-presidential candidate who rose to the level of her own incompetence. Seriously folks, where have the real conversatives gone? More importantly, where have the real Republicans gone? Regan sowed the seeds of the party’s demise when he blended the fiscal, social and religious conservatives into a coalition that, by definition, have little in common. Unfortunately, the talk show conservatives are nothing but mouth pieces for the corporatists. I’d take a Truman, an Ike or even a Richard Millhouse Nixon over the consortium of idiots that call themselves Republican these days.
Do you have actual examples of her incompetence? By all reports from Alaska, she’s been quite successful.
The reasons of Palin resignation are controversial. What could be the real cause of her decision? Vote on the most possible one – http://www.votetheday.com/amer.....ation-424/
Actually, the reasons aren’t controversial and she gave the real cause of her decision.
Precisely my point, Jimmie. She may have been, by all accounts, competent as the governor of a sparesly inhabited state but her attempt to play in the big leagues of national politics failed, in part, to her inexperience and lack of intellectual depth.
I think it’s best for the Republicans that she imploded now rather than continuing a delusion that Palin was a legitimate, nationwide candidate for president.
Frankly, the Republicans are running for second in 2012. By 2016 there will have been enough time passed for the masses to have forgotten how truly terrible W was — thereby given Jeb a chance to win in 2016.
That sparsely-inhabited state has some challenges, however, that simply don’t exist in other states. No Governor deals with energy issues more directly than the one in Alaska.
But consider that perhaps the McCain campaign’s incompetency had some part to play (I’d argue from evidence it was a large part) in many of the mistakes you seem to have identified.
In either case, there’s plenty of time for Palin to do what she needs to do to be ready for 2012 if she chooses to go that way. I’ll point out that the last two Democratic Presidents were not exactly long on foreign policy, or even domestic policy experience. Heck, the one we have right now had no executive experience at all, not even running a lemonade stand.
Truth is, Palin hasn’t imploded, not any reasonable stretch of the imagination. I’m not saying she’s the Republican Savior in 2012 but I think anyone who discounts her at this point is being extremely foolish. She has been successful her whole life doing things her way. There’s no good reason she can’t be successful as a national candidate in the same fashion.
When she accepted the VP nomination, she knew she needed to bring her professional game up to another level, she never did. She knew that her family would get attacked as did Hilary and Chelsea before her (by even her twin maverick brother McCain in 1998), let face it she knew her family affairs would come out. But now she plays the victim card again, a card she played after those comical first extended interviews that we all enjoyed and SNL immortalized. But for the icing on the cake, she quits, because she does not want to be a lame duck governor, because the lawsuits keep coming, because it was the media’s fault, because seeing Russia from her house finally got to her, because is was not fair that Alaskan’s paid her salary while she was running for the VP position, take your pick. So what does she tells us? Dear Mr. President, when things get tough, quit. Dear military men and women, if you are not having fun, quit. Dear son or daughter, if things are not going your way, quit. Sure, I agree when she first was introduced and gave a descent speech, sure the polls went up, but after the extended interviews, they went where they ended, down. She showed her true character, I real hope the book deal, Radio/ TV shows and the speech circuits make up for what her party has lost by her actions.
Mrs. Palin will do just fine. She’ll join the lecture circuit. She’ll write a book. She’ll become a Fox News political analyst. She’ll get paid – no worries.