Sources on my teevee inform me that Sarah Palin will announce shortly that she is resigning as governor of Alaska. Obviously, she will not seek reelection. And, I’m just guessing here, I believe this means there is no chance that she will compete for Lisa Murkowski’s senate seat in 2010. It is not clear yet what her reasons are for stepping down. It could be that Todd Purdum’s Vanity Fair hit piece just left too much of a mark. Or, it could be internal Alaskan politics, including perhaps ethical lapses reaching critical mass. I can’t say for sure, but I’m guessing she’s emotionally spent and needs some time out of the limelight to decompress and focus on her family and marriage.
In any case, I think her national ambitions are shot. It would be one thing to not seek reelection in order to focus on building a 2012 presidential campaign. Resigning, however, leaves a fatal taint.
Update [2009-7-3 16:1:13 by BooMan]: She’s resigning on July 25th. It sounded almost as if she might still be harboring national ambitions. Her speech was totally incoherent and made more odd by the loud ducks in the background.
As much as I wallow in the shallow end of the pool when it comes to Governor Palin, I am strangely unmoved by today’s developments. Barring more bombshells in coming weeks, I think she’s going to be back for 2012, for good or I’ll.
On a lighter note, she has more class than Mark Sanford, that’s for sure. [/quiet chuckle]
She does have a habit of being upstaged by the fowl in the background. Remember her presser as Turkeys were being methodically decapitated?
That’s all you need to know. Sort of like Mark Sanford and Sam Wurzelbacher before her.
John Ensign loves this because no one is talking about him at all anymore.
I smell a meteoric disaster on the way.
Either that or she’s so convinced that the “Liberal Media is picking on me, I’m the victim here!” card that failed miserably for her last year is somehow going to sustain her political career for forty months.
She’s either insane, or somebody’s about to drop the hammer on her.
I vote for the hammer already having been dropped. I’m imagining a delegation from Alaska’s legislature came to visit and said, either you resign or we impeach you for this, this and this.
So she didn’t give any alleged reasons?
You mean,”You won’t have Sarah Palin to pick on anymore.”?
Complete Video- Palin Resignation Press Conferance
Andrea Mitchell reports she is done with politics…period.
Intriguing. Wonder what is about to be revealed.
I wonder if it’s personal or ethical? Clearly, there’s got to be something, judging by that speech.
The ducks (geese?) spoke up at appropriate moments imo. Maybe she’s going to lead the Alaska secession movement.
she just seceded from office…
As much as Palin loves the spotlight, and the microphone and the camera and the center of the stage … I’m thinking she’s resigning because there is some scandal/misdeed so huge it is unspinnable that is soon to be revealed. If there’s one thing Sarah is NOT, it’s altruistic!
hmm that seems quick sounds like a scandal brewing..two words naked,polaroids..
My guess;
It is just to difficult to travel around the US and be Governor of Alaska. Particularly some one like Palin, who prefers to travel with her whole family. If she started to REALLY campaign (like Gingrich is), there would be accusations of her not doing her job in Alaska.
This allows her to move the family south, get a house somewhere more central, and travel more frequently. In other words, become a full time candidate. Of course she will say ‘I am done with politics, they just are to tough for poor old me’. But come the ’10 elections, she will be aiding all the candidates she can, and gaining their IOU’s.
It also allows her to accept speaking fees. Certainly someone like Palin can make 75000+ for a speech. ‘Ol Todd must have salivating thinking about all that money. Shoot, he can probably get paid for a speech! Plus the perks that go with being THE couple of the Republican base.
Besides the actual resignation, which nobody will care about in 15 months, it’s a win, win for her.
nalbar
I don’t know… I can hear the opponents’ ads in the primary now: “Sarah Palin abandoned her duties in Alaska’s state house. How can we trust her to stay the course in the White House? Sarah Palin: not tough enough to govern.”
Sarah Palin, tough like Roberto Duran…
TV show??
Trying to bury it on a holiday Friday afternoon.
There’s a nasty fecal grease ball about to wash up on the beach.
I agree, that’s the most obvious tell.
If this was part of some bizarre scheme to free her up to run for higher office then the speech would have been promoted and timed much differently.
Could be both. The first out of necessity (we’ll get the details pretty soon no doubt), the second because she’s been planning to take over the GOP anyway and she needs to turn this negative into a positive. Wasn’t it just the other day she was supposed to be the front-runner among Republicans for 2012?
http://www.theweek.com/article/index/98008/Sarah_Palin_Republican_frontrunner
Did someone actually write that speech or was she winging it? Parts of it sounded like the standard-issue beauty queen speech drivel, and parts of it…..I don’t know. Incoherent is a good word for it, but she needs a new speech writer. Or maybe SHE wrote it – that would explain it.
Or her handlers think there’s enough of a know-nothing vote to make ignorance and incoherence selling points.
Well, they have plenty of evidence for that, don’t they?
More than enough. Even without any Bushes, and they’re quite sufficient.
So, does this mean that she’s not a rising star? < cough, cough >
I’m going 50/50 on either an indictment pending or a lucrative career of giving meaningless speeches to a bunch of rubes more ignorant than she is.
Hard to narrow her speech down to a favorite quote but I did have to dbl blink at the “We are fishermen and we know that only dead fish go with the flow”
She’ll probably show up at FOX, wedged between O’Reilley and Turdblossom. If she’s planning to affect change in the private sector, she knows she’s at her best with a bully pulpit, and FOX is all about that.
I wouldn’t discount a run in 2012, tho. She had her sights set pretty high and pretty far, and she did have some fanatic fans out there. It might be comedy gold…
I think she is diving into the shambles of republican party politics for 2012. yes, they need this much work and time.
mary matalin “called Ms. Palin’s move “brilliant”, but others, especially those familiar with alaskan politics, and palin in particular, have a distinctly different view of it.
mudflats is of the opinion that there may indeed be some very nasty stuff about to break for palin & co.:
speaking of “dead fish”…this doesn’t pass the smell test.
Well, I watched the whole speech and despite the fact that Sarah Palin said several times that she had given the reasons for her resignation, I did not discern them although I heard some pretty nifty allusions to basketball point guards and their mission as well as when an audible should be called in a football game. Folks, what will our friends overseas think about this rambling wreck of a speech from the recent Republican candidate for the vice presidency?
Is there something in the Alaska waters that turns people irredeemably stupid? This is a verbal mess indicating that (1) the speaker is covering her ass big time, and (2)the Republican Party is in deeper trouble than almost anyone of us ever realized. The corruption seems to have no limit and the near and intermediate political horizons for the GOP are looking worse and worse. All the ugly ducklings are coming home to roost. Guess it’s quack, quack time for Republican hopefuls. Good riddance to the lot of them.