Ok, wtf if up with this:Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) announced this afternoon she will resign from office on July 26 and return to private life, a stunning decision by last year's Republican vice presidential candidate to leave office before the end of her first term.Anyone know why? Is there even precedent for this? Have other governors in history just randomly resigned before the end of their term without some scandal forcing them out? What the fuck is wrong with this insane woman? My schadenfreude meter is going to be off the charts today.
Update: More from Lonely Conservative:
Hoffmania ponders:Fox News just reported that they spoke to Todd Palin who said she will be resigning to focus on issues that are important to her and the nation.
I don’t know what to make of this. Bizarre to say the least. Quitting her job mid-term doesn’t seem to be the way to further her political career. We’ll surely hear more about this in the days to come.
As I write this Sarah’s brother is on the phone with Fox News. No video available yet. He said that she’s spent so much time defending herself against all of the bogus ethics complaints filed by her political enemies that she wasn’t able to focus on her duties as governor.
This is completely baffling. If she's planning a run in 2012, why would she abdicate her power as an acting governor? She'd be running from a position of no power...an outsider, if you will. But there's being an "outsider" and then there's being an OUTSIDER. Citizen Palin has much less stroke than Governor Palin.Update 2: Here's Steve Benen:
CNN's John King says she has a lot of name recognition. So does Donald Duck. He's speculating that Bill Kristol (who fell in lust with her which led to her VP nod) make take her under his weakened wing. Great. Sarah will be a chairperson of PNAC. Perfect.
We're also finding it curious this happens the same week as not only the Vanity Fair article, but CBS News' elaboration on that story. Was someone getting close to...something? Stay tuned.
Andrew Sullivan must be on cloud nine right now:Palin is making a terrible mistake. The lure of the national spotlight is strong, and the day-to-day challenges associated with running the executive branch of a state are no doubt difficult. There are probably plenty of far-right activists and donors whispering in Palin's ear, telling her to ignore the naysayers and realize she's ready to lead the nation, but she's listening to the wrong people. Walking away from the governor's office after one term is incredibly foolish -- but walking away from the governor's office after two and a half years in office is stupefying.
Just yesterday, Charles Krauthammer, an unquestionably conservative observer, explained on Fox News, "[Palin] is not a serious candidate for the presidency. She had to go home and study and spend a lot of time on issues in which she was not adept last year, and she hasn't." Indeed, she's done the opposite....
What's especially curious about all of this is that Palin had a more obvious and productive route, which she's inexplicably chosen to ignore. As Chris Orr recently noted, "Perhaps the most mystifying element of Palin's recent forays into nuttery is that, politically speaking, it would be difficult to come up with stupider way to position herself in the wake of her v.p. run. The base already loves her -- the diehard pro-lifers, the hands-off-mine individualists, the anti-elitist brigades, you name 'em. Where she has (deepening) trouble is with everyone else: moderates, socially liberal libertarians, DC-establishment types, and anyone who places a premium on basic competence."
Palin had an opportunity to prove her critics wrong. She could have returned to Alaska after last year's campaign, studied up on public policy, and built up some kind of record in office, preferably with some achievements. Instead, Palin has become an even more rigid ideologue. Given a chance to prove herself as leader, Palin has decided she'd prefer to walk away, blinded by a combination of ambition and misplaced arrogance.
I think the simple truth is that, as even Alaskan Republicans told us last September, she was far from able to be governor of Alaska, let alone vice-president of the United States. Once the klieglights hit, it was only a matter of time before she imploded or exploded or some gruesome combination of the two. The librul media will be blamed for everything on her inexorable path to becoming a Fox News celebrity. Maybe a reality show? Someone hire her for The View!Update 3: More reactions from Sully:
In the end, I think, the one thing to say is that the Republican party is in such a total state of collapse and incoherence that it actually believed she could be a future president; and that John McCain was so reckless, so cynical and so cavalier that he was prepared to rest the national security of this country on her shoulders if he, in his seventies, were to become unable to fulfill his duties or die. In some ways, this is a moment to reflect on McCain, and his irresponsibility, not Palin and her drama.
I'm too stunned to say anything else, to tell you the truth. And yet not surprised at all.
Allahpundit agrees her career is over:
Placing your ambition over your commitment to the state looks shady, especially for someone who won’t have a single full term as governor under her belt for the primaries.
Okay, we're getting our first indication of what happened. It seems like a colossal sulk on Palin's part, or perhaps better to say an effort on her part to ingeniously combine anti-liberal media bias agitation with Christianist politics by portraying herself as having been crucified by the liberal media.
Unless she's a total moron, there's no way she's running for president. Then again, maybe she is a total moron.
My take - she's not done and will look to go national in some way setting up for a possible 2012 run.
