Palin to step down as governor
 

Can't believe nobody posted this yet

My Way News - Palin resigning as Alaska governor

WASILLA, Alaska (AP) - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says she will resign from office July 26.

Her spokesman wouldn't say why Palin decided to step down, but the announcement stirred speculation that she would focus on a bid for the 2012 Republican nomination for president.

Spokesman Dave Murrow says Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will be inaugurated at the governor's picnic in Fairbanks at the end of the month.

God, I hope she runs and gets the Rep nom that would give the Dems 4 more years almost for sure even with the crappy economy.

Seems odd the way she did it, though. It was abrupt, and the Lt. Governor didn't seem to know it was about to happen.

Speaking of unfortunate headlines, if you look at that page, the top two headlines on the list at the bottom of the page:

Palin resigning as Alaska governor
SC serial killer blamed for 4 deaths in 6 days

Welp, if Palin runs for GOP nominee at least we'll be assured another interesting campaign season.

The geographical reality is that it is freaking hard to do a day job in Alaska and run down to Iowa and New Hampshire for visits and D.C., NYC, and L.A. for fundraisers.

Once you decide to be president, I guess you start working 100% for that sooner rather than later.

The resignation speech sure is interesting.

I had a problem with that CNN video. It seems like it is playing at 1.5x normal speed.

Hopefully she appears nude for some porno company somewhere.

Anybody else hearing Glenn Beck's name floated as a possible VP running mate?

From what I've been reading, that's actually how fast she was talking.

She's apparently said she's out of politics for good. I doubt that's true, but 2012 seems pretty doubtful now.

That's a really odd video. On the one hand presumably her "new path" is national politics. But her comments about her son made it sound like she wanted to get out of the public limelight. I mean if she's worried about negative publicity then certainly running for president won't help.

I assume the new "climate in politics" she's going on about is Obama, but why did she say it started in August? I'm probably missing something obvious but I'm not sure what hapepned in August.

So you're saying she's headed for the Bridge to Nowhere?

Yes indeed, that must have been what was off about it for me. ;)

This begs the question, Is Mitt Romney a warlock?

In roughly a month Huntsman signed on with Obama and is out for 2012, Ensign had an affair an is out for 2012, Sanford had an affair an is out for 2012 and now Palin quits and is out for 2012. Tim Pawlenty better watch his ass, Mitt's out to destroy him.

My God she is a, great American. I am proud to, share the same soil and air that this amazing woman knows she is privileged to breathe and stand, on. David Letterman and the other leftist waste should, be embarrassed to have such vile hatred for this great woman who we, would all be proud to vote for as the President! A great press conference from a great woman.

you betcha... pew pew pew pew

USA USA USA USA USA!

This shit would be funny if these folks (and there's plenty on both supposed 'sides') weren't a few small steps away from running this already broken-ass country, and getting closer every day.

...of course, I'm talking about: women.

This makes me sad. People were brutal to the lady. Too bad she gave them what they wanted.

Is she serious, grown ups were making fun of Trig? What jerks.

How bizarre. She's a weird one.

no way she can run after this - the "quitter" thing would get thrown at her so often.

"problems with islamic terrorists? don't vote for sarah palin" (cut to video of her quitting speech)

I don't get how quitting her job helps her run in 2012. It means she's a quitter. I'd understand her not running for reelection like Pawlenty is but just up and quitting? What would stop her from doing this if she became president? I'd think the democrats could run with that one.

I also think that the press has been brutal to her and her family. I really don't like her politics and would never vote for her but the mudslinging against the Palins has gotten way out of hand. Wouldn't surprise me if it just wasn't worth it to her. She will still write the book and she can always work on Fox. Lot easier than getting shit on all the time.

I'll just say I'm also wondering if there's a skeleton about to come out of her closet. It's the one thing that actually makes sense.

those were almost exactly my 3 thoughts. then again, i think to a large extent they brought a lot of the mudslinging on themselves by trying to use the family as a campaigning tool

I don't think she will run. I think this is just a case of someone getting sick of all the assholes, and wants to put her family first.

I really hope there isn't a scandal, because of the glee that would bring people.

An Alaskan blogger photoshopped a conservative commentator's face over Trig's body to make fun of the close relationship that Palin and the commentator have.

Of course Palin spins that as mocking her down syndrome baby. The sad part is there are some Palin supporters out there that would hear the story and agree with her.

Well, sorta true. I don't believe she called that shot and I don't think she was ever politically savvy enough to really know the ramifications of this especially considering how much smoke the McCain camp was blowing up her Alaskan ass about how everyone was gonna love her.

Now that she knows what that means, if she's backing out of the limelight then more power to her.

I agree

If that is the way it went, I hope in 16 years she is somewhat thankful for the assholes. She shouldn't be routinely flying thousands of miles away from her special needs baby when she already has 3 children. I would say that for any father or mother.

She'll have a TV show within a year.

You have got to be kidding? ........Not that she isn't already a joke but that would put her into Dan Quayle territory.

What kind of mudslinging? I may have missed that. All of the coverage that comes to mind was legitimate, so please point me to some of the nonsense so I can be outraged by it as well.

Hey, sorry man, if you don't get internet in the cave you're living in I can't help you there.

If you can't point to any of this mudslinging, guess it isn't happening.

Sarah Palin's problems lie at the feet of John McCain really. I mean he took a nearly completely unknown governor from a remote physically and politically state to one step away from the presidency of this country if they were elected. And with John McCain's 70+ year old body and mind it was more likely than not that she might have to step in for him from time to time if not permanently.

Yes the press did go over the line with her, but we the American people knew nothing about a potential President of the United States when McCain selected her as his running mate. The media like it or not was the primary way of finding out about her, so in some ways I can't blame them for going overboard. Quite honestly I'm not sure anyone could have dealt well with that level of scrutiny being such an unknown beforehand. Some things she handled well, some things she did not.

I honestly wasn't sure if it was serious or not, that's why I asked.

I saw it referenced sort of half joking online somewhere earlier today & figured it was more like one of those pie in the sky / run it up the flagpole sort of things until I started to mention it to a friend today ("Guess who I'm hearing might be a running mate for her...") and they answered immediately before I even got the question out of my mouth. Thing is, I know for certain we don't have the same info/surfing patterns, so she picked it up somewhere different than I did, and that's what led me to wonder if this was more widespread a story than I first thought.

While everybody seems to be thinking she's either fed up or going to be scandalized, my first thought was "oh shit, she's pregnant again".

She came across as a person who was highly ignorant and ill prepared for the job in which she was trying to get elected to. She's the only candidate I know that I was genuinely scared to see get elected. Yes, even worse than Hillary. :lol:

Hahah - I think she's running in 2012. She knows her "star" moment is now, and she's going to get beaten like Goldwater, but why not? Mitt Romney dreams of having the kind of support that she does. :D

If she is running, I still don't get why she'd resign now. We're a year away from any real campaigning and padding your resume with another year as Governor doesn't seem like a bad thing.

Maybe she has figured that she will never win a national election. She could become a pundit of sorts, write books, give speeches, and make a crapload of money off her name.

That speech may have been the longest, most painful single run-on sentence ever. I can't call it a resignation speech b/c I have no clue what she was talking about, though I think it involved basketball and trigonometry.

The only thing she'd be running for in '12 is Class President of her college alumni class. She's more toxic to the GOP than TARP.

There's an interview with Palin in Runners World this month. I read that this morning and thought to myself, "hmm...maybe I have her wrong, and there's something to this really likable side of her." After seeing that video, where I, too, had no idea what she was talking about, I'm back to my original feelings.

And, oh the sports metaphors, "You have to keep your eye on the ball, and beat the full court press, when you hunker down and go with the flow, and then you know when to call an audible and pass the ball and go for the victory."

Wow!! What a surprise!!! Everyone piling on Palin!!!

I hope I never hear about her again, because I'm so sick of the japes and snipes at her. Yes, she would have been a bad president. Yes, she wasn't very polished. WE FUCKING GET IT!!

Dola.

The more I think about it, the more I kind of equate this to Jimmy Stewart in one of my favorite movies ever - "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington". Sure, she wasn't as perfect and innocent as Stewart's character, but the whole character assassination is very, very similar since she was so inexperienced.

Gee golly, can't a gal who is trying to get national fame and fortune get some gosh dern privacy? I mean, geez!

You made my point.

Yeah, she was annoyingly folksy and inexperienced, but what the fuck was she supposed to do? Say "No, I'm in politics, but don't want to be V.P. of the U.S.".

I'm sure I'll get piled on (like this board always does for politically different views), but I just think people in this country are basically assholes. Both sides. But people were particularly brutal to her. So kick her when she's down. Have fun!!

How were people more brutal to her than to Obama or McCain or Clinton or Romney? Hell, it's a blood sport and if you can't take it you'll get tossed aside. McCain probably fucked her over by picking her when she wasn't ready, but life ain't fair. She'd have been much better off going back to AK and keeping a low profile for a year or two instead of trying to get her face in the media so often.

Uhm, yeah? Maybe you should get laid? Who cares about this bitch, get a sense of humor. I agree with you though, people in this country are assholes.

My point wasn't really her folksy-ness, it was more that the insinuation in this thread that she quit because of negativity about her "family" when in fact she is out seeking more publicity (and hence more scrutiny, since ya know, she wants the highest job in the country). Less dumb people in politics = better.

Her whole recent faux outrage over the blogger superimposing a lobbyist on her kid and twisting it into an attack on special needs children really put the nail in coffin.

I don't really think people were tougher on her than they were on anyone else in the election. I remember seeing Obama being called a Muslim terrorist at some of the Republican rallies that had some strong racist overtones. I remember McCain being bashed for his age relentlessly. Edwards was destroyed for being a metrosexual. Huckabee for being a Jesus freak.

I think all the candidates got their share of shit thrown on them. I just think it makes Palin look weak that she can't handle a couple photoshops by a blogger.

Are you serious? You're acting as if everyone is so mean and hateful because she wasn't prepared to be Vice President (let alone president, if McCain would be incapacitated).

We didn't nominate her. It's not our fault she's incompetent.

By being down, do you mean resigning? If so, didn't she bring this one on herself? She easily could have served out the rest of her term and probably won reelection as governor. Instead, we have what is, by a kind account, a hastily called press conference on a slow news day with an unclear message.

That said, I don't know anything about the Trig stuff. If that's true, that's really, really too bad.

I'm fairly certain there's been plenty of people that have turned down the offer to be someone's running mate.


People in this country are assholes, but when you take your politics to a national level and throw your family in front of the camera you'd better be really confident in your ability to not look like a complete dumbass.

The only thing that separates what she's gone through and what a lot of others in politics have gone through is she put her family out there as fair game and paid the price. She also wasn't smart enough to go back to Alaska and make sure her name stays out of the public eye for a couple years before resurfacing as a more polished and better informed politician.

Obviously that's not my point. It's personal attacks, and the glee with which people dog on her that I'm talking about. It's childish. Like I have said a lot - I didn't vote for McCain (or Obama), but it's sickening how fiercely people and the media have jumped on her. That's why I hope she's just done. I'm sick of it.

No one told her to run for public office. It's not always a picnic. Buck up.

I'm married. That's not happening.

So that makes it ok to abuse people?

By the way, the Tigers game has gotten me riled up.

In a perfect world our candidates would never get scrutinized or "abused". But unfortunately that's how the game is played and she knew it going into it. It's like a celebrity complaining about having his picture taken everywhere he goes.

Scrutiny is very important when electing someone. She was, and she wasn't worthy of being VP; however mean-spirited attacks is another thing. Is it the norm? Yes. Is it right? No.

like the personal attacks she made on Obama?

I have a 3 month old, she had 2 glasses of wine with dinner, wish me luck :)

So that makes it ok to attack her kids? Yeah, maybe she put them out there. But did the kids put themselves out there? No.

Obviously, I'm not going to win this debate, but I just wish people were nicer to each other. Yes, I'm naive.

Hopefully she didn't eat much, so the wine will work it's magic better. Good luck!!! :)

She drove her train off the rails all by herself. She was a proponent of abstinence, with a pregnant teenage unwed daughter. She proclaimed to be in favor of autism research, then railed against fruit fly research (when fruit fly studies had been helping with autism research). She went into an interview with notorious softball throwing Katie Couric, and was unable to name a single newspaper or magazine that she reads regularly (while claiming that she read newspapers and magazines all the time).

I'm touching the tip of the iceberg with this stuff.

+1

Have you not been reading what I've said?????? I get it - She was unqualified and unfit to be VP, but the visceral hatred for her is still wrong. And one other thing - She's a proponent of abstinence, but how is it her fault that her daughter chose to fuck someone and get knocked up? Even good parents can't control the mind of a teen. I think it's unintelligent to call her out on that. She was against fruit fly research, and I have absolutely no idea why, but I guarantee it's not because she doesn't want a cure for autism. And as I said, she's not goo in interviews because she's not fit for office.

It still doesn't excuse the ongoing personal attacks.

I'm done. I don't think I'll make any of you "get it".

Personally i think she's been ever more scrutinized because she's female.

However I vote 3rd party and thus my opinion doesn't matter.

The funniest bit in all of this was before being nominated as VP, Sarah Palin was criticizing Hilary Clinton for whining about unfair sexist treatment. Things sure do look different from the other side.

If she's putting her family first here, rather than making a big political mistake or getting forced out by impending scandal, it would be the first time. Didn't she give some political speech and then spend around 12 hours on a plane to get back to Wasilla when she was pregnant with Trig? And that wasn't even when she was the VP nominee.

I hope this is a family-first thing, but the old walks-like-a-duck-sounds-like-a-duck axiom has me cynical.


Agreed. But I also wonder about the impact on her family if it turns out there is a scandal.


The timing of the announcement seems to point more to the second than the first or third. If it's a 'fed up with the assholes' bit, why not do it early in the week or in midweek when you can really take those assholes to task before a larger audience? The day before a national holiday seems like a suspect time to draw your line in the sand.

By the same token, she was pregnant as governor of Alaska once already. Why would another pregnancy cause the resignation? It would imply that remaining governor was largely because of national political aspirations and with another child on the way, she's done with those...but again, why choose the Friday before a national holiday to resign if that's the case? If you no longer aspire to the national stage, it wouldn't seem to be something that needs to be buried.

I keep coming back to, especially with her demeanor at the speech, that there is one big ass shoe about to fall. It's the only thing that makes sense. Quitting to focus on the presidential race, it might help her win the nomination, but with that juicy a target, she would lose the general in tidal wave fashion. Quitting for the other reasons, plausible, but why now?

So can anyone tell me what Alaska's budget looks like? Is it a trillion dollars in the hole?

Totally agree with you on your first and third points. I don't think the press has treated her unfairly though. The press would have ripped any other VP candidate that made the same mistakes as her on the national stage.

The treatment of Palin makes me think that Fox News is Fair and Balanced

Eh, sometimes when you're just over it, you're just over it. If she's pulling out of running for office & it isn't scandal related, maybe she's just fed the hell up with it & doesn't even want to waste the energy getting in some parting shots.


I imagine there's a woman or two who would say "only a man would say something like that" ;) Seriously though, I didn't say there was any rhyme or reason to that thought crossing my mind. I just said that was the very first thing that popped into my head. So please don't overthink it, it was nothing more than my gut reaction when I saw the news.


I really don't see it playing out that way. Nobody who was going to vote for her is going to put much stock in the criticisms from the left and nobody that went with the criticism was going to vote for her anyway. I believe voters in 49 states would look at it, viewed with what, two years worth of distance & subsconsciously (or not so subconsciously) figure "it's just Alaska, I can't say that I blame her". And I don't want any crap from our Alaskan contingent about that, the same would be said for probably 30+ states. Given my hypothetical druthers, if she were planning to run I'd rather she spend every waking minute focused on that effort instead of splitting time on that & Alaskan politics.


Maybe she just wanted to be able to enjoy the holiday weekend. And yes, I'm serious (at least about that being a maybe). Sometimes an orange is just an orange & a pencil is just a pencil, y'know?

Palin's Budget Shows Hit to Alaska From Falling Oil Prices - WSJ.com

$400 million deficit, but almost $7 billion in state savings. Alaska will be fine fiscally, as long as nobody does anything really stupid.

She hasn't struck me as that "type" up until now. Can't imagine why things would change.


I know it. Just saying, she's had how many kids already? Why would *this* be the one to make her quit politics? You could be right, I'm just saying it doesn't make sense to me. :)


Among the hard-liners on both sides, you're absolutely right. The Republican and Democratic bases were never going to be swayed one way or the other. But then, the Republican base was never going to be able to elect Sarah Palin without some serious crossover from moderates/independents/conservative Democrats. Those are the people that argument would hold sway with.

Someone who carried a 'We <3 Sarah' sign at a rally? Not so much.



Perhaps. But her term was up in 2010 anyway, wasn't it? That's plenty of time to gear up for a run if she stays in the press otherwise, and given her reception by the base, is it reasonable to think she would have faded? This just feels like way too early to drop everything to focus on a presidential bid.


Quit on Friday instead of Wednesday to be able to enjoy the holiday weekend? Hell, if THAT'S my motivation, I'm quitting on Tuesday so I can take a week off. :D

AJC political blogger reporting that NBC's Andrea Mitchell says she's been told Palin told backers they're free to find another candidate for 2012, that she's finished with politics for good.

Meanwhile, a blog responder claims that that federal embezzlement indictments against her & her husband are close to being handed down, "related to the building of Palin’s house and the Wasilla Sports Complex built during her tenure as Mayor. Both structures, it is said, feature the “same windows, same wood, same products." He quoted something called bradblog.com FWIW (never heard of it, no clue whether that's good info, bad info, or just outright silly info)

I only ask because I have no faith in current politicians sticking to a budget and I'll only vote for a politician who'll actually try to reduce the deficit.

A suicide course I know.

I disagree. What had to happen in theory was for people simply not to vote against her, as the "new president smell" wears off Obama & disenchanted voters stay home. She had her crowd locked in, the question would be how much of his could he retain.

As I've said here previously, I really don't recall another national level politician in my lifetime (remember, I was born a few years after JFK's death) who had as strong a hold on their supporters that I encounter as she does. Not Reagan, not anybody. Or at least I don't recall ever hearing people actually sigh in awe at the mere mention of a candidate's name, but I've run into that several times with Palin since she emerged. It's one of the damnedest things I've seen in 42 years.

Remember too, I'm on the record as saying if she had a southern accent she'd be called white trash, so I'm definitely not saying that from a Kool-Aid perspective, I'm still trying to figure out the part of the appeal myself. Some of it I get, but not to the degree I've seen.

Is that purely anecdotal? Of course it is & I know the risks involved with reading too much into an absurdly small sample size but it's hard (nee impossible) for me to believe that I've run into the only people on earth who have that reaction. I'd guess that at least a quarter of the GOP base would vote for her in a primary no matter what happens.

aaaaah

I will only vote for a governor that has controlled the state budget. Someone who know state fiscal responsibility.

If something like that is true, I retract my arguments (other than against the kids).

LOL

how's your state budget?

I don't get it.

Its funny; I thought the best analogy I heard to her was Jesse Jackson - a die hard base of support (no question here - I read Redstate etc, and its hilarious as to how cult like some of the following is), but very very little ability to expand beyond that.

Michael Barone's article here: http://www.american.com/archive/2009...blems-for-2012

I'm just saying I want someone who knows something about fiscal responsibility.

no offense to the folks at bradblog who are reporting, but to be quite honest, I wouldn't put any faith in a site that proclaims "WSJ Whackos in Denial over Franken Election" to be A) factural, B) Neutral.

I don't know if any of that blog stuff is true. I will say the resigning is extremely odd. She had been doing a lot of interviews over the past few months and was clearly trying to brand herself nationally. She had her daughter doing national TV interviews and she was starting feuds with Letterman and others. That's not the way someone who is "sick of attacks" and doesn't want the exposure for her and her family acts. She seemed like someone who was trying to keep her name in the news and position herself to be a leader in the Republican Party.

The resignation helps her in no way for 2012. It leaves her out of public office for many years which is not a good thing when you don't have decades of experience in public office. If her aspirations were for 2012, you'd think she'd turn Alaska into a model state and use that as her example of how she'd turn things around in the U.S.

The whole thing seems eerily odd is all I'm saying. The press conference seemed rather abrupt and not thought out. The fact she didn't tell others in the state makes me think that this was a sudden maneuver too. If there turns out to be a scandal of sorts as some have mentioned, I wouldn't be surprised (nothing against her but something just doesn't add up). I think I'd be more surprised to find out she just wants to live a quiet family life away from the public eye.

That's overplayed. If Dan Quayle had a pregnant 17 year old in the late 80s - early 90s, Dan and the whole Quayle family would have gotten the same exact treatment. As it was Quayle got just as much, if not more, jokes on his stupidity than Palin.

Former VA Governor Mark Warner...

Winnar!! The key is the hydrating goodness of wine.

+1

I'm still hoping that he'll run for president at some point.

As for Sarah Palin, a lot of these theories seem equally plausible. I can well believe that she just decided that being governor was too demanding. Didn't she attend four different colleges before getting her degree? Sticking with a program is not her style--her ambition and supposed ruthlessness seem not to be matched by an equally strong work ethic or ability to focus.

That having been said, I would not be at all surprised to learn that there is some sort of financial or personal scandal that the public knows nothing about yet. Maybe she's one of the "other women" that Mark Sanford crossed the line with :D

You gotta be kidding me right? I can't point to the wind. Guess that isn't happening either. All I can say is that others have agreed with me. You don't. Tells me alot about you.

Big deal, she played basketball. Did you give Jack Kemp shit when he pulled out his baseball metaphors? Bill Bradley his basketball metaphors? Any politician and his goofball metaphors?

I mean, for character assassination there's enough material out there not to have to nit pick.

Does she name this one Calculus?

Actually, it wouldn't be the first time that's happened and it would have been the responsible choice. One of the first signs of a true leader is knowing when to lead and when to learn.


That's what pisses me off. All the assholes are supposed to be on your side of the political aisle. ;-)

Shit, looks like I may have to join a third party.