Posted on 07/03/2009 5:24:46 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The news of Sarah Palin’s resignation as governor came during my show this afternoon, where we spent most of an hour discussing it with the chatizens and my co-host Duane Patterson. I’ve had a chance to watch the video of her announcement and read through dozens of Twitter messages back and forth attempting to rationalize this, and still, it simply can’t be rationalized on the basis of what Palin said today. It’s easily the most bizarre resignation I’ve seen, and just about senseless.
The lame-duck explanation was the most incoherent part of the entire statement:
“Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional ‘Lame Duck’ status in this particular climate would just be another dose of ‘politics as usual,’ something I campaigned against and will always oppose. It is my duty to always protect our great state. With that in mind, my family and I determined that it is best to make a difference this summer, and I am willing to change things, so that this administration, with its positive agenda, its accomplishments and its successful road to an incredible future, can continue without interruption and with great administrative and legislative success.”
Bear in mind that the election isn’t next month but about 16 months from now, in November 2010. Using this logic, Palin should never have run for the first term unless she was willing to run for the second, and not run for either if she wasn’t willing (or legally able) to run for a third. Politicians don’t enter lame-duck status until their successor has already been elected and they’re running out the rest of the term. And all politicians become lame ducks at some point — and none of them quit just to avoid it.
Also, how can Palin quit because she didn’t want to deal with being a lame duck and claim in the same breath that her administration would “continue without interruption”? She just interrupted it! If she thinks that being a “lame duck” would hamper her ability to push her agenda in the state’s capital, how does she think that an unelected Sean Parnell is going to get it done?
If it’s her duty to always “protect” Alaska, then that strongly implies not walking away from the responsibility of governing it — a responsibility she sought, and with which her constituents trusted her to execute. No one leads by quitting. No one leads by quitting. Palin’s abandoning her post, and at least from her own description, doing it because she doesn’t want to deal with the issues of being a “lame duck,” a status all politicians have to handle at some point.
I’ve seen a myriad of excuses on Twitter and e-mail for this bizarre resignation: her legal bills are too high, she’s putting her family first, she doesn’t want to distract Alaskans because of cheap-shot ethics complaints that are distracting everyone. None of those make any sense. If the spotlight was too much, then she shouldn’t have run for office in the first place. If she’s quitting because people are taking potshots at her, then she’s not the kind of political fighter we thought she was. The legal bills might be a rational reason, but thoroughly insufficient for betraying the people who put her in charge of Alaska — and her memoirs would have paid for her legal bills many times over, had she completed her term.
There’s really no excuse, and what Rich Lowry also calls her “terrible,” “rambling,” and “not at all persuasive” statement showed that. Unless there was a serious illness or a serious scandal, the resignation on the grounds Palin gave is simply incomprehensible. She has destroyed her own credibiity in a single day.
I liked Sarah Palin and supported her inclusion on the GOP ticket last fall. I thought she had more toughness than this. It’s a big disappointment, and it’s the end of any hope of Palin getting taken seriously as a politician on the national level in the future.
Update (AP): I was going to tuck this into one of my own posts but it fits better here. Quin Hillyer, senior editor at the Spectator, calls the resignation an “appalling dereliction of duty.”
What Sarah Palin did today was get out before the real challenges of the job (whatever challenges there are for such an easy job) really rear their heads. The going got tough in terms of spurious ethics charges against her, and she took off. That’s cowardly. That’s not sign of staying power. It’s a sign of wanting to get out while the getting is good, in order to become a full-time candidate for a presidential race that won’t culminate for 3 1/2 more years. It’s a little too calculating, by half — or more.
I just listened to her speech announcing her decision, and found it singularly unimpressive. “This was a rambling, bombastic, self-centered, ‘poor me’ kind of speech.” That’s how Mike Carey of the Anchorage Daily News just described her speech on Fox News. I agree. He then said it was, darn, I already can’t remember if he said it was “pitiful” or “pathetic,” but it was some word like that. Again, I agree. It was a speech in which she clearly made a bit for a national audience — not a very effective bid, but a transparent one — but didn’t adequately explain to the people of Alaska why she was relinquishing her duty…
Statesmen hang tough. Sarah Palin is cutting and running. ‘Nuff said.
She announced her resignation on the Friday afternoon of a long holiday weekend. Something stinks here.
The obsession with this is really. Being elected isn't like enlisting in the military. People quit jobs all the time for personal reasons, or to pursue better jobs. Obama did it himself when he left the Senate after only 2 years on the job, and 2 years campaigning. There was no breathless, wide eyed panic at him abandoning his Senate post with 2 years left unserved to the fine people of Illinois. Yet people are acting like she quit being a doctor halfway through surgery, and left some guy on the table.
Why not serve till 2010 and THEN announce that she's not running for a second term ? That would have been the better course of action if she were truly exploring a run for the presidency...
1. Why spend 2 more years doing a job that America knows you're good at? She could spend 20 more years as governor. Who would care?
2. She can raise untold millions for the GOP in the next 2 years, and stump for GOP candidates all over the country. Help the party perform well in 2010, and you've got the rank and file party regulars on your side. Right now, Palin is an outsider. A popular outsider, but she's not tied in with the rest of the GOP. She can't ever be as Governor of Alaska. As a freelance conservative rockstar, she can spend years getting the GOP back on its feet, with her to thank for it.
3. Alaska doesn't need a rockstar governor. They need a level headed guy who isn't tied down all day with national level drama. She's doing the state a favor by taking their politics out of the national spotlight.
OR, she could do another 2 years, and finish out her term tired, poor, harassed, and not tangibly improved as a candidate against a wealthy, popular and incumbent President.
You must be confusing Governor Palin’s Speech with Obama’s Apology Tour Speeches.
That is absolutely false. I find each and every day is full of God's marvelous grace.
Morrissey proving he has NO political analysis ability.
This is the first step in a ramp up toward a national organization and buildout of a staff nationwide. She will also be THE BIGGEST draw for every House and Senate GOP member running in 2010...alot of favors going from Palin to these ...10 candidates.
This is how you become President folks.
She can’t run for President from Alaska.
It’s on.
*The obsession with her leaving a government job early is really a bit overblown.
How many have done what she has? None, but many have resigned sometimes to run for higher office sometimes to pursue other interests. The attacks on Sarah are so outre that they beggar the imagination.
Thank you for considering my advice. I pray that Christ soften your heart.
Sarah and her husband had to pay about $1/2 million to defend herself, and she came out smelling like a rose.
BUT how long can she keep this up financially?
I can see why she quit, but she might be more effective as a nonpolitician.
As Sarah said: STAY TUNED!
Thanks for pics of two of my favorite guys: Jolie and The Gipper.
“you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet!!!
Horse crap, your post is pure horse apples. Sarah was brilliant. You know why? Because that is all anyone is talking about.
Bravo Sarah!
$500,000 in bullshit legal fees to defend from our totally corrupt legal system could break anyone. Those who hounded this great leader from office deserve to rot in hell - as they most certainly will.
There are many conservatives out here waiting for a leader like Sarah who shares our values. I am hoping that she will step up and give conservatives a reason to unite in common purpose. Sarah Palin is not finished by a long shot.
I for one will be contributing to her Legal Defense Fund.
It’s about time someone on our side calls a Spade, a Spade. If you read her speech today, you will see she has done just that.
Let’s not get carried away, here. The world has survived far worse.
In the words of a particularly controversial political commentator, "When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature they will like the strong horse."
If Palin comes down to the lower 48, whips the demoralized and scattered GOP into shape, builds out her grass roots organization, fills the GOP coffers, and propels candidates into office, she becomes the strong horse. No matter how much people like or dislike her, they'll respect the power that momentum brings. The GOP is adrift and leaderless. By taking command, she can save it from itself.
The old hacks and has beens that ran it into the ground will whine and backbite, but they'll become the weak horses, and find themselves fading from the spotlight.
Politics is filled with surprises and (semi surprises)
Nixon
1962 — Nixon said, “You won’t have Dick Nixon to kick around any more”
1968 — Nixon won the presidency.
1972 — Nixon won in a landslide
Obama
Jan. 22, 2006 — Obama told Russert, “I will serve out my full 6 year [Senate] term.
2007, 2008 -— Obama barely served his first two years in the Senate.
Clinton
While campaigning for governor in 1990, Clinton promised he would absolutely, positively finish his term not run for president in 1992.
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