In the immortal words of Col. Sherman Potter
On all three counts.
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.
It isn't like this is anything new. This is what they've been up to for a long time. Sarah got rougher treatment that the ones who preceded her like George Allen and Rick Santorum, but she was a much bigger star than they were. By 2012, there will be NO credible conservative left standing. They aren't spending all the $ that Soros et.al. can provide them without getting the desired Alinsky results of total destruction of their opponents.
She is a fighter. She is welcome in my fighting position anytime.
Regards,
AR
Think before posting her obituary.
IMO, in some way the choice was presented to her by someone (I have no idea who or what the way was) - "Either your political career or your family will be destroyed; you choose!"
Sarah rightly chose to protect her family.
Psalm 17
A prayer of David.
5 My steps have held to your paths;
my feet have not slipped.
6 I call on you, O God, for you will answer me;
give ear to me and hear my prayer.
7 Show the wonder of your great love,
you who save by your right hand
those who take refuge in you from their foes.
8 Keep me as the apple of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings
9 from the wicked who assail me,
from my mortal enemies who surround me.”
I would rather be in her shoes, than zeros shoes!!
Where do you people come up with this drivel? God's grace is eternal, just as He is.
I want to try to stay positive about this but at the moment I think it’s more of a mistake than a victory.
To think the press won’t be on her can from now until 2012 about any and everything if she resigns is naive. They would be if she was or wasn’t in office. Might as well govern and get things done and keep the executive experience going. Barack’s going to have 4 years under his belt by then. MSM will be beefing him up and ripping her for not being in an executive governing role for 3 1/2 years.
She’ll be the one that ‘needs experience’.
Plus the press will not give her anything. They don’t love her the way they did Barack, every little misstep and stumble will be magnified, all of Barack’s will be hidden.
She might be able to campaign for 3 1/2 years getting funding and such but that’s a long time and people will get tired of her, MSM will probably stop covering her, Barack can stay in campaign mode for 3 1/2 years as well (he still is if youhaven’t noticed) and the MSM loves him and hates her. Guess who wins this one?
I right now don’t see much good in her decision. I can hope it is right.
Actually, you are 100% wrong.
Palin made a brilliant move.
First, she wants Alaska to remain under a republican conservative governor. Her move gives the Lt. Gobernor 1-1/2 years to prove himself and that will give him a big head start on the dim candidate.
Second, she can now travel as much as she wants and to any place in the world and not be accused, as she has been by the dims, of neglecting her duties in Alaska.
She is now free of pouring over thousands of pages of stimulus rules and regs and can instead spend that time studying foreign affairs and meeting with overseas governments.
No, she is not finished. She is proving that she is smart.
Those who criticize her should perhaps compare their records against hers.
Protect your privacy. Replace Google with IXQUICK at www.ixquick.com.
If we do not wish to lose our freedom, we must learn to tolerate our
neighbor’s right to freedom even though he might express that freedom
in a manner we consider to be eccentric.
She resigned on the eve of Independence Day. Perhaps there's a message there. Perhaps not. We'll see.
The proper word is "poring". And if a resigned governor of any state is "meeting with overseas governments", they are acting in the capacity of a foreign interest. But I guess that is OK, as long as it is an Arab nation. Y'all have been duped.
Sarah is running for President.
I can see it in her eyes.
God bless her, and God bless America!
In the immortal words of Col. Sherman Potter
On all three counts.
Knock it off with the foul mouth or suffer the consequences.
Everything today seems bizarre.
“The proper word is “poring”. And if a resigned governor of any state is “meeting with overseas governments”, they are acting in the capacity of a foreign interest. But I guess that is OK, as long as it is an Arab nation. Y’all have been duped.”
Aprivate citizen can meet with and talk with anyone with whom they choose.
I stand corrected on the “pore vis. pour”.
I must say however, that I wish your political knowledge was as well developed as is your familiarity with the dictionary.
After serving TWO FULL TERMS.
Ronald Reagan at least held his end of the bargain with the people of California.
Gov. Palin just up and left.
And yes, her political career is over.
Right now she is a failed VP candidate and soon to be former governor of Alaska, and the smear campaign keeps going. Imagine if she really did try a new run at the White House?
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