Is Palin's national political career over? (Sadly, the answer is YES)

Hotair ^ | 7/3/2009 | Ed Morrissey

[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.

[PhiKapMom]

I was so shocked when he said, I read it three times on Hot Air. Still makes no sense to me but from that day on I have taken what he writes with a grain of salt.

[Lysandru]

Let us not forget that Richard Nixon was supposedly a political corpse after failing to win election to be governor of California. But he went out and worked hard to get Republicans elected and was able to call in chits when 1968 rolled around.

I was really intrigued by Mark Steyn's speculation that Sarah is just tired of the incredible travesties that have been visited upon her. So she is going to just get out of the political racket. It is a thoughtful piece.

I have not viewed footage of her announcement (and I was busy with kids from church when it happened). But upon reading the text here, I think that anyone who calls her speech incoherent is just not getting it. And I also now respectfully disagree with Steyn.

I am guessing that she is about to "go guerrilla" and wage an insurgency against the odious Obama Regime. And as at least one fellow freeper observed, in order to trash Palin, the State Run Media will have to actually mention her criticisms.

And even if she doesn't stage a Nixonian comeback, she still can make a difference like Newt Gingrich has been doing.

[AFPhys]

LOL —— This guy thinks he is a political genius?

[SQUID]

Folks, there are too many great men and women out there to put all our bets behind a losing horse.

There is better.

[steve8714]

Doesn’t he post here?

[steve8714]

The prob;em is that the party fathers will try to put someone else in line ahead of her, and that will be the death of the GOP as we know it.
We all know these brahmins will say “It’s not your time yet.”

[Cboldt]

-- Doesn't he post here? --

"Captain" Ed Morrissey who ran the now defunct "Captain's Quarters" blog, and who now posts at Michelle Malkin's "Hot Air"?

I don't know if he has ever posted under a handle here.

[CharlesWayneCT]

If I donated money and time to get someone elected as my Governor for 4 years, and they quit after a little more than 2 years, I would be hard-pressed to think that she was doing anything other than abandoning us.

It would be better if she had a good reason. Being a “lame duck” is not a good reason, it’s not even a reason. Presidents are “lame ducks” by her definition for their last 4 years, does that mean that she wouldn’t run for a 2nd term? But, if she said so before she started, then she would be a lame duck for her first term, so would she not run at all?

But tell me, did you ever before she announced post anywhere to say that you thought it would be great if she resigned as Governor? If so, give me a link, and I will bow to your political savvy.

[airborne]

If I donated money and time to get someone elected as my Governor for 4 years, and they quit after a little more than 2 years, I would be hard-pressed to think that she was doing anything other than abandoning us.

I supported Duncan Hunter (with time and money) in the last election.

I regret that he dropped out before the Pennsylvania primary, but I do not regret supporting the man.

[CharlesWayneCT]

I will be happy if she comes and campaigns for people in my state as well. I don’t think the controversy over her resignation would impact her ability to draw her faithful followers, to generate support, to raise money.

I just think that a candidate who already suffered from not being taken seriously and from being inexperienced does herself no good quitting her biggest job with over a year left to go. And her reasons for doing so don’t make it any better.

I understand that she has been treated like dirt, and her family has been treated horribly, and those who have done so should suffer. But the next strong woman is going to get the same treatment, and moreso since it worked this time. And if she was elected President, wouldn’t the same people attack her children even more, and more people around the country, and around the world would join in?

[CharlesWayneCT]

“Boss, I am leaving my job in two weeks. Yes, I know I told you I would be here for 4 years, and you put your trust in my word. But I’m not quitting — I’m going to do something much more important than the job you hired me to do.”

[CharlesWayneCT]

“Sarah Palin, no worse than Barack Obama and Bill Clinton”.

That’s not going to be much of a bumper sticker.

And technically, Obama did not quit his Senate seat, he simply stopped doing his job. And we all ridiculed him for it regularly, and called him a quitter.

But people understand when politicians run for higher office, and having won, leave their previous office. It happens all the time, and it’s expected.

Politicians don’t just quit their jobs, so it’s hard to say whether the people of Alaska will understand or not.

But you can’t expect the Press is going to cover for her like they did for Barack.

[Jeff Head]

You are free to think as you will.

I know people personally in Alaska who voted for her, who donated to her, who supported her...and who are ecstatic at what she is doing because they (along with myself and many others) see it as a way to win back our country and believe she is one who can help that happen.

They also believe she has left a strong track record and foundation in Alaska and that she has left the completion of it in good hands.

She is in the process of flanking the enemy...and they are in a frenzy over it.

No, I did not see it coming...neither did the other side.

So, for me, I am fully supportive of her actions (as she stated them in the speech yesterday and as she has talked about today) of helping this nation in our time of need and getting on the road early to help conservative candidates for 2010 (next year) and build the necessary capital, support, and income to make her run in 2012.

I believe that is what she is doing and I support it 110%.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Sorry, you lose. You can search my name and find it if you wish.

Sorry, I did, and you didn't.

OK, I've been searching your comments, for the word "resign".

Before she actually resigned, the last time you used the word "resign" was on May 6, 2009, where you said:

McConnel and Cornyn should both resign.

Before that, you used it on February 1st, 2009, when you said (Of Obama):

Admit he’s not American born and resign.

Prior to that, I searched back to November 2008, and there were no other times you said "resign" in any of your comments.

Now, maybe you used a word other than "resign"? Why don't you either tell me the actual word you used, or point me to one of your comments from before she resigned?

[CharlesWayneCT]

I said "many freepers are blindly screaming that this was a great idea", not that every freeper who supported Palin is saying so. A lot of freepers who supported Palin are not saying this is a good idea.

There is of course a difference between resigning because of scandal, and resigning for other reasons.

But neither appears to be the way to prove you are ready to be President. It isn't going to be easier to be President for 4 years than to be Governor of Alaska for 4 years.

If McCain had won, Palin would be VP right now, for 4 years, enduring all the attacks on her family and MORE, and enduring constant calls by democrats for her head -- Cheney certainly suffered tremendously, to the point of calls for impeachment and criminal charges, as well as their attacks on his family and his business dealings.

Plus, she wouldn't be living in her home state with her supporters, she'd be stuck in DC with her family.

[cowboyusa]

the spirit of antichrist is now descending on many of the so called right wing in this country.

[CharlesWayneCT]

That’s different, he was “running for office”, and he was not succeeding in winning that office. I would have liked Fred Thompson to have stuck it out, but it made sense not to.

[CharlesWayneCT]

BTW, I’m not agreeing that her national political career is over — I’m just saying that the argument is a sound one, and I don’t see how resigning is helpful to her cause.

As I said in another thread, I think she could have given a resignation speech that clearly pointed to the future in a way that would make sense, but her speech wasn’t it.

I see a lot of people writing good reasons for her to resign, but it would have been better if she had said those things.

[airborne]

I agree it’s different, but at the same time, I still respect Palin, and if she ends up in the race for President for 2012, I will give her serious consideration.

[Las Vegas Ron]

Thanks, Gov. Palin, you flushed ‘em out for us. :)

Most definitely a who's who or should I say a who's what type of thread...lots of noobs crawling out....