Posted on 07/03/2009 10:48:41 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Sarah Palins jaw-dropping announcement that she is quitting her job as Alaska governor before finishing even her first term has divided Republican ranks and the wider political community in a very familiar fashion.
Many establishment GOP operatives and political commentators of various stripes were withering, both about the decision and the way she announced itin a jittery, hyperkinetic news conference that rambled between self-congratulation and bitter accusations at the foes she says are eager to destroy her.
The performance, by these lights, adds credence to the claims of some associates that Palinburned by the intense scrutiny on her and the crossfire that swirls around heris so fed up that she's ready to get out of elective politics. Even if it's only the small stage of Alaska politics she hopes to escape, skeptics say Fridays events also diminished and perhaps even demolished what was left of her viability as a 2012 presidential candiate.
But her defenders believed an unorthodox move, even if risky, has a clear logic and may only further increase her standing with conservatives who dont care what establishment figures in or out of the GOP think. Leaving the governors office at the end of this month leaves her free to travel the country, command large speaking fees, and begin the process of rallying her devotees without pesky home-state opponents criticizing every move.
These varied reactions were an echo of the debates that have followed Palin every step since her nomination as John McCains running mate ten months agoa surprise that turned out to be just the first of many surprises served up by one of the most colorful and polarizing American political figures in a generation.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Where's that Limbaugh/Palin 'Sum of All Fears' parody poster when you need it?
I hope she runs for President, but I would love it just as much if she was Alaska's next Senator wiping the Senate floor with Al Franken and showing wet noodles like Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell how to stand up and fight like men. And if she goes the Fox news rout, just think how nice it would be to wake up in the morning and see her and Megan Kelly co-hosting a show, or better yet have Palin take over for Bill O'Riley. Talk about a no spin zone. If you think Keith Olberman hates Palin now just think how much he'll be wetting himself and freaking out when she gets even bigger ratings than O'Riley. And if she goes for a talk radio gig, she'll be a great addition to Rush and Levin and may even give Rush a run for his money if she's good enough.
The way I see it this is just the beginning for Sarah Palin and the opportunities for her to affect our political system for the good are endless no matter what direction she takes. I don't know about you but I'm looking forward to see what Palin has in store for the conservative movement and for America. I bet it'll be exciting.
Thanks! If we go into 2012 united we will defeat Obama and his evil band of socialists. If we go into 2012 divided though, we will fall and only a miracle from God Almighty himself will able to save this country from the damage and destruction left over from a two term Obama administration.
Thanks! United we win, divided we fall. Maybe if all these Palin bashers spent more time promoting the positive attributes of their favorite candidates instead of tearing Palin down, their man or woman would be doing better. If they don’t have anything nice to say about Sarah Palin then they should just can it and let those who actually want to win in 2012 do so.
A. She accomplished so much already during her term that she is comfortable with the record. People from Alaska say the same thing, she got a lot done.
B. You need to consider that she is bombarded with requests to help causes outside of Alaska. Many people, myself included, would like to see Sarah on a larger stage. A stage where she can encourage other common sense, outside the beltway folks to get into the arena.
C. If you look at it objectively, the Palin resignation is a win for Sarah, a win for the people of Alaska and a win for the rest of the country.
D. She knew she would disappoint some people and apologized to you in her statement.
E. Now that you’ve had a chance to vent, please encourage her to speak out in support of causes we both believe in.
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Times are tough. I know.
Very like minds here.
Thanks for your comments. I would encourage you to read my comments on this thread and my comments on this tread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2285287/posts
I think these will give you all the reasons why I ‘vented’ as I have.
I believe there are fundamental problems with her political viability from here on out.
You see, it takes more than the ability to attract people who believe as you do, you have to attract people who don’t believe as you do. And you can’t come off as a quitter, a whiner, a person who can’t take it, for that to be as successful as she is going to need it could be.
I wanted her to be president. The chances of that just went from about 75 percent or better to 25% or better.
To say I’m disappointed in Sarah, doesn’t begin to cover it. I think she damaged her future more than she knows.
If she wants to drum up support for others, I’m all for it. We can use good voices. In addition to that, we need people who can’t be badgered out of office.
I’ve made a number of comments on these two threads that reveal in dept what my concern are.
I appreciate the post. Thank you.
Take care Trisham.
DO, I have a different take than on this.
Sarah may yet be President, and you can see by my tagline what I wish for 2012.
But she knows what you and I already know.
The turning point back for America is not 2012.
It is 2010.
If we do not win Congressional and Senate seats in 2010, there will be no stopping Obama.
She will work to get good people elected in 2010. She sees what our failed GOP leadership is unwilling to see.
And she is going to fight, even if it means she will NOT be President.
She has not done the easy thing, nor the expedient thing, nor the expected thing.
She is doing the most important thing, the right thing and the patriotic thing.
We have equal chances of being wrong or right about this at this moment of time.
This is either the dumbest thing she will ever do, or the most brilliant thing she’ll ever do.
It’s too early to decide, DO.
All I know is, like Reagan, she has a rendevous with destiny. The most important thing now is to fight Obama and his Administration, and she will work to see we get enough people elected to do that in 2010.
She is risking it all. On America. On us.
If I am wrong, I will be more despondent than you are now.
Then you can console me, my FRiend.
Okay, then the Conservatives can elect her by themselves. I was wrong.
She was the one bright spot on an otherwise dismal political landscape
Now she’s even brighter.
She will singlehandedly bring Congress back to our side, and win the Presidency to boot.
IMO, it’s not going to take Sarah to win back Congress. It’s ours for the taking. What’s more important, is that we have a bright person ready to take over from Obama.
Well, folks are convinced we don’t have to win others over. It’s going to be easy to convince others that our version of what Palin just did is the right one. Everyone will agree with the die hard Palin supporters version, and everything will be wine and roses.
Once we get her in the White House, you tell me how we keep her there if she can’t take what she was subjected to in Alaska.
Washington, D.C. makes Alaska look like a girls summer camp.
Don’t think this is personal, because I don’t mean it that way. I’ve played some literary games with the telling, but it wasn’t mean to be mean toward you. Hope you understand that.
Take care. I do consider you my friend.
DO, no offense taken.
You are injecting a very healthy dose of reality into the discussion. Nothing wrong with that.
Let’s give her some time. I think she will surprise a lot of people.
And nothing changes the fact we are friends. We both love America too much to let anything change that.
We sure live in interesting times!
Yes, we do. Thanks so much for being such a good friend.
D1
yep see my post: (192) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2285328/posts?page=192#192
Just came back from a July 4th Tea party. We have 2 people wanting the House seat now occupied by a Dem. Both were there and spoke and said after the primaries they both commit to supporting the other and getting a solid conservative in that position.
I am praying for a change in behavior and format for right leaning peoples. Stopping the dirty politics and growing up would be a major blessing.
Amen to that.
I hate this resignation by her, very disappointing. I surmise she's doing it for her kids. Understandable.
"Yawn, read my posts nitwit instead thinking anyone who criticizes her colossal mistake is a Democrat."
Yesterday one guy says I made a "lefty comment" cause I didn't like this. Another asked who let me out of my "cage in Democratic Underground." (that's the antithesis of this site if you've never heard of it). And I had up on my homepage that I wanted her to run in 2012. I was really taken aback by those reactions.
I hate this resignation by her, very disappointing. I surmise she's doing it for her kids. Understandable.
If it's for her family and she stays out of national politics, it is understandable. However, her comments suggested other reasons which IMO didn't make sense.
Yesterday one guy says I made a "lefty comment" cause I didn't like this. Another asked who let me out of my "cage in Democratic Underground." (that's the antithesis of this site if you've never heard of it). And I had up on my homepage that I wanted her to run in 2012. I was really taken aback by those reactions.
Yeah, I've gotten the DU comment before as well. Throughout the campaign, Conservatives rightly criticized the strange cult of personality and worship that Obama received from his supporters, yet here if anyone dares to express any form of criticism against Palin, esp after she quit after just 2.5 years in first term, they are summarily attacked as trolls, liberals etc... The blind devotion to her is getting creepy.
FTJM, you are trying to view her actions through the prism of conventionality, and that’s not her. She’s NOT a typical politician, and she does things in her own way. If you’ve been criticized, it’s because you’ve come on like gangbusters jumping down people’s throats, and given that you haven’t been on FR very long, that doesn’t make you look good, and can get you pegged as a troll (regardless of what you’re discussing).
You’d have a point about a cult of personality/”blind devotion” were it true in this case, but I don’t see that as such. You confuse it with being rightfully protective of her from hordes of elites that want nothing other than to destroy her and her family. You want cult of personality on the “R” side, take a look at the ex-Governor from Massachusetts. Doesn’t matter what he’s done, his sycophants (many of whom are paid) will excuse anything that he’s done, lie for him, slander those that discuss his record, or call critics “liberals” (nevermind that he IS one).
But I will say again she didn’t “quit” or “run away” or any of that nonsense. She recognized one basic problem she faced trying to govern in Alaska, and that was that she was NOT going to be allowed to do so. She has Democrats taking their cue from the national party with one missive: she is to be destroyed at all costs to keep her from being a viable candidate for 2012 for President. She has AK RINO liberal big government establishment types (the Murkowski/Stevens/Young faction) acting in precisely the same manner as the Democrats. She is being KEPT from doing the job she was elected to do, deliberately. When she is constantly under attack from these factions, and being buried under a blizzard of baseless ethics accusations designed to drive her to bankruptcy, she has to take stock of the situation and decide what the best course of action is.
The Dems and RINOs were looking to 2010 for the sole purpose of dirtying her up and crippling her so badly in reelection efforts that would leave her unable (or too damaged) to run in 2012 (a similar situation with George Allen in VA in ‘06, who was considered the lead candidate for President in ‘08). She rightly realized that even if she won again, that it wasn’t worth the trouble, especially for an office for which she was not likely to serve out that term. She preempted everything by choosing to step aside for her Lieutenant, who will be able to focus exclusively on the office itself (and in doing so, the Dems and the GOP are deprived of their key target for next year). She managed to achieve four things at once by resigning now, she sided with her family’s desires for her, she put a capable man to succeed her as Governor to carry out a reform agenda, she put Alaska’s needs ahead, and she preserved her viability for 2012 by separating herself from an office that had become an albatross (for which a year ago at this time, it was not).
All in all, a pretty spectacular maneuver, and she can claim to have left the office, and Alaska, in better shape than she found it in. Contrast that with a certain ex-Governor from Massachusetts who deliberately left the office to a Black Chicago-born Socialist (come to think of it, Deval Patrick is having to clean up Slick Willard’s Socialistic mess, and when a Democrat has to clean up a so-called “R’s” disaster, you know it’s bad).
We’ll see what the future holds. I hope I’m wrong but I don’t think she’ll run and I think if she does this doesn’t help her cause.
I want people who can survive and thrive in the heat. If Palin can’t outsmart and out manuever jerks in the AK legislature, then she isn’t a good fit for D.C. Leahy, Schumer, and Durbin will be much worse than Hollis French. Plus will Palin be there when the 3 am call is rung or will she quit? It is a fair question to ask should she decide to run for elective office again.
We’ll see how much money Sarah PAC and TEam Sarah in October 2009 when they report their cash on hand to the FEC. I think Palin quit to work more on her PACs. Wouldn’t be something if Palin’s PACS raise more than Michael Steele’s efforts?
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