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.
You wanted her to succeed so badly, you just had to make a post that refuses to take her at her word?
Cannot imagine having to take the beating she and her family haven taken by the media. I can only imagine that had a role to play in this
We may need another wet cleanup on aisle 12.
So are a couple people on this thread.
The Democrats had virtually besieged her in Alaska rather than let her build up a record there, and her enemies in the Republican Party are numerous. She is trying to outflank them. I think the article in “Runner;s world,” is spot on. She intends to take on Obama himself, as she will knows that she and he are starting from the same place. The only questions are whether she will be able to attract the same money that he did, or whether she needs to, because there is also the example of Reagan, or more recently Huckabee. Find a way to talk over the heads of the media —and the party autocrats. I know one thing. We are in a new political landscape, and acting as a freebooter Palin—if she wants—can make a difference.
Well, you’re wrong. It’s just as simple as that. I wish her well but this is bizzare.
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Where were these editorial attacks when Democraps resigned? Hmmmm?
It doesn’t matter what she believes or doesn’t believes about what she says. This is a bizzare move. Maybe it will work, I don’t know, but I am not betting on it.
While I like her message, I am less impressed with the messenger. She is in many ways like Obamalongadingdong: great appeal without the underlying experience and credentials. She is a great neuewine, but time will tell if the vintage will be great. Her great advantage is that she has time to age, to mellow, to become wise in the ways of this cutthroat world. I, for one, am willing to wait. I would much rather support a Sarah Palin who has reached the full essence of her vintage. Today, she is good with a little Zwieblekuchen (onion cake), but is best left to mature.
Time will tell if she is Presidential timber, in the meantime she can work wonders in the fundraising arena for those of her ilk who will be essential to build a conservative comeback.
Does anybody remember how Bill Clinton’s career was over after his disastrous 1984 Democratic National Convention speech—the one where the delegates burst into raucous applause when Bill finally got around to saying “and in conclusion?”
Nixon was done after the Checkers speech.
Mark Twain said “the reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”
We will hear from Sarah Palin again. She may or may not ever win the Presidency but it sure looks like she’s planning to build her own network outside the GOP good old boy’s network, and with it her own national power base, which—like Palin or not—will be a force to be reckoned with.
Unless Obama makes that illegal too, of course.
Everybody, on this Independence Day Eve, needs to remember why this country was founded, and think about what we all need to do to make the American Experiement successful again.
Obama got away with calling himself an “imperfect vessel.” Little did we know how very imperfect he was.
Palin isn’t perfect either. But she’s the most charismatic leader that we who still respect the original ideals of the American Experiment have right now.
If her resignation allows her to do something like turn the Tea Party movement into a real political force, then that’s a win for all of us, even if she never serves a day in the Oval Office.
Stay on target, people. The goal is not to elect Palin, the goal is to ensure liberty to ourselves and our posterity.
Let’s be about it.
Ed Morrissey is a great blogger but he's wrong here. With all the frivolous ethic charges eating into Palin's personal fortune and distracting her from doing Alaska's business, something was bound to give. I don't see this as "bailing out," Hell if she would have stayed the same crap would have continued and you don't see the RNC or the state doing something about this.
Democraps have a double standard.
She said she plans to be working to be supporting those whose views she likes.
That’s an easy game plan. She draws 1000’s where ever she goes.
She’ll make millions on the speaking circuit supporting republican candidates for the 2010 elections. (and possibly but not likely a blue dog dem or two)
Its a twofer her.
Sarah has been thoroughly Alinskyed by the America haters.
She’s not going Galt. She’s going guerilla.
sorry, if you were really for her, you would let this play out. and not go negative—that’s expected from DU trolls. see my tagline
Why the long face, jokyo?
She’s going to need lots of money and lawyers.
0 has seemingly endless amounts of money and
he can promise high level jobs for those who come across.
It ain’t going to be easy.
I know it’s summer and people dress rather loosely, but dude, your yellow belly and troll sweat are really really un=attractive!
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