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 Saturday, July 04, 2009

Sarah Palin Resigns
By Diana Hsieh @ 5:08 AM

Sarah Palin's announcement of her resignation as Alaska's governor was a bit of a shocker. John Hawkins of Right Wing News proposed five possible reasons for the move:
1) She may intend to run for President in 2012 and feels like it's to her advantage to resign now. It will mean no more phony ethics complaints. She'll be able to raise money and campaign for Republican candidates without having it used against her as governor as well. On the downside, it would hurt her in her weakest area: experience. Some people may perceive it as being flaky and emotional as well, which is something a female politician needs to work especially hard to avoid.

2) There may be some big scandal that's about to come down the pike. That's a pretty standard reason for resignations of this sort. What it would be, I have no idea at this point.

3) She, or perhaps Todd, could have a big health issue.

4) Maybe the Left finally wore her down and she just decided politics wasn't worth it anymore. I've seen it happen to other conservative women who've endured far less abuse than Sarah Palin and her family have so far. Indeed, it's part of the Left's strategy with conservative women. They try to make politics so ugly, so nasty, so personal, and so vicious that conservative women just quit.
...

5) She could be pregnant again.
Option #1 is not credible: Sarah Palin has ended her political career with this resignation. (Thank goodness!) Option #4 isn't so likely either at this late date, not without some additional pressure. So I'm betting on Options #2, #3, or #5. My money is on #5. Or perhaps another of her children is in some kind of un-Christian trouble. If Palin herself is pregnant, my only comment is somewhat general: career women really ought to figure out how to use birth control.

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 Comments

Saturday, July 4, 2009 at 5:23:48 mst
Comment ID: #1
Name: Paul Lin
E-mail: paul.lin(at)hushmail.com

I would bet on #2 because P(#2) is higher for a politician than other reasons, but I want #5 because it would be very funny.

Saturday, July 4, 2009 at 6:46:00 mst
Comment ID: #2
Name: William H Stoddard
E-mail: whswhs(at)mindspring.com
URL: http://whswhs.livejournal.com/profile

I hope you are right about #1. Or, at least, if you're wrong about her motive, that you're right about how bad a strategy this would be. I'd like to see the back of her going away.

On the other hand, do you remember "You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around any more"?

Saturday, July 4, 2009 at 7:17:56 mst
Comment ID: #3
Name: Dave B
E-mail: Blankenstein0582(at)aol.com

Certainly 2012 is out, but unfortunately she is still young enough that a Presidential run in 2020 is much more likely. In the meantime, Palin would have plenty of time to learn the national issues. If this happens, heaven help us all! (so to speak) :-o

Saturday, July 4, 2009 at 7:21:25 mst
Comment ID: #4
Name: Erik
E-mail: heroic(at)email.com

Diana Hsieh. What a rude post.

Saturday, July 4, 2009 at 9:32:45 mst
Comment ID: #5
Name: BrianS

I am curious. How has her resignation supposedly ended her political career?

Saturday, July 4, 2009 at 9:40:27 mst
Comment ID: #6
Name: Ashley
E-mail: atking(at)mtaonline.net

BrianS,

I would say that she failed to fulfill her pubic trust. She did not give a good reason for quitting. People will say that she was not tough enough to go the full term. (I live in Wasilla: even some of her supporters are saying they feel let down by this announcement). Also, this seems very erratic. The statement did not make a lot of sense. I think she is definitely running for P in 2012.

Saturday, July 4, 2009 at 9:41:38 mst
Comment ID: #7
Name: Ashley King
E-mail: atking(at)mtaonline.net

Oops, sorry that was not a Freudian slip: public trust obviously!

Saturday, July 4, 2009 at 10:25:09 mst
Comment ID: #8
Name: Lemuel
E-mail: synthesist(at)ymail.com

My guess is that she finally realized she's an incompetent nitwit.

Or maybe the witches casting spells from afar finally got through her spiritual protection barrier. Silly governor -- everyone knows you need more than a Christian prayer ceremony to ward of witchcraft; you *at least* need to carry around some black pepper, sulfur, and a horseshoe. Otherwise you're just posing.

Saturday, July 4, 2009 at 13:30:00 mst
Comment ID: #9
Name: Jared Seehafer
E-mail: jared(at)seehafer.net

I'm also curious Diana -- why do you think Palin's political career is over? My first thought was "oh dear God, she's already running for 2012" before realizing that she's about a year too early to start (then again, the perpetual campaign has made election cycles increasingly longer).

Saturday, July 4, 2009 at 13:57:16 mst
Comment ID: #10
Name: Diana Hsieh
E-mail: diana(at)dianahsieh.com
URL: http://www.dianahsieh.com/blog

My view is summed up pretty well by Doug Mataconis. He wrote:

"Even if [quitting politics is] not her intention, though, I think that it's safe to say that this announcement marks the end of Sarah Palin's political career. Even if she could overcome her disastrous performance during the 2008 campaign, the American people don't like a quitter, and, today, Sarah Palin became a quitter.

"There's no way she comes back after this."

http://belowthebeltway.com/2009/07/03/sarah-palin-makes-herself-eve ...

You just don't resign a major political office -- particularly when you desperately need more political experience to be a credible candidate -- in order to run for president in an election three years away. Not running for re-election in 2010 would be fine, but failing to complete a term of office is inexcusable absent some serious and unexpected life crisis. After this, who would trust her to complete her term of office if she would be elected again?

Sunday, July 5, 2009 at 7:27:48 mst
Comment ID: #11
Name: KPO'M
E-mail: ka84796(at)comcast.net

Palin's out on Facebook attempting to explain her decision, and her lawyer's already out there with threats against bloggers making unfounded claims. To me this just fuels more suspicion. I never count anyone completely "out" of politics (look at Marion Barry, who's been arrested again, BTW), but her decision on Friday is still somewhat confusing. There is a Senate seat up for election in 2010, but it seems to me it would be easier to run for it as a current governor. Even if she wanted to resign to run for Senate, now is not the time, either, since she would probably face little or no opposition in next year's primary.

As it stands now, she's leaving office in the middle of a deep recession and becomes a convenient excuse for any future budget issues without being in a position to take credit for any future successes. Maybe she has dreams of being a media force, but I think the Limbaughs of the world have that market cornered. Newt Gingrich seems more influential now than he was his last two years as Speaker, but he was Speaker and had a significant national electoral victory under his belt. Palin lacks that.

Sunday, July 5, 2009 at 20:08:40 mst
Comment ID: #12
Name: Anthony

It's hard to imagine anyone voting for her after this. But then, it's hard to imagine anyone voting for her before this.

Monday, July 6, 2009 at 0:57:25 mst
Comment ID: #13
Name: VoteTheDay
E-mail: team(at)votetheday.com
URL: http://www.votetheday.com

The reasons of Palin resignation are controversial. What could be the real cause of her decision? Vote on the most possible one - http://www.votetheday.com/america/palin-resignation-424/

Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 12:40:32 mst
Comment ID: #14
Name: Diana Hsieh
E-mail: diana(at)dianahsieh.com
URL: http://www.dianahsieh.com/blog

More good commentary on Palin's resignation here:

http://belowthebeltway.com/2009/07/06/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-li ...

Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 20:39:59 mst
Comment ID: #15
Name: TW
E-mail: v7anto(at)yahoo.com

I think it's reason #4. I don't have a strong like or dislike for Palin, but I think what she has endured in terms of nastiness from many quarters would be enough to do it. Many on the left have thoroughly discredited themselves and permanently lost my respect by their disgusting remarks about her children in particular.

I don't think there's any way she could run in 2012 or perhaps ever. She quit, and that's not an endorsement for someone who wants a higher office. Of course, Barack Obama left his senate seat early too, but not before he was successfully elected President, and he had the full backing of the fawning media.

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