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[Royal☭]

Al Franken wins in 2008!

[The Artist Formerly Known As Yoji]

PSSSSSSSHH, like we haven't heard that one before

[Mongrel]

This just in: Palin is resigning the Governorship today, in the middle of her term. Wild speculation about her chasing the 2012 GOP nomination abounds.

Holy Shit, I can only DREAM of such beautiful gifts of entertainiment. THREE YEARS OF ANTICIPATION.

_{Elsewere, Alaskans can only see their stock improve.}

[SCD]

Palin resigns as governor.  She can't talk the talk, but at least she walked the walk.

[Thad]

...the FUCK?

This is probably the biggest "WTF?" news I've heard since...well, since I first heard her damn name last summer.

Definitely curious to see what happens next.  Maybe she's actually developed the perspective to realize she's a joke and will never be elected to office anywhere outside of her insane state.

But I'm guessing it's the opposite and she thinks quitting before completing her term in executive office will somehow make her MORE likely to be President.

[Thad]

NYT:

For some Republicans, the comparison that came to mind was Richard M. Nixon, when he announced in 1962 that he was leaving politics for good after losing the governor’s race in California, two years after a failed White House bid.

In fact, Nixon used the next four years to quietly refurbish his image, building ties with the conservative wing that was becoming ascendant in the Republican Party, ingratiating himself with Republican senators and candidates for governor by campaigning on their behalf, and becoming better schooled in issues. (He did not bother trying to fix his difficult relationship with the news media.)

[...]

Yet Ms. Palin is in a different place than was Nixon [...] unlike Nixon, Ms. Palin’s credentials to serve as vice president — much less president — are a weak point. Nixon had been a vice president, senator and member of Congress, while Ms. Palin is in her first term as governor of Alaska. By stepping down before finishing her term, she cannot claim to be even a one-term governor. Without a positive record of accomplishment as governor, Ms. Palin may find she has little to run on as she seeks to achieve a critical political goal: expanding her appeal beyond the conservative voters who crowd her rallies and write checks on her behalf.

That and, oh, she fucking bowed out of an elected executive office before her term was up.  THAT'S a little bit different from Nixon building his base after losing a campaign.

“So I do think that this is a mistake if she wants to run for office,” [Sara Taylor, who was the White House political director under President George W. Bush] said. “It’s a brilliant move if she wants to go make money, write books and give speeches, and I don’t think anybody could fault her for that.”

Yes, who could possibly fault a public servant telling the voters who elected her to go fuck themselves so she could make more money doing book tours.

the White House political director under President George W. Bush

...oh right.

[Brentai]

My money is on that they finally started to uncover something she did which is undeniably fucked up (as opposed to "undeniably fucked up but nobody seems to mind rapekit rapekit rapekit") and she's ducking out of the spotlight to discourage people from looking at her too hard.

This story started breaking the day before she announced that she was stepping down, but on the surface I don't see why that in particular should be a deal-breaker.

[Thad]

Hrm.  Well, there's been some noise lately about the trouble she's had paying her legal bills, and another corruption investigation would certainly make that worse.  But yeah, that's still hard to buy as an explanation.

[SCD]

Here's another thought: 

1)  The republican party is in a state of dysfunction and she wants to fix things from behind the scenes in hopes that the party does not become irrelevant

2)  She's now a grandmother, and needs to spend more time with the grandchild so that the kid can continue with school.. or whatever it was before her life got botched up. 

It's not like she needs the money, her husband does bring home the bacon.

[TA]

A pending federal embezzlement indictment might be enough of a scandal that she wouldn't want to try to weather it.  And judging by her speech, she thinks that once she resigns, the statute of limitations runs on everything she did.

[TA]

Third possibility:

[A²]

There is not a big enough for that.

Apparently it's just a billowy dress. It's not a 8 year old pregnant, it's just embezzlement.

[Thad]

aaaand now she's threatening to sue anyone who speculates as to why she stepped down.

Which of course just brings us right back to "Is there a scandal, or is she just very very stupid?"

[Ted Belmont]

Can't it be both?

[SCD]

I would give her the benefit of the doubt, so long as the judge is unelected.  Nothing is a better venue of proving or disproving slander should that be the case, otherwise it would be the end of her career. 

The threats of lawsuits over slander is something that isn't new, and is a tool often used by Prime Minister Harper's lackies.  Was effective in disorganizing coherent attacks on the Canadian Conservative party, especially in the case where allegations weren't true.

[Thad]

Doesn't really work like that in the US, though.  Slander and libel are difficult to prove, especially in the case of public figures.

[SCD]

Fair enough.  The wsj explains my gut feeling, except they did the research.  quoting as i know they tend to go subscription-only in a matter of days

People close to Sarah Palin say national political reporters and pundits have missed the real reasons for her surprising decision to resign as Alaska governor. The national media have dismissed or downplayed her real motives, which had little to do with any plans to run for president in 2012.
[Sarah Palin]

Sarah Palin

Contrary to most reports, her decision had been in the works for months, accelerating recently as it became clear that controversies and endless ethics investigations were threatening to overshadow her legislative agenda. "Attacks inside Alaska and largely invisible to the national media had paralyzed her administration," someone close to the governor told me. "She was fully aware she would be branded a 'quitter.' She did not want to disappoint her constituents, but she was no longer able to do the job she had been elected to do. Essentially, the taxpayers were paying for Sarah to go to work every day and defend herself."

This situation developed because Alaska's transparency laws allow anyone to file Freedom of Information Act requests. While normally useful, in the hands of political opponents FOIA requests can become a means to bog down a target in a bureaucratic quagmire, thanks to the need to comb through records and respond by a strict timetable. Similarly, ethics investigations are easily triggered and can drag on for months even if the initial complaint is flimsy. Since Ms. Palin returned to Alaska after the 2008 campaign, some 150 FOIA requests have been filed and her office has been targeted for investigation by everyone from the FBI to the Alaska legislature. Most have centered on Ms. Palin's use of government resources, and to date have turned up little save for a few state trips that she agreed to reimburse the state for because her children had accompanied her. In the process, though, she accumulated $500,000 in legal fees in just the last nine months, and knew the bill would grow ever larger in the future.

"The Alaska ethics elves had painted such a target on Sarah's forehead that she had begun turning down pretty much every invitation she got -- even though they were pouring in every day by the dozens," a confidant of the governor's told me. "It is not throwing in the towel. It is deciding that she was ineffective in fighting for her principles and could do more in another role."

Family considerations also played a role. Ms. Palin gave birth to a baby with Down's Syndrome in 2008, and also has a six-year old. Everyone in the family was weary of endless personal attacks, including mean-spirited suggestions on liberal blogs that all of her children should have been aborted and that she would run on a presidential platform promoting retardation.

Governor Palin tried hunkering down. She ignored offers of help from outside and kept media outlets at a distance. "Palin had become so suspicious of the media that she rejected hundreds of requests by even friendly reporters to interview her. Her press aides say that before considering interviews, she insists that they comb through reporters' work, even if they write for a friendly, conservative publication," writes Ron Kessler of NewsMax.com. I can also attest to the difficulty of reaching Governor Palin's staff and getting simple requests answered -- the problem is that such standoffishness can sometimes result in more negative coverage rather than less.

Karl Rove acknowledges the unusual battering Ms. Palin has endured in recent months, but told Fox News that GOP leaders are still puzzled by her decision. "If she wanted to escape the ethics investigations and save the taxpayers money, she's now done that," he said. Unfortunately, he added, her decision "sent a signal that if you do this kind of thing to a sitting governor like her, you can drive her out of office."

But Palin friends say such commentary misses the real point. "The Beltway media can't understand someone not consumed with presidential ambition," one told me. "Maybe Sarah Palin won't run for president and maybe her family situation made it tougher to handle the barrage of attacks that come with that territory. The real issue that should be asked is why a mean-spirited system has to treat people who run like that, instead of why someone may choose not to go through it."

All good points, and they lead me to conclude that Ms. Palin mostly likely will not run for president -- in 2012, at least. She made many mistakes after suddenly being thrust into the national spotlight last year, but hasn't merited the sneering contempt visited upon her by national reporters. She simply was not their kind of feminist -- and they disdained the politically incorrect life choices she had made.

In helping to convince Sarah Palin that her road forward in national politics would demand even more sacrifices and pain than exacted from most politicians, the media did nothing to encourage women or people of modest means to participate in politics. By sidestepping her critics, Sarah Palin is now moving to another playing field where she has more control over the rules of the game. Her friends say her critics may call her a "quitter" now, but they should wait and see what new role she decides to fill. She may wind up having the last laugh.

-- John Fund

[Mongrel]

I'm sorry but:

she would run on a presidential platform promoting retardation

[Brentai]

John Kerry is still trying to debate with Sarah Palin.

This week in politics: Dan Hibiki vs. Magikarp.