Palin: Is There A Scandal Or Is She Just Abandoning Her Office And Constituents
The same week she is blasted by staffers of her former running mate, John McCain, Sarah Palin has resigned:
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) stunned political observers Friday by announcing she will resign the governorship after just two and a half years in office.
The first-term governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee made the announcement at her home in Wasilla. Some political observers had expected Palin to forgo an opportunity to seek re-election, but few expected Palin to resign office. Her reason for stepping down was not immediately clear.
Alaska’s NBC affiliate, KTUU, was the first station to report that Palin would leave office. Her departure paves the way for Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell to be sworn in; KTUU said he would take office at the end of the month.
The move, coming nearly a year before she would be forced to reveal her plans by filing deadlines, is sure to lead to widespread speculation that Palin will devote herself full-time to a presidential bid in 2012.
Analogizing herself to a crafty "point guard", Palin said in her announcement (transcribed from MSNBC) that she was resigning:
…So that Alaska may progress, I will not seek reelection as governor. And so, as I thought about this announcement that I wouldn’t run for reelection, and what that means for Alaska, I thought well about how much fun some governors have as lame ducks – travel around their state, maybe travel to other states, maybe take their overseas international diplomatic trade missions, so many politicians do that. Then I thought that’s what’s wrong – many just expect that lame duck status, they draw a pay check and milk it and I’m not going to put Alaskans through that.
I promised efficiencies and effectiveness, that’s just not how I am wired. I promised that four years ago, and I meant it. That is not what is best for Alaska at this time.
…
I am determined to take the right path for Alaska even though it is unconventional and not so comfortable
…
My choice is to take a stand and effect change and not just hit our head against the wall and watch valuable state time and money – millions of your dollars – go down the drain in this new political environment.We know we can effect positive political change from outside government at this moment in time and actually make a difference for our priorities, and so we will.
Okay, that is just a partial and hastily done transcript of Palin’s speech.
So, what is up here? Todd have his balls in a vise? Another daughter is preggers? Some other family scandal? More Alaskan corruption about to break? Is delicate Sarah just tuckered out? She needs the time to figure out where Putin’s head is?
This is bizarre. Listen, the baloney on MSNBC about her doing it to "free herself up to run for national office in 2012" is pure unadulterated horsepucky. Her term was up in 2010; plenty of time to honor her duties and still run for national office in 2012. Nor is the excuse now heard on teevee that she "needed a break". She is walking away from her job and duties, how is that going to read on her resume for national office? This lady doesn’t care about her constituents, her job, or anything else but herself. A narcissist to the core. If she is not done as a GOP political candidate, they are dummer than even I gave them credit for.
I dunno. I see Sarah as more of a Stephon Marbury type of ‘point guard.’ As in only in it for herself.
Which is no surprise to anyone at all.
There are a few dozen more shoes to fall on this one.
Bizarre is a good word for it.
Maybe she’s leaving to spend time ministering to Jenny Sanford?
Actually my theory is that someone found out that Palin is one of the other women Mark Sanford “crossed lines” with (but of course not the ultimate line).
I really don’t know why she just didn’t “suspend” her governorship to go to DC to help with the current economic crisis.
What, orgies at The Family’s pad? Ugh, ick, I’m sorry I even thought of that…
Shame on you for putting that in my mind. “g” ALSO
You know, I blanked on the point guard self reference. I guess if she sees herself as Magic Johnson, I picked the wrong Sandford for her ministrations.
My first thought was that she was one of the women that Mark Sanford crossed the (not ultimate) line with, but life couldn’t be that funny, could it? I’m probably biased because I have bet with my son that Sanford will be out by 7/31. Who knew I picked the wrong Republican governor and presumed presidential candidate to resign?
If that were true, the Universe can forget buying me gifts for my next 35 Christmases and birthdays.
It always sounded to me like the other women were sex workers: thus, the no sex (but probably blow jobs), and the foreign business trips.
BUt then maybe I say that bc I have traveled in Thailand for the auto industry.
He is a good ole boy. The other women are strippers and exotic dancers.
And to answer ew’s question, I’m betting on a big scandal coming.
bmaz, not ew.
He saved teh day while I was out buying Malbec.
whoops. sorry bmaz.
I think you might have trouble finding anyone who would take that bet.
I’m with you WO. Unless it is some unknown serious health problem (doubtful) the only plausable answer is there is a scandal on its way…sooner rather than later.
I think the scandal has already broken. Palin lied to McCain’s campaign staff.
This CBS story from two days ago Palin E-mails Show Infighting With Staff includes the text of an email exchange in which Palin lies to top McCain advisor Steve Schmidt. The email was copied to seven other people in addition to her husband. The interchange with Schmidt is incredible.
Hat tip to Andrew Sullivan, who’s worth reading on this.
Damn you WO!
hard to believe anyone thinks she might be a viable candidate at all
I do believe it is impossible to overestimate the lack of intelligence
I think she can easily maverick herself our of resigning I might add
I think she’s positioning herself from Caribou Barbie to Sarah Plain and Tall (and below MSM radar)’cause something big is afoot.
At least it gets Michael-Fucking-Jackson off my TV for 12 hours
Yeah the Jacko preemption is a definite plus.
Something’s definitely up, if you ask me. Governors just don’t resign halfway through their first term in office for no reason at all. She needed the status of governor to make her a credible candidate.
Now, whether she decided to run for reelection in two years is one thing; declining to do that might have made sense. Maybe. But resigning halfway through her FIRST term? Makes her look like a quitter—which she is.
So I think something’s going on we don’t know about yet.
let’s see now..the last governor to resign in the middle of a term was…mmm…Elliot Spitzer? I vote for something big, nasty and smelly being revealed early next week. Quick – what magazine/pub publishes on Mondays/Tuesdays?
My money’s on a scandal of some sort, but given the recent track record of Republicans, I simply have no idea what it could be. They’ve already pretty much covered all scandal bases, some, like Sanford playing the Ernest T. Bass card and scarpering off down Argentine way, even I never thought I’d see. I’ve learned to watch and learn; it’s always entertaining…
“She is walking away from her job and duties”
Yea, just like goober over in South Carolina.
Mitt Romney breaks out into a big grin.
Don’t forget Pawlenty and Huckabee(or Chuck Norris’ BFF as I call him).
I’m scared that the Repubs might nominate Gary Sinese. He’s good looking, articulate, and a big right-winger. Better than what’s in the stable now.
I don’t get it either, unless a scandal is brewing. I can see the Romney(or Pawlenty) attacks ads now. While both are putzes. They will have(or are going to) serve out their terms as Governor of their respective states.
Romney was the de facto Governor of Massachusetts for the final two years of his term. He spent more time in Iowa and New Hampshire and Utah than he did in the state which he nominally led. No one here in Massachusetts has forgotten that, especially Lt. Governor Kerry Healey the rest of the Massachusetts GOP, most of whom you would have to bribe to get them to say something good about Mitt.
I don’t know what’s up with Governor Palin, and I don’t care. But she has positioned herself as the anti-Sanford, and that may be a very attractive position to irrational far right conservatives in 2012 or 2016 or 2020.
MSNBC tv: “Sources tell Andrea Mitchell that Palin is out of politics for good.”
She tosses this bombshell into a Friday news dump during a holiday weekend.
Wassup?
just the normal friday taking out of the trash.
they are dummer than even I gave them credit for.
Not me
I now know for sure she is not running for election since krystol predicts this is her opening speech, just gleamed from think progress
;
Compare with the Andrea Mitchell bit @17.
Gosh – between the Kristol and Mitchell track records, it makes for a hard call.
So we can officially conclude the exact opposite. Bizzarro Commentator Kristol is never right.
-G
“We know we can effect positive political change from outside government at this moment in time and actually make a difference for our priorities, and so we will.”
by her resignation……
I’ve read on one of the blogs that a sex tape of her husband is making the rounds, I tried the googles but found not a single referance
but still
Her husband and??????????A polar bear? Moose? Dying turkey?
It’s like Clue! Sarah Palin, with Joel’s Army, in the Jesus Camp!
My friend the editor of the local paper here suggested that someone must have found her in bed with either a live moose or a dead Democrat.
Geeeez! You must be fortunate to have a decent paper. Or, at the very least, a very funny friend.
Both. I trained him well before I retired last year, and the youngster (well, okay, he’s middle aged, but what the hey) is applying himself quite nicely.
Or possibly a dead moose and a live Republican.
Betcha the Johnston Boy might have coughed up a few sordid tidbits for some cold cash after Sarah eviscerated him.
The woman leaves a trail of tears and bitterness where ‘ere she goes.
-G
Switching from different channels the reasons being given are unbelievable,I still,well I take back what I was going to say,because I as many people saw there was no “there,there”.
Can anyone tell my why “sort of” has boomed into any discussion of anything on TV? It used to drive me nuts when people said “like” or “at the end of the day” but this is almost worse. No one seems capable of talking about anything with saying “sort of” or “kind of”. Help!
EPU’d: This person was one jiggered election and a heart attack away from the Presidency.
Very funny.
-G
The torch of not-Joe the not-Plumber has been passed to new leadership.
Not a chance. There’s too much money on the line.
Just catching up on her talking, via MSNBC: very, very peculiar.
She wants to cash in. Within 2 years she is going to be worth $50 million easy. She might never reach Oprah numbers but she is going to give it a try. She might pretend she is running for 12 or she might even believe it but she is really in it for the money. She is the hottest brand out there. She would be nuts to want elective office.
That’s true. There so much out there to grab while her name is still hot. So it’s a choice of a. stay in office two more years with this crap of elective office, gee, that’s not so much fun or b. go for the gold before more VF type articles come out. Hmmm. Life’s full of tough choices for Sarah Palin. I’m sure Pat Buchanan will look out for her too. He hasn’t been bitten yet.
Her prepared statement is bizarre. Did she just admit that she would be unable to resist taking overseas junkets and “drawing a paycheck and milking it”? Being a lame duck governor would be such fun, but she is heroically foregoing it for the sake of Alaska.
You’re kidding, right?
pal·in·drome (pāl’ĭn-drōm’) n. A word, phrase, verse, or sentence that reads the same backward or forward. For example: A man, a plan, a canal, Panama! A segment of double-stranded DNA in which the nucleotide sequence of one strand reads in reverse order to that of the complementary strand.
[From Greek palindromos, running back again, recurring : palin, again; see kwel-1 in Indo-European roots + dromos, a running.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Sarah Palin has never done anything for the good of anyone but Sarah Palin. My first thought: Who’s pregnant? But I do think there is some tsunami of unspinnable bad news bearing down on her. The only thing that would get her out of office early is the hope of concealing something.
Either that, or somebody just informed her that it wasn’t a beauty pageant that she won, but a political office.
Either that, or whom did someone get pregnant?
[One of the unfortunate consequences of being anti-abortion is that you can’t cover up any “mistakes” you [or your spouse] might make.]
Oh by the way,Rush will probably blame this on the president also.
Oh, this is definitely good for Republicans. Especially John McCain, that maverick-picker.
It’s mean for you to crush all my hopes and dreams of a Palin run in 2012. I’m left with only Bachmann now. I has a sad.
Well, I’ve been scratching my head, and the only thing I can come up with is “blackmail”. You resign OR… we’re gonna tell ALL the sordid details of… ??? Otherwise, even if indicted, I don’t see what she has to lose by remaining in office for the current term. But who might be blackmailing her? Course there’s a scandal… maybe this is her way of doing damage containment… hehe
I think we may be seeing a GOP political hit — who’s hurt them worse than Sarah? — masked as a Dem political hit.
allow me to join in on the speculation that something is coming –
anyone check the USAA/AK site yet ?
something magical about the 7/25 date – although probably gets her paid as Gov through EOY
Gasp, Piper must be pregnant with David Letterman’s child!
This is a GOP dump. There’s indictments likely coming down the pipe at her, and it’s MORE than likely the GOP itself leaked the info FOR the indictments. She’s a proven loser, ignorant, and a complete disgrace to the GOP, which is TRYING to rebuild itself.
That’s my money bet. She ruined the GOP, and now they disappear her. She’s thru in politics. Any foolishness aobut ‘12 is some media hack selling ad time.
Any takers? *G*
larue, is it possible to disgrace the gop?
they are not disgraced by the worst president in history, nor his treasonous vice president, they are not disgraced by always wrong krystol, they are not disgraced by gay bashers who are gay, family firsters who are adulterers, abstinance only-ers who have out of wedlock teenage daughters, draft dogers claiming military knowledge and the list goes on
what on earth could possibly disgrace them?
Oh Snap! Truer words…..
heh heh heh can’t say it much better than that heh
The GOP may be on the way to ruin (if not already there) and she no doubt is part of the reason. But she had a hell of a lot of help!
There is a duck diving for minnows behind her in the video. “What’s for supper”?
Good catch only Karl coordinates the GOP like this the GOP pulled the trigger on this one.
Fruitcakes are gathering around holding candles under her picture hoping to be so nutty one day.
Most people on MSNBC think something is up. The republics are finally running from her, calling her resignation Bizarre.
I can see wanting to cash in: she talked about how costly the ”frivolous” ethics complaints have been for the family and the state. So she avoids any more of these costs and she’s free to earn money speaking and with the book and ”building the brand” without people harping that she’s awol from her state duties.
I thought of Palin when Sanford turned up awol: she catches hell everytime she leaves the state, but it’s so far away it’s a major trip just meeting the other govenors in Washington. Not to take here side.
And remember how well that fabulous $500,000 fund-raiser went for her a couple of weeks ago. Epic Fail.
epu’ed from previous thread
although there aren’t many clues here
http://www.vanityfair.com/poli…..rentPage=1
One would think the attitude of a good leader would be to not be a lame duck and work for the betterment of the state’s citizens. Quitting doesn’t fit that bill.
Yeah, I know…
We would seem to have consensus on who caused this, then.
The long, uh ARM of Bill Clinton brings down another one.
Gawd just slammed a door in her face.
Nice one!
Translated: I couldn’t fulfill any of my campaign promises. I couldn’t actually do what I said I’d do: effectively and efficiently run a state government with a small population and oil revenues that any other state would be desperate to have. I have George Bushitis: I was bored actually having a job instead of running for one. So I’ll be happier (but screw the state that elected me) pretending I can run the federal government, while getting paid by Republican billionaires and “think” tanks for mouthing slogans ginned up by Fox Noise.
Except for the dislocation Ms. Palin is forcing onto her home state, this is good news for it. It’s good news for Palin; she can probably make a lot more in speakin’ money that just running a state that elected and depended on her to show the leadership she claimed to have. It’s good news for Jon Stewart; he’ll get several shows worth of snark from pointing out her hypocrisies.
It’s bad news for Obama and America. It means the GOP continues to put unarmored knights onto the electoral jousting field, which allows King Barack to think that he, too, is already doing the good job he promised to do and needn’t do a better one in order to get re-elected.
I always thought Bush would have LOVED to retire from the “job” of President on about Jan. 22, 2004.
With Cheney tan, rested & ready, I’m surprised he didn’t.
non-smoker, but I need a cigarette. all snarked out.
not a smoker myself but can enjoy a cigar at times
this b one of them I have to admit…going for a punch
Mike Allen from Politico thinks this will in no way hurt her with her base.
Yeah, well, perishing on a pyre like Joan d’Arc wouldn’t hurt her with her base, so that’s no news.
He also seconds my guess on the previous thread that she’s looking to spend lots of time in the lower 48.
Much warmer here.
True there is no other fundy out there unless you count squirrel boy I’m not sure who would piss off PETA more?
But the thing is Sarah scares off moderates and didn’t help McCain bridge the women vote gap.
The GOP high command needed her out and they need the base to blame us.
Now sure we plotted against Sarah and said mean stuff but we still have no clue why Sarah left.
I mean what could be so bad that having a Hispanic girl friend, hookers, diapers, a wide stance etc is not reason to leave?
Gee, we’re more powerful than we thought. I can see the headline now:
DFHs Hound Alaskan Governor Out of Office
The wolves and other critters applauded the announcement.
nonono, Obama made her do it, by forcing her to take all that ev-il stimulus money:
Obama, his powers are many.
Math is hard.
Great the GOP has been watching to many Vampire flicks they are horrified but seduced by Obama’s hypnotic poll numbers they fear they cant resist!
That may be true, but she can’t come close to winning with just her base. In 1992 Ross Perot was leading the polls with 39% (versus 31% for Bush and 25% for Clinton) not long before he pulled out of the race in mid-July in a snit. He jumped back in a few weeks later but the damage was done. He ultimately pulled only 19% from an electorate that was not very enthused about either of the major party candidates. The drop-off was mostly attributed to concerns on the part of centrist voters about the effects of Perot’s temper on his judgment.
I actually knew that.
I never doubted that in the least. You’re one of the most insightful commenters here. I made the comment for the benefit of those here who don’t recall those days too clearly because of age, disinterest at the time, or whatever.
does mike allen know what would hurt palin with her base ???
what sin, crime, or transgression is unforgivable for the choose few who are supported by palin’s base ???
huckleberry supported freeing a convicted murderer, who subsequently murderer again
haggard was snorting meth off of a naked male prostitute
sanford abandoned his wife and children for a wise latina soul mate
and princess pandora is the mother of the poster child for the failure of abstinence only sex ed
none of that seems to bother “the base”
except for giving Bill Clinton a blow job, what would any of these cretians have to do to piss off “the base” ???
Think Larry Craig
truer words never spoken
Bmaz, Mary, Ew, et al. — Could this be a Toobz Redux, where the R’s are leaking info from some forthcoming DoJ Palin prosecution, in order to queer the case later once it gets before a judge?
I dunno, but I would like to point out that between running for VP, the afterglow of running for VP and quitting a year and a half early, she really has not spent much of her four year term actually being governor. Not to mention that she refused to stay in the state capitol during the legislative session (remember all that travel voucher stuff?).
OMG. She is gifted. I’ll bet there is a Fox job in the works as a “pundit” like Rove is a “pundit”. Or a reality TV show.
I love love love the dig (yes, I see a dig) at Mark “Lame Duck Drawing a Paycheck” Sanford. It’s such a I’m not as bad as HE is….
If the scandal’s bad enough, WIngnut Welfare may not be an option. Unless it’s deep in the basement of some thinktank, far away from the windows and all cameras and microphones and op-ed pages.
Well, I just can’t think of anything more awful than what she’s already done. She’s a useful attack dog and the wingnuts will keep her, imho. Unless she has real blood on her hands. even still, have you met their friend Joe Scarborough??? So, I think there’s plenty of gravy for SP.
.
Now see; that’s the problem with progressives; lack of vision. Just when we think we’ve seen the awfulest thing ever, the wingnuts manage to do something no sane person would ever have thought of. It’s a game of constantly moving goalposts and rules. Calvinball for real…
LOL! I submitted that and then I saw your comment about moose etc. ROFL!! And it’s true. I just didn’t think hard enough…I can think of worse things, I can! I can! Praise the Lord, I can!
Well bless your heart; I KNEW you could!
yea, right…Palin…left on her own…in a THINK TANK? She can’t
swimthink! Without the lights and cameras…she’ll drown!She gets to draw a big fat paycheck for doing nothing but run her mouth….in the case of faux, every single day.
The only upside of that is providing more fodder for disgust by all but her rabid base.
She needs to take some time off – go to the library – read some books oh wait.
No coinkydink this pop star whopper came out on a holiday Friday. News consumers are at the barbie and Jon Stewart won’t be able to skewer her for days. I suppose that means that she, too, is another client of Karl Rove.
Only takes one interdweeb to say something at the barbie. *g*
Shouldn’t she be able to just secretly resign – after all, if comics are going to be allowed to make fun of retiring Governors, imagine the damage to the nation that might result.
Some famous institution once said something kinda sorta like that, I think.
Heh nice!
Seconded.
mary you are a treasure
Stewart and Colbert have next week off so they won’t get to her for a good long while.
haha, what about her BFF Letterman?
that could be fun
The statement was prepared in pieces as far as I could tell: which she shuffled just before starting.
Matlin on CNN: ”brilliant.”
Obviously Matlin does not have Michell’s sources.
Question on CNN: ”is she clear of ethics violations … ?”
just now reading the AK AG’s site – they dismissed 25+ ethics complaints against her in the month of June alone
many of them appear to be directed at her immediate admin staff
I guess the question there is, how many ethics complaints against her have not yet been dismissed?
Isn’t there also a big budget problem looming in AK, with oil revenues down, etc.?
Perhaps she didn’t want to be the “Arnold of the North.”
Governin’s easy when you’re skipping through the state handing out excess oil revenue money, not so much when oil prices and the economy go south.
Yep, that’s definitely part of the calculation. She can’t play Santa Claus to voters and she can’t use the treasury as her own personal allowance. So phooey! I’m just not gonna do this crap any more.
It’s soooooo Palinesque. Nothin’ here for me. OK, bye.
btw;
if someone as wrong as krystol can get a job being a pundit and someone who destroyed the gop like rove can have a steady job giving them advice
if someone like rush who drives constituents from the republican party into the democratic party can make more continue representing the gop
sarah palin has a home, a grand home with more money then she ever imagined, being a gop pundit
no matter what the scandal, no matter what damage she has done to her party, she has a home
OT – but Gov has promised to preserve Ghailani’s torture site. At least, in its “present” condition.
And they’ve said they aren’t using torture statements from his time in CIA torture detention. But they haven’t said they aren’t “clean teaming” him.
I guess it’s way to early to tell, but I have this creepy feeling we may find out that Chertoff heading up the crim div drew a clearer “non-absolution” of torture testimony than Breuer will, especially if it gives Obama what Obama wants. I guess its wait and see.
Ensign, Sanford, and now Palin brought down like dominoes. You think some insider GOOPer, perhaps with access to a stash of NSA taps, is clearing the field for Jeb? Can’t wait to see what they come up with for the Mittster…
wow, that’s nice deduction right there I must say, I sure hope you are right
it’s like an Agatha Christie novel. “And then there were two…“
my money was on the mormon mafia clearing the field for mittster, but with the bush crime syndicate, anything’s possible.
Does this end Rush’s tenure as the head of the GOP?
Nah. Mittster (aka Bain Capital FINANCE) knows how to make money from money, which requires controlling judgeships and regulatory agencies and DoJ. Mittster’s prolly safe; he’s all about money, money, money.
Mitt bought Clearchanel they are laying off people losing money paying Rush a fortune. Mitt bought Home Depot right before the housing bust also didn’t Mitt sell two of his three mansions recently in a down real estate market?
Nobody does that unless they need to raise cash fast. I bet Mitt used company stock as collateral for bank loans to buy all those companies so when the market dropped Mitt had to cough up cash quick.
He may need to cough up more soon.
they offered rush a contract before they realized the man bleeds republicans to the democratic party
he does help corporatists buy law but man oh man, rush knows how to bleed republican voters
the problem is, we really don’t want them anymore
Mitt thought he needed Rush to win the GOP base he still does but you are right Rush like Sarah hurts the GOP with moderates and women.
Still Rush is not pulling his weight at clearchannel they are losing money.
Speaking as a heavier person, I’m permitted to imply a joke about just how much weight Rush has to pull.
I’m guessing Mittster is still all about ‘making money from money’ and he clearly views ‘capital’ as the key driver in economic activity and tax policy. He’s a corporatist; they’ll cover his ass unless he really pisses someone off, IMHO.
Pawlenty will get his with his signature on Al Franken’s paperwork.
Now THAT’s a scandal a winger can never forgive…:P
There must be one heck of a scandal brewing.
If this is a shiny object, then the thing being distracted from must be a hell of a whopper. We’ll know that by the end of the day.
I EPU’d that this could be timed to help whip the wingnut base up into a frothy lather over the 4th weekend; Glenn Beck’s been even more seditious than usual lately, and officials-on-gay violence was way up across the country over last weekend.
CNN: ”is she hiding something?”
Also, Romney’s team has already sent out email responding to Palin’s announcement!
Matalin sounds like she’s auditioning as a consultant for Palin. ”She should do this and a little of that and not waste any time …”
Interesting. Sounds like Matalin hasn’t been ‘read in’ to whatever background dynamics are tunneling out of sight beneath GOP Problem Electeds. Not a good sign for Matalin; she’s always been a Good Soldier, but in this instance it appears someone’s left her out of The Loop.
She and Kristol work the same side of the neo-con crazy with Cheney. This seems like clearing the slate for Jeb with some help from the NSA.
Your hypothesis fits well with everything I’m aware of.
But I think Palin is so difficult to deal with that she’s going to end up either a very dangerous catalyst, or bought out and someone’s going to be paid to mind her so she stays out of the news and out of public view.
Sounds like there’s a criminal indictment on the way, so we’ll see what it points to…
Great thread, thanks to all.
From think progress
UpdateMSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell reports:
Yeah, and in other news I’ve told the L.A. Lakers I’m busy; they are free to find another point guard for the 2009-2010 season.
Note Mrs. Alan Greenspan advancing the false Paylin narrative of the “down-homey hockey mom who accidently found her way onto the Repub Presidential ticket, but see, she’s really just you” that we all know if false.
This one of THE biggest media whores of our time, and one of the most power hungry. She isn’t going anywhere, and I bet we see her more than ever now, providing “commentary” on every single BigMedia “news” outlet. All the while playing that same reluctant, “Aw, shucks…how’d I get here” attitude that Mrs. Greenspan helps push on the electorate.
UpdateMSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell reports:
She doesn’t like politics where other people are actually allowed to say things about her. And with oil revenues down, people might care whether she actually does her job.
Especially since running for higher office ruined her scheme of having the state pay her a per diem to live in her own house. (Really, does anyone know of another governor who refuses to move their family to the governor’s residence?)
Right…
With oil revenues down Alaska’s probably forced to accept a Federal bailout, in other words, and that would be incompatible with Sarah’s positioning with her nutty base. No win, bye c ya ltr!
I’m with Larue @ 56 and tbsa @ 61. The GOP establishment, horrified by the implication of the leaked email exchange with McCain advisor Schmidt (see my @ 101), has declared her persona non grata.
Then Palin, in classic narcissistic form, rejects the GOP.
The last month has been a gift to the Democrats. And I have enjoyed it more than is decent but it has been fun.
Ensign, Sanford and now this. Sarah gets out just ahead of the posse. It’s Christmas every day.
msnbc running the entire presser again at 5:30.
If any of the reasons being thrown around for why she’s leaving were legitimate, she would end this term and not run again. The ONLY reason she would quit right now is because something stinky is coming down the pike.
Her incoherence never dissapoints.
And where does the pissing contest with Steve Schmidt (courtesy of Vanity Fair) play into this?
There has got to be a core true GOP that’s been reflecting and regrouping for a while now. I would assume this would be the corporatists, not the populists. They would be highly motivated to effect a purge at this time, while they still have long enough to establish new faces as brands for the midterms and 2012.
That’s what I’m thinking. Purge, purge. Purge is the word.
Could be the Pope and the Bush family tag team again. Somebody said they’re clearing the field for JEB. Could be JEB, George P or Noelle for Meth’s sake.
Well, they’ll have to get better at stealing elections if they think the Bush brand dog’s ever gonna hunt again.
This makes a lot of sense to me. BTW – great thread. I knew I’d get the best speculation from you guys…
Responsible Speculators Club, that’s us.
In the past few weeks she got in a brawl with Letterman and then the blast from McShames staff. She may have just got fed up and said screw this shit.
Not enough. Gotta be bigger than that.
On the other hand, she’s clearly crazy, so who knows?
As usual, she distorts history by attributing the famous, “Retreat hell, we’re simply attacking in another direction,”quote to Douglas MacArthur. It actually came from General O.P. Smith, Commander of the First Marine Division, after MacArthur had put Smith’s Marines in the position of fighting their way through several hundred thousand Chinese at Chosen Reservoir.
I kinda thought she was channeling a bit of Nixon too “you won’t have me to kick around anymore”.
When she started to quote MacArthur, I thought she was going to come out with some greandiose paraphrase of the “Old soldiers never die…” thing. Instead she erroneously attributed the retreat quote to MacArthur. I’m sure in her mind, John Wayne, Douglas MacArthur, Toby Keith, Richard the Lionhearted all pretty much the same; heroes.
Following a bloodless coup by the AIP, Alaska secedes from the U.S. and Sarah Palin is made Queen of All She Can See. Sorry, Putie Poot that includes your former country as well.
Does anyone really believe she wants to spend more time with her family. The woman has absolutely no problem lying to anyone. Easy as breathing. As soon as a great opportunity comes along that takes her away from her loving brood, well, she’s not gonna blink.
off topic but fodder for marcy and bmaz;
raw story
combined with another of your favorite topics;
enjoy
I don’t think there will be a scandal. If I was a governor and had cinched a multi-million dollar book deal, I would quit too.
Without being Governor she can’t make national news and in 4 years without news she won’t be the fundies favorite the book deal is a loser then or maybe a bribe?
Then you ought to be required to immediately refund every red cent you have scammed the state government of; every cent of salary, travel reimbursement, per diem, housing allowance, car allowance, that loss on the state jet you took just for political points, the money on the other state planes you have deprived the state of use because of your petty whims – all of it.
I guess we do have a new major military operation under way today. Is this perhaps partly timed to distract from any casualties there?
Seen on Twitter: “She’s resigning to spend more time committing treason with her family.”
Goddammit!! Why are Colbert & Stewart on vacation [it’s Friday, and Colbert will be out next week as well].
Man, I’m listening to a repeat of her presser and she sounds Bachman-esque, bat-shit crazy!! Saying the “world needs more Trigs.” And a mish-mash salad of right-wing cliches. Worse than I’ve ever heard her.
I hope this brings Keith back into the studio.
It’s pretty clear that she has her sights set on bigger things.
She wants the outsider mantle. She wants the freedom to travel. She sees the chaos in the Republican party and she sees her opportunity. She wants the Presidency.
She can’t wait until 2016. Her looks, practically her only political asset, won’t be nearly as potent eight years from now.
I dunno, the Sarah brand’s not exactly a winner any more. Mavericky-flavored, sure, but she already repels a plurality, and if the magnitude of this scandal is remotely commensurate with the magnitude of this resignation, she’s toast. She is clearly reacting today, not acting. And in a great hurry to boot.
Perhaps she’s quitting so she can more freely stalk the author of the VF piece?
you may have the winning entry here.
She leverages her resignation to get outta the ethics mess.
She resigns – Alaska gets her outta there
She gets to travel
She spins it to look like “oh, wow, she really really loves Trig and her family, what. a. gal!”
She gets to travel with her favorite prop, Trig, the baby she loves so much and wants to expose to so very many things there are to see in a TV studio…
And Alaska gets to move on.
Everyone wins!
I spend the day offline and this happens! wow
I honestly have no idea. In today’s rethug party, sex, prostitution, fraud, massive corruption, support for domestic terrorism, and even treason are excusable offenses so what the frack could she have done? Had an abortion? Had dozens of abortions? converted to islam? Is gay and about to he outed? what?
Just like any organized crime body, they encourage witnessed misdeeds in order to have something to hold over them and thereby control them. And once one of them becomes too much trouble, all they have to do is finally expose the misdeed. Poof goes the problem.
OMG this woman is fing crazy. What the hell is she talking about? She is so irratic and crazy. McCain was nuts to chose her. It is even more apparent now than it was back then.
Please let there be an indictment in the works. Someone needs to indict her so that all that comes out of her mouth is “no comment”. We would all be better off, including her. I mean seriously she is resigning but still talking about her agenda for Alaska? WTF? You resigned you no longer have an agenda. Craza! as some in Louisiana say.
she needs a new wardrobe paid for by the state. Orange is a good color for her.
Does this mean Letterman can go back to making fun of Palin?
Wait. Stop. Is this all because of Letterman??? tee hee.
just watched the whole thing. One long run on non sequitur. I agree with MM— batshit crazy.
Now Joe Scar making excuses for her. They’re all sick.
I just watched the whole thing too. You speak for a living – am I missing something or is the meter strange with all the gasps after each sentence? Very rushed and then the gasps.
it sounded like she was making it up as she went along—bad idea. She threw everything in there but the kitchen sink, possible affairs and possible indictments.
Maybe some drug to keep her calm or some kind of speed like we thought McCain was taking before his debates with Obama when he was so angry?
My reaction exactly when I watched the video above. That was very badly delivered — ‘way too fast, badly paced (if paced at all), very breathy. It’s hard not to think that she’s speaking under pressure, quite a lot of pressure.
BTW, it was NOT MacArthur
”Retreat, hell!” snapped Major General Oliver Prince Smith, commander of the 1st Marine Division, with which he had fought on Guadalcanal, New Britain, Peleliu, Okinawa (TIME, Sept. 25). ”We’re not retreating, we’re just advancing in a different direction.”*
Schuster on McShame— he will forever be tied to this
pigpick of a vp candidate.Rollins: ”stumbling.” Compares her to Katherine Harris (oooohh) whose campaign Rollins proudly admits to running.
”No narrative” and it seems teh pundits are not appreciative of being thrown curve balls on Friday afternoon!!! Much grousing.
It’s unfortunate that all most people will hear about this next week will be sound bites. It takes hearing the entire *speech* for the full impact of the definition of “disjointed” to be clear. Or was it an excellent example of what the psychologists mean by “free association”?
Would you believe psychogenic fugue state?
she has a rare affliction, forst documented because of her bizzare use of the english language, named after her
read all about it
the affliction is now known as “palinopathy” and a person afflicted with this problem is “palinopathetic
Great Diary Perris thats one I’m sorry I missed. She also contradicts herself makes claims like about reading magazines that are both untrue and obvious, repeats or restates things and like Bush has no trouble lying.
Bush had no problems saying McCain had a Black bastard. Sarah had no problem saying Obama palls around with terrorists.
Could being a Sociopath have any connection to language difficulty?
Yeah, I would think even the wingnuts would get tired of a steady diet of what sounds like eighth grade bullshit, didn’t-do-homework, wing-it class presentations. Still, Fox or Clear Channel apparently understand some things I don’t.
Wow, it’s so full of contradictions. I’m stepping down to keep my eye on the ball. huh? we can affect change by not doing this any more.
I noticed she through in wanting to make positive changes for AlASKa and “the rest of America too”. now she’s scaring me.
Oh noe!! She’s got The Call; gonna be the Amy McPherson of the 21st century – travel America saving souls, healing the fake sick plants in the audience, maybe selling her own brand of miraculous healing elixr…
The Royal We — tells all.
She can’t become queen of the sovereign Kingdom of Alaska while still occupying the governor’s office under that state’s and U.S. Constitution.
Then she’ll have what Cheney never achieved by invading Iraq, her own seat at OPEC.
One non-scandal possibility occurs to me — it’s just remotely possible that Palin realized that being a wingnut rock star really fulfills all she wants out of politics (money, worshipers, travel, etc.) and that if she has that, and the only thing added by being a presidential candidate (or god forbid, president) is a colossal pain in the ass. Similarly, since she clearly has never wanted to actually do the job of governor, if it isn’t a stepping-stone to more power, and she can resign without losing her cult, why not bail?
I still think a scandal is more likely, but it’s remotely possible that this is the explanation.
DING! There’s been a bit of discussion in that direction on msnbc in the last few. Limpballs better be quaking even harder than he usually does………..palin is gunning for his job.
She just missed her second period.
Yes, and Alan Keyes is the father.
marg at 196, I’m with you, the Gov. is preggers. Fun to wonder if Todd is the Daddy.
How can Palin announce a quitting date so far off? If this were a legal matter or politically explosive news, she could not guarantee it wouldn’t blow before then. So it must be something that takes longer, more predictable, a process, perhaps biological, that won’t show until then?
I think the “we” in her “we decided…” is not royal or ecclesiastical, but is “we” = “me and my family.” She seems to indicate that there was a family discussion about something. Family matters?
Also, the “higher calling” or whatever her exact words, maybe is not religious or political, but “being a mom.” Uhm, again.
she’s coming to hollywood, isn’t she? gonna get herself a talk show right next door to “judge judy” in the sunset bronson studio. i’m gonna have to drive by a block of palinites all lined up roasting in the sun on my errands now, aren’t i?
nooooooooo.
(hmmm, maybe i can get the “starburst” concession…)
Holy shit nobody has been talking about MJ for a whole hour.
So in addition to being a raging narcissist, Palin’s timing is terrible, too!
Well, I did say this upstairs at the Mamaship:
I’ve been waiting for –
BREAKING: Is Sarah Palin the biological mother of one of Jacko’s children?
Palin involved in a homicide!
Huh… Moose = Palin… Squirrel = Huckabee…
Yep: Must get Moose and Squirrel. Boris was right.
Maybe she cut a deal for a new wardrobe.
I just checked a Notre Dame football blog that has a ton of pro-life, wingnuts, who went ballistic when ND hosted Obama and love
Gov GilfSarah.Not a peep about Sarah.
What was I thinking? I was off-line most of the afternoon and look at all the fun I missed!
The Mr.’s reaction to her announcement: Did she quit her job to pursue a career in politics?
(Ok, not nice to make fun of AK, but it still made me laugh.)
My reaction: She wants to spend more time in NYC to see if she can buy back her used clothes secondhand ; )
Ok, off to read the thread…
Maybe Sarah got tired of living under the threat of Putin!
Yeah but now she is no longer commander and chief of the AK NG.
Who needs the AK NG when you’ve got Joel’s Army?
Governor Palin — a follow up question, please ….
Which of the dozen or so excuses mentioned just now is the real reason for today’s announcement of your resignation?
“Uhmmm, all of them…”
ET just posted this comment at his Oxdown:
* j o y *
Well you knew she wouldn’t throw in the towel just to curl her eyelashes. I cannot wait to see the indictment…
Still, I was keeping my fingers crossed for the dead moose and live Republican ; )
Jane up at mothership
Newsflash — Sarah Palin signs contract to portray Tina Fey on next season’s Saturday Night Live. Stephen Colbert cries — NOOOOO!!!
fookin sarah palin has now pre-empted “Lockup Indiana”
what’s up with that ???
I never been locked up in Indiana, an since the economy is crashing here in Cali, I was thinking of relocating
where am I gonna get my moving advice now ???
and I’m sure msnbc can’t afford all this overtime pay
what was this ditzy governor thinking ???
oh, nevermind …
Shannyn Moore via The BRAD BLOG from Oxdown.
If there weren’t a heady scandal brewing, she would have clung to her job, like Sanford or Bush did as governor of S.C. and Texas, respectively, doing little except run for cover or run for president. There has to be something forcing her to give up the status, perks and pay she desperately needs to stay in the public eye.
Can you imagine the family dynamic if she really were limited to cookin’, cleanin’, lovin’ and shootin’ at home, and drivin’ the family van to soccer games and moose shoots? Nope. Somethin’s up.
Fortunately she lives in Wasilla, so there’s meth.
Someone was asking about Rumsfeld just the other day.
Rumsfeld On Abandoning Geneva: ‘All Of A Sudden, It Was Just All Happening’
By Justin Elliott – July 3, 2009, 6:03PM
Donald Rumsfeld has finally said he’s sorry. Sort of.
“In an interview with biographer Bradley Graham, the former secretary of defense says he has regrets about the administration’s controversial detainee policy.
“The twist is that Rumsfeld doesn’t regret the policy itself — specifically the abandoning of the Geneva Conventions for detainees picked up in Afghanistan. Rather, he regrets how the policy was formulated.
‘”All of a sudden, it was just all happening, and the general counsel’s office in the Pentagon had the lead,” Rumsfeld told former Washington Post journalist Bradley Graham, as quoted in By His Own Rules: The Ambitions, Successes, and Ultimate Failures of Donald Rumsfeld. “It never registered in my mind in this particular instance–it did in almost every other case–that these issues ought to be in a policy development or management posture. Looking back at it now, I have a feeling that was a mistake. In retrospect, it would have been better to take all of those issues and put them in the hands of policy or management.”‘
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpoi…..hp?ref=fpb
I think Schuster got her last night on KO. Well, actually, whoever shot across her bow with those emails.
“We know we can effect positive political change from outside government at this moment in time and actually make a difference for our priorities, and so we will.”
So, she’s gonna become a community activist?
Good guess – after all she used the expression “full court press”
Psst. When saying someone is dumb, you might not want to spell it “dummer.”
Why do you think I did that?
I’m not that dumm!
whew, nothing like palin to stir up the traffic on a holiday friday night! can’t even begin to catch up.
fwiw, placing my bets on the unseemly untidy, erm, trade she pulled off with spenard building supplies in wasilla, who evidently built her house on the lovely lake where she resigned. however, they built it sorta, er, ‘on the way’ to this other job just up the road apiece, a job building this massive oversized sports center that sweet sarah got FEDERAL funds for. this is why the feds are the ones snooping around and asking the company for paperwork, etc.
a federal indictment on embezzlement charges. now mind you, it may end up that the USatty offices there bungle this as badly as the stevens case, allowing her to eventually be ‘vindicated.’ but the case, if it goes forward, will keep her tied in knots for a few years, pretty much ruling out a 2012 run.
anyway, that’s my bet. i further speculate that the indictment will come down in a matter of days, maybe next week, and it will happen because someone in the sbs company was looking down the barrel of hard time in the fed pen and decided to make a deal.
not sure how that translates as a basketball metaphor, but there it is.
I think it is a simple as the job got hard. This is a woman who went to 5 different colleges. She resigned her first state appointment on the Alaska Oil Board and now she has quit her job as governor. When things get hard she quits.
She’s a quitter. It really is just that simple.
She ran Ted Steven’s PAC right? Ted was being wiretapped by the feds for his involvement with the same company doing his house, right? She has given the Fed’s cause to wiretap her for years now because she worked or Teddy, and they have the goods. Now Murkowski’s statement is barely more than a question a democrat would ask. She says she “abandoned” the state. Murkowski could be afraid of two things. She might have a tough time against Palin for senate, although after this towel tossing before the second half of her term begins, that’s no longer too relevant. Palin is dead in Alaska politics.
But Murkowski knows that they have been tapping her and all the rest of the Alaska delegations as well. She may have realized that Palin sang to the feds about what she knows and now has to prove Palin incompetent and traitorous to protect herself from jail.
The feds have been looking at the Bill Allen, the big cheese, and all his little minions. Who are his minions?, the entire Alaska GOP, right? This isn’t a small change operation. It does smell like the guano has hit the fan.
I want to bet on this one before the odds are too close to even. Any suggestions?