Sarah Palin to Resign

[ClownPrinceofCrime]

Breaking news
NBC News and news services
updated 3:27 p.m. ET, Fri., July 3, 2009

WASILLA, Alaska - Sarah Palin plans to resign as governor of Alaska in a few weeks, KTUU-TV reported Friday.

Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2008, made the announcement at her home Friday morning, the station said.

Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will take over at the end of the month, KTUU reported.
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With her at the announcement were Parnell and most of her cabinet.

There was no immediate word as to why she will step down before the end of her first term, though some have speculated in the past that she may be interested in running for president in 2012.
© 2009 msnbc.com

MSNBC

Any idea why she would be doing this? It doesn't seem that stepping down now would in any way help her if she wanted to run for POTUS in 2012. Perhaps some scandal is about to come up? This makes no sense to me yet.

[FSTargetDrone]

Any idea why she would be doing this? It doesn't seem that stepping down now would in any way help her if she wanted to run for POTUS in 2012. Perhaps some scandal is about to come up? This makes no sense to me yet.

I was wondering the same thing in my now redundant N&P topic. I thought people seeking the presidency typically stay in their current office, certainly when the campaign is a few years off.

The rambling reasons she gave in the speech seem dubious at best. I don't believe a word of it.

[Darksider]

Maybe she's going to try playing the sympathy card. IE, she'll go waaah! The meanies in the left and the media created so much emotional trauma that I can't take it anymore!.

It's by far one of the worst political moves she could make, but she hasn't really struck me as being too bright.

[FSTargetDrone]

Maybe she's going to try playing the sympathy card. IE, she'll go waaah! The meanies in the left and the media created so much emotional trauma that I can't take it anymore!.

It's by far one of the worst political moves she could make, but she hasn't really struck me as being too bright.

She sure is laying it on thick about what a wonderful decision this is for the people of Alaska on her part.

[KroLazuxy_87]

It seems like she's planning on traveling around the country some more and keeping her name on people's lips before her probable election run in 2012. This may actually work in her favor. By spending some time making a name for herself other than "That crazy lip-stick wearing Bulldog that ran with the old guy in 2008" she might stand a better chance in 2012.

"She thinks she has accomplished goals she has set forward," a source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said. "She sees what a positive influence she has had on people's lives from traveling the country in the last year."

CNN's Developing Story

Edit: The story also reports she won't be running for governor in 2010, further pointing to her desire for the 2012 presidency.

[Darth Wong]

We can be certain that she still has lofty ambitions. She's like the stereotypical evil homecoming queen bitch in every high school teen comedy. Hopefully she continues to play the part as per the storyline, which means she will start to alienate people and not realize it.

[Vaporous]

It's a calculated political move, in the most heavily ironic sense of calculated possible.

[Darth Wong]

It's a calculated political move, in the most heavily ironic sense of calculated possible.

Wherever she goes, she is greeted with crowds of people who no doubt love her, because those are the only people who would go to her events. And because there's so much other news, she's not on the news cycle, so she isn't hearing people go after her at all. This huge positive feedback loop must be leaving her with a seriously distorted idea of what most people think of her.

[Darksider]

Wherever she goes, she is greeted with crowds of people who no doubt love her, because those are the only people who would go to her events. And because there's so much other news, she's not on the news cycle, so she isn't hearing people go after her at all. This huge positive feedback loop must be leaving her with a seriously distorted idea of what most people think of her.

I'd pay good money to see the look on her face when she finally realizes how people really think of her

[Darth Wong]

Wherever she goes, she is greeted with crowds of people who no doubt love her, because those are the only people who would go to her events. And because there's so much other news, she's not on the news cycle, so she isn't hearing people go after her at all. This huge positive feedback loop must be leaving her with a seriously distorted idea of what most people think of her.

I'd pay good money to see the look on her face when she finally realizes how people really think of her

I'm not sure she ever will. She strikes me as the kind of person who will surround herself with sycophants, avoid contact with anyone outside her preferred group, and dismiss all of her critics as fanatics or extremists. George W. Bush did the same thing (remember the "free speech zones" at his speeches, where contrary-thinking people were corralled like cows, far away so he wouldn't see or hear them?), and has a similarly distorted view of himself.

Can you imagine George W. Bush or Sarah Palin getting in a spirited debate with a person who has a completely opposite viewpoint? They would prefer to avoid being within 100 metres of such a person.

[irishmick79]

Another thought I had is maybe she has some sort of scandal brewing and resigned before it could hit the public. This way, if it does come out it will look like a political hit job and she can focus exclusively on damage control and clearing the air before her 2012 run.

[erik_t]

The GOP has been massively entertaining of late. Every time I think they can't top themselves, there they go. I'm not saying this is or isn't a good idea for Palin, but it was certainly out of the blue.

[Sea Skimmer]

It could be a scandal brewing, but I think an overriding factor must be a desire to keep her out of the public spotlight until she’s ready to launch another formal campaign. Her advisors have got to be aware that every time she opens her mouth without a script she’s screwing herself that much more. She can easily generate an excuse for resigning early, like wanting to spend more time with her family prior to another big highly mobile political campaign.

[FSTargetDrone]

MSNBC is reporting that she didn't mention her resignation plans to her staff until recently, perhaps not until earlier today. She only told the lieutenant governor on Wednesday.

Another interesting blurb from MSNBC:

Sources told NBC's Andrea Mitchell that Palin is out of politics for good.

Now, I don't necessarily believe it's true, so why leave now? She can finish out her term and then be done with things.

I still think there is more to come. She's basically quitting when there is no need to do so, especially so early on, assuming she does have presidential ambitions.

[Mr Bean]

I had to have this confirmed three times over before I believed it.
On July 26th I think I shall a drink in memory of the future Ms Palin and hope this is not scandal but because she aims for the Presidency and not a Senator slot. If she goes for the gold and runs for President she will lose, and lose as badly as anyone could possibly lose even Obama is enough half way competent between here and there.

*Edit, Damn you Palin for doing this today and not yesterday, now John Stewart and Steve Colbert must wait until Monday to devote their whole show to her running remembrance footage.

[Patrick Degan]

I think this is more her clearing her schedule so she can make national political and speaking tours without the burden of serving out her remaining term as governor. The office has served its purpose. NPR played snippets of Yukon Barbie's press conference and she was just all over the map about her reasons, answering possible criticisms, the reactions of her family, her staff, and the voters. At points, she was just plain babbling.

I'm sure there's the aforementioned political "logic" which she believes is valid but it makes no actual political sense. I'd say emotional instability, though, cannot be ruled out considering her semi-coherent ramblings before the press this afternoon.

[FSTargetDrone]

Note that she will have served just about 2.5 years of her 4-year term.

Her press conference (such as it was, with about a dozen or so witnesses and a loud bird periodically making noise in the background--perhaps in vengeance for the turkey incident?) will be played in its entirety on MSNBC at about 17:30 EST, just a few minutes from now.

[Darksider]

so she's essentially abandoning her duties as governor now that she's gotten everything she wants out of the position?

Hardly surprising, but it still pisses me off.

[FSTargetDrone]

I love this shit. She's combining basketball and football metaphors and quoting MacArthur.

[CmdrWilkens]

There are basically two possibilities here:

1) Some idiot told her this would be a good idea to let her spend all her time prepping for 2012 and she is just setting herself up for the most massive failure since Guiliani (more below)

OR

2) She knows that something is about to hit the fan either with state finances, intra-party politics or possibly family shit that she doens't want to be on national television again.

If its option 1 then whoever advised this is retarded. While the far right have held her up as a beacon of all that could be good in the Republican Party every single one of her opponents will use this abdicaiton of responsibility as a hammer in both Iowa and New Hampshire. Both states have electorates, paticularly New Hampshire, where the lack of responsibility will play a big part in knocking her down. While Iowa she could conceivably garner up some support form the relgiious right it won't be a big share if Huckabee is back in the game at that point Hell even jindall could garner just as much of that bunch as she could). Unless she DOES something during the next 2 years or so then her resume coming in to the primary field is essentially empty and she will be gone before being able to get traction.

The only other possibility I can see out there is that she really does want to get out of politics entirely. I'd honestly be more inclined to believe scandal cover up than this but I suppose there is a chance.

[Patrick Degan]

There are basically two possibilities here:

1) Some idiot told her this would be a good idea to let her spend all her time prepping for 2012 and she is just setting herself up for the most massive failure since Guiliani (more below)

OR

2) She knows that something is about to hit the fan either with state finances, intra-party politics or possibly family shit that she doens't want to be on national television again.

It's far too late for Yukon Barbie to escape scenario 2: she's made far too public a figure of herself and any scandal about to break would clearly be connected to her simply because of the timing, especially if it's governmental.

As far as scenario 1 goes, I think the only idiot who advised her to abandon office to "prepare" for 2012 is the one she sees in the mirror every night. I don't think she's inclined to listen to other people.

[RedImperator]

I'm with Wilkens. This makes no sense whatsoever as a calculated political move. Palin may be an idiot, but she's a good enough politician to have unseated Frank Murkowski, and she has to have at least an instinctive sense that this move amounts to political suicide. If she wanted time to fundraise and gladhandle, she could have declined to run for reelection next year. Resigning now is just weird and for sure every GOP primary candidate will hit her with it (including other Republican governors who, they will point out, didn't quit in the middle of a recession). You can mark this down now: I'm predicting we don't see hide nor hair of her come 2011 when GOP primary season begins.

There could be a scandal underway, but I wouldn't dismiss simple burnout as a possible cause, either. She has a baby with Down's Syndrome, a teenage daughter with a baby out of wedlock, she's been at the heart of the GOP civil war for the last six months, she's commuting back and forth between Juneau and Wasilla, running back and forth between Alaska and the lower 48, and fuck all knows what kind of shenanigans she's been up to behind closed doors. Maybe she just wants to get the fuck out of the public eye for a while.

[Davis 51]

I just watched the press conference. Something that struck out at me, she spent a hefty amount of time talking about States Rights, the ethical charges against her and how they were all dropped, stimulus money, and the evil federal government. Intermixed with that was a good strong dose of how she's done JUST SO MUCH GOOD GOSH DARNIT when it comes to the state's natural resources. If we assume the worst and this resignation is indeed scandal related, I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that it involves some serious misspending related to environmental issues. The whole conference just seemed so damn non-sequitur to her actual resignation, and she really tried to rush through the actual announcement.

I suspect we'll have much more clarity in a couple of days.

[Serafina]

I think she is taking time to prepare - for the real preparation.
First, she propably needs to "catch her breath", as already mentioned by RedImperator.

Second, some time to vanish out of public view is likely quite important for her. Every day she stays in office, she not only accumulates more negative reputation (due to being a bad governor) but also keeps the memory of her monumental failures during McCains campaign alive.

Of course, abandoning her duty will likely have a devastating impact once she tries to get back into major politics.
But either she figures that the people that will vote for her wont care about that, or she hopes that it will be dimished by time. I do not think she is unaware of it, though, unless she is as stupid as she seems to be (which i doubt).

Either way, i am glad that she resigns. Alaska has a chance to get a competent governor, its better for the GOP (and the US need at least two strong political parties, otherwise its hardly a democracy), it will likely ruin her future attemps on major politics, and i do not have to hear anything of her for quite some time.

[RedImperator]

I think she is taking time to prepare - for the real preparation.

Why? If she wanted to take time to prepare for the Republican primary, she could have refused to stand for reelection in 2010. That gives her a full year of time to study, fundraise, and make backroom deals before even the pre-primary season starts in 2011. Resigning mid-term makes absolutely no sense. It doesn't even make the kind of moron sense that would entice an idiot--there is no conceivable benefit to quitting the governorship with a year and a half left in her term. And if she did have some kind of nefarious secret plan, I'm pretty sure "give a rambling, half-assed resignation speech" wasn't on it.