Governor Sarah Palin Resigns
This is perhaps the oddest political story that transpired when we were away celebrating our nation’s birth.
Outgoing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Saturday laid the groundwork to take on a larger, national role after leaving state government, citing a “higher calling” with the aim of uniting the country along conservative lines.
A day after surprising even her closest friends by announcing she would step down as Alaska governor more than a year before her term was up, the controversial hockey mom was still keeping details of her future plans under wrap. But in a statement posted on Palin’s Facebook account, she suggested that she had bigger plans and a national agenda she planned to push after she resigns at the end of the month.
As I see it, there are two real possibilities…
First, history tells us that abrupt resignations are usually followed by another shoe dropping. There could be a personal or professional scandal about to come to light. I think this actually isn’t that likely in this case. The media and liberal goons have been crawling all over Palin’s business for a year now - not to mention the Dems in her own state that have been fighting her for years. Also, she’s essentially given two weeks notice. If there was an imminent disclosure that prompted a last-minute resignation, then why wait the two weeks? I don’t rule it out, but I don’t think this is the case.
Second, we can take her at her word. She doesn’t want to be a lame duck and plans greater things for herself. Presumably, that means a presidential run. If so, really takes her down a number of notches in my mind.
If she’s gearing up for a presidential run, then she abandoned the people of Alaska who elected her to serve her full term in order to peruse her personal ambitions. I would have more respect for the move if she said, “I can’t put the work into the job of Governor because I’m planning on running for POTUS.” At least she’d be being honest with them, but to say that she didn’t want to be a lame duck and wants to do bigger things? What a slap in the face.
I like Palin’s politics, her persona, and her energy. I may even end up voting for her if she gets nominated (I doubt she will). But her resignation is a very odd political move that represents a sizable red flag.
I like Palin as well - but she should have finished her term and I would have run again for Gov of Alaska. It is no different than what Bush did in Texas. He ran for governor and the whole state knew he was using it as a platform for POTUS - they still voted him in anyway.
Best to run for President while you are a sitting governor. You can always turn over some duties to the Lt. Gov to prepare them for office and to give you more time to campaign.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 05, 2009 at 1646 hrs
I say that Governor Palin has made a wise move.
I do not fully understand her reasoning just yet, but I believe she made this decision with something in the bank.
Maybe a talk-show slot?
Go Sarah, GO!
Say bye, bye, Osama, oops, I mean Obama.
On second thought, goodbye to you both!
Go Sarah, show ‘em how it’s done!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 05, 2009 at 1828 hrs
Say bye, bye, Osama, oops, I mean Obama.
Really, was that comment needed?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 05, 2009 at 2022 hrs
And she chose to announce on a Friday before a holiday weekend when most folks were already on the road, a slow news day that was already inundated with Jacko coverage. That makes this smell fishy. My take, something’s about to drop. Nothing too major, probably directing contracts during her days in Wasilla, but damaging enough to her politically. I think she’s making the sudden announcement to provide time to sign some big money TV contracts as she’s got quite a few bills to pay.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 05, 2009 at 2158 hrs
I too think that it will not look good that you resign mid term because you have more important things to do. She should have pushed harder for the reforms she ran on to prove that she is a “finisher”. It would have built up more political capital throughout the country and made her more attractive to the masses.
I heard somewhere that she will likely use her time to write her book that she is already under contract for ??millions. She will need to write the best seller of the decade to pull off a successful presidential run.
I am not sure if a talk show would be the best avenue for her as there would be miles of video to splice and censor to run ads against her.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 05, 2009 at 2216 hrs
Two words: federal indictment.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 05, 2009 at 2320 hrs
I agree with John’s hypothesis.
Can someone explain to me how Doyle gets away with corruption and Sarah…
Posted by Smeety on July 05, 2009 at 2332 hrs
Can someone explain to me how Doyle gets away with corruption and Sarah…
Simple: It’s the letter behind their name.
Posted by hsgbdmama on July 06, 2009 at 0513 hrs
Resignation on a holiday weekend? Sounds like a scandel will follow soon.
Has Palin made any trips to Argentina lately?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 06, 2009 at 1211 hrs
“Can someone explain to me how Doyle gets away with corruption and Sarah…”
While it’s super easy to just blame it on partisanship, there’s actually a very logical reason. It’s the same reason why many towns are basically run like fiefdoms, where favors are doled out to friends and family and nobody bothers to notice.
Remember how the national press was all over Palin 18 months ago about all these allegations? You don’t? Yeah, nobody does, because nobody was paying any attention to her. She was the virtually unknown governor of some backwoods paradise and nobody cared what she did or said except a handful of people in Alaska.
Now, Sarah Palin is a former VP selection who might be running for president. Lots of media outlets, print, television, and internet alike, are willing to devote time and resources to fact collecting and investigation.
Jim Doyle is a lower-profile officeholder who has no national ambitions. The only newspapers in Wisconsin that really have the resources to do investigative reporting are the Wisconsin State Journal and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Doyle is, in effect, subject to less scrutiny because there are fewer bodies and less money to devote to scrutiny.
Local governments, especially in smaller villages and townships and especially in rural areas, have virtually no scrutiny whatsoever. They can get away with nearly anything because virtually nobody’s around to notice. Town board members get together socially and talk shop without ever thinking about the fact that they’re violating the open meetings law. They talk about government business with private email accounts that aren’t necessarily subject to the open records law. Someone needs to do maintenance work at the park? Hey, the town chair’s brother is interested. He could do it.
By all accounts, Sarah Palin ran Wasilla like a kingdom, and nobody noticed or cared. Nobody cared about some of the questionable decisions she made as governor. But the second she was a candidate for national office, people in Florida care about Palin asking a librarian in Alaska whether she was okay with censoring books. Suddenly, it’s all relevant.
If you want more people to nose around in Doyle’s business, you and your friends should either hire more people to do it, or encourage him to run for higher office.
Posted by Recess Supervisor on July 06, 2009 at 1239 hrs
Of course, the reasons she gave, plus the ones she didn’t could also be true:
1) She can’t effectively govern while spending 80%+ of her time as governor defending against spurious ethics charges.
A) I do mean spurious. Not one has panned out for the jackasses that are attacking her.
2) Since she can’t be effective while hamstrung by a (unique to Alaska) law that allows anyone to sue her for no reason, and it was costing the state of Alaska money for her to defend herself…she may as well step down and hand over the reigns to her Lt. Governor.
3) Her move frees up the *new* governor to get stuff done (like the pipeline deal she did), and her to defend herself and her family as she sees fit.
4) While I think Palin would be a great president, I don’t care. I want her to defend herself, her family and her ideals without being worried about bogus lawsuits. As a private citizen she can do exactly that.
5) If she decides not to run for office, I’d respect that. Her family, especially her children, have been savaged by the media and the *#$*ers on the left so badly that I could not, in any way, blame her for packing it in and saying “family first”.Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 06, 2009 at 1922 hrs
Just another day in the local government of small town Wisconsin. How come nobody caught this earlier? Because nobody cares about what happens in Darien.
Darien — If you believe the allegations flying around here, the former police chief conducted illegal surveillance at the police station, the former village president tried to defraud the village’s insurer, and the Village Board broke the open meetings law three times in 3 1/2 weeks.
And those are just the accusations that ended up in an official document.
For more than a year now, a local government soap opera has been running strong in the tiny Walworth County community of Darien, population 1,572.
Posted by Recess Supervisor on July 07, 2009 at 0211 hrs
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