Sarah, We Hardly Knew Ye

by publius

Well, this should end the whole "Sarah Palin is bizarre and erratic" meme. 

Honestly, I don't know what to make of this.  My first thought was that she's obviously gearing up for 2012.  But now I'm not so sure.  Today's announcement was so ill-timed and rambling that it's hard to believe she's seriously considering a presidential run.  Why not wait a few months, and announce the presidential run along with the resignation?  Why not, you know, push a coherent story to the press?

Today only makes sense if she either (1) is done with politics entirely, or (2) is a looney toon.  The whole thing was just so poorly timed -- and the press narrative so bad -- that it's hard to believe a credible presidential candidate would do it.

And lest we forget, this is the person the 72-year John McCain selected to be the Vice President of the United States.

Comments

[br]

Duck, Sarah! The Kitty is aiming for your head.

[cleek]

she's either ducking out because some big scandal is about to break, or she has the emotional temperament of a 4 year old.

or both.

either way: whew. i'll take Cap'n Ineffective over Mr Magoo's Angry Neighbor and Miss Loonytoons any day.

[David]

br wins the thread.

[Jay C]

the Today only makes sense if she either (1) is done with politics entirely, or (2) is a looney toon.

And the two options are mutually exclusive because....???

Good goddam riddance, IMHO (if riddance it truly is) - if this really would take Governor Moosegutter off the national political stage once and for all, it might even be worth having to deal with the manufactured angst and the endless cases of canned "analysis" the media will shove at us. But IS this "finis"?? Or just the end of Act 2?

[CaseyL]

Initially, I was sure she decided to go the Fox correspondent/Media Star route: Make buckets o' cash appearing before her adoring fans, avoid having to make any policy decisions at all, and then jump into the 2012 Presidential campaign having solidified her rock star status.

Then I saw the entirety of her statement.

It was more incoherent, brittle, and manic than even I would have believed. The decision to quit seemed neither planned (and certainly not "in the works for weeks") nor voluntary.

So now I don't know what the heck is going on.

Even if there is really huge scandal about to break, why would she think she'd be better off being indicted as a private citizen than as a sitting governor? It's more likely an urgent personal issue, something she prefers to deal with privately. Which is entirely her right, and Dog knows American politics would be better off without her.

[Dan]

Don't forget that this was a press conference on "dump your damning reports" Friday, and not just any Friday, but the Friday before the 4th of July! If she were truly using this as a springboard for the presidency, surely this would be the worst time ever to make such an announcement.

[PaulW]

If Palin was resigning to set up a run for the 2012 Presidential nom, there's a few things odd:

1) This was not planned well. Everything about this - the sudden press conference, the rambling stream of consciousness speech, the conflicting reactions of her own handlers and insiders - screams "Spur of the moment".
2) While her speech has sports and military metaphors about "not quitting" or "we're not retreating", at no time did Palin directly say "I'm thinking of the national stage, I'm thinking of running for President." If she did please point it out to me.
3) Why couldn't she at least continue her tenure as governor up to 2010? You can still set up a preliminary base of operations for a presidential run now but keep it on the back-burner while doing your governing up to the Midterms. Then, when the Midterms are done and the political landscape more certain, announce your candidacy then and still have 2 years to push your platform. By resigning now, she'll be out of politics for 3 years. Not only that, but her resume will still seem so sparse (Small Town Mayor? Governor for a year?) compared to even her GOP competitors. Hell, by staying in office Jindal will start looking more experienced than her come Election Year. Seriously, what can she point to on her creds for major policies enacted? The *only* thing going for her, honestly, is her media fan base and the 30 percenters making up the GOP Far Right. If she had stayed in office, yes there might have been some battles with a state lege starting to turn on her, but dammit that's what leaders do: fight the battles that need fighting, and get *that* on your resume...

[Paulk]

A friend of mine (who, admittedly, actually knows Sarah Palin socially, though is not close to her) was extremely struck by her emotion. The fact that she was trying to hold back tears really seemed to suggest to her that something big was going on behind the scenes.

I didn't read it that way at first, but the more we hear about the possibility of indictments for her home construction and the Wasilla sports complex (which is also what my friend speculated this was about), the more I think she may be right.

I'd like to feel sorry for Palin, but...nope. Not even a little bit. The big fish in a small pond thought she was a barracuda when she was only a hefty sized koi.

[Tony P.]

I don't know whether to comment here or on publius's previous post, but I have to ask: which season of The Wire was better entertainment than this sh*t?

:)
--TP

[Hartmut]

Maybe she got wind that Sanford would admit to their affair next. ;-)

[Gary Farber]

"which season of The Wire was better entertainment than this sh*t?"

They all had far more plausible characters than this one. Better dialogue, too.

[Pooh]

Best speculation up here is that there might actually be something to the whole "Sports Arena and Home Improvement" thing from her days as mayor. It really really has to be something to do with money. Or she's just crazy. Or both...

[Gromit]

Maybe there's no behind-the-scenes scandal. Could it be she's going Galt?

[Gromit]

I now see Jay S. got there first in the other thread.

[Barry]

" It really really has to be something to do with money. Or she's just crazy. "

The thing which gets me is that I don't see her as quitting just because of a money scandal. Or even if she was indicted. Wouldn't she follow the Stevens example, and not quit until being in jail forced her to?

[Doctor Science]

"Looney toon" sounds so ... harmless, publius. It's been clear to me for quite a while that Palin is a textbook example of what Altemeyer calls a Double High Authoritarian, which is next-door-neighbors to either narcissistic personality disorder or full-fledged sociopath. That's why she's always scared the crap out of me.

And she still scares me. She's way too much of a narcissist to let facts or her own incompetance keep her down for long, and she's got a lot of fans, now. If she finds her Karl Rove she could be a major political threat, and even without one she'll be a force on the right for *decades*.

I kind of hate John McCain for this.

[KCinDC]

Doctor Science may be right. I fear now she'll be touring the country full time holding hate rallies like the ones she had during the campaign, only less restrained. She can be the voice of the people who feel persecuted because they lost in the political process, whipping them up into frenzies and then disclaiming any responsibility for their actions.

[Ming]

I suspect there's a simple reason for Palin's resignation. She took 5 years, and 6 colleges, to get an undergraduate degree -- finally! -- in sports journalism. She is filled with anger, makes enemies easily, and is thoroughly accustomed to moving on as the tensions mount. It would be more surprising if she were able to finish a four-year governorship.