My assorted random thoughts...
Ramblin' - Uhmm, was that the most erratic speech evar, or is it just me? She starts off with a basketball analogy, essentially saying that stepping down is "passing the ball". Uhhhmmm, wouldn't this be more like begging the coach to take you out? Then she somehow goes on a tangent about "calling an audible", which when I last checked, was a football term. For a 3-4 minute stretch, she was talking so fast and unintelligibly, I swore she was about to offer me a VCR for $20. Epic Fail!
No Sympathy - I'm sorry, but it's very, very difficult for me to have any sympathy for Palin, simply because she didn't give any definitive reason for stepping down. Had she simply said "I'm sick of all this, and just want to focus on my family", I doubt anyone would begrudge her decision. Only a heartless bastard would have an issue with this. But by rambling on and on about "wasteful spending", "lame ducks", and "the Constitution", she leaves the perception that this might be a politically movitated move. If she suddenly announces a Fox News deal, a daytime talk show, or yet another book deal, then we'll know what's up. Either way, there is no way whatsoever to otherwise justify quitting halfthrough the job that thousands of Alaaaaaskans entrusted you with. Period. No way.
Quitter - Seriously, how can someone be forgiven for bailing early on a job without giving a valid decision? She only served 2 1/2 years of her first term as Governor, and nearly a year of that was spent running for Veep or positioning herself for 2012. What sort of experience does that amount to? Could you possibly pass yourself off 3 years from now as a qualified candidate with such an incomplete resume? The cloud of ethics complaints, red ink, and denied stimulus funds she leaves behind is hardly the stuff of champions. And the timing (Friday afternoon on a holiday weekend) is pretty dubious too.
Liberal Media Attacks. Huh? - I've long posited that much of Palin's appeal is predicated on an "Us vs Them" style of victimhood.[1] The problem with this is that much of the media scrutiny that she complains about is generated from those in her party, and a lot of it is stuff she's more or less brought on herself. The much maligned recent Vanity Fair piece is full of quotes attributed to McCain campaign staffers, not "anonymous sources" as many have posited, which shows they didn't bother reading the whole 11 pages. If she does resurface and run in 2012, there's no way (I repeat, no way) she makes it beyond the Republican nomination. Those guys (Romney, Huckabee, and Newt especially) will seize everything I've written on this site, and then some, and use it to rip her to shreds. Obama wouldn't have to lift a finger.
The GOP's Future - Uhhh, what future? Palin has no future after such a flaky, erratic, poorly explained resignation. The party's other "stars" have fallen one by one in recent weeks. The only guy without a spot on his resume is Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, a guy to dour and boring, he makes Mike Huckabee look like Diddy by comparison. Again, score one for Obama.
Question: What's really going on here? Is Palin stepping down to "spend more time with her family", "improve life for Alaskans outside political office", or should we expect a press release about her upcoming Fox News show any moment?
[1] And for the record, I could probably take her far more seriously if she'd kill this whole "victimhood" angle and just kick the facts. It's hard to hear any valid credentials through all the whining. Is this a reverse-sexist double standard of some sort? I think so. I doubt a man could pull this off without being called a wimp.
Got News? Email AB
The Average FAQ
Just Who Is AB?
Posts
34 AverageComments™:
Either huge scandal or freeing herself up for a larger run (likely, Sarah for Prez 2012). If it's the latter, I cannot begin to see how this will help her, but hey! I thought Obama didn't have a snowball's chance in hell.
i.l.l. is right
I'd add that she's only stepping down because I'm sure that it'd be a bad look going into Republican primaries if she wasn't guaranteed a win in the 2010 election cycle.
Although, I would ask why would she step down now.
Gut feeling is that there's some MAJOR scandal threatening to break and she don't wanna be standing in front of the fan with the ish hits!
Sarah Palin will you please go? Please go now!
It doesn't appear that her decisions are for any reason other than self preservation.
What was the whole hoopla about on the recent circuits? Self.
I'm so tired of her enormous 'need' to get attention and to keep the focus on her.
Makes you thankful that she didn't get an opportunity to step down from assisting in running the country.
Or perhaps 'First Dude' has also been to 'Argentina' or 'New York' but 'didn't cross the lines'.
nah nah nah nah
nah nah nah nah
hey hey hey
goodbye!!!!
(I think she still believes she can be President,so she'll be back. Lets enjoy our Palin-less moments, shall we?
I love it. For the entertainment and speculation value alone, I love it.
I respect her folksiness, if it's genuine, but I'm not convinced of her willingness to get deep and dirty with the true Presidential grind.
Let the games begin.....
More ethics complaints...and an IRS audit that's not going well...so I've heard.
God bless and good night, Sarah.
Roll the f*ck up on outta here.
This is a BIG MONEY GRAB period. Being governor of Alaska is getting in the way of her getting out on the GOP talk circuit.
She'll make a ton of money now and won't have to worry about that annoying governors job back in Alaska. Oh and watch for her to move to the lower 48 sometime in the near future.
That’s my cynical take on it anyway.
This is how it goes. Sarah sits in at Faux News, announces her run for the Prez 2012 in November of this year or next then we have to listen to this woman for the next few years.
I don't know what's next; HNIC hasn't even put his southpaw John Hancock on any of his 'defining' legislation. We won't know anything until 2010 at best.
I think a lot of the consternation and MSM attacks on Sarah Palin come from ignorance and fear. They cannot believe in our 'enlightened' age that women of prominence like her still exist, if they ever did. If she had the same education and aristocratic air of Michelle Obama she'd still get attacked simply for being out of the paradigm, i.e. liberal/progressive.
I still don't have a strong sense of her core values, her vision. If she's listening to 'handlers' the same way 'W' did, she won't get very far.
@AB:
'scoring one' for HNIC means nothing if his policies take us down the drain, and right now I'm not feeling very confident. Again this may be God's wicked way of culling away the chaff so the real wheat may grow. Right now I see no one in the media's enunciating sensible solutions to our real problems, and we need those more than ever right now.
My dislike of Palin comes from research and knowledge. I sat down and read each and every one of her statements, interviews and articles dating back over the past 5 years. Came away firmly believing she is fake, out of touch and twice that shady.
Re: Prez 44 - give him a minute. He's steering the Titanic here, it's going to take a minute to get around the iceberg.
To Governor Palin I say... Buh-Bye now.
@AB - the new format is lovely.
I absolutely love the chatter that says that liberals FEAR Sarah Palin. I'm not a liberal, first of all. Secondly, I don't fear her. I don't like her. I have no qualms whatsoever with her pro-life, pro-abstinence, small government views. It's the woe-is-me, feminist-only-when-people-are-being-mean-to-me, personal-attacks-are-fine-you-betcha (unless they're aimed at me), hiding-behind-"the mean ol' librul media" every time even a valid criticism is lobbed her way that bothers me. It is possible to dislike Palin without being a hater, ya know.
Also, AB, I disagree with you on Pawlenty. I think if McCain had chosen him as a running mate, things might have looked a bit different in November. He's certainly got his GOP bonafides, especially with the go-it-alone strategy he's pulling with the Minnesota budget right now. He'd appeal to the base and to moderates. Most people I know who aren't wildly partisan think he's a likable guy, even if they don't agree with his politics. And he does folksy a helluva lot more sincerely and professionally than Palin.
Pawlenty's budget cuts and unallotments will hurt Minnesotans IMO, and he seems to have a vendetta against St. Paul, but I think the guy's a leader.
It will be a waste of time and money to support her. The thing is Palin makes everyone of us look good and sound even better.
She's the 'things could always be worse' poster woman.
And in my own twisted way, I look at Palin and I always feel better about me, my problems, my job, my family, my issues, even my state and my own little world.
Perhaps in time she'll realize it's not all about her!
The misguided ones that are consumed with her are using her as a tool to get something bigger then she could provide.
If there is a God, what cruelty it would be to punish people by making us have to listen to her rants so far away from the next election.
I'm still waiting for something bizarre, dysfunctional, dishonest, or 'shocking' to surface.
What a selfish woman. She couldn't wait and let Ed, Farrah and Michael have their headlines. She had to drop some dung for the media to salivate over.
@OneCele,
What would be example of her being 'out of touch?'
That I think life begins at conception, and abortion ends that life would be considered 'out of touch' by lots of folk; it still doesn't change my belief, and because I'm 'out of touch' with people does not necessarily make me wrong in my beliefs.
I think a lot of people on both coasts think she's 'out of touch' because folks on the coasts are 'out of touch' with people everywhere else in the country. I believe the media scrutiny she gets is driven by a bias by the media, which everyone agrees outside of Fox is leans liberal/progressive, thus treat her as something that's 'out of the mainstream' but the media centers, again, reside in the liberal bastions of LA and New York.
Is 'out of touch' right or wrong? That's for the public to decide. One person's 'flaky' is another person's 'folksly.' If I were Republican right now she would not be my first choice, but as I said before she's certainly a lightening rod of interest that will stay in the storm for some time.
Adinasi +1. So many times I drop in here to leave a comment, and you've said it better and with more eloquence.
I think her political career might be dead, though. Not even a whole term as governor? That's like only sitting 2.5 years in the Senate and then thinking you could run for Presid-
Hang on a second here...
@ Spool
I think her political career might be dead, though. Not even a whole term as governor? That's like only sitting 2.5 years in the Senate and then thinking you could run for Presid- Hang on a second here...
Nice try, Spool. Good to see you carrying the GOP's water as usual.
I love how people just flippantly dismiss the fact that Obama spent nearly a decade serving in the Senate of the 5th most populous state in the nation. The 13th District of Illinois has more people than the entire state of Alaaaaaska. Obama then served as US Senator for 4 years.
And well, of course he's now President, a fact that some people still cannot accept (still mining for birth certificates?) 9 months after the fact.
How this equates to serving as mayor of a town the size of my neighborhood, and QUITTING her job as Governor after merely 30 months on the gig is beyond me.
Keep right on with that brilliant GOP logic. And watch Obama cruise to another term.
Are you seriously telling me that Palin's only being maligned by "The Librul Media"? Really? Have you forgotten the leaks about clothing, and "going rogue", and showing up at a hotel door wrapped in nothing but a towel? I don't think any of that was "Librul media bias". Quite the opposite.
How can this woman garner any hopes of winning when her own PARTY clearly doesn't want any part of her? Seriously.
As for this "scared of her" nonsense, please. What exactly is there to be scared of? The country clearly doesn't care about her "traditional Conservative views". Her record as Governor is a joke. She can't stay off camera long enough to build any modicum of credibility.
I'll just go ALL THE WAY THERE and say it: Palin is the textbook definition of a "mediocre White candidate". Period.
Could you imagine a person of color with her resume, personal issues, ethical problems, and scant educational background being even remotely considered for the Presidency? Hell, could you imagine a not-so-great-looking White Woman with her qualifications having the gall to think she can run?
As much as people (rightfully) assail the Obama campaign of being too much about style, at least there was some substance. I cannot honestly say the same for Palin.
The funniest thing about all of this is that you and I both know that Palin will never make it past South Carolina. Her fellow Republicans will eat her alive in ways we haven't seen since... well, since Hillary bludgeoned Obama.
The obvious difference is that Obama was smart enough to know he couldn't play the victim card (as Clinton did) or his Black ass woulda been toast. How sad a world it is that such a standard isn't applied to everyone. Because if that were so, Palin would still be doing sports on some UHF channel in Juneau.
Not taking up valuable space on my blog.
Enough already.
A) Palin hasn't gone through nearly anything approaching the crap Bush gets. I don't think Palin has to worry about getting shoes thrown at her when she visits certain countries. Stop the sympathy, it's politics.
B) Comparisons to Obama are ridiculous for the simple fact that Obama proved himself capable of playing in the field of national politics. Palin never did. And resigning doesn't help out in any way on that front. In fact it's detrimental because now she has to explain why she can be president when she can't even be governor. Which is why resigning is stupid.
C) While i wouldn't use the phrase out of touch, there is nothing about Palin's actions in the past 5 months that seem based in any sort of maturity. Everything seems driven by flakiness, victimhood and petty vendettas. Whether it's tabloid material sparring with the father of her grandchild, fighting with Letterman, or backing out of events. She's a narcissistic diva at best.
@AB,
That her 'fellow Republicans will eat her alive' is a sad testimony to the state of the GOP. Even among them exists a resentment for what Palin is or seems to represent. I"m really starting to believe that this visceral hatred towards her is driven by fear and ignorance, as it usually is. As I've said before, but I will be more demonstrative about it: I've spent more intimate social and collegial time with women like her than most of my peers, and I suspect most people who comment here, and not only am I not put off by persons like Palin but I understand and respect their words and deeds. Given my age and cultural upbringing I can make the same claim about association and collegiality with the Obamas; Barrack and Michelle ARE my peers, and I understand and respect them completely, too.
While people are entitled and 'endowed with certain inalienable rights' (4th of July plug) to speak freely, the name-calling and pejoratives disturb me, and once again make me question what people fear/don't understand.
@ adinasi:
YOU would eat Sarah Palin alive in any sort of discussion. YOU, who's never been an elected official (right?).
Respecting and understanding "women like her" is one thing. But how you can take this particular woman seriously is beyond me. Especially after this.
@ AB
"I've long posited that much of Palin's appeal is predicated on an "Us vs Them" style of victimhood."
Not just Palin---that's the fuel for, and reason d'etre of, the modern conservative movement. Palin is simply the most visible embodiment of it (outside of the "unelected" sector represented by the likes of Rush "Let's the behind our President" Limbaugh.)
@ Derek
"While i wouldn't use the phrase out of touch, there is nothing about Palin's actions in the past 5months that seem based in any sort of maturity. Everything seems driven by flakiness, victimhood and petty vendettas."
Yyyyyyyyyep.
Perfectly put. "Out of touch" doesn't cut it because she very much is in touch with a large swatch of the country. It's the traits you mentioned that are driving this.
Who with common sense and a working brain would knowingly grace their presence with 'someone like Palin?
As history has shown- clearly only someone using that relationship to better their own life. She's merely a stepping stone...
Her decision to quit speaks volumes to all. McCain must finally get it now. (how he was used to promote/endorse/ and embrace a manipulative, attention seeking, tabloid lover at best; and a very selfish, unstable and unpredictable woman. With borderline personality issues at worst.)
Perhaps she should have spent more time as a community organizer to develop the stamina that it takes to lead in government.
I don't have a clue as to why she resignated. Lots of possibilities though. One of the things that I didn't and don't like about her is her erratic behaviour. This just underlines that once more. If she did step down because of her family, personal life or personal problems then her decision makes sense to me.
@Marbles,
Yeah, you're right; I probably could. I feel the same way with a conversation with any public official, HNIC included (Harvard lawyers do not scare Michigan engineers ;-) Alllow me to spin it this way: I'm would enjoy a barbque/dinner with Palin or Michelle versus Hillary or Barbara Boxer.
Yet I still respect and honor the decisions other people make because I am not them, and their circumstances help dictate their actions. I have served in now 2 high media-scrutiny professions: military systems acquisition ('ya know, the $500 hammer folks) and now public education. Quoting Flava' Flav: 'dont' believe the hype.' What reaches the media I've learned to take with HUGE BOULDERS of salt because the distortions are often tremendous. Time, though, tends to reveal all, yet even then one must be discerning and diligent when the 'truth' appears because often the media miss it, ignore it, or reveal it begrudgingly.
Like the whole MJ fiasco (and there are media trucks camped out at Staples Center in LA as I write this), I'll give myself 24 hours to occupy my mind with Palin, then it's back to my child and my students, current and former.
On point, from a leftist, feminist Obama supporter.
"...people don’t hate Palin because of the lies; the lies exist to justify the hate. "
Obama supporter my ass, reclusiveleftist is a PUMA site. Source of much hilarity from the 2008 primaries.
From the a conservative that supported Palin, more on point:
http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/04/governor-alaska-republican-white-house-opinions-columnists-sarah-palin.html
"... from the moment Palin made her debut at the Republican National Convention with a powerfully pugilistic speech, she emerged as the second coming of Spiro Agnew, best known for his lacerating attacks against the nattering nabobs of negativity in the national press. Whereas John McCain assiduously avoided discussing social issues, Palin became the campaign's mouthpiece for any number of culture war cliches. It was a sad commentary on the state of the exhausted conservative movement. As Republican support has faded, efforts to energize the conservative base have increasingly taken an Us vs. Them turn, one that pits true believers against the elitist left."
She made it into a real america vs. fake america issue first. If people come at your head after that, then so be it. The chick that talked about "palling around with terrorists" is whining about "politics of personal destruction?" She's a self-centered joke. Can't take the heat so she got out the kitchen.
Well, Obama does have the good grace to wait until the heat dies down and the blood washes away in Iran before palling around with them some more. If there's one thing he learned from his friendship with a cop killer, it's not to meet where the cameras are.
Iran will do what they do. You don't make policy based on talk. That's the MO for the Bush admin for the past 8 years so i know it's hard to kick the habit but the fact is, we are involved in 2 wars already. Not a whole lot to do in Iran. Obviously that "let's ignore them" strategy didn't pay off. So maybe, just maybe, we can try dealing with the world as it is. Instead of like some saturday morning cartoon. Ahmadenijad isn't Cobra Commander.
I mean, if you want to show support for Iran, go do a show with Bono. The adults have work to do
As for how we are going to proceed with Iran, the trick is:
1)Getting out of Iraq so they don't have leverage over us there. Turns out that taking out iran's biggest enemy and allowing them tremendous influence in iraq... not a good idea. Basically leaves our soldiers hostage to the possibility of an iranian sponsored iraqi civil war.
2) We play the Sunni middle east against Shia Iran. No one really like Iran (other then Iraq). So Syria can be played against them. So can Saudi Arabia, Egypt, etc. Syria is pretty important though. Which is why we're doing things like this:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gIGiMHBqDAAjSPWUmyVncR7wvnHAD9976A080
"Syria mends US, Arab ties as ally Iran in turmoil"
While Iran deals with internal issues, we place the pressure on them from the outside, convincing their allies that Iran isn't worth being friends with. Take advantages of the opportunities presented.
3)Lastly, using Israel as bad cop puts even more pressure on Iran. Hell, this even ties in with point 2:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6638568.ece
Saudis give nod to Israeli raid on Iran
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/06/AR2009070600094.html
Biden: Israel has right to deal with nuclear Iran
THAT is how obama is working it. What the hell were conservatives talking about the entire time besides grandstanding about the iranian protestors? No gameplan, no foresight, nothing. Just talk. That's all that's left for republicans.
Derek... all that is simply the inertia left over from Condi Rice's diplomatic efforts, and the game-changer that a democratic Iraq represents. I'm glad Obama has mostly kept these efforts going, and I do admire the minor coup a Saudi declaration about Israeli fighters overflying them represents. Not that Israel would ever have given a damn what the Saudis thought if they decided to strike at Iranian nuclear facilities. A nuclear Iran is a threat to their existence.
I did have to lol at the article crediting Syria with helping keep the problems to a minimum in the last Lebanese elections, since Adas has been indicted by the ICC for assassinating a collection of secular, anti-Hezbollah Lebanese politicians.
Nevertheless, none of this represents Obama working anything much. Israel was always going to hit Iran, just like they hit Syria last year. You might think Obama is using them as the bad cop in some elaborate game, but the Israelis couldn't care less what we think compared to the prospect of a nuclear Iran. That's like a skydiver saying he's using the wind to fall. Truth is, he's gonna fall no matter what he does... the only difference is how stylish he makes it look on the way down.
Ummm, are we forgetting something? Barack Obama left his Senate seat half way through his term to run for President. No explanation at all.
@ Spool
Bush stopped an israeli attack on Iran, IIRC. My guess being that he did it to buy time for the war in Iraq.
I mean technically we can't stop Israel from doing what it wants, but we have about 3 billion reasons a year for why they should consider our opinion.
I don't care what she does in the future actually, she's not hurting anyone. She actually seemed to be doing pretty well as governor there to. We don't have to like her, as long as the majority of the citizens there liked her, she's good.
@Derek: a fair point about the money. It's our leash around the Likud rightwing attack dog, for sure.
Faced with an Iranian nuclear bomb though? It becomes a choice between losing funding or getting wiped off the face of the planet, and I know which one the Israelis will pick.
@ Anonymous,
Wrong! Obama filled his seat as Senator until he was elected President. No quitsies! No, "Everyone's so mean to me, so I quit!" He did what most people do when they're applying for a new job: continue to work the one you got!
It's only the same thing if you cross your fingers, close your eyes REAL tight, and hope it is.
Palin has plenty of forums to speak out and rebut anything said about her. Provide proof that lies are lies. What troubles me is that many of the people in Alaska, (not the politicians), seem at a loss to defend her and her past/present decisions.
In my state I'm very familiar with what our Governor has and is doing. I know what programs have been cut since she's trying to balance our budget. I know how education in my town is affected etc. I'm no stranger to the numerous things she's accomplished, some good some bad. What I know for sure is she hasn't abandoned her duties at a time when the state as a whole needs her skills, loyalty and even if it falters at times her confidence in leading us.
Palin appears fickled. She may not be, but between her spoken words and her actions she leaves many to wonder where she stands. In these troubled times no one needs someone that makes them feel even more confused and bewildered about their present and their future.
Sure you can drop out of whatever you want, just decide if you're going to stay in your private world or your public world. Stoop trying to excel at both. Stop fueling the fire of the media circus because you have borderline personality traits. Make a god damn decision and stick to it.
If I was one of those hacks over at Fox News I would be getting worried now. The one with the lowest ratings will better started getting his resume ready because Mrs. Palin will be filling his spot. The woman's narcissism knows no bounds or limits.
Post a Comment