Updated below with Palin resignation speech
Updated again with FOX's response.
Updated Sunday morning with more from Palin.
Gov. Sarah Palin will resign her office in a few weeks, she said during a news conference at her Wasilla home Friday morning.
Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will be inaugurated at the Governor's Picnic at Pioneer Park in Fairbanks the weekend of July 25, Palin said.
And it's all the bad, bad media's fault….
Reporter Andrew Wellner from the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman just appeared on CNN after attending Palin's press conference. She said, Wellner reported, that Palin said she could be more effective outside of government.
And she wholly blamed the national press, saying they were creating national distractions that cost the state money. Palin said: "You are naive if you don't see a full-court press on the national level, picking apart a good point guard."
Maybe she's going to go to work for Runner's World, you know, as a model….
Upon further consideration…."could be more effective outside of government"…..I think, translates into…'I can cash in my instant-celebrity chips right now.'
Bet we see her on the teevee soon, possibly with her own program. Teevee celebrities make way more money than governors. Hey, more power to her.
Update: I don't think I've heard a more rambling, nonsensical piece of sound than Sarah Palin's 7 minute resignation announcement. Honestly, it makes NO logical sense whatsoever….
The National Review's Jonah Goldberg writes an open letter to Ms. Palin…..
"… every time I see you on TV, you’re whining about unfair press coverage…….You are constantly taking the bait, taking up the fights your biggest fans want you to take up…..Politics is ultimately about persuasion, and you seem entirely uninterested in that, preferring instead to play the victim. Well, victims don’t get elected president."
Indeed.
Neo-con extraordinaire, Bill Kristol at the Weekly Standard….
"If Palin wants to run in 2012, why not do exactly what she announced today? It's an enormous gamble – but it could be a shrewd one…… The odds are against her pulling it off. But I wouldn't bet against it."
It could be a safe bet that Palin will enter the GOP primaries in 2012. Less safe bet that she'll take the primaries. Very bad bet that she would even come close to defeating a popular Obama. Kristol's not betting, mind you, but, you know, if he were….
Best comment thus far on the Palin resignation from a conservative site…..
MY dream ticket 2012 = Sarah Palin / Liz Cheney
those two ladies would kick Bambi (Obama)’s a~~ ; )
Palin's words from her speech announcing that she would quit as Alaska's governor….
Life is too short to compromise time and resources… it may be tempting and more comfortable to just keep your head down, plod along, and appease those who demand: "Sit down and shut up", but that's the worthless, easy path; that's a quitter's way out. And a problem in our country today is apathy. It would be apathetic to just hunker down and "go with the flow".
Nah, only dead fish "go with the flow".
That registers a 9.0 on the WTF Richter scale.
One more observation. Sarah, The Barracuda, Palin, ex-high school basketball player seems to have a unique way of approaching the game of…umm….basketball….
She has the ball, but is being trapped in the back court….
"You are naive if you don't see a full-court press on the national level, picking apart a good point guard."
What to do when trapped?….
"A good point guard drives through a full court press, protecting the ball, keeping her eye on the basket… and she knows exactly when to pass the ball so that the team can WIN."
When trapped, knowing the precise time to pass the ball is everything….
"And I know when it's time to pass the ball – for victory."
Question. Who did The Barracuda pass the ball to yesterday?
Answer. The other team.
@nd Update: The FOX response….
Headline: Sarah Palin Outsmarts the Left, no, really, that's the headline.
From the body of the piece: "Sarah Palin's resignation as Governor of Alaska is a brilliant liberating move for her career, and a potential truning point for the national conservative movement…..
No one hears of the good work she has been doing there, and the left is free to paint their own false caricature of her."
My personal favorite: "And I hope she starts a new national think tank in Washington."
More: "She should also lead the nation's mothers to oppose mandating replacement of incandescent light bulbs with the new mercury poison gas bulbs."……"If she does all that, the left won't be making jokes about her any more,…"
Hard to make stuff like this up.
Update: Palin issues message….
She, alone, is being persecuted. It's the Jesus syndrome….
"And though it's honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make."
There is no "different standard" being used with Palin. She taunts the media, dares them, and then points to her victimhood when they have the audacity to write anything about her. It's a self-fulfilling, perpetual-motion, persecution-creation machine.
{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
I wonder what she's up to. Did you hear her talk one long run on sentence, she hardly got a breath in. Wonder how the people who voted for her feel now that she just handed the job to someone else because of the press.
My guess is that she will become the voice of some right wing Christian organization such as Focus on the Family. But I, like Andrea, wonder how the people of Alaska will react to their being used as a stepping stone for her political ambitions. Whatever, she is obviously seeking a stronger political base than Alaska can provide. Perhaps she feels that if GWBush can become president, anyone can.
She probably doesn't figure you could be, frank.
larry d.,
Then it would be that rarest of all things, Sarah Palin being correct. But, then, even a blind squirrel can find its nuts.
That woman needs a good, sound beating….and she'll get it if she's dumb enough to run in 2012!
Let me guess…
She'd be ok if she got her job via affirmative action, like Sotomayor.
She'd be ok if she got her job because of her husband, like Clinton.
What about her scares you people so much?
bzzzzp – She is their greatest threat right now. That's why they continuously tear her down and lie about her. She will be our first woman president. We really need her now. They don't like her because she is dangerous and refuses to play the political game. She is by far our most honest politician and most concerned about America and our way of life.
@bzzzp: you people?
I'm a registered Republican and she scares the bejesus outta me… In addition to embarrassing me as a Republican…In addition to making me question why I'm in a party that COULD nominate a numbnut like that…
She's so emminently UNQUALIFIED for high office (no, Alaska doesn't count), I struggle to engage folks who think otherwise.
I'll be a man w/o a party if she is nominated.
In her resignation speech, she mentioned that by her stepping down now, the state of Alaska can save millions of their hard earned taxpayers dollars.
Huh ? How and why does that work ?
She also said she's "not wired to operate under the same old politics as usual", and that it's "not what is best for Alaska at this time."
Which begs the question, when is the "same old politics as usual" EVER a good thing for ANY state ?
She did a lot of very fast talking (hardly taking a breath) and didn't make a whole lot of sense. She proved why her selection as McCain's running mate was the death knell of his presidential candidacy.
McCain would have been better off with Romney as his VP – in fact, the election would have been MUCH closer, imo.
Anyway, we can cross her off the list of potential new GOP leaders. If she thought the press was tough on her before, she hasn't seen anything once the national press dissects her rambling diatribe.
I can admit that Palin's resume was a bit thin. But the same people who complain about it had no problems in voting for a presidential candidate with a thinner resume.
A Vice-President needs experience, but a President does not? Is it hypocrisy? Or just looking for an excuse?
Further evidence – Biden has a ton of experience, but he has done nothing but look like a donkey.
What has intrigued me about Palin was her ability to get under the skin of the pseudo-intellectuals.
You are mistaken about the getting "under the skin" part.
The response by progressives when Palin was chosen was one of disbelief. How could McCain have picked such an unqualified person to be a heartbeat away? It was astonishing, especially for McCain, who brought some gravitas to the ticket.
Palin's choice was a symptom of how low the GOP's national popularity had fallen. GOP operatives had to put an uqualified person on the ticket to even get the "values voters" base to come out.
I wish the Palin's well. I'm sure she'll make lots of money in the next few years.
Rev(erse)
You are evading the question. Why was it wrong to pick someone you declare unqualified for VP. When you picked someone less qualified to be President?
There's no question that Obama had significantly more experience in national government than Palin. We were choosing a president and vice-president….not a town mayor.
So, right off the bat….we disagree on the premise.
To go a bit further…..look at Obama's steady and even leadership in 6 short months, leadership under pressure from several thorny situations.
Then look at Palin's 6 months of self destruction since Obama was inauguarted, embarassing self-destruction.
The two aren't even in the same league.
The reason she quit was because they couldn't afford the legal fees it would take to get the story straight on the lies the press was telling about her.
Rev you know that she was attacked because they fear her. She is not scarey, she is someone that is looking out for the best interest of this country.
As far as Obama's Fed Govt exp. He had none. Obama is a post turtle. He isn't running the show, he is the Chapelle of the american libs, a big joke that speaks well. The real leaders are putting him out their to take a fall. If he actually did what he said he promised he was going to do, I would feel differently, but he has lied to all of the voters that put him in office from day number one and he continues.
You can continue the destruction of that woman and spread your lies about her, but believe me your Lib party leaders are sitting back, breathing a big sigh of relief.
Sorry average….we don't see this Palin stuff the same.
Democrats and liberals have no fear at all about Palin. They don't….honest.
I'm in no way being harsh on Ms. Palin. I purposely avoided using incendiary wording.
I'm not suggesting the Palin's don't love the country, I'm not suggesting that there's something wrong with her….none of that. She's simply not up to the task of governing nationally…..and American voters agreed last November. It's nothing personal.
Let's take an example. She said she was quitting because she was a lame duck and didn't want to be like other lame duck governors who simply went through the motions. She was going to spare Alaska the lame duck portion of her goverorship.
When she was elected, she was elected to a full term…..not 30 months. She's excusing herself for not fulfilling her obligation to Alaskans……by directing blame and criticism towards other (unnamed) lame duck governors. Truly unbelievable.
How did she become a lame duck Rev? The Lib media cruxified her character through lie after lie after lie about her and her family.
It was uncalled for the way they treated her. Here is a woman that went from PTA mom to Governor by doing the right thing and crushing and revealing the truth about corruption in her state. She always did the right thing.
It became too expensive financially for her to defend herself and to get the truth out which became blocked by the Soros and his Lib Press and bloggers. It also became too difficult on her family. It was a fight she couldn't win because she didn't have the type of financial backing Obama has. Not because she didn't have the numbers of people behind her, she was drawing bigger crowds than Obama and McCain during the presidential race, she doesn't have a George Soros. SHe isn't a quiter. It comes to the point of why stay in there and fight the lies everyday. I would quit also. Wouldn't you?
Believe me they are sighing from relief.
No politician in memory has been treated as unfairly by the media and the opposition as Palin has been. 15 spurious ethics charges have been brought against her, all dismissed. There have been personal attacks against her and her family since the day she was nominated as McCain's VP, attacks which have never stopped. According to Palin, it has been a distraction from her doing her job. I can understand that. The treatment of Palin has exposed some ugliness in this country that I wish wasn't there. The sexism and elitism of it all is disgusting to me.
That being said, if Palin really is seeking national office, she blew it by resigning. You don't lead by quitting in the middle of your term when you've done nothing wrong. Palin is giving ammunition to the sleaze merchants and hatemongers by her actions. She is showing them that their lowlife tactics can work. They have driven her out of office, by Palin's own words. Huge mistake. You know what they say, if you can't stand the heat…
Rev says, "There's no question that Obama had significantly more experience in national government than Palin"
I assume that is supposed to be some kind of a joke, Rev. Obama had two years in the Senate, and then he starting running for President. That's supposed to be "significant" ??? We've never had a less experienced guy in the top spot. And Palin wasn't running for President. She would have been the VP, which is now Joe "The Gaffemaster" Biden's job. He's a stumblebum.
A correct analogy would be – McCain had significantly more experience in national government than Obama.
"stumblebum"….good one, haven't heard that one for awhile.
No need to re-argue the last election.
But the victim narrative is ridiculous in every conceivable way. Sarah Palin USED her family, she exploited her family during the campaign. The Levi episode was especially exploitative. The media, in Palin and her followers eyes, was damned if they said anything…damned if they didn't. Victim navigation is an artform, Palin is an expert navigator. But that's all she's an expert at. The "I am a victim" trait probably comes out of her fundamentalism, whatever.
Secondarily, Palin's followers simply made a faux-narrative up out of whole cloth. I didn't see any main media stories…none….crucifying Sarah. Palin, conveniently, took any discussion of her she didn't like…..like the Couric interview, which was totally professional, and used it to crown herself a victim.
While Palin is an American success story….the story is one built entirely on opportunism. In only 30 months, her own state, overrun with Republicans, brought 18 ethics violations charges against her.
Finally, without a doubt, there's more to Palin's resignation than what we know so far.
"Out of whole cloth" never gets old, Reverend. Very persuasive.
That "other shoe" we are about to hear drop will be the federal investigation surrounding the embezzlement of funds used in the construction of the sports complex in Wasilla.
Perhaps, Tbomb.
And larry…..the GOP and Friends should go into the fabric business. They continually make sh*t up. Makes those who insist on facts and truth, a bit weary.
Cat got your tongue on the Palin extravaganza? Why not share your insights on how resigning her responsibilities is a stroke of freaking brilliance?
That's what I like about you, Rev. When the facts don't fit your narrative, you just make another narrative up out of thin air.
All the attacks on Palin's family – Rev says Palin brought them upon herself.
All the name-calling of Palin – Ditto
All the frivolous ethic charges – Well, I guess those didn't even happen.
The numerous lies about Palin's political positions – I guess those didn't happen either.
The massive media bent favoring Obama – Nope. That didn't happen either. The media was "professional."
You're a oner, Rev. I'll give you that. I don't know how you have the audacity to write some of the stuff you do, but you're a oner.
Mr. King,
I disagree. Ms. Palin hasn't been treated any more harshly than many politicians. I can think of many others who have been derided for suggesting a new approach such as Perot, Kucinich, Ron Paul, for starters. It is unfortunate that the nature of tabloid journalism that feeds our news as entertainment model makes political campaigns resemble a gauntlet run by the candidates. At best, we get a glimpse as to how the candidates respond to pressure. However, given the powers in the offices that these people seek, scrutiny is not a bad thing.
Here's the deal with the Karl Rovian, corporate Knee Pad "we love the controversy and hate policy" Media….the rules have been laid down. GOP'ers had little problem with the "magic negro" stuff, or the "angry black female" stuff puked up by the nuts continually…..so whining about being asked some questions, bitching about the media asking tough questions, complaining that her kids are under attack when she paraded her kids in front of big media audiences when it suit her immediate goals….is just petty.
Her moaning about the media is proof that she's not prepared for the national stage , let alone a state stage, which, apparently she couldn't handle. The way her and her husband handled the sister-divorce thing was all anyone needed to evaluate to understand she is small-time-potatoes.
I spent some time considering this today.
In addition to how crazy Palin makes you guys. I also love the was she exposes your collective hypocrisy.
I love the way you changed it from experience to 'national experience.' That way you could extend the fraud. If I change it to 'executive experience,' then Obama had zero. But I will give some credit to 'political job experience.' Executives do not have the option to vote 'present.' Although arguably that was exactly President Obama's response to Iran. He can find time to meddle in Israel's issues and now Honduras' issues. He seems to be on the wrong side of all of these.
There are those that will point out that Obama had only 143 days that the Senate was in session before he started a Presidential exploratory committee. I will give him credit for working a bit more than two years. It is obvious that the term significant does not apply.
We can argue about steady and even leadership in 6 short months. By steady and even do you mean spending like the nation has ever seen? Paying off the special interest that got you elected? And by 6 short months do you mean a period shorter than 6 months?
At any rate I'll get back to the hypocrisy. Where was the concern when Obama left his job after his initial term was 60% complete? Or that he was seeking another office after one third of his term?
It's cool, you don't have to answer. If you answered these questions honestly, you couldn't continue this blog.
Rev, again I think the only one that thought "Obama the Magic Negro" was funny was Rush. Most of us found it offensive.
Bzzzp good post.
I like the way they hang on Sarah's evey word.LOL. Here is the next sentence that is driving them nuts "I am moving on to a higher calling". This passage has a million meanings and can be answered only by her. As usual the lib media will break down and interpret this sentence for weeks.
Right Bz, Palin is so more ready than Obama of course, compared to a retarded cowboy….
Obama had national experience, Palin did not. Obama is a constitutional scholar, Palin majored in journalism. Obama has a firm mastery over all national and international issues and speaks, not only eloquently, but with forethought and intelligence…..Palin used to broadcast sports on local teevee in Alaska, and her public statements have been mostly indecipherable.
Palin focuses on petty and tedious trivialities, and has no coherent policy positions…..and from the tooper saga to the "it's all the media's fault, they're mean"-Gate, she has demonstrated her vindictiveness and quickness to play the victim card as an excuse for her shortcomings.
Conservatives should be glad she's stepping out of the limelight, she'a an embarassment for the Republican Party. I carry no hard feelings for the Palin's…..but Sarah was, literally, used as a political prop by a desperate political party trying to find relevancy in a world that's left them on the wrong side of history.
About the "magic negro" thing – That was started by a liberal at the LA Times.
On the experience thing – Obama had ZERO executive experience, and two years national experience when he started running for president. If experience is the deciding factor, Obama should not be the president, McCain should be. Palin was NOT running for president. You can stop all your ridiculous spinning now, Rev. You're embarassing yourself.
What's to say, Reverend? Palin has a gift for exposing the ugly and bigoted hypocrisy that is now running the show on the dem side–every time she does anything at all, it's proven all over again.
Yeah, larry, it's a gift. And moreover….it's a gift that keeps on giving.
Our Lady of Perpetual Gifts
King spells out the odd perspective now rooted in conservative thought processes.
Stating facts is actually a form of self-embarassment.
Who knew?
No silly. It is not the facts.
It is the part where you pretend President Obama was qualified for the job.