Turning on CNN I watch portions of Palin's farewell speech. Allahpundit's all over the story. Is Palin done? "Breaking: Palin to resign within weeks? Update: Is her career over?"
Is she going national or going away?I caught this earlier, and it sounds about right:
If she wants to be the Republican Party's presidential nominee in 2012, she needs to spend more time raising money, establishing her international and national expertise, and traveling the Lower 48. And she needs to start now.But the handicapping is on (running updates):
* AOSHQ: "It's over. You can't resign from a governorship and then run for higher office. Barring some strong reason, like needing treatment for cancer."
* But Dan Riehl adds:
I think it's way to early to presume that, assuming she ever does plan on running. At her age, 45, she doesn't even have to be thinking 2012. Heck, she'd only be 56 in 2020, for heaven's sake. A Fox interview with her Brother shed some light on her reasoning. She was telling him off the record that it was eating up 80% of her and her staff's time fighting spurious ethics charges and national battles over media attacks. And it was costing Alaska a great deal of time and money.
She could spend the next eight years raising her kids, writing books, getting rich and developing any national GOP identity she wants. Bill Kristol, an obvious fan, thinks this is an opening shot for 2012. Could be, though she has a lot of work to do in a short time, if so. But she isn't going to lose a lot of core support over this. I don't think she sees politics the way most politicians do.
Folks need to remember that Barack Obama won the Democratic presidential nomination with just over three years experience in national office. Palin has now run on a presidential ticket. She's performed on the national stage, and taken more withering fire than most politicians will take in a lifetime.
I think Dan Riehl is right that it's absurd to think Palin is through in national politics. The danger is that someone even more attractive and motivating could come along and dominate national GOP politics while she's out of the limelight. But who? At this point, Bobby Jindal and Tim Pawlenty can't hold a candle to Palin. Huckabee's going to be strong, and Mitt Romney may be the GOP's rock in the '12 "invisible primary." But today we might have seen Palin's "you won't have Sarah Palin to kick around" moment. If she stays on the sidelines in '12 AND if Barack Obama is reelected to a second term, look for Sarah Palin to be the prohibitive frontrunner in 2016. The conservative base will be looking for the most genuine conservative around, and Palin's youthful vigor, and canny ability to raise the passions of the conservative stalwarts, may be too much for even the most well-organized primary challenger that year. All of this depends on Palin indeed taking the time to polish her resume and skills. Being out of office, and free from the endless attacks - what Palin called "the politics of personal destruction" - may well be an asset in launching a presidential bid from the outside.
Here's the announcement:
I think Dan Riehl is right that it's absurd to think Palin is through in national politics. The danger is that someone even more attractive and motivating could come along and dominate national GOP politics while she's out of the limelight. But who? At this point, Bobby Jindal and Tim Pawlenty can't hold a candle to Palin. Huckabee's going to be strong, and Mitt Romney may be the GOP's rock in the '12 "invisible primary." But today we might have seen Palin's "you won't have Sarah Palin to kick around" moment. If she stays on the sidelines in '12 AND if Barack Obama is reelected to a second term, look for Sarah Palin to be the prohibitive frontrunner in 2016. The conservative base will be looking for the most genuine conservative around, and Palin's youthful vigor, and canny ability to raise the passions of the conservative stalwarts, may be too much for even the most well-organized primary challenger that year. All of this depends on Palin indeed taking the time to polish her resume and skills. Being out of office, and free from the endless attacks - what Palin called "the politics of personal destruction" - may well be an asset in launching a presidential bid from the outside.
Here's the announcement:
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
UPDATE: Mere Rhetoric fleshes out in detail Palin's possiblities for 2016.
33 comments:
Yep, the loony lefties and the McCainus RINO bastards finally manage to drive her from public life.
How truly sad, but I can't say I blame her.
-Dave
She's not done, Dave. I've updated the post ...
I just watched her announcement - and find that she is far from done politically.
I like her even more after this speech (if that is possible) and look forward to her sparkling future.
Dr D.,
Yeah, I just tracked down the source of that "report" that she was leaving public life for good. It came from Andrea Michell, and we all know how fair and balanced she is.
Of course, I am rather fantasizing she will do what the republicans so far have been either unwilling, or unable to do, and that is organize an effective resistance against Obama and his hideous policies.
-While there is still something left to save.
-Dave
Why do we think we can survive even 4 years of our current Marxist Muslim President? Obama is a complete and utter disaster, is runing the country in a very short time. He's so much worse than Jimmy Carter, and our finances are so much more unstable.
Front runner? For PRESIDENT? Oh stop it! She looks and sounds to all the world like a soccer mom. If she is the best candidate the party can come up with for 2012 then they are in trouble beyond repair. Jesse Jackson or Ralph Nader would fair better. Or some dark horse third-party candidate. Go home, Sarah. The family needs you much more than the country does.
Hey Steve, you dope, you used the wrong "fair". The word you were looking for is "fare".
Jesse Jackson, Ralph Nader.....what?
You don't have a clue homeboy.turn off MSLSD and take your meds. Life is passing you by.
The attempt to discredit Palin due to experience doesn’t measure up to reality. Obama, a junior senator, with NO experience running a city or state, came from nowhere, and ran an effective campaign against McCain’s ineffective campaign! Obama was the right face at the right time – with the leftist media falling in love with him. No one broadsided him from the press, as they did Palin. He did not win because of any kind of vast experience. Palin as a presidential candidate, or VP, has as much a chance as Obama if she runs an effective campaign and hooks up with the right GOP combination.
The trillions of dollars piled on since Bush left may be enough to propel a Republican into office. If NK and Iran are not handled well, will be another road to the White House for conservatives.
Get ready, brace yourself: The leftists and nihilists will soon bombard us with fear and loathing towards Palin - she is way too happy and sure of herself. They may hate her more than they hated Bush.
She looks and sounds to all the world like a soccer mom.
That's "hockey mom", Steve.
You say that, as if the educated, erudite alternatives to the Sarahs among us have done such a bang-up job of governing this nation.
She has been as -- if not more -- effective, from what I see, as governor as those from the political class in equivalent office ... and that is what scares the members of that class, both Democrat and Republican.
If We the People see that an "ordinary" hockey mom can effectively govern ... while the groomed, erudite, class of political professionals continue to stumble because they emphasize political machination over effective governance ... the worth and influence of the latter to our society will diminish.
Since that is perceived as both an assault upon their intellect, and a threat to their wallets, they turn their machinations against the hockey mom, the interests of We the People be damned, to protect their status as "experts" that we just can't live without.
This explains the sniping from members of the GOP, with the expected vitriol of the Left, being directed against Gov. Palin.
Frankly, what would overjoy me is to see Sarah leave the GOP behind, and run against BOTH parties ... on the platform that delegating responsibility for our governance to a professional political class and institutional parties in a "rent-a-government" is a fallacy we can no longer afford to entertain.
Even with the best of intentions, institutions always end up making their own continued existence and well-being their primary concern ... as we have particularly seen, with less than the best intentions, in the last nine years, on both sides of the aisle.
Congress would also have to be subjected to the same assault ... by candidates whose interests and loyalties lie, not with one or the other of two institutions of political professionals, but with We the People instead.
Until that happens, we will keep coming back and griping about politics-as-usual ... but nothing will change.
I think she'll run, Skye! But not yet, not yet!
Its the Jesus moment fellas!
Palin has about 20 million followers Nationwide.......
This is all thats left within the GOP.
After her.....nada, nothing, zip, zero.
Mrs Palin, a despration grab which catapulted her into a cult of personality.....is all thats left.
Palin is too the Republican brand right now....what Iwo Jima was to the Imperial Japanese.....the last stand. (And a desperate gamble)
Not a bang, but a whimper fellas....a whimper.
Pin your hopes on her, bet the farm too.....she's all the GOP has left. The dugout is empty and there's not one worthy recruit in the farm leagues.
So, Don your Teabags, power suits, Hockey Mom, unwed teenaged childrens baby momma lipstick and drill baby drill, cause Jesus told ya too, gonna lead this country back to Ronald Reagans tombstone....and hold on, its gonna be f'ing fun and funny
Cheers
PS. If Palin fails then its re-branding in the abyss of time,twenty years easy, and most of you old coots will be dead and gone by then.
This is the best news ever. Imagine if she'd been vp of the country. How weak and unprofessional it is to quit in the middle of a term without you or a member of your family being sick. Maybe she finally realized how unqualified she was and did the state of Alaska a HUGE favor by resigning. Good job Sarah, you betcha!
Do you guys really believe this, or are you just in shock?
Palin has now run away from her responsibility as the governor of one of the least populous states in the country. How deluded would you have to be to trust her in the Presidency?
Forget her political positions. When have you ever seen a Governor just up and dump their position in the middle of a term? Assuming that this isn't the result of some looming scandal that is going to surface in the next couple of weeks, this is a sign of instability and dereliction of duty that should frighten anyone who thinks about her in the Oval Office.
When have you ever seen a Governor just up and dump their position in the middle of a term?
We've seen a Senator abandon his position two years in to run for a bigger office.
Change!
upon further investigation
I think......she's out, sidelined, not doin it any more
Reason 1. big scandal about to be revealed
Reason 2. big money offered by FOX (or the like) to be the new media voice of whatever the heck she stands for or appeals too.
but not political office, this would be the wrong way to achieve that goal.
If she doesn't run in 2012, I've totally misjudged her.
I predict Sarah Palin Overdrive at the Tea Parties tomorrow. An early, distributed nomination convention. After tomorrow, the GOP leadership is going to look a right pile of jackasses (i.e. RINO-Democrats) if they try to shut Sarah down.
Good grief--no matter what she does she's found lacking (in a huge way) by some naysayers. I imagine the Lt Gov is perfectly capable of running Alaska, along with the Legislature. Wouldn't it be great if all of our politicians resigned their current offices while they run for a new and different one? Instead, they are afraid to lose their gravy train, and so do lots of campaigning and other things not relevant to what they were elected to do.
but not political office, this would be the wrong way to achieve that goal.
Such conventional thinking, cracker.
Sarah's about effective governance -- not politics.
In those terms, it could be a win-win for her to leave the governor's seat now -- first, by removing the distractions of the unprincipled, Leftist attack dogs from impinging upon the AK government; second, by placing herself in a more flexible position from which to turn around and expose the attack dogs for the merely political animals they are -- and in the process showing the nation what REAL change, as opposed to the retrograde hopey-changey of the present Administration, looks like.
And, she is doing so without taking a government paycheck under false pretenses, as four Senators did during the last election cycle by campaigning for President while still collecting that check.
Don't misundersimate her ... or her supporters, cracker. Same goes for y'all, Kathy and Green Eagle.
We are more than "old coots" -- we don't need re-branding, for we have sound principle behind us ... and sound principle doesn't change even when the old coots are replaced by young snots who ignore its value.
What changes instead, is the well-being of the nation as the young snots learn about sound principle the hard way -- it goes south during that process.
Don't say we old coots didn't warn you. You see, we've been through this process a time or two before.
Rich Casebolt,
You say, "Sarah's about effective governance -- not politics."
When she resigns the office she has, to run for three and a half years for president? How can you even say something so preposterous? How can you govern effectively when you quit? And if she quit to run for president, how can you claim she's not about politics?
In fact, her actions today show the exact opposite of what you claim. She's not about governing at all, and she's all about politics. Can any sane person not see that now?
Sorry Mr. Casebolt
But that theory leaks like a sieve.
No advisor would recommend leaving office....
Its an act of abandonment....(just the way it goes, good intentions or not)
It only goes south from there if she seeks political office.
She rested her case on the "whats good for Alaska" jingo. ya mean, since youre not seeking re-election then youre branding yourself as a lame duck? You mean there's nothing left you can do to benefit your state since you have better career goals now?
in-ex-cusable
for any leader.
Listen, she was exciting, titillating, admirable and yes fun.
McCain pulled a whopper out of his ass on that one, sure.....
but boys, if she were a man......what would you be sayin right now?
You'd be callin him a starstruck politician selling out his state prematurely thinking he's a Presidential option when he"s willing to leave a job undone!
Obama was a Senator, all states got two of them.......Palin is a Govenor.
Sorry, but stick a fork in her: she's done.
When Senator McCain selected her to be his running mate, she had just 1½ years as governor of Alaska. Her record was decent, but it simply wasn't very long. Had she put together a strong 5½ year record as governor, she'd have been a strong and credible candidate in 2012; two full, solid terms as governor would have made her a formidable candidate in 2016.
But unless she has cancer or some other very important and obvious -- and sympathetic -- need to resign, she's going to be portrayed as having not been up to the job for which she campaigned and with which the voters of Alaska entrusted her. And if she wasn't up to the pressures of the job of governor, she ain't up to the pressures of being president!
Mr Casebolt wrote:
Sarah's about effective governance -- not politics.
Except that she just abandoned an office in which she could demonstrate her skills at leading an effective government. If that was to be her basis of campaigning, she just abandoned it.
Y'all just don't get it.
By removing herself from the AK government, she diverts the attention of the attack dogs from its operation. By doing so, she UNSELFISHLY acts to enhance the effectiveness of the AK government.
And I don't think she is "quitting", from what I see ... no more so than you or I have "quit" to take on a better job.
You guys just cant countenance the idea that there are other ways to serve this nation, outside your conventional political wisdom.
All you see, having been conditioned by our political class to think accordingly, is that "she don't sound smart", so you summarily dismiss her and what she supports.
They and you misunderestimate her ... just as they did Reagan and GWB.
Dana ... she already has more REAL accomplishments in the field of governance (as opposed to politics) than the President has in his entire career to date. She still has a sound basis for campaigning ... in fact, IMO, a superior basis now.
Looks to me like she just might be maneuvering to apply herself to a higher, national goal (without doing what Obama/McCain/Hillary/Biden did and continue to draw a government paycheck while being totally focused on their campaigns).
She can go after the miscreants within the GOP now, as well as the Dims, with no consequences for the state she loves.
Maybe she realizes, like I have, that it's time for us to hold BOTH parties to account, instead of being held hostage -- as voters and candidates -- by one or the other, and has put herself in a position where she can do so with honor.
And with effect.
Mr. Casebolt
You are exhibiting that time tested symptom .....the first of a group that leads to crack-pottery, of which my friend you have proven to be well on your way
the third party fantasy. it is unfulfillable.
this fantasy will lead to....the beginnings of an extremist path that many a middle and senior white American male have fallen prey to.
cracker, Gov. Palin doesn't need to leave the GOP and form a third party to hold them to account on principle ... she already has done so from within her party, during her previous government service.
Continuing that practice alone would be a vast improvement over the status quo.
However, in one way you misunderestimate my own ideas.
I would like to see her leave the GOP behind ... but not to start a third party.
The ugliest thing that's never mentioned in politics, is that our reliance upon institutional parties -- which, like all human institutions when unchecked, inevitably gravitate away from serving We the People and towards their own perpetuation and care as their primary objective -- is a primary facilitator of the politics-as-usual we all find detestable.
Third parties are not immune to this degradation, so they are of no use to me -- they would just allow politics-as-usual to return.
Until We the People move away from the lazy shortcut and fear-driven bondage of throwing our support to institutional parties -- who cheat us by substituting the shortcuts/loopholes/games of the political process for the hard work of principled, rights-respecting governance ...
.. and move to actively supporting individuals who have demonstrated -- in word, in deed, and in the sincere willingness to implement further checks-and-balances upon themselves if elected to assume leadership roles in our government -- that their only allegiance is to We the People and Constitutional governance ...
... we will not break the hostile, resource-bleeding paradigm we are presently stuck in.
To break it, institutional parties must be rendered obsolete.
Mr.Casebolt
Your last sentence there
"To break it, institutional parties must be rendered obsolete."
Is the next step in a neo-conservative philosophy that has already been proven un-usable, un ethical and even un-American in a Democratic Republic.
There are hangers on, the author of this blog for one. but most intelligent Americans are seeking , and recieving a greater education in both politics, nation-building, foreign diplomacy and economics........Thats why there are only 2000 middle aged white people at the capitol today....saying their taxed enough already.....without a single clue as to why GB created a 7trill stim and why Barack signed off on it.....the alternative was a complete shut down.....unless you had an oil rig in your back yard and grow your own food.....it was about to be devastating, worldwide instability on a level you just dont get.
I apologize, I digress
Interesting topic, abolishing parties ....So it would be Palinists versus Obamanists versus Giullianiites?
I find it interesting, Cracker, that the Tea Parties are more diverse ... attracting young and old, paleocon/neocon and even a few 911 Troofers ... than you give them credit for.
The only education being delivered by our leaders today, is on the failures of the past ... by repeating the spendthrift, pacifist, short-sighted policies that created them.
Bush owns TARP -- and while I agreed with you at one time about its necessity, the disposition of the funds ...
... not to mention the other, follow-on actions after it, from the sham-tilus package (back-loaded for election effect, as opposed to economic effect), to the takeover of GM and assignment of a 31-year-old whose executive resume is similar to Mr. Obama's to oversee it ...
... all owned by Obama/Pelosi/Reid and the rest of the Leftist leadership ...
... makes me at least question whether the TARP cure was worse than the disease of collapse, at least in the long term.
And cracker ... Cap and Trade, and Obamacare, are definitely owned by the Leftists.
Those were two of the biggest drivers for passion yesterday at the Tea Parties.
And one other thing ... as history has always validated the value of cowboy diplomacy (as opposed to the "realist" proxification of warfare, or pacifist inaction), the neocon concept is being validated in Iraq.
It no longer is a threat to its neighbors ... or to us ... because it now has a measure of rights-respecting governance that is an effective check on such tendencies.
As long as it keeps such governance, it will never again be the threat to civilization it was under Saddam.
Validated ... not unusable, not unethical, not un-American ... not at all.
@cracker:
the next step in a neo-conservative philosophy that has already been proven un-usable, un ethical and even un-American in a Democratic Republic.
Strong disagreement. Please see: Accretion.
If desiring a three-level, three-branch government is a "neo-conservative" doctrine, then the Constitution and I are some raging, raging, neo-conservatives, and the Progressive hijacking of all we hold dear shall receive no love at all.
Rich:
You say, "I find it interesting, Cracker, that the Tea Parties are more diverse ... attracting young and old, paleocon/neocon and even a few 911 Troofers ... than you give them credit for."
Did you go to any tea parties, or are you just saying what you want to believe? I went to two tea parties yesterday. Other than one Asian family, I saw no black people, no hispanic people, nothing but middle aged to old white people, with a small, small sprinkling of people under 40. The three tea parties I went to on April 15th were the same way- I remember one black man, and a couple of Hispanics at those tea parties.
The five tea parties I have attended represent one of the least diverse groups of people you will ever find in our country, and it is a slice of our country that is growing smaller every year.
That's why the Republican party is doomed to further and further irrelevance, unless it can get itself to face reality.
Green Eagle, I have attended two Tea Parties -- one the evening April 15 in Hauppauge, NY, and yesterday's in Mt. Sinai NY (both are on Long Island).
Lots of young adults, and children, at yesterday's -- less so at the mid-week gathering in April. And the diversity of the crowd reflected the local population ... everyone was welcome, from the Asian student from Stony Brook University I talked with, to the Iraqi immigrant who was one of the speakers, to the woman who was one of the organizers, who also spoke, to the bevy of Italian-Americans and native Long Islanders that this ambassador-of-hillbilly-culture spoke with.
However, it is you that needs to face reality ... focusing on diversity while ignoring sound principle will not lead this nation back to prosperity and assure peace.
If conservative principle becomes relevant in the short term, it will return, as people learn about its value ... the hard way, as the "progressives" prove incapable of solving the problems we face, no matter how culturally sensitive or well-intentioned they are.
Mark my words.
Besides, Green Eagle, it is no wonder that the Tea Parties are so heavily supported by us old farts.
Our experience gives us a pretty good understanding of how this nation really works ... and how easily it can get derailed.
The youngsters should be listening ...
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