On the morning of August 29, 2008, minutes after the stunning news of the Vice Presidential nomination, I wrote a post entitled “What Is McCain Thinking? One Alaskan’s Perspective,” and my humble little blog was never the same. And now, less than a year later, the strange saga of Sarah Palin, the “hottest governor in the coldest state” is coming to an end. When the cryptic press release came from the governor’s office this morning, heads were scratched. Why on the Friday of a long weekend was she having a press conference at her home in Wasilla, with less than two hours notice? In three days she’d own the news cycle, and wouldn’t have messed up everyone’s plans to knock off early for the 4th of July weekend. Instead, she chose to release the information at a time when people generally release the news they want to die. The Anchorage media grumbled and hopped in their vans for the 45 minute drive north to Wasilla. She had a statement. She wouldn’t be taking questions. That’s all we knew, until reports started trickling in that there were commissioners there, and Lt. Governor Sean Parnell. This was going to be big. Sure enough, we learned that not only would Palin not be seeking a second term, but that she would not even be finishing her first one. As of July 25, the state would be in the hands of Lt. Governor Sean Parnell, and Palin would resign. Palin who preferred to run the state from her Blackberry during her VP campaign, while simultaneously cramming for debates, looking after her kids, and calling the president a terrorist paller-arounder, rather than turn the state over to Parnell, suddenly hand a change of heart. Why? Parnell, himself had an unsuccessful bid for Alaska’s lone congressional house seat . He ran against the embattled 19-term Republican Don Young in the past election cycle. Young has racked up more than a million dollars in legal fees , and is widely rumored to be facing indictment. He seemed like easy pickens for a Democratic challenger, but Parnell was unable to unseat him in the primary, with a tally so close, a recount was mandated - a recount overseen by the person in the office of Lt. Governor; none other than Parnell himself. The third in line for the governor, and the man expected to step into Parnell’s shoes is Commissioner of Corrections, Joe Schmidt. He was appointed , accompanied by a few raised eyebrows, to the #3 spot in February of this year. His other claim to fame? He dated the governor when they both went to Wasilla High. He replaced embattled Attorney General Talis Colberg, who stepped down under allegations of mishandling the Troopergate investigation and telling state employees that they didn’t need to comply with legislative subpoenas. Palin’s long, rambling, fretful speech had all the visible tension and clenched jaw muscles of her appearance when she returned back home to little old Alaska after her failed VP bid. She was interviewed by the press in her Anchorage office and said how glad she was to be back, and how much fun it was to run the state of Alaska. Nobody believed her. It’s become more and more apparent that what she likes is the crowds, the attention, and the advocacy for her beliefs. But the day to day running of the state doesn’t seem to have much appeal anymore. A common complaint among legislators and top state officials since Palin’s return from the campaign trail is that nobody ever sees her. Getting face time with the governor is not an easy thing. Palin has discovered, through her travels, that you don’t have to be a politician to get attention. Today she stood by the shores of Lake Lucille and told us how she was leaving her position for our own good. It’s for the best interest of the state, she said. There are too many distractions, too much being picked on, too little time to focus on the maters of state, too many jokes about her kids, and too much money fighting those ethics complaints against her. Strangely, she quoted again the sum of money that ethics complaints against her had cost the state. Millions, she said. Two million. Yesterday’s headline in the Anchorage Daily News tallied up the cost at $296,000 , with the bulk of that stemming from the Troopergate investigation of last summer. She’s estimated her own personal legal fees at a whopping $600,000 , and has actively solicited money for her legal defense fund, hubristically named “The Alaska Fund Trust.” She declines to state what the money will be paying for. Presumably much of these costs result from the Troopergate investigation. The Attorney General of the State of Alaska at the behest of the governor, had done a little pre-emptive sleuting , asking questions of witnesses before they were officially deposed. Allegations by state legislators of witness tampering have so far come to nothing. Normally the AG would have been providing legal counsel for the governor, but Palin chose to hire an attorney of her own. Correspondence between Palin and the Attorney General is subject to public disclosure. Correspondence between Palin and her private attorney is not. Speculation is rampant about a soon to be declared run for the presidency in 2012. If Palin listens to her core group of supporters, she has reason to believe this run at the White House would land her in the Oval Office. Her resignation speech was full of imagery about Alaska’s resources helping the country, about how much we owe our military, about the economy; a wistful retrospective of all her administration had accomplished. She repeated her claim that she wanted to reject the stimulus money to keep government spending low, despite the fact that returned stimulus money would not go back to DC coffers, but into the waiting hands of other governors, looking to boost their own economies. And while the rhetoric sounded national, the mood of the event was anything but celebratory. And Palin continues to stick with the talking points that those who are paying attention have debunked. The time in front of the cameras was also used, many felt, to “play the victim card.” Palin spent a considerable amount of time castigating the very media that was there covering the event, for being too critical. But the principle objects of Palin’s venom were private citizens who had filed ethics complaints against her. She also referenced a photoshopped image on a local blog that showed her snuggling a baby with the head of a local radio shock jock that Palin and her lawyer favor with appearances. Palin said the photo was making fun of her son Trig. She seems unable, even when delivering a speech that is destined for national coverage, to rise above the fray, and refrain from sounding petty. It is said that it’s not the mountain ahead that wears you down, it’s the grain of sand in your shoe. Was it one too many grains of sand that wore her down? And if so, how would she be able to handle the job as President of the United States? Most of the ethics complaints have been dismissed. But, Alaska has no Ethics Board. Ethics complaints are handled by a three-member governor appointed Personnel Board, whose jobs depend on the sitting governor who can fire them at will. Was the deck stacked? Many say yes. But despite the dismissal of the majority of complaints, there were ethics complaints that resulted in a finding by the Legislature that she had abused her power and violated the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act in the Troopergate fiasco, a directive for a high level staffer to undergo ethics training due to a string of “troubling emails” and a recent payment from Palin to the state for almost $10,000 to reimburse for her charging the state for her children’s travel expenses. So, were all the ethics complaints “frivolous?” Even if we take the results of the Personnel Board at face value, the answer is no. But all this may not matter much soon. The rule of law still applies to private citizens, but there is no “Private Citizens’ Ethics Act.” Then there is the other matter. In Alaska it’s become known as “the iceberg.” The iceburg is rumored to be a piece of news that’s so damaging, and so big, it will sink the S.S. Palin. The rumors also exist that it’s coming soon. Speculation about IRS problems, issues with other three-letter organizations, more ethics complaints, and embezzlement abound. Questions have been raised about the construction of Palin’s house by a bunch of Todd’s buddies, at the same time that a giant sports complex was being built in Wasilla, and right after building codes had been abolished by the then mayor of Wasilla, one Sarah Palin. Do we know anything for sure? No. But the recent claim that the breaking of this scandal is imminent seems coincidental to say the least. Alaskans hesitate to get too excited about rumored indictments, though. Despite the indictment and conviction of several state legislators, and the indictment-conviction and now un-conviction of former Senator Ted Stevens, the slow process has taught us patience. We still await rumored indictments of Congressman Don Young, and former State Senate President Ben Stevens (son of Ted Stevens.) Did I say, you can’t make this stuff up? Other breaking items in the news recently, include an unflattering 5000-word article in Vanity Fair, and a CBS News release of an email exchange between Palin and McCain strategist Steve Smith which gave a glimpse at “the real Sarah Palin,” and how she thinks. The exchage involved Palin asking the McCain campaign to make a statement that her husband Todd had only accidentally been a member of a secessionist political party, because he checked the wrong box. And didn’t notice it for seven years. Schmidt cut her request off by stating that the McCain campaign had no intention of making it more of an issue than the media was, a habit that Palin has had for a long time. The final piece to this intriguing puzzle is the book deal. Palin has recently signed with Harper-Collins to write her memoir . Inside sources say the deal is in the $2 million range, with much more if the book sells well. She chose her ghost writer, but vowed that she’d be doing most of the work herself. What about being governor? No worried, she told us. She’d only be authoring the memoir when she was off the clock. There’s no doubt that she’ll have more time to get the book done, and go on the requisite book tour now that she’s quit her day job. Going on a book tour while you’re holding down a governor’s job could have posed problems. So, what’s her next move? Her script says “national office.” Her body language says “uh-oh.” Reports are coming in that she’s told those close to her she’s finished with politics. Some think she has no choice. If there’s one thing we’ve all learned about Sarah Palin, it’s that it can be difficult to predict what she’s going to do. But one thing is certain. Alaska will have a new governor. Many will mourn. Many will openly celebrate. Her once 90% approval rating has plummeted as we have gotten to know her. Her approval now is in the low 50s, and the bar graph is polarized. You love her, or you hate her. And if she does fade away, becoming a blip on the radar of pop culture, and a footnote in political history, it won’t be for the lack of her trying to remain in the spotlight. Of that we can be certain. I drove through Wasilla today, about a half hour after she told us she’d be stepping down. It felt strange passing Lake Lucille. I wondered about the Parnell administration, and about what may follow in 2010. What lies ahead for Alaska? After July 25, the attention of the nation will fade. I don’t think we’ll go back to living in obscurity any more; not in this generation anyway. But when the governor looked at the camera and said that her resignation would be good for the state of Alaska, it’s the first time in a long time I’ve agreed with her. More on Sarah Palin
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AKMuckraker: What Is Sarah Palin Thinking? One Alaskan’s Perspective
Anyone who is in any way surprised by Sarah Palin’s announcement today that she will not be seeking re-election, and, even more significantly, is stepping down as Governor of Alaska, has not been paying close attention. The signs have been everywhere. Palin has absolutely zero interest in running the State of Alaska. She steadfastly refused to live in Juneau after her first year there, had the gall to charge the state for residing at her home in Wasilla 600 miles away, and she basically mailed in her performance as the state’s top administrator during Alaska’s most recent legislative session. She has alienated virtually all the key legislators in her own party–that’s right, Republicans –and had failed to move any key legislation forward since her return to Alaska from the national campaign trail last November. In fact, her bizarre appointment for Attorney General, Wayne Anthony Ross, was rejected nearly unanimously by the state legislature– a first in Alaskan history . Even in respect to energy policy, her supposed bailiwick, she has been categorically ineffective. When I asked those in-the-know what role Palin had played in putting together the recent pipeline deal between TransCanada and Exxon, their response was simple: “None.” None. That about sums up Palin’s accomplishments as Governor of the Last Frontier. The evangelical right can wallow in denial all they want about Palin being victimized by liberals or Democrats or even George Soros (some illiterate wingnut recently tried to link me to him ), but the fact is that most of the people with really bad things to say about Palin–from John McCain’s staff to conservatives in Alaska–come from the Republican Party. The charges of a left-wing conspiracy are so ridiculous as to be absolutely absurd. But then what coming from the Palin camp isn’t? Moreover, Palin was facing what would have been a hugely embarrassing veto override by the Alaska legislature at the beginning of the next session in January over her politically postured refusal to accept Federal stimulus funds. If this past legislative session was a setback for Palin, the upcoming session would have been an absolute public relations disaster–hardly the proper entree for her presidential campaign. My sources in Wasilla tell me that Palin’s father, Chuck Heath, has spoken repeatedly about the “liberal press” and dreaded “bloggers” taking their toll on his daughter. I recently discovered an early, telling email by Palin complaining to her pal Meg Stapleton about something a blogger had written in the Anchorage Daily News and how significantly it bothered her–”kind of makes my stomach turn over,” she wrote. Palin can dish, but she can’t take it. She’s got a terribly thin skin. When I reported here less than a month ago that Palin had clearly lifted passages from an article by Newt Gingrich and Craig Shirley (whose name she didn’t even bother to mention) she and her entourage went apoplectic. What she had done was blatantly obvious and she would have been tossed from any reputable college or university for such slipshod citation. Palin, and the sycophants with whom she surrounds herself, simply have no moral compass. Some pundits have said that Palin’s resignation is out of character. Hardly. Don’t forget that she resigned from her last statewide office–that as chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Sarah Palin is a quitter. She fancies herself something else. But, in the end, she quit her position at AOGCC and she has now quit her governorship. That’s two-for-two at the statewide level. In Wasilla, there was nearly a recall launched against her as mayor. Trouble and turbulence have followed her everywhere. More importantly, there are rumors in Alaska that more Ethics Act charges are in the works and that there is also a more serious Federal investigation focusing on Palin during her tenure as mayor in Wasilla and the building of her home and a sports complex in Wasilla, long speculated to have been linked . It’s the one very touchy subject whenever you bring it up in the MatSu Valley. As someone who is writing a book on Palin, I can attest to the fact that there are always rumors flying about her, not all of them true, but this seems like a real possibility, especially given the timing of her announcement today. Palin also has a multi-million dollar book project for Rupert Murdoch that she needs to complete in time for a spring release. That’s some serious cabbage, and there were grumblings in Alaska about the book deal as well. There will be other lucrative, high-visibility media options for her shortly down the road. Don’t be surprised to hear of one of those popping up soon. This frees her up to reach for the gold ring without her minions being able to register any complaints. In that respect, it’s a logical move. A longtime Republican in Alaska who has known Palin since she ran for lieutenant governor in 2002 told me that Palin “enthusiastically embraced” her trip to Georgia last year in which she campaigned for Senator Saxby Chambliss. She sees herself doing that around the country in 2010, raising money for conservative Republicans and, by so doing, building support for a presidential candidacy in 2012. “She was absolutely adored in Georgia,” said the GOP operative, “and she loved her role there–preaching her particular brand of conservatism to the already converted.” And make no mistake about it: Sarah Palin is by far the biggest ticket item that GOP has in its dwindling catalog of candidates. All of the recent public donnybrooks have taken their toll: First the article by Mark Purdum in Vanity Fair and then the even nastier revelations of emails leaked by the McCain campaign which showed her to be an utter liar regarding her husband Todd’s membership in the Alaska Independent Party. Even the seemingly innocuous interview in Runner’s World , with its bizarre, braggadocio boast of her having more endurance than Obama, revealed her penchant for duplicity at every turn: the assertion that an injury she had sustained while jogging in Arizona had been kept top-secret, a contention thoroughly disputed by the inimitable Mudflats . One of my favorite lies spewed by Palin today in yet another poorly scripted speech was that she campaigned for governor ” four years ago…,” when she, in fact, ran for governor three years ago and held her position for little more than two-and-half years . It’s the little lies she always tells, the twists of truth, the distortions. Four years sounds like nearly a full term; three feels incomplete. So why not just call it four ? For all her projected toughness, Palin loves to play the victim. “Political operatives descended on Alaska last August, digging for dirt,” she whined, implying that her problems are from out-of-state (yet another big lie). “Over the past nine months I’ve been accused of all sorts of frivolous ethics violations…” It wasn’t quite Richard Nixon’s “Checker’s Speech,” but it was close. In her own awkward vernacular, the Governor was essentially saying to Alaska, “You won’t have Sarah Palin to kick around any more.” Here’s a little bit of Alaska inside talk for you. Those close to the governor have consistently indicated to me that they privately blame Mitt Romney & Co. as the source of a lot of the media hits on Palin. It may even be true. But with today’s announcement, Palin will soon be on equal footing with Romney–no longer saddled by statewide office and free to travel and maneuver however and wherever she damn well pleases. Today’s statement was a great equalizer for 2012. By being a lame duck, Palin would have exposed herself to more negative coverage, more public failure. By stepping down she allows herself to regroup, get out from under the microscope and re-emerge as a national figure without the constant strain of serving as governor. Some news sources are claiming that Palin is stepping away from politics permanently; perhaps. But I didn’t hear that today. What I heard were typical Palin code words that she has her ambitions set for higher office, for a national stage. Her shots at Obama’s stimulus package were just one of many signals aimed directly at Washington. So do not think for a moment that this is the last we will be hearing from Sarah Palin. The Federal Election Commission will soon be reporting how much money Palin’s SarahPAC has raised over the past four months. You can bet that Palin has a lot of gas left in her tank. She is the gift that John McCain gave us that will not go away. Award-winning investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker Geoffrey Dunn is at work on a book about Sarah Palin and her role in American politics, to be published by Macmillan/St. Martin’s in 2010. More on Sarah Palin
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Geoffrey Dunn: The Real Story Behind Palin’s Bombshell
Sarah Palin’s surprise announcement today that she will step down this month as Alaska’s governor has stirred a firestorm of conjecture about her motives and political prospects. There is one particularly concrete consequence, however: she will be the third woman governor to leave office since the November elections in the wake of President Obama tapping two women governors for his cabinet (Kansas’ Kathleen Sebelius and Arizona’s Janet Napolitano). Women make up a majority of today’s electorate, but come August, there will be 44 male governors and only six female governors, two of whom (Hawaii’s Linda Lingle and Michigan’s Jennifer Granholm) are barred from running for third terms next year. According to the invaluable Center for American Women in Politics , a majority of states have never had a woman governor in their history. As highlighted in my commentary i n Roll Call this week with Cindy Terrell, representation of women in elected office remains very low. We need to talk about it more, and urge more women to run, urge more partisans to promote women for office and consider changes to our electoral laws to create more incentives for women to run viable campaigns. More on Sarah Palin
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Rob Richie: Sarah Palin’s resignation to reduce women governors to six
I was busy most of the day, but I heard that something might have happened with regard to the 2010 elections. Some sort of a candidate announcement. Might have been a governors race? Perhaps someone here can fill me in…. 
MN-Gov: Apparently, Norm Coleman IS Serious About This Norm Coleman is obviously trying to resemble one of those sandy-bottomed childrens toys that you keep knocking over, only to see it rise again to your endless amusement/frustration. According to this article , a Coleman advisor is saying that he is actively discussing a 2010 gubernatorial bid with Republican activists. This comes, of course, less than 72 hours after he finally conceded the 2008 Senate race, in which he was defeated by Democrat Al Franken. OH-Gov: Poll Confirms Softening of Strickland’s Position A new poll from Quinnipiac shows that the state’s financial dire straits have had a political effect on the state’s first-term Democratic governor, Ted Strickland. Once considered in a strong position for re-election, Strickland now leads his potential GOP rivals by single digits. Strickland holds a one-point edge over former Senator Mike DeWine (41-40) and a five-point edge over former Congressman John Kasich (43-38). In early May, Quinnipiac had Strickland leading both GOP candidates by double-digit margins. NATIONAL: The Dire Straits of Republican Governors As Sarah Palin jogs off into the sunset (for now), Kyle Munzenreider of the Miami New Times has a pretty solid read on a topic that will probably unleash a little healthy weekend schaudenfreude in these parts: the shockingly swift descent of the Republican governors, once considered to be the bedrock upon which the GOP resurrection would be built. The gallery of GOP gubernatorial drama alone is worth the visit. IL-Sen/IL-Gov: Could Kirk’s Statewide Plans Get Scuttled By Right-Wing? Mark Kirk has taken most of his abuse lately from the political left, in particular for his somewhat dangerous attempt to give Barack Obama and the Democrats a swift kick in the knees by telling China that America’s government could not be trusted. Now, he is taking on water on the starboard side . Yep, the right-wing in his state is less than thrilled that he was one of eight Republicans to support the President on last week’s very tight Clean Energy vote. NV-Sen: Heller Looking Less Likely As A Senate Challenger in 2010 Barely a week after John Cornyn insisted that a Republican challenger to Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid was forthcoming, the main target of the NRSC’s recruitment efforts seems to be intent on staying put . Dean Heller, who has served northern Nevada in Congress since 2006, has not made up his mind definitively, but the signs are pointing towards him not running for statewide office in 2010. This is doubly good news for Democrats, since not only does this mean that he is unlikely to challenge Reid, but it also means that he is unlikely to challenge incredibly vulnerable GOP Governor Jim Gibbons. Top Republicans seem resigned to a Heller non-candidacy: John Thune, now in the Senate leadership, simply said of Heller, “I think he likes the job he has.”
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Polling and Political Wrap-Up, 7/03/09
I wish Hunter S. Thompson had lived to see this. As Hunter said, “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” Sarah Palin makes Mark Foley, the congressman who sent filthy emails to pages look almost normal. She makes David Vitter, the senator who was hanging out with hookers, look almost boring. She makes Larry Craig, caught hitting on a cop in a men’s room, look almost stable. She makes John Ensign, the senator who was having an affair with a staffer, look almost humdrum (and compared to the rest of the GOP whack-jobs, he is). And she makes Mark Sanford, the governor with the Latin lover, look positively predictable. It was an almost impossible mission, but in resigning from office with 17 months to go in her first term, Sarah Palin has made herself the bull goose loony of the GOP. Let’s stipulate that if there is some heretofore unknown personal, medical or family crisis, this was the right move. But Gov. Palin didn’t say anything like that. Her statement was incoherent, bizarre and juvenile. The text, as posted on Gov. Palin’s official website ( here ), uses 2,549 words and 18 exclamation points. Lincoln freed the slaves with 719 words and nary an exclamation; Mr. Jefferson declared our independence in 1,322 words and, again, no exclamation points. Nixon resigned the presidency in 1,796 words — still no exclamation points. Gov. Palin capitalized words at random - whole words, like “TO,” “HELP,” and “AND,” and the first letter of “Troops.” Gov. Palin’s official announcement that she is resigning as chief executive of the great state of Alaska had all the depth and gravitas of a 13-year-old’s review of the Jonas Brothers’ album on Facebook. She even quoted her parents’ refrigerator magnet. (Note to self: if one of my kids becomes governor, throw away the refrigerator magnet that says: “Murray’s Oyster Bar: We Shuck Em, You Suck Em!”) She put her son’s name in quotations marks. Why? Who knows. She writes, “I promised efficiencies and effectiveness!?” Was she exclaiming or questioning? I get it: both! And I don’t even know what to make of a sentence that reads: *((Gotta put First Things First))* Ponder the fact that Rupert Murdoch’s Harper Collins publishing house is paying this, umm, writer $11 million for a book. Ponder that and say a prayer for Ms. Palin’s editor. I’m no latter-day Strunk & White, just a guy who was struck by Palin’s spectacularly rambling and infantile prose. It bespeaks a rambling and infantile mind. But perhaps not. Perhaps this is all a ruse. Perhaps Gov. Palin wants us to believe she’s an intellectual featherweight who is slightly shallower than an actor on High School Musical . Maybe she’s trying to throw us off the trail. Naah. A lot of people thought that about George W. Bush. He couldn’t be so block-headed, they said. He couldn’t be as childish and churlish as he came off. Oh yes he could. And so, too, might Ms. Palin be as vapid and puerile as her inane statement suggests. We will know. In the fullness of time (and I predict, not much time) we will know. Again and again in her statement, Gov. Palin returned to the nettlesome ethics inquiries that have been visited upon her since she signed on to be John McCain’s running mate. No doubt they are annoying. But does anyone believe that’s why she’s resigning? No, there’s more to this story. And Ms. Palin’s resignation only increases the chances that we will all know the rest of the story soon. Or, as she might put it: We will all KNOW the “rest of the Story” *((SOON!))* More on Sarah Palin
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Paul Begala: Sarah Palin Turns Pro
Feel free to add your own theories in the comments.
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Top 10 reasons for Palin resignation
I’ll try to be brief. People should do whatever they choose. Get married, get divorced. Run for office, resign from office. Volunteer to clean up a highway, run screaming naked down the street. Have your fun, baby, and don’t let no one keep you from it. What people should not do is have their fun, all the while insisting they’re doing it for someone else’s benefit. Deep within her rambling and disjointed “announcement” this morning, Sarah Palin stated that she’s not going to seek reelection as Governor of Alaska. Then, she went on to say she’ll be leaving office before her term is up because serving out the term she was elected to serve wouldn’t be best for the people who voted her in . In other words, I’m leaving you - but only because it’s the best thing I can do for you . It’s easy to criticize, I know. But today I feel qualified. Because this is the identical excuse I gave to every girlfriend I broke up with in my twenties and thirties. I don’t think many of them fell for it back then. I know they’ve all wised up since. The question on my mind today is, how many of Sarah’s millions of admirers will feel flattered by her most recent selfless and beneficent decision? You can fool all of the people some of the time. And you can fool some of the people all of the time. And you can fool some of the people all of the time. And you can fool some of the people all of the time… EvanHandler.com More on Sarah Palin
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Evan Handler: Palin Resigns to Accept Post as Lunatic Laureate
So Sarah Palin has resigned. From four colleges. From her job with the Oil & Gas Commission. And now finally, from her job as governor. Highly unusual for someone once so determined to climb the political ladder that she stayed on in Texas to deliver a speech to the Republican Governors’ Association, even as she went into labor with her fifth child. But, hey, that’s Sarah. Also. Now, my first thought was that she merely meant that she was tired and wanted to recline , but alas, she left little doubt about her actual intentions with her extended, often rambling speech, during which the local waterfowl laughed repeatedly. Palin’s first draft, by the way, reportedly began: “When in the course of human… stuff… (also).” It’s truly been an amazing few weeks for the America, as we found out that GOP governors celebrate Father’s Day with adultery, and July 4th by resigning from office. This is a pretty amazing abdication of responsibility, I must say. I think back to John McCain’s flaky “suspension” of his campaign over the financial crisis, and when you put it side by side with Palin’s freak-out, I’m really astonished that they were ever considered a legitimate presidential ticket. How she ever made it all the way through field dressing a moose without getting bored and quitting, I’ll never understand. But then again, this was someone who probably winked because she couldn’t commit to finishing a blink. I’m appreciative, at least, that she went out in a blaze of glory, with one last incoherent blast of public word spray. I think I’m seeing starbur… ah, screw it. I don’t feel like finishing that sentence. Best of luck to you in whatever you do next, Sarah. Rumor has it that you quit for an offer of $50 an hour to go pick lettuce in Yuma for the whole season. But I think you can’t do it, my friend.
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Palin secedes from office. Also.
Reporters are beginning to piece together an explanation for Sarah Palin’s abrupt resignation announcement that stands in stark contrast to the reasoning Palin offered in her speech. Speaking on MSNBC, Andrea Mitchell reported that, according to “people very close to Sarah Palin,” she has “told her supporters that she is out of politics, period. She is fed up with politics. She doesn’t like her life. She feels that she needs to raise her family. She’s sick of the commute from Wasilla to the capital. And she really does not want to run for higher office, that this is not a case where she is stepping down in order to clear the way for a presidential run. In fact, she has told some of her biggest backers in the national Republican Party that they are free to choose other candidates for 2012, which of course opens new avenues for Mitt Romney, for Tim Pawlenty, for other potential candidates who are definitely in the running.” Here’s video: Meanwhile, Alaska-based reporter-blogger Shannyn Moore is hearing potentially more damaging revelations are to come. “For weeks the rumors of a criminal investigation against the governor have been brewing,” she writes. She spoke of the rumors with MSNBC’s David Shuster, saying the talk of a criminal probe into Palin has been circulating for six to eight weeks, and that today’s press conference seemed to be Palin’s effort at “damage control for news to come out later.” Moore also noted that it made little sense for Palin to resign now to prepare for a presidential run, especially considering she continued on as governor during the 2008 presidential campaign unlike Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who both turned over power to their Lieutenant Governors when they were running for national office. Writing for the Daily Beast, Max Blumenthal pinpointed a burgeoning story that may be the source of the rumblings in Alaska: Many political observers in Alaska are fixated on rumors that federal investigators have been seizing paperwork from SBS in recent months, searching for evidence that Palin and her husband Todd steered lucrative contracts to the well-connected company in exchange for gifts like the construction of their home on pristine Lake Lucille in 2002. The home was built just two months before Palin began campaigning for governor, a job which would have provided her enhanced power to grant building contracts in the wide open state. More on Sarah Palin
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Sarah Palin "Out Of Politics, Period" (VIDEO)
Hearing the news of Sarah Palin’s speech announcing her upcoming resignation from the Alaska governorship, I touched base with Leah Burton, author of Theopalinism: The face of Failed Extremism and author of the blog, Theopalinism . But Lisa Derrick, writing for FireDogLake had beaten me to it. As Derrick writes on her blog, Leah Burton-the author of the book TheoPalinism: The Face of Failed Extremism and creator of the blog theopalinism.com whose testimony about Wayne Anthony Ross led to him being passed over as Alaksa attorney general has a good take on Palin’s resignation, based on her perspective as a Palin watchdog. We spoke a right after Palin’s speech. Says Burton: She is prepping to start a “full court press” nationally to whip up her base into a frenzy! This is going to get ugly… Anybody who thinks she going away is crazy. …Burton feels Palin wants to stay in the spotlight and is mad that Newt and Mitt can run around while’s she’s stuck in Alaska. Leah Burton’s take syncs with a just-published LA Times op-ed by Lisa Richardson , which reads Palin’s surprise resignation announcement as an offensive move: There’s a huge void in the Republican Party and she’s moving to fill it. So watch out Rush! Sarah Palin vs. Rush Limbaugh. What can this resignation mean except a frontal assault on talk radio? …She got a ton of money with that book deal, so she doesn’t need the job. And now she avoids the charge of shirking her duties every time she flees the state to attend a fancy dinner in the lower 48. I bet Alaska didn’t have a chance of keeping her after floods forced her to stay home and be gubernatorial while Todd had a ball at the White House Correspondents’ dinner. You know she just hated missing that. While I simply cannot believe Palin would make a serious run at the presidency, I’m certainly hoping she will. National Public Radio’s Ron Elving seems to concur, writing, Palin: Really Retreating Or Just Reloading? The move carries a tinge of desperation, and the rolling scandals that seem to dog Palin have only peripherally touched on the (former) Alaska Governor and GOP presidential candidate’s association with two publicly professed witch hunters and Sarah Palin’s close affiliation with the New Apostolic Reformation, a global movement that is rapidly redefining Christianity . As I explained to journalist Bill Berkowitz in a recent interview , mainstream media has so far missed Palin’s association with the aggressively supremacist New Apostolic movement but, Sarah Palin is, broadly speaking, in the emerging postdenominational movement, which by 2000 encompassed 385 million Christians and is vastly different from the faith as it has been practiced in recent centuries. We identified Palin as in a majority tendency of postdenominationalism known as the neocharismatic movement, or the “Third Wave.” Evangelical missionary reference work World Christian Trends calls the Third Wave “a new and disturbingly different” kind of Christianity whose members “can accurately be called radical Christians with some pentecostal /charismatic parallels” and which has, as one of the distinctive characteristics of Third Wave Christian ministry, a heavy emphasis on healing miracles including raising the dead–an emphasis promoted from the pulpit in sermons at Palin’s most central church, the Wasilla Assembly of God. More on Sarah Palin
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Bruce Wilson: Sarah Palin’s Ramping it Up, Says Alaska Author of New Palin Book