Is Palin committing political suicide?

"I am determined to take the right path for Alaska even though it is unconventional and not so comfortable.  With this announcement that I am not seeking re-election, I've determined it's best to transfer the authority of governor to Lieutenant Governor Parnell."

Sarah Palin has quit her job.  She made the announcement at a press conference in Wasilla.  (The full text of her speech is here.)  The governor wisely took no questions.

While we're waiting for the other shoe to drop, let's see what 7 prominent conservatives are saying about Palin's decision to vacate the governor's mansion...

Charles Krauthammer, syndicated columnist:  "She has star power without any doubt. She has an extremely devoted following.  But she is not a serious candidate for the presidency.  You cannot sustain a campaign of platitudes and clichés over a year and a half if you’re running for the presidency."

Todd Harris, Republican media consultant:  "I think Sarah Palin is on the verge of becoming the Miami Vice of American politics:  Something a lot of people once thought was cool and then 20 years later look back, shake their heads and just kind of laugh." 

Glen Bolger, veteran GOP pollster:  "There is just no good way to say quitting has made her more qualified to run for higher office."

Bill Kristol, columnist:  "Haven't conservatives been lamenting the lack of a national leader?  Well, now she'll try to be that...  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. After all, she's freeing herself from the duties of the governorship. Now she can do her book, give speeches, travel the country and the world, campaign for others, meet people, get more educated on the issues - and without being criticized for neglecting her duties in Alaska."

Nick Ayers, exec. director of the Republican Governor's Association:  "Part of her decision is she wants to spend more time campaigning for candidates." 

Fred Malek, political adviser to Palin:  "She’s not going to go hide in a cave.  She'll continue to be a major friend and force for Republican figures in this country."

John Weaver, former senior strategist for the McCain campaign:  "Good point guards don’t quit and walk off the floor if the going gets tough.  Today’s move falls further into the weirdness category.  People don’t like a quitter."

Progressive columnist Max Blumenthal reports on the other falling shoe, a yet-to-be-disclosed corruption scandal involving an Alaska building company called Spenard Building Supplies.  Apparently, SBS was awarded a contract by Palin to build a hockey arena in Wasilla.  In return, SBS helped construct Palin’s home.  (You can read the juicy details on Daily Beast.)

The ever-delusional Moms4SarahPalin are cheerily optimistic:  While we do not yet know the full reasoning behind this move, we can only hope we know what it means - and that will be change we can believe in!  (What. The. Fuck?)  Either way, we support the Governor. She has been treated worse than any political figure in the history of American politics. I wouldn't blame her one bit for just walking away.  We'll see.  Either way, we love you Sarah!

Over at Huffington Post, Alaska blogger Shannyn Moore notes that rumors of an "iceberg scandal" are circulating.

MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell reports that "people very close to Sarah Palin" said that the governor "told her supporters that she is out of politics, period.  She is fed up with politics.  She doesn't like her life."

Well, now that makes several gazillion of us.  If Sarah Palin can weather the upcoming storm, or if the clouds of scandal mysteriously disappear, I feel certain that she'll return to politics.  It is, after all, what she knows.  It's really all that she knows, besides how to kill wolves from helicopters and gaze suspiciously at Russia from her house. 

(Image courtesy Zina Saunders © 2009)

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Comments

[Aggie]

Hmmm... What's Caribou Barbie up to? I guess I buy the scandal idea, as her political handlers must know she suffers from exposure... they simply can't be trotting her out NOW for 2012. Only the neocons and the "people-n-dinosaurs coexisted" crowd like her, anyway. The country-club Republicans and the libertarians don't, so I don't think she has a shot at the nomination. But it is weird. She's not someone who operates by fact or reason, she's wholly driven by her ideology, just like Dubya, so the idea that some scandal would make her resign doesn't seem right, even if it's true. And, I don't see her becoming the next Rush Limbaugh. And, what will NORAD do without the lady who can see Vladdy Putin from her house in Wasilla?

[Bee Girl]

Wouldn't it be nice, though, if she was sincere about dropping out of public life forever? I wonder how that those memoirs of hers are coming... there will be a book tour, and appearances on talk shows. She'll have plenty to keep her busy till 2012.