Matthew Cooper makes a good (if somewhat obvious) point:
Sarah Palin's stunning announcement that she'd not only decline to seek reelection as Alaska's Governor in 2010 but that she'd resign her term later this month caught everyone by surprise. After all, can you think of another presidential candidate who resigned their office to seek the presidency? Jimmy Carter and Mitt Romney had left their governorships when they sought the White House. Bill Clinton remained as Arkansas governor when he sought the presidency. George McClellan was fired by Lincoln before he ran for the presidency in 1864. The last person I can think of who left government service to run for the presidency was Dwight Eisenhower who gave up his NATO command in the Spring of 1952 and garnered the GOP presidendtial nomination a couple of months later. That's far different from cutting out of elective office 18 months before you're scheduled to leave.
Okay, so why would Palin do this on a Friday before a holday, traditionally a day for dumping bad news? A couple of theories:
... She has more bad news to report. There's something going on with her family again. There's more to come with the state's finance. Whatever. There's no good reason for her to suddenly up and quit the governorship, her one claim on elective experience.
The prospect that there's dirt coming is going to send a lot of people suffering from Palin Obsession Syndrome (yes, I mean you, Andrew, among others) into a major tizzy this weekend.
Look, maybe if we all give it a rest, Palin will just go away. She's an attention whore and she'll probably wither away if we stop paying attention.
Speaking as a Republican, the GOP is starting to look like the Detroit Lions - totally hapless, confused, incompetent and leaderless.
Not until the Democrats make some massive error/s will the GOP have any traction.
Bad moon rising....
Posted by: save_the_rustbelt | 07/04/2009 at 06:56 AM
Sarah Palin will have a talk show on Fox. A cross between Oprah and Hannity.
Posted by: Mike | 07/04/2009 at 01:48 PM
On the flip side of Sullivan and MoDo's schadenfreud, Ace laments the backlash on conservatives who think Palin made a bad move:
And I do think I am taking off the week. You guys only seem to want to talk about sarah palin and furthermore you only want to hear the same thing -- she's running, this is a great move, she's now perfectly poised for the race, etc.
It's nonsense. And I hardly need to blog about it, because you all seem to know the words to the song. So you don't need me as part of the chorus. You can sing the same words well enough without me.
I am really tired of this relentless nonsense and occasional nastiness whenever someone is believed to have departed from the conservativey correct line.
Does this mean PB starts supporting Romney 2012?
Posted by: Toe Cracker | 07/05/2009 at 10:24 AM