I knew he’d eventually get the blame but K-Lo got to it quicker than I expected:
If she is stepping down because of what politics has done to her family, because of something in her family life she doesn’t want to see as David Letterman fodder, because it’s impossible to be governor, a star, and a mom to an infant … this is good. It demonstrates good judgment and priorities.
Look, I sincerely hope that this resignation has not been brought about by some personal, health, or family problem.
But if it was, is David Letterman really the culprit?
asiangrrlMN
Nope. It’s her own damn fault, and that’s not the reason, anyway.
JK
God Bless You David Letterman. Go to hell K-Lo.
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Governor.
mcd
Does anyone know if she’s been to Argentina recently?
srv
The truth is about to break, Michael Jackson’s kids are really hers. She’s going to go for custody and Neverland.
Actually, me thinks this is the first round for 2012. Someone didn’t want her in the Senate, and somebody on the campaign staff who knew how to make that happen has endeared themselves to that someone.
JK
Palin is going to run away with her soulmate Mark Sanford.
Brachiator
Palin, of course, has not cited negative publicity as one of her reasons for resigning, but if she had cited Letterman, she would be even loopier than Governor Sanford.
But it’s par for the course that idiot pundits don’t mention anything about the insidious GOP infighting that has dogged Palin since she and McCain lost the election.
GregB
If Palin can’t take David Letterman then how can she handle Vladimir Putin?
-G
calipygian
If the Wasillia Whack Job couldn’t stand up to Letterman, how is she going to stand up to Putin?
Svensker
From the comments at Hot Air:
So she’s quitting because she’s a principled nice person and the left are all big meanies. Also. And she would, too, have been a great VP even tho she can’t take people talking crack about her. So there.
Sumpin big is coming. Or Say-rah is having herself a little breakdown.
It’s odd, on a human level I felt bad for Sanford even tho I think he’s a complete dick (in every way). For Sarah? (If that’s why she’s quitting.) Not much atall.
JK
Love how Palin casts herself as Joan of Arc one more time.
Cry me a river, Sarah.
Elie
Saw part of the “announcement”
She seemed nervous, emotional, somewhat ill at ease…She didnt seem poised and in control but instead somewhat angry…defensive — not like she was announcing something very positive
dbrown
Let me get this right – this woman drags her children all over the country so she can run for VP while Governor of Alaska (and suppose to be doing that job at the same time, too) and now, when she is free of those side tasks it is too hard for the poor, pretty little thing due to family responsibilities and media attention (Like what f’ing attention?) What a puss… oops, I mean what a looser. Her political career is toast.
Natascha
Who knows? It’s just another bizarre move in a string of many.
Brian J
If Letterman is the culprit, and her mentality is that sensitive, then she better not be stepping down to seek the presidency. If she can’t handle Letterman making some jokes, then how would she react when protesters in the more unstable parts of the world launch marches against her and burn her in effigy, as they have done to every U.S. president?
David
From a quick perusal of the comments on some Rightwing sites, the Wingnuts seem actually relieved.
Keith
I’m thoroughly enjoying hearing Stewart Varney ask Bill Kristol if this is actually a very shrewd move on Palin’s part. Apparently both are completely oblivious to the “then how can you handle being president?” soundbite that would ensue if she ran in 2012.
ScreaminginAtlanta
Just watched her press announcement. Bizarre. Can I get a translator please???
Yay troops. Also.
Comrade Stuck
The Friday afternoon before a long holiday weekend has traditionally been the time to make sudden, more time with family, quitting decisions. Often followed by scandal news. I agree with those who say it must be a dilly to get this one to throw in the towel. OTOH, she could have been telling the truth about the family ridicule stuff, and they being the driving factor. Time will tell.
Roger L. Simon
She is clearly doing this at the behest of Iran’s mullahs. Also.
demkat620
DougJ, you’ve been watching republicans for a while now. Surely you know, nothing is ever their fault.
K-Lo has to blame somebody. Letterman’s as good as anybody else.
JK
There has to be an indictment or End of Days bombshell scandal (financial or ethical) hanging over Palin’s head.
During the campaign, Palin proved herself to be a pathological liar. As a result, nothing is ever what it seems to be with her.
DavidNYC
What does “Burkean Bells” mean? Esp. in this context?
The Grand Panjandrum
Poor Richie Lowry. This must be a tough for him because he’ll never find another girl like her.
But the question remains will she come down off her fucking cross in time to run in 2012?
Cat Lady
The VF article hit home and got people in her past talking, methinks. One of her frenemies said “they called her Barracuda in high school. Have you ever been called Barracuda?”
She’s experiencing karma. She was a barracuda in a small pond, and she swam with bigger fish she pissed off. Also.
Zuzu's Petals
Video here.
Wow, must be seen to be believed.
Dave C
This is either the world’s biggest political own-goal or there is a seriously juicy scandal afoot. Hilarious, either way.
Does anybody know if it’s possible to experience schadenfreude-induced starbusts?
Douche Baggins
From her announcement: “… But that a quitter’s way out, and I think a problem today in our country is apathy. It would be apathetic to just kinda hunker down and go with the flow. We’re fishermen, we know that only dead fish go with the flow. No, productive fulfilled people determine where to put their efforts, choosing to wisely utilize precious resources and time to build up, and there is such a need to build up.”
That’s why I’m leaving the most powerful office I’ll ever hold, to hunker down like a dead fish until the impending shitstorm blows over.
Sarah Palin: QUITTER.
PaulW
I wonder if all the far right bloggers cheering Palin for her ‘integrity’ for resigning for the good of Palin’s family (“Damn you Letterman and your filthy eastern ways!”) will keep cheering Palin for her ‘bravery’ when she’ll announce her 2012 presidency campaign (“Ha! That’ll show Letterman and his filthy eastern ways!”).
Wait, why should I wonder? OF COURSE THEY’RE GONNA CHEER HER ON NO MATTER WHAT. Sheesh. Silly me.
Nellcote
It’s Michael Jackson’s fault. He was taking up all the cable coverage and Palin’s pout about the VF article wasn’t breaking through. Well she got him! CNN apologized for breaking into their MJ coverage to bring us the Palin newscon.
and ps The Bitch. excuse me, The Diva From Hell, is still lying! Contrary to the 2mil she claims the state paid to defend on the ethics complaints, the Alaska Daily News reported the other day the amount was just under $300,000 two thirds of which was about Troopergate.
and pps. The farm critters making noise in the background was pretty great.
MoeLarryAndJesus
Maybe Willow really IS knocked up.
PaulW
@Dave C:
Yes. Malicious joy is still a form of joy.
Paddy
Complete Video- Palin Resignation Press Conferance
Total whack job.
LD50
Yeah, that’s the kind of toughness and determination America looks for in a President. Resign when people block your agenda.
leaningtowardundecided
I am going with she gave Michael Jackson some of Todd’s Diprivan.
Funkhauser
She doesn’t want to take the blame and actually shoulder the responsibilities when Alaska wades through tough economic times and everyone gets upset. Governing is hard.
It’s so much easier to be a GOP talking head, talking about how, in the hypothetical, you’d be doing everything better and offerin’ up solutions, and Democrats suck.
This is the George Bush theory of governance – fuck everything up, be out the door before things get really bad, claim it wasn’t your fault.
(Wow, do I actually dislike Palin now more than I once did?)
Elie
I’m with Cat Lady —
Some big fish has given her a test bite, she’s bleeding and about to get eated…
She truly seems either scared or nervous…
linda
andrea mitchell now saying people close to palin are claiming she’s sick of the demands of politics and is completely getting out of the biz to …. spend time with her family.
GuyFromOhio
@The Grand Panjandrum:
I certainly hope so. Let her and the Mittster spend, spend, spend the next 3.4 years for naught. It would be a nice opportunity to crush the Republican Party once and for all.
Hell, I’ll even kick in $10 to speed the plow.
DanSmoot'sGhost
Okay, I think I have this figured out. Sarah is going to run off to Argentina to be with David Letterman.
Alright, laugh, but it makes as much sense as any other theory we have heard today.
JK
Leave David Letterman Alone!!!
Barring any health issues,
A Brewing Scandal is the only plausible explanation.
This is fan-fucking-tastic
First Norm Coleman concedes, then Sarah Palin resigns, can a resignation from scumbag governor Mark Sanford be far behind?
It’s so great to watch Republicans collapsing like a House of Cards
JGabriel
Hooo boy, just finished watching the presser video.
Definitely a scandal brewing, the key evidence being Palin’s repeated references to “millions of dollars being wasted” and “sparing Alaskans that”.
There’s gotta be a big-ass political scandal coming down the pipeline.
.
PaulW
All this talk about scandal is just that: talk. Unless Sarah Palin is pregnant with Karl Malden’s love child (thought I was gonna make a reference to that other celebrity who died recently, right? You know, Billy Mays), I thought all the other scandals (especially the Troopergate stuff) was done and dropped.
What could possibly drive Palin from office?
The only thing that makes sense at this moment is that she’s dropping the governorship to focus on building up a 2012 war-chest. I’ve heard talk about her seeking a senatorial seat but she could well run that campaign and stay put in Alaska to juggle both the governorship and the campaign (I think that’s what Crist is doing for his 2010 run)…
Brachiator
@Comrade Stuck:
In addition to the fact that the media is down for the holidays (and Congress is on break as well), and next week will be consumed with the Michael Jackson memorial, Sarah Palin could release a sex tape featuring herself and Mark Sanford and it would barely make a media ripple.
But lots of starbursts.
demkat620
@Zuzu’s Petals: Yeah, that presser was bad, bad, bad.
Very agitated and just rambling all over the place. And I’m not buying this that this has been in the works for awhile.
This was not planned. You watch that and you can’t help but ask:
“What the fuck was the McCain campaign smoking?”
DonnaInMichigan
Private emails between Palin and Sanford are going to be revealed.
That is one rumor going round the ‘net
El Cid
Maybe she had an affair with Mark Sanford.
Bill E Pilgrim
Good grief. Yes, that was weird. Like watching Tina Fey on fast forward.
Cat Lady
My reaction to the Mark Sanford presser was that I was experiencing someone who had been fooling themselves and others for a very long time experience reality at the moment it broke through, hence the “sincerity” and attendant weirdness and incoherence of the event. Palin is confronting something similar – you can only fool some of the people and yourself for so long, but reality has a way of asserting itself when you live in a spotlight. She would never, ever resign unless she understands something she didn’t a short time ago. Whatever it is has breached her reality shield, and her instinct is lashing out. Something’s coming.
Scott P.
Dead boy/live girl?
Adolphus
I wonder if, like celebrity deaths, weird, riveting gubernatorial press conferences come in threes. Is Crist gay? O’Malley secretly Italian? Schwarzenegger going to make Kindergarten Cop II (The Revenge of the Retained!) to raise money for California. I got my popcorn ready.
Quaker in a Basement
Okay, I think I have this figured out. Sarah is going to run off to Argentina to be with David Letterman.
No, she’s hiking the Appalachian Trail. No, really she is.
Comrade Stuck
BREAKING NEWS
THE GOP ANNOUNCES IT IS RESIGNING AS A POLITICAL PARTY, TO DEVOTE MORE TIME TO IT’S SCANDALS.
THAT IS ALL.
JK
A perp walk is much more humiliating, degrading, and devastating when you’re a sitting governor as opposed to a private citizen.
I hope the MSM investigates the real reasons for Palin’s resignation with the same balls to the wall tenacity and intensity that they are demonstrating with this bullshit Michael Jackson story.
linda
something’s up; it’s in her voice. the deep inhilations, the agitated speaking.
Zuzu's Petals
@demkat620:
I notice she had the kids lined up next to her, with little Piper front and center.
dbrown
I get the feeling by her anger that a DA said resign or I indict … so she took the offer. Not much else makes sense, even for her.
demkat620
@linda: Agreed. This is nowhere near the end of this story.
ricky
What is truly amusing is that absolutely none of the experts
a) saw this coming, b) can explain it, c) take her reasons at face value.
Mr. Tactful
I heard she got the weathergirl job at Fox News.
JK
@JGabriel:
Bingo.
By the way, great list of movies and writers you cited in that open thread the other day.
linda
‘it’s insanity’ .. from a republican dude who was an early supporter of palin. he’s cutting her to shreds for the irresponsible behavior, unless she has a very solid personal reason.
man, i wish there was a live feed from the rnc headquarters… lol.
Max
Here is what I propose… The republicans agree to not run anyone against Obama in 2012 and the Obama supporters agree to donate all the money we would have sent to Barack to pay down the national debt.
Two party election starts again in 2016.
geg6
Please, please, please let it be a sex tape of her with Bill “The Bloody” Kristol. Just as long as I don’t have to watch it.
mai naem
C’mon she got a seven figure book deal. She really doesn’t want to hurt her purdy head with all these silly wonkish issues like taxes, education and drill,drill,drill babyyyyyy. OTOH, maybe she finally realized that Trig is going to take a whole lot more time of hers than all her other kids combined. BTW is Sean Parnell as flakey as the SC Lieutenant Governor?
JK
A going away song for crybaby Sarah Palin
Wah Wah – George Harrison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn2UH2eiuQo
A Mom Anon
@Mr. Tactful:
I was thinking Fox hired her for her own show following Hannity or Beck. That’s more lucrative than being a measley politician.
But her presser was too wierd,she doesn’t sound happy or even relieved to be moving on to something else. I’d be surprised if there wasn’t some nasty scandal coming out soon.
Maude
She had to pay back Alaska for expenses she charged the state not too long ago. She could have some real issues with the law up there. Let’s hope so.
Zuzu's Petals
Sarah’s latest tweet:“It’s all good.”
ninerdave
Via TPM:
Gee, wonder why that is?
LD50
That’s it. The path is clear.
Bachmann/Coleman 2012!
Zuzu's Petals
@A Mom Anon:
Yeah, the whole “moving on to something else” sounded pretty much like an afterthought.
Skepticat
But not to be understood. WTF did she say? Way too much emphasis on “and I’ve explained the reasons.” And what’s with “it hurts to make this choice”? I (almost) feel guilty that I hope there’s some totally bizarre reason for this totally bizarre move. Almost.
mai naem
Well, I just did the google on Parnell. He was endorsed by the National Review and Club for Growth. So I guess, Alaskans are stoopid.
Natascha
Damn. Too bad Stewart/Colbert are off next week.
Comrade Mary
Now that I’ve seen and heard the video: she isn’t jumping. She was pushed. Wow.
JK
Song playing in Palin’s head while she delivered her resignation speech
Police On My Back – The Clash
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq_HtgGOIfE
geg6
Shuster on “Hardball: The Special Starburst Edition.”. Should be good.
JGabriel
@PaulW:
PaulW, did you watch the announcement yet?
Palin is NOT going to politically survive that performance.
Only something that scared the utter shit out of Palin could motivate an announcement as sudden, unrehearsed, incoherent, defensive, and ineptly spun.
It’s gotta be a scandal, and the repeated references to “millions of dollars” being wasted suggests that it’ll be political rather than personal in nature.
Or, given what a liar Palin is, it’s possible she’s focusing on the political to distract attention from – or create an alternate narrative to – a personal scandal that’s about to be published / broadcast somewhere.
We should know by end of day Monday, at the latest. Probably the announcement will force whoever has the story to go public within the next 3-4 hours.
.
parksideq
@ricky: We all know Palin’s resigning. There’s about 40 gallons of schadenfreude-scented blood poured on the yet-unknown reasons why, and the media sharks can smell it.
I love the smell of GOP scandal in the
morningafternoon.JK
Rich Lowry just announced that he’s resigning from National Review effective immediately.
truculentandunreliable
Terri Gross has called her press conference “rambling” at least twice now.
Dave C
Holy shit, I’m just now watching the her announcement. I think John’s Blow-theory of Sarah Palin’s psychology has just begun to make a lot more sense. She sounds like her heart is beating at a million miles a minute. Sweet Jesus, this is insanity! You MUST watch it!
maya
She resigned to do more community organizing. That and the fact that she may have had a problem collecting that multi-million $$ book deal with Simon & Garfunkle since the Alaska constitution bans the Governor from making money outside of her salary.
JK
@Natascha:
Stewart, Colbert, Maher, Letterman, and O’Brien should all have clauses in their contracts that in the event of a national comedy emergency they must return from vacation ASAP so that they can tell jokes about the comedy emergency.
San Antonio Dem
It’s Obama’s fault (or Obama’dib, as some call him). We’re seeing further evidence of the mysterious power he has over his enemies. Sanford, Coleman, and now Palin. Who will be next?
Brachiator
@JK:
There’s also the Beatles’ Cry Baby Cry (You’re Old Enough to Know Better).
And Janis Joplin, Cry Baby!
Cat Lady
@truculentandunreliable:
LauraW called “rambling” the drinking game word for the media reports of Mark Sanford’s presser. I’m having deja vu all over again.
JGabriel
truculentandunreliable:
“Panicked” would be more accurate. It’s not like Palin is taking a fucking stroll in the woods.
@JK: Thanks, JK.
.
San Antonio Dem
Obama: These are not the droids you’re looking for.
Palin: These aren’t the droids we’re looking for.
Obama: Move along.
Palin: Move along. Move along.
Quaker in a Basement
Lowry:
What? No starbursts, Rich?
ppcli
Pipeline indeed. I have no reason to think this is it, but perhaps there is a darker reason for the surprise choice of Trans-Canada Pipeline as the Alaskan pipeline builder du jour. (Full disclosure: I once worked for TCPL as a construction grunt. If they should be the reason why Palin is toast, I’ll be soooo proud.)
Ed in NJ
I think this is a combination of being too thin-skinned for the job and wanting to make money. I’m sure the pending ethics probes and taking care of a special needs kid contributed to a certain extent, but I think in the long run, being governor was hindering her earning ability. If she realized her prospects for national office was diminishing with the VF article and other stuff, she probably also realized she has a limited window of earning opportunity. The book, and possibly some kind of talk show in a few months seems likely.
JK
@Brachiator:
Thanks, I forgot about those two. They’re both great.
auntieeminaz
@JK: I love that. “A national comedy emergency.” So true. We will just have to rely on the commenters here.
Comrade Stuck
nO nO nO
Obama called and offered her the job of Ambassador to Xanadiew
Martin
Fuck! My news cycle is ending. I need to do something, NOW!
Elie
Yeah @ 85 — the Obama Evil Eye made her do it!
gnomedad
Where the hell is Cole? I hope he wasn’t, you know, cleaning the bathroom or something while listening to this.
ninerdave
Finally sat down to watch the “speech”, although calling it a speech is not really correct. It’s a jumble of random words and phrases strung together for 6 minutes.
Wow.
Comrade Mary
Play her off, Keyboard Cat.
Comrade Stuck
@gnomedad:
He musta slipped his security detail again which is intellesting considering the news in the news.
JK
@Quaker in a Basement:
Cue the mother of all spit-takes from Jon Stewart or Keith Olbermann.
If Sarah has lost Lowry, I wonder if she has lost the “Drill, Baby, Drill” knuckle draggers from the Repub Natl Convention.
truculentandunreliable
@JGabriel: Yeah, but those NPR-types are always so Minnesota nice. You know she was thinking, “Holy shit, what the fuck is this woman on about?”
Perry Como
Sully is having starbursts right about now.
Comrade Stuck
@ninerdave:
I came away thinking there must be a Texas sized scandal brewing, she’s lost her mind, or the Japanese have conquered Alaska. Take yer pick.
LD50
Watched the, uh, ‘speech’. That’s the most rambling, incoherent baffling shit I’ve ever seen from a politician. All I can say is that none of this makes any sense whatsoever.
I also agree that this *ain’t* a political strategy on her part. She’s fleeing a burning building.
someguy
Good riddance to the bimbo. She doesn’t have the chops to be the dog catcher in a small town, much less governator of a strategically important state.
Strategically important because you can see Russia from there (so it’s claimed), and it serves as the National Strategic Facial Hair Reserve.
LD50
Any word yet on how Rush or Red State are spinning this?
Bill E Pilgrim
@Quaker in a Basement:
Yes, I think we have what you could call hard evidence of that, Rich.
SiubhanDuinne
Did anyone notice her snarky little comment about lame-ducks governors going on trade missions to other countries? It passed me by during the live presser but when I saw it again I was struck by what seemed like a gratuitously nasty reference to Sanford. Of course, I could just be imagining things.
4tehlulz
She’s just pissy that Mark Sanford’s getting all the attention that she should be getting.
Adolphus
Trolling through some of the right-wing blogs it looks like they are defending her by sighting her burden of caring for her family. Times do change. Used to be that “spending more time with family” was a pretty transparent cover for being forced out.
Paddy
For a real treat, TPM has the transcript here.
grumpy realist
I find it hard, considering how little “reality” and “Palin” have in common, to think that even a DA saying “quit or I indict” would have generated this.
Either Todd said “quit this or I’m leaving”; there’s yet another scandal in the family closet about to come out; or someone with much more power than Palin (and who’s that in the present RNC/Alaskan party?!) lowered the boom.
So…the major question is: who wouldn’t want to see Palin continue on her merry way? Democrats? Naw, for them, Palin is simply the gift that keeps on giving. They’d LOVE having an Obama/Palin slugfest. And Palin is on bad enough terms with the locals that I find it hard she’d listen to anyone in the Alaskan RNC party.
The only other possibility I can think of is a quid-pro-quo engineered between a business chunk of the Republican party that wants to keep Sarah from her continued chopping of holes in the (economic) boat of Alaska and is willing to front up a chunk of cash for her continued political activity down the road if she Leaves Now. (Probably calculating cynically that chances are high she’ll self-destruct between now and whenever they’d have to actually pony up.)
Still, is a definite puzzlement.
Comrade Jake
CNN has switched to the politics of Michael Jackson. Jesus Fucking Christ.
Napoleon
@Natascha:
I have noticed in the last few years that the biggest funniest scandels break when they are off (Larry Craig, for example).
ninerdave
@Comrade Stuck:
Has to be. I mean, she had a year and a half left after which should could step down and run full time.
There’s also the fact that she did this on a Friday in front of a holiday weekend. Which is when, as any political observer knows, you dump bad information.
JGabriel
Elie:
Do we have any evidence that Obama’s real birth name isn’t: Damien?
Or, given the circumstances, maybe Adam Young?
.
Elie
Something/someone has taken her measure — looked her in the eye and backed her butt right on down..
I KNEW it! Nothing there, nothing to see…all superficial fluff. No Seabiscuit here ready and prepared for a fight — just an attractive but empty bag of air…
JK
Sarah Palin and Mark Sanford are warming the hearts of James Joyce fans everywhere with their marvelous, dizzying, verbal salad, stream of consciousness speeches.
The Democratic Party has to find someone who can respond in kind or else they can kiss the modernist vote goodbye for the next generation.
me
Guy on Fox filling in for Cavuto: Why is Sarah such a shrewd politician?
Lanny Davis: No.
LD50
The Freepers are responding amusingly. Seems to mostly be “SARAH, THIS WORLD WAS NEVER MEANT FOR ONE AS BEAUTIFUL AS YOU!”:
Woodrow "asim" Jarvis Hill
Now I understand. Now I get it.
Sarah Palin says she has a plan.
Sarah Palin is a Cylon.
Sherrell
According to reports she made a brief statement and took no questions….
That pretty much sums up her entire political career doesn’t it
JGabriel
@Ed in NJ:
I think your explanation fails to account for the suddenness of the announcement and Palin’s clearly panicked performance.
Were it only the things you mention, Palin would have put together a much more rehearsed and orderly presser, instead of this hastily conconcted disaster.
.
rustydude
I love Bill Kristol’s take:
Someone should explain betting to Bill. If the odds are decidedly long, you should bet against it.
Comrade Jake
Full-on delusion from RedState.
ninerdave
Well, expect to be mocked when you can’t utter coherent sentences.
rustydude
Duplicate post… sorry.
Scott P.
On TPM Josh Marshall speculated that this was going to be an announcement that Palin wasn’t running for re-election and it got changed to a resignation speech at the last minute. Reading the transcript, it does look like two different speeches rammed together.
Bubblegum Tate
True, but what more could they possibly do with this? It’s so ridiculous as to be beyond parody.
gizmo
Within 2 weeks there will be announcements from the various law enforcement agencies that are on Palin’s trail. This is one of those “it’s time to spend some more quality time with the family” moments.
demkat620
You ever notice, she never mentions asking Todd? Its always “I asked the kids”
BTW, her spokesperson on Fox basically said it was the troops who inspired Palin to quit.
WTF is wrong with the water in Wasilla?
Brachiator
@Quaker in a Basement:
Quaker in a Basement — Palin Today [Rich Lowry]I think I have pretty well-established credentials when it comes to being charmed by Sarah Palin, but that statement, as a statement, was simply terrible. Rambling and not at all persuasive as an argument for her decision. More Gibson/Couric than GOP convention speech.
Hell, Mel Gibson’s drunken rant was more coherent than Palin’s resignation speech.
And of course, the GOP convention speech was written by former Bush speech writer Matthew Scully. Palin only had to reach back into her past experience as a TV sportscaster to deliver the words.
JGabriel
SiubhanDuinne:
Or not. That would fit in with the speculation that Palin is being forced out due to intraparty warfare. If that’s the case, Palin would naturally be resentful that she’s being forced out while Sanford gets to hang in there.
.
dan robinson
I think that the release of emails is what did it. There are other emails out there and they are in the hands of people who she pissed off.
Comrade Stuck
@Comrade Jake:
From The Red
There is all sorts of wingnut win in this.
TuiMel
Perhaps Palin got a taste of the good life and the good things $$ can buy when she was out on the campaign trail. Sarah Palin has a following but not enough talent or work ethic to run for and win the tough public offices. So, I wonder if she is about to take her following to the place where lots of brainless blow-hards go with their opinions and their followings – to make BIG bucks without any ethical cares. Maybe Roger Ailes has hired her to work with her pals, Sean and Greta?
geg6
We’ve said this so many times that it’s a total cliche, but damn. What kind of mojo does Obama have that is creating this astonishing freefall, not just of the GOP, but every single winger who might even think of taking him on? It’s fucking unreal.
Comrade Jake
Joe Scarborough: “I’ve just got to believe it shuts off any possibility of her running in 2012.”
MikeJ
Todd would have had Alaska resign from the union.
JenJen
If you’re not already following KagroX’s Twitter stream-thing, please do. He’s got all the jokes.
May I offer but one:
Shibby
An artist’s depiction of the NRO, Redstate, and Freepers offices
JGabriel
I know it’s evil to even think this, but:
How schadenfreudalicious would it be if Todd had to stand by her side as the suffering spouse, while Sarah confessed her affairs to the nation?
.
Steve S.
Watching her speak in front of the airplane on the lake and I have just one word for her: decaf.
Funny how Hillary has been taking this crap for decades and is still standing, while the “barracuda”, the “pitbull with lipstick” just up and quits. Funny, I tell you.
Zuzu's Petals
@Brachiator:
I’d vote for Sexy Sadie.
“You made a foooool of everyone…..”
JK
@Comrade Jake:
CNN, or Fox News, or MSNBC
We’ll have more details on the capture of Bin Laden and Zarahiri in coming days… but for now back to our analysis of video footage from Michael Jackson’s final concert rehearsal.
Still to come Corey Feldman describes his final phone call with Michael Jackson, and we learn just what Bubbles the Chimp has been up to for the last 5 years.
Et Tu Brutus?
There is a God ( who has answered my nightly prayers to make that woman go away)
SGEW
@geg6: All data points for my Vetinariesque conspiracy theory. It all fits together!
Comrade Jake
@Comrade Stuck:
It’s entertaining to watch them try to defend this, but really, they’re going to lose this case big time. Right now, the best thing an objective person can say about her is that she buckled under pressure. That’s not the type of person you want running for President there, Red State numbnuts.
Bill E Pilgrim
When you consider that the turkey video, the abstinence-only bragging and total fail, wardrobe-gate, and about a dozen other things didn’t make her even consider resigning…
If something is coming, it’s got to be a doozy.
Zzyzx
“And I know when it’s time to pass the ball – for victory.”
Huh WHA?!?!?
SGEW
Mentioned before, but I feel impelled to reiterate that TPM’s transcript of her “speech” is literally mind boggling. I am boggled.
Wow.
gbear
Given the way Tim Pawlenty got treated in the run-up to the republican convention (with McCain leading him on until the last second switcharoonie), he’s probably had to change his clothes three times this afternoon due to hysterical, uncontrollable, incontinence-causing laughter.
salacious crumb
she wouldnt be doing this if she was looking for maximum publicity in her bid for the Presidency or Senate..methinks some news report is gonna come out that Trig isnt her baby or that she was caught banging some dude other than her husband..or that her husband was caught banging Greta Van SucksomeShit
Seebach
Be prepared, be smart, or be lucky. When you have the third for the first time in a long time, it is astounding.
parksideq
@Dave C: That speech she delivered was wingularity in spoken word form.
JenJen
I believe it is possible that, actually, lipstick really **is** the only difference between a Pit Bull and a Hockey Mom, no?
inkadu
@LD50: Red State, from what I’ve read so far, seems to mostly agree that this is:
a) bad for her politically
and
b) good for The Cause, because now she can be free to give speeches against Obama in the lower 48.
There are still quite a few people that think she can still run — senate, etc.; but a lot of people are saying her career is over, and nobody is accusing them of being liberal plants.
However, NOBODY I have read there has addressed the batshit craziness of this speech or it’s timing. They are treating it as a considered move on her part.
My personal theory? There will soon be a revolution against the government, and her and Todd need to go to their arctic refuge and beginning stocking the weapons.
JK
@Bubblegum Tate:
I hear what you’re saying.
How do you parody a parody? However this is just the kind of mission that these comedy writers have been training for all of last year.
JGabriel
JK:
Aw, shit. You just reminded me that Bloomsday was on the 16th, and I missed it. Again.
.
SGEW
Unparsable.
geg6
Just watched it again. This thing is pure comedy gold. Especially love her paen to the wit and wisdom of her parents’ refrigerator magnets. Fuck me, this woman is a living, breathing Dali painting.
sloan
How about that Alaskan blogger who used a photoshopped pic on her site last week?
That was part of a fundraising effort to pay FOIA fees to the State of Alaska in an investigation of Palin. Long story short – the money was raised, the records will be released and 3 days later Palin holds a press conference announcing her resignation.
Coincidence?
salacious crumb
btw, Obama and Rahm must be having a good chuckle over all of this..this has truly been the Democrats week…just when Republicans couldnt choke themselves anymore, they one up themselves with this clown revolving back to the spotlight..first Ensign, then Sanford, then Coleman losing and now Bible Spice…Larry Flynt must have something on her
Leelee for Obama
Spit take grande! Love this! I usually just call him the KS(can never remember how to spell it)
One really has to wonder if they’re all kooking over their shoulders lately. What on earth does the mighty Rahm have on all these people? This is making J. Edgar look like a candy-ass!
mcd
Wow! Anyone remember when Dicky said, You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore?
In summary, it wasn’t the end.
inkadu
Nobody’s mentioned the seagulls heckling her at the beginning of the press conference!
Location fail!
JGabriel
Freepers via LD50:
Sarah Palin: clearly a delicate pre-Raphaelian faery angel who was just too good for this world.
Bwahahahaha!
.
gbear
Did anybody notice if Palin was holding this coffee cup during her presser?
lawnorder
omg the horror, a late night comedian can be mean to a politician!!!!
And she wanted us to believe she was ready to take Putin and Iran ???
Tsulagi
Nah, she’s just taking the easy way out. When she came into office oil prices were crazy rising which brought in a shitload of money for the state. She increased spending. Residents got great dividend checks. Good times for a governor. Everyone was happy.
Oil prices have dropped. Now Alaska is looking at budget problems. A governor will have to make hard calls. Dividend checks could be less. In February…
Better to get out now and have the Wingnut Starburst Choir nationally sing the myth she’s Winky the Wonder Gov.
mcd
Did anyone else notice her gasping for air? Does she normally do that?
asiangrrlMN
Wow. Just. Wow. She looked so fucking rattled. Nice to see her drag the kids into it again. Good god. Yeah, she was pushed into doing it. Ok. I can’t watch the whole thing. Yeah, the way she emphasized over and over again the millions of dollars wasted, it’s big.
I still think she’s operating under the Norm assumption that it’s best to get out now, get out of politics for a while, and hope that whatever is coming just blows over. Right.
mcd, no. She’s usually able to toss out a bunch of word salad with nary a breath in between. That’s why I think she’s running scared. Interesting.
JK
I can easily see Palin caught up in a bribery/corruption/government contracts type of scandal but she never struck me as the kind of person who would get involved in a sex scandal.
I have a remarkably low opinion of Palin on almost every level, but I can’t picture her as a cheating spouse.
Quaker in a Basement
Nobody’s mentioned the seagulls heckling her
Those were seagulls? Oh thank goodness. I thought she was at the turkey farm again.
Leelee for Obama
@demkat620: Because, of course, they all quit what they were doing? WTF?
DFS
Yeah, the gasping is definitely new. Sounds like either panic, drugs, or both.
Trollhattan
“Hi Alaska.”
Jesus god she sounds like a junior high girl.
The preznit:
“Yo America, wazzup!”
gwangung
Yeah, but what about Todd?
linda
i somehow missed the general macarthur quote at the end…
In the words of General MacArthur said, “We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
lol.
Michael
“Obama sucks. He’s a marxist friend of Bill Ayers and is in the pocket of Wall Street and Atheistical Jewish Muslim Arab Chineses people and was a community organizer when I was a mayor and a governor and a mom.
You small town people are the best of America and the dutiful troops that stay and do hard work when people like me have to quit our jobs as governors because its so hard.
We hate the Porkulus. GO WOLVERINES“.
PaulW
@Bubblegum Tate:
Didn’t someone once note that the real crazy sh-t always seems to go down whenever those two go on vacation? Sorta puts Jung’s Synchronicity theory into new perspective…
MikeJ
Via LGM, from Runner’s World:
demkat620
Seriously that presser is just crazee. She is one scary person.
How do people still consider her sane? Has there ever been anything like this woman before?
Zuzu's Petals
Given her repeated references to the “millions of dollars” and time being wasted, I go with the ethics scandal/investigation theory.
And I agree with whoever broached the idea that it has to do with the pipeline. It’s a good guess.
I can’t wait to see what The Mudflats has to say once it comes back up. It crashed right around press conference time.
Trollhattan
Yikes.
All she needs is a banjo.
JGabriel
Sarah Palin:
Alaska! Flyover country to Kamchatka – Yukon prop route!
.
inkadu
@Quaker in a Basement: I’m sure the seagulls talked to the turkeys. She has lost the avian demographic for Republicans in Alaska for a generation.
Ash Can
I suppose she’s impulsive and flighty enough that if she’d gotten off of a snotty phone call with some national GOP operative right before her presser she’d proceed to throw a public tantrum in front of the cameras. Based on everything I’ve seen so far, though, my money’s on the theory of someone having the goods on her. Unless whoever this is has promised to stay silent in exchange for her resignation, the next few days should be interesting.
Rommie
I’m cut off from video access – how does this speech compare to Ross Perot’s “I’m not a candidate anymore” dive speech in 1992? Heck, is there anyone who even remembers that?
JK
I’m getting whiplash from the changing wingnut narrative of Sarah Palin.
First, she was the Guinness World Record holder for field dressing a moose. Now, she’s a delicate flower from a Merchant Ivory movie.
Who the hell is the real Sarah Palin?
Martian Buddy
@Paddy: Wow. Just… wow. “Rambling” just doesn’t seem strong enough.
I suppose “No más” was just too terse.
inkadu
@Trollhattan: There should be some sort of award for transcribing that speech with proper punctuation; also–this.
The Grand Panjandrum
Governor Palin: “The world needs more Trigs, not less of them.”
Know thy political party, woman. Know thy party.
geg6
Chuckie T loses what little credibility he has retained by taking her statement seriously, at face value, and as truly logical. Have the zombies eaten his brain?
linda
did chuck todd even see her fucking performance.
demkat620
@Rommie: Oh, they are nowhere comparable. This has to be seen to be believed. Head over to http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com to read the transcript though it really needs the visual.
Napoleon
@PaulW:
I am sure you are refering to someone else, but I mentioned it in the last thread. That is undoubtedly true. For example Larry Craig (although he may have happened when they were off air because of the strike).
Demo Woman
She’s resigning so that she can enter rehab.
inkadu
i’ve been keeping a mood journal lately. entries are commonly: irritated, depressed, hopeless…
Today I wrote a new one: “sarah palin happy.”
Thanks, Sarah!
Republicans sure are doing their level best to improve my mood these past few weeks.
cosanostradamus
.
Sarah who? Alaska what? Does this mean we won’t have to hear anymore about the gummint-supported anti-socialist patriotic American Republic of Alyeska separatists any more? Aw, MOOSEPUCKY! Well, to me, it all comes down to Elvis vs. Dubya.
.
El Cid
The difference between Perot’s nuttiest moments and Palin’s nuttiest moments is that Perot occasionally had non-nutty moments.
matoko_chan
I think Sully got her in the end.
Goldberg + Krauthammer + Salter + Schmidt + Sully achieved critical mass for the Palin meltdown.
Could it be as simple as her not having a plausible explanation for irrationally travelling for 10 hours while leaking amniotic fluid in a high risk pregnancy? There a lot of Trig talk.
I think she couldn’t answer the question, and she couldn’t make it go away.
She’ll be back.
She will revaluate after her book comes out.
dan robinson
What’s the other shoe?
This is a woman who, when told that Pres. Sarkozy wanted to talk to her, didn’t tell the McCain staff, but tried to set it up herself. As we know now, she was punk’d by some DJs. Her first impulse is self-ambition that is off the scale.
There is another shoe.
1) Todd daddied up somewhere else.
2) Todd isn’t Trig’s dad.
3) She planned to have an abortion but didn’t go through with it.
I’m okay with 2 or 3. If it were 1, she would dump him in a heartbeat. She holds the cards and 2 is plausible. But my money is on 3. She didn’t reveal her pregnancy until she was 7 months along. I think she planned to have an abortion and decided against it.
inkadu
Since blogs do nothing better then spread baseless rumor, I thought I’d share this. I found it on Alaskan blog Mudflats (via Grypon’s blog):
The plan is to develop her as a propagandist able to deliver teh crazies.
The rest is buried in the comments here.
JGabriel
@Paddy:
By the way, that transcript is from “the Governor’s website”, according to TPM. It’s significantly different from the speech as Palin delivered it – there’s both a lot of stuff in it that Palin didn’t say, and it’s missing a lot of stuff that she did say.
For example, and this is a pretty glaring example, the so-called “transcript” doesn’t even have her resignation announcement.
.
geg6
dan robinson: Nope. She already made a speech admitting she considered aborting Trig at the Indiana Right to Life thing. And they lapped it up. It’s something really, really bad. And the more I think about it, the more a scandal on the pipeline makes sense. I can hardly wait for whatever it is. This is in no way over and I’m stocking up on popcorn.
Dave C
More thread, please.
RedKitten (formerly Krista - the Canadian one)
Like all bullies (i.e. the Republican Party), she could dish it out quite happily, but she couldn’t take it.
‘Tis as simple as that.
SGEW
Headline now on TPM: “Only Dead Fish Go With The Flow”
It’s been a good week for bizarre euphemisms.
inkadu
@JGabriel: The speech on the website is probably a standard speech prepped for a different event.
North to the future!
Mike G
Too bad Russert isn’t around anymore to blame all this on Clinton’s cock.
Jason
Hmmmm…wants Alaskans to grasp what can be in store…providence…strategic placement…”MY independence”…build up and fight…
Alaska’s seceding.
SGEW
Wait, what the fuck are we thinking?
SHE’S GOING GALT! The wingularity is nigh! The One True Wingnut is rising! Repent! Repent!
There. Totally explained.
JK
@geg6: @linda:
One of the dumbest moves NBC News ever made was giving Chuck Todd the post of White House correspondent. He’s totally lost and out to lunch in this post.
The one and only thing Chuck Todd is good for is crunching numbers from political polls.
Bob In Pacifica
If it’s Letterman’s fault I’ve got a list of politicians for him.
JGabriel
inkadu:
Possibly, but it has enough in common with the speech as given to suggest that the resignation was a last minute forced addition.
.
Oregon Guy
WANT. MOAR.
grumpy realist
The old site of Mudflats has quite a comment thread going. One commenter said that what was going down with Sarah is a) the Republican party has decided it can’t afford any more sex/financial scandals, b) someone has the goods on Sarah and they’re cutting her loose, and c) in exchange for her stepping down they’re arrange a nice little wingnut welfare position for her where she can pontificate to her heart’s content.
Sounds as good as any other theory so far….
El Cid
@Mike G:
There’s always Peggy Noonan, who blames the Sanford nastiness on the “devilishness” unleashed by the Clinton cock scandal.
geg6
Hope some of you just caught the truly inspired performance of Ron Christie on Hardball just now. Something about how now the Wasilla Wingnut is poised to bring the GOP into that permanent majority. And that the GOP is clearly ascendant due to the miserable failure this Obama fellow has been. Shorter Ron: This is great news for Republicans!
linda
@JK:
his analysis was how palin should prepare from this point on for 2012; completely ignoring her bizarre speech and how that performance has sunk any chance she may have had — no matter how slim.
there’s no way todd saw her performance.
khead
Did she watch the same clip as the rest of us?
binzinerator
@dan robinson:
This would be to her advantage not disadvantage. It certainly wouldn’t hurt her any. She’s already mentioned she had considered this and had made a choice not to have an abortion. And she’s spun this as a way to burnish her no-choice cred with the fundies. (And the fundies loved it).
She seemed to be unaware of the hypocrisy of her saying she was glad to have a choice, not surprising as her fundie fans pretended not to see it either.
Quaker in a Basement
A going away song for crybaby Sarah Palin?
JK: Wah Wah – George Harrison
Police On My Back – The Clash
Brachiator: There’s also the Beatles’ Cry Baby Cry (You’re Old Enough to Know Better).
And Janis Joplin, Cry Baby!
Zuzu’s Petals: I’d vote for Sexy Sadie.
Freebird!
Nellcote
@geg6:
I thought ChuckyT made a good point about her going for the money now. Big book deal & speaking engagements without gov. restrictions. The recent addition of hardcore christianist advisor and ghost writer seems to indicate a career path outside of government.
fave rumour: she takes on Steele for head of the RNC!
JK
@Steve S.:
Great point about Hillary’s toughness vs. Palin’s collapse
If there no scandals that Palin is running away from her meltdown is truly amazing.
Palin entered stage right as Clint Eastwood and now she’s exiting stage left as George Costanza.
El Cid
Hack propagandists can see anything and say anything they want.
Watching the Hindenburg burn and crash, they’d be perfectly willing to say “And we’re watching the safest landing ever, in which the Zepellin’s pilots carefully lit a controlled fire so as to provide a more dramatic entrance. The Hindenburg will have many, many more voyages and if it doesn’t it’s only because the libruls don’t really understand what they think they’re seeing.”
Comrade Stuck
Here’s a blip from wingnut orb Beck.
via Twitter
Well, that explains it.
JK
@Quaker in a Basement:
One nice thing about Palin’s meltdown – It led to a great setlist.
Laura W
@geg6: You forgot the most important point he made: SHE HAD A GABILLION TIMES MORE EXPERIENCE IN GOVERNING THAN SOME STOOPID SENATOR.
How’d all those talking points work out for Ron to date?
Cat Lady
@Seebach:
When you’re all three, it’s open field running. WE CAN HAZ HEALTH CARE NOW PLZ?
JGabriel
grumpy realist:
That whole post was way too tin-foily. In particular, it asserts that the Democrats have all this information and aren’t using it.
There’s just too many people the anon alleges to have this information for it not to have already leaked to the press. It’s not credible.
.
El Cid
@Laura W: I guess it’s sort of like being a community organizer, except she had actual responsibilities!
SGEW
You mean, become a community organizer? (too easy)
[eta: yes, far too easy]
JK
Michael Gerson: “Palin seemed like a spoiled celebrity today”
Gerson speaking on NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
inkadu
Some hilarity from redstate:
Bill E Pilgrim
@Quaker in a Basement: You say hello, but I say goodbye.
Okay it’s reversed but that just fits the black is white motif of the wingularitists.
Josh E.
@Comrade Stuck:
Yeah. Nothing says selfless activism and humble suffering for a noble cause like Sarah Palin.
gnomedad
@Nellcote:
Nah. It’s like running for veep, but with actual responsibilities.
geg6
Laura W: Even better was Bill Press laughing his ass off in the background. There’s been a lot of that off camera laughing on Hardball tonight. The same thing was happening with Mike Allen as he was spouting the apparent talking point they’ve settled on: Sarah Starburst is going to be the catalyst for the Republican comeback now that she’s free by giving speeches and raising money and spitting in the face of the mean ol’ GOP establishment.
El Cid
I want someone to track down when Mark Sanford and Sarah Palin were both at some National Governors Association function. I’m thinking some hot Guv on Guv Reperv Akshun.
David
The only question is:
Will the totally-fictitious-Liberally-biased-MSM-fueled scandal be of a personal or professional nature?
JK
@Bill E Pilgrim: @Quaker in a Basement:
One more reason why the Beatles will always by my favorite rock band. They have a song for just about every occasion.
me
Holy shit. Satire is dead.
asiangrrlMN
@inkadu: Holy crap. Reading those comments skeered me a little bit. That’s a whole lotta crazy.
Brachiator
@khead:
Yes, but she was probably on better drugs.
geg6
Ruh roh. Anybody hear the AI reporter talking to Shuster? Criminal indictments in the offing? Bwahahahahahahahaha!
Trollhattan
@ jason #114
Yes, I believe she IS going Galt. Herr und Frau Ol Perfesser must be verrrry pleased.
Where’s Tunch?
El Cid
Both Sarah Palin and Mark Sanford were in Washington, DC in February 2008 for the National Governors Association meeting.
Photo here. Sarah’s on the first row, Governor Tango’s in the 3rd.
This would be an awesome combination of two right wing governor flipouts.
Cat Lady
@El Cid:
Sanford said he crossed the line with other women. Coincidence?
That’s how “realignments” happen.
DanSmoot'sGhost
I think this is the core of whatever is going on with her. When the other shoe drops, which I am sure it soon will, we will be able to look back at this outburst and say, oh, that’s what she meant. Something is coming after her.
inkadu
@asiangrrlMN: I think their paranoia about the Dems and the national security apparatus is actually reasonable — since I had the same concerns under Bush. What is hilarious is their lack of foresight on the issue. I also like the emotional pettiness. That was my first foray into Redstate; before I thought people called conservatives emotional 4-year-olds as hyperbole, but, no, it’s actually 100% literally accurate.
Dee Loralei
Man, her speech was frenetic, wasn’t it? I’m with everyone else who thinks some new big scandal is about to emerge.
My personal favorite is that she and Hannity are running away together to hike the Appalachian or got to Argentina. I remember thinking during their pre-election interviews that pheremones were colliding.
I’ve got some Pinot Grigio chilling. Too damned bad Olbermann, Stewart and Colbert are all off. Since 2006 anytime they were off at the same time bizarre satuff happened, Foley, Craig, etc.
Steve S.
There’s got to be some law somewhere about the inverse relationship between a politician’s bravado and personal strength. How tough do you have to be, really, to shoot wolves from a helicopter or kill moose, which are the Douglas Feiths of the animal world?
El Cid
Hey, maybe someday Republicans will realize that warrantless wiretapping and surveillance by ‘the government’ includes the IRS.
Comrade Stuck
@geg6:
Yes, I did. From someone who knows what’s going on in Alaska, who says this is the only thing that would make the Cuda up and quit. Plus Palin has promised more details on her Twitter thangy. It fits with all the whining about investigations also. My money is on the “I” word. The only thing that makes sense to me.
inkadu
@El Cid: Friedman was also at the Governor’s meeting. Oh, Thomas, your mustache tickles. I wonder if women impregnated by Friedman deliver their children in increments of six months.
Napoleon
@JK:
Or animal (Walrus, Racoon, Bulldog,English Sheepdog, Octopus, Blackbird, etc)
LD50
@SGEW:
And thus SGEW renders all further comments unnecessary.
El Cid
@inkadu: Ew. Or, also, “Suck. On. This.” I just grossed myself out.
ppcli
.
Well, it is true that alienating the entire Alaska police force by going after both one of the troopers and a respected former police chief, and slamming career prosecutors as political hacks is something you should only do if your record is clean as a whistle. Bodies do tend to mysteriously get unburied under those circumstances.
Napoleon
@Steve S.:
That applies wider then just politicians.
JK
@Napoleon:
You betcha.
One more piece of music to celebrate Sarah Palin running away with her tail between her legs
Ode to Joy – Beethoven
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsFvnL7e1cE
eemom
I know it sounds a bit ghoulish, but I almost felt better last week when Michael Jackson passed away. At least that allowed me to experience some decent, empathic human emotion for a change. I’m into schadendfreude as much as the next guy, but this endless onslaught of demonic cackling is making me feel like I’m a bad person, or something…… : (
JK
@Steve S.:
This sort of reminds me of chickenhawk Newt Gingrich blasting Bill and Hillary Clinton as counterculture McGovernicks. McGovern, unlike Gingrich, served in the US military as a bomber pilot in WWII.
JK
I wish the execs at CNN or MSNBC would think outside the box when covering this Palin story and set up a satellite hookup to get reactions from Bill Maher, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, David Letterman, and Conan O’Brien.
I know these guys get all their jokes from armies of writers, but I can’t believe that they’re not hip enough to come up with a few clever one-liners at a moment’s notice.
Napoleon
@JK:
. . . and better yet make his maximum number of runs, which most did not before the bought the farm or became a pow, and when they offered him an option of hitting a real target or something like a bicycle factory took the real target.
sparky
@El Cid: maybe. Sanford has become a loose cannon, and if she were to remain in office everyone would have a field day with her.
if it turned out that Trig is Sanford’s love child Sullivan would die of happiness.
Zuzu's Petals
@JK:
Hmm, I wonder if “Real Time” is on tonight.
Crosses fingers.
PaulW
Dear Balloon Juice overlords:
Now is the time to start a new category on this site:
The GOP 2012 Candidate Deathwatch.
Which aspiring Republican candidate for the 2012 Presidential Campaign is gonna flame out next? Romney? Huckabee? Gingrich AGAIN? Giuliani AGAIN? Is Cantor moving up on the chart?
Need to set this up like a BINGO card, see who wins Bingo!
Jay C
So: any takers for a wager on how long it will take for some conservative columnist/talking head to solemnly pontificate on what a disgraceful state of affairs it is that a decent, hardworking public servant like Sarah Palin has to resign while sleazeballs like David Letterman can still keep their high-paying jobs?
Two days, my guess: if not sooner.
RPh
Ok, so here is a great & telling K-Lo rationalization:
This nicely sums up the right’s attitude problem from the last two elections and most likely the next. ‘Cause who is missing from the calculation? Why the middle! Your friends (the base) would drive a full fuel tanker truck into a burning building if you asked, and your enemies (teh librulz) are too busy either laughin’ their butts off or crying for the loss of your material. Still, there is a certain percentage of the population that doesn’t have a strong opinion one way or the other. Perhaps an explanation could sway some, non? Of course, she could handle an explanation with her usual aplomb, which would move the middle firmly to “enemy” territory, but at some point the right is going to have to find someone who can “make explanations” & appeal to the middle. I see no one in the current crop with a prayer at doing so.
DaBomb
@PaulW: I am going for Cantor. He’s a weasel. Something is a miss.
Elie
She’s a lazy narcissist with a glass jaw…
Good riddance.
Let the right wing continue to court and exalt her.
She is nothing but air and attitude — an insult to any other woman candidate who has had to pull the full wagon.
An effette, empty cipher that McCain promoted and now must be relieved is exiting from the scene.
She is the symbol of Republican governance….light on competence and coherence — all about resentment and atmospherics. Left behind in the dust where she and they rightfully belong…
gwangung
Gawd, that is SOOOO stealable….
michael gentis
Good! NOW she can appear in Playboy!
PaulW
@PaulW:
I changed my mind. “Deathwatch” is too macbre (sp?). Change that to the “2012 GOP Doomwatch” instead. Thanks.