For those of you who have not seen Palin’s presser, here it is via Paddy via Taylor Marsh at the Political Carnival:
That was rambling and disjointed even by Palin’s low standards. When I was watching it, it reminded me of a COPS episode, when they are are talking to a guy accused of stealing aerosol paint from a hardware store, and the guy swears he didn’t steal any paint, and yes it is all just a big coincidence that he has a circle of silver paint around his mouth and nose, and yes, it is an even bigger coincidence that there is a paper bag with silver paint in it and no he has no idea why there are empty silver cans of paint in the bag seat of his car and oh, hey, by the way, do you have a light, buddy, and better yet do you gotta smoke?
It was manic. I have no idea what is going on, but this was just bizarre. And what makes me even more convinced she is just done, we have this:
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. I suppose she’ll take a hit for leaving the governorship early – but how much of one? She’s probably accomplished most of what she was going to get done as governor, and is leaving a sympatico lieutenant governor in charge.
And haven’t conservatives been lamenting the lack of a national leader? Well, now she’ll try to be that. She may not succeed. Everything rests on her talents, and on her performance. She’ll be under intense and hostile scrutiny, and she’ll have to perform well.
All in all, it’s going to be a high-wire act. The odds are against her pulling it off. But I wouldn’t bet against it.
That was Bill Kristol, and that is as good as a kiss of death.
All sorts of speculation going on, but who knows? I’ve never understood her to begin with, I won’t begin to try now.
mai naem
Tina Fey decided the skit had gone on way too long. Also too, she didn’t like the commuting from Alaska to Los Angeles.
Seebach
Let’s just think about this rationally.
1. Obama has been suggested as a strong lightbringer
2. 2012 is the scheduled Mayan apocalypse/ noosphere formation
3. Palin was a source of profound ignorance and hatred
It’s clear that this is just a function of the species evolution of mankind as we accelerate into a new dominion of being-space.
hal
Boy Sarah, just couldn’t stand being upstaged by Michael Jackson…
Joshua Norton
Political Genius Mary Matalin sez:
“Her delivery was incredible, if you’re a less charismatic person, you probably couldn’t pull it off,” Matalin said. “[Now] she will be freed up and liberated the way Mitt Romney is to raise money and get political chips by spending it and getting political capital. And she is still raising the kinds of crowds and money she always did.”
Being that delusional has to cause some kind of physical pain.
br
David Kurtz at TPM highlights my favorite line from the speech:
Fucking genius right there. Amazing.
Comrade Stuck
From a guy who once said that the whole Sunni/Shia don’t like each other thing wasn’t true.
I think she’s been told she is THE Target of an investigation which portends imminent indictment, probably from the feds, who now make up a sizeable chunk of the Alaska population.
Louise
Well, I’d just like to thank the crazy lady, because I have to get a bunch of computer-based work done this holiday weekend and I was feeling at little bereft at what I assumed would be the lack of news to keep me amused on breaks. This should keep everyone chatting for at least 24 hours, right? More if the other shoe drops.
AhabTRuler
Count me amongst those that thinks that she was pushed. And pushed hard.
Linkmeister
Has anyone ever seen or heard of a faster political flameout than hers?
Dennis-SGMM
Somehow, I just never associate the word “shrewd” with Palin.
Resigning from office while the country, and maybe even Alaska, is in crisis doesn’t exactly scream “leadership” also.
robertdsc
Has Bill Kristol been right about anything? Ever?
Keith
What I find sadly funny about these folks saying this move is *good* for her presidential ambitions is that this will mean her entire executive experience consisted of being mayor of an incredibly tiny town in one of the most desolate states in the Union along with half a term as governer of said state. Hell, I’ll even through in her time on the PTA for extra credit.
Rich
You know, Kristol’s comments remind me of some basketball commentator’s comments after the NCAA bracket is released in any given year. “You know Brent, Duke could really have problems with Cadwallader’s press.” That way, if the unbelievable happens, then he predicted it, but he isn’t really predicting it either.
geg6
I’m with Comrade Stuck. I think she was advised that she’s about to be the target of a major criminal prosecution. And I’m willing to bet, though the AI reporter hinting at this on Hardball refused to say, it is tied up with the pipeline or possibly Todd and his AIP buddies.
iluvsummr
@robertdsc: No. Also.
Napoleon
@robertdsc:
Yes, his infamous memo in the early years of the Clinton admin. to sink his health care plan sight unseen.
(PS, I only mean that as a political judgment, not on the merits of the issue)
El Cid
You mean it didn’t remind you of the ex-mayor of Gaineville, GA, being questioned at his public campsite of reports of a nude man in the area and him denying it had anything to do with him while he was still nude?
Laura W
Breaking News on CNN:
Drugs may have been partially responsible for Michael Jackson’s Death.
I can not believe that they are making Kitty Pilgrim cover this story, but after watching them force Bill Snyder, “Political Analyst”, discuss the political demographics of Jackson’s base at the 5:00 hour, I’m surprised why? CNN has been totally disgusting since the day he died, and oddly, the coverage gets more nonsensical and Off the Wall by the day.
Funny me.
Joshua Norton
She’s pulled the political equivalent of fleeing in the middle of the night, owing money to her landlord and her dealer.
When we find out what’s really going on, it’s going to be rockin’.
gbear
The Great Wasillas.
demkat620
Yeah, there’s another shoe and I bet it’s a doozy. This woman is a pretty shameless liar so I bet ugly will be a good word to drescribe what’s coming.
rikyrah
her ‘resignation’ was as incoherent as everything else she does.
Anne
She has become quite skeletal of late. I do hope her health is not the reason for the resignation. That being said… what you all said.
JGabriel
The more I look at Palin’s resignation speech, the more it looks like she thought she had an agreement to stick it out to the end of her first term, and that someone made it clear to her at the last minute that finishing out the term wasn’t an acceptable compromise.
Wish the other shoe would drop already.
.
media browski
The problem with trying to analyze Palin is that there’s the whole unanswered “Is she insane?” question to answer first.
IF she’s actually sane, then her panic indicates she’s getting clear of a big scandal.
But if you accept the assumption that she’s a narcissist, then the self-interested retreat from the hard work of governing to a life of wingnut welfare and punditry to build on her presidential ambitions, however poor a tactic that might be, is the best choice.
And beyond that she’s out of all hooping.
Ramalamadingdong
Can you imagine her debate prep?
freelancer
Now we only have boring Mitt Romney to mock, and all he did yesterday was boil his foreign policy stance down into a color filled chart with circles and arrows, with quantitative categories like “Has Freedom” and “Not has freedom”.
2011 is gonna be sweet, but I’m enjoying today quite thoroughly.
ronin122
@robertdsc: If so it was by sheer accident or error on his part. Personally, I think he’s almost a perfect anti-crystal ball: whatever he predicts, reality or the future outcome, etc. will undoubtedly be the opposite.
Skepticat
Just carrying through with the basketball metaphor: I’m taking my ball and goin’ home.”
D-Chance.
Wow. Jumping the CW bandwagon before Kristol… embarrassing.
As for this:
Thinking conservatives have been lamenting the lack of a sane national leader not tied to the movement authoritarians. The comely, jogging Wasilla Wench doesn’t make the grade…
erlking
Now that Sarah’s gone Galt, where shall we turn for the wingiest of nuts? Will Michele Bachmann announce a run for Prez?
Laura W
@Laura W: Oh Oh Oh!
Up next on Kitty Pilgrim sitting in for Loud Obbs (thanks Dork!):
“Michael Jackson: Have we gone too far in glorifying him?”
Nights like these I wished to hell I belonged to a bowling league or a bitter feminist book group.
sarah
when things like actual political accomplishment don’t mean anything, why bother hanging around and being an actual politician? just get out there and CAMPAIGN!
i gotta think someone has some real dirt on her, rod blagojevich style. i feel like this was the political equivalent of blanche dubois being escorted to the looney bin saying “i’ve always depended on the kindness of strangers”. yes palin, resigning as governor is excellent news and a great way to prove your chops at governing.
ronin122
@freelancer: We always have McMaverick, but he’s not really funny so much as kinda sad. Umm… well there’s batshit Bachmann, she’ll be around for at least two years (unfortunately) but she makes me weep more than giggle.
dan robinson
The Daily Show on Monday.
That will truly be must see television.
ronin122
@erlking: Oh wow I forgot all about the Going Galt crap. John, you have to add “going galt” to the “Palin Resigns” posts!
JK
Palin made Geoffrey Rush’s impersonation of David Helfgott appear as lucid as William F. Buckley.
Nylund
My take is that she is basically saying:
“I have no effing clue how to run a state. The longer I stay governor, the more evidence there will be proving this assertion. So, instead, I will just quit so that there is less ammunition for people to use against me. Plus, now all I have to do is say, “you betcha” and wink a lot and all the neocon boys will give me all their money.”
gbear
@JGabriel:
Yes, I’ve been noticing that theme popping up in stories and comments too. A lot of writings just prior to the speech don’t even mention resignation. Something big and awful happened in the moments before she actually gave the speech. What a way to go. Makes me wonder if ‘they’ wanted her to resign immediately and she bargained with them to get the end of the month date.
tomjones
Well, congratulations libs. You won’t have Sarah to kick around anymore.
She is not a crook!
matoko_chan
She was pretty petulant about the trig thing….i think sully hit a nerve.
I like the royal “we” and “our”, and the “prayed on it”.
That is death poison for a presidential run.
She seemed pretty shook about something.
Maybe…..she’s really Stevie Nicks and its all gonna come out?
Quaker in a Basement
I wish she had told us which mean-spirited adults have been mocking a baby. ‘Cuz I think we could all agree that’s over the line.
Blogreeder
@Seebach
Uh.. I think you have that exactly backwards. She was the object of profound ignorance and hatred.
JK
@dan robinson:
I’m fairly certain that The Daily Show is one vacation next week.
Fuck this goddamn Michael Jackson coverage. I want to see Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher, or David Letterman right now on CNN or MSNBC riffing on Sarah Palin’s crash and burn.
demkat620
Dick Miniter on FoxNews: I’m worried about the wimmen type children. Ever since people attacked the Bush twins. It’s been all downhill.
Hey Dick!
“Do you know why Chelsea Clinton is so ugly? Because Janet Reno is her father.” John Sidney McCain.
Fuck off Dick.
shelley matheis
Never thought I’d say this but, bless you Sarah Palin. You actually made the media shut up about Michael Jackson for two minutes.
Can’t stand the term, “presser.” I keep waiting for somebody to start dry-cleaning a pair of pants.
John Cole
Here is a wild thought- Schmidt and Wallace are tired of taking shit and are leaking what they know.
Assuming she isn’t just dumb enough to think this helps her and there actually is a scandal, if I had to guess, I would say it has to do with the pipeline, which has never made any damned sense to me.
geg6
Laura W: Why the hell do you persist in watching CNN at this point? That’s just pure out and out masochism, girlfriend. You should really be watching Shuster. Best entertainment I’ve had since the election. Seriously some funny shit being spouted by the wingtards and, especially, the Alaska GOPers that they’ve been getting on the phone. I’m drinking wine with my fabulous man and laughing my ass off.
Screamin' Demon
In 1962, Tricky Dick told us we wouldn’t have him to kick around anymore. Obviously he changed his mind about that, because by 1965, he’d decided he was going to run for president again. He traveled the world, gave speeches, wrote magazine articles and newspaper columns largely about foreign affairs, barnstormed for 105 congressional candidates in the 1966 midterms (in which the GOP gained 47 seats) and ran a successful bid for the 1968 Republican nomination, capitalizing on turmoil within the Democratic Party and the country as a whole.
Even after all that, he managed to defeat Hubert Humphrey by only 500,000 votes.
Richard Nixon was evil, but by no means stupid. Sarah Palin is a mental midget by comparison. If Nixon could barely obtain the presidency under much more favorable conditions than today, she hasn’t got a prayer. Which is why I don’t think the GOP will be stupid enough to nominate her in 2012. They’ll have to realize by then that their only hope of victory is to move to the left, and Kristol & Co. won’t have that.
eemom
someone may have already reported this, but Sir Sullivan’s response thus far is that he’s too stunned to say anything — except that he was right all along.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/07/the-miniseries-ends.html
(Just trying to be a good blog citizen, z’all….!)
Chuck
What … the … hell? Matalin was right: that delivery was, um, incredible.
She’s just all over the place at a mile a minute. She goes on and on for seven minutes with the chirpy folksy filibustering. She sounds like she’s tweaking or downed six quadruple espressos or something. This is forced cheer even by her standards.
I’d imagine the other shoe dropped in one of her many entanglements, but I can’t imagine what it would be that would prevent her from even serving out her term.
devopsych
Forget about it Sarah, it’s Alaska town. I believe she’s looking at a Fed indictment of some kind. She is scared witless (yeah, I know) and is retracting into her igloo.
Morbo
Bob Dole thinks this is a brilliant political move. Bob Dole. Bob DOLE!
gnomedad
@br:
Shorter Palin: completing your job is the quitter’s way out.
War is Peace.
Freedom is Slavery.
Ignorance is Strength.
Quitting is Persistence.
John Cole
Just out of curiosity, where are all of you who whined EVERY. GOD. DAMNED. DAY. about the Pam Anderson PETA ad. It is gone now, but not one person has mentioned it.
The Grand Panjandrum
This from Palin’s twitter account just before the press conference:
Now remember she doesn’t officially resign until the end of July. I wouldn’t be surprised that on about the 20th of July she anounces a change of heart and decides to stay on. Either that or she gets perp walked out of the Governors mansion.
Laura W
@geg6: I’m not watching! I just flip over on commercial breaks so I have something interesting to post about here.
Like drugs and Michael Jackson.
JK
Stewart, Colbert, Maher, Letterman, and O’Brien should have the same arrangement with their bosses that Williams, Gibson, and Couric have with their bosses regarding national emergencies.
When the mother of all national comedy emergencies breaks, it’s unacceptable for these guys to be off of the air.
sarah
@John Cole: i’m really glad it’s gone! it made visiting your site at work very awkward. ::refresh, instantly scroll down, hope no one’s looking at my screen:: >_>
Shalimar
I don’t think she has any chance of ever getting elected President, but this is the best avenue if she wants to go for it.
1)She has a Paris Hilton-like ability to keep herself in the media, so she won’t suffer from the same lack of attention without a job that someone like Mitt Romney will.
2)It gives her plenty of time to speak at various events and raise money. If she really is going to run in 2012, freeing herself from Alaska is a necessity.
3)It gives her more time to actually study national politics and issues, something she could do as Governor since it isn’t a full-time job in Alaska but not something the job itself helped with. Not that I expect her to study anything, she has the narcissistic belief that she is already an expert at everything that actually matters.
4)She was never a hands-on Governor anyway, so this frees her from a job she was likely to seriously fuck up in the next 18 months. No point staying in it if the actual governing part bored her.
Alaska turned out to be a stepping stone to higher power for her, though I doubt she realized 2 years ago that she had any chance at national politics. It’s more like a new opportunity opened up that she was only dimly aware existed before. Palin is the type of person who exists strictly in their own immediate environment and doesn’t think about anything that doesn’t affect her directly (i.e. a narcissist). We’ll see what she does from here.
media browski
Frankly, I think this is awful. I was counting on Sarah to dominate the GOP primary with name recognition, fundraising, and raw know-nothing wingnut sex appeal. Watching Obama’s team assiduously feed her the rope to hang herself was going to be one of the great tactical political victories of history!
Ah, well, so much for a fun 2012.
Cat Lady
@gbear:
WIN.
Redhand
@ Media Browski
I think you absolutely nailed it with this one, though I’m equally sure there’s another big shoe to drop.
What a f*cking lunatic this woman was, even as a local mayor much less a governor, and then “major” figure in national politics.
I’m just glad for now that she’s out of power. The rest will be reine Schadenfreude.
JK
@John Cole:
Thanks for removing that Pam Anderson ad.
Joshua Norton
She’s pregnant or
Greta Van Susteren is somehow involved or
She lost a bet made with stolen from the state treasury when Norm Coleman lost or
She’s going to hike the Appalachian Trail.
Napoleon
@John Cole:
I miss Pam.
Comrade Kevin
Blogreeder says:
geg6
John Cole: I’m not one of the whiners. But then, I’m usually on the CrackBerry when I’m here and thus am spared the ads. Oooo, new camera angle of Palin giving her speech. The look on Parnell’s face when she’s going on with her basketball metaphor is priceless. Fucking hilarious.
Cat G
There may be a scandal, but I think it’s a mistake to analyze her in normal, professional political terms. She’s dined out for her whole life on her looks and charisma and suddenly she’s in a big enough pond that those aren’t sufficient. Plus she is truly crazy. And incompetent…profoundly incompetent. The presser is worth watching, just to listen to the birds who are squawking away in the background. None of these people thought it might be smart to fire off a shotgun and get rid of the birds? Sheesh. She needs to go off and make some money and take care of her family…she’s got a lot of problems. It’s time for some real family values.
anothervoice
I’m not sure I understand just what Kristol or Palin are saying. If she quits her job as Governor then how does this actually show that she is a good candidate? If the captain leaves the boat first isn’t that a bad thing? Say what you will about Bush but at least he had the cojones to see his BS through all the way.
KG
this is fucking surreal.
I’m mainly shocked at how Kristol could think this could be good for her chances as president. She couldn’t last 4 years as governor of a state that give people money for living there. How the hell would she be able to handle a real political job?
But my real interest is what effect this will have on the Wingularity. Is this the start of the purge of stupidity, or is this just going to amplify it?
jpe
I read this blog regularly, but I don’t think I’ve ever commented.
I break that silence to note that that segment on COPS w/ the guy disjointedly denying he stole paint while he has a huge silver ring of paint around his mouth is, probably, the best thing I’ve ever seen on TV.
shelley matheis
John, thank you , honey!
I guess I’ve been so busy looking for another Lily photo.
Dave
Holy crap…
For me, the best part of that whole speech was the wildlife in the background speaking up every minute. Brought a whole new level of amateurishness to Palin’s political career.
Demo Woman
Sarah said enough in six minutes to sink her. Potential soundbites The soldiers never quit but I do. When the going gets tough, I quit. It’s okay to travel and spend state money before I was lame duck but not now.
I am sure there are plenty more but my head is still spinning from her manic performance.
gbear
@John Cole:
When I read BJ at work, I minimize the window and try to get the left side of the window off the screen before BJ comes up. I never saw anything but the far right edge of the ads. I noticed that Pam wasn’t on top any more but I thought maybe she’d dropped down. BJ is much safer for work with the ads shoved off the edge anyway (sorry LauraW).
Thanks for dumping her. The ad was visually pretty gross.
JK
Great Line
Ed Rollins on Lou Dobbs: Palin just put a gun to her head.
balconesfault
I don’t even think it’s about raising campaign finance money.
I think that someone whispered into Sarah-belle’s ear “honey, in two years you’re going to be old news … right now there’s a big lecture circuit filled with starburst filled eyes ready to leave the Palin family set for life.”
Why the hell SHOULD she be screwing around as Governor of a state that basically runs itself as long as oil is over $20 a barrel and they can keep pumping oil revenue dollars to the citizenry, when she can probably cash in $50K/week telling adoring herds how socialism suks.
Meanwhile, Wuerzelbacher apparently spoke here in Austin at a tea party this am … with a turnout of about 200. Maybe he made enough to finally buy the plumbing business before the luster began to fade…
Nellcote
@John Cole:
She’s been replace by Ann Coulter. Not sure that’s an improvement & it seemed churlish to mention it. Anyway, thanks for the change.
freelancer
@ Cole:
A brief scene from yesterday at work:
Celebrity obsessed co-worker: “Blah blah blah, this celeb is hot, this rapper is FINE…I think Pamela Anderson’s hot. Nick, do you?”
Me: “Hell, no, she’s a gaudy plastic monstrous abomination.”
Co-worker: “You think so?”
Me: “Oh, yeah, there’s this really disturbing Peta ad with her on one of the sites I read, you should see it. Here let me bring it up…Oh hell yes, its GONE!”
[/scene]
Zuzu's Petals
TPM actually has the entire speech in two parts here.
It’s worth listening to the beginning, because it becomes more clear that she was working off of some prepared speech about her administration’s accomplishments, etc. … possibly with an eye to declining to run again. The second part could not be more disconnected, both in content and delivery.
Laura W
So what’s this part about? Felt important to me when she said it, and took me by surprise, frankly, due to the personal emphasis in her tone and the use of the word “hell” in such a public venue and odd context:
media browski
@Redhand: Based on her delivery, I’m pretty convinced it’s a scandal (and here I thought July would be dull), but I can never shake the feeling that she’s bugfuck apeshit crazy.
Nellcote
@Chuck:
Shuster just played the full 18 minute version. Double the madness!
The birds in the background totally rocked!
Cat Lady
@John Cole:
Me three about the ad. That WTF third arm. eewww.
Rosali
She’s probably accomplished most of what she was going to get done as governor, and is leaving a sympatico lieutenant governor in charge.
Sympatico does not mean what Kristol thinks it means. Simpatico is used to describe someone who is nice, pleasant.
Mike
Yet another thing Kristol doesn’t understand: how probabilities work.
JK
Assuming no medical crisis, Palin is either a wimp or a crook. I’m betting on crook.
Pete
Maybe God told her to quit like Joe the Plumber. God is on a roll baby!
Blogreeder
Thanks for removing Pam John. It was definitely NSFW. And on top of that it was VERY misleading. I followed that link once and was very very very disappointed.
Napoleon
OK, after watching her whole speech, I think there is no scandal, she is quitting to run for president. She is a wack job, but in her mind she thinks that this is the thing to do. BTW, that would explain the flip flop of some, like Kristol, she didn’t give them a heads up but between their initial reaction and later statements from them they got a chance to talk to her.
Dennis-SGMM
This is too easy; the First Dude has been busy influence peddling and then neglecting to declare the income therefrom. Palin wasn’t a bit frightened of anything coming from within Alaska but trouble with the IRS, and possibly the FBI, would do the trick.
demkat620
@gbear: I do that too. As a cuberat, I have to.
media browski
Josh Marshall:
El Cid
@Pete: Palin asked God if she should, like, keep governating, and God said “NO”, so, Palin was like, all, “Well, shit then,” so she resignated.
freelancer
And the funniest take on today is one of John Rogers’ commenters, reacting to how this is the result of a Faustian Bargain:
Tsulagi
Geez, all kinds of crying going on over at RedState in multiple posts. Commander EE really needs to grow the fuck up.
Do like their poll though. Currently the #1 vote for real reason Sarah is resigning…Scandal Coming!
Look forward to Winky coming clean saying trust her, she was just driving down the coast of Kansas.
Demo Woman
@Zuzu’s Petals: That’s what I noticed. She gave two speeches, the one where she planned to announce her decision not to seek reelection and then her jumbled decision to resign.
Cat G
Oh, yea, and she didn’t quit because she was bored…it turns out governing is REALLY hard in a recession and you don’t have lots of money to give away. The last several months in Alaska have been a disaster…she’s been in unnecessary fights with everybody. She nominated a neanderthal for attorney general and the Republican legislature rejected him. The first rejection of a cabinet level nomination in the history of the state. She’s just a disaster…couldn’t manage either form or substance.
geg6
People in Alaska, who oughta know, are saying there has been talk for the last six weeks of a major criminal investigation tied to Palin. Her poorly disguised fury and all the harping about how much money has been spent on the ethics complaints, not to mention the complete surprise of the resignation and the obviously cobbled together speech all point to her being shoved out of office against her will. No way was this her choice. No way.
inkadu
@jpe: I really want to see this paint huffer from cops. This youtube video is as close as I can get.
gnomedad
@John Cole:
Sorry, John, a lot of us are running Ad Block by now, y’know. Just a sec …
OK, that looks great. Thanks. Looks like a high-class blog now.
Except for the Palin video on top. That’s gotta go.
Zuzu's Petals
DemoWoman @98:
Right.
And come to think of it, the speech could have been prepared long ago with an I’m running/I’m not running ending to be added on.
Then of course after the “I’m not running” she slipped in “I’m passing the govt over to Parnell” and added on six or seven more minutes of pure blather.
(Notice she never used the word “resign.”)
Nellcote
@Cat G:
That would have been the cherry on the sundae if Palin had done that!
mellowjohn
this is good news for john mccain.
Robin G.
Why, John Cole, are you not acknowledging the obvious? Palin is Going Galt!!
As a loyal reader I must insist on the “Going Galt” tag being added to all future Palin resignation posts.
RevPhat
Interesting to me was best I can tell because it was so hard to stay focused she made one reference to prayer in this decision almost as an after thought. No mention of consulting God. No quote of God’s answer to her. Maybe Joe’s been hogging God’s time.
Joshua Norton
Next month she’ll leave her husband and children to concentrate on being a better wife and mother.
media browski
@Robin G.: does eating a shameful amount of pulled pork and drinking Tecate until you’re happy count as going Galt? Because I don’t want my afternoon plans to take on any unintended political meanings . . .
media browski
@Robin G.: does eating a shameful amount of pulled pork and drinking Tecate until you’re happy count as going Galt? Because I don’t want my afternoon plans to take on any unintended political meanings . . .
gbear
@Nellcote:
Anytime you see an Ann Coulter ad on BJ, go listen to this and you’ll smile.
linda
a post at fdl says her family didn’t know she was going to resign until she made her statement.
“She says Palin is “resigning as part of damage control” due to a scandal this is “not of a family nature.”
“The governor would not be able to continue her job when it comes out,” she told me on the phone just now, before adding: “Why would Mark Sanford not resign, but Sarah Palin did? Her family didn’t even know about the resignation until they were standing with her by the lake” when she made her announcement.”
http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/03/palin-about-to-hit-the-iceberg/
Little Dreamer
I turned over to Fox News (something I never do) to see their reaction, and they’re talking about Doris Day’s husbands, WTF?????
ETA: After commercial break, they’re talking about Catwoman with Julie Newmar. OMFG!
JK
@Napoleon:
With some exceptions, I think the expression “You don’t get a second chance to make a good first impression” generally holds true for people seeking to become president. With this speech, she just added a few more coats of varnish to a negative first impression. Ed Rollins already said tonight that she put a gun to her head. Michael Gerson said that she sounded like a spoiled celebrity.
I have a hard time believing she can erase this impression by hiring Mark McKinnon, Mary Matalin, Mike Murphy, or Alex Castellanos.
Little Dreamer
This just proves that if she had gotten elected 2008 and McCain had died of a heart attack and left Sarah in charge, she would have run away from that too.
Bad Horse's Filly
@John Cole: I was afraid to mention, for fear of unleashing THE COLE again (you won’t like me when I’m mad).
Blogreeder
@JK
Hmm.. You know Obama left before his term was over too. I remember him promising he would finish . Somehow I get the feeling you don’t consider him a wimp or a crook.
Shalimar
Isn’t the oldest boy still in Iraq? That must have been one hell of a family get-together.
edited to add: I noticed during the campaign that she had a habit of talking about her girls in speeches, as if all of her children were girls. It sometimes made me wonder if she even remembered having a boy after he went overseas. Maybe she just forgot about him when she was polling the family? Also, what kind of idiot polls a one-year old and counts the vote?
Dennis-SGMM
It’s safe to assume that no matter what the real reason for her resignation the wingers will spin it as the fault of the MSM and the DFHs.
media browski
@Blogreeder: Hm, answering the call to lead the nation vs. incoherently riding off into the i’m-not-a-quitter-or-hiding-from-a-big-$$$-scandal sunset.
Way to compare apples to incoherently riding off into the i’m-not-a-quitter-or-hiding-from-a-big-$$$-scandal sunset oranges there.
PSoTD
Wow, Bill Kristol has really thought that through. Sure, Republicans will love to vote for a candidate for President who quit in the middle of being Governor because of some nonsensical reason. Republicans love proven quitters. Maybe Barney from The Simpsons can run someday.
Demo Woman
@Blogreeder: Well duh! Did Sarah announce that she was resigning immediately in order for her to run for President? Did Sarah announce that she was leaving because of????? Sarah announced that soldiers never quit but I do.
Comrade Stuck
K-Low brings the Zen
So deep. What could she mean?
Yes, it was the blinding glow of pure goodness that America could not appreciate.
Night Mother Palin
Napoleon
@JK:
You are 100% right, but my impression is she isn’t resigning because of a scandel. I think this is her running for prez. Not sane, but that is her.
gau
Any chance Ms. Abstinence Bristol is knocked up again?
br
Damn, the anticipation is killing me. Drop shoe! Drop!
Unfortunately, nothing will probably happen until next week. I will have to drown my sorrows in beer and barbeque.
Dennis-SGMM
@Comrade Stuck:
Sarah Palin: her career died for our sins.
MikeJ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jll5baCAaQU
v
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OyjXE7OhSk
Oh yeah, exactly the same. Also.
MazeDancer
John Cole, Thank you, thank you, thank you for de-Pamming the site. We had all trained ourselves not to look there, so we lagged in our gratitude. But now, happily, will click through to Ford Fusion often. Even mention the NY Times review said it was a great car.
MikeJ
“We must move forward, not backward, upward not forward, and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom.”
lutton
Forty years in the desert: you’re doing it wrong!
Oregon Guy
She mentioned that her polling of the kids got 4 “yeahs” and one “hell yeah.”
So was Trig a “yeah” or a “hell yeah?”
JK
Just watched Palin’s speech again and I feel vindicated in my belief that she was the least intelligent person to run for President or VP on the Dem or Repub ticket in the last 100 years.
I picture Palin writing this speech in 20-25 minutes. I think she was throwing down the gauntlet to Tina Fey and saying “You can’t top this.”
Maybe she was unprepared for Charlie Gibson or Katie Couric and maybe some of their questions were unfair (no they weren’t actually), but she is the master of her own timetable.
Palin had all the time in the world to craft a coherent, lucid, rational resignation speech. If she lacked the skill to write such a speech, she surely had access to several speechwriters.
lutton
or…suspend your campaign? Ha! I’ll resign my post!
Quaker in a Basement
Not only was it authentic frontier gibberish, but it expresses a courage little seen in this day and age.
GottaLaff
UPDATE: CNN source: Indictment pending…
http://thepoliticalcarnival.blogspot.com/2009/07/palin-update-indictment-pending.html
oh really
(rambling and disjointed) + manic = Wingnut Presidential
Lesley
She sounds extremely nervous and appears to be on crack.
Blogreeder
@Demo Woman
Calm down. What are you rambling about? The point I was making was that when someone quits it doesn’t automatically make them a wimp or a crook. See? Obama quit his term before it was over. No wimpage or crookage there. But Palin occupies a special place in your hearts. I’m just pointing out the bias, that’s all. Lighten up.
Zuzu's Petals
@Quaker in a Basement:
Pretty sure it was this photoshop of Palin holding Trig with some radio jock’s head superimposed. Making fun of Palin and the radio jock and not Trig, but hey…it’s a chance to be outraged.
Nellcote
@Oregon Guy:
Palin said the country needs more Trigs so I vote “hell yeah”
KG
@123: shorter K-Lo: Sarah Palin is no Margaret Thatcher.
I wonder if K-Lo recognizes that a good portion of the population is going to recognize that comment as incredibly sexist, even if it’s coming from a woman. A lot of women raise families while doing a shit ton of work. True they don’t have the media circus of being the governor of a state (then again, twenty people outside of Alaska knew who Sarah Palin was about a year ago), but what about those women who own businesses while raising kids? You know, those “hockey mom” types who don’t have the luxury of a company (or state) plane, the chance to have a cook on staff (that line about firing the governor’s cook from the campaign was always the one that struck me as strange), and all the other stuff that would normally come with a job like “governor.”
Also, be honest, now, who else is anticipating the Rush Limbaugh Show for Monday morning/afternoon?
JenJen
Joe Scarborough weighs in.
http://www.scarborough.tv/
It’s your basic “no duh.” I hear you get paid for that, these days!
JK
Are there any english or journalism professors or grad students out there who would like to assign a letter grade to Palin’s speech?
Keith
I read a rumor in the comments on Mudflats that it may be the old rumored affair with Todd’s business partner about to resurface. *IF* that’s the case, I think it would be sad for the family, but AWESOME for Dana Perino, who just last week was saying women don’t get involved in these affairs (presumably not counting “the other woman”) because they’re too busy juggling running things with raising kids.
Andrew
Mark Sanford is the luckiest motherfucker in the history of politics, but I bet he’ll give at least one more interview that will put the nail in his coffin, because it’s pretty clear he wants out of SC to hit that Argentinian hottie.
inkadu
@Shalimar: I would love to hear that conversation with her family:
“Ok, as you may know, your mommy’s the governor of a really big state. But the press is saying mean things about me, and about you guys, too. The climate right now is bad for Republicans, because we’re speaking the truth, but it will be good later on, y’know, because of Obama. Big government. Also, too, Iran. Mommy has a very good chance of riding a tidal wave of future opposition to the presidency in 2012 — Trig, don’t put that in your mouth honey — but I need time to prepare for that. Also too, when I’m president, that means you will all have to be on your best behavior. That means no more getting knocked up for any of you. There’s also a scandal coming down the pipeline against mommy. Mommy’s innocent, but it might make it difficult for mommy to be a good governor. Liberal media. So, kids, whaddya think? Should mommy resign now? Finish her term? Try to silence people? Daddy’s a pretty good shot with his Bushmaster! But dead investigator tastes gamey, even with you know… Oregano. So, kids, whaddya think?”
Demo Woman
@Blogreeder: Agreed but her rambling speech left enough soundbites for ads that I think she is finished.
Blogreeder
@gbear
Wow. What are you saying?!? You’re not wishing anything bad on Obama are you?
oh really
Wow. Just Wow!
She did all that without a teleprompter.
Amazing.
inkadu
@MikeJ: One of the great things about youtube is the ability to listen to windows simultaneously. In a few minutes, and a few glasses of mistal, the Obama and Palin videos will have loaded and I will experience something in awesomeness far beyond that of watching the Wizard of Oz to the soundtrack of The Wall.
Little Dreamer
So Sarah is suddenly realizing that she isn’t all that, so she gives her two weeks notice? What, does she think being governor of Alaska is like working at McDonalds?
oh really
Palin is insane so anything is possible, but I am skeptical about the impending indictment/major scandal theory.
Linkmeister
Have y’all seen Eric Erickson’s Tweet about this event?
Ked
Late to the party, but yes, John, I too love not looking at naked Pam with an extra arm sticking out of her crotch. If I really wanted that, I’d go to /d/. And I can read from work now, yay.
Regarding Palin, just from her attitude as she made her statement I think I belong to the “was pushed” crowd… except that doesn’t make any sense either, except in a blackmail scenario. How does preemptive resignation prevent the scandal from destroying her? From embarrassing her? From putting her in jail?
rwills
Fairly certain it wasn’t about any upcoming revelation of a ménage à trois involving Carrie Prejan and Joe the Plumber, but as wacky, Barnumesque and galactically bizarre as things Palin can get, who knows?
EchoesNoBunnynoMan a variation
Hi, Alaska!
Shrill, baby, shrill!
pip
I was listening to Hannity’s stand in interviewing Coulter just as the news came in about the Palin presser.
Immediately before that Coulter had been saying that she had talked to Margaret Thatcher. Thatcher supposedly told Coulter that Palin needed to be more like Thatcher i.e. Thatcher came from a modest background and had to learn to speak proper English in order to achieve her greatness.
In other words, old Maggie thinks Palin don’t speak right . . .
freelancer
@ JK
Communication Breakdown, I’d definitely score it as an F, but also being a former Writer’s Workshop major, I was initially convinced it was performance art.
Grades don’t matter, though, not to Palin’s base anyways.
Even acknowledging that, I think most Americans that see this video glimpse the truth, unsaid, especially about things that do matter to the base:
She’s not sane, competent, or qualified enough to run a beer stand at a NASCAR raceway.
Nylund
I really wanted to see how RedState was reacting, but the site is not working.
MikeJ
In honor of Palin day, I just went to the store for some wild caught Alaskan salmon steaks. My butter is clarified and I’m adding citrus, bitches!
Cat Lady
@Comrade Stuck:
She can get the job
and can’t do the job. Starbursts!
Train derails. Also.
/haiku
Dennis-SGMM
@Linkmeister:
Always the victims of some sinister conspiracy. Considering how long the Dems were out of power and how little influence actual liberalism has, our conspiracies are certainly slow moving.
Linkmeister
@Nylund: See my comment above.
inkadu
@KG: Re: K-Lo. It’s good to know that we should avoid electing women with children to office, or giving them jobs also.
And while we are talking about family values, since the Palin’s are single-handedly trying to populate the frontier, why doesn’t Mr. Goatee get a job a little closer to home instead of having buttsecks on commercial fishing boats? He should be at home spanking the children and showing his manly superiority by revealing his schlong in the shower daily.
Shalimar
@Oregon Guy: As someone with a narcissistic mom who Palin reminds me of all the time, I would bet money the conversation with the children never happened. But it makes a good few lines in the speech so she said it like it did and in her fucked up mind I guarantee you she thinks it is reality by now.
If you want a confusing childhood where even the simplest things don’t make any sense, have someone like Sarah Palin for a parent. I can’t even count the number of times I heard my mom tell other people stories about me that were incredibly cute but never actually happened. And she really believed that they did, in her memory her stories were just as true as reality.
MikeJ
Q
Peter J
She can never be president now, since the terrorists now know how to defeat her. By telling jokes about her and her family.
—
On a sidenote, I didn’t care about the Pam ad nor did I block it. My brain is blocking them for me. Hopefully.
Linkmeister
@Dennis-SGMM: Yeah. One might say Harry Reid is in charge of our conspiracies.
A Different Matt
Nice timing! Not only is it 4th of July weekend with MJ’s death just behind us, but TDS’s off for a week. Forget Matt Drudge – The Daily Show rules these people’s world!
ChrisB
My first thought when I listened to the replay of her speech on MSNBC was of Miss Junior South Carolina, but that wouldn’t be fair to Miss Junior South Carolina. It was the perfect rambling, incoherent, nonsensical, manic conclusion to her career. With wise quacks from the wildlife in the background. Also.
I agree with Ed Rollins that she just committed political suicide by quitting during her first term as governor. So if there is no scandal and she really thinks this will help a run at the presidency then all I can say is I hope the wingnuts turn out in droves to vote for her in the primaries.
Oh, yeah, thanks for saying goodbye to Pam.
Demo Woman
@Linkmeister: That was funny. Did you see this one?
geg6
FDL has some excellent info on that other shoe that’s about to drop. Sister Sarah is most likely going to be doing the perp walk very, very soon. Wonder if she’ll be sporting her red Naughty Monkeys?
freelancer
@Nylund:
Eric’s money quote:
John McCain loved Sarah Palin’s ideas too.
Linkmeister
@Demo Woman: No, I hadn’t. I don’t understand it, either. ;) These guys need to go watch “The Princess Bride” again: “That word does not mean what you think it means.”
Demo Woman
@freelancer: And did he get to touch them?
IndieTarheel
@Rosali:
NOTHING means what Kristol thinks it means.
Keith
Hmmm…BradBlog seems to put forth that a federal indictment for embezzlement is coming. How? Well, BB updates by saying that her house (the one that Todd and friends supposedly built in their spare time) has a lot of the same materials (windows, wood, etc) as a Wasilla sports complex that Palin brought to her home town.
If true, WOAH! (and also, it would be REALLY funny because RedState, HotAir, et al would go absolutely instane claiming that Obama is behind this)
mcd
Anchorage Daily News:
Heh.
sjenk
is it me, or is the one of the worst friday afternoons of the year to drop this sort of bombshell?
sure, it’s all cable news will be talking about. but no one’s going to be watching.
if it was an attempt at a headline grab, it was flat footed, at best.
if it was a quick necessity, i’d like to know why.
inkadu
I’m conducting my little Obama vs. Palin experiment. So far the comparison is mostly stricting in pacing. Obama says more in three words than Palin does in 20 — and it takes them about the same amount of time.
But one nice little interchange was this:
Obama: … long arc of history…
Palin:… pointguard …
Heh.
JK
@Blogreeder:
I criticized Obama (not on this blog because I wasn’t reading it at the time) when he broke that pledge. I think it’s cynical and somewhat disrespectful to break these pledges to your constituents.
I’ll amend my previous contention:
Palin’s decision signifies that she is either a wimp, a crook, or a seriously demented narcissist who thinks her resignation was the appropriate first step to launch her 2012 presidential campaign.
Obama wasn’t my first or second choice during the Dem primaries, but compared to Sarah Palin, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Mark Sanford, John Ensign, Fred Thompson, John Boehner, and Rudy Giuliani, Obama looks like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Jay, Abraham Lincoln, FDR, and Theodore Roosevelt rolled into one.
I’m 45 years old and can’t recall any other period in my lifetime when the Republicans considered most viable for a presidential run or deserving of leadership roles in Congress were uniformly so fucking dumb.
What the hell ever happened to smart, reasonable, lucid, rational Republicans like Everett Dirksen, Howard Baker, Mark Hatfield, William Cohen, Warren Rudman, Lowell Weicker, John Chaffee, and Millicent Fenwick?
The Republican Party has been taken over by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, and Ann Coulter.
Tommy
freelancer
@Keith
Wow, if true, that’s ballsy, like Clay Davis ballsy.
arguingwithsignposts
@MikeJ:
QF (Quit while failing)
inkadu
Embezzlement and graft is a core Republican principle. I have no idea why Palin would step down over it.
Bubblegum Tate
@Joshua Norton:
WIN
Cat Lady
@mcd:
The revenuers ‘r a comin’!
The snowbilly queen is a grifter. cough (Neiman Marcus) cough
John Cole, you need a new category “No One Could Have Predicted”. Give DougJ a place to go other than Burkean Bells.
Tsulagi
@mcd:
I’m with you there, Hawker. Just played the clip. It’s a keeper. While McCain’s “green screen” speech was painful, this one was just batshit bizarre.
geg6
Say what you want about Sully but he nailed Palin with her chronic lying for no apparent reason. And it seems she may have lied again today. FDL has a CNN source saying her family had no idea she was resigning until they were standing with her at the lakeside. I can’t wait to see the indictment. It must be a doozy. This is too much fun for a holiday weekend.
Keith
Max Blumenthal has more background on the potential embezzlement/house issue.
Grisha
I just hope the forthcoming scandal is interesting enough to get us to July 30th. After that, training camp opens in Napa & I’m set for the rest of the year.
Oregon Guy
(Applauds at Cat Lady’s haiku)
@ Shalimar:
Let’s just say I have some experience with what you’re referring to. But the fact that she included a Downs Syndrome infant as a voting member of her family poll spoke volumes to me.
mcd
The New York Times:
At this point, I’m not sure which is more unintentionally funny: The speech or the reports about the speech. All I know is the more I read, the more I laugh!
demkat620
From Erick at Redstate
Help me Obi-Wan. You’re my only hope.
Dear god, they just can’t deal with reality.
Joshua Norton
If she’s quitting because all kinds of crap is about to rain down on her, that’s awesome.
If no bombshell exists and she’s just quitting because she can’t hack it anymore, that’s even more awesome.
inkadu
@JK:
My take was that they had left the party. I didn’t know they were still Republicans.
Unfortunately, there is no political divide left in America. It is just the crazy party vs. the sane party. From climate change, to poverty, to the inefficiencies of the free market, to health care, the official Republican position is that there is no problem. You can’t have a responsible solution to a problem if you can’t acknowledge the problem exists. As I’ve read here and elsewhere, the only way the United States has a reasonable two party system is if the Republican party immolates and the Democratic party splits.
And funny you should mention Weicker — he was a lefty Republican defeated by a rightist Dem (Lieberman). And a Goldwater Republican couldn’t even got on a primary ballot these days. Heck, a Goldwater Republican would be considered too extreme for most Democratic districts. Shit, I’d vote for a Goldwater Republican over most Democrats these days — and I’m a progressive liberal.
JK
@Peter J:
I hear there’s a new Bin Laden tape out with a joke about hockey moms and Zamboni machines.
@freelancer: Nice. I like the F.
@Andrew:
The MSM is like a pitbull when it comes to sex scandals. If Sanford’s scandal involved influence peddling, govt contracts, or bribery, I think he’d be in the clear in terms of press coverage because those things bore the fucking hell out of the MSM especially cable news.
Rosali
At this point, it is the kiss of death to be mentioned as the possible GOP candidate in 2012. Ensign, Sanford, Palin- all down for the count.
@freelancer:
Ha! Obligatory ‘The Wire’ mention :)
matoko_chan
Blumenthal weighs in…the First Dude might have built the house with some “buddies” on the weekends but SBS bought and paid for the mats.
Smells bad…..and it was definitely a cut and run.
Did you see the Lt. gov’s face?
David
It’s gibberish.
JK
@inkadu:
I think Bill Maher had it right when he said that, roughly speaking, we have a pro-business Democratic Party and a pro-nutjob Republican Party.
JK
Has anyone considered creating a Palin-English English-Palin online dictionary?
inkadu
I’m not sure whether this belongs in the Palin-thread or the non-Palin-thread, but I’m watching Boris Karloff’s Bride of Frankenstein tonight.
Dennis-SGMM
@inkadu:
Hell, these days Nixon would be considered a DFH. We have a wishy-washy centrist pro-business party and a batshit-insane pro-business party as our choices.
freelancer
Somebody mentioned anticipating Limbaugh’s show on Monday, you don’t need to wait. He’s going to blame Obama. It’s a conspiracy.
Botox Pammy at Atlas Shrugs has already started:
Okay, I’m crying from laughing at this point.
Rick Taylor
I just keep reminding myself this is the person the Republican party proposed we should put in line to become President, should anything happen to the President; and they insisted she was perfectly qualified for this position.
LD50
Blogreeder translated from wingnut: I made a moronic comparison and got nailed on it. Now I’ll pretend I wasn’t really being a moron.
Cad
She quotes MacArthur, but the thing is, that wasn’t MacArthur. It was Marine General Oliver Smith during the breakout at the Chosin Reservoir. When his division was surrounded by about 200,000 Chinese troops and they had to fight 70 miles in the middle of an unforgiving Korean winter to get back to friendly lines.
MazeDancer
Could be a Ted Stevens contractor problem. Wayne Barrett did a big piece in the Village Voice last October with highlights of many Alaskan scandals of Palin’s. One was potential shennanigan’s with Spenard Builders, former Steven’s contacts. Who were subcontractors on Wasilla sports complex. And also sponsored Todd’s snowmobile team. And may have had shady connections in getting that contract in return for Palin home. Or supplying materials for Palin home. Todd claims he and buddies built home.
Here’s the Voice article: http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-10-08/news/the-book-of-sarah/5
Mike in NC
Oh, Billy Kristol, you deranged motherfucker. You never do give it a rest.
inkadu
@freelancer: My favorite part of PamAtlas’s raving:
Even the seagulls are behind her; she is the land-cousin of Aquaman. With her at the head of our phalanx of right-wing brothers, sisters, and grizzly bears, we will storm Washington, tear down the corrupt White House, and build a new Hall of Justice for the people. Liberty, also.
Comrade Stuck
No doubt, Acorn commandos are about and lookin’ for trouble.
me
“My god, it’s full of star(burst)s”
Demo Woman
@Joshua Norton: Good news for John McCain.
R. Schmidt-Orren
You betcha. Also.
Dennis-SGMM
@matoko_chan:
Interesting. I guess that when an Alaskan pol says that they’re going to put their house in order we should automatically append “by using someone else’s money.”
JK
@freelancer:
Maybe if I had radio transmitters implanted in my teeth, everything would appear as clear and logical to me as it does to Pam.
inkadu
The folks at Redstate at relatively sane. Here are some comments for Pam Atlas’s blog:
Anyway. Go over there and read it yourself. I’m trying to pick the best quotes, but, damn, it’s all gold.
Thanks, Pamela, also, for blurring the line between partisanship and mental illness. Freedom.
Dennis-SGMM
I think that ship has sailed. And the Republicans are still waiting at the bus station for it to come in.
inkadu
@Dennis-SGMM: That would explain why it’s always a Republican who sits next to me, explaining he’s a veteran and asking me to help him invest in a Radio Shack tape recorder so he can make money by selling tapes of acoustic Metallica covers. Free market.
I never give him any change, but I always offer my toothbrush as a gift.
DaBomb
That presser has to be some the most crazy, incoherent, narcissism blathering that I have every heard.
I mean that troglodyte is a complete incompetent crackjaw.
Charon
I like the Faux News chyron that’s come out of this. The network is re-running the speech right now and the headline across the bottom is “Palin: I will not seek second term as governor.” Talk about missing the forest for the trees.
DaBomb
Oops, I meant narcissistic.
Rosali
Ok, I’m listening to her resignation speech again and, in light of the rumors of an impending indictment, it definitely seems like she’s trying to influence a future jury pool. She spends a heck of a lot of time blaming others and asserting that all the ‘frivolous’ ethics complaints were started by haters and how she’s been cleared of everything.
Expect to hear a lot of dogwhistle talk about how the US Dept of Justice is out to get honest Alaskans and look what they did to poor Sen. Stevens. Nevermind that the US Attys office that went after Stevens was from Bush’s Justice Dept.
Bill (not BOB)
I think the American Psychiatric Assn. needs to add a new category to the DSM- “Palinoia”
Persia
Her spokeswoman– who was on vacation in NY– is on Anderson Cooper 360 right now. This sh*t is bananas. B-a-n-a-n-a-s.
anonevent
@Andrew: Next to Obama, you mean.
inkadu
@Persia: Yes, Persia, this shit is so bananas that Palin’s spokeswoman has a receipt for bananas in her pocket.
Rosali
@inkadu:
LOL
Dennis-SGMM
@inkadu:
LOL! Neat closing of the circle.
Joe Lisboa
I think the American Psychiatric Assn. needs to add a new category to the DSM- “Palinoia”
Palinoid – Black Sabbath
Finished with John McCain
‘Cause he couldn’t help me with my mind
People think I’m insane
Because I am winking all the time
All day long I think no things
But nothing seems to satisfy
Think I’ll find my mind
If I don’t find something to pacify
Can you help me relocate my brain?
Oh yeah
I need someone to show me
The things in life that I can’t find
I can’t see the things that make Trig happiest
I must be blind
Make a joke and I will sigh
And you will laugh and I will cry
Empathy I cannot feel
And rights to me are so unreal
And so as you hear these words
Telling you now of my state
I tell you to enjoy life
I wish I could but it’s not ’08
Persia
@inkadu: Indeed. Nicely put, btw.
Now they’re talking about Michael Jackson. Hush, you bitches, I want to talk about Sarah Palin!
MysticalChick
(From a post by JamesA1102 @ Democratic Undergound
(http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132×8509335)
Top 10 Reasons Sarah Palin is resigning:
10. Joining the Alaska National Guard just in case Putin rears his head again.
9. Needs the extra time to buy up and shred every copy of this month’s Vanity Fair.
8. RNC accidently emailed her the speech meant for Mark Sanford.
7. Plotting revenge against Letterman is a full time job.
6. Wanted to knock all the Michael Jackson coverage off of cable news.
5. Premiering this fall: “Regis & Sarah”.
4. Finally decided to study up for the Katie Couric interview
3. Heard Biden had left the country and is hoping to be considered for the VP job again
2. Is moving to Minnesota to head up the recount for Norm Coleman
1. Joining cast of Saturday Night Live as a Tina Fey impersonator.
ppcli
I said this on another thread – sorry for repeating. But this point can’t be emphasized enough: 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.
Dennis-SGMM
Whatever went wrong, and it’s a safe bet that something did, has its roots in Palin’s treating whatever office she held as a personal fiefdom rather than a public trust. In one sense, McCain did the people of Alaska a favor by ensuring that Palin’s ego was so inflated that she didn’t bother to cover her tracks.
Mr Furious
Nah, normally there’s supposed to be somebody behind her chopping the heads off those birds while she speaks…but they couldn’t get Cletus on short notice.
inkadu
@Persia: Thanks, Persia. I’m off to bed. But it strangely feels like Bush-Gore election night. I want to see how it turns out, but I’m just too tired.
gwangung
@Dennis-SGMM: Sorta ties into this, don’t it—>
@ppcli:
Screw people over like she did and you’re just fast-breeding the seeds of your own destruction. You’ll never find so many people ready to leak and get back at you than when you screw them over hard and fast in the first place…
Blogreeder
@LD50
LD50, you seem kind of dim. So how does Palin quiting as Governor equate to wimp or crook? Because, you know, that’s the argument you’re supporting. Moronic comparison? How so? My point was very clear and I even provided a historical link from your fearless leader’s own mouth. Oh, I meant our fearless leader’s own mouth. He said he wasn’t running yet he did. If quiting something is wimping out then shouldn’t he be a wimp? I’m just here to take apart your arguments against Palin one by one. Only about a billion more to go
JK
@MysticalChick:
Brilliant list. I think David Letterman would be pleased.
Mr Furious
@Charon:
Yeah, but did they stick a “D” after her name?
gopher2b
She wants to make money before running in 2012. That’s pretty much it.
Mr Furious
The only way her political career recovers from this is if she is resigning to enlist. In Special Forces. And she shoots Bin Laden from a helicopter.
Cat G
@Mr Furious: Good point – that was really memorable wasn’t it, and thanks to YouTube it’ll live forever! Since Sen. Ensign admitted to “indiscretions” on June 14th, we’ve been knee deep in high profile Republican scandal…and Sanford and Palin haven’t yet begun to peak. Can anybody think of ANY similar series where 3 of the most prominent and “promising” politicians have lit themselves on fire? WTF is going on? If you’re a R political operative or a big money backer…what are you thinking? The R’s don’t look like a good investment for time or money do they?
inkadu
@Blogreeder:
Crockpot Salmon Bake
Cook Time: 4 hours
Ingredients:
* 3 cans (16 ounces each) salmon
* 4 cups bread crumbs, soft, about 10 slices of bread
* 1 can tomatoes in puree, about 15 ounces
* 1 green bell pepper, chopped
* 1 tablespoon lemon juice
* 1 can condensed cream of onion soup
* 2 Chicken bouillon cubes, crushed
* 6 Eggs, well beaten
* 1 can condensed cream of celery soup
* 1/2 cup Milk
Preparation:
Generously grease crockpot. Combine all ingredients, except celery soup and milk, in removable liner. Place liner in base. Cover and cook on LOW for 4 to 5 hours. Combine cream of celery soup with 1/2 cup of milk and heat in saucepan. Serve sauce with the salmon casserole.
TuiMel
@ john cole:
Since this is your blog, I never felt I should complain about the ads. But, I am glad that P.A. is gone.
Little Dreamer
I’m amazed at the number of people trying to spin this as Palin still having any credibility to serve public office in the future.
If she had stated she would not seek re-election and STAY in office, that may have been true, but since she up and quit, it can only been seen has running away with her tail between her legs and she CANNOT be taken seriously as a political candidate for 2012. Keep hanging your hat on her Repubs, I love it.
Blogreeder
@LD50
I see the problem here. I think Palin will be running for President in 2012. I left that unstated because it’s obvious to me. Sorry. Remember how much time Obama needed? She giving herself another year or so longer.
cliff
@freelancer:
NO!! No way that’s the money quote ..
This is the money quote!!:
http://twitter.com/ewerickson/status/2460994862
LD50
Because you implied that Palin was leaving office for the same kind of reasons as Obama did, shit for brains.
Joe Lisboa
Remember how much time Obama needed?
Dude, give it up already. You’re already a laughingstock. Reality called and it wants to break up with you. Forever. Also.
LD50
Palin left a governor term unfinished for some mysterious reason that she’s telling no one. Some GOPers claim it’s because she’s a sensitive little plant who was traumatized by the mean liberals. Obama stayed in Senate until he won the presidency. I suppose if you’re stupid enough those are the ‘same thing’.
gwangung
BWAH HAH HAH! Comedy gold!
Dennis-SGMM
On the other hand, I’m sure that Hu Jintao, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will all be bowled over by her Daisy Duke impersonation.
TuiMel
Meanwhile, up in Kennebunkport, Poppy is wiping away his tears. Is the way being paved for Jebby / Lizzy 2012? Will the “smart son” be the last one standing in the Republican re-make of Ten Little Indians? Babs is hopeful…
Elie
Ha,ha,ha,ha,ha, —
Sarah Palin — running for President !!
Ha,ha,ha,, snort snort, wipe tear
Sarah will look real cute in those one piece orange jumpsuits they issue in prison.
Prison
or alternately, she’ll become a minister of the holy order of Appalachian Trail Governatresses
Or
a spokesperson replacement for Bobby May’s various wiping and cleaning products —
Good fit.
Rey
Where are Keith O, Maddow and Jon Stewart when you need them. TMZCNN is non-stop, full court MJ. I hate CNN….
As for Palin…
My money is on the 16 yo daughter being knocked up.
JK
@Rey:
Also Maher, Colbert, Letterman, and O’Brien. They should all be on call 24/7 for comedy emergencies like this.
bago
@Shalimar: Reminds me of my childhood. It’s why I became a programmer in fact. Computers have the decency to make sense.
anonevent
@Blogreeder: Last check of the history website showed that Obama resigned after being elected president. He showed up at Congress on the important votes, and even showed up to speak at John McCain’s spontaneous save-the-economy White House Press conference that McCain suddenly couldn’t speak at himself.
uglyrug
“The world needs more Trigs”? What the fuck does that mean?
Bob In Pacifica
Not huffing paint.
This is meth rambling. Drive-By Truckers. “You and your crystal meth”.
bago
@inkadu: That is a seriously sweet nick.
Zuzu's Petals
Update from The Mudflats:
Viva BrisVegas
What the hell does “Nah, only dead fish go with the flow” mean?
Was she talking about Lower Slate Lake? She seemed to be bragging about the Supreme Court decision to kill the lake earlier in the speech.
It would definitely supply the requisite dead fish.
However, I’m sure I remember seeing live fish that can go both ways, so I’m not sure that the remark was sensible.
Who’d have thought Palin could say something nonsensical?
R. Schmidt-Orren
@Dennis-SGMM:
That is the scary truth. I recall that Nixon, for all his criminal propensities, did create the Clean Air Act, which at the time was not a Bushian oxymoran. And he did engage that era’s Neo-con Iranian arch-enemy, China.
I’m not excusing the unrepentant felon, but it just goes to show you even an asshole criminal lying sack of shit bigoted dirtbag like Nixon looked like a DFH by today’s Republicans’ standards.
inkadu
@bago: Really? Next to the “Great Panjandrum” and “LD50,” I thought “inkadu” was weak; but when I came up with it, I didn’t realize the stiff competition I would be up against. But thanks, oh lazy one.
Rucky
It makes me very afraid, that 47% of the country wanted her to become VP.
Blogreeder
I didn’t imply that. I was simply pointing out that wimp wasn’t used in that context. But heaven forbid I would compare Obama and Palin. I think that’s the button I pressed.
Palin just hasn’t graced us with a reason yet. Look, she already started a PAC. I’m telling you, she’s running. But we’ll have to wait until next year or two.
She’s just giving herself more time to get her ducks in a row than the year and a half Obama needed.
(I have a technical question. Is there an easier way to get the @ dealie working? I use the link button but it puts quotes around the link that I have to take off. Block quotes are easier but with the number of comments now the @ dealie is clearer.)
Blogreeder
True. But I still think Illinois was shorted because he couldn’t do his job 100 percent because of all the “executive” experience he was getting running a campaign.
LD50
Tsk tsk. Lies make the Baby Jesus cry, Blogreeder:
LD50
Obama came back to the Senate for votes. He also came back to deal with the banking crash in October. Your little idol Sarah is blowing off her whole last year and a half of being a governor, either because she’s too much of a wimp, she’s about to be indicted, or she’s bored by governing and wants to run for 2012. Interesting that you think these two scenarios are the same.
NotOnScript
Yes, Illinois was so outraged it nearly gave all its electoral votes to Bob Barr.
Mech0T1
I read the blockquote of this at the Daily Dish and had to come over and comment about the spray paint thing. OMG, it just keeps going on and on (bag of paint, empty cans) and I just kept laughing. Dammit that explains her so well!
Great analogy (“Whatcha gunna do when they come for you?”)
blogreeder
I don’t think he came back for all votes. Remember, the last one on a thread wins.
demimondian
@blogreeder:
In which case, this posting reinforces the evidence that you’re a loser.
blogreeder
a HA
demimondian
@blogreeder: loser
demimondian
@demimondian: And this is the end of the thread. You can post as much as you like after this, but — I win.
blogreeder
You referenced your own comment with the @ dealie. I heard of people who like to hear themselves talk. So I guess there must be people who like to comment on their own comments.
demimondian
@blogreeder: Loser.
Tommy
LOL! No you don’t I win. 2012 is so close and Sarah Pailn might be getting ready to make another brainless run.
disappointedGOPer
That was an awful speech…
(though the geese improved the delivery)
inkadu
Maybe we could ask John to post an infinite Stupid Arguments thread.
So far, I’m winning this one.
Nivek
Bill Kristol. Wonderful. Confused Alaskan beauty-queen Sarah is now taking political advice from Dan Quayle’s former chief of staff. Should work out well for her.
Mike Licht
For Sarah Palin so loves Alaska that she’s sacrificing her valuable TITLE.
See:
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/sarahs-sacrifice/