Although their retreats from elected office took place literally at opposite ends of the earth, Sanford and Sarah have a lot in common. Both were despised (I don’t think that’s too strong a word here) by legislative leaders in their respective Republican states. Both are more committed to impractical ideals than to actual governing. And both displayed an astonishing disrespect for the governorship. These three facts are not unrelated of course.
There’s a temptation for some conservatives (but not all, based on the fairly sane commentary of many conservative blogs about both) to see walking away from office as some kind of George Washington-esque citizen governor move. I fully expect some to describe Palin’s resignation as “her own Declaration of Independence.”
But I have to wonder if any elected officials of any political persuasion have any respect for the actions of either of these two. What do you think Joe Blow Republican State legislator thinks about someone who feels she can do more good out of office than in or who leaves the state for five days without telling anyone? I’ll bet he thinks they’re both full of shit.
r€nato
Starbursts!
demimondian
I’ll bet he does, too. But he’s only going to say it to other politicians when the microphone is off; it wouldn’t do to share such an opinion with the plebes.
charles
We can only hope that more Republican office-holders will follow Palin’s lead, and promptly resign…for victory!
Svensker
@charles:
Gennlemen, we has a winner!
Blue Raven
Doug, I’m sure you were intending to go for the alliteration, but I think it would be better if you referred to Palin as Palin for the whole article. Women being referred to by their first name while men get referred to by their last name looks a bit bad. The fact you changed partway through makes it look like a typo, though.
skippy
but at least now we have a substitute for “going galt”…we’re all “going sarah!”
John Hamilton Farr
They haven’t made themselves bigger than the game. We’re only “big” in our relationship to the whole, not by separating ourselves from it.
Something I’m still learning, BTW.
[sigh]
Danton
Over on his blog, Al Giordano wrote this:
“Being an ex-governor is sort of like being a community organizer… except you have no actual responsibilities!”
hehehe…
demimondian
@skippy: We’re going Sarah Galt on the Appaloosa Trial!
Andrew
That is the 2nd best line I heard… number one being:
What’s the difference between a pit bull wearing lipstick and a hockey mom?
The pit bull doesn’t quit.
parksideq
@DougJ
Even better that Mr. Blow – check out what Sen. Murkowski (R-AK) has to say about her state’s soon-to-be-ex governor (h/t HuffPo):
That’s PC for “Palin’s full of shit.” It doesn’t matter if she’s about to be indicted or not, she’s already lost in the court of public opinion.
Slightly OT, but are there any 2012 GOP contenders left? At first I thought the whole “Obama evil eye” thing was a joke, but too many of his possible challengers have been flaming out for this to be mere coinkidink. /tinfoilmadhattery
DougJ
Politically, getting people to call you by your first name can be an advantage I think. Both Palin and Clinton really pushed being called “Sarah” and “Hillary” in their campaigns. It wasn’t the media that did that. (Mitt Romney does this also.)
Tony J
Unless he’s been having sleepless nights during which he finds himself sitting on the roof looking North, and wondering why.
I guess this would be wrong, though.
me
So Sarah’s going away song turned out to be “Jesus Christ Pose”?
SGEW
If Sarah Palin has the slightest idea who Lucius Cincinnatus was, I will eat every hat on 7th avenue.
grumpy realist
Oh, over on HotAir and other righty blogs most of the commentators are involved in one large circle jerk about how this resignation is Teh Best Move Evah and Obama won’t know what’ll hit him, blah blah blah…
The concept of remaining a governor to, y’know, actually *govern* seems to have slipped their minds.
What I can’t understand is how these nitwits can in the same breath screech about how *nasty* the MSM and “liberals” have been to Poor Dear Sarah and her family and somehow think this will suddenly magically vanish if she ever tries to actually run for President. Somehow, DearSarah’s throwing her hat in the ring will cause all the other potential candidates to mysteriously vanish away, and DearSarah will be wafted up to the position of POTUS on the shoulders of cheering Americans without her having to ever show that she could, you know, actually govern or deal with people who don’t like her.
Given the number of people that DearSarah has managed to piss off even in the very short time she’s been on the political scene, I find it hilarious that her supporters think Sarah-as-candidate isn’t going to immediately be the target of more cutlery than you’d find in a sushi restaurant supply store.
gnomedad
@charles:
Headline:
FLOOD OF REPUBLICAN RESIGNATIONS BRINGS OBAMA ADMIN TO ITS KNEES
sloan
Check out the blog that did the Photoshop job on Sarah Palin last week – it’s called Blue Oasis, run by an Alaskan blogger, Celtic Diva.
She raised $5552.64 to force the state to release some dirt on Palin in a records request.
The check is dated July 2, 2009.
24 hours later Sarah Palin called an emergency press conference in her front yard and abruptly quit her job, making two references to the Blue Oasis blog in her speech.
So what the hell is in that records request?
b-psycho
LOL @ the SarahPAC ads popping up… Auto-ads are a trip. What’s next? An ad for a BBQ pork restaurant showing on a message board for muslims?
malraux
@parksideq:
One of Obama’s great abilities is that he draws out the crazy in his opponents. Sure, that’s pretty easy with someone like Alan Keys. But he was able to do the same with Clinton and McCain.
The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge
Well, somebody back a thread or two pointed out that Sarah’s lost a lot of weight in the last few months, and has she always had that rash on her neck? It’s obvious to me that she was on something, or suffering withdrawal from something, while giving this “speech”.
I’ll bet her supplier was arrested and sold her down the river in return for reduced charges. After Troopergate I don’t think the cops are too concerned with protecting her reputation. In fact, I’ll bet they blackmailed her into resigning.
I doubt if this stays a secret for long, though, it’s just too juicy. And with the right’s obsession with the War on Some Drugs™, I don’t think the base is going to stay on the Sarah train very long, either.
P.S.: I’d rather have the three-handed Pamela Anderson ad than the SarahPAC ad that replaced it, but I don’t have to worry about NSFW, so pay me no never-mind.
demimondian
@SGEW: She’d do well with the fasces, though.
MattF
So, are we all going to contribute our spare change to SarahPAC? I have a suspicion that the money will go to the cost of lawyering up. Since the Stevens debacle, there are a bunch of very pissed-off federal prosecutors in Alaska, and I wouldn’t want to be in their way. And neither would various Alaska state legislators, who a little bird is telling me don’t necessarily have a reputation for absolute ethical probity. Don’t be surprised by the appearance of a burned-over zone between the ex-Gov and her former pals. And don’t be surprised if the former pals decide that saving their own hides takes on a special new importance.
parksideq
@malraux:
Alan Keyes is the reason why I still believe in the theory of Peak Wingnut.
BTW, Sully is keeping a tally of the speculation concerning Palin’s possible (probable?) impending scandal. Here’s Ezra Klein’s thoughts on the transcript of her farewell speech:
Fork, stick it, done, etc.
gbear
@me:
Sarah’s going away song is more likely to be this one.
freelancer
Yeah and if she flipped about the badly done cut and paste with the obscure radio guy, the imminent breakdown we say yesterday could possibly be attributable to the Something Awful thread created in her honor. My favorites here.
JK
I certainly hope they do not.
Unfortunately, among the sizable “Drill Baby Drill” crowd, Palin is still teflon. Nothing is ever her fault or her responsibility. It’s always the fault of those damn libruls in the media and those communist comedians like David Letterman and Jon Stewart.
As horrible and repulsive as I find her, I think she’ll be a powerful force in 2012 if she chooses to participate.
As for Sanford’s fate, I wish the fine people of SC would stage a general strike to force the scumbag to resign.
Dennis-SGMM
@gbear:
Okay, that’s hilarious.
JK
@The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge:
Certainly hope you’re right about Palin being connected to a drug scandal.
My fear since her speech, is that the scandal awaiting her is some misdemeanor level financial shenanigans.
I think Palin resigned because she’s grown so thin skinned over the last few months, that she can’t bear the thought of having to answer any more questions even if the wrongdoing proves to be minor.
Dr. Loveless
And I’d rather have either one than the “Ann Coulter — Free!” ad at the top of my screen. I wouldn’t take a freebie from Ann if I saw her walking El Cajon Boulevard.
Dennis-SGMM
So, Photoshopping a picture of a woman using her child as a prop is desecration? I thought that, technically, only sacred things could be desecrated.
Joshua Norton
The Palin kind of took all the wind out of sails of the “Teabag for the 4th” demonstrations that were supposed to take place.
Remember those? Anyone?
freelancer
@ Dennis,
That’s why I thought this was the most truthful photoshop of the thread.
http://img.waffleimages.com/68fb02cb66f208d1d3591e3a956b6a2047b32812/what.jpg
EDIT: Crap, it’s the raptor photo. Click on my name to see it.
The last time I heard the word desecration used was about a year ago when PZ Myers put a nail in a communion wafer, chucked it into the garbage with a page each from the Bible, the Koran, The God Delusion, some coffee grounds and a banana peel.
A photo of a mom and her infant is not a sacred relic.
Dennis-SGMM
@Joshua Norton:
Is that where we’re all supposed to barbecue, drink beer and enjoy ourselves to protest Obama?
Tim (The Oher One)
She also said something about “we need more Trigs”.
More Downs Syndrome children ? Really ? We need that ?
Dennis-SGMM
@Tim (The Oher One):
Maybe she meant that we need more Troggs.
Nutella
Yes, no matter what the reason for her resignation, she now has no position, no power, no patronage. All of her pals will be former pals.
Joshua Norton
Maybe if she promised to quit a year and a half after being Vice President, McCain could have gotten more votes.
Comrade Stuck
@Dennis-SGMM:
Not sacred? You obviously haven’t peeked into Lowry’s Palin Closet Shrine.
Bob In Pacifica
“…and I promise to the people of Alaska that I will never fly to Rio to see Pablo ever again!”
Bob In Pacifica
Dennis-SGMM, that looks like it’s from The Troggs’ own version of “A Hard Day’s Night”, except that everyone looks glum and is standing patiently in a cue.
Bill E Pilgrim
Random thought: You know who Sarah Palin’s gotta hate right about now?
Backing up a step, I think it’s fairly safe to assume that had she not been nominated as VP last year, the chances of whatever scandals might be hitting the fan doing so would be far less, without all the notoriety and scrutiny. She’d probably be the governor of Alaska, touted by some like Kristol as an up and coming extreme right wing protege perhaps, but able to just stay in office and serve for a few terms, and then see what happens. Which if she were lucky would be nothing, at least at the White House level.
Instead, the national attention has turned over rocks and sent things scurrying left and right, I mean things that were certainly there, but hidden until the Klieg lights went on.
I imagine at this point that Palin’s gotta absolutely despise the man who was reckless enough to put her here instead, just like all the rest of us do.
JK
@freelancer: @Dennis-SGMM:
I thought Palin was the tough frontierswoman. Now Photoshopped pictures and Letterman jokes make her weepy. How did she become such a pathetic crybaby?
@Tim (The Oher One):
Maybe that was some dyslexia type gaffe. It’s just one of many examples demonstrating how breathtakingly incoherent that speech was. I detected no clear trains of thought just a lot of mangled and twisted train cars tangled up with each other.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Bob In Pacifica:
Not sure that’s possible ;)
gbear
Wonkette just gave out the ‘comment of the day award’ for this comment from AK:
Bill E Pilgrim
@gbear: Well she did say she likes running.
New magazine: Serial Runner.
JK
@Bill E Pilgrim:
Yes, but the flip side is that Palin will make millions of dollars from book sales, speaking engagements, and whatever else she can dream up as a way to cash in on her celebrity.
I hope that Palin turns out to be involved in a reasonably embarrassing (if not significant from a legal standpoint) scandal. The worse she looks, the worse that arrogant scumbag John McCain looks for inflicting her on all of us. I hope the scandal builds drip by drip to make that prick McCain a little testy if and when reporters ask him for his reaction.
JK
@gbear:
That’s a very good thumnail sketch of Palin.
I hope this story still has some legs left to it after Stewart, Colbert, Letterman, Maher, and O’Brien return from vacation.
Bill E Pilgrim
@JK: My whole comment was predicated on the idea that some massive, I mean really shattering coming scandal was the cause of that panicky high altitude ejection. I mean it just seems, what else could it be?
But yes, if it wasn’t the case and she goes on to fame and fortune she might be more thankful then resentful. Kinda doubt it though.
freelancer
Has always, is now, and forever shall be a wingnut.
Wingnuts have 5 speeds:
1)Chest-thumping bed-wetter
2)Projection Artist
3)Oppressed victim of liberal meaniness.
4)Red State Strike Force-esque treason purger
and
R) Oceania has always been at war with East Asia. (Not retreat, but advancing in another direction, last throes, etc)
Dennis-SGMM
Kim Jong Il to President Palin:
Surrender immediately or I will Photoshop you again!
JK
@Bill E Pilgrim:
I’m keeping my fingers and toes crossed for a big scandal for Palin, hopefully something resulting in multiple corruption charges and just maybe, God willing, some jail time. If things go down this road and it’s curtains for Palin, I hope some reporters rub John Country First McCain’s nose in it.
Bill E Pilgrim
@freelancer: And the way they’re going, “four on the floor” may be a good description of their numbers in Congress after another couple of elections.
Dennis-SGMM
@Bill E Pilgrim:
Either that or “three on the tree.”
JK
@freelancer:
Thanks, that’s great list.
@Dennis-SGMM:
Osama Bin Laden: Death to America, death to the infidels. Allah will bring us complete victory. Before I forget, did you hear the one about the hockey mom and the Zamboni machine?
Bill E Pilgrim
@Dennis-SGMM: Or two on the loo, but only if Craig came back.
Calouste
@sloan:
Ah, one of those anonymous bloggers… who actually as her name and picture on the front page.
gbear
Sorry to be such a link whore this afternoon, but the best take that I’ve seen on Palen is this one over at No More Mister Nice Blog.
That’s gotta hurt.
The Grand Panjandrum
Former NFL QB Steve McNair found shot dead in Nashville.
A Mom Anon
@The Grand Panjandrum:
A guy that works with my hubby grew up with McNair. He just called and said his wife did it,the woman who was with him was the other woman. (note:this is purely local gossip on the part of hubby’s co-worker,so I have no clue how accurate it is)
It’s sad,such a waste all around.
inkadu
@DougJ: @SGEW: Hey, wasn’t Lucius Cincinnatus that farmer that was a called to be Roman dictator to lead the war against the Aequans? As I recall, Lucius was very put out by the graffiti the plebians were making of him, and so, to teach Rome a lesson, he resigned in the middle of the campaign. According to Livy, his final words before returning to the farm were, “Illud plebians es sic inhumanas. Resigno. Quoque.”
Comrade Stuck
Maybe she just wants to spend more time cheering Todd to win his Idiotarod Races? Not that he needs her help.
someguy
I think that’s what you meant to ask, DougJ.
inkadu
@someguy: You would think Republicans on the local level would not be so bad. In fact, they are worse. The local level Republicans in my town — in Connecticut, mind you — were the same breed of jingoist fucktards as the kinds I saw on the teevee. Every once in a while, people would get greedy and they’d be elected into office, but they never stayed for long.
Dennis-SGMM
@Comrade Stuck:
The First Dude is into snowmobile racing. That’s another form of motorized mayhem where you tear up pristine landscapes with a vehicle that takes you where you’re too lazy to go under your own power. It’s said that the popularity of snowmobiling led directly to the resurgence of biathlon as a sport.
e.c.
If the rumors are true that the feds have been looking into the records of the contractor that built the Wasilla sports center, then there is a possibility that we’re talking felony embezzelment. Ted Stevens claim was always that he didn’t know that his contractor was giving him freebies on his house remodel, since he didn’t pay the bills. The Palins have always maintained that Todd built their house himself with “help” from “friends”. But if it turns out his friends were SBS Construction and the help they gave him was charging the building materials to the city as part of the sports center project as payback for that and future contracts, well, that’s more than just a little unreported gift. Aside from the embezzelment I’m sure their are fraud and conspiracy charges that can get thrown in as well.
The Other Steve
Last night one of my computers died.
This was shortly after Sarah Palin announced her resignation.
Coincidence? I’m not so sure. I think it’s an evil plot by liberal gnomes.
Michael
You nattering nabobs of negativism are just gloating over getting another one just like you did Spiro T. Aaaaaaaaghnew.
demimondian
@Dennis-SGMM: As opposed to “one on the run”?
MazeDancer
If it’s not scandal, or drugs, or combination, then anything she does is fine. That’s the part we rational types keep missing. Her base doesn’t care what she does. Everything is “fiesty” to them. She’s their starbeam wonder woman. She smiles and the world is right again. They would completely buy that she’s showing integrity to not be a “lame duck” and this was helping Alaska. They’ll even think the quacking ducks were a sign. She’s not a “quitter” to her base. The evil libruls and their photoshopping hatespeak drove her to it.
It doesn’t matter how crazy Palin is, she’s “cable catnip” as Chuck Todd says. She’s good looking and happy to exploit that in tight skirts and running togs. And the MSM feels it’s their obligation to freely donate 65% of their airtime to Republicans in any election season. If she becomes the frontrunner, they’ll give her free media credibility. If she doesn’t, she still gets book sales, free clothes, and a Fox deal.
On the other hand, it could easily be scandal or drugs, or both. Drugs might actually help her book sales, but probably rules out politics. But not Fox anchoring.
Comrade Stuck
Today’s wingnut wanker award winner.
from comments on Dan Riehls fantasy blog.
gnomedad
@Comrade Stuck:
Please, Br’er Goopers, don’t go Galt! Anything but that!
shoutingattherain
yo! Sparkle Plenty
looks like it’s embezzlement
frog march on tundra
Dennis-SGMM
All the base needs to know is that the MSM and the liberals are out to get Palin. No matter what, the base will defend her like a congress of Mandrills – with whom they have much in common.
Uloborus
I guess I will throw in my 2 cents on the ‘why is Palin resigning’ question.
Much as I’d love to think it’s because of corruption (mainly because I think it’s important to discredit everything she stands for) I find it hard to believe that someone as… well, narcissistic as Palin would step down before something like that even happens. She’s entrenched heavily in the ‘they’re out to get me’ camp, so I’m not sure there IS any crime her followers wouldn’t swallow was a liberal set-up.
Conceivably she was pushed by the higher-ups in the party. I think it’s clear a lot of them realize they’re riding a tiger now and Palin’s poking the damn thing with a stick. But I don’t see what her resignation would change.
On the other hand, Palin *IS* truthiness. She tells it from the gut and damn the facts. It’s what her followers praise her for. I find it quite comprehensible that she thinks this is a good job move, because it came up as a wild hair and she’s rationalized it as brilliant.
There’s even the distant possibility she’s resigning because of the attacks on her family. That sounds weird from someone who painted bullseyes on them and used them as political stepladders at every opportunity, but see the ‘truthiness’ argument. People like that can decide ANYTHING for ANY reason, because inspiration is the same as proof. Also, I’ve intimately known people who use their family like that, and they’re quite willing to do extravagant and blatantly stupid things for their family because it proves in their minds that they’re good mothers.
I don’t know. I don’t expect us to ever understand this. It was the latest erratic left turn from someone who views thinking as the easy way out. I mean, look at her public justifications. This is not a scholar of logic.
Speaking of which, notice that a lot of her followers think her speech was brilliant, while everyone else thinks it was a rambling mess. A) ‘us vs. them’ is their highest principle. If Palin did it, it must be good. But that’s not necessary, because B) she’s ‘folksy’. They really want a politician who sounds like a bitchy drunk. They want someone who acts like what they think is average. It’s more or less a distillation of what got Bush elected.
Martin
Aside from the obvious answer that she’s quitting because Jesus told her to (who knows what had Jesus stressed out).
I don’t understand why anyone would think that the best path to demonstrate your ability to govern is to leave positions that require you to govern. To reuse Palin’s attempt at a metaphor, that’d be like Duke’s top sophomore point guard leaving college for 2 years in order to prepare to be drafted for the NBA.
And the crazy part is that GOP voters say that this is a good plan.
Martin
But that’s only because people wanted to ski out and shoot the snowmobilers.
Actually, that’d make the Olympics far, far more exciting.
oh really
I think Palin is an idiot, but she might be correct that she can do more good out of office — precisely because there may be much less of a price to pay for being an idiot if she limits herself to $50,000 a hit speeches to her fundamentalist adorers and stays far, far away from governing, which is something she isn’t cut out to do, either intellectually or temperamentally.
I don’t know why anyone would pay money to listen to Palin ramble on incoherently like she was being paid by the word, when it’s possible to watch her July 3 whine/rant over and over again on YouTube. Her resignation speech will surely go down as one of the worst political performances in American history — and just the kind of thing the Wingers love.
demimondian
@gnomedad: No, no, no! Don’t give them ideas. We need them to stick around, working hard, or we will fail.
Please, GOP-ers, I beg you — don’t do what Gov. Palin did!
Danton
@inkadu: where are you in Connecticut? Coulterland (New Canaan)?
JK
@MazeDancer: @Uloborus:
While I’m hoping Palin resigned because police are on her back http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq_HtgGOIfE
I think the real reasons are
sheer lazyness – governing is hard work. Palin wants to go as far as she can in life while expending the least amount of effort humanly possible. She’d rather spend her time being cheered and drooled over by beer swilling knuckle draggers shouting “drill baby drill” and slobbered over by Sean Hannity and Greta “the scientologist” Van Susteren.
sensitivity to criticism – I think her ego is very fragile and she couldn’t take the heat any more from political adversaries and inquisitive journalists
OriGuy
Commenter Jon H at Whatever:
Little Dreamer
@The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge:
No, no, no, no, no!
SarahPAC is the PERFECT ad. Let Repubs throw their money at this, she hasn’t a chance of pulling out a proper victory in a future election now that she’s QUIT as governor, and their money will be spent in ways that will make it difficult for them to raise up more wingnut leaders. This is much better than the PAM AN ad. John, I hope you subscribe to SarahPAC’s ad until 2016, or until they figure out it’s hopeless (whichever comes first).
demimondian
@Little Dreamer: Indeed. Besides, it’s a great example of John showing creativity in his funding sources.
I don’t know what the service terms are, but you can really show your interest in SarahPAC by clicking through to the target page. Just sayin’
Ron
@parksideq: Whether there’s a legitimate point to what Murkowski is saying, it’s useful to keep in mind that there’s not exactly any love lost between them.
JR
The reason every pundit with half a brain was calling this move career suicide is because it immediately created a huge new demographic: elected Republican officials for whom bashing Sarah Palin for dumping Alaska and failing to ever serve her commitment to its voters plays really fucking well among their constituents.
Sean Parnell is going need a scapegoat for everything that might befall him as he tries to undo some of the damage neglect can cause a state, meaning at long last she’s the perfect candidate for something. Add to that the long list of Republicans in Alaska politics who’ve never liked the self-centered incompetent who ousted another Republican, and those who got fed up with her behavior in the 2008 state primaries, and those who were appalled by her embarrassing performance as the Vice Presidential nominee, and you’ve got the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy’s new side project for the next three years. And let’s face it: as far as criticism targets go, she’s the gift that keeps on giving, so it’s not like her fellow Republicans are going to be short on material. I predict that, by this Thanksgiving, Sarah’s going to empathize with the turkey in the funnel.
Enlightened Layperson
He desperately depends on conservatives to do what we always do, which is buckle down and try improve things and make things work.
Ah, the ultimate proof the George Bush was no true conservative!
IndieTarheel
@JR:
This explains Halperin, K-Lo, etc.