If Palin gets a tv gig, will she have to give it up once she announces her candidacy? I remember there being a lot of discussion of that when Chris Mathews was contemplating a run for the Senate. What does election law say and would it be enforced anyway?
Update. Halperin goes all in on the wisdom of Palin’s decision. This makes it official — her political career is doomed.
Lola
Doesn’t leaving Alaska diminish at least 50% of her appeal? How can she shoot moose in Georgetown or Manhattan?
Comrade Stuck
If it’s the Jerry Springer Show, then real life would just imitate art and our Saturday Nights would never again be dull.
Adolphus
Can you imagine how many dopey things she’ll say in two years on the air that can be used to campaign against her? Hooboy! Steele can’t even do occasional guest host gigs.
John Cole
Are we going to get sued for this post?
Comrade Stuck
Only if Chris Mathews gets elected Senator, then frankly, I hope everybody gets sued.
DougJ
Actually, I wasn’t trying to insinuate anything. I was just wondering if that was maybe partly why she got out now, so she could spend a lot of time on tv before announcing.
demimondian
@John Cole: Of course. It doesn’t matter than you didn’t desecrate The Madonna and Trig, or that you didn’t mention the possibility that the l’Hotel des Palins was at most partially funded by the folksy folk who were going to dwell there, or that you didn’t discuss the curious and comical misadventures of the Divine Sarah and the Alaska State Police. She’ll find a reason.
Peter J
Palin/Beck 2012 – When there’s not enough insanity in your life
DougJ
I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t include that picture of a baby with Chris Matthews’ head photo-shopped onto it, then.
devopsych
She’s not going to be running for anything.
rob!
If Palin (*shudder*) ever became President, her choice of VP would be be very important, since she’d inevitably resign from office early once the librul media got too mean.
demkat620
Good god,if she is on Fox every night, the crap she’ll spew will make O’Reilly look reasonable.
She likes to slap people and that would give her a big platform to alternately attack and play the victim. It will be sickening.
mcd410x
Ah, a Facebook message!!
The GOP right now is one sad, jilted lover, knowing if we can sit down and talk one more time everything will be ok.
Really, GOP, it’s not you, it’s me.
Comrade Stuck
@demkat620:
They could give her and Beck a late Saturday night gig. It’d be like pairing Elvira with the cadaver dude from Tales From the Crypt. A night downing Little Kings and 50’s slasher flicks.
unabogie
Palin’s lawyer threatens to sue Huffpo.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/07/take_two_3.php
khead
Job? I have to believe that she would want to do the honorable thing and save her next employer from her lame duck status. You know, like she did for the good of Alaska.
JK
Doug,
This might be a good starting place for your question
Federal Communication Commission’s equal time rule
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode47/usc_sec_47_00000315—-000-.html
Fern
I really cannot imagine her on TV. Now I know that being stupid and ill-informed are not necessarily barriers to working in television, but she can’t even speak coherently. At all. And she would have to at least feign interest in people other than herself, and I don’t think she can do that either.
Nylund
Didn’t Fred Thompson have to quit Law & Order? I also remember that there was at least a discussion about whether or not they could even show reruns in which he appeared.
freelancer
My heavens,
Imagine the 18-minute stream of consciousness rambling dead fish, point guard, fridge magnet, “Hell yeah”, full court press, go with the flow, the problem is apathy quitters way out Word Salad we got yesterday, and cube it.
Imagine an hour of that every weekday for the next three years.
I for one welcome our new piss-stained barracuda overlord.
Litlebritdifrnt
Ya’ll haven’t been keeping up again. According to the birfers she is resigning because she KNOWS she is going to be the VP on July 25, cause that is the day that Obama will be led from the WH in handcuffs for being the commiefascistfraudusurpermuslinbrownpersonuppitynegro that he really is and Biden will get arrested cause he was complicit and so will Pelosi et. al. cause they all went along with it and therefore McCain will be POTUS and Bible Spice will be VP but McCain will step down because of health issues and Bible Spice will be POTUS. Seriously, you mean you didn’t hear all the hints in her speech like all the birfers did? Sheesh.
jcricket
If Palin thinks she’s going to have any kind of national role other than laughingstock, she’s mistaken. Frankly, to quote someone whom Palin probably admires very much, “Bring it on”. While the initial reaction to her was a “boost of energy” for McCain, but then she dragged his ticket way down, and her approval rating is in the fucking toilet and got worse the more people got to know her (and they barely know her). The average person in Alaska (not the most liberal bunch) likes her less and less the more they hear of her. Her own party in AK doesn’t like her. It doesn’t matter that starbursts shoot out the penises of a few members (ha) of the 101st fighting keyboard kommandoes every time she offers a little wink/brain tumor tic on their TV screens – she will kill the GOP as much as making Rush Limbaugh the standard-bearer would.
She will be a shining beacon drawing in the whitest of the white, the wingnuttiest of the wingnuts and the fringe of the religious right. The white-hot heat of their hatred will seem like a lot of “energy”, but it’s basically a star imploding on itself. We just have to stay out of the way.
For liberals, supporting Palin, is like evangelicals supporting Israel (to hasten the supposed end-times). We’ll deliberately cause the “Wingularity” at which point all the remaining Goopers will be drawn down to hell, leaving a paradise on earth.
Litlebritdifrnt
O/T Oh and John (cause I know how you like to clean stuff) I got one of these this week from my local thrift store (the glory of going twice a week due to work taking me to that exact area and getting to see all the new stuff brought in) it cost me $25.00 and while going through all the attachments and stuff in the box I found the original invoice from HSN from 2001 $253.00.
http://www.newsteamcleaners.com/p10.htm
I figure the original owner had used it maybe once and then figured that it didn’t actually do the cleaning itself you had to use it, and gave up. This baby can clean anything! It took all the grunge off my bbq grill, made the grout between my white ceramic tiles in the kitchen look like it was installed yesterday, completely cleaned off the glass door in my oven (which I admit I had not been able to see through for quite some time) and a whole host of other thingies (I was basically just trying it out to see what it couldn’t clean, turns out the answer was “nothing”) and BONUS! It is more fun to use than a power washer all without chemicals or any cleaning agents and to top it all off it sterilizes everything. You should check these babies out, I am in LURVE! (And yes everyone else I know it is truly a pathetic way to spend July 4, but I had fun and that is all that matters no?)
Brachiator
I don’t see this as a slam dunk. While Palin might do fabulously well on the GOP speaking circuit, where she can shoot starburst winks to distract from the essential emptiness of her speechifications, as a TV pundit or commentator she would quickly tire out any but the most wingnut viewer, even with Bill Kristol pulling the strings in her back as her mentor.
I still have a hard time seeing any upside for Palin in her mystifying decision to resign. Even some women who might otherwise want to support her will react to her statement that she is heeding some higher calling with, “No. Sarah. You quit and didn’t finish the job. What kind of role model is that?”
Note: If Monday’s episode of The View is not a repeat, pay attention to co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who has been an unofficial advisor to Palin. If she is still in the Palin camp, watch how she tries to defend Palin’s decision.
MikeJ
IOKIYAR
SATSQ
JK
@Brachiator:
Given that 2 of Palin’s BFF’s, Greta “the scientologist” Van Susteren and Sean Hannity work for Fox News, I think that network would pull out all of the stops and do everything humanly possible to build a successful show for her. I realize that they already have all the wingnut viewers locked up, but I think Murdoch and Ailes would love having Palin host a show on Fox News as a status symbol and her presence in their lineup would give them a lot of buzz. I could see them giving her a program where she’d do short commentaries and soft interviews with local wingnuts around the US to describe their various wingnut activities.
DougJ
That sounds like a really good idea.
calipygian
All I can say about Mark Halperin is that the business end of his crack pipe is pretty fucking hot right now, hotter than usual.
Keith
What is Halperin basing all of those “pieces of ” on, anyway?
It’s interesting that just a couple of weeks removed from “Sanford was found…in the Appalacheans. And there’s no conspiracy or scandal because his wife says she knows where he is”, media folks und pundits double down on their certainty again. You’d think he’d have learned to at least hedge his bets, but once you say “flat-out totally”, it’s all or nothing.
Enceladus
Curse you for tempting me, against my better judgment, to follow that Halperin link.
Every time I read or look at that guy, I can palpably feel myself getting dumber.
DougJ
What does he base anything he says on? All I know is that he is usually wrong. (He did call the McCain victory in the primary early on, but he’s always loved that guy.)
srv
What about the big screen? I had a dream that Sarah starred in the next National Treasure movie where she and Nick Cage go on a globe crossing hunt for The Birth Certificate.
arguingwithsignposts
This is f-ing hilarious:
Hitler learns of Palin’s resignation
Does that invoke Godwin’s Law? In this case, I think the comedy gold overcomes the objections.
(via the GOS)
Josh Hueco
OT, but SciFi’s running a Twilight Zone marathon tonight. Of course lately it’s felt like we’re already living there.
geg6
Halperin is a crackhead. There is no explanation for possibly being more wrong more often than Irving’s baby boy. He called the week a win for McCain the week of the financial meltdown and the dramatic campaign suspension for no earthly reason. Maybe he’s the guy who was hooking up Michael Jackson.
JK
@DougJ:
I think it’s in keeping with the type of programming they have skillfully honed over the years and which I regard as a bottomless cesspool of lies.
I can’t find words strong enough to express my disgust that so many newspapers are on death’s doorstep, some dying altogether, while Fox News continues to see its ratings soar thru the stratosphere. I wish I could live long enough to see Fox News on death’s fucking doorstep.
IMHO, Fox News is, far and away, the most intellectually dishonest news organization in America. They are the most powerful name in half-truths, lies, distortions, and taking quotes out of context. The enormous success of Fox News is a profound tragedy for television, for journalism, and for our society.
When I think of the thousands of hours Fox News (and to be fair CNN and MSNBC as well) has devoted to tabloid trash like Laci Peterson, Drew Patterson, Chandra Levy, Anna Nicole Smith, Natalee Holloway, and all of the other missing white women, Michael Jackson’s sex abuse trial, and now Michael Jackson’s death, I wish all 3 cable news channels could be sued for dereliction of duty or journalistic malpractice.
What sets Fox News apart though, is that while MSNBC and CNN also wallow in tabloid filth, they make an effort to play it straight when reporting natl and intnatl news. Fox News is simply an extension of the Republican Party.
Karen
FWIW, right under that item by Halperin there are a couple of ads for colon cleansing.
eemom
well, I never thought Palin would inspire me to quote Shakespeare, but I must say that if Palin WERE to host a TV show — in particular, co-host one WITH Tweety or some such of his ilk — “it is a chance which does redeem all sorrows that ever I have felt.”
I really don’t think she’d be into the interview format too much, though. IIRC she’s more of a “center of the universe” type gal.
Church Lady
I have tried to follow all the different possible reasons various bloggers and pundits have come up with to explain her resignation and none of them seem to make any sense at all. I’ve decided to take her at her inarticulate word – as long as she’s a lightning rod, Alaskan government will be more partisan than usual and not much will get done and it will be better for the state for her to be gone. I also believe her that she’s tired of the crap constantly aimed at her family. As a mother, I have been appalled at some of the things said about her kids. I still cringe when I think of Letterman’s pathetic excuse of joke, not matter whether the target was Bristol or Willow. Yes, she might have had them out there on the campaign trail, just as the Obama children were on occassion, but no child of ANY politician deserves any of the kind of crap that has been thrown at the Palin kids. If such things were said about my children, I’d also quit and be the first to admit that I am too protective of my children to have them subjected to that kind of stuff.
arguingwithsignposts
@Church Lady:
Um, I get your point, sort of. But Palin hasn’t shown any sense that she’s going to be withdrawing from public life. Her SarahPAC ads were running on BJ and Eschaton today!
Not only that, there was a simple solution all along – stop f-ing traipsing around the country speaking up and DO YOUR JOB. The heat in the Alaskan kitchen was high before Palin ever stepped on the national stage. We just didn’t know about it.
Let’s put it this way – if she hadn’t BEEN in New York playing politics, she wouldn’t have BEEN in the limelight for Letterman’s joke writers to harsh on her daughter.
She brought this shitstorm on herself.
gbear
Soy un perdedor, I’m a loser baby, so why don’t you kill me?
scarshapedstar
Wow. If Sarah Palin had balls, they’d be halfway down Mark Halperin’s esophagus.
I mean, the only thing he could possibly add to that hagiography is “#10: Sarah Palin is not the second coming of Christ.”
Yutsano
I blame the hangover from the barbeque. (Which isn’t in my Spellcheck, weird. Neither is Spellcheck!)
That whole list was Halperin talking out of his ass, which he seems rather adept at.
Cat Lady
Big mistake. She’s a pathological liar, and lies about everything, small and large, regardless whether the counterfactual is right there in front of her, and the truth would have served just as well. I wouldn’t take her word for it if she told me what day it was. The thing I keep coming back to is that no one knew this was coming, yet she insists her decision wasn’t sudden. If she’d been preparing for this, then (1) someone else would have known, and (2) she would have had a better speech. She’s been spooked.
gwangung
Yet there are far too many people who won’t believe this and insist on taking her word for things.
Bill E Pilgrim
Her new statement is definitely Ross Perot territory.
Also her mention of “the main stream media” makes me think maybe we’re missing something, has Field and Stream been on a campaign against her? Maybe we’re looking in the wrong place for what she’s so paranoid and defensive about.
Fern
@srv:
Her ego demands applause and a live audience. I don’t think she would find television or (god help us) movies to be particularly satisfying.
Cat Lady
@gwangung:
True, and scary. My hope is for a scandal that really does torpedo her below the water line, so for all but the most delusional whackadoodle godbotherers, she’s done and done.
I haven’t been able to imagine what that is though. Sex and meth with Levi? I’m just thinking that embezzlement and grifting charges will not torpedo her.
DougJ
I was thinking “Debra” would be a good campaign song.
Cat G
@Church Lady: 1) Her big problem in Alaska is NOT partisanship re: Dem opposition, her problem has been with the Republicans at least as much as the Democrats. She routinely gets in p1ssing matches. The last several months have been disastrous for her reputation in Alaska. 2) I agree that it is unkind and unwise to make crude jokes about her children. But what mother in her right mind decides to run for VP with a 4 month old child and a daughter who is about to be an unwed mother. Political campaigns are unbelievably hard work and soak up all the energy and time of candidates and senior staff. SHE chose to step into the maelstrom. It’s been pretty rich watching right wingers & Republicans whine that no woman has been treated sooooooooooooo badly. Tell that to Hillary. How could you not remember the savage way she was treated…come on, don’t you remember her affair with Vince Foster and whether it was a suicide or a murder. Palin just showed she’s a lightweight and has been over her head. I hope she’s wise enough to really spend some time with her family, I’m guessing they could use some quality time.
apistat
@Bill E Pilgrim:
This is by far my favorite part of right-wing logic. When you do something stupid, and people rightly point out that it is stupid, you use that as some sort of proof that everything you’ve ever done and believed is right, and that the best thing to do is double down on these actions and beliefs.
I’d also really like to see someone ask her to identify some of those “countless” other people quit in the middle of a term to go do something incredibly vague.
But oh well, thats Palin: apparently an example of a strong independent woman, yet still somehow able to cast herself as a victim at every turn.
Jean
@Cat Lady: Cat Lady, The thing I keep coming back to is her demeanor through the whole speech. She was angry and breathless. We all know she can’t write a coherent speech herself. If this were a prepared decision, someone would have written or heavily edited the text for her (see Republican convention), especially given the gravity of the decision not to finish her first term as governor. There are 18 months left! Do any of you know a governor who has done that without a clear reason? It’s too serious a decision to call a hasty press conference in her backyard and squawk like the fowl behind her. She was not prepared in any way, and did not expect to resign yesterday; she may have intended to announce that she would not run for a second term, but even that would be odd, given the holiday weekend.
The only speculation that makes any sense at all is something is coming down that she can’t bear while she’s in office. And that ain’t a speaking tour or a book deal.
gbear
@DougJ:
Ain’t no use in wastin’ no time gettin’ to know each other
That’ll work. ;)
ps: I’ve got my windows open and the entire house smells like gunpowder right now. The whole city is in a haze. Now I know how the freedom fighters fighting for democracy in Iran feel.
Just Some Fuckhead
Typical Church Lady with scads of empathy for everyone but progressive Democrats. So hard being the only real Democrat left in the Democratic party.
Fencedude
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Empathy Troll?
scarshapedstar
Ok, I’m gonna go ahead and drop the bombshell.
When Mark Sanford went to Argentina, he was fucking Sarah Palin. Compare their bizarre recent public appearances and you’ll see that they were probably using the same drugs as well.
If Palin won’t release her travel records, then she clearly has something to hide.
DougJ
I think the stuff about Alaskan gov’t being screwed up by her lighting rodness is total garbage. She may not like the jokes about her family and I am sorry politicians have to deal with that in general.
But…she really did use those kids as a prop. No doubt about it.
Zuzu's Petals
@DougJ:
“Joe” the “Plumber” better watch his back.
gbear
If she’s ever declared queen, that will be her title.
gnomedad
@apistat:
Also, sue the people who noticed you’re being stupid.
Brachiator
@JK:
I see what this would do for Fox, but I don’t see that this would help Palin to the same degree. Becoming a Fox talking head, even a sparkly one, still just makes her one of the conservative crowd.
Then again, I’m not her press manager.
Still, the problem is that Palin is not that good with prepared material, and as another poster has pointed out, is inconsistent when it comes to preparation. Her rambling, nutty press conference should be a warning that you do not necessarily want her near a microphone for more than a couple of minutes. And a little Palin patter goes a long, long way, and inevitably drizzles off into nonsense.
And while the wingnuts may love Sarah, the plain fact is that no halfway sane politician wants to associate with them for extended periods of time.
Church Lady — If such things were said about my children, I’d also quit and be the first to admit that I am too protective of my children to have them subjected to that kind of stuff.
I guess this is why you are not a governor. Let’s turn this around a bit. No one in their right mind would suggest that a male politician should automatically resign from public office just because someone insulted his children. That this should be accepted as a plausible reason for Palin to step down is ridiculous. It would also eliminate her for any consideration for future public office.
Church Lady
@DougJ – It’s the rare politician that doesn’t use their family as a prop. Even when used as props, the kids should be off limits. Even President Obama thinks so.
@Brachiator – I never said she should resign, I just said that I could understand, if done for the sake of her family, why she would. I don’t think of it as a male/female thing. I know that my husband would do whatever it took to protect his children, under any circumstances. And yes, that would include quitting a job, if need be. That’s just one of the things that makes him a good father.
Tonal Crow
She made Bristol and Trig central to her “pro-life” story, using them to argue that we should adopt her “pro-life” stance. That goes well beyond the stuff most politicans do, like posing for the cameras with the kids, or mentioning their birthdays or Christmas presents. She — in a startlingly bad parenting move — injected them into the public discourse, and is now whining about the perfectly foreseeable consequences. I have sympathy for the kids, but mostly because they have such poor parents. Palin (and her husband) need to pay more attention to parenting, and less attention to Letterman.
So?
Uloborus
Catlady-and-others:
Yeah, Palin didn’t just use her kids as photo ops, she sent her teenage daughter, an unwed mother, out on national television to preach anti-abortionism, then bumped her aside when the message didn’t come out like she wanted. She painted targets on those kids, and is as much to blame as her opponents.
You’re not trying to defend her, so I’ll reroute this comment a bit. I just want to point out that if Palin is really quitting because she’s worried about her children, it’s the only time she’s shown so far that she cares more about their welfare than hers. I find the mudslinging at her children pretty abhorrant, but she darned well stuck the bulls-eyes on their foreheads, and played up every attack for personal advantage.
Plus, it’s a gesture that doesn’t protect her kids from abuse. Dropping her career as a national level talking head would have. Quitting as Governor while openly continuing to explore future Presidential ambitions does them what good exactly?
You are absolutely right that ‘protecting my family’ is a valid justification. I just don’t buy for a second that it’s the one she’s really motivated by.
pattonbt
I still think this about money and 2012. Theres nothing left for her in Alaska except being sniped at and the golden ring only comes along so often. If she ever has a shot, its now. Strike while the iron is hot. Sure, rational people will laugh and write her off even further and she now has a snowballs chance in hell at any national level, but the base will eat this up and demand more. I mean, look at their reaction already.
She is their empress. Palin knows shes got the base and with the void at the top of the R party (intellectually and personality wise) she has the best shop at taking the reins. The most committed (pun intended) part of the base is hers.
This is the cleave I had hoped for for the last 15 years in the R party. Their deal with devil has come due. The sane R’s only have themselves to blame for their southern strategy, anti-intellectualism and god bothering. They built the base they needed to keep their coalition together and Palin is their queen.
So as I said last night, this is genius for Palin personally and as a liberal, I couldnt be happier with this turn of events. Sure I dont want to see Mooselini get anything she wants (and she will get money and exposure) but its a small price to pay to see the R party fall even further.
Richard Stanczak
I just read Mr. Halperin’s “Nine TOTALLY Wrong Analyses of Palin’s Resignation”.
Does this mean she is angling for a spot in Obama’s cabinet? Energy Czar or Education?
Or is she considering joining the Supreme Court?
By the way is Halperin too lazy to come up with a tenth? Or is this an homage to Sarah Palin’s unconventional’ness’ [sic].
ppcli
.
.
I think it means that she wants to be an absolute dictator at the head of a Christianist military regime. Think a combination of Franco and Cotton Mather. If that’s what Halperin means, I’m sure he’s correct. Also.
jcricket
She’s a maverick, youbetcha.
Look, I have ambitions sometimes. I think I could write the next Harry Potter Series, or win American Idol, but then my sanity kicks in.
Palin has no filter, a messianic stream, a martyr complex, hubris, a chip on her shoulder and just about zero intellect (don’t mistake ambition for intellect). Unfortunately, this makes her a very electable Republican.
Woodrow "asim" Jarvis Hill
Halperin pulls that “odd number” stuff a lot.
Or, at least from what I recall. I decided months ago to not even come close to giving him a page view (pun intended) ever ago. Half the reason we keep having to discuss him is people running up his damn numbers.
Richard Stanczak
The only time I ever read anything by Halperin is when it is linked to by other blogs who are pointing out his stupidity.
I guess any publicity is good publicity in celebrity land.