UPDATED:The brilliant strategery of Sarah Palin
Posted on 07/04/2009 06:22 am by kagranju
I’ve decided today that Sarah Palin is sort of a genius.
Unless the real reason she’s stepping down is that the National Enquirer is about to publish a cover story revealing that she’s actually a man who became a woman to escape his history as a Sandinista guerilla fighter, her resignation is flat-out brilliant. It’s certainly possible that she’s leaving her post in advance of some big, ugly, serious scandal becoming public, but I suspect not. And if not, then she’s made the best political move I can imagine in her plan to run for president in 2012.
Whenever I make a big decision, or help someone else make a decision, I always ask this question first, “what’s the downside?” If we ask that question about Sarah Palin’s decision to resign, there really isn’t one of any consequence. Sure, some (not all) Alaskans will be irritated. And some Americans will consider her a quitter. But as Palin begins to build her national organization in earnest, the pissy Alaskans will be equivalent to a few political gnats, and the folks in the lower 48 who will express their disapproval of her resignation don’t like Palin anyway, no matter what she does.
So those are the negatives. If there is any other downside, I am not seeing it. And of course, we Americans have a short attention span, and the “quitter” label just won’t carry any weight within a year, particularly since Palin is now an iconic figure who transcends any single action she takes.. Given who she is, and the passions she stirs in people, the relatively dull, bureaucratic fact that she decided to leave office early really won’t factor in the grand scheme of the Palin narrative
So what are the benefits to Palin? They are huge. First of all, her resignation offers the very basic positive of immediately freeing her from the ethical and logistical constraints that come with her office; as givernor, she can’t leave Alaska too often. She can’t raise money as easily. She has to deal with day to day tasks of actually governing, and she has to face the press scrutiny that comes with being a high-profile, sitting public official.
So Palin resigns yesterday, pointing to the truly unprecedented way she continues to be trashed in the media. She frames it as “best for Alaskans,” saying that the press has essentially driven her from office, and noting that she’s doing the honorable thing by walking away so that Alaskan government can regain some sense of peace and normalcy. Plus, even as she claims that her family’s privacy continues to be violated, she explicitly reminds us that her toddler has Down Syndrome, and she gets Good Mother points by saying she needs to spend more time with him.
Both the suggestion that she’s basically been forced out of office by the liberal media, and her stated plan to be some version of the saintly stay-at-home mama galvanize her admittedly limited, but very enthusiastic and cohesive base: the rightest of right wing Republicans, plus Evangelical Christians. They love her already; now she becomes a crusading martyr with a story to tell, and a comeback to plan. While her base doesn’t actually have enough votes on their own to get her elected, she can spend the next 18 months wringing every last penny they have to give out of them, money she can then parlay into a more comprehensive and well-financed campaign organization that will do its job of turning that money into votes outside of her base. For the next year and a half, Palin will be on the road continuously, speaking, rallying and passing the hat at churches, pro-life meetings, and gun advocacy groups. And when she’s not out there rallying her activist footsoldiers, she reinforces her mainstream GOP street cred with occasional Fox News analysis gigs.
It’s brilliant, I tell you.
Don’t underestimate Sarah Palin. Any woman who can calmly stare down David Letterman, without blinking, forcing a humiliating public apology out of a man who routinely makes lesser mortals weep via his withering excoriation is a woman with a plan. A big plan.
You wait and see.
CLARIFICATION: Thanks for all the comments on this post (except the ones I had to delete – the ones threatening violence against other commenters. Sheesh people.) After writing the post yesterday, and seeing the dozens of “Right on, fellow Palin supporter!” comments since that time, I feel the need to clarify for those who are perhaps first time visitors to my blog that I am not a Sarah Palin supporter. (That would, in fact, be a radical understatement.) In saying that I believe Palin’s resignation was a brilliant move for her in terms of pure political strategy, I am not suggesting that I support her policy positions, or that I hope she succeeds in her quest to become president. But yes, I do think that she just checkmated her political enemies in a pretty clever way. And I also think she’s a seriously tough cookie with a Big Plan. But for those of you who read the post offering my recognition of these things, and then got the impression that my compliment for Palin’s political savvy equates to being a fan or supporter, sorry to disappoint. But I hope you’ll consider stopping by my blog again, now that you’ve discovered me. I may be one of “those people” you love to hate, but at least now you know I’m one who is willing to call ‘em like I see ‘em 
07/04/2009 at 6:44 am
Is that what she’s going to spend the next 18 months doing? On the road, fundraising?
So much for all that extra time with the baby!
07/04/2009 at 6:57 am
Good points. But I suppose only time will tell if it’s a smart move or not.
For once, I’m anxious to see what she’ll do next which is probably what she wanted all along.
07/04/2009 at 8:03 am
Have you read the article about her in Vanity Fair, if not, you must. It just came out. According to the article no one in Alaskan politics likes her or supports her anymore. They are on the record saying this about her. She could be Brilliant because this is her official Fuck You to the people and politicians of Alaska.
It’s so unusual for politicians and people who worked with her to be so forthright in their negative opinion and dislike for her and the way she governs. As you said Katie, what better way for her to run her own political agenda on a national level, frees her, and she got to say FU by walking away from the Alaskan Republican party and the citizens who no longer support her..
We have not heard the last of that women!
07/04/2009 at 8:11 am
The buzz in Alaska is that the IRS is about to drop the hammer on the Palins.
07/04/2009 at 8:22 am
I just wish she’d fade back into obscurity. I don’t think there’s anything genius about her.
07/04/2009 at 8:51 am
I write this as a political and religious conservative who has an overall positive view of Sarah Palin: Unless she’s leaving the governorship early to drop out of politics entirely, I’ll lose a lot of respect for her. Her governorship is the one unmistakable source of information about her ability to lead and manage. If she quits that job to concentrate on the Presidency or a Senate run or what-have-you, then what that tells me is that her ambition is larger than her sense of duty to public service, and that’s quite troublesome. Ironically, this is the main reason I did not support Barack Obama and why I continue to be suspicious of him as President.
On the other hand, if she retires from politics, who can blame her? She has been subjected to unprecedented viciousness from all comers in her opposition that is far more than enough to disgust the most robust participant in politics. I believe she has that athlete’s mental toughness to handle it, but might well choose to just say “screw it, and all the haters too” and go back to being a mom, grandmother, and advocate for worthy causes.
07/04/2009 at 10:04 am
A message to Sarah …… Take the time you need. When you are ready, this Conservative will work hard for your election.
A message to Senator McCain and Republicans ….. You betrayed a good person, a great leader, and Conservatism. You failed to defend a friend. You are dispicable. You will pay a heavy price and being in the minority is just the start.
07/04/2009 at 10:11 am
I sincerely like Sarah, but I sincerely hope that this is a precursor to her taking a lesser role in public politics. She has been turned into a caricature by the national media and cannot win national office with that around her neck (it’s unfair, I know). The best she can do is to block the nomination for some other candidate who has the potential to win. She would serve us best in a leadership role for the party instead of a governmental position.
07/04/2009 at 10:11 am
What everyone who thinks she should’ve stayed the course as governor or somehow lose credibility as a “quitter” is over-looking is the fact that had she done that, a la BHO’s Illinios Senatorship, she would actually have to make a choice to either short-change the neccesary work she needs to do to have a credible shot at winning higher office, or steal from the taxpayers of Alaska, by “mailing in” her performance as Governor. IMO we have too many politicians who are willing to do just that…..and that, as Frank Zappa would say, is the crux of the biscuit!
07/04/2009 at 10:12 am
I agree this could ultimately be a stroke of genius.
First, let’s consider the situation faced by Gov. Palin. Her situation was untenable. If she, like so many politicians previously have, traveled to the lower 48 to promote a good cause she believes in, she would return to Alaska only to face another baseless law suit. Law suits she has successfully won but at a financial cost to her and her family. As governor, all of the issues she stood for had to be wrapped under the Alaska banner. These issues, and others, restricted her ability to speak out as a national figure, a distinct disadvantage to someone attempting to broaden her base and her message. Likely GOP presidential candidates like Romney and Huckabee have not been so restricted.
No mention is given to other politicians who have effectively resigned from their current position to campaign for higher office. Surely, one need look no further than Barack Obama who spent much of his time as an elected senator to run for president. The same scenario exists with Hillary Clinton or any of the other US senators running for president.
Gov. Palin did the right thing at the right time. She handed her agenda over to the Lt. Gov. who will be able to make advances without the petty bickering she faced. Bickering which came from Democrats who wanted to inflict damage to her in order to hamper her ambitions for national office and from fellow Republicans who wanted her to limit her interests solely to the State of Alaska.
Let freedom reign!
07/04/2009 at 10:13 am
“Wheatie” I don’t know if you live in Alaska or not. I don’t, but I’ve got friends who do live in Alaska. Actually they live in the town of Willow–about 40 miles from Wasilla. (Damn good thing the Palins lived in Wasilla–if they had lived in Willow they woulda named their daughter “Wasilla”).
The reports I get from actual Alaskans–as opposed to idiots who live and write in New York City for Vanity Fair–is that Ms. Palin remains quite popular among the rank and file citizens of Alaska. I don’t know how the resignation will affect that popularity. On the ethics complaints, you add outside money to fund these things, plus the usual antipathy of one party for the other, and I’m not surprised that the Alaska Dems would issue one spurious ethics complaint after another.
07/04/2009 at 10:15 am
That Vanity Fair story was just propaganda, a hit job. The amazing thing to me is that Obama can break laws raising money, hang out with terrorists, lie to the American people…. but Sarah Palin is the one Vanity Fair attacks.
Media bias? Oh yes and then some.
07/04/2009 at 10:16 am
Katie,
That was one helluva post! You’ve made excellent points and I will be linking to this on my blog. God bless you and Godspeed to Sarah!
07/04/2009 at 10:18 am
Mike:
McCain did not betray Sarah Palin. He put her on the ticket, it was his decision to make her a national figure. The fact that some reporters and journalists claim to have information from anonymous staffers on the campaign does not mean McCain is involved. My guess is they are trying to cover for their own incompetence, if they exist at all.
07/04/2009 at 10:20 am
I’ve always been a registered Independent.
I’ve voted for Clinton AND Bush.
I’ve only given the max to one candidate, SP.
07/04/2009 at 10:22 am
Oh yeah. This makes all the sense in the world. It goes something like the this: Things are going so awesomely well for Mrs. Palin that things can only get better if she quits in a rambling, non-sensical press conference that virtually no one understands.
Its political genius in action. This is good thinkin’
Look. I’ll admit, the first time I saw Star Wars I didn’t understand at first what Obi-Won meant when he told Vader he would become more powerful after being struck down, but that ain’t what’s happening here. When the heat in the kitchen gets to be too much for some folks they typically choose to go someplace else. Mrs. Palin just exited to the porch.
07/04/2009 at 10:23 am
Governor Palin is leaving for Galt’s Gulch.
07/04/2009 at 10:31 am
g.e.:
I understood what Palin was saying. I think the most telling thing of all however, is that so many of her detractors seem to think that going after the woman’s family, harassing her, stalking her, and in general making her life impossible was okay fine because they did not like her politics.
Meanwhile Obama is practically the nominee before the national press gets around to mentioning Reverend Wright.
I don’t know what Palin’s plans are, but I am ashamed as an American for the way she is treated and I think that in the future there might well be some payback for the people who instigated a lot of this.
After all, Obama has a big family in Kenya and many of them are living in abject poverty. Maybe Vanity Fair would like to do a story on that. Or how about a story on Obama’s questionable political dealings with insiders in Chicago?
Or how about his kids? Is it okay to suggest they would have been better off aborted?
07/04/2009 at 10:42 am
Maybe I’m a little slow, but I saw no evidence of a “brilliant strategy” yesterday. Instead, I saw a rambling, almost incoherent rant that left me feeling sorry for Palin.
Sarah’s heart is in the right place. I agree with her fundamental beliefs. She has been treated unfairly by the press. But she is clearly a welterweight and has no business in the ring with a heavyweight. For her own sake, I hope she stays out of elective politics in the future.
07/04/2009 at 10:43 am
Yeah, you just hold your breath waiting for Vanity Fair to do a hit piece on Obama.
07/04/2009 at 10:43 am
“According to the article no one in Alaskan politics likes her or supports her anymore.”
Either that or no one at Vanity Fair likes her or supports her. The lying liberal bastards.
07/04/2009 at 10:43 am
“and the folks in the lower 48 who will express their disapproval of her resignation don’t like Palin anyway, no matter what she does.”
You are reminding me of Lincoln talking about his Emancipation Proclamation, as quoted in McPherson’s Battle Cry of Freedom. He said something to the effect that the Democrats would use thiir cudgels come what may, so in other words they don’t matter anymore.
07/04/2009 at 10:44 am
Sarah Palin simply followed her own internal code of good sense for what to do. It seems like genius because it’s a good code. What she does next will follow the same code. I suspect it will be to do whatever is the best thing for the cause of good government, whether that means running for office or stirring it up.
07/04/2009 at 10:49 am
During the election, we were told that Palin was ready to be vice-president because, unlike Obama, she had executive experience as a governor.
It’s hard to imagine how she can make a similar argument in 2012 when she couldn’t even finish her term in office.
07/04/2009 at 10:57 am
This is a counterintuitive analysis – but i strongly disagree that Americans will have no prolem with a quitter. I am sorry but when you run for office, the LEAST that people expect of you is to complete your term – quitting in the middle is pretty darn ridiculous.
Winners never quit and quitters have NEVER WON a damned thing. I am a Sarah Palin supporter and i am hoping that she did this because that there is another shoe that is about to drop – seriously. because if there is no scandal/federal indictments coming down the pipe, she basically quit politics with this decision.
What ever she is or she isnt, i never thought she lacked toughness. And this abrupt and hastily arranged resignation makes me doubt her mental toughness and her commitment for the very first time.
I wish her well and hopefully she does not get more vicious attacks like the one HuffPo posted ( replete with retard jokes) and then had the sense to immediately remove it. ( Go to HotAir for details)
07/04/2009 at 11:03 am
Obama has practically no executive experience, and it shows in spades. Palin will have a lot to clean up if she ever becomes President.
07/04/2009 at 11:03 am
I think you’re right about Palin. I think her resignation frees her to say what she likes, and to attack her enemies on the left in ways she could never do as governor. If she chooses to run for a senatorial seat in preparation for a run for the presidency down the road, more power to her, but I think she will be far more effective as a fundraiser, behind the scenes campaigner, and social commentator. If her leftist enemies think they’ve “won” by chasing her out of the governorship, they’re highly deluded. She’s getting ready to strip the paint off them.
07/04/2009 at 11:08 am
I agree. I thought it was a brilliant move too. She’s young, she has the time to develop polish and experience. And we haven’t seen the last of her. She’ll be back
07/04/2009 at 11:09 am
Palin definitely had to make herself less of a target. With a crooked Democratic state opposition opening up weekly ethics investigations, fully knowing each would find nothing, they were laying the groundwork for claiming “well sheesh, with 50+ ethics investigations our government (c’est moi) did on her office, there MUST be some truth to the allegations.”
Democrats are crooked, dirty and amoral. They are the uber technocrat, seizing ever increasing power. Given their hegemony over the U.S. political system (which they have controlled regardless of the individual in office, as Bush discovered with the covert anti-executive office activities of the CIA), they do possess a flaw: they protect and defend the ground of the institution. From within the system they control, they cannot be successfully attacked. But they are helpless against a mobile enemy that does not need to defend institutional ground.
Palin’s strategy (as does ours) needs to mirror that of the Vietcong. Obama is now the Crown Prince of the Technocratic Kingdom. His policies are the extreme extensions of 100 years of progressive delusion, a vision that gave us frozen corn crops in the USSR and unproductive farm communes with fictitious production levels that killed off an estimated 30-40 million. One cannot command productivity, innovation and growth, especially when one destroys the incentive of the individual.
This is Obama’s Progressive Castle that Palin must target without giving them a fixed target. All of us need to embrace the mobile, adaptive and fluid strategy. We need to eliminate (from office and professional political career) the sell-out technocrats from the party and make it clean. Start with the Cap & Tax Traitorous Eight and run them out, purge the RINOs like Powell and compel the fence straddlers. Milquetoast Republicans promising diluted technocratic administration and light versions of the progressive manifesto must be run out now.
07/04/2009 at 11:12 am
I confess I don’t understand the point of the McCain staffers in the Vanity Fair hit piece on Palin (and that’s what it is, a hit piece) — if the staffers were so brilliant, why aren’t we addressing ‘President McCain’ today?
Memo to Steve Schmidt: when you run a losing campaign, shut up afterwards.
I generally like Ms. Palin; she’s a political natural and an engaging figure who connects with a lot of people, and if she’s a welterweight, that was clearly good enough for Alaska. If she made a mistake, it was the very first one — she agreed to sign on to the McCain campaign even though her family life was some stressed, she clearly hadn’t done enough to be ready at a national level (to be a heavyweight) and, most importantly for a politician, she didn’t understand that the McCain campaign was incompetent. It wasn’t clear that McCain was a loser at that point; indeed he was only a point or two behind Obama in August. But a savvy pol would have looked at the internal dynamics and would have predicted that the campaign would falter in the stretch.
Sarah didn’t see it, and she didn’t do her homework. That’s her mistake and I’ll bet she sees it now.
Now that she has the experience she has (an experience I’d like to avoid for my own family), I wonder if what she might do in the future is, in part, start to deal with the nasty MSM and pols who think that going after family is just fine. She stared down Letterman and made him look a fool; perhaps she can do that to the rest of the MSM. That would be a worthwhile legacy.
07/04/2009 at 11:13 am
I had much the same take. http://rabidsanity.blogspot.com/2009/07/whither-sarah.html It’s either brilliant or this is the end. I am betting on brilliant.
07/04/2009 at 11:19 am
“The buzz in Alaska is that the IRS is about to drop the hammer on the Palins.”
I’ve been hearing that and dreck like it for two years now. If there was any sting to the buzz, it would’ve stung by now.
“Instead, I saw a rambling, almost incoherent rant that left me feeling sorry for Palin.”
I’ll bet that’s all you were able to see, because that’s all you wanted to see.
07/04/2009 at 11:19 am
I like Sarah too. We can only speculate but time will tell.
I wouldn’t really blame her if she is already fed up and just wants to drop out. Jackals in the press, sneering sleazes in the Democratic Party and backstabbing gutless wonders in the Republican Party.
Hopefully that isn’t the case because Palin is a breath of fresh air and a major threat to the entire establishment.
07/04/2009 at 11:22 am
Palin’s speech was not great, but it was not incoherent. It seemed to me like she was sugar coating the fact that the politically motivated attacks against her have already cost the taxpayers of Alaska $2 million dollars, have cost her family $500,000, and there are many more “complaints” lined up. There is no point wasting the people’s time and money while the business of Alaska gets pushed to the sidelines- better to let the Lt. Gov. step in and do the job.
I think she is clearing the decks to go after the Obama administration and her critics- her family isn’t happy because she’s getting out of politics, they’re happy because Mama Bear is not going to be restrained by her duties as Gov. of Alaska. Pull up a chair and watch the show- this could be entertaining.
07/04/2009 at 11:27 am
Steve, the McCain staffers trashed Palin to cover up their inadequacies and stupidity. It was really disgusting and I remember the day after the election and Carl Cameron did a report where the inept McCain team was trashing Palin and blaming her for everything.
I actually caught on that this was their whole plan starting in September 2008 and watched things play out with my hypothesis in mind. It wasn’t to win, it was to blame Palin for losing. Totally disgusting and who in their right mind would hire these fools to run their campaign?
07/04/2009 at 11:30 am
“Have you read the article about her in Vanity Fair, if not, you must.”
Wheatie, I am the former minister of finance of a major corporation based in Nigeria. I saw your comment in this blog, and I know that you are precisely the person who can help me in my hour of need! Please write to me immediately – and be sure to have your bank account number handy!
07/04/2009 at 11:32 am
Steve White writes:
>if the staffers were so brilliant, why aren’t we addressing ‘President McCain’ today?
Saul’s book, Voltaire’s Bastards, elaborates extensively on this issue. McCain’s staffers were elite technocrats in the style of McNamera, Kissinger, Chirac and others of this class of “reason.”
From the perspective of a risk manager, they’re akin to highly trained professionals who mistakenly believe the world complies with their simplistic models. It reminds one of the misadventures of Long Term Capital Management in the late 1990s, when several of the finance and economic world’s elites jeopardized the global financial market through their naive assumption that financial market behavior is gaussian (e.g. it follows a bell curve on probability distributions). While a college undergraduate could open up his Intro to Business Statistics textbook to the first chapter and read that such distributions can only be used when a half dozen so assumptions can be made, including statistical independence and absence of correlation (e.g. each coin toss is independent; getting tails last time doesn’t have any influence on the next toss), and subsequently recognize that financial markets don’t have such conditions, the “world’s brightest” financial market technocrats felt they knew better and plowed LTCM into the ground. They nearly took the global market along with them.
McCain, Obama, Pelosi, Reid and others seek power and project it through the myth that their policies and influences actually effect outcomes. This is often akin to the five year old in the coach section of a commercial aircraft wielding a toy steering wheel and believing he is flying the plane. Unfortunately, in the progressive model, the only power they wield is to increase error in the actual functional system. Commands to grow corn in the USSR by the technocratic elites doesn’t increase food production, but it does cause a shift of resource from the natural system to a false one, causing an outcome of near zero food production. China experienced similar outcomes when it empowered party technocrats to order farmers into communes and compete with each other for party favor through party favor bidding wars. Each commune promised a higher and higher return on produced crops, resulting in the impossibly high levels coming only through the seizure of the crops needed to feed the commune workers. When tens of millions of farmers starved, and further years crops not even planted due to the mass death and absence of population to grow food, China finally relented and re-privatized agriculture.
Obama’s policies are a strong march down that of the commune. We’ve made GM and Chrysler workers communes, with state and worker shared ownership of production. Cap & Trade and other control delusions will regulate Ford to death, forcing them to relent or expire. When 40-50 million Americans die, and the replacement of them with immigrants from the south is no longer sufficient to stave off catastrophic failure, the technocrat may relent. However, as we’ve seen in China and Iran, we won’t return to the freedom of our founding. We’ll only return to the lighter versions of tyranny.
Read Saul’s book; while he rants at length at time, it’s foundational material for the understanding of the ilk that Powell, McCain, Obama and such represent. It’s why Palin is a true terror in their eyes. She is not one of them. It’s clear in her language and behavior. We need to understand our enemy that is present across both parties in order to understand what strategy we must all employ.
07/04/2009 at 11:44 am
One additional comment… We need to move ourselves past the path of identification with a single political individual. The reason for Palin’s popularity, in my assessment, is that we recognize her as one of us (albeit a very sharp and well spoken representative).
It could be argued that our representative model of government has caused us to relinquish too much of our personal responsibility. We wait for others to do what we want, grow angry when they don’t and yet we sit on our asses complaining. History has shown that a small minority of extremely active individuals tends to control the majority. Obama knows this and has created his astroturf version via Acorn and its aligned sister organizations.
We must organize, agitate, intimidate the technocratic elites, expose one after another for their deviance (the narcissism that correlates to the the technocratic elite always ends up with “live boys and dead girls” in their closets, along with financial misconduct, illegal gifts, and a life of excess). Right now, we have millions who have lost jobs and homes. How would they respond to a profile of their congressman who just took a $300K trip to the tropics along with his/her family as part of a “fact finding mission to learn how sea shells are produced”?
We must target one after another for political exposure, drag out the stories of excess, corruption, sexual deviance, infidelity and special favor. In Iowa, we’ve quietly let Senator Harkin conceal his interesting little perversions and his proclivity for global travel with his family at your expense.
So while we like people like Palin, we need to ask: What is it about her that we like? I think you’ll find that it’s that she is like us. By not making our movement dependent upon a single leader, the technocratic elites of the Progressive Castle cannot take us down with a single shot.
Happy Independence Day America! May this day be the one where we awaken, get our lazy butts off the couch and rise up to storm the Castle.
07/04/2009 at 11:49 am
Great post. Thank God Sarah Palin said “enough.” There are a bunch of people out here who are saying that too. Who do you think they’ll rally around? Count me in for the party of “enough”…and like you say, Katie….just wait and see. This is going to be hilarious to watch the nattering dopes in Washington heads explode.
07/04/2009 at 11:49 am
This opinion piece is totally spot on. I had never read MamaPundit before, but I am bookmarking her webpage right now.
I think that Sarah will be a terrific fundraising asset for conservatives, and the more the mainstream media goes after her, the stronger she will become, because folks like me out here in fly-over country have little regard for the self-styled liberal sophisticates.
In fact, I think that the democratic hacks in Alaska have actually immunized Sarah as a result of their over-use of spurious ethical charges.
If the liberal pundits were smart, they would totally ignore her and try to starve her fire of oxygen. But I really don’t think they can help themselves, for they are too smarmy and vile.
Go, Sarah!!!
07/04/2009 at 11:55 am
More intensity than talent; charismatic, but at best unconsciously competent, Sarah Palin is at heart a point guard, running plays and setting the tempo. Changing pace is one option when the game isn’t going your way, and someone who has no interest in a graceful defeat will adjust her tactics to maximize her now slimmer chance of winning, even if she is also more likely to look like an utter fool.
As for those left behind in Alaska, she hands Lt. Governor Parnell, who has similar politics, a head start for the next Governor’s race. Now that oil prices have rebounded, state finances will be fine, although not as flush as earlier in her term.
For her, this could work out great, or be a complete fiasco. It stops the financial drain from the endless, mostly frivolous, ethics complaints. It allows her to focus on the national stage either for herself, or others. If Parnell is elected in 2010, she might actually get some credit for the pipeline when it’s eventually built.
Malcolm Gladwell’s recent article “How David Beats Goliath” provides some good insight which bears directly on what she is attempting to do and why. Unfortunately, being able to successfully execute a David strategy isn’t enough when you’re auditioning to be Goliath’s brain. Having a family life as messed up as David’s doesn’t help. Meanwhile, her detractors sneer, while her most ardent supporters chant: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” Both groups overstate their cases; she’s neither a rube, nor fully ready for top billing in prime time.
07/04/2009 at 12:03 pm
Wheatie: “Have you read the article about her in Vanity Fair, if not, you must. It just came out. According to the article no one in Alaskan politics likes her or supports her anymore. They are on the record saying this about her.”
1) Thats an old MSM trick. I can get “people” [either casted or made up] to go on record claiming you’re a pedophile. Does that make it true?
2) Vanity Fair is a propaganda rag. Some people, like you, will swallow anything.
“…the citizens who no longer support her..”
Riiiiight. You’ve concluded such from extending a few lies in some leftist rag to the entire state of Alaska. Soros deserves a refund.
07/04/2009 at 12:05 pm
I just removed my email from the sarahpac.com mailing list. I had this false image of Sarah as some kind of warrior princess that could dress a moose and diaper a baby.
This bit about quitting doesn’t match the image. When Romans soldiers raped Queen Boddica she gathered up an army and sacked Londinuim. When David Rimmer-man makes a joke about raping Sarah’s daughter Sarah goes home and locks the door.
I know its not fair to hope for a hero. And I know maybe there is some scandal that someone in the family knew which hole to stick it in and maybe even was fertile enough to make a baby.
07/04/2009 at 12:05 pm
Hey BrownLine,
You are pretty clever yourself! I know this because you attributed a quote to me that I didn’t make.
If you reread the above comments VERY CAREFULLY, you will see that Dewi made that comment. But, I agree with it, so you get partial points.
Say, was Katie’s post linked to InstaPundit by any chance?
07/04/2009 at 12:16 pm
Wheatie: “When Romans soldiers raped Queen Boddica she gathered up an army and sacked Londinuim.”
And her army was slaughtered. We think Biddoca poisioned herself to escape the shame. Hows that for “quiting”? Find a better analogy, Concern Troll.
Meantime, consider that leaving her post as Gov is not “quitting” any national race, just shaping the battlefield for 2012.
07/04/2009 at 12:19 pm
Just now read all of the comments posted above by the HatlessHessian. Very insightful and entertaining. Kind of scares me that I was able to follow everything that he said. I am afraid to read any more of his postings, it may push me over the edge. . .
07/04/2009 at 12:19 pm
She is gone, gone gone.
I say this as someone who voted McCain/Palin last year (and considering what has happened since, is still glad I voted that way). I even dropped out of the Democratic Party because I refused to associate myself with treasonous behavior.
But quitting before your term runs out? That’s betraying your promise to the people who voted you in. If you’re going to run for higher office, that’s showing you can’t tough it out in the office you were elected to. If Obama could do it, so could Palin.
But what really iced the cake for me was her remarks afterwards (I assume it wasn’t her speech). They were disjointed and awkward. They didn’t make a whole heck of a lot of sense. A good politician either has the gift of gab, or knows when to shut up. Joe Biden doesn’t have either, and that showed us where his head is at, right?
Same thing applies to Palin.
07/04/2009 at 12:19 pm
Hey Fen,
The comments are BELOW the poster’s name. That was not my comment.
Thanks, anyway.
07/04/2009 at 12:30 pm
What a great time for Palin to quit. I’ll mark this day as the day Obama gets his ass kicked, July 4th, 2009. In the first 6 months of Obama administrations we’ve seen tax cheats take high official posts, we’ve seen ‘Stimulus Plan’ that didn’t work, we’ve just seen an EPA document suppressed that would have killed the Tax and Trade bill, we’ve had voting fraud on a national scale from Obama’s Acorn, we’ve had Inspector General’s fired because they found fraud and theft, we’ve had Obama bowing and kissing he hand of Abdullah the Misogynist, it goes on and on, knuckle bumps with Chavez/Castro/Ortega and this in just the first 6 months and that is just scratching the surface a little bit.
She doesn’t use a tele prompter, she has the figures at her finger tips, she’s a great speaker. What if she gets a radio show as she runs against Obama, she’ll have ratings like Rush Limbaugh and make $100 million a year as she is running for President. Great day that she quit the Governorship, now she can do what is necessary to take back the Government from a Saul Alinsky alumnus.
07/04/2009 at 12:46 pm
Sarah Palin is a mess. Regardless of what her long-term strategy is, she said in so many words that if she remained governor of Alaska, it would be a waste of millions of taxpayer dollars.
Of course, GWB established precedence for success despite a complete inability to make any sense in public. I’m probably in the minority for expecting coherence and a minimum of verbal ability from the leaders of the country.
07/04/2009 at 12:58 pm
Lou writes:
>Kind of scares me that I was able to follow everything that he said. I am afraid to read any more of his postings, it may push me over the edge. . .
Actually if there’s any edge I push anyone over, it’s one of embracing the common sense of the individual over the misconceived faith in technocrats. This Independence Day, I’m hopeful that more of us can regain confidence and faith in the common, well-rounded American individual.
I’m a risk manager for a global financial corporation and a debate coach in my “spare time” – both have helped me see these past years that we over-rely on the alleged wisdom of so-called experts. There’s actually some outstanding research (and a good approachable book that escapes my memory right now) about how consistently, a panel of a dozen well-rounded regular people made better decisions on complex issues than a panel of experts.
There’s some great philosophy underpinning this observation. Philosopher Martin Heidegger gave a series of lectures in 1930-31 (encapsulated in the book, “The Essence of Truth”) about how mankind, since Plato, has taken a very problematic path in totally screwing up the definition of truth. The fork in the road was being taken in Plato’s time, so Heidegger evaluates it there. Quickly put, there are two types of truth:
- truth as “correctness of statements”: e.g. an auditor coming in, running through a checklist, and indicating whether a statement was believed to be ‘true’ or not corresponding to observation, testimony, etc.
- truth as “unhiddenness of beings/entities”: this is the illumination of beings/things that allows us to understand them and reveal their truth, e.g. through analysis of models, processes, maps and instantiation of observed data as information and eventually knowledge
It appears to Heidegger that we lost knowledge of the second concept of truth and are stuck in a civilization that only recognizes the first. Think of the decrees of Mao that converted the farm to the commune or the executive orders of Obama to fire GM’s executive, discard bankruptcy law and create a worker’s paradise corporation. Both build upon truth that corresponds to statements, not the underlying truth of the unhidden entity.
I guess my point in this all is that we need to have much more faith in each other, throwing the technocrats overboard. Palin iconifies the common successful individual, to which the unsuccessful should aspire to. We have two systems in our society; one of parasite-technocrat interdependence (with the parasites empowering the technocrats to steal from the producers), and the producers who work with each other and don’t need technocrats and don’t want parasites. Kill off the technocrats and the parasites starve.
Best wishes to you all today! May you celebrate the nation’s heritage with your families and have a wonderful weekend.
-HH
07/04/2009 at 1:01 pm
I don’t know if I think this is a brilliant political move or not. I think I’m still too much in shock to tell. I know the conservatives out there think the media picks on her. I think that’s true. But, I would like to know what those on the right think about her syntax. The way she constructs sentences baffle me. They make George Bush look like an expert grammarian! And that’s just the beginning–following her train of thought is even more challenging. What’s even more incredible is that her bizarro syntax still fails to hide the fact that when it comes to foreign policy she is an absolute ignoramus. Really! Why does the media bother to pick on her poor kids when she provides so much rich material?
By the way, Mama Pundit, you should post more political opinions on this blog. I love reading what you write about mothering, but I also love reading what you write about politics and you do a lot less of that!
07/04/2009 at 1:06 pm
The question I have is how much money did her PAC raise yesterday? I sent in a boatload. Go ahead and keep doubting/attacking SP, she’s legit and exactly what mainstream America is looking for.
07/04/2009 at 1:24 pm
I hope Sarah uses her time and talents to unify the Tea Party movements.
Wouldn’t that piss you off!
07/04/2009 at 1:49 pm
I realize that it’s standard operating procedure for a politician to do whatever is in the short-term best interest for their political career, rather than to do what is in the best interest of the governed, but can anybody with even half a clue make an argument that what Palin did was NOT in the best interest of Alaskans?
If she hadn’t resigned, there would certainly be a valid argument come 2010 or 2012, that she unnecessarily subjected Alaskans to the expense of DNC-orchestrated ethics complaints while she spent her time and focus on running for national office. (Never mind that Obama started his Senate campaign the minute he was elected to state office, and started his POTUS campaign the minute he was elected to the Senate; of course those were totally ethical moves, solely in the interests of Illinois voters; yeah, right!)
So, resign vs. stay is a moot issue, damned if she does, damned if she doesn’t.
Next, the issue of her legal bills. As a governor, there are limits to what she can do in the realm of raising enough funds to survive a financial pissing match with Soros and the DNC.
While it might be gallant to keep turning the other cheek, it’s not very bright.
As for the lying morons who try to paint Palin as some sort of uber-bible-thumper, the record doesn’t support their fantasy. There are no documented (hearsay doesn’t count) instances of her injecting her religion into her elected office, or even being significantly vocal about her religion in public (remember, not having an abortion is a “choice”). Hell, next to her, John Kerry sounded like John the Baptist during his campaign.
Next, there’s a leaderless GOP standing idly by while some loser-@$$ McCainines who would have lost by 20 points if not for Palin, trying to blame their failure on the only person that kept them from being more of a laughingstock than AlGore or Ross Perot.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Palin become a leader of the growing number of TEA Party voters who keep getting screwed by the DNC and the GOP.
Think about it for a minute, she has more than enough ammo to paint both parties as the abject failures they are at serving the interest of the American people. She has a proven track record of cutting taxes, costs and waste in government, and didn’t need eight years to get it done. Can anybody else make that claim? Do most average American citizens place that high of a priority on an elected official’s ability to kiss UN or EuroTrash @$$? No!
For all of Obama’s affirmative action college degrees and ghost-written books, his promised intellectualism hasn’t borne much fruit, nor will it. And while Bush did keep the country safe and the economy relatively stable for seven years in the aftermath of Clinton’s tech bubble, earnings fraud and decimation of our national security, the support of his family’s political machine and the support of the extreme religious right didn’t help him accomplish much else.
If she’ll put up with the inevitable assault from the media/political/academic complex, Palin would be a great choice for a 2012 TEA Party candidate.
07/04/2009 at 2:05 pm
Palin’s stated position on small gov & limited spending would be shot to hell in light of the huge budget shortfall Alaska will face in 2010.
Palin’s resignation should come as no surprise when viewed in that context.
07/04/2009 at 2:10 pm
Obama can’t keep the North Koreans and Iranians at bay. He criticizes the democratic process in Honduras. He’s purposely destroying America.
Patriots have had enough.
Welcome to the next 18 months of ATTACK, ATTACK, and ATTACK. True patriots are backing Palin and we’re not backing off.
Hands, feet, money, whatever she needs. . . .We are there, advancing in whatever direction she takes us.
DEFEAT OBAMANATION TODAY.
07/04/2009 at 2:11 pm
Junk Science Skeptic writes:
>If that’s true, she shoulda been a senior executive of Lehman Brothers and accomplished as much for that outfit as she did for the State of Alaska.
It’s views like this that have come close to killing our nation. I work with senior executives from a much larger and more powerful corporation than Lehman was (with respect to impact on our economy, not impact on politics). The only thing remarkable about the graduates of the Ivy League puppy mill farms is that they are so damn good at getting risk wrong.
I’ll take a mutt any day to these disease-prone, perception-challenged elites. Yes, Palin’s a mutt, not a pure-bread elitist. Incidentally, Obama’s pedigree is half-mutt given his being a product of a piece of Marxist trash sowing his oats with the daughters of the elite. Unfortunately, being adopted by his mother’s family and sent to the upper class grooming schools ruined any potential he had to be a unique individual of any real value. Now he’s a useless puppet reading lines from a teleprompter.
Of course, your type seeks the comfort in the elites given they do have one thing: power to seize the product of the rest of us and redistribute crumbs to the parasitic ilk. The day of reckoning for the parasite is coming. Don’t fear or hate Palin; fear those of us she symbolizes.
07/04/2009 at 2:11 pm
The lot of you including myself have no idea what Governor Palin’s stategic intentions are.
What she has done in this environment of SANFORD SINS and JOCKOMANIA, is catch the MSM flat footed and knee-capped her political assasins. Was this a three minit round in a 15 round bout? Who knows? Advice for the News crowd and the DC insiders (they are not the same peaple), put some ice on that eye.
07/04/2009 at 2:18 pm
I think it was a good move; it’s pretty hard to be an effective Governor with a giant target on your back all the time. I believe her reasoning was sincere. But I don’t think it was a precursor to any 2012 national run.
07/04/2009 at 2:23 pm
Hatless: As mentioned by Wheatie above, the comment author’s ID is shown above their comment, not below. The horizontal line is misleading. The comment you cite wasn’t mine.
07/04/2009 at 2:26 pm
It is my first time here. Good to see the place is not completely infested with idiots. I did notice a few. If you could not “get” what Palin had to say yesterday, or think it was rambling or not purposeful, I suggest a crash course in remedial english. Maybe it was the delivery. No looking this way and that (where ever the teleprompers are located), no uummms or awwws, just a staight forward heartfelt speech. I think Sarah just cast off the limitations her current position imposed upon her for the fight she sees comming. She laid out very well, what she saw as issues she feels are important in this fight and the tools she will use. She must have been a point guard at some time and knows what she intends to do. I just wonder as a private citizen will the attacks on her be actionable. A lawsuit against those who libel or slander her could go into campaign coffers.
07/04/2009 at 2:32 pm
SB, Are we just supposed to believe your claim, or can you point to any significant growth of Alaskan government or spending? Actual, not hearsay, please.
If, on the other hand, you’re actually talking about a budget shortfall due to a major drop in oil revenue, it’s kinda hard to blame the Obama/Pelosi/Reid effect on the global economy on Alaskan fiscal policy.
07/04/2009 at 2:40 pm
Save your ammo for the likes of Joe Heathen. Seems he is the person who needs the refresher course in english. Then needs to study American history from the perspective of reality not bent left by those who think America was and is wrong. If you don’t like it here, move.
07/04/2009 at 2:41 pm
You’re right, but her supporters don’t care and her detractors don’t get it. If the IRS or anyone else had anything on the family or her, the VF piece would have alluded to it (he had months and lots of $$ to write the story) as would her speech. People believe what they want to believe.
This way, she can sell lots of books, hit the lecture circuit, ala Clinton, go on a “listening tour” of the US, and make money, win friends, etc.
And Alaska will be forced to take the stimulus money, she can claim it didn’t happen on her watch.
07/04/2009 at 2:44 pm
Curious that constructive engagement of thought results in death threats on the forum from Junk Science Skeptic. This is the ugly reality of the parasite: when threatened, they overtly seek the death of their host.
I’ll contact our blog’s administrator to obtain source IP information regarding this individual. We work closely with Federal law enforcement in our group so this individual may have reason to spend this weekend in fear.
Care to clarify your comments, “Skeptic” or would you prefer to clarify them with the authorities?
07/04/2009 at 2:49 pm
Please note that the guy who made the loony comments about commiting violence was using the moniker “Joe Heathen”, not Junk Science Skeptic.
I hope there is a moderator who is able to permanently remove the rantings of Joe Heathen. I seriously doubt he is actually a combat veteran of the Vietnam War, who I greatly respect and appreciate for their courage and sacrifice in defending our freedoms.
Personally, I have enjoyed reading today’s postings by the HatlessHessian, which are well-written, entertaining, and provide substantive food for thought.
07/04/2009 at 2:58 pm
Hatless IDIOT:
Since you can’t read very well, look at the bottom post on the thread to figure out that the poster’s name is above their comment, NOT BELOW DUMB@$$! Or maybe look at your own posts to figure that out?
Maybe somebody has hijacked your handle, because you actually managed to make a few coherent posts before you got stuck on stupid.
You’re starting to give trolls a bad name.
If you had any real involvement in this blog, other than your fantasy “we/our” claim, you might be able to figure out who is posting what.
Now turn off the computer and go get your diapers changed, your mommy wants you out of the basement.
Is that clear enough for you, troll?
07/04/2009 at 3:34 pm
Hey Katie,
Since many posters seem to be confused, and some refuse to catch a clue, can you get a programmer to modify your blog template so that the horizontal rule in the signature line is above the poster’s name rather than below?
Thanks
07/04/2009 at 4:07 pm
The threatening poster had their opportunity to clarify their death threats. That they chose not to is sufficient for purposes in forwarding this matter onward. Thanks all – may the rest of you have a wonderful weekend. I can assure you that this individual will have an opportunity to explain their threats to law enforcement.
07/04/2009 at 4:19 pm
Also, my apologies to the real Junk Science Skeptic per the confusion on the post.
07/04/2009 at 4:32 pm
I didn’t take time to read all the comments, but wanted to mention one big thing that’s not being mentioned much: the mid-term elections.
Palin’s not running for anything. At the same time, we’re seeing this groundswell of dissatisfaction with our current Congress. I can imagine Palin out there campaigning and raising money for quality candidates that share her vision – whatever party. If successful, she’s built the foundations for a supportive political organization for her own aspirations.
07/04/2009 at 4:56 pm
Hatless:
“the real” ???
Nice try now that you’ve made a complete fool of yourself. You’ve mis-attributed quotes you’ve made throughout this post, ignored a polite call back to reality (2:23 PM), and then taken off on a delusional “law enforcement” fantasy.
Anybody who has been in a WordPress blog for more than a few minutes understands that the little geometric avatars in each reply are unique to the poster’s address, not to the poster’s handle, so a faked handle would be completely obvious.
All of my posts have the purple square in the center avatar, and yours have the avatar with 16 pink dots in the center.
Pretending that there was another Junk Science Skeptic that you were abusing other than “the real” Junk Science Skeptic makes your apology Kerry-esque at best.
07/04/2009 at 5:07 pm
“Whenever I make a big decision, or help someone else make a decision, I always ask this question first, “what’s the downside?””
That compared to McCain she looked great and added things to the ticket (re: a lot
of her popularity was a result of conservatives not being excited by McCain).
Compared to future candidate X, will it still work? I’m not sure.
07/04/2009 at 5:29 pm
“… her admittedly limited, but very enthusiastic and cohesive base: the rightest of right wing Republicans,…”
This doesn’t jibe with what little recent polling I’ve found, which refers to her base as “conservative republicans”, which is pretty much all of ‘em.
07/04/2009 at 5:34 pm
Zelfsdorf,
Here are some of the sentences that I find odd, all of which were taken directly from her speech yesterday:
1)”Even those debt-ridden stimulus dollars that would force the heavy hand of federal government into our communities with an “all-knowing attitude” – I have taken the slings and arrows with that unpopular move to veto because I know being right is better than being popular.”
2)”So I choose, for my State and my family, more “freedom” to progress, all the way around… so that Alaska may progress… I will not seek re-election as Governor.”
3)”I do not want to disappoint anyone with my decision; all I can ask is that you TRUST me with this decision – but it’s no more ‘politics as usual.’”
07/04/2009 at 6:49 pm
“she’s actually a man who became a woman to escape his history as a Sandinista guerilla fighter”
So thats why she likes Reagan ,i’ll report back to Axelrod.
07/04/2009 at 6:50 pm
Yeah. Brilliant. She quit a few different colleges. She quit an appointed position. Now she quit being governor. Because? The media was MEAN to her? And some of you people think this is a SMART decision???
Good God Almighty!
07/04/2009 at 6:54 pm
Leaving aside for the moment the long-term political ramifications of Gov. Palin’s decision, I think it’s more than a little snide to dismiss any voter who actually expected her complete the job for which she was elected as “pissy Alaskans.”
If there is a compelling personal reason for her to step down, I think most will understand that. But voters in general, and Alaskans in particular, don’t take kindly to politicians who quit one gig because it’s too hard and then try to convince us they’ll definitely, totally, unquestionably stay the course no matter what obstacles they face in a more powerful role (as, not eight months ago, she pledged to do in a position considerably more high-profile than the one she currently holds).
I just don’t know how she will be able to look our troops, including her son, in the eye after using them as an EXCUSE for quitting – if they can’t walk away, then why can she? Does she really believe the annoyance of partisan ethics complaints outweigh the sacrifices our boys on the ground make every single day? I will respect her choice if she truly made this decision out of a desire to be with and protect her family, but if she’s resigning to run for another position, she’s cooked.
07/04/2009 at 6:57 pm
“mamapundit” – and I shudder as I call you that because it is so close to the handle of a decietful liar who has done more to help The Terrorists in the last two years than anyone except Dick Durbin:
YOU are the first person who has fully grasped the brilliance of Sarah’s decision. I feel giddy waiting for the leeches and the sucker-fish in the “media” who have just lost their “wipping girl” that they threw up time and time again to “steer traffic” to thier worthless websites, or try to swell “ratings” by publically sticking pins into her like a reusable voodoo doll.
THEIR meal ticket just got taken away from them!!
God Bless you!
07/04/2009 at 6:59 pm
I listened to the press conference.
Sarah speaks–consistently so–very eloquently, very coherently and very EXTRANEOUSLY, unlike our current president.
She had no notes, no teleprompter, and I heard not a single ahhhh, ummmm or stutter. She speaks from the heart, and very much the way the rest of us yokels in the heartland speak.
Record a conversation between any two ordinary American citizens, and, (I can’t resist) “you betcha,” you’re going to find fragmented sentances, run on ones as well…a non-sequitor or two, and the occasional mixed metaphor and a smattering of colloquialisms.
IMHO, as I listened to the press conference (LIVE), what she said made perfect sense to me, and more importantly, I believed her, because it seemed to come from the heart.
Zelfsedorf seemed entirely too, too, “Henry Higgins” about her syntax…so let me tell you what most of us heard when Sarah spoke the words he so cleverly puncuated for her:
QUOTING NOW:(Zelfsdorf)
Here are some of the sentences that I find odd, all of which were taken directly from her speech yesterday:
1)”Even those debt-ridden stimulus dollars that would force the heavy hand of federal government into our communities with an “all-knowing attitude” – I have taken the slings and arrows with that unpopular move to veto because I know being right is better than being popular.”
(You know the phrase NIMBY? Those stimulous dollars become entitlements folks, take them away at a future date and all hell is going to break loose with the states footing the bill. Jindel didn’t want the money, Stanford didn’t want the money, Barber didn’t want the money and all for the reason stated above. However, they ended up taking it, knowing that when it comes time to pay the piper, they will be long, long out of office.
Oldly enough, the only Republican governor with the cahones NOT to knuckle under to the dems in her state was the slutty little governor from Alaska!.
2)”So I choose, for my State and my family, more “freedom” to progress, all the way around… so that Alaska may progress… I will not seek re-election as Governor.”
(Translation:I’m sick and tired of you calling my children morons, sluts, and pre-teen sluts. I don’t need this crap, and neither do the people of Alaska, so kiss my Salmon!”)
3)”I do not want to disappoint anyone with my decision; all I can ask is that you TRUST me with this decision – but it’s no more ‘politics as usual.’”end quote.
(Translation: “I am forming a new party with a lot more libertarian tenets at it’s base. The republican party as it exists is toast, and conservatives–from both the democratic and republican side of the aisle–will find a new home in this new movement. And at the core of this party will be a promise that when we see a bear taking a crap in the woods we will say just that instead of dubbing said bear, “An Ursine member of our planetary community who is presently excreting recycled plant and animal tissue in our prestine wilderness areas.”
You want hope and change?????? You ain’t seen nothing yet!”
07/04/2009 at 7:00 pm
Sarah Palin is going to run for president in 2012? Maybe she’s resigning to get a brain transplant. She’ll need it.
07/04/2009 at 7:04 pm
I listened to the press conference.
Sarah speaks–consistently so–very eloquently, very coherently and very EXTRANEOUSLY, unlike our current president.
She had no notes, no teleprompter, and I heard not a single ahhhh, ummmm or stutter. She speaks from the heart, and very much the way the rest of us yokels in the heartland speak.
Record a conversation between any two ordinary American citizens, and, (I can’t resist) “you betcha,” you’re going to find fragmented sentances, run on ones as well…a non-sequitor or two, and the occasional mixed metaphor and a smattering of colloquialisms.
IMHO, as I listened to the press conference (LIVE), what she said made perfect sense to me, and more importantly, I believed her, because it seemed to come from the heart.
Zelfsedorf seemed entirely too, too, “Henry Higgins” about her syntax…so let me tell you what most of us heard when Sarah spoke the words he so cleverly puntuated for her:
QUOTING NOW:(Zelfsdorf)
Here are some of the sentences that I find odd, all of which were taken directly from her speech yesterday:
1)”Even those debt-ridden stimulus dollars that would force the heavy hand of federal government into our communities with an “all-knowing attitude” – I have taken the slings and arrows with that unpopular move to veto because I know being right is better than being popular.”
(You know the phrase NIMBY? Those stimulous dollars become entitlements folks, take them away at a future date and all hell is going to break loose with the states footing the bill. Jindel didn’t want the money, Stanford didn’t want the money, Barber didn’t want the money and all for the reason stated above. However, they ended up taking it, knowing that when it comes time to pay the piper, they will be long, long out of office.
Oldly enough, the only Republican governor with the cahones NOT to knuckle under to the dems in her state was the slutty little governor from Alaska!.
2)”So I choose, for my State and my family, more “freedom” to progress, all the way around… so that Alaska may progress… I will not seek re-election as Governor.”
(Translation:I’m sick and tired of you calling my children morons, sluts, and pre-teen sluts. I don’t need this crap, and neither do the people of Alaska, so kiss my Salmon!”)
3)”I do not want to disappoint anyone with my decision; all I can ask is that you TRUST me with this decision – but it’s no more ‘politics as usual.’”end quote.
(Translation: “I am forming a new party with a lot more libertarian tenets at it’s base. The republican party as it exists is toast, and conservatives–from both the democratic and republican side of the aisle–will find a new home in this new movement. And at the core of this party will be a promise that when we see a bear taking a crap in the woods we will say just that instead of dubbing said bear, “An Ursine member of our planetary community who is presently excreting recycled plant and animal tissue in our prestine wilderness areas.”
You want hope and change?????? You ain’t seen nothing yet!”
07/04/2009 at 7:30 pm
Great article. I think she will take a short term hit from this but a couple things will clear that up.
1) She gets out and does an interview this week to get in front of the media on this issue. Lets face it, many of the Republican pundits on TV are as useless as the Republicans in office have been over the last few years. She needs to make the case herself
2) And most importantly. If the SarahPac numbers are as big as I think they are going to be, every Republican up for election is going to be kissing her as$
07/04/2009 at 7:30 pm
Hi. My first time to this site. Rush was away from his radio show for three days last week. He returned on Tues., June 30, I think. Either that day or the next he made a comment that has come back to me. Does anyone else remember him saying something like: “I’ve been working on something important (or in secret) and I hope I can share it with you one day.”? Wouldn’t it be incredible to find that he is going to back Palin in a run for president in 2012, in a manner similar to the way Oprah backed Obama. Rush views Palin most favorably, that’s for sure. Just a thought, but a very appealing one to me!
07/04/2009 at 7:54 pm
The Vanity Fair article about Palin is nothing but a silly, misogynistic hit piece. The lefties fear Palin—that’s why they spend so much time trashing her, eight months after the election.
An article like that would never be written about a Democrat.
For heaven’s sake, Joe Biden’s daughter is on video snorting coke, and David Letterman, Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, and Maureen Dowd won’t even touch it.
07/04/2009 at 8:11 pm
I find it so strange that the people that can’t stand this woman takes the time to post on a web site that support her, why? You sound really pathetic and lonely. Who would do that if they weren’t? Most people congregate with like minds to be inspired and supported. Are you being paid to bash her, that would be the only reason I would hang out on an Obama site. In fact you couldn’t pay me enough to do that scummy job.
07/04/2009 at 8:20 pm
Chewythelab:
Giving a speech used to be an art form. People would study rhetoric. I still believe that a political speech is not meant to sound like an exchange in a supermarket. Obama’s speeches are carefully crafted and, yes, they sound more like an essay than a livejournal entry.
Being president is a tough job. I don’t know that I want the average joe (or Joe the Plumber, for that matter) running my country.
07/04/2009 at 8:49 pm
I’m sorry, but Palin did not fearlessly stare down David Letterman. She simply took a lame joke and exploited it. That’s all. Basically she played the “pedophile card,” which can be thought of as the equivalent of calling someone a Jew-lover in Nazi Germany.
Letterman, a confirmed leftist, saw the chance at an easy yuck, but didn’t do his research: I.E., it was Palin’s younger daughter, not her older one.
It was a shrewd move by SP, but not fearless. She simply exploited a very sensitive topic in our culture, and in the process painted all older men a leering creepers.
07/04/2009 at 10:01 pm
Great article Mamapundit.
FIRST off, ANYONE that describes Palin’s speech as ‘rambling’ or ‘bizarre’ is simply clueless. I don’t have a degree in speech, or in political analysis, but I understood EXACTLY what Palin was saying.
If anyone wants rambling, listen to Chris Matthews blabber about his man-crush on Obama. Or listen to Biden. Better yet, listen to Obama without his teleprompter (stutterer-in-chief).
Palin’s resignation is SIMPLE, and let me explain it to you second graders that find it ‘bizarre’. Ever since she became McCain’s running mate, the DNC declared it open season on Palin. Frivolous ethics charges (all of which ruled in Palin’s favor) are costing her money, and costing Alaskan tax dollars. Resigning puts those dollars to work where they’re supposed to. She does her state a BETTER service by letting someone else govern who won’t be subject to this unprecendented, Chicago-style bullying.
Secondly, she’s not ‘whining about the media’. She’s RESPONDING and she’s fed up with their bias. You want whining? Listen to Obama talk about Fox News. Listen to McCain’s campaign whine about Palin. If Palin didn’t respond to the media attacks, what would her critics say? They’d say she can’t stand up for herself.
Understand this: Palin critics will hate her NO matter what she does. And they’ll love Obama EVEN as he makes their paychecks smaller and raises their utility bills. THEREFORE, their opinion on Palin is WORTHLESS (or worth ignoring).
Palin SYMBOLIZES the Conservatives that are FED UP with the media, and with the socialization of our country. She stands for something we can ALL rally behind.
07/04/2009 at 10:06 pm
I don’t believe this is necessarily about a run for President in 2012. I believe one possibility is that she will work to become the glue that pulls the Tea Party movement together into a cohesive national force prior to the 2010 and 2012 elections. This is the kind of grass roots environment in which she thrives. Whether that evolves into a true third party movement or run for President remains to be seen. Being relieved of her duties as Governor, she can focus full time on this endeavor.She will earn plenty of money for herself and Republican candidates she supports. She attracts big crowds wherever she shows up and has many conservative supporters and will gain the respect of more Independents who will have had enough of Obama’s disastrous policies. Democrats in swing or traditionally Republican districts will have to be looking over their shoulders. I believe the possibility of her presence on the campaign trail could actually effect their willingness to support the Obama/Pelosi radical, far left agenda.
07/04/2009 at 10:11 pm
It was a terrible strategy, and it kills her presidential chances for the immediate future. First of all, she hasn’t even served a single term. She has no record and no experience to run on. Just words.
Her stepping down proves to her critics that they have control over her and they can intimidate her. After they got her to step down, they know that if they keep attacking her she will crumble just like she crumbled now.
07/04/2009 at 10:29 pm
Intimidate her? Har har. This is the woman who backed Lettermen into an apology and has sponsors embarrassed witht their association with the show.
Palin does what she wishes, including not listening to the inane rantings by trolls. While you’re at it, ask the people of New York if they feel betrayed by Hillary Clinton bailing on them to take the Secretary of State job. No.. wait…. I think they’re thrilled with that move.
07/04/2009 at 10:39 pm
Sarah Palin announced as one of the reasons that she stepped down the ethics complaints and the attacks on her family.
07/04/2009 at 10:48 pm
A third party/tea party idea is a sure way to guarantee four more years of Obama/Pelosi/Reid. It splits the GOP–the conservatives will go to Palin, the country clubbers will back whoever else.
What the GOP needs is a revolution within the party that takes in the tea party and the independents. People that are fed up with the Obama economic disaster have to realize that pulling a Perot ain’t gonna do it. The DNC, the libs, they’re all solidly behind Obama for better or for worse. But the GOP, independents, disgruntled democrats, tea party people–all share something and need to come together on that: saving the country from economic ruin, from bigger more intrusive government.
The GOP’s not perfect, but it’s the only practical vehicle that stands a fighting chance in 2010 and 2012.
What Palin can do is go around the country endorsing GOP candidates that RESONATE with the independents and the tea party crowd.
07/04/2009 at 10:53 pm
It would be a terrific coup if your suppositions were true. It would catch the news media like that salmon upside the head, because they’ve never given her credit for that kind of smarts.
Personally, I don’t give her credit for that kind of dishonesty. We have become accustomed to people in politics denying their real intent so much that we start examining the strategy behind every statement. Maybe in this case the truth is the most logical, Alaskan politics is a sewer and national politics is a bigger one if the media decide you threaten their preferences, and she decided she owes her family better than this.
07/04/2009 at 11:02 pm
blah blah blah on all you people who keep talking about Sarah Palin and the Presidency. She is going to spend the next several months and maybe years doing her best to knock some sense into the American people who have clearly lost their way. We are being suckered into becoming a nation of “gimme gimme” entitleists. She is not thinking about money, or Presidential runs. She is seeing our pathetic and shallow natures and it breaks her heart to see Alaska and America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, become the land of the dependent and the home of the wishy washy. It is clear to me that she has heard her calling. Her gifts are clearly evident. She is wise to heed the call.
07/04/2009 at 11:09 pm
So we are gnats? Perhaps Sarah can just step on us. I wouldn’t call incomprehensibility brilliant.
07/04/2009 at 11:35 pm
People, people. I know you are passionate, but you
have teensy, tiny uneducated minds, which is why you
gravitate toward the similarly challenged Ms. Palin.
She’s so stupid, it brings tears to my eyes and
makes me gasp for breath.
D—d—-d—-d–DUMB. It’s quite shocking. What’s
even more shocking is that even in a dumbed-down
age, most Americans see that she has the intellectual
heft of a (pardon the pun) Down Syndrome baby…..
07/04/2009 at 11:43 pm
Wow Katie!! You sure got everyone all stirred up.
Did you write this piece EXTRANEOUSLY? LOL!!
07/05/2009 at 12:05 am
“The buzz in Alaska is that the IRS is about to drop the hammer on the Palins.”
The same IRS headed up by a tax cheatin’ liar??? That IRS. I’d sure love to see them try….. there could be some huge backlash.
I find it refreshing that Sarah put the needs of her state (to have effective and efficient government) ahead of herself. She truly has a servant’s heart. She is a fiscal conservative who hates to waste money as well. The ridiculous ethics complaints must have rankled not only her heart but her pocketbook and the pocketbook of her state. Imagine a politician who is concerned with how the taxpayers money is spent……
Sarah is not the only governor to “quit” her job recently, UT, AZ, SD come immediately to my mind. I wonder if we should be calling them quitters too and saying their political careers are over??
And there are some governors who should have “quit” IL, NM, and SC come immediately to mind.
I respect her for her deciscion and believe she has a bright future ahead.
07/05/2009 at 12:05 am
“The buzz in Alaska is that the IRS is about to drop the hammer on the Palins.”
The same IRS headed up by a tax cheatin’ liar??? That IRS. I’d sure love to see them try….. there could be some huge backlash.
I find it refreshing that Sarah put the needs of her state (to have effective and efficient government) ahead of herself. She truly has a servant’s heart. She is a fiscal conservative who hates to waste money as well. The ridiculous ethics complaints must have rankled not only her heart but her pocketbook and the pocketbook of her state. Imagine a politician who is concerned with how the taxpayers money is spent……
Sarah is not the only governor to “quit” her job recently, UT, AZ, SD come immediately to my mind. I wonder if we should be calling them quitters too and saying their political careers are over??
And there are some governors who should have “quit” IL, NM, and SC come immediately to mind.
I respect her for her deciscion and believe she has a bright future ahead.
07/05/2009 at 12:08 am
Hope you’re right Mamapundit. But I don’t see it that way. I think she’s out of it. To state that she’s quitting because she believes a lame duck gov can’t be effective? Hun, that is a burnt bridge. Now if she ever wins the POTUS, the msm, dems etc will hammer her in a 2d term over that statement. As much as I love Sarah, it was a very lame excuse.
I think that she certainly and recently banked a huge check from publisher Harper/Collins and then she looked around at her very vulnerable family. And then she made her decision. Family first. I am certain it was difficult for her. But there was no sign of the vile dem’s, msm and GOP moderates backing off. And who can blame her? I don’t. Certainly she’ll campaign for conservative 2010 candidates. And if the political climate changes drastically she may get back in. But for now, she’s out. We shouldn’t delude ourselves. If she were going to remain in the political arena she’d have kept her job as Alaska gov at least for a while longer. DD
07/05/2009 at 12:28 am
I agree with previous commenters who said that if you don’t get what Sarah said in her speech you are not listening and are putting too much into the syntax of it. Many people speak in this manner instead of the correct english of the Ivy League. We normal people heard, “I am not able to be as effective as I’d like due to the constant attacks and baseless ethics charges so I am changing the game for my family and for the good of the state of Alaska. Alaskans deserve to have their money spent on the state’s programs rather than on defending me from these baseless charges, even if I am blameless. By taking myself out of the way I am making sure that these out-of-state organizations will remove the money funding the people bringing these charges that are costing the state 2 million dollars, so far. Furthermore, I think they will lose interest and funding for attacking my family.”
07/05/2009 at 12:31 am
sarah palin and ron paul save this country
07/05/2009 at 12:46 am
sarah’s appeal is not just to the ‘rightest of the right’..in fact, she’s far too libertarian for those folks. the foaming-at-the-mouth left can’t seem to get beyond their inexplicable hatred for her, but the rest of us who are somewhere in the middle see someone who is very down-to-earth and worthy of admiration. it will be interesting to see what she does in the coming years.
07/05/2009 at 12:48 am
Additionally, we heard,” I plan to spend some time uplifting my family and then I will be busy campaigning for others and furthering the adgenda I believe will be the correct way forward for our state and our country.” We did not hear, “I quit! FU!” I think Sarah will be a name in politics of our future whether she decides to run or not. This article may be correct in it’s points about Sarah making a brilliant move, but it is just a move, brilliant or not. The proof of it’s effectiveness is yet to be seen and there is the chance that it could be a flop….We’ll see soon enough!
07/05/2009 at 1:32 am
Nice work here Katie. Everything is qualified with “as long as she isn’t about to” pick yer poison – audit, probe, cover-story, indictment-
there, in fact, isn’t much downside.
Voters didn’t let Ed Muskie off the hook for crying, nor Dan Quayle for mispelling potato (or is it potatoe?). She’ll have a number of years to remake herself and overcome that branding. So yeah – she may be ‘politically’ genius (since we’re qualify)
But what if her rational is driven by something totally unheard of?
> Just ready to get out, got more important things to do
Mark Steyn at The National Review had a fresh article about Palins resignation in The Corner section http://ow.ly/guDz
“In states far from the national spotlight, politics still attracts normal people. You’re a mayor or a state senator or even the governor, but you lead a normal life…
Most of those who sneer at Sarah Palin have no desire to live her life. But why not try to – what’s the word? – “empathize”? If you like Wasilla and hunting and snowmachining and moose stew and politics, is the last worth giving up everything else in the hopes that one day David Letterman and Maureen Dowd might decide Trig and Bristol and the rest are sufficiently non-risible to enable you to prosper in their world? And, putting aside the odds, would you really like to be the person you’d have to turn into under that scenario?”
It’s worth a read. Since it politics I’m laying 50-1 odds that’s not why she resigned. But a little part of me holds out hope that she just decided … to walk away. “Got more important things to take care.”
Keep writing Katie,
Brian
07/05/2009 at 2:20 am
“To state that she’s quitting because she believes a lame duck gov can’t be effective?”
Isn’t quite what she said. She didn’t say, in generic terms, a lame duck governor can’t be effective. She said that, in THIS case, the state would be better served by having her lieutenant governor get some time in office for incumbency in the next election. That way, he continues her policies, and she’s freed up to do whatever.
And think of what she’s going to do next now that she’s freed up. It’s not as if she’s going to go home, and the next we see of her is popping up in January ‘12 to enter the primaries. She’s going out to do something, and depending on how that goes, it could completely reverse any disappointment over Friday.
For example, if she were to go out and take a visible and/or pivotal role in returning conservatives to control the House in 2010? If she could pull that off, would anybody even *remember* despairing way back during this weekend? There’s a long way to go still even before midterms.
07/05/2009 at 2:41 am
Sorry, but not completing her term is not a good idea. I mean, would another 16 months have been that bad? What about the charges that she does not have enough of a track record of results?
Quitting now, rather than just building a track record for another 16 months, is a poor move. Period.
Bobby Jindal will not quit his job, even though the left-wing attacks against him will be even worse than Sarah Palin’s. Just see.
07/05/2009 at 2:45 am
The only positive I see from this is not for Palin, but for the Right in general.
Palin becomes a martyr – driven from office by the vile leftists who attacked her children because they are not above such tactics. Now, the left will claim victory, and go on to tear down the next conservative. The left will thus overreach (by, say, attacking Bobby Jindal’s kids in racial terms), and provoke a backlash from the center and right that really decimates the left.
So this is the perfect bait with which to lure the left into the error of overreach, and decapitate them after the left takes the bait.
So the best thing the Right can do is make Palin a martyr, and set the left up for the ultimate trap.
07/05/2009 at 3:29 am
Who says she’s not going to build a track record for the next 16 months? Given the circumstances, it appears she can build a much better one from outside than from inside.
07/05/2009 at 5:21 am
I am Irish born, live in Australia, never was in the US.
I knew zilch about Palin when McCain chose her as running mate and I was intrigued by her, and listened to her comments, and watched her body language.
I see no signs of her being dumb.
She can make errors of judgment, as I may be making here, but that does not make her dumb.
As regards the press reports, the Letterman remarks, I find them unprofessional, juvenile, and downright disgusting. And I compare her behavior with that of Hilary Clinton who broke down in tears about media coverage.
My guess is that she would like to be a national figure, and believes that she has something to give the US. I doubt she will make it – she is a kind of female Don Quixote. Not lacking in brains, courage, but up against stupid name callers. Also I think the US will be the poorer for what they did to her and her family.
Of course they attacked her family, that’s how you get at a woman like her. Male’s families are kind of out of bounds. Males have a habit of resorting to physical violence at times like that.
07/05/2009 at 5:47 am
I neither love nor hate Sarah Palin – but the Vanity Fair writer clearly needs to get out more. As in, out of New York. Who can take seriously an article that includes:
“It is in this Alaska—where it is possible to be both a conservative Republican and a pothead, or a foursquare Democrat and a gun nut—that Sarah Palin learned everything she knows about politics, and about life.”
If the author thinks there’s something wildly odd about a gun-nut Democrat or a pot-smoking conservative Republican, there’s only one word for him: clueless. For pete’s sake, man, quit navel-gazing in Soho and come visit America.
07/05/2009 at 6:33 am
Anyone who has to quote from Vanity Fair, or MTV for their political gossip is less than believable source! How shallow!!! It’s like telling teens to find their idols from American Idols Show! It is just sad. This writer apparently is biased… or simply very immature.. This is like an article written by a 15 years old at a school newspaper.
I do not particular like Palin, nor do I like Michelle Obama. However, one thing I have to say is the media has been ruthless and ridiculously low!!! David Letter has to apologize twice because he crossed the line of insulting a teen… I don’t care she is just 18 or 21. Let along she is only 14! I know he said he did not know… well…ooops. You just punched someone to bleedy lips… oops.. just the wrong one! Since I am a comedian… I can claim i am innocence… Well, this is the biggest problem with liberals… it is always someone else’s fault.. the society’s fault, the parent’s fault, the government’s fault, the neighourhood’ s fault… the TV’s show fault!! NEVER their own!
07/05/2009 at 6:51 am
One need only read the myriad responses to this story to understand why it was a good move: A pot pouri of intellectual and neanderthal thought. My old pappy once said, “A hit dog do bark.” By reading the posts, you can spot the dogs!
07/05/2009 at 7:12 am
I think people are looking to much into this. I think its simple. We all know how much Sarah loves Alaska and she would NEVER do anything to compromise the state.
With all the media coverage and the internal political bickering she realized that she can no longer effectively govern her state. Announcing she isn’t running for re-election with her new lame duck statues – would have just made it even more difficult to achieve any results. She did the right thing for her state and she up help what she has sworn to do to faithfully discharge her duties as governor to the best of her ability… Sarah risked her political future by faithfully discharging her duties for the best of Alaska.
07/05/2009 at 8:13 am
This post makes sense if we’re all now living in some crazy non-linear female universe where being authentically Sarah trumps either ideas or governance. Reagan never did anything like this and neither did Thatcher, but of course they lived in a male-dominated world where you proved your merits by showing you could lead consistently and by articulating core philosophical principles on a daily basis. Sarah has allowed herself to become a pop-cultural phenomenon when this country desperately needs a serious leader. Must I add that a good faith effort to speak readily decipherable English would be a plus?
07/05/2009 at 8:45 am
“… the folks in the lower 48 who will express their disapproval of her resignation don’t like Palin anyway, no matter what she does.”
Wrong! I have been a supporter of Mrs. Palin and she was my girl for 2012. No more. I have lost all faith in her judgement and ability to lead. I can’t think of a worse political move than this. It was just plain stupid.
07/05/2009 at 9:01 am
Kenn
If you truly have been a supporter of Gov Palin, I know you are now disappointed and the commentaries you are fed on TV aren’t helping you much. But if you let it settle in and think what she has done you’ll come around to realize she did what was best for Alaska. In the meantime I would advise you to read the following articles it will help you get a grip of things.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Conventional-wisdom-cannot-explain-Palin-49924842.html
And this from someone who’s first reaction was like yours and has now come around.
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/theanchoress/
07/05/2009 at 9:26 am
Alaskan bush pilots like her hubby Todd call this type of manuvering “augering in” ie as in a nose dive crash. Most only get one try to get it right!
07/05/2009 at 9:40 am
A simple ‘thank you’ for this piece. May God bless this brave woman.
Agree with comment on Gateway Pundit blog that Palin will prove to
be our Fort Sumter.
07/05/2009 at 9:45 am
You don’t burn the type of bridges she is burning in politics if you want to run for president.
She is not as popular as the posters here think.
I think she will run after the money and become part of the media and do a political news show.
07/05/2009 at 9:49 am
“Vanity Fair”? William Makepeace Thackeray, the author of the exceptional book “Vanity Fair,” has been dead since 1863; he never wrote about Palin. Whatever this thing referred to above as “Vanity Fair” is, it is clearly a cheap knock-off consumed by those who either know no better or do know better yet choose to go with the flow. Do not accept it.
07/05/2009 at 9:51 am
I think Sarah Palin is brillant. She is a very gutsy,strong and loving lady. Whatever she decides to do, I will support her 100%. I feel very honored to have lived in an era when a person like Sarah Palin has taken the call to serve the American people. The liberal media has not heard the last of her. LOOK OUT you left wing goons.
07/05/2009 at 10:10 am
Obama left his US Senate position to campaign. Sure, he didn’t “officially” resign
(why give up that steady paycheck, Barry) but continued to do nothing as a senator!
07/05/2009 at 10:23 am
I supported the McCain/Palin ticket and was thrilled when she was picked as the running mate. But the press conference the other day left me thinking she couldn’t handle the scrutiny that goes with politics. She and her family were not treated any worse than the McCains, the Bush family or even the Clintons. The only candidate (and family) who were ever given a pass by the media are the Obamas – and that’s because they’re black and the media didn’t want to be called racist.
07/05/2009 at 10:57 am
SHE IS BRILLIANT. IT IS NOT ALL BECAUSE OF THE SCRUTINY, ALTHOUGH SHE HAS HAD MORE OF HER FAIR SHARE. ALL THE WOMANS GROUPS ETC DID NOT SAY A WORD. AND AS FAR AS OBAMA GOES YEA HE’S BLACK BUT THE MEDIA COVERS UP EVERYTHING HE DOES AND CANDY COATS EVERYTHING HE SAYS OR TRIES TO MAKE A BILLION LIES SOUND LIKE THE TRUTH. FUTHERMORE ALSAKA HAS BEEN SPENDING TONS OF MONEY NOT TO MENTION HRS. FOR ALL THE STUPID LAWSUITS.SHE IS NO QUITTER, AND SHE WILL PROVE THAT IN THE MONTHS TO COME. SARAH IS AN HONEST,SINCERE, AND A PATRIOT. SHE REALLY LOVES AMERICA. I UNDERSTAND WHAT SHE IS DOING.
07/05/2009 at 10:58 am
I have never heard of such mean spirited reporting about a person in my life. No matter what Sara Palin does, it is wrong according to some. They say she is dumb, doesn’t know how to act in public, etc. She is striking fear in the politicians hearts, because she is real. They fear her and so do the papers/mags..How come no one picked up Obama and his visiting 57states? Austrian language? Not too smart to me and all the lies during campaign..but why be nasty?
I was always taught, when you report the news..your opinion doen’t matter, you are to be unbiased. That is true reporting. There is something going on in America and instead of knocking people, we better pay attention, before it is too late.
07/05/2009 at 11:02 am
Oops, my mistake. She’s brilliant, she’s a sage, she’s
a legend, she’s a great political mind.
Nah, that’s not it.
She’s a frickin’ idiot better suited for peddling tampons on the airwaves. At least she could (probably) read that copy correctly.
The inability to speak extemporaneously and to form complete sentences (much less thoughts) is quite striking, only trumped by the stupidity of people on this website who are unable to see that very obvious flaw.
We (should) want our leaders to be smarter than us. The problems we face are complex and nuanced, and waaaaaay beyond her “job creation/not business as usual/mavericky” sound bite lunacy.
The reason that liberals are rabid about her is that there has never been anyone as dim on the national stage—-ever. And that is terrifying. She’s not even as bright as my puppy.
07/05/2009 at 11:36 am
All conservatives should ridicule the Obamacans when they call Sarah Palin stupid. For deeds are more than words, and the deed of the Obamacans in supporting the Obama cult and believing that this action, this support of the so called “smart power” in Obama, will make the supporters smart… is more funny than a thousand Nigerian scams successfully employed against nit witted and gullible Leftists.
The Left is stuck on stupid, because their foolish Utopia will not change their genetics. Stupid is permanent, and it is not just a literal bump in the road, a setback.
07/05/2009 at 11:52 am
But SHE is deeply stupid, and HE is deeply smart.
Those points are unimpeachable, you jackass.
07/05/2009 at 11:59 am
I can’t think of a worse political move than this. It was just plain stupid.-Kenn
Exactly which election did you win against corrupt Democrats and Republicans, again?
I would have thought that conservatives had by now realized the folly of hubris. You are not the center of the universe. You are not the supreme decider of life and fate.
If it will take more suffering and the concrete of truth to pierce people’s self-delusions, then so be it. For hubris will fall in the end, one way or another.
07/05/2009 at 12:04 pm
Your entire post is … wrong.
I am – or was – an enthusiastic Palin supporter. Many in my circle are – or were – excited to vote for her again.
Now? Now I, and millions like me, are a little less enthusiastic. And that is an ENORMOUS downside, my friend.
If she wins a primary battle and gets the nomination, I’ll still be voting for her, of course. But I now have serious questions about both her will and her wisdom. Had she finished her term and then quit … fine. But what she did just reminds me of what the Obama-ites do. And I thought she was different.
I still like her enormously personally, but as a candidate – I’ll look elsewhere now, for someone with both more gravitas and more real experience … and without a track record of bailing on constituents.
If you think the above opinion among conservatives is rare … you’re both naive and not reading the major blogs. If you think that isn’t a downside, you’re insane.
It’s to bad. Had she finished a term or two, gotten some foreign policy experience in the Senate or a future cabinet … then run 2020 or so, I’d have been an avid supporter.
Now, she’s just another disappointing politician, albeit a charismatic one with whom I agree on most issues.
Shorter version: she’s finished.
07/05/2009 at 12:05 pm
Those points are unimpeachable, you jackass.
What’s unimpeachable is that Planned Parenthood didn’t have nearly enough time to plan Obama’s abortion when he didn’t have a right to vote yet.
Do you believe your personal eugenics belief based upon your personal criteria of who deserves to live (the smart) and who deserves to die (the dumb) will not eventually come and terminate you?
Do you believe Western sterilization and enforced genocide of the poor brown and blacks in Africa and elsewhere won’t come back at you? Hah
You want to talk about American sins, Obama’s brilliance, first look to yourself. You are too deficient to realize what is what. Irredeemably deficient.
What goes around, comes around. Your crimes against those weaker than you, those you deem inferior, will blowback on you. The rise and fall of civilizations would mandate this, if justice and a God won’t.
If stupidity is the measure of a life’s quality to Lorna here, then obviously those who propped up Obama as a “smart” (puppet), when he thinks there are 57 states in the US, must not be living a very satisfied life.
07/05/2009 at 12:07 pm
I have to agree with the author, Katie – Palin’s move was a brilliant political move.
She took the Alinsky rule #13 away from the Lib’s, and strategically set herself up to
support Conservatives by raising funds, while she can rack up study time and experience
for her resume.
I also agree that her speech was cogent, coherent, and crystal clear: she is doing
what is best for Alaska by removing herself from any ethics charges, saving taxpayers
from having to foot the bill for this malarky. Her lawyer made a statement which
basically draws the line in the sand: back off, or there will be a lawsuit; and, as a
private citizen, she can now do this! Brilliant!!
(By the way, she made the basketball analogy because she played basketball in highschool.)
Whether it is simply to help maneuver Conservatives into positions for 2010, to set
herself up for a possible POTUS bid, or both! – only time will tell. She said herself
(quoting MacArthur) that she is “…advancing, in a new direction.” Awesome political
move. Great for the family, and great for Conservatives. You ROCK, Sarah!!
07/05/2009 at 12:13 pm
If you think the above opinion among conservatives is rare … you’re both naive and not reading the major blogs. If you think that isn’t a downside, you’re insane.
It’s a downside, but only because people are stupid.
That’s why they need leaders. That’s why they need to be told what to do. That’s why they voted in Obama.
And conservatives are only slightly better. For the last few decades in which the Left transformed this nation while everybody sat around and argued politics, education, and their personal bank accounts, what have the conservatives and Republicans been doing?
They’ve been talking about compromising with Democrats, as if this was still a nation of the loyal opposition vs the party in power.
We’ve seen this before, when conservatives or those who claimed they wanted to see victory in Iraq occur, met up against Petraeus and COIN. Oh the battles they fought to segregate Iraq, to contest Bush, to annihilate him. Only because they refused to admit that they were wrong.
If it so happens that Palin proves the idiocy and the blindness of her detractors or those who just didn’t get it because they don’t have the expertise or the interest to get it, will people admit that they were wrong? Will they admit their plan to split Iraq into 3 parts was wrong, and would have resulted in aiding treasonous elements had it succeeded?
Some will, most won’t. And that’s humanity for you. No matter the individual competences of individuals, no matter their “experience”, people are still stupid once you get them together in groups of more than 2.
07/05/2009 at 12:19 pm
Had she finished a term or two, gotten some foreign policy experience in the Senate or a future cabinet … then run 2020 or so, I’d have been an avid supporter.
You are a complete fool if you believe this nation wouldn’t already be half way into a Chavez democracy and Mullacracy by that time.
In six months, Obama has dismantled vital safeguards on American liberties. If you are one of those moderate Republicans who think this is the time to sit back, compromise with the Dems, work out a “compromise” and just “wait and see”, you may want to look up what “procrastination” ultimately ends up with in war.
Palin is a bit more motivated than that.
07/05/2009 at 12:46 pm
It is not credible to argue she can’t run for President and build a national organization while being governor of a state, since being governor or Senator hasn’t stopped anyone else from running for President.
She can’t leave Alaska too often? Get out of my face. Being “stuck” as governors of Texas or Arkansas didn’t hold Bush or Clinton back; nor did it stop them from raising money; nor did the day-to-day tasks of governing or press scrutiny stop them from running for President.
If the press drove her from office as governor, how is she going to handle being President? Much more press heat in that kitchen.
07/05/2009 at 2:28 pm
I wish people who attributed statements to me would look to what I wrote, below the by line. I both read and heard what Palin said in her statements. I got it! She spoke clearly and understandibly. She gave me hope for the future of our country. I emailed her a letter of support asking where to donate and volunteer if and when she starts her campaign. I hope she gets enough air time to counter Obama’s every attempt socialize the nation.
07/05/2009 at 3:44 pm
Sarah is one of the few people who can make Laura Bush look like a genius.
07/05/2009 at 3:48 pm
Big news out of Alaska saying that Sarah Palin’s resignation as Governor is actually damage control because a major embezzlement scandal is about to erupt involving construction projects in her home town of Wasilla.
^^^^Now that sounds more like the politician we have come to know.
I’m floored that the comments on this blog are so supportive of
SP, she is bird brain and an idiot and the most unqualified person to run for national office.
She is perfect for a Fox talk show!
07/05/2009 at 5:09 pm
These posts scare me. These people are going to be lurking around here now.ugh.
07/05/2009 at 6:16 pm
I have to say this is a great move. Sarah can’t do what she wants from behind that desk. Our country is going to h e double hockey sticks and she is coming to kick some…
BTW, for those who think there is something going on about her home, http://gretawire.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/07/04/from-palins-lawyer/
07/05/2009 at 8:49 pm
Dewi, that person you call a bird brain got a degree in Journalism and got herself elected to the governorship of a state defeating an incombant of her own party. I’ll bet her accomplishment stack up well against yours. I wondered where people on the left got their ideas. I was wondering. Do you know you are a liar? Rush posed the question the other day where liberals come from. I suggest they are the result of gay sex. Something unnatural because they seem to be unable to recognize truth.
07/06/2009 at 2:51 am
The reasons of Palin resignation are controversial. What could be the real cause of her decision? Vote on the most possible one – http://www.votetheday.com/america/palin-resignation-424/
07/06/2009 at 11:16 am
I am clearly the product of gay sex–cuz I am so smart!
Wow, that was stupid (see above).
07/06/2009 at 3:05 pm
Yeah, Dewi, I’ll believe that scandal when it happens. It sounds like more twaddle from the Palin-bashers, and I am decidedly NOT a Palin fan.
07/07/2009 at 12:19 pm
I tend to agree with this take.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/us/politics/08nagourney.html?hp
07/08/2009 at 1:01 am
You said, “For the next year and a half, Palin will be on the road continuously, speaking, rallying and passing the hat at churches, pro-life meetings, and gun advocacy groups.”
Since I don’t recall anyone accurately predicting Mrs. Palin’s actions of the last 18 days, I’ll have a hard time taking seriously anyone’s predictions about Mrs. Palin for the next year and a half.
I’m not saying I don’t want Mrs. Palin to do everything you said, I believe she’s going to play her game her way.