She's quitting because she's not a Quitter
Just a couple days after we saw Sarah Palin on the news in her jogging suit, bragging that she could out run Obama...she ups and quits.
We seem to be endlessly fascinated by Sarah Palin, a
beautiful charismatic woman...too bad she's such a whack job. Republicans could sure use someone with her star power to lead them out of the wingnut ditch they're stuck in.It tickles me when righties say we Democrats are scared of her...they miss the point completely. We jumped into the middle of every Palin controversy because we wanted so desperately to bring attention to her being the Republican "brand." If she could've been anywhere on the 2012 ticket, we would've been so happy.
But now she has resigned her governorship halfway through her term, in a hurriedly pulled together press conference on the front lawn of her house, with only her family and a few neighbors present...on what the media call Dump Friday.
We political junkies all know that you don't make a surprise announcement of your resignation on a Friday afternoon, the day before the July Fourth weekend, unless you're trying to get the hell outta Dodge pronto.
Her speech also seemed hastily put together, and surreal even for her...all nervous and breathless as she gave a bizarre lame-duck reason.
Seems that politics in Alaska changed after she was nominated for VP...meanies came out of the woodwork to say bad things about her and file all sorts of ethics complaints against her.This got me: "Life is about choices!" She is nothing if not anti-choice.
People are wondering if she's preparing her Base for bad news.
Rumors have a new scandal brewing, a federal indictment...other rumors have her spending more time in the lower 48 trying to raise money for a presidential run in 2012.All I know is this
better not involve a 'soul mate' Sarah...right when I've been blogging about how we need more women in politics because they don't have zipper problems.Her reason for quitting has to be a really big deal to make her react this way. She's no shrinking violet and easily brushed off small scandals. She didn't turn McCain down because of the potential embarrassment of her daughter being unmarried and pregnant.
Here, watch the complete unexpurgated version of her press conference.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1tnUvtjaaY
Well, one thing for sure - Gov-in-love Sanford probably sent Palin a gigantic box of chocolates and dozens of roses for knocking him out of the headlines...she even knocked Michael Jackson off the radar for the better part of a day.
Palin's story is especially interesting to me because of her part in the Republican party's nervous breakdown. A lot of them didn't seem to want her around - except Bill Kristol. The GOP is still run by good ol' boys, and they never really made her feel welcome. They'd exclude her from GOP gatherings, then invite her at the last minute, etc. Gingrich didn't want to share the stage with her at that one function....
Maybe it was because she's an embarrassment to a lot of them, she never seemed to grasp or speak intelligently about GOP issues or interests. She was good at speaking in "bumpersticker slogans" as my friend Ylem says.
Maybe it was because she was on the verge of taking control of a large part of their Base - the religious fundies and the angry white working class. She was offering to lead them...lead them where she probably didn't even know. Maybe the GOP thought it would be off a cliff.
So, her popularity among the secessionist-minded radical righties scared the GOP good ol' boys. What if she ended up leading the Base into a third party? That would fracture the Republican party even more...and might be the end of the GOP forever.
Can't wait to see what enfolds...she is nothing if not entertaining...in a train wreck sort of way.
Me? I'm betting on a book deal and her own talk show on Fox...she can make a lot more money and have more power than a president - look at Rush, O'Reilly and Beck who make many millions every year. All of 'em nutty as hell, but they are quoted almost every day in the political realm.
As a feminist, I don't like to say this, but the Vanity Fair guy was right - with her record, people would never have given Sarah Palin a second glance if she had looked like Susan Boyle.
One thing for sure - the Saturday Night Live cast is heartbroken.
