AK Governor Sarah Palin Resigning

Breaking news: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is resigning, effective July 25.

What on earth is going on?

Of course, nobody knows, which means that everyone will be talking all about this for days and days.  Those who disliked or hated her in the first place will paint this badly.  Those who admired her will probably continue to admire her, and maybe even hope over what this might mean.

Some thoughts:

1.  Yet another nasty set of accusations from former McCain staffers (who, one suspects, are more interested in blaming her than admitting their own mistakes or McCain’s inadequacies) just got paraded throught the national news.  Letterman made a nasty, foul joke about her family.  More than a dozen ethics violations accusations were filed against her (all were dismissed; she paid the state back for her children’s travel, and spend half a million on her legal defense.  The state of Alaska spent $2 million investigating the allegations).  One of her brothers, on Cavuto’s show on Fox News, said that she was disgusted with spending 80% of her time defending herself from smears and politically-motivated ethics investigations; Palin told him she felt it was unfair to Alaska to have the governor so mired in legal busywork.  As an honest person, did she admit that it was just better for Alaska for her to resign and free up the new governor to govern without distractions?

2.  Todd Palin, the governor’s husband, said that she wanted to work on issues for “Alaska and the country.”  Hmmm… so what does that mean?  It would seem unwise, if she was aiming for a Republican candidacy for 2012 on the national level, to step down before she fulfilled her first term as governor.  Did she resign to start campaigning nationally for 2012?

3.  Of course, there’s always the possibility of family issues.  Marital stress?  New medical problems for her youngest, Trig, who has Downs Syndrome?  Troubled teenaged daughters?  Did she just decide that, for her family’s sake, this had become too much?

4.  Why did she do this on Friday, right before a holiday weekend?  The talking heads have already commented that you normally do things on Friday to bury them, news-wise.

 

Or did she put this announcement in this “odd” position to highlight our founding, which we celebrate this weekend?

Has Sarah Palin been watching the Tea Parties and wondering if we’ve lost what our Founders fought for?  Has she been wondering if the infighting and Democrat-lite behavior in the Republican party have doomed it?

In her announcement, Palin highlighted Alaska’s importance for the nation, as strategic protection and for natural resources.  She discussed the private enterprise that has pushed energy production and transportation.  “Living beyond our means today is irresponsible for tomorrow,” she said.  Education initiatives, state climate change boards, wildlife management, budget restrictions, and personal responsibility in government.

This did not have the tone of “I’ve screwed up and am being forced to resign” like what we’ve seen with Gov. Spitzer and Gov. Sanford.  Nor did this sound like she was over-stressed and resigning in a panic, which some are already trying to spin this as.  (“Gee, look, we told you that anyone with that many kids, long hair, good looks, and truly pro-life and conservative convictions was too weak to take the pressure of politics…”)

In fact, it was better than almost all of Obama’s speeches… and Palin didn’t use a teleprompter.

This was a recounting of what has gone right in Palin’s term as governor as Alaska… and a litany of what the government has done wrong.

She talked a lot about protecting the Constitution and mentioned the Tenth Amendment, which many states have been using to try to get the federal government back in its Constitutional box.

Palin discussed the costs to Alaska and to her to deal with the frivolous legal accusations.  “You can choose to engage in things that tear down or build up… I choose to build up… Life is too short to waste resources…”

She said she wasn’t interested in being the “lame duck” governor and jaunting around to foreign countries for “trade missions.”  Incidentally, her stepping down should also set up the lieutenant governor well for the next gubernatorial elections by giving him a year and a half to show what he can do.

 

Ok, my prediction:  Sarah Palin is going to work on a national level to promote some (if not all) of what the Tea Parties have been pushing: a return to the Constitution, the shrinkage of government to a much more reasonable level, and fiscal responsibility.  I’m not sure she can do that within the Republican Party.

Is Sarah Palin going to show up at the big Tea Party scheduled for Washington, DC, tomorrow, July4th?

Is she going to step in to lead a new third party?  Or try to return the GOP to true conservatism?

Whatever she does, I would bet we have not seen the last of Sarah Palin.

Not by a long shot.