Let’s move the discussion from there to here.
“Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional Lame Duck status in this particular climate would just be another dose of politics as usual, something I campaigned against and will always oppose,” Palin said in a statement released by her office.Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will be inaugurated at the governor’s picnic in Fairbanks at the end of the month, Murrow said. [...]
Palin said she planned to make a “positive change outside government,” without elaborating. She also expressed frustration with her current role as governor.
“I cannot stand here as your governor and allow the millions of dollars and all that time go to waste just so I can hold the title of governor,” Palin said.
Later, on Twitter, she promised supporters more details: “We’ll soon attach info on decision to not seek re-election … this is in Alaska’s best interest, my family’s happy … it is good. Stay tuned”
If her family is happy, that is good enough for me.
*********************
Hmmm… let’s see, Palin puts Alaska’s interests ahead of her own and she puts her family’s interests ahead of her own. Little bit different from Mark Sanford, eh?
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The Anchoress has the round-up.
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If you want a good example of the kind of stuff Sarah Palin was subjected to (something we have never seen directed at Democrat families), look no further than “comedian” Erik Sean Nelson writing as an article (later pulled) at HuffPo
“Palin Will Run In ‘12 On More Retardation Platform.”In Sarah Palin’s resignation announcement she complained about the treatment of her son Trig who always teaches her life lessons. She said that the “world needs more Trigs, not fewer.” That’s a presidential campaign promise we can all get behind. She will be the first politician to actually try to increase the population of retarded people. To me, it’s kinda like saying the world needs more cancer patients because they teach us such personal lessons.
Her first act as President: To introduce a Pre-K lunch buffet that includes lead paint chips. Sort of a Large HEAD-START Program.
She will then encourage women to hold off on pregnancies until their 40’s just to mix up some chromosomes.
She now is in favor of abortion only in case of diploid birth.
Her policies will increase jobs because Wal-Mart is building new stores each day and someone has to be the greeter.
This will lead to smaller government because fewer Americans will have the cognitive ability to hold a government job.
You know, I feel honored to have such morally bankrupt reprobates hate me and my principles and values.
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Little Miss Attila weighs in.
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UPDATE: Mark Steyn
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. The local media are tough on you, but they know you, they live where you live, they’re tough on the real you, not on some caricature cooked up by a malign alliance of late-night comics who’d never heard of you a week earlier and media grandees supposedly on your own side who pronounce you a “cancer”.Then suddenly you get the call from Washington. You know it’ll mean Secret Service, and speechwriters, and minders vetting your wardrobe. But nobody said it would mean a mainstream network comedy host doing statutory rape gags about your 14-year old daughter. You’ve got a special-needs kid and a son in Iraq and a daughter who’s given you your first grandchild in less than ideal circumstances. That would be enough for most of us. But the special-needs kid and the daughter and most everyone else you love are a national joke, and the PC enforcers are entirely cool with it.
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?
National office will dwindle down to the unhealthily singleminded (Clinton, Obama), the timeserving emirs of Incumbistan (Biden, McCain) and dynastic heirs (Bush). Our loss.
Indeed.
Comment by The Oracle on 7/3 @ 3:16 pm #
After listening to the talking heads on the cable news channels for an hour or so, I’m somewhere between annoyed and amused.
Everyone, with the exception of Mike Huckabee and a Congressman from Texas, seems obsessed with the idea that there is some dark hidden agenda behind Sarah Palin’s announcement today that she is resigning her post of governor of Alaska, effective July 26.
They seem to have forgotten who they were listening to.
I think the simple truth is that the harassment from the haters on the left, with their attacks in the media and chickenshit “ethics” complaints and Letterman-style sniping have made it impossible for her to give the citizens of Alaska their money’s worth as the state’s chief executive.
She did the only honorable thing – she removed the lightning rod from the governor’s office and assured the state would have a governor who was free to focus on the affairs of Alaska by handing the reins over to the lieutenant governor.
And she doubtless recognizes the move frees her to play a more prominent and effective role in fighting the good fight, supporting the people who work for a living against the people who vote for a living.
The left is quite obviously terrified of the way she connects with Joe and Sally Sixpack, the people they thought they owned.
The Resistance has been looking for someone around whom to coalesce. I think she could be that person.
Comment by Joe on 7/3 @ 3:20 pm #
I do not think there is a dark hidden agenda. I think there are dark, quite open and explicit, slanders, libels and false attacks on her and her family. While I concur with Darleen that if she decided with her family to walk away from all that, I support it too.
That does not mean I am happy with the left driving her out of politics.
Comment by Joe on 7/3 @ 3:22 pm #
And if this move turns out, politically, to be the best way for Sarah Palin to run for President in 2012, well then I wish her the best. I am not sure that is the case.
Comment by Darleen on 7/3 @ 3:25 pm #
Joe
Even if Palin remained as Gov. I wouldn’t want her to run in 2012…2016 or 2020 much better for her.
Now she is free to do things as Private Citizen Palin what she couldn’t do as Gov. Palin (without constantly having the Left anklebiters crying “dereliction of duty!” or “criminal!” at her).
Comment by happyfeet on 7/3 @ 3:25 pm #
She needs to say what she’s going to do. She needs to say why. Then she needs to execute. Her instinct seems to be to make a spectacle of herself and call it savvy. I’m really a lot tired of Meghan’s loser coward daddy’s loser running mate I think.
Comment by SBP on 7/3 @ 3:30 pm #
What she should do, in my opinion, is get a national talk show. Let her bring her message directly to the people, without the mediation of washed-up slags like Katie Couric.
Comment by sdferr on 7/3 @ 3:31 pm #
hf, if we were to assume for the moment that Palin seriously intends to get out of politics altogether, not to return, why would we require that she tell us more than that? What else is there to know, that is?
If, on the other hand, she does intend to get back into politics at some point, then I’d agree there is quite a bit more about this decision that she ought to explain.
Comment by royf on 7/3 @ 3:31 pm #
Read her official press release here
Sounds like she is anything but through.
Comment by Joe on 7/3 @ 3:33 pm #
Darleen, I hope you are right.
Comment by happyfeet on 7/3 @ 3:36 pm #
I agree with Spies… she should have Huck’s slot at the very least.
sdferr – it’s depressing to me is all that Sarah Palin hasn’t learned what she sets herself up for when she encourages speculation. She’s really stupid about communication and marketing. Dumber than Meghan’s coward daddy even.
Comment by Ella on 7/3 @ 3:36 pm #
My guess is that she is out of politics, period. This is a suicidal, flaky move if she ever intends a White House run, and I don’t think even a national commetariat gig would be well-served in ditching her seat with a year and a half left.
My guess is that 1) her family was suffering too much with the media persecution and it really was impacting her ability to perform as governor or 2) someone is very ill.
I doubt there is a scandal because it undoubtedly would have been uncovered by now.
Comment by Ella on 7/3 @ 3:37 pm #
hf, I kind of agree. She should end the speculation. She has to be doing this for some kind of closure, in which case she really needs to close it off.
Comment by Pablo on 7/3 @ 3:38 pm #
This one is full of surprises, she is. I concur with The Oracle @ #1.
Comment by Ella on 7/3 @ 3:39 pm #
royf, regardless of the press release, she is through. I hope she knows that.
Comment by SBP on 7/3 @ 3:40 pm #
(moved from the other thread)
Remote possiblity: she’s gearing up to start a third party. Quixotic, perhaps, but I can’t think of anyone who’s in a better position to do it.
Comment by royf on 7/3 @ 3:40 pm #
If you read her official press release above she does a very good job (my opinion) of explaining her decision. And she makes it equally clear that she is not through with politics.
Comment by Rick Ballard on 7/3 @ 3:41 pm #
Yeah, it’s like Lincoln quitting the Whig Party. It really finished him off.
Comment by Darleen on 7/3 @ 3:41 pm #
by 2012 I’d like to see Palin take Michael Steele’s place. heh.
Comment by Darleen on 7/3 @ 3:43 pm #
regardless of the press release, she is through
Why? Unless you buy into the Keith Olbermann School of Journalism, she has put both her state’s interests and her family’s interests in front of hers.
That is FAR from “flakey”.
Comment by SDN on 7/3 @ 3:44 pm #
Two can play these games; if you are in a state with Democratic officeholders and an ethics statute start filing.
Comment by royf on 7/3 @ 3:45 pm #
Well Ella you may be right you could just as well be wrong. All I can say is what she had to say. Her explanation made sense to me and she never said she would run for office, but she did make it clear she would be campaigning and raising money. She also set forth a platform she would work for.
Worked for me anyway we shall see.
Comment by Spiny Norman on 7/3 @ 3:47 pm #
Third party candidacies only ensure a Democrat victory. If even Teddy Roosevelt, the most popular politician of his day, failed at it, a third party today is an utter waste of time and money. You might as well let the Democrat run unopposed.
Comment by Hvy Mtl Hntr on 7/3 @ 3:48 pm #
The feeling up here in Alaska is that Saracudda’s governorship has been neutralized; but she has a huge future as a fund-raiser for the conservative wing of the Republican party.
Comment by dicentra on 7/3 @ 3:48 pm #
Make sure you read this Quinn Hillyer piece. He’s got her figured out, boy does he ever!
The Anchoress speculates that her health might be suffering, citing the photo in this article as evidence that she’s looking awfully think. She also has a good round-up of the reactions.
Comment by geoffb on 7/3 @ 3:52 pm #
I believe by doing this she is positioned to work and campaign for conservative candidates for Congress in 2010. That if successful would put her in a good position to make a run for President in either 2012 or 2016.
Going around making speeches and raising money for up and coming Congressional candidates get the message out at every stop and endear her to all candidates she helps into office.
Comment by SBP on 7/3 @ 3:54 pm #
Third party candidacies only ensure a Democrat victory.
Abraham Lincoln would disagree.
Comment by Spiny Norman on 7/3 @ 3:56 pm #
dicentra, from your link:
I wonder how Hillyer can be so absolutely convinced she’s running for President. Of course, if my entire life centered around partisan politics, like his apperently does, this wouldn’t make any sense to me, either.
If Quinn Hillyer had a family that was being relentlessly attacked by the Democrat attack-dog media, I wonder if he’d say the same thing.
Comment by Adriane on 7/3 @ 4:01 pm #
Unless you are Sarah Palin’s credit card company, she doesn’t owe you a damn thing.
Comment by Salt Lick on 7/3 @ 4:02 pm #
Bottom line is she’s a woman with enormous character and she’d make a better president than Wonder Boy.
Comment by Spiny Norman on 7/3 @ 4:03 pm #
SPB,
That’s because the Democrats were split between Stephen Douglas and John Breckenridge.
The old Whig Party no longer existed. The Republican Party grew from its ashes. Despite popular modern myth, Lincoln was NOT a “third party candidate”.
Comment by newrouter on 7/3 @ 4:05 pm #
the dereliction of duty meme is stupid. it still a free country isn’t it?
Comment by SBP on 7/3 @ 4:07 pm #
The old Whig Party no longer existed.
The old Republican Party no longer exists, either.
You think Romney or (spit) Huckabee can beat Obama? I don’t.
Comment by dicentra on 7/3 @ 4:10 pm #
Now Hillyer’s complaining that people are engaging in the very name-calling that he knew he’d stir up.
Cowboy up, Quinn, and answer those who rebut your dumb argument.
Comment by SBP on 7/3 @ 4:10 pm #
Douglas got 12 electoral votes. Breckinridge got 72.
Lincoln got 180.
Claiming that Lincoln’s victory was due to a Democrat split is simply not correct.
Comment by Spiny Norman on 7/3 @ 4:15 pm #
People said the same thing in 1976. The Dems were gloating that the GOP was “finished” then, too.
They’re the only GOP contenders that there will ever be and there’s no chance for for anyone else to step up…
In politics, three years is a long time.
Comment by Joe on 7/3 @ 4:15 pm #
“It’s wrong to speculate, but Palin is forcing speculation.” The Anchoress
Comment by dicentra on 7/3 @ 4:19 pm #
“It’s wrong to speculate, but Palin is forcing speculation.” The Anchoress
The Anchoress has more gravitas and caché, Joe. Sorry, but there it is.
Comment by Spiny Norman on 7/3 @ 4:19 pm #
That’s not what I meant. The Democrat split (and the Whig remnant Constitutional Union Party) is what makes it appear that he was the “third party candidate” that today’s promoters of the idea like to claim. Lincoln won a electoral landslide (although the two Democrats combined won a larger percentage of the popular vote).
Comment by newrouter on 7/3 @ 4:20 pm #
sarah is not forcing you to do anything. now O! that’s someone trying to force you to do something
Comment by Carin on 7/3 @ 4:26 pm #
Do I think she should run in 2012? No.
Do I think we should allow anyone else to ever “Palinize” another Conservative (woman) ? HELLS NO.
I think she can still be very effective for the party. Just not as a Prez nominee.
She can kick some ass.
Comment by Spiny Norman on 7/3 @ 4:30 pm #
Carin,
Oh, I agree. I have no problem with Sarah Palin doing the fundraiser circuit – in fact, I would encourage it – but the Democrqat bootlicking Media has (quite deliberately) destroyed her career in elective office.
Comment by Joe on 7/3 @ 4:32 pm #
I wonder if she is having discussions with Fox on having her own show. She could be very effective in that role, better than Huckabee. That would actually be a great forum for her to strike back.
I agree with Carin we need to protect all conservatives against the type of attacks Palin was forced to endure.
Comment by Darleen on 7/3 @ 4:34 pm #
Carin
Sarah Palin just removed herself and her family as target of the Left … in the usual “if it bleeds it leads” part of the MSM even before partisanship, they refuse to take her statements at face value.
She can go out and deliver on the speech and fundraiser circuits … she can help other conservatives be elected to office. By 2012, if the GOP recaptures the White House (won’t be easy because as we’ve seen over and over again, most recently in Minnesotta, if the election is close the Democrats will steal it) look to her to have a prominent appointment with an eye of running for Pres in 2020 (in her mid-50’s she will still be young enough and most of her kids will be adults).
Comment by Joe on 7/3 @ 4:35 pm #
Capt. Ed a bit harsh, I would have expected this from Allah.
Comment by Darleen on 7/3 @ 4:37 pm #
Spiny
I think a good part of the problem was that the McCain campaign ill-served her. They didn’t prepare her for the national stage and the kind of vicious media she would face and they’ve used HER as a scapegoat ever since. They refuse to face the reality that McCain came as close as he did to beating Obama ONLY BECAUSE Palin was on the ticket.
I know I’m not the only one that voted for Palin not McCain.
F**K the McCains
Comment by Spiny Norman on 7/3 @ 4:38 pm #
Rather than protect them as if they were shrinking violets, be prepared to counter the attacks effectively, something that wasn’t done this time. I think everyone involved in the McCain campaign was caught off-guard with the viciousness of the attack (as if they somehow expected any sense of honor or fairness from their erstwhile Media buddies).
Comment by Joe on 7/3 @ 4:41 pm #
Spiny, she is no shrinking violet. So I agree, the best defense is a good offense that anticipates this sort of attack and shuts it down.
Comment by Spiny Norman on 7/3 @ 4:42 pm #
That, and they tried to make her speak and answer media questions as The McCain Campaign, rather than as Sarah Palin. The awkwardness at the time seemed obvious to me.
Comment by dicentra on 7/3 @ 4:43 pm #
I think everyone involved in the McCain campaign was caught off-guard with the viciousness of the attack
That’s because McCain is delusional about the nature of the media, especially when it comes to his “I wanna be one of the kewl kids!” relationship with them. If they weren’t so delusional, they’d never have allowed Sarah to do any edited interview EVER.
Note to the ‘pubs: Never allow the MSM to have the last word. Never give an interview that they will edit before broadcasting. Don’t trust them AT ALL.
Comment by royf on 7/3 @ 4:44 pm #
I agree Spiny from her statement I think she is doing this partly because she wants to take on her critics head on and doesn’t think she could or should do that as Governor.
Comment by serr8d on 7/3 @ 4:45 pm #
This is good news. Let the left (and some of those on the right, those I don’t like) pile up in one corner; we’ll meet ‘em in the middle. It’s time to pick sides. I’ve no hesitation backing Sarah Palin.
Comment by Ella on 7/3 @ 4:48 pm #
Rick Ballard @ 18, Lincoln didn’t quit any elective office in the middle of his term. If he had, that would have finished him off.
Changing parties isn’t a big deal: Lincoln did, Reagan did, Lieberman did in a roundabout way, in my local politics Wes Watkins did twice (Dem to Ind to Rep) and served in the US Congress as all three. But quitting in the middle of your term is destructive to serving in office again. I bet she will be a great fundraiser and commentator, but I simply don’t see her getting elected to anything national, or even state-level, again. (Unless she has truly heinous personal reasons like a serious illness, which I hope isn’t the case.)
Look, I’m a contractor. If I tell a client that I’m really just not up to finishing my job and bail 75% into the job, what are the odds that that guy will ever use my services again? And he’s be justified. She was elected to serve for 4 years. If she’s ill, it’s a gimme. Any other reason, including her terrible and hate-filled press coverage, really isn’t a forgiveable reason for resigning.
If she wanted to put her state’s interests first she could have stopped traveling around the country, quit doing national press interviews, and focused on the work at home. Ditasteful as they were, she could have ignored the Lettermans and Sullivans and weird photoshopping bloggers of the world, and done her elected business.
If this is the only decision she felt like she could make, then I respect and understand that. But what she is admitting with this decision is that she cannot handle the pressure that she would be put under as president. It’s not like the media would get nicer if she were elected.
Comment by happyfeet on 7/3 @ 4:49 pm #
She could do a cooking show.
Comment by chasing waterfalls on 7/3 @ 4:51 pm #
#41 It’s fun and all to talk OUTLAW on this sight. But exactly how do we stop it next time? She brought out THOUSANDS and it didn’t make a difference against the hate machine. We have no power against what Sarah calls this “political bloodsport.” What EXACTLY will we do to protect the next potential leader who seems to have some strength and honor?
A great many of us instinctually understand Palin – thus the hope and support we threw her way. What an unusual animal – the servant leader in politics. Here is what I think about Palin at this moment: she understands – from the inside — the forces that are at work to bring this country to its knees. She truly loves the exceptional values that have defined this country – from the perspective of the liberty loving Alaskan and a citizen leader – in a deep and abiding way. She will be working to enlighten the country, unhampered from political bloodsport, about what our country will look like if we don’t wake up. She will do it for her children’s future, for Wasilla, for Alaska and for all the ungrateful wretches in the lower 48.
The left, Democrats, the press, all hate middle America. I believe a great deal of Republicans do as well. They want our backs, our work, our money – but they despise us. We saw it played out in Sarah Palin’s story. She has thicker skin than I. I personally will never forget. She has inpsired me to pay a price for my independence, liberty, and a country I deeply love as well. My fight is on.
Comment by serr8d on 7/3 @ 4:55 pm #
She can handle the pressure, Ella. It’s not fair to Alaskans to be just a simple pawn played in Presidential Politics. Both Alaska and Sarah will be much better off after this separation I think. Alaska because their interests aren’t so much the interests of the lower 48; Sarah because she’s far beyond Alaska’s simple requirements. I think she’ll move to the mainland and improve her readiness.
A chess analogy: Knights perform better if they are centrally placed. On the edges or in the corners, there’s not much room to maneuver.
Comment by Dash Rendar on 7/3 @ 4:55 pm #
Feh. I think its Liz Cheney’s turn.
Comment by Joe on 7/3 @ 4:57 pm #
McCain thought his years of being mavericky with the media would work in his favor. Get what, when given the chance they knocked the old man down and stabbed him with their steely knives…oh Jeez, I am channeling The Eagles now!
I better be careful or they will come after me for copywrite infringement.
Comment by royf on 7/3 @ 4:57 pm #
I wonder Ella why you can’t accept her explanation that she did not think the people of Alaska should have to put up with the distraction and cost of this obscene personal assault. These people are coming after her using Alaskan’s money to do it, In addition to the amount of time required to defend against it.
Sounds reasonable even honorable to me, And it allows her to go after the slime artist directly without it blowing back on the Alaska Government.
Comment by happyfeet on 7/3 @ 4:59 pm #
Liz Cheney!
Comment by Rick Ballard on 7/3 @ 4:59 pm #
Ella,
Only time will tell. I’m unwilling to count her out until she says she’s out. Chasing Waterfalls is not alone in the sentiment expressed. The attack upon Palin is very close to unprecedented. One might look at Jefferson’s scurrilous anonymous attacks upon Adams as being comparable but even Jefferson never reached the depths achieved by Alinskyite acolytes over the past two years.
Comment by chasing waterfalls on 7/3 @ 5:00 pm #
Lis Cheney – Ivy league degree I hope. How will we protect HER?
Sarah cares for much more than going after at the slime artists. She just wants out of their clutches to do the real work of saving this country.
Comment by newrouter on 7/3 @ 5:02 pm #
O! and hillary were elected to 6 years senate terms. yea let’s move the goal posts
Comment by happyfeet on 7/3 @ 5:03 pm #
She could be a spokesperson for UNICEF.
Comment by chasing waterfalls on 7/3 @ 5:04 pm #
What about Obama’s voting “present” or campaigning through a great deal of the term he was voted to serve as a junior senator? Why is that more honorable?
BTW – these people will not save us. None of them. I am tired of looking for our own “The One.” I choose to start saving myself. I want them off our backs.
Comment by SDN on 7/3 @ 5:04 pm #
Again two can play this game; the only question is whether conservatives can rediscover their inner Sam Adams.
Comment by royf on 7/3 @ 5:05 pm #
Well I didn’t mean to imply she was doing this just for the sole reason of going after slime artists. I agree I think she can be the Conservative voice this Country needs to hear. But I think she will go after the slime merchants, something I don’t think she was comfortable doing as Governor.
As I read her statement its clear what her intentions are and she has my support, Its a job that is greatly needed right now.
Comment by Molon Labe on 7/3 @ 5:06 pm #
Remember those Indian dudes who taunted the tiger at the SF Zoo a couple years ago? The it escaped and killed one of them and mauled the other two. That’s where the Dems are now.
Comment by serr8d on 7/3 @ 5:06 pm #
I considered a fashioning a pshop of Linda Kellen Biegel, the ‘Celtic Diva’ who pshopped Trig Palin. Then I saw her face.
There’s nothing I could do to make it any worse than it already is. My pity is great for that one.
Comment by Darleen on 7/3 @ 5:07 pm #
If I tell a client that I’m really just not up to finishing my job and bail 75% into the job, what are the odds that that guy will ever use my services again?
Ella, what if 75% into your job you found yourself spending 80% of your time having to do something ELSE? What if you could not serve your client effectively? Do you muddle along making excuses or do you hand over the reins to a trusted, competent partner and let that person finish with your client?
Does your ego mean more than serving the needs of your client?
Comment by chasing waterfalls on 7/3 @ 5:09 pm #
Yes – read her statement. Or watch it if you get the chance (sans teleprompter – from a backwater rube, no less).
Bottom up leadership. Remember that quaint notion? Imagine. No rulers. We need to be reminded.
Comment by Pablo on 7/3 @ 5:12 pm #
Ella, see Obama, Barack and Clinton, Hillary both of whom vowed to serve out their Senate terms. Also Mark Sanford who would do his state a service by resigning.
Comment by Joe on 7/3 @ 5:12 pm #
Never forgive and never forget. What they did to Sarah Palin they will try on the next conservative candidate.
Was Steve Schmidt right? No. Steve Schmidt looks like a short fat penis.
But Schmidt shows you have to be on guard for the internal shiv attack too.
Comment by newrouter on 7/3 @ 5:17 pm #
here
Comment by SBP on 7/3 @ 5:20 pm #
The Democrat split (and the Whig remnant Constitutional Union Party) is what makes it appear that he was the “third party candidate” that today’s promoters of the idea like to claim.
I’m not really sure what you’re getting at here.
There were actually four candidates who won electoral votes in that election.
Lincoln was the first presidential candidate of a six year old party.
The analogy seems clear to me.
What else is clear to me (and many others) is that the Republican party no longer represents our interests, to the extent that it ever did.
Comment by B Moe on 7/3 @ 5:24 pm #
I love you ‘feets but you are looking at this too much from an insider perspective when it comes to the marketing angle. I think Palin needs to do exactly the opposite. To follow her instincts, communicate with her people on her terms, and not think of it as a fucking marketing campaign. There are a lot of us out here that are sick of that shit, we know the difference between new and improved washing soap and politicians and are resentful as hell of being treated like we don’t.
Comment by happyfeet on 7/3 @ 5:26 pm #
happy palin family laughing and happy palin family holding hands
Comment by Joe on 7/3 @ 5:26 pm #
B Moe is right, the best way to be effective is to be true to yourself. You can fake sincerity. Ask Mitt Romney.
Comment by happyfeet on 7/3 @ 5:27 pm #
oh. Sorry. I should have refreshed.
Comment by Joe on 7/3 @ 5:29 pm #
Given all this talk about Palin and Alaska and such, I suddenly got hungry.
Comment by RD on 7/3 @ 5:32 pm #
What Ed said. Not that it matters, since most of her hardcore fans will interpret such a conspicuous public meltdown as surely being a Sign From God.
Comment by happyfeet on 7/3 @ 5:33 pm #
hmm. B Moe I am a lot of the conviction that why the dirty socialist Hungarian muppet is playing pezzydent is 95% because of marketing. Sarah Palin is a damaged brand. We all stood there and watched it happen. I’m not saying the best marketing approach isn’t to position he brand as sincere and forthright, but I would absolutely seriously be lying if I said I could conceptualize Sarah Palin’s next steps with the public in any other terminology than marketing ones. I’ve lost so much this year B Moe please don’t take that away from me too.
Comment by happyfeet on 7/3 @ 5:34 pm #
*her brand* that should be
Comment by SBP on 7/3 @ 5:34 pm #
Hey, SFAG: did you ever come up with one of those “embarrassing” interviews?
Didn’t think so.
Comment by Darleen on 7/3 @ 5:36 pm #
RD thinks Mark Sanford is the bee’s knees.
Comment by newrouter on 7/3 @ 5:37 pm #
hey capt’n ed how about Budd Dwyer suicide video
Comment by TmjUtah on 7/3 @ 5:37 pm #
“Remote possiblity: she’s gearing up to start a third party. Quixotic, perhaps, but I can’t think of anyone who’s in a better position to do it.”
Look – I’m prone to over-the-top, and own up to it. So I’ll try to make this as succinct, sane, and brief as possible
I agree with SBP to the extent that the Left as a whole hates Sarah Palin worse than al Qaeda hates a Jew, hates her more than they ever did Reagan or G.W. Bush, and they hate her because she is the one national figure they recognize as a mortal threat. Governor or no, she’s going to plow an endless row of twenty feet of shit in any political existence, so remaining governor really would be a disservice to her state. I don’t know if third party would work.
I know I don’t have a party any more. I’m not alone.
She announced her resignation hours ago. So we’ve got talking heads from all directions left, right, center, passing sentence on her career – all the while muttering “what is she up to???”.
I propose that the issues that will define our next several national elections are going to outstrip the ability of any existing party/interest group/agitators to neatly script, as I believe has been the case for most of my life, which I began to notice with Carter.
The phrase “Real problems demand real solutions” is going to be a living, breathing monster.
I do believe that Obama’s purpose is destruction. I do believe he intends the destruction of the bedrock institutions of our liberty. I do believe that his ‘handlers’ are aware of his objectives and have persuaded themselves that their cut will be worth the damage they are abetting.
Or that they share the same goals. Axelrod and Emmanuel certainly do.
Even if the earth opened up and swallowed DC tomorrow, the damage already done is so deep and so insidious that it will take decades of unabashedly, unashamedly moral and ethical leadership to begin to repair the damage.
Don’t know if Mrs. Palin is wanting to sign up for that. I wouldn’t.
I fully intend to survive the madness rising in our country.
Expect?
Not so much.
Good luck, Mrs. Palin. Whatever you decide.
I rather think she’s going to say hello to Mr. Galt, myself, but that’s just a guess.
Comment by easyliving1 on 7/3 @ 5:37 pm #
Does anyone here know of another instance of someone halting their activities because of threats to their child or family?
Surely each situation that this happens is horrible and unique.
Comment by Darleen on 7/3 @ 5:39 pm #
RD’s latest 69.181.137.92
Comment by newrouter on 7/3 @ 5:40 pm #
if you’re running rethug in 2010 who do you want helping you fund raise: mcsame or palin?
Comment by RD on 7/3 @ 5:40 pm #
Heh. newrouter wins the thread.
Comment by Big D on 7/3 @ 5:42 pm #
#
Comment by Darleen on 7/3 @ 3:41 pm #
by 2012 I’d like to see Palin take Michael Steele’s place. heh.
Ding Ding Ding… Winner!
As much as I like Sarah Palin, she’s never going to be President. However, she has tremendous potential as the head of the national party. Imagine, a strong personality, not afraid to call a spade a spade, who also has a tremendous ability to draw to the fundraisers.
I think the other possibility is that she is tired of the spotlight and all it entails. Personally, I would never put up with half the crap these folks put up with.
Comment by JHo on 7/3 @ 5:46 pm #
Explains the dearth of integrity in the Beltway, but I state the obvious.
Comment by Big D on 7/3 @ 5:47 pm #
I have to say that I don’t think RD is meya. Meya is clueless, but at least she is sincere. This RD has a malevolent nature about him that I don’t get from meya. Of course, meya could have a personality disorder that I’m unaware of.
At any rate, FOAD RD.
Comment by B Moe on 7/3 @ 5:47 pm #
I can’t, nor do I want to take anything away from you. I am just saying if it has gotten to the point that politics is nothing but marketing any more I think we are all fucked.
But that is just my opinion, and we all know what that is worth.
Comment by happyfeet on 7/3 @ 5:49 pm #
My conviction in my heart is that we need someone to make the case for not dirty socialism. My other conviction in my same heart is that the dirty socialist response to the making of the case for not dirty socialism will be diversion and distraction, abetted to an even more unprecedented degree by the dirty socialist media. Sarah Palin is a diversion and distraction magnet.
Comment by steveaz on 7/3 @ 5:50 pm #
Ella @#53,
Sarah Palin has just made a brilliant move. I respect her all the more for it, and I think that the move makes her a potent personality in American politics for decades to come.
For those who think otherwise, here’re a couple of things to contemplate about people who choose to quit elected office.
1. We’ve all heard the saying “Quit while you’re ahead,” right? Sarah Palin has been a successful Governor for Alaska; she nearly won a national, Vice-Presidential election, and she has a huge number of tangible achievements under her belt. Looking forward two years, she could only expect nothing but tawdry, paid media campaigns aimed at diminishing the value of those achievements, and at attacking the persons dear to her. She will spare her family, co-workers and friends a lot of unnecessary trauma by resigning.
2. Public relations sometimes calls for sudden, attention-grabbing moves. By leaving suddenly on a high, but after suffering the slings and arrows of an overtly choreographed slander campaign, she’s coaxing the Left’s slime merchants to shadow-box with their old phony caricatures of her accomplishments, or to languish in the cold, incriminating silence that follows. She’s just a mother and citizen now, no different than you or me, and her resignation makes it plain that much of what has passed as media inquiry in the last presidential election was only Little Jack Horner media thumbing his own pie in the corner. I call that an effective public-relations stunt.
3. Last, if you care deeply about governing ethics and obeying committee bylaws, then sitting on elected committees can be limiting to the freeman. Many people resign committees knowingly to work towards goals that require tactics that would otherwise impeach them. I think this may be the case with Sarah. Whether Sarah plans on running for national office in 2012, or to chair new, State’s Rights civics groups, or to start a new, pro-American media company, she is completely unfettered now by gag orders, conflict-of-interest statutes and limits on proxy-efforts. I sure wish more committee officers demonstrated similar to devotion to ethics.
I’d like to end by touch on your contractor-metaphor: I think you’re forgetting another important fact of private contracting when drawing your comparison. Every contractor (myself included) has experienced the grinding, dehabilitating effects of working for an abusive, indecisive client. The classic example is the story of the Frigidaire repairman who finds himself hired by the wife but endlessly berated by the husband, and who quits out of sheer self-preservation. In Sarah’s case, she’s suffered the media’s inane poo-flinging AND fixed the ice-maker in Alaska’s Kelvinator, and, I think it is a sign that she thinks we all know this that she resigned when she did.
Cheers,
-Steve
Comment by Joe on 7/3 @ 5:50 pm #
Steve Schmidt
Just because. Good luck Sarah and good luck to your family. I know this is the start of something, it might not be a presidential run, it might be something else.
Comment by B Moe on 7/3 @ 5:51 pm #
I don’t know how old most of you are, but I remember Reagan being written off repeatedly throughout his career. I remember folks telling me about Nixon getting written off. I saw Clinton get tossed after his convention speech in ‘88. He blew it, everybody agreed.
Hell, what kind of odds could I have gotten on Obama being President two or three years ago?
Comment by B Moe on 7/3 @ 5:52 pm #
If I were Palin I would hire a good booking agent and start giving speeches. Lots of them.
Comment by steveaz on 7/3 @ 5:55 pm #
Ooops! [...]Debilitating[...]
gulp!
Comment by B Moe on 7/3 @ 5:57 pm #
But as you just stated, any one who goes against them will be that magnet, by virtue of going against them. It is a paradox that we have to fight by flanking them. Working within the system doesn’t work if the system is broken.
Comment by Big D on 7/3 @ 5:59 pm #
Politics as marketing? Hell yes. Look who we just elected. The first American Idol President.
Was he elected for his experience or his policy prescriptions? No, he could give a fine speech and unfortunately that was enough. The man was elected based on bumper sticker slogans. That does not bode well for the republic.
Comment by honest aBe Moe on 7/3 @ 6:01 pm #
I know that marketing works on some of the people most of the time, I just hope it doesn’t work on most of the people all of the time.
Comment by RD on 7/3 @ 6:01 pm #
I’m really flattered that you’re stalking me, but I would appreciate a photo at least. Who knows, I might even let you catch me.
.
Comment by SBP on 7/3 @ 6:02 pm #
If I were Palin I would hire a good booking agent and start giving speeches. Lots of them.
Yes – also the talk show. Speeches are good for the faithful. Talk shows reach the low information voters.
Comment by SBP on 7/3 @ 6:03 pm #
I’m really flattered that you’re stalking me
Hmm… so just who here is switching names and IP addresses to keep from being identified?
Hint: not Darleen.
Comment by B Moe on 7/3 @ 6:07 pm #
Talk shows you are still dealing with the status quo. Take it to the streets.
Comment by Rusty on 7/3 @ 6:09 pm #
#81
What Ed said. Not that it matters, since most of her hardcore fans will interpret such a conspicuous public meltdown as surely being a Sign From God.
You mean Obama?
Comment by happyfeet on 7/3 @ 6:17 pm #
Working within the system doesn’t work if the system is broken.
Good point. But Sarah and, err, SarahPAC haven’t shown me they get that. We’ll see. Maybe she’ll write a book. That could be very very helpful. We’ll see.
Comment by geoffb on 7/3 @ 6:18 pm #
We don’t do what the Republicans did in the 1850s anymore. What we do now is internal revolution or a coup, depending on how it takes place, and that changes the Party while keeping the ‘brand name”.
Goldwater and the conservatives behind him did one in 1964. He didn’t get the Presidency but it was more about changing the Party. That lead to Reagan in 1976 challenging the imcumbent Ford and then running in 1980 to victory.
The Democrats also did one. The “New Left” in 1968 started the coup. It lead to the McGovern nomination. He lost but the Left remained in control of the Party itself and that eventually spawned Clinton and now Obama.
The Republican Party is ripe for a major overhaul. 1976 again.
Comment by Big D on 7/3 @ 6:22 pm #
RD,
Last I checked the door was open. Being here of your own volition does not equal stalking. Don’t like something here? You’re free to leave. I would invite you to do so.
Comment by geoffb on 7/3 @ 6:24 pm #
69.181.137.92
In his Mom’s basement again. Must love that sea breeze coming off the bay.
Switching IPs while using the same name is, what, supposed to impress that he/she has dozens of accounts spread over the world? Or maybe RD is several people all using the same name. Happened before here.
Comment by Darleen on 7/3 @ 6:27 pm #
RD: 79.136.50.205
Funny definition you have of stalking there … but heck, ain’t one of the Left’s strategies is to make words what they want them to mean?
Comment by Spiny Norman on 7/3 @ 6:27 pm #
Except there were still only TWO major parties. The Democrats and the Republicans. Before that, it was the Democrats and the Whigs. Lincoln was the candidate of a major party, NOT a “new, who-the-hell-are-they third party” is my point. Besides, that was also almost 150 years ago. Since then, no third party candidate has done anything except ensure a Democrat victory. That’s a more than long enough record to go by.
Comment by Joe on 7/3 @ 6:30 pm #
B Moe, you may be right about Palin. I am not sure it will work, but it is way too early to count her out.
Comment by newrouter on 7/3 @ 6:31 pm #
here
Comment by TmjUtah on 7/3 @ 6:33 pm #
Psst -
“Since then, no third party candidate has done anything except ensure a Democrat victory.”
I think algore might disagree with you there.
Comment by geoffb on 7/3 @ 6:33 pm #
led not lead in #111.
Comment by Darleen on 7/3 @ 6:35 pm #
97.Comment by steveaz on 7/3 @ 5:50 pm
Spot-on, steveaz.
Andy Sullivan will never let go of his Trig Trutherism and Vagina Warriors will continue to titter and lie about the Palins faith and sex lives, but as Private Citizen Palin their smears will no longer affect that state of AK.
She can retreat to recharge her batteries, surround herself with decent advisors and tutors and go out and help get other conservatives elected.
Certainly the Obama admin was never going to let AK prosper as long as Palin was Governor.
Comment by B Moe on 7/3 @ 6:44 pm #
I like the thousand or so comments at HuffPo reminding themselves how insignificant she is.
Comment by newrouter on 7/3 @ 6:53 pm #
“”Let a hundred flowers blossom”. This slogan was used during the period of approximately six weeks in the summer of 1957 when the Chinese intelligentsia were invited to criticize the political system then obtaining in Communist China.”
here
Comment by meya on 7/3 @ 7:00 pm #
“What she should do, in my opinion, is get a national talk show.”
Indeed. She needs to take on Oprah. She could start by having her family on!
Comment by Nishi of the Nightfall on 7/3 @ 7:04 pm #
Now showing in my crystal ball.
She waz in BEEG hurry.
Did you see the look on Sean’s face?
hahahaha
guess we’ll find out monday.
;)
Comment by Darleen on 7/3 @ 7:05 pm #
well, meya, unlike Oprah, Sarah actually has a family.
Comment by JHo on 7/3 @ 7:05 pm #
Only if the thing was scripted! Hope and
Changesmarmy!Comment by JHo on 7/3 @ 7:07 pm #
Re: 126, when Helen Thomas busts Press Smarmy Gibbs, well…
Comment by JHo on 7/3 @ 7:07 pm #
But, you know, Palin! Family! Virtue!
Comment by Pablo on 7/3 @ 7:09 pm #
She looks awfully happy.
Comment by JHo on 7/3 @ 7:10 pm #
Impossible, Pablo.
Comment by Pablo on 7/3 @ 7:11 pm #
Ah, yes, nishi. The 115,487th scandal will stick!
Idiot.
Comment by dicentra on 7/3 @ 7:16 pm #
Just for fun, from Velociman:
Comment by Pablo on 7/3 @ 7:17 pm #
Huh. Landstuhl. Has Baracky been there yet? He was just in Germany, wasn’t he?
Comment by Pablo on 7/3 @ 7:19 pm #
Hey, Sean Parnell brought his daughters to the press conference! Get ‘em!
Comment by Big D on 7/3 @ 7:21 pm #
So meya, how’s this? A stay at home Mom sees something she doesn’t like. Runs for city council and wins. Runs for Mayor and wins. Sees something in the “old boy” network that she doesn’t like and runs for governor. Wins there and takes on her own party, making enemies along the way. Gets plucked up from obscurity to run as VP.
Never, not once, does she rely on her husband or father, nor any other man in her life. Everything she has done politically, she has done herself. She stands as a shining beacon to all women who believe they can make it on their own. And you…what….try to destroy her. If you had an ounce of it in your body you would hang your head in shame.
A woman made it on her own and you and your ilk did your level best to destroy her. Call yourself anything you like, but never call yourself a feminist.
Comment by JHo on 7/3 @ 7:22 pm #
Ouch.
Comment by dicentra on 7/3 @ 7:25 pm #
Big D @135
I concur with JHO: that’s gotta leave a mark.
Trouble is, meya and her ilk can call themselves feminists, because feminism is no longer about helping women, it’s about domination through political means, just like all the other leftist causes are. Sarah threatens their power structure, so she has to go. Her being a woman with children only makes her a juicier target.
This is why many women hesitate to call themselves feminists.
Comment by JHo on 7/3 @ 7:29 pm #
Read: “Feminism” is so Eighties. When’s the next election again?
Comment by newrouter on 7/3 @ 7:32 pm #
happy 4th of july
here
Comment by Pablo on 7/3 @ 7:41 pm #
I’m kinda hoping the fire the big missile and we blow the sumbitch out of the shy. There’s nothing like an impressive fireworks display…if Baracky lets us have one.
Comment by SBP on 7/3 @ 7:43 pm #
Lincoln was the candidate of a major party, NOT a “new, who-the-hell-are-they third party” is my point.
The Republican Party was six years old at the time. It was new. I don’t see how anyone could argue otherwise, frankly.
Do you have any idea how much of the Republican base would jump ship if Palin started a third party?
I don’t, but I’d wager that it would be substantial.
I think there are a lot of people who voted Democrat who are tired of the fascist wing of that party as well.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Comment by Pablo on 7/3 @ 7:43 pm #
They, sky, etc…
Apparently, this stuff makes your typing fail.
Comment by SBP on 7/3 @ 7:44 pm #
Indeed. She needs to take on Oprah.
She’s your worst nightmare, SFAG, and she’s not going to go away.
Sorry.
Comment by SBP on 7/3 @ 7:47 pm #
She waz in BEEG hurry.
She’s your worst nightmare as well, murder grrrrl.
She has everything that you and SFAG have none of, and never will have.
Beauty, brains, common sense, a loving family, and a meaningful life.
Comment by geoffb on 7/3 @ 7:48 pm #
Dueling News companies.
Comment by newrouter on 7/3 @ 8:03 pm #
President Reagan – Government is the Problem
Comment by Bob Reed on 7/3 @ 8:19 pm #
I for one will give her the benefit of the doubt until she chooses to further explain her sudden decision to resign.
I admired, and still admire, Sarah Palin and feel like she could make a difference in our nation…
She has been savaged by the press, and enemies with their spurios ethics charges, for simply living her life; imagine if there is something really gone wrong for her. Imagine the field day that all of the usual suspects on the far left would have with any actual malady that had befallen her or someone close to her…
I disgree strongly with the cynical viewpoints of the punditocray, such as Cap’n Ed, Allah, and many others, who have decreed her finished in politics…
I choose to wait and see, and until then maintain the high opinion I have of her…
Comment by Nishi of the Nightfall on 7/3 @ 8:22 pm #
hahaha
I am an elite.
Sarah Palin is my sworn enemy.
Do you know your enemy?
Comment by cynn on 7/3 @ 8:24 pm #
I refuse to speculate, even though it’s irresponible not to.
Comment by Nishi of the Nightfall on 7/3 @ 8:25 pm #
Your tears taste delicious SBP.
Comment by newrouter on 7/3 @ 8:27 pm #
so is anyone up to speculating about elliot spitzer D. NY or jefferson D. LA or Murtha D. PA?
Comment by Pablo on 7/3 @ 8:28 pm #
FTFY.
Comment by newrouter on 7/3 @ 8:29 pm #
can we speculate about clinton D. NY? i’ll pass
Comment by newrouter on 7/3 @ 8:30 pm #
cynn gyn/ob
Comment by cynn on 7/3 @ 8:31 pm #
Oh, I spelled irresponsible incorrectly. You didn’t fix that for me, Mr. PablO!.
Comment by Spiny Norman on 7/3 @ 8:32 pm #
Ohforchrisssakes. Now I know you are deliberately ignoring my point. Only if the Whig Party was intact and fielded a candidate could Lincoln be a considered a “third party candidate”.
Fuck. I feel like I’m arguing with a three-year old.
Comment by Pablo on 7/3 @ 8:32 pm #
I am not your grammar nazi, cynn. Call upon The One if you require absolution.
Comment by Big D on 7/3 @ 8:32 pm #
Kate, see #135. Now STFU and go fix me a turkey pot pie.
Comment by Big D on 7/3 @ 8:33 pm #
You can refer to 135 as well, cynn.
Comment by cynn on 7/3 @ 8:33 pm #
OK, I refuse to speculum. That’s as close as I want to get to these wolverines.
Comment by Big D on 7/3 @ 8:34 pm #
Just playing by your rules. Those uppity wimmins got to know their place.
Comment by JHo on 7/3 @ 8:35 pm #
If only you knew why and could defend it.
Comment by Nishi of the Nightfall on 7/3 @ 8:36 pm #
Its instinctive, JHo.
Comment by Pablo on 7/3 @ 8:37 pm #
nishi doesn’t like real women. Artificial women are more her speed.
Comment by Darleen on 7/3 @ 8:37 pm #
yes Nishi Mengele, we know why Sarah is your enemy … she dared NOT abort her baby. That she gave birth and LOVES Trig scares and angers you.
Comment by JHo on 7/3 @ 8:40 pm #
What about you isn’t?
Comment by JHo on 7/3 @ 8:41 pm #
You know, primal, reflexive, reactionary, unthought.
Comment by cynn on 7/3 @ 8:42 pm #
Wow, PablO!’s getting all formal and whatnot.
Comment by Pablo on 7/3 @ 8:43 pm #
Your basic animalistic hate. How elitist.
Comment by newrouter on 7/3 @ 8:46 pm #
does andy sullivan speculate?
Comment by dicentra on 7/3 @ 8:49 pm #
go fix me a turkey pot pie.
MMMmmmmm. Turkey pot pie, even though I just had me the Founder’s Favorite at Stone Cold Creamery.
Comment by dicentra on 7/3 @ 8:50 pm #
Sweet cream ice cream, pecans, brownie, caramel, fudge sauce, white-chocolate waffle dish.
Comment by cynn on 7/3 @ 8:51 pm #
Well, Sarah Palin is not my enemy. In my opinion, she has been served a giant wedge of incomprehensible hate by the hard left. Unfortunately, she went into pitbull mode which only added to her woes. Bless her intentions, and I wish the best for her and her family.
Comment by JHo on 7/3 @ 8:54 pm #
Where was this pitbull mode, cynn?
Comment by SBP on 7/3 @ 8:57 pm #
Your tears taste delicious SBP.
I’m not the one who’s going to die a bitter, lonely failure, nishbot.
Comment by SBP on 7/3 @ 9:03 pm #
Only if the Whig Party was intact and fielded a candidate could Lincoln be a considered a “third party candidate”.
Fuck. I feel like I’m arguing with a three-year old.
In other words, you have no response.
Yes, the Whig Party collapsed.
No, it didn’t automagically turn into the Republican Party. A sizable chunk of the former Whigs went to the Constitutional Union Party, which got the third highest number of electoral votes in the election. The rest of the Whigs (pro-slavery Southerners, mostly) wound up becoming Democrats after the Civil War.
The Republicans were a new party which achieved the highest national office a mere six years after their founding.
That’s a fact.
It’s also a fact that a huge number of people are dissatisfied with the Dem/Rep business as usual crowd.
Comment by newrouter on 7/3 @ 9:06 pm #
does O! have a pit bull fits the “holy” narrative
Comment by Seth on 7/3 @ 9:07 pm #
I take her statement at face value: her governorship was stymied by oppo research and bogus ethics complaints. Far from being the end of her, I think her natural constituancy will see this as a leader of integrity acting in the state’s best interest, not in the interest of vanity.
My ardent hope: that she kicks the Republican party to the curb as it so richly deserves and advocates for conservative principles and canidates, be it in a new party or as an independent. Quixotic or not.
Comment by cynn on 7/3 @ 9:08 pm #
JHo: The pitbull thing could be lain to rest right with this resignation. Pulled a lot of rugs from under many hopefuls. Also, her exchange with David Letterman and beyond didn’t do her any favors.
Comment by newrouter on 7/3 @ 9:08 pm #
how is “steve shit” former aid to mcsame a rethuglican? hey vote colin bowel
Comment by newrouter on 7/3 @ 9:10 pm #
cause making jokes about raping 14 yos is so cynn
Comment by Darleen on 7/3 @ 9:14 pm #
, her exchange with David Letterman and beyond didn’t do her any favors.
Really cynn? Challenging someone who on national tv making a “joke” about one’s 14 year old daughter being raped is Not.To.Be.Done?
Bizzaro world indeed
Comment by geoffb on 7/3 @ 9:17 pm #
I can’t wait till the real clown weighs in. Senator Smalley increasing the “cognitive ability” of the Senate. Professionalized.
Comment by cynn on 7/3 @ 9:17 pm #
Who the fuck cares.
Comment by Big D on 7/3 @ 9:19 pm #
I used to be an absolute misogynist until I….what…grew up. I not only love my wife, but respect her as well. I have four sons who I am raising to do the same. They will love, honor, and respect their wives.
I also have a daughter. She will be raised to believe that she can accomplish anything she so desires. Having four older brothers, she will be well versed in men.
Sarah Palin is an example of what she could become. A self made woman, she did it all on her own. That is what I hope my daughter would aspire to be.
Palin is everything you will never be, Kate. Everything she has, she earned. All that she has accomplished, she accomplished on her own. That is why you hate her so.
Regardless of what happens now, I will point my daughter in her direction.
Comment by JHo on 7/3 @ 9:22 pm #
You brought it up, cynn. Would be nice if you could back it up too.
That isn’t backing it up: Unless this really is bizarro world, in the Lafferman/Palin tension, I think “pit bulls” are a heck of a lot more civil than gentlemanly old late night hosts. You? Funny that.
Comment by JHo on 7/3 @ 9:30 pm #
And that Charlie Gibson and his size thirteens and his schoolmarmish spectacles and his sniveling condescention? No Obie interview, that.
I lost all respect for that twerp right there and then. Pasture. Out.
Comment by guinsPen on 7/3 @ 9:32 pm #
Sweet cream ice cream, pecans, brownie, caramel, fudge sauce, white-chocolate waffle dish.
Mmmm.
And for dessert?
Comment by guinsPen on 7/3 @ 9:35 pm #
Deseret, blast.
Comment by thor on 7/3 @ 9:49 pm #
Aww, Sister Palin went out a burpin’ and wallin’.
Another one bites the dust.
Comment by thor on 7/3 @ 9:50 pm #
wailin’
Comment by Joe on 7/3 @ 9:52 pm #
You would think thor, RD, Semanticleo and meya would support Palin…
Because they are retarded.
Comment by Challeron on 7/3 @ 9:57 pm #
I dunno…. Maybe I’ve had too much to drink, but I’m seeing something in Palin’s resignation today that a whole lot of you seem to be overlooking…. Try listening to what she actually said, without adding your own interpretations (gee, isn’t that what this website was supposed to be all about?); and consider that she made this anouncement — which was carried by every MSM outlet — the day before all of those Fourth-Of-July TEA parties: For some reason I’m reminded of an old story about Stinz, by Donna Barr, titled Freed Elections … and I’m wondering what all of those largely-rudderless TEA Partiers are going to be discussing tomorrow….
Comment by newrouter on 7/3 @ 9:58 pm #
#
#
Comment by thor on 7/3 @ 9:49 pm #
Aww, Sister michelle O!
Palinwent out a burpin’ and wallin’.Comment by Richard Bennett on 7/3 @ 10:01 pm #
Poor little Palin, the mean ole librul media just won’t leave her alone; I’m sure if she was president, those dudes in Korea, I-ran, and Communist Russia would be much more nicer to her.
I suspect we’ll be seeing some corruption charges shortly, and maybe an indictment. But it won’t be her fault, just a testament to how much Alaska loves its little Princess.
Comment by newrouter on 7/3 @ 10:04 pm #
there is some of us who think that sarah is a gatekeeper. unlike O! she’ll open the door to prosperity for her children and grandchildren. f**k buppies
Comment by Joe on 7/3 @ 10:05 pm #
Challeron, B Moe and others have made similar arguments earlier. I suppose that is true. But, I think she realized being governor was not going to work with her as a target. The more and more I think about it, she does want to run for President, but needs to raise serious money, make connections with other Republicans by helping campaigns raise money and through endorsements, etc. I am definitely not counting her out, but I worry this may have hurt her chances. But if she became a party leader, a conservative Howard Dean if you will, she could be very effective. And who knows, 2016 may be her time.
or alternatively, with all the personal attacks she just decided to put her family first and get out.
Comment by newrouter on 7/3 @ 10:06 pm #
richard=dick yes?
Comment by newrouter on 7/3 @ 10:07 pm #
against americorps and the IG O!?
Comment by Challeron on 7/3 @ 10:12 pm #
Actually, Joe, I’m not suggesting that she’s running for anything, now or at any near-future time. But the TEA Party Movement could use a, shall we say, symbol…. Listen to her speech again; particularly the six-minute piece that Fox reported on, later in the afternoon….
Comment by Pablo on 7/3 @ 10:14 pm #
I suspect you’re not paying attention, Dickie.
Ah, yes. Heed.
Comment by Richard Bennett on 7/3 @ 10:16 pm #
newrouter = hub yes?
Comment by SBP on 7/3 @ 10:19 pm #
And Dickbot shows up right on cue.
She scares you almost as much as she scares meya and nishi, doesn’t she?
Comment by thor on 7/3 @ 10:28 pm #
Poor Sarah, she picked up a penny behind a donkey and took a proper kickin’ to her pretty noggin’.
Bye Sarah, thanks for the laughs.
Comment by Richard Bennett on 7/3 @ 10:41 pm #
I feel so sad about being called mean names like “dick” and “dickie” (which no one ever did before!) I feel I must resign from this blog and go cry and pout and throw a tantrum. I am special, and will not be treated this way!
Heh heh heh.
Comment by SBP on 7/3 @ 10:43 pm #
I feel so sad about being called mean names like “dick”
I feel so sad that a (putatively) grown man is obsessed with Sarah Palin.
Someone much like her really shot you down in high school, eh?
Comment by Joe on 7/3 @ 10:57 pm #
She would make a hell of a symbol. Good point. The more I think about this, the more I think she is not running for elected political office, not yet, she intends to help the cause though. That help is needed.
Comment by Ella on 7/3 @ 11:00 pm #
Look, Palin supporters (early in the thread), you cannot have it both ways. You can’t say that I should take her at her word and she’s leaving because of a poisonous political climate and that this is a daring political move to launch her political star which burns too bright for the backwoods of Alaska.
If I take her at her word, it means that the persecution is too strong for her family to sustain anymore, something that is both sad and understandable. That also is a death knell for any future political career (aside from speaking or fundraising, like a retired Newt). It will not be any easier in the future. If she can’t take it now, she can’t take it in 2012. That’s not a criticism; the press and the GOP have united to be horrible to her. That is a statement of fact. My assessment of that fact (crappy future press coverage) is that she won’t have a political career.
If I don’t take her at her word and assume this is an opening gambit for a presidential bid, I think this is a terrible move. It is irresponsible and flaky to bail out of a commitment to her citizens and her state to start a three-year promotional tour.
Obama (and others – Napolitano, Sebelius, Granholm, etc.) did not do their sworn jobs well. That’s very true. They also didn’t quit. Whatever else they did crappy, they didn’t quit. (And there are more poor performers; John Sullivan, R-OK, taking off for his second round of rehab, Kennedy getting chemo. Whatever. They’re still in office.) And Hillary, at least, finished her first senate term.
There are grumblings that Palin is quitting because she can’t take the pressure of leading a state in an economic downturn. (Juan Williams, I think?) That doesn’t bode well. If she wants to cut her teeth on conservative leadership, actually leading as the executive of a state is the arena for it.
I mean this as a political assessment, not a comment on the wisdom or necessity of resigning for the sake of her family.
Comment by Richard Bennett on 7/3 @ 11:05 pm #
Actually, no. But someone like her shot John McCain down in America once.
Comment by The Monster on 7/3 @ 11:06 pm #
Obama literally quit his Senate job shortly after the election. Sebelius literally quit her job as Governor to take the HHS Secretary job.
Bob Dole resigned his Senate job to run for President, although that didn’t work out awfully well for him.
Comment by Seth on 7/3 @ 11:23 pm #
Ella, did we hear the same speech? I didn’t take it that she couldn’t take the heat, but rather that the heat was a distraction from her job, and that she felt that she could do more out of that office. She’s not running, we’re seeing an orderly transfer of power when the executive felt it was in the best interests of the STATE, not the self.
But, like I said, maybe we didn’t see the same speech.
Comment by Abe Froman on 7/3 @ 11:23 pm #
I feel so sad that a (putatively) grown man is obsessed with Sarah Palin.
Someone much like her really shot you down in high school, eh?
Check out the image of him on his website and you’ll have your answer. This guy maybe got to second base with a Bunsen Burner in high school.
Comment by Big D on 7/3 @ 11:28 pm #
Actually, no. But someone like her shot John McCain down in America once.
What the hell does that mean? Could someone translate that into sane for me?
Ella, All I can say is make up your own mind. Either she left for political reasons or she didn’t. She is a role model for my daughter either way.
Comment by Ella on 7/3 @ 11:29 pm #
Okay, Monster. Obama didn’t quit in 2005 – as in actually resign and leave office – so that he could campaign for three solid years. It would have political suicide to do that. W didn’t quit being governor of Texas in 1997; Clinton didn’t resign from being governor of Arkansas in 1989; Romney didn’t drop out of Massachusetts; Lieberman ran a senate campaign as well as running for VP in 2000; Bill Richardson didn’t quit being governor of Arizona; McCain is still in the Senate. Notice a trend? In point of fact, she didn’t resign being governor of Alaska last fall, when campaigning for higher office arguably a lot more damaging to her job performance.
Obama, Hillary, and Biden all resigned their seats after winning an election to higher office and while the Senate was in recess. I’m willing to be that Palin would have resigned had McCain won. Would she have been a quitter then? Do you recognize that the circumstances are substantially different?
I think Palin has legitimate and pressing personal reasons to resign. I do not think she has any good political reasons to resign, and I think resigning hurts any future political ambitions she may have had. It may be worth it just to get out.
As an aside, resigning right now is very, very odd. It just is.
Comment by Darleen on 7/3 @ 11:33 pm #
Ella
You didn’t answer my direct question above using your own contractor/client analogy.
Please tell me any other national candidate’s family that has been subjected to the personal destruction that hers has.
Do you blame university researchers who quit when the Animal Liberation Front starts targeting their spouses and children’s lives?
Certainly this is wrong on the level that no MAN has ever been targeted like this AND it is more than just Palin but that any non-Democrat local politician, any governor from a fly-over state is now fair game if they dare enter the national stage without the prior blessings of the coastal elites and MSM king makers.
Comment by Ella on 7/3 @ 11:33 pm #
Big D, I never meant to imply she wasn’t a good role model. My dad lives in Alaska and speaks very, very highly of her. She had the makings of a good governor, she is obviously an intelligent and talented woman, and she (aside from the heinous personal attacks) seems like a happy, confident, well-grounded woman. She is a role model.
The reason this move is getting so much attention is because it’s random and strange. Something triggered it, but we don’t have an indication of what. It’s a mystery. We’re trying to figure out what it means. Some people are clinging to visions of 2012. I think this moves the opposite way.
Comment by Richard Bennett on 7/3 @ 11:33 pm #
The girls on the HS basketball team are more likely to date each other than anybody else, kids, which makes me wonder if any of y’all got past jr. hi.
Comment by TorchesToRome on 7/3 @ 11:35 pm #
Richard couldn’t even get to second base with his own hand
Comment by Richard Bennett on 7/3 @ 11:39 pm #
Darleen says: “Certainly this is wrong on the level that no MAN has ever been targeted like this AND it is more than just Palin but that any non-Democrat local politician, any governor from a fly-over state is now fair game if they dare enter the national stage without the prior blessings of the coastal elites and MSM king makers.”
Has ant MAN run for pres or vp with and unwed, pregnant daughter in tow, all the while preaching family virtues or not?
Playing the perpetual victim was Princess’ downfall.
Comment by Darleen on 7/3 @ 11:39 pm #
The girls on the HS basketball team are more likely to date each other than anybody else
Uh oh, some one is still smarting over being turned down in high school. Is that what they told you, dear?
Richard, if you’re employed you might like to check with your employer’s Employee Assistance Program for a therapist referral.
Comment by Ella on 7/3 @ 11:40 pm #
Sorry, Darleen, I didn’t mean to ignore you.
First off, it is very unfair that she is being subjected to something that no other politician has. It’s horrible and every other bad adjective people are directing to it. It doesn’t really change anything, though. The media are not going to be nicer to her whatever else she does in the future. If she can’t handle this now, she can’t handle it in the White House. That’s not a criticism; that’s an observation. It’s not fair to ask anyone to be subject to it, but she cannot stop the media. She can try to protect herself and her family by dropping out. (Assuming dropping out is what she’s doing.) Agin – not fair, but it is reality.
And to answer your question: in real life, yes, no matter the justification, dropping out for personal reasons will negatively impact my business, regardless of how justifiable my personal reasons are. It’s actually pretty common. In fact, in one of my professional groups, a guy was complaining because he failed to win a bid because one of the project managers at the company remembered that he had bailed on a previous project for health reasons. Eight years before applying for the new project, and for a different company. It wasn’t fair, but the project manager still didn’t want to work with him. That’s life.
Now, you can argue that you and a bunch of other people wouldn’t hold it against Palin, and that is very true. But some people will. A lot of people will. And it is a foreseeable side effect of resigning your first term in office half way through to take personal time (no matter how justified and necessary that time off is or how horrible and unjust the personal attacks).
Comment by Darleen on 7/3 @ 11:41 pm #
Poor w’ittle Richard, trying to excuse your issues with women.
Comment by Richard Bennett on 7/3 @ 11:42 pm #
Darleen will not be ignored, poor dear.
Comment by Ella on 7/3 @ 11:46 pm #
Nah, I don’t mind answering Darleen. It’s a legitimate point. In my experience, it would hurt my business. YMMV.
That’s why I am tempted to believe Palin is dropping out of politics, in the election sense. What are the odds that she’ll be elected to any state office in Alaska again anytime soon? Or any other state if she carpetbags in? My guess is pretty low.
Comment by Big D on 7/3 @ 11:46 pm #
Ella,
I didn’t mean to come across as aggressive as I did. My apologies.
The possibility exists that she just had enough. Is there anyone here that would put up with half the nonsense that she has? Honestly, if I had people going through my trash, looking through my daughter’s medical history, and generally making life rough for my family, I would probably come to the same conclusion: It’s not worth it.
Oh, and Bennet…Fuck off and die.
Comment by Darleen on 7/3 @ 11:47 pm #
It wasn’t fair, but the project manager still didn’t want to work with him. That’s life.
Sure is and I would hope somewhere that project manager gets back what he gave out.
Karma can be a bitch (and should be).
But that is not about the best interests of the CLIENT. If you personally cannot finish the job to the quality that your CLIENT deserves, are you actually serving your client if you “stick it out” and deliver a crappy product?
Comment by SBP on 7/3 @ 11:48 pm #
all the while preaching family virtues or not?
You’re sort of confused about how Christianity works, aren’t you?
Hint: it doesn’t expect that people will be perfect.
Comment by Abe Froman on 7/3 @ 11:50 pm #
The girls on the HS basketball team are more likely to date each other than anybody else, kids, which makes me wonder if any of y’all got past jr. hi.
I guess all the girls who played basketball in high school that I’ve gotten naked with decided I was the one guy on earth they’d change teams for. I’m that awesome.
Comment by Darleen on 7/3 @ 11:50 pm #
Richard
You keep playing around with your cartoon version of Palin — does she look like the high school girls who rejected you? Is that why you deal in silly, tired stereotypes of your own making about her?
Comment by Big D on 7/3 @ 11:51 pm #
Has ant MAN run for pres or vp with and unwed, pregnant daughter in tow, all the while preaching family virtues or not?
I don’t think so, but thank God we got an intelligent, well spoken man as VP. Oh, wait…
Comment by Darleen on 7/3 @ 11:53 pm #
Richard
Are you personally offended by Trig like Nishi? Is your Left utopia a vision of enforced eugenics? Why does her love for son enrage you (and Sully) so?
Comment by Big D on 7/3 @ 11:54 pm #
Too early to say that I wish Richard would die in a fire? Hmmm, maybe I’ll keep that on the backburner(see what I did there).
Comment by dicentra on 7/3 @ 11:57 pm #
Has ant MAN run for pres or vp with and unwed, pregnant daughter in tow, all the while preaching family virtues or not?
Preaching? PREACHING?
Read what Reclusive Leftist has to say about that, plzkthx!
Money quote:
Oh, BTW, Richard sweetie, ANT-MAN has never run for office, and if he tries, I’ll squish him flat.
Comment by Richard Bennett on 7/4 @ 12:00 am #
Darleen, you’re the one who decided to play the gender-victim card here, not me. You made your bed, so lie in it.
Sully doesn’t realize that Palin’s bizarre travel with Trig was an attempt to induce a stillbirth. It’s pretty obvious, actually.
You’re dodging the point about Bristol.
Comment by Ella on 7/4 @ 12:03 am #
Darleen, I don’t mean to imply that Palin is making the wrong decision for herself or Alaska if she is making this for personal reasons. If she is at the point where she cannot perform her duties and/or her family is suffering, then this is the choice she needed to make.
What I reject is the idea that this decision is a springboard to a national campaign. Quitting in midstream is not without consequences to her political career. One of those consequences is that people won’t trust her to follow through.
That’s why I brought up the career thing. Quitting the project may be the best thing for me and for the client. It will also undoubtedly color their perception of the experience of working with me. It’s a tradeoff.
If this is a political gambit, I think Palin has misjudged. If this is a personal move in response to a horrible situation, then I extend her my sympathies. (Which, in fairness, she has anyway. She’s had an active year, that’s for certain.)
Comment by Ella on 7/4 @ 12:03 am #
Richard, that is a horrible, hate-filled thing to say.
Comment by Ella on 7/4 @ 12:06 am #
Oh, Big D, I didn’t think you were aggressive at all. No worries.
I’m afraid my message has gotten a little mixed. I am critical of Palin’s move if it is a purely political move. But I mean to criticize it as a strategy.
It’s really easy to cross over into really undeserved criticism of her, personally, and I really don’t intend that.
Comment by Big D on 7/4 @ 12:08 am #
Sully doesn’t realize that Palin’s bizarre travel with Trig was an attempt to induce a stillbirth. It’s pretty obvious, actually.
You need to be punched in the throat. How low do you have to be to come up with that? Sick.
Comment by Darleen on 7/4 @ 12:08 am #
Palin’s bizarre travel with Trig was an attempt to induce a stillbirth. It’s pretty obvious, actually.
And how many children have you given birth to, Richard? But thanks for confirming your irrational hatred of Palin.
Comment by Big D on 7/4 @ 12:11 am #
I’m afraid my message has gotten a little mixed. I am critical of Palin’s move if it is a purely political move. But I mean to criticize it as a strategy.
I agree, Ella. If this is a political strategy, it is a poor move.
Comment by Adriane on 7/4 @ 12:11 am #
Ella -
was it ethical for Janet Napolitano to leave the State of Az in the worst financial crises the state has ever seen to take a job with the Obama administration?
Was it ethical for Obama to offer any jobs to sitting elected officials & thereby encouraging them to ignore the mandates of their constituents?
Comment by Big D on 7/4 @ 12:13 am #
You’re too charitable Darleen. Richard needs to be punched in the throat. Just channel JD.
Comment by Big D on 7/4 @ 12:17 am #
I think comment 134 sums up the issue nicely. Who in their right mind would put up with that? Who would subject their children to that?
Comment by Adriane on 7/4 @ 12:18 am #
Ella, or anyone actually,
this is a general question.
‘Job Banks’. People paid 90% of their annual wage NOT to build cars but instead to do crossword puzzles.
Ethical?
Legal, obviously, but ethical?
And in the long run, would have not these people’s lives been made better by quitting? Quitting would have given them an opportunity (not a guarantee, but an opportunity) to learn new skills. New skills may equal (but not guarantee) new jobs or new opportunities. Now, the crunch is on, and all these people can do is … crossword puzzles.
Comment by geoffb on 7/4 @ 12:22 am #
What about this.
Says this.
She ran to be the Governor and do that job. That has become impossible to do and rather than cost the people of Alaska money for her to be a part time Governor, she steps down for the good of the people she is working for.
She, by this action has shown herself to be that “different” kind of leader. One who is not all about the power. This is what conservative leaders do. Progressive/ Left leaders hang onto power by their fingernails. For them it’s all about themselves.
Sarah Palin didn’t throw everyone “under the bus” to hold onto power. She stopped the bus, got off and gave another driver the keys. We conservatives now get to decide if she is to pilot a jet plane next if she and we want her to do so.
Comment by dicentra on 7/4 @ 12:24 am #
Just as an aside-ish thing:
Several years ago, Dubya named Mike Leavitt, then-governor of Utah, to head the EPA or some such. His LG stepped into place, Olene Walker, who became Utah’s first female governor.
I liked her. She was an older woman who had obviously raised a lot of kids and grandkids: she had that level-headed, I won’t be putting up with any shenanigans attitude about her, and as a result, became very unpopular with the GOP leadership in Utah. She wouldn’t play their games, wouldn’t let them continue to be the buttheads they’d been all along.
So the GOP nominated someone else for the gubernatorial race instead of her, even though regular people liked her just fine.
Just to show that this kind of thing happens to any “reformer” or otherwise non-game-playing person who happens to slip into office without their approval. Bastages. I would like to punch them all in the throat.
Comment by dicentra on 7/4 @ 12:30 am #
Legal, obviously, but ethical?
Please tell me you’re not wondering why a union as powerful as the UAW would do something so (a) stupid, (b) unethical, (c) stupid, or (d) colossally stupid.
Supposedly, they’re in the job banks after a lay-off, waiting until work picks up, but as usual, it goes beyond that. I imagine there are plenty of goldbrickers who are not good on the job, but like the un-fireable teachers in NYC who also do crossword puzzles all day, the unions value their union dues more than they value the well-being of their workers — not to mention the institutions their workers are supposed to serve.
Comment by Richard Bennett on 7/4 @ 12:49 am #
Sorry kids, but responsible pregnant women don’t fly in their 9th month, even if they aren’t leaking amnio fluid. And driving from Anchorage, where they have perfectly fine hospitals, several hours in labor to a place like Wasilla isn’t what you do if you want a healthy baby. If it wasn’t a deliberate attempt at a stillbirth, it was colossal stupidity.
Comment by Big D on 7/4 @ 12:54 am #
Just visited your site Bennet. Interesting resume. By interesting I mean lame. Trying to up your count by coming here? I am ashamed to admit I fell for it.
Oh, goatees don’t really work for men in their late 50’s early 60’s. Just makes it look like you’re trying too hard to still fit in. Give it up.
Comment by Darleen on 7/4 @ 12:54 am #
Richard
How many children have you carried and given birth to?
Big frakkin clue to you, women have successfully carried babies and given birth under all manner of circumstance WITHOUT your approval.
You are one sick piece of work.
Comment by Big D on 7/4 @ 12:57 am #
If it wasn’t a deliberate attempt at a stillbirth, it was colossal stupidity.
You are an absolute horror of a human being. May you live in interesting times.
Comment by Big D on 7/4 @ 1:08 am #
Richard, do you think your life could stand up to scrutiny? Think about it now. Skeletons in the closet that you would rather not have open to the public? Think long and hard, Dickie. There might be a few…
Comment by Stephanie on 7/4 @ 1:17 am #
Richard Bennett MD PHD Most Disgusting Palin Hating Dumbass
I flew in my ninth month… I also flew in my tenth. Wrap your head around that for a minute then learn math for starters and when you have mastered that, examine the patient doctor relationship and how consultations are on a case by case basis and how each pregnancy is different with different needs and protocols. My doctor was perfectly OK with my flying up until I began to dilate or show signs of being even close to delivery. Which was by the way in my 41st week… or 10 months and one week if you are counting by months… which would classify my “OK to fly until date” in the 11th month of my pregnancy.
Dumbass. No wonder democrats aren’t concerned with numbers, they don’t understand the concepts involved.
Comment by Richard Bennett on 7/4 @ 1:19 am #
Some coward using a fake name has threatened me. Oh dear, what will I do?
Pregnant women are expected to take reasonable steps to protect their babies’ health, children, such as taking vitamins, eating well, and refraining from smoking or drinking coffee or booze. Sometimes the baby will turn out OK even if the mom doesn’t behave well, but the odds are against it. Responsible people behave one way, and by her own account Palin behaved a completely different way. These are simple facts, and if you can’t accept them, there’s not much to said about you except that you shouldn’t be allowed to vote or to reproduce.
Violence, of course, is not the answer you seek; but as there is no cure for mental retadation, I suppose your rage is understandable.
Comment by Stephanie on 7/4 @ 1:43 am #
Pregnant women are expected to take reasonable steps to protect their babies’ health, children, such as taking vitamins, eating well, and refraining from smoking or drinking coffee or booze. Sometimes the baby will turn out OK even if the mom doesn’t behave well, but the odds are against it. Responsible people behave one way, and by her own account Palin behaved a completely different way.
Palin behaved exactly as her doctor adviser her to. So did I. Consultation with your doctor IS acting responsibly…
Denying people the right to reproduce for acting on their doctor’s advice? Thanks for the quick primer on who is really in charge of my healthcare under the democrat’s health care plan. OB/GYN advice must first be cleared by bureaucrats… in 12 – 18 months…
Comment by Big D on 7/4 @ 1:45 am #
Violence, of course, is not the answer you seek; but as there is no cure for mental retadation, I suppose your rage is understandable.
Awww, isn’t that cute? Why am I reminded of the little kid who “didn’t believe in fighting.” Grew up to be a perfesser.
You’re still a dick.
Comment by Richard Bennett on 7/4 @ 1:55 am #
Oh yes, those fancy-pants eggheads with all that uppity book larnin’ are sucha pain, Big D. But why are you too much of a pussy to use a real name? ‘Fraid the manager at Wal-Mart won’t approve of his greeter’s antics?
Comment by dicentra on 7/4 @ 1:59 am #
Richard is here to piss us off.
Time to give him all — and I mean all — of the attention he so richly deserves.
Which, is to say, none at all.
Don’t let him push your buttons. He’s not worth it. And nobody you care about believes what he says when they read his comments here.
Comment by Richard Bennett on 7/4 @ 2:01 am #
Stephanie, I don’t believe Palin’s doctor told her to drive from Anchorage to Wasilla on her own after 10 hours of labor with a fifth child, unless it was the witch doctor who cast out her demons. He probably missed a few, judging by her behavior.
The least happy people about Palin’s flameout are Democrats; they were so looking forward to facing her at the ballot box, and now they may have to beat a sane, competent person rather than a bubble-headed loon who lives in a fantasy world.
Comment by Big D on 7/4 @ 2:02 am #
Richard,
Darleen asked you a question upthread that you have still to answer. How many children have you seen to term? The answer of course is none. If you had, you would know that every pregnancy has its own issues to deal with, particularly at the end. My wife carried five to term and every one has its own story. Every one of those pregnancies could be picked apart by cretins such as you. What a pitiful creature you are.
Now, go get your shine box.
Comment by Big D on 7/4 @ 2:04 am #
Don’t let him push your buttons. He’s not worth it. And nobody you care about believes what he says when they read his comments here
Duly noted Dicentra. Bye Dickie.
Comment by thor on 7/4 @ 2:19 am #
Sarah Palin is carrying my God forsaken love child!
Comment by Richard Bennett on 7/4 @ 2:24 am #
Big D, we have this thing called “science” that enables us to learn about stuff we’ve never actually seen at the Wal-Mart, like dinosaurs and black holes and stuff. Ask your mom to explain it to you.
Comment by thor on 7/4 @ 2:34 am #
I salute you for your service to mankind, Richard.
Comment by Richard Bennett on 7/4 @ 3:36 am #
Thank you Mr. thor, you’re a patriot and a great American.
Comment by alppuccino on 7/4 @ 4:01 am #
In a lifeboat, when the only person who can fish and swim, jumps overboard and swims to shore, the people left behind yell “Quitter! Can’t stand the heat, huh? You’re through, I tell ya! Bad move. You’ll never work on this boat again!”
Then they all starve to death.
Comment by -Ed. on 7/4 @ 4:16 am #
Yet another episode (as if we needed another) that reminds normal, everyday, healthy, honest, hardworking people to stay the fuck away from seeking national political office. Those jobs are already spoken for.
Comment by Carin on 7/4 @ 5:09 am #
Trig and Bristol are IRRELEVANT to Palin’s performance as a political figure. Honestly, libs have turned themselves inside out and upside down over her.
Comment by Pablo on 7/4 @ 5:58 am #
Where’d you get the ridiculous idea that she was in labor, Dickie?
Comment by SBP on 7/4 @ 5:58 am #
Time to give him all — and I mean all — of the attention he so richly deserves.
Which, is to say, none at all.
Good point.
Richard: Trollhammered.
By the way, Dickie: advanced degrees are about as common on this site as rejections in your dating history. They don’t impress us a bit.
Comment by The Monster on 7/4 @ 7:22 am #
Perhaps most pregnant women who don’t live in freaking Alaska don’t fly in their 9th month, but people who live in Alaska are used to flying a lot, since that’s usually the only way to get anywhere.
The really clever part of this attack is that it implies that flying in her 9th month may have somehow contributed to Trig’s special needs, as if doing so could magically give every cell in his body an extra chromosome.
Comment by Richard Bentit on 7/4 @ 7:26 am #
Is this the same Richard Bennett who defended Joe the Biden’s VP debate assertion about France helping us kick Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon? Pure jeenus. BTW, they’re still there.
Comment by Bob Reed on 7/4 @ 7:31 am #
thor,
Bennet, you are truly a pathetic ass that must have waaaay too much time on your hands to come here and try to stir up the PW commentariat with your sophmoric taunts regarding Palin. That you would feel that need reveals something about your twisted character. It goes without saying that you most certainly would have folded like a cheap suit if subjected to a fraction of the media attacks and gratuitous lawsuits that she has been assaulted with.
But, I wouldn’t expect you to understand her choice of putting the good of Alaska ahead of her own needs, dreams, and desires. That’s just not done in the self centered orbits of the left, wher much like Obama, you all never miss an opportunity to take a refreshing dip in “lake me!…
I hope that you choke on your own rising bile when she ultimately comes through all of this, making lemonade out of the lemons she’s been handed.
Comment by Bob Reed on 7/4 @ 7:32 am #
Yes Bennet, tell us more about that foreign policy expert with immesurable gravitas, Biden of Arabia…
Comment by mossberg500 on 7/4 @ 7:40 am #
All we need is an appearance from the ever mendoucheous ass leprechaun, perfesser “daddy hate” caricature.
Comment by N. O'Brain on 7/4 @ 7:40 am #
Wow, two black holes of hatred orbiting each other.
Cataloged as Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber.
Comment by Bob Reed on 7/4 @ 7:45 am #
Bennet, your reveling in the schadenfreude here over Palin’s apparent political demise makes thor look measured and restrained by comparison…
You’ve had your fun with Palin, but tell us:
How is science making a comeback under O! and the most transparent administration evah, when the surpress the findings of an EPA physicist who cautioned that AGW, AKA climate change, was rapidly being disproven? Transparency! science!, they name is O!
And please tell us how it can in any way be beneficial for Biden of Arabia to be overseeing Iraq, when he was not only among the idiots that chanted the mantra of, “The war is lost! The surge won’t work!”, as well as being the soopergenius that wanted to break the country up into religious/ethnic enclaves…
Comment by Rusty on 7/4 @ 7:49 am #
There’s a new dick in town.
Comment by Joe on 7/4 @ 7:49 am #
You know, I am glad I went off to shoot some real fireworks. Richard Bennett is a real piece of work. I will say this though, when you get all troll hammerish when anyone does the most minor thing to annoy you, remember there are real trolls out there. His goal is only to offend, he lives for your attention.
Comment by Bob Reed on 7/4 @ 7:53 am #
#273 addressed to Bennett; I don’t know how thor’s name got mixed up in it…
Comment by mossberg500 on 7/4 @ 8:01 am #
he lives for your attention
Thge irony of Joe making that statement is off the chart.
Comment by mossberg500 on 7/4 @ 8:02 am #
Thge=The
Comment by Joe on 7/4 @ 8:03 am #
Bob, the best way to deal with a Richard Bennett is to ignore him. He comes to specifically offend you, Darleen, etc. with arguments intended to offend. There is no desire to seriously debate an issue.
Comment by Molon Labe on 7/4 @ 8:04 am #
@Ella: “Look, Palin supporters (early in the thread), you cannot have it both ways.”
The difference is that she can now fight back. She was stuck in a cage with Dems poking her with sharp “ethics complaint” sticks. She had no effective way to respond, since even answering reporters’ questions drew an ethics complaint.
Why spend spend millions of state dollars, 80% of her time, and her family savings to fight them off when her lame duck status would give her no political capital to get anything else done up there anyway? Now her lieutenant runs as incumbent governor and is likely to win. He has political capital and can accomplish things for Alaska. Her analogy to basketball was brilliant. When you’re double teamed you pass the ball to the open man.
Comment by B Moe on 7/4 @ 8:06 am #
Kate hates Palin because she upsets her little plans to Intelligently Design the world. You aren’t an elitist Nishfong you are a God-wannabe.
Richard is just a prick, too stupid to realize tools like him are the reason decent people won’t run for office any more.
Comment by Joe on 7/4 @ 8:41 am #
B Moe, guys like Richard, Andrew Sullivan, and others don’t want decent people to run for office anymore. That is their goal.
Is it all about Trig? Not completely, but he is a big part of why many wanted to destroy Sarah Palin.
Comment by SGT Ted on 7/4 @ 8:53 am #
Richard sure comes across as stupid for someone with those credentials. Then again, lots of allegedly educated people thought Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin were geniuses too….
Because, yes, one could be thought of as an eggheaded intellectual with uppity booklarning when you spout such stupid things and expect your credentials to be proof from criticism.
You may well be a towering intellectual giant when it comes to internets protocols and such, but you sound like a crazy uncle saying the stupid shit that you do. Like the alleged devotion to science of the Regressives under Obama? Since when have they renounced their support of discredited and/or unproven AGW theories?
And since we’re being all sciencey and truth driven here, can you also explain why such persons who are so allegedly devoted to science and reality would employ economic policies that have empirically proven to be such utter failures in the past? Or, why any person, allegedly so sciencey, like yourself, would support same?
Comment by meya on 7/4 @ 9:02 am #
““I cannot stand here as your governor and allow the millions of dollars and all that time go to waste just so I can hold the title of governor,” Palin said. ”
Why would it waste millions for her to be governor? She’s not planning on doing the job?
Comment by B Moe on 7/4 @ 9:13 am #
Go back to sleep, meya, it is only a bad dream.
Comment by Pablo on 7/4 @ 9:22 am #
Hear that wooshing sound, meya?
Comment by royf on 7/4 @ 9:24 am #
Why would it waste millions for her to be governor?
I’m in awe stupid like this doesn’t come around every decade.
Comment by Abe Froman on 7/4 @ 9:25 am #
Why would it waste millions for her to be governor? She’s not planning on doing the job?
Picture a steady stream of dumb twats like yourself. Except that instead of wasting peoples’ time with mendoucheous trollery, they use ethics reforms Palin championed to file never-ending frivolous complaints which the state is required to “take seriously” in spite of the meya-like pointlessness of them.
Comment by meya on 7/4 @ 9:40 am #
It’s not all wasted isn’t it? I thought the state got some money back from her kid’s travels or the per diems.
Comment by Molon Labe on 7/4 @ 9:44 am #
The basic problem is the political establishment (Dems, RINOs, MSM) has confronted a force they’ve never encountered before: An honest, selfless politician.
Comment by Pablo on 7/4 @ 9:46 am #
No you didn’t.
Comment by royf on 7/4 @ 9:47 am #
Yeah mena she repaid her childrens travel expense (the only Alaskan Governor to ever do so), I sure zero will do the same right? I was wondering have you got a copy of zero “official” explanation for the NYC fly over? I remember they said it would be out by the end of the week, Gee that was months ago wasn’t it? I guess I missed it.
mena what you need when stupid just isn’t enough!!!!
Comment by Darleen on 7/4 @ 9:48 am #
meya
I carried four to term and yes every one has its own story and Dickie Bennett is disengenuous at best in his derrision of Palin for consulting with her doctor instead of him.
Comment by SBP on 7/4 @ 9:50 am #
Why would it waste millions for her to be governor?
Incredibly stupid, even for you, SFAG.
I thought the state got some money back from her kid’s travels or the per diems.
When is Barky going to pay the feds back for jetting him and his spawn all over the world?
Comment by Abe Froman on 7/4 @ 9:51 am #
It’s not all wasted isn’t it? I thought the state got some money back from her kid’s travels or the per diems.
I guess she could have spared herself that ethical lapse by keeping the private jet instead of flying commercial. Mendoucheous twat.
Comment by B Moe on 7/4 @ 9:51 am #
Here meya. And here.
Comment by B Moe on 7/4 @ 9:53 am #
When is meya and the rest of the Tard Army going to start worrying about Barky ethics in his home town?
And where the hell is Patrick Fitzgerald?
Comment by SBP on 7/4 @ 9:53 am #
Oh, and SFAG?
At the end of the day she’s still going to have everything that you’re never going to have.
Maybe if you weren’t such a bitter, evil, lying little amateur fascist things would be different.
Comment by SBP on 7/4 @ 9:55 am #
How DID Barky afford that expensive house, SFAG?
You know, the one that just happened to be next door to the Rezko property?
Comment by SBP on 7/4 @ 10:50 am #
Hmm… guess SFAG isn’t going to answer.
It seems unlikely that she’s celebrating Independence Day. She strikes me as more of a May Day sort of person.
Comment by geoffb on 7/4 @ 11:12 am #
I’m thinking more along the lines of Earth Day and the Historical significance it has for all on the port side.
Comment by mojo on 7/4 @ 11:16 am #
And refusing to explain, in excruciating detail, to an oblivious MSM? The final straw!
Good luck to her. I distinctly heard a distant “fuck you assholes” hastening down the wind…
Comment by Ella on 7/4 @ 11:43 am #
The difference is that she can now fight back. … Why spend spend millions of state dollars, 80% of her time, and her family savings to fight them off when her lame duck status would give her no political capital to get anything else done up there anyway?
She wasn’t a lame duck. She was two years into her first term. Halfway through her first term. How is she a lame duck? She could run for re-election in 2010, and the “lame duck” thing traditionally applies to the last half of the last term (i.e., 2012). She is a popular governor (not with the political establishment, but with the people), and it’s not like she’s not capable of doing work for the state; she negotiated another pipeline contract just last month, IIRC. That’s not a non-issue. The problem is not and cannot be chalked up to a lack of political capital. Of everything, that argument is the weakest.
I understand the problems with ethics complaints and bills. Except, um, many, many politicians deal with that. Bill Clinton had millions and millions of dollars in legal fees; my former governor David Walters had over a million, I think, from ethics complaints. Yes, her harrassment is more personal and more baseless than most, but it’s not ipso facto unusual.
And, circling back, yes, now she can fight back. What does that mean? She complained (effectively) about Letterman, less effectively about the attacks on Trig. What else is she supposed to do that she can’t or won’t do as a sitting governor?
She listed a lot of accomplishments and a lot of reasons why her leaving is better for the state. That’s fine. Those are justifications for her decision, though. She also said she polled her family, and they unanimously wanted her to resign. This leads me to believe that, ultimately, this is a personal decision motivated purely by an huge toll on her and her family.
What baffles me is why a lot of people are defending this as some kind of awesome strategy for a presidential run or repositioning herself within the party.
In my mind, this is a very tragic defeat of a decent woman and her family. I see it as the end of her political path, not a fork in the road.
Comment by royf on 7/4 @ 11:54 am #
In my mind, this is a very tragic defeat of a decent woman and her family. I see it as the end of her political path, not a fork in the road.
Certainly that could be right it can also be wrong, I choose to believe her. Only time will tell who is right and who is wrong……
Comment by Danger on 7/4 @ 11:55 am #
“Bill Clinton had millions and millions of dollars in legal fees;”
Ella,
The difference between Palin and Clinton of course is a conscience. Clinton knew that he would never pay a dime of those legal fees and didn’t give a damn about the ramifications for his actions.
Comment by royf on 7/4 @ 12:04 pm #
Comparing “blue dresses” with blue windbreakers is also a stretch.
Comment by MTW on 7/4 @ 12:40 pm #
Who is John Gault ?
Comment by B Moe on 7/4 @ 12:45 pm #
She had already declared she wasn’t going to run for re-election, Ella, hence the lame duck status.
And if she isn’t Governor, the is no basis for any more ethics complaints. She can do whatever she wants now without trumped conflict of interest charges.
Comment by N. O'Brain on 7/4 @ 12:53 pm #
John Gault is a plumber working for a small firm in suburban Philadelphia.
Comment by Ella on 7/4 @ 1:52 pm #
B Moe, actually, no, before yesterday she hadn’t said she wasn’t going to run for re-election. They thought that was the big, unexpected announcement. But there is no way that the last six months could be construed as a “lame duck” period, and if she simply didn’t announce until next spring that she wasn’t going to run, she wouldn’t be lame-duck now.
And Clinton did pay those legal fees. Using his legal defense fund. Which Palin also has.
The other problem with all of this is that she wasn’t clear about where she’s going, as hf pointed out. Taking her at her word means only that she’s dropping out of politics because of the problems to her family and state from unrelenting bad press and spurious ethics complaints. Fine. But she never said that she is running for president or any other office or that she’s starting a third part or any of the other ideas floating around. She murmured platitudes about being active in the future and quoted Gen. MacArthur from when he actually retreated from battle.
Comment by meya on 7/4 @ 2:55 pm #
“She had already declared she wasn’t going to run for re-election, Ella, hence the lame duck status”
Interesting new idea, of lame ducks quitting this far in advance. Is this something more GOP’ers are gonna catch on to?
Comment by Rusty on 7/4 @ 4:26 pm #
Do the world a favor maya, never have kids. Mkay.
Comment by Cave Bear on 7/4 @ 5:54 pm #
While I’m sure that dickheard Richard is long gone by now, speaking as someone who has been to Alaska, been to Anchorage, and been through Wasilla a couple of times to boot (in fact, I was supposed to be up there last week, enjoying copious amounts of primo lovin’ from a very hot lady, something Richard has clearly never experienced, except that I came down with pneumonia and landed in the hospital instead, dammit), I can assure all and sundry that this nutless wonder does not know what he’s talking about.
Wasilla is about an hour or so drive from Anchorage, and the road between the two places is a major highway, hardly the moose trail he would make you think it is. Sure, I saw plenty of those while I was there, but the highway between Anchorage and Wasilla is not one of those, nor is it all that long a drive.
Clearly Palin scares the living shit out of cockholsters like hammer boi, dickie, nishi and the rest of the swallowers of Obambi’s milky loads that have been heard from in this thread.
Comment by Molon Labe on 7/4 @ 5:55 pm #
@Ella: My remarks presupposed her decision not to run for reelection. Please read in that light.
Comment by Molon Labe on 7/4 @ 5:57 pm #
Kick her some bucks http://www.thealaskafundtrust.com/ and get more of this http://www.conservatives4palin.com/2009/07/statement-from-gov-palins-legal-counsel.html
Comment by Richard Bennett on 7/4 @ 7:39 pm #
I’m sorry that hooker gave you the clap, Cave Bear. Don’t worry about man’s medicine, just pray on it and you’ll be fine.
I’m looking forward to the chapter on birthing babies in Ex-Gov. Palin’s forthcoming book on baby and child care.
I know she’s the innocent victim of the MEN in the liberal corporate mainstream media elite, but telling her story will show us pointy-headed book readers a thing or three.
Spiro Agnew had to put up with slander like this too.
Comment by happyfeet on 7/4 @ 7:49 pm #
what are you, five? Also I for real look forward to reading what people who read Sarah Palin’s book says it says.
Comment by bh on 7/4 @ 8:59 pm #
Return of Bennett: The Snoring
Comment by Bob Reed on 7/4 @ 9:00 pm #
Well Bennett, your cartoon view of the world is partially right. In fact, Palin and her family was savaged by both men and women among the corporate mainstream media elite; putting the lie clearly to the feminist branch of the cult of identity politics-apparently an exclusive left wing franchise in case you hadn’t heard…
And I can’t imagine the hew and cry had anyone dared to savage Mr. Obama’s family in a similar fashion. Can you? I daresay you would have been in the van of the mob decrying us all as clinging racist haters…
And why such a snide tone reagarding people of faith? Have you bought completely into the Hegelian view that God is dead, the Shirley MacLaine “new age alchemy” perhaps, or is it the scientologists? I’m one that see’s no incongruence between faith and man’s feeble and limited understanding of the cosmos. Perhaps you should reconsider Pascal’s wager…
I will congratulate you on one accomplishment though, you did manage to hit all of the de riguer talking points in that one comment. At once conflating faith, illiteracy, ignorance, a persecution complex, and condescension; amazing indeed, learnt no doubt in a course at the Ivys…
Agnew would have punched a guy like you out, or had some no-neck fellas from Bal-mer take care of his light work…
Comment by Merovign on 7/4 @ 9:09 pm #
The good news: all that mindless leftist hate is whirling around waiting for Karma to give the green light, and it’s going to be glorious.
The bad news: after the intense anger and bottomless stupidity of the left has driven them from office, it will only be another generation before everyone has forgotten and starts letting them back in. I don’t know, maybe someone will remember next time and the death of the MSM will make it easier to get actual INFORMATION out to people, rather than just propaganda.
The funny news: The left actually thinks they’re in power and building the future, whereas, just like the last time, they’re only denuding the landscape so they’ll have a desert to wander in.
The unfunny news: We live in that landscape, too.
Comment by cynn on 7/4 @ 9:29 pm #
Merovign? Funny fairy tale. Nighty night.
Comment by Rusty on 7/4 @ 9:53 pm #
I think Bennet/thor is afraid of strong women. Now dead with a steak in her heart, he has to poke the corpse with a long stick, still afraid she may rise up and invade his dreams. The leftist distain is their talisman- spit in the hand and cross the fingers. After all there really might be a god.
Comment by Richard Bennett on 7/4 @ 11:18 pm #
Hillary Clinton is a strong woman: bright, well-educated, an accomplished, re-elected Senator, the Secretary of State; she doesn’t whine about the media, and doesn’t exploit her child. Palin is not a strong woman, she’s a petulant, poorly-educated, over-the-hill beauty queen with little knowledge of the world who appeals to trailer trash.
Comment by bh on 7/4 @ 11:21 pm #
Return of Bennett: Easily Forgotten
Comment by bh on 7/4 @ 11:26 pm #
No fool like an old fool, folke saie.
Eh, Richard?
Comment by mossberg500 on 7/5 @ 6:33 am #
Mr. Bennett, have forgotten Hillary Clinton’s interview with Matt Lauer? The one where she blamed the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy attacking her family. Wouldn’t you consider that whining, or was it a justified defense? Can’t have it both ways, although you sure do try.
I see you avoided my question whether you were the Richard Bennett that brilliantly defended Joey Hairplugs for his flawless recollection regarding the French helping us evict Hezbollash from southern Lebanon.
Update: Hezbollah still in southern Lebanon!
Comment by mossberg500 on 7/5 @ 6:34 am #
should be have you forgotten.
Comment by Rusty on 7/5 @ 7:01 am #
#328
Funny. And Hillary would be just another lib in the crowd if it wasn’t for her huband.She had to second banana to her husband before she could be anything else. Bennet/thor. Some strong woman that. You’d have made a better case with Helen Thomas, or that ex governor of Texas whos name I can’t remember.
Palin isn’t quite as dead as you’d like her to be. Some media outlets are getting sued for libel.That’s the reason she reigned.
Bennet/thor. You’re really not an honest broker in this debate, and as such cannot be taken seriously.
Comment by Pablo on 7/5 @ 7:33 am #
Hey, how did that MacArthur thing turn out?
Comment by Pablo on 7/5 @ 8:29 am #
It’s OK, meya. Really.
Comment by h0mi on 7/6 @ 7:20 pm #
Vast right wing conspiracy.