Palin Quits

Gyalist

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin shocked the political word Friday by announcing that she will step down at the end of the month and transfer power to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell.

Palin made the announcement from her home in Wasilla, flanked by her husband, Todd, and family and state commissioners.

The announcement came on the same week that one of her top public health officials says she was forced out of office because Palin felt she wasn't in step on social issues.

Palin's decision now allows her to avoid the difficult task of running for president while serving as governor.

Todd Palin told FOX News that his wife will concentrate on "doing the things for Alaska and the country" that she is passionate about and can not do as governor with the limitation and constant opposition she deals with within the state.

LINK

There were some cryptic messages posted on Alaska political blogs last week that something big was imminent. Something to do with her father allegedly stealing from a trust fund. Then "Babygate" was going to blowup big time in her face (Andrew Sullivan has been seeking answers from her since the Presidential campaign) and there wass also talk of an IRS audit of her last 16 years. She knew it was coming which is why she set up the legal defence fund (The Alaska Fund Trust) to raise money.

Check these blogs:-

http://www.themudflats.net
http://shannynmoore.wordpress.com/
http://www.palindeception.com/blog
http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com
http://palingates.blogspot.com/

sceptre

All you've done its quote from the article. Please insert your own views as required by the charter (the bits about this being a discussion forum rather than being somewhere to copy & paste stuff). If you get around to doing that before I go to bed I won't have to lock this instead. Please do so, as it's a slightly interesting story.

RonMexico

Apparently there is some major scandal about to surface.

Bobeagleburger

Shocked the political world? :eek:

Sully

Would she really be stupid enough to run for the president ticket? I honestly just could not see her being very successful - shes not exactly the right candidate to pull the party back from the brink of devastation. She got an awful bashing just going for VP and now Obama is a shoe in, would she be able to handle it at all?

LostinKildare

RonMexico wrote: »

Apparently there is some major scandal about to surface.

Yes, there must be. Possibly from further investigation of the Palin connection to the Alaska Independence Party -- that was in the news the other day. Or something else. Maybe she went hiking the Appalachian Trail!

Check out her deeply weird resignation speech -- no doubt she wrote it herself.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shannyn-moore/sarah-palin-resigns-as-al_b_225515.html

Dozen Wicked Words

I think scarily she will have a punt at the presidential race next time round. She is still positively viewed in the Republican party, particularly the right wing of same, and Obama has a huge job on his hands in the next 3 and half years with finances and Afghanistan to name but two.

I say scary, as she showed some stunning lack of insight to anything outside of the US. Can't remember if the "I can see Russia from my house" quote is true, but I think it sums up my opinion of her. US electorate has been shown in the past not to worry about the world view, and although not a stellar performance as VP candidate in last election, all voters have short term memory.

That's my 10c worth, and to be fair to OP, seeing this thread was the first I had heard she was resigning from Gov of Alaska.

banquo

RonMexico wrote: »

Apparently there is some major scandal about to surface.

Also my first thoughts.

RonMexico

So she picks the day before a major holiday weekend to not only step down but do so with minimal fanfare and zero notice.

Also her speech was like listening to a babbling teenager. Words words words and somewhere buried under all the gushing was a message. I think.

Anyone that seriously thinks she would be a good president of the United States must think very little of the place. I couldn't think of a bigger insult to your country than electing such a moron.

LostinKildare

Maybe she's going back to school.

Overheal

dooferoaks wrote: »

Can't remember if the "I can see Russia from my house" quote is true, but I think it sums up my opinion of her.

She never said it afaik. It was some talk radio jibber jabber, then it became immortalized when Tina Fey parodied Palin on SNL.

Sully wrote: »

Would she really be stupid enough to run for the president ticket? I honestly just could not see her being very successful - shes not exactly the right candidate to pull the party back from the brink of devastation. She got an awful bashing just going for VP and now Obama is a shoe in, would she be able to handle it at all?

No she didn't. This post is all wrong tbh.

She got bashed for handling the press poorly. She was highly praised for running for VP. Hell even I thought it was a brilliant move. Then Katie Couric, and the rest is history. So no, I don't think thats very accurate to say she was blasted for running for VP. Just running for VP poorly.

As for Obama being a shoe-in? Look, I voted for the guy, but he has so far been spinning his tyres. At the cost of 2 Trillion Dollars. Shoe in? Like hell. He will have a lot to answer for by 2012.

As for today, either blackmail (...) or she's focusing on a Presidential Run. Wether she'd be viable remains to be seen. 4 years is a fair amount of time to brush up.

RonMexico

You can brush up on your knowledge but she needs a brain transplant, or more accurately, implant.

jank

Wow, first I heard of this. I wonder will see run for congress next term?
Either i was forced upon her or it is a sneaky now to go to DC in some shape or form.

transylman

If I had to guess, I would say it was something to do with all the news stories that have been appearing about her behaviour during the campaign in the past 2 weeks. She sees it as an attempt to sabotage her political career and wants to get out of alaska and down to washington as soon as possible.

She came across as a complete loon in that speech though. God help us if through some bizarre set of unlikely circumstances she does get to become president some day.

Sully

Overheal wrote: »

She never said it afaik. It was some talk radio jibber jabber, then it became immortalized when Tina Fey parodied Palin on SNL.
No she didn't. This post is all wrong tbh.

She got bashed for handling the press poorly. She was highly praised for running for VP. Hell even I thought it was a brilliant move. Then Katie Couric, and the rest is history. So no, I don't think thats very accurate to say she was blasted for running for VP. Just running for VP poorly.

As for Obama being a shoe-in? Look, I voted for the guy, but he has so far been spinning his tyres. At the cost of 2 Trillion Dollars. Shoe in? Like hell. He will have a lot to answer for by 2012.

As for today, either blackmail (...) or she's focusing on a Presidential Run. Wether she'd be viable remains to be seen. 4 years is a fair amount of time to brush up.

Ah so you are a republican really?

Its going to take a lot more then her to pull the party back and a nail is in her coffin due to the stupid and idiotic way she presented herself during the run for VP where she herself probably damaged the campaign due to the stupid things she said. There is no excuse for constantly making remarks that make you look silly - the press dont make you do it or force you. I find it hard to believe that she is a completely different character outside of what the press report on. Pulling out now does not seem a key for an election strategy. Shes getting out possibly for good, or to avoid serious damage while she has a title which would shut her coffin for the election.

I can not see Obamas vote swinging dramatically back to republicans. Its a big challenge he took on but I can not see if Sarah & Co. were in that they could do any better or have produced any results. In fact, Obama has fixed a lot of damage already which I doubt the republicans would have done. Probably made it worse if anything.

America wanted changed. They picked Obama and the Democrats (super majority remember). In huge numbers.

jill_valentine

There's something rotten in the state of Alaskastan.

Best guess I've heard so far is that it's something to do with dodgy corporate ties. Related to her Governership, rather than to her VP campaign.

Manic Moran

Could be she's just fed up with the perpetual character assasinations and has decided 'sod it, I'm going home'

Wouldn't approve of such a move myself, but possible.

NTM

Black Swan

First she quits as Alaska's Oil & Gas Commissioner after only a year of service, now quits half-way through her first term as governor? Anyone see a pattern here? Two terms as mayor of the tiny weeny town of Wasilla does not have the pressures of the other two offices. Just think, if McCain-Palin had been elected in 2008, this quitter was only a heart beat away from the highest pressure job in the USA should aging McCain fail to complete his term?

"WASILLA, Alaska – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin abruptly announced Friday she is resigning from office at the end of the month, a shocking move that rattled the Republican party..."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090703/ap_on_re_us/us_palin_resigning

The "abrupt" resignation surprised both Republicans and Democrats. "Abrupt" suggests unplanned at the least, or capricious and impulsive, or worse, she had to resign for reasons that pertained to her office as governor? Would she have made "abrupt" decisions as Vice President (or President if she replaced McCain)?

Is this the "One Smart Cookie" Palin featured in an earlier boards.ie thread this year? Review that thread. If there is not something that forced her to "abruptly" resign, then it would appear that she was indeed "amateurish" when it comes to government?

If she were "One Smart Cookie," would she have remained as Governor, been reelected as governor in two years, building both executive experience and a track record that she could refer to when running for higher office in the future? Now she's just a quitter. An old saying my Galway Gran would often quote: "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen!" I guess Palin did.

LostinKildare

There are sources inside Alaska who say that Palin is going to be hit with federal indictments concerning her awarding of builders contracts for the Wasilla sports complex -- she gave the contract to political donors, and supposedly got the building materials (and maybe labor?) to build her own house for free.

RedPlanet

Just watched the video.
Wow.
Can't wait to find out prompted this.
It just shows yet again the very poor judgement of John McCain for selecting her.

DeVore

I hope she runs for President next time, oh God I hope so.... >.<


DeV.

Yeah watching the speech now on fox..(im struggling, but its over soon i reckon)..on the brighter side, if this is the end of her due to indicments or whatever, thats a positive in my book..(just go away and stop rabbitting on about sh*te, woman..go home and look out at russia or whatever..)..I cant wait to see what its all about for a finish though..

Carl Cameron (fox news hack) just referred to her as the most charismatic republican the country has seen in a while...groan..

Nodin

Wouldn't quitting a governorship early count against her if she ran in 2012?

LostinKildare

Nodin wrote: »

Wouldn't quitting a governorship early count against her if she ran in 2012?

Yes. A quitter who abandoned Alaska when the economy tanked and she was required to seriously govern rather than just hand out oil revenue checks to her constituents. She's done in politics.

She wasn't cut out for it anyway. She can make scads of money as a right-wing demagogue on Fox, where her intellectual shortcomings, narcissism, dishonesty, and religious fanaticism will be big pluses.

Black Swan

DeVore wrote: »

I hope she runs for President next time, oh God I hope so.... >.<

Me too! I miss Jay Leno's and SNL's Sarah Palin jokes!

RedPlanet wrote: »

Can't wait to find out prompted this.

Perhaps she is losing the battle of using her executive privilege as governor (and other bureaucratic tactics) to block the release of emails?

"The state has spent more than $450,000 searching for e-mails sent and received by Palin... They sought e-mails about state environmental decisions, oil policy, the Troopergate investigations, the role of her husband in state decisions... state courts since have ruled that the correspondence between government officials, about government business, are public records, whether they use their government e-mail accounts or private ones." Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31727233/ns/politics/

Why has Sarah Palin been fighting the release of emails that contained State of Alaska government business if they were innocent and not incriminating?

Perhaps she cut a back room deal with her Lt Governor: "I resign, you become governor, and if it appears that I'll be criminally prosecuted, then you pardon me?" Sounds like the back room deal that was probably made between former President Nixon and Jerry Ford, when Nixon resigned during the Watergate criminal investigations (where G. Gordon Liddy and US Vice President Agnew were convicted) back in the 1970's?

ChocolateSauce

I find myself hoping (but not believing) that she realised she's one of the stupidest people in the universe and totally unqualified to be anything more than a beauty queen and quit for the sake of humanity.

ChocolateSauce

ChocolateSauce wrote: »

I find myself hoping (but not believing) that she realised she's one of the stupidest people in the universe and totally unqualified to be anything more than a beauty queen and quit for the sake of humanity.

hardly..

Overheal

Sully wrote: »

Ah so you are a republican really?

I don't do party politics. Im a free thinker. The way the Founding Fathers intended it.

Sully

Palin hints on political future
Sarah Palin (right) with her family in Juneau, Alaska. Photo: 4 July 2009
Sarah Palin (right) celebrated the US Independence Day with her family

Sarah Palin has hinted she might take on a wider political role in the US, one day after abruptly announcing she was resigning as governor of Alaska.

"I am now looking ahead and how we can advance this country together," she wrote on her Facebook page.

The former Republican vice-presidential candidate said earlier she would resign as Alaska governor on 26 July.

There have been speculation that she might be preparing to make a bid for the White House in 2012.

But the fact Mrs Palin did not reveal what she intended to do after leaving office, and did not give an explicit reason for her decision not to run for re-election, prompted speculation there might be another reason for her stepping down.

One report on NBC news suggested that Mrs Palin intended to get out of politics "for good".

'Proud'

In her Facebook posting, Mrs Palin said she urged Americans to "join me" in looking how "we can advance this country together with our values of less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much-needed fiscal restraint".


We have accomplished more during this one term than most governors do in two
Sarah Palin

"Now is the time to rebuild and help our nation achieve greatness!" she wrote.

On Friday, Mrs Palin said that she had decided to resign as governor after "prayerful consideration that sacrificing my title helps Alaska most".

She also said that "we have accomplished more during this one term than most governors do in two - and I am proud of the great team that helped to build these wonderful successes".

At the same time, she said the response in the media to her surprise announcement was "most predictable" and "detached from the live of ordinary Americans".

"How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it's about country," Mrs Palin wrote.

The governor's spokeswoman, Meghan Stapleton, confirmed that Mrs Palin had written the posting, the Associated Press reports.

Polls indicated Mrs Palin was very popular in Alaska during the first few years of her governorship, and although her approval ratings have dipped somewhat since her vice-presidential run, she still enjoys widespread popularity in her home state.

She is also popular with the Republican Party base, analysts say.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8134873.stm

It worrys me that americans actually like her as do her party. She seemed completely clueless when running for VP - a terrible candidate who I think did more damage then good. I think thats the only hint we need to discover what the future holds for presedential elections.

Overheal

Oh im sure she's a nice woman. I just don't want her within a mile of The Football.