Topic: Palin Resigns as Governor of Alaska?!?!?!?!

[What_The?]

                 WASILLA, Alaska – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin made a surprise announcement Friday that she is resigning from office at the end of the month without explaining why she plans to step down, raising speculation that she would focus on a run for the White House in the 2012 race.

The former Republican vice presidential candidate hastily called a news conference Friday morning at her home in suburban Wasilla, giving such short notice that only a few reporters actually made it to the announcement. State troopers blocked late-arriving media outside her home, and her spokesman, Dave Murrow, finally emerged to confirm that Palin will step down July 26. He refused to give details about the governor's future plans.

"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 was first elected in 2006 on a populist platform. But her popularity has waned as she waged in partisan politics following her return from the presidential campaign. Her term would have ended in 2010.

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"

Palin's decision even took Parnell by surprise. He said he was told on Wednesday evening, and was not aware that any presidential ambitions were behind the move.

Palin emerged from relative obscurity nearly a year ago when she was tapped as then Republican presidential candidate John McCain's running mate.

She was a controversial figure from the start, with comedian Tina Fey famously imitating her elaborate hairstyle and folksy "You betcha!" on "Saturday Night Live."

Most recently, she led a public spat with "Late Show" host David Letterman over a joke he made about one of her daughters being "knocked up" by New York Yankees baseball player Alex Rodriguez during the governor's recent visit to New York. Palin's 18-year-old daughter, Bristol, is an unwed, teenage mother.

Letterman later apologized for the joke.

Palin's family and the ridicule they endure being in the public eye was part of her decision. She complained that her 14-month-old son, Trig, who was diagnosed with Down's syndrome, had been "mocked and ridiculed by some mean-spirited adults recently." She didn't elaborate.

Palin campaigned on ethics reform in the 2006 election, defeating incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary and a former two-term Democratic governor, Tony Knowles, in the general election.

She enjoyed an extended honeymoon with lawmakers and voters alike. Her popularity was in the 80 percentile range, even though that fell after the bruising, partisan presidential campaign.

Palin's delivery of two weeks' notice rattles a Republican Party plagued with setbacks in recent weeks, including extramarital affairs disclosed by two other 2012 presidential prospects, Nevada Sen. John Ensign and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.

Ensign, a member of the Christian ministry Promise Keepers, stepped down from the Senate Republican leadership last month after admitting he had an affair for much of last year with a woman on his campaign staff who was married to one of his Senate aides. Ensign later disclosed he had helped the woman's husband get two jobs during the affair.

 A government watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, wants the Senate ethics committee and the Federal Election Commission to investigate.

Just days after news of Ensign's affair broke, Sanford admitted an affair with a woman in Argentina. Some lawmakers are now calling for his resignation. Before the admission, Sanford had been missing from the state for five days visiting his lover. He had slipped his security detail, lied to his staff about where he was and failed to transfer power to the lieutenant governor in case of a state emergency.

 Sanford admitted he also saw the mistress during a state-funded trip to Argentina last year. He promised to reimburse the state for part of the trip's costs. The state Commerce Department said the trip itinerary originally included only Brazil, but the governor requested economic development meetings in Argentina.

 The GOP troubles seem to have left two prominent 2012 prospects, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and 2008 presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, unscathed, however.             

[okie the thread killer]

Wah wah wah. I have close friends with Down's children, who get mocked daily. No it is not easy, but wth? She has an agenda.

[fish]

pathetic lib dribble.

[okie the thread killer]

Is that an answer? Don't think so.

[fish]

a description of winston's post. watch for the tone of future Sarah bashing. libs don't understand "doing the right thing"

[okie the thread killer]

another non answer

[What_The?]

a description of winston's post. watch for the tone of future Sarah bashing. libs don't understand "doing the right thing"

You were the loudest of those who criticized Hillary when she was running, weren't you?

What did you say about her and her job as Senator?

Tsk tsk.

Typical, though.

What they do is evil, and when we do it, darn it, it just makes good common sense.

 

[fish]

proof winston?

[What_The?]

proof winston?

Seriously, you are denying it?

Seriously?

[David Day]

Wah wah wah. I have close friends with Down's children, who get mocked daily. No it is not easy, but wth? She has an agenda.

I don't think that is the reason she left, I think you are correct, there is another plan.

That said, do your friends have to watch their children be mocked on the late night shows or all over the web?  In my first election as Rep. my daughter was attacked as well as my wife, it is hard to take when you read it on a campaign mailer or hear in ton the radio....and that is small time compared to what she has gone through from the "caring liberals" of our country.

I agree, there is another plan but I don't think any of us can understand how hard the attacks are on a family like they have gone through.  Not the attacks on her...but on her family.  She is the public figure, she is fair game, only cowards attack the kids.

JMO,
Dave

[What_The?]

I don't think that is the reason she left, I think you are correct, there is another plan.

That said, do your friends have to watch their children be mocked on the late night shows or all over the web?  In my first election as Rep. my daughter was attacked as well as my wife, it is hard to take when you read it on a campaign mailer or hear in ton the radio....and that is small time compared to what she has gone through from the "caring liberals" of our country.

I agree, there is another plan but I don't think any of us can understand the attacks not her...but her family have had to put up with.  She is the public figure, she is fair game, only cowards attack the kids.

JMO,
Dave

I agree.

And the Clinton family dog agrees as well.

[fish]

denying what?  are you too lazy to prove it?

[What_The?]

denying what?  are you too lazy to prove it?

The sun is hot, the sky is blue and water is wet.

[fish]

and?

[okie the thread killer]

I don't think that is the reason she left, I think you are correct, there is another plan.

That said, do your friends have to watch their children be mocked on the late night shows or all over the web?  In my first election as Rep. my daughter was attacked as well as my wife, it is hard to take when you read it on a campaign mailer or hear in ton the radio....and that is small time compared to what she has gone through from the "caring liberals" of our country.

I agree, there is another plan but I don't think any of us can understand how hard the attacks are on a family like they have gone through.  Not the attacks on her...but on her family.  She is the public figure, she is fair game, only cowards attack the kids.

JMO,
Dave

does it matter whether they are on national tv or not. people dont have to watch tv, but they do have to hear comments directed at them in their neigborhood, the grocery store, etc. that one does not wash with me.

[darrellmaurina]

That said, do your friends have to watch their children be mocked on the late night shows or all over the web?  In my first election as Rep. my daughter was attacked as well as my wife, it is hard to take when you read it on a campaign mailer or hear in ton the radio....and that is small time compared to what she has gone through from the "caring liberals" of our country. I agree, there is another plan but I don't think any of us can understand how hard the attacks are on a family like they have gone through.  Not the attacks on her...but on her family.  She is the public figure, she is fair game, only cowards attack the kids.

I remember CBS News cameras being stuck in my mother's face during Watergate, being chased by camera crews on my way to school, and having to field calls from national newspapers on a daily basis to keep reporters away from my parents. Having personally gone through a small portion of what your family went through (and a miniscule, tiny fraction of what Gov. Palin's family went through) I can sympathize with the family of anyone in politics. It's a horrible life, and it's one the kids didn't choose. Think preacher's kids, and then multiply a hundredfold.

One difference, to be fair, is that even in high school I was active in politics and had become a legitimate target. When local Democrats found out years later some of what I had been doing, some of them were shocked that they had been outmaneuvered by somebody they regarded as a young kid. It's not the first time I've been underestimated, and when I was younger, my apparent youth and inexperience was a useful weapon.

does it matter whether they are on national tv or not. people dont have to watch tv, but they do have to hear comments directed at them in their neigborhood, the grocery store, etc. that one does not wash with me.

Not on the national level.

To run for president, you need to have at least one large segment of your party perceive you as a viable representative of their interests. Then you get identified the "economics candidate" (Romney), the "national security candidate" (Giulani and McCain), the "good government candidate" (Biden), the "family values" candidate (Huckabee), the "anti-war candidate" (Obama, early on) the "women's candidate" (Clinton), or whatever. That gets accomplished in the years long before the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary by speaking at conferences, appearing on the national television news shows, and writing books and articles, all the while building a credible boots-on-the ground campaign organization in the early caucus and primary states.

That would be difficult enough if Gov. Palin were in an isolated low-population state like Wyoming, but it's not impossible. To fly from Wyoming to California, Texas, Iowa, or even the east coast isn't that far and she could still effectively work as governor while making trips like that. More importantly, media are willing to make those types of trips out of New York, Washington, or Atlanta to see things you are doing.

Also, she has a long history of legitimate expertise in the oil industry and she might very well be able to make a credible run by speaking regularly at petroleum-related conferences and asking that they be held in her state or promoting major national oil-related initiatives. For example, she could attack President Barack Obama head-on with ANWR drilling issues and force Alaskan drilling to the center of American politics while capitalizing on her position as Alaska governor and making her constituents very happy.

But other than oil, what reason would ANYONE have for holding a conference in Alaska? And given the uproar in the energy industry, do you want to constantly remind people that your whole state's economy looks like a frozen version of Saudi Arabia? It might work if President Obama's policy blows up, but it's a high-risk gamble.

My read of the situation -- if things are as they appear to be -- is that Gov. Palin originally thought she could let her term expire in 2010 and begin the boots-on-the-ground campaign in Iowa after her term expires while continuing to focus on the issues of her state for the next 18 months. Because of the heavy influence of Christian conservatives in Iowa, Palin would have had an automatic base of support there for her campaign. The problem is that Sam Brownback and other Republicans aiming for that same constituency are much closer to Iowa and if Mitt Romney gets his Mormon problem solved with evangelicals, he might be able to make a credible run in Iowa.

Eight, 12, or 16 years ago, you could start campaigning in earnest two years before the election and still win. I don't think that is possible anymore, and with Palin basically banished to Siberia as far as the media are concerned, she would have been locked out of key battles for national public opinion or faced a major problem back home in Alaska for allegedly failing to do her job.

[okie the thread killer]

and that has to do with what? when you make the choice to be in public life, you make that choice, even according to you.

[darrellmaurina]

and that has to do with what? when you make the choice to be in public life, you make that choice, even according to you.

President Obama made the choice to be in public life, and to a certain extent, so did Michelle Obama with her hospital work. Their kids didn't.

And the same goes for Gov. Palin and her family.

I won't go as far as Rep. Day in saying only cowards attack the kids, but I have strong sympathies in that direction. While I'm willing to defend the media's right to be idiots, fools, buffoons and goons, it would take a tremendous amount for me to go after a politician's children before adulthood, especially before their high school years. College kids are a different matter -- they're old enough to be held accountable for their own actions, but also old enough that we need to be careful about blaming mom and dad for what the kids have done.

[David Day]

does it matter whether they are on national tv or not. people dont have to watch tv, but they do have to hear comments directed at them in their neigborhood, the grocery store, etc. that one does not wash with me.

Well, I have had a few folks in the grocery store or in the neighborhood say a few things about my family in my life (as anyone has), and I have had about 30,000 flyers mailed to voting families in the district that were very unkind to my family, in my little world, there was a HUGE difference.
 
Maybe there wouldn't be to you, I respect that.
 
Dave

[What_The?]

Well, it is fine if it "doesn't wash with" you, I just hope your friends don't have about 30,000 mailers send it every voting family in the county they live in about their kids.  I am betting they would tell you there is a difference.

Enough said, I respect that you see no difference.

Dave

Senator McCain and his adopted daughter agree: smearing someone by implying their child is from an extramarital affair with a black woman is reprehensible.

[David Day]

Senator McCain and his adopted daughter agree: smearing someone by implying their child is from an extramarital affair with a black woman is reprehensible.

I don't know what they agree with, maybe you do.  I just know that anytime kids are smeared in campaigns or while the person is in office...no matter the party, it is shameful.  Both parties have done it, it is wrong for either party to do it.

Dave

[What_The?]

and?

And a hot stove will burn you, ice will cool water down and soap removes dirt.

[Vado Del Rio]

I'm steering clear of this thread.  It's getting WAY too heated out here.  I'll stick with Cap & Tax.  I get pissed just thinking about it....................................

[What_The?]

When the going get's tough, the tough...quit?

When the going get's rough, the tough...pass the buck?

When an elected official is offered millions in speaking fees and book deals, does she quit to fatten her sarahpac coffers for a run at a presidential election some 3 years down the road?

Heck no, she sells the former governor's jet, fires the private chef, puts in a tanning booth and get's the...job...done..........

[What_The?]

The rumor mill is running rampant.

Saw one that is getting some steam:

A federal grand jury is set to hand down indictments of the Palin's for embezzeling funds during the $3 million construction of the Wasilla community center, built during the same time she was mayor and at the same time her rather lavish home was built.

[Racer]

The rumor mill is running rampant.

Saw one that is getting some steam:

A federal grand jury is set to hand down indictments of the Palin's for embezzeling funds during the $3 million construction of the Wasilla community center, built during the same time she was mayor and at the same time her rather lavish home was built.

 
 

[shadylane]

The rumor mill is running rampant.

Saw one that is getting some steam:

A federal grand jury is set to hand down indictments of the Palin's for embezzeling funds during the $3 million construction of the Wasilla community center, built during the same time she was mayor and at the same time her rather lavish home was built.

That's called business as usual "in Alaska".

[What_The?]

Make that the $13 million complex in a town of 5000+.

And the word is that it is very curious that the same windows and doors can be seen at both the complex and the Palin's home.

Weird windows for a house, huh?

[matrsnot]

Strange.  Whenever someone brings up the atrocities Obama and his congress have created, it is all right wing extremist propaganda.  When the runors start about Palin, you are in there pitching all of it.  Why don't we wait for some facts surrounding her resignation.  I forgot. liberals don't need facts.  They need insinuation and manufacture their own facts to fit their agenda.  Shady, what you are implying happens all over the country, not just Alaska.  Look at Feinstein and Pelosi to name a couple.

[matrsnot]

When the going get's tough, the tough...quit?

When the going get's rough, the tough...pass the buck?


When an elected official is offered millions in speaking fees and book deals, does she quit to fatten her sarahpac coffers for a run at a presidential election some 3 years down the road?

Heck no, she sells the former governor's jet, fires the private chef, puts in a tanning booth and get's the...job...done..........

I like that.  The tough pass the buck.  Seems like there is someone in another office who continues to pass the buck.  At least palin can carry on without a teleprompter.  Her reasons for quitting will come to view and we will see if rumormongering is correct or not.  Until then please remember Obama passes the buck at every turn.  He has yet to take responsibility for his bankrupting the government.  BTW, could you also tell me just WHERE all the money went to?