7.03.2009

Goodbye, Governor Palin

Goodbye, Governor Palin. But not, I'm afraid, goodbye Sarah. Gov. Palin has announced that she is not only declining to run for re-election but is also resigning her office by the end of the month. Was it just not fun anymore? Her arguement is that as a lame-duck, she can't be effective -- oh yes, so putting the Lt. Gov. in charge would be so much more effective for the people of Alaska! When she took her oath of office to the people of Alaska, did she pencil in a marginal note about how she'd only be governor until there was something more interesting to do? Or has the long list of ethics violations and poor decision-making finally catching up?

I doubt we've seen the last of Sarah Palin. Book tours, talk shows, photo-ops bravely shooting animals from a helicopter, rallies with the Alaskan Independence Party... Thank you, Gov. Palin, for the great entertainment. We're looking forward to more kookiness!

Now of course, there may be serious reasons -- I apologize ahead of time to Dan and my fellow bloggers if it turns out that there's some deep, tragic personal diagnosis that's led to this resignation. But I'm afraid at the moment, it just looks like soon-to-be-former Governor Palin is just being plain wacky, yet again...

13 comments:

  1. Speaking of ethics violations and poor decision making, how is the Speaker of the House doing these days? Has the CIA lied to, I mean briefed, her recently? Mr Rangel? Too bad that the lead on tax issues in the House didn't know he had to report all that cash that his guests leave on the table at his island dacha. Mr. Frank? Walked out on any more on-air interviews? Mr. Dodd? Maybe Mr. Dodd will do a little fishing at his Irish cottage on his break.

    The Dems need work to upgrade to cesspool status on ethical issues. Maybe it'll catch up to them too. One can hope!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, for PITY'S SAKE, John. Can you please try to stay on topic?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Now then, on topic, I wonder what this really means. Apparently she is telling people that she's done with politics outright, which would be a-okay with me. BUt I somehow doubt we've seen the last of her. I mean, someone has to play to the jingoistic, anti-intellectual, xenophobic base.

    ReplyDelete
  4. If she is gone for good, out to make big bucks from the wingnuts, more power to her. Our society is fractionalized enough, and availablity of media so large and diverse I need never see or hear from her again. I never watch Beck, or Hannity, et al. or listen to Rush. I know they have nothing remotely interesting to say. She is simply a private citizen now (well, soon will be), as such her life is her business.
    This is great news for the Republican party too.
    I can't imagine how she can hope to run now, the money men won't support her and parts of her base might still love her but be reluctant to pony up. And with the rampant adultery from other prominent Repubs, hopefully what emerges is more technocratic, like Romney (but not actually Romney himself)

    charo

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yes, stay on topic, which is mocking members of the Republican Party. Buddha forbid that anyone talk about the kleptocrats who are running this country into the ground (have you seen the new jobless figures? Without Obama's enlightened leadership, it might have gone as high as 9%, instead of the 9.5% that we have thanks to Dear Leader's Smart Government spending).

    So, OK, I won't mention that for real ethics violations and poor decision making, go look under the Congressional Dome.

    Palin, OK, she's torpedoed her political career. I'd say that the likely explanation is that there is some deeply tragic personal issue, and she's stepping aside to handle it without Andrew Sullivan and other nutcases having kittens about it. We'll know soon enough.

    ReplyDelete
  6. John, I am more than happy to mock members of the Democratic Party when it seems apposite.

    However, the howlingly incompetent woman who the GOP put forth to be their VP candidate less than a year ago is resigning before her first term is up. That, my friend, is news. If you think the issues you mention above are more interesting or worthy of comment, I would cheerfully remind you that it is free and easy to start your own blog.

    And I would close by pointing out that Andrew Sullivan, no matter how large he looms in the world of people such as you and me, is actually pretty small-potatoes in the grand scheme of things. On the other hand, our President is routinely accused of wanting to, say, open re-education camps or of faking his US citizenship by members of Congress. If Gov. Palin has tragic personal reasons for bowing out, she certainly did not make them clear. If she just got tired of Sullivan et al having at her, then it's one more reason she wasn't ready for Prime Time.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dan, how do you know Ms. Palin is "howlingly incompetent?" I've seen no objective evidence for it whatsoever. In fact, her state is doing rather well while other states blessed with abundant natural resources (*cough* California) are sinking beneth the waves.

    I agree it is news she is leaving office. I just don't think it is anywhere as important as the astonishing amount of dishonesty and blundering coming out of DC these days. Ms. Palin isn't spending my children into debt. Democrats, lead by Obama, Pelosi, Dodd, Frank, Rangel, and Murtha are eating our seed corn.

    I'm here to remind you that the Dems have the ball now, not the Repubs. The Dems are failing, and failing badly. Laugh at Ms. Palin if you wish, but she's not all that important because, you know, her ticket didn't win.

    Mr. Obama might not be accused of wanting to open reeducation camps if he and his family didn't shoot off their mouths about compulsory service for minors. That's an own goal. I'll grant that the citizenship thing is just wacky.

    ReplyDelete
  8. 1) There's a vast, vast difference between public service for minors and re-education camps.

    2) "Failing badly"? How is that, pray tell? That the economy has not magically regained its strength in the six months since Obama took office?

    3) Alaska is doing relatively well because it sits atop a mass of oil, and is essentially socialist in its laws regarding natural resources. California is failing because of its asinine laws regarding public referenda, and I actually think its Republican governor is doing a relatively decent job, considering the [feces][inclement weather] that hit him.

    4) Palin is howlingly incompetent because she is unable to articulate a single cogent thought about what it means to govern. Her current position is the result of luck and moxie, and she can't even be bothered to finish out her term.

    5) I am not delighted by the amount of debt that the federal government is accruing, but at least it is in service to stimulating the economy, rather than cutting taxes and starting a war of choice while increasing entitlement spending.

    ReplyDelete
  9. 1) as lakoff would say, its all in the framing, baby.

    2) the economy is worse than Obama and his team said it would be *in the absence of his recovery efforts*. So, either Obama and Co. were talking out of their backside to start with, or they have completely mismanaged the squillion dollars we borrowed from our children. Either way, I'd say they are failing badly. Just ask the Chinese how much they like holding US paper.

    3) CA sits atop oil as well, and has perhaps the most favorable area for food production in the world. It takes high powered political talent to screw the State into the ground from 40,000 feet given all those resources. The referenda laws simply illustrate that no pol is willing to pull any snout from the public trough, and the electorate is unwilling to pay any more. If nothing else, this is a great object lesson from a labratory of democracy.

    4) a single cogent thought? When did Joe Biden, winning VP candidate, ever utter a single cogent thought? If Palin is howlingly incompetent, Joe B is extra doubleplus banshee level incompetent, and he's one heartbeat (and a 40s smoker's heartbeat at that) away from the Presidency.

    5) the economy isn't doing what the Big Brains said it would do for the obscene amount of money poured out. Mr. O spent $100M in Chicago public schools to no effect, and he's replicating that stunning success on a national scale. The man cannot manage a lemonade stand, let alone a single program in the public schools, and you have elected him to fix the economy? Feh.

    ReplyDelete
  10. "Framing," my eye.

    And clearly you and I watched two different VP debates. But no matter.

    You think the economy continues to fail. I think Obama is doing a decent job with the crap sandwich he was handed. We shall see. I find it amusing that you say Obama (personally, it seems) spent 100$ million on Chicago public schools. All by his lonesome?

    Anyhow, enough of this.

    ReplyDelete
  11. damn right danny, boy do you suffer fools gladly. And gj is a fool, writing nothing but easily rebuttable snark. Joe Biden is a very intelligent guy who has done countless news shows, he is prone to a few verbal slips but it is not evidence of his stupidity, just that he is talkative, and if you talk as much as he does. Just recently Biden gave a speech about Israel and Iran, and pundits are very intently parsing it, and nowhere have I read that it was inept or bungled, either in content or delivery. But of course these are facts gj, and you have no ability to process facts. Honestly, do you like to be thought of as a fool?
    I mean really: Joe B is extradoublepluss banshee level incompetent.

    Are you 8 years old? That is a shockingly stupid thing to say, even for you. You seem to think contradiction is intelligence, there is exactly zero in the way of intelligent rebuttal from you.
    charo

    ReplyDelete
  12. Dan, Mr. Obama was President and Founding Chairman of the Chicago Annenburg Challenge. The CAC spent about $150M to no effect in the Chicago public schools. And no, he didn't spend it himself, just like he's not going to personally spend the Federal budget. But he is just as responsible for the final result as if he did spend it himself. That's what accountability means, and the President and Founding Chair of the Board ought to have a little accountability for results, no?

    As far as Mr. Biden, clearly we live in different universes. In mine, he frequently does boneheaded things. In fact, he's legendary for it, even in DC.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Biden doesn't do boneheaded things, he says boneheaded things, most of them utterly harmless (re: FDR TV 1928). It is actually part of his charm, like Mrs. Malaprop. Palin can barely string a sentence together without sounding like a 15 year old girl. She is a pathetic twit.

    charo.

    ReplyDelete