Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has announced that she will resign from office on July 26th. The news has led bloggers and comedians to breath into paper bags and use emergency dial-ins for their analysts across the country. Palin has been God’s gift to bloggers, including this blog. But fear not, this announcement may actually promise more not less Palin!
There was no explanation given for the news, though there is speculation that she is committing herself to run in the 2012 presidential election. One spokesperson, however, blamed the onslaught of ethics complaints as the reason, here.
She insists that, since she does not intend to run for a second term, she is simply avoiding that awkward lame duck period. She stated that she is “determined to take the right path for Alaska even though it is not the easiest path. … 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.”
That is a curious rationale since voters probably thought that they were voting for a full term — since that is what she was running for when she asked for their vote. Under this logic, every term would be cut short by roughly a year if the incumbent was not looking for a second term. Moreover, instead of serving as a lame duck governor, she has given Alaska a governor who was not elected to that particular office. Since when is completing one’s promised term “another dose of politics as usual.” That would seem more like a promise as usual.
Palin has long had trouble with quotations, particularly with regard to the Framers. Her departure speech is no exception. The most notable line was a quote attributed to Gen. Douglas MacArthur: “We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.” For those of us who are military history nuts, the line is well-known and not the words of MacArthur. 
Some attribute it to General Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller (left) at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir when the 1st Marine division was surrounded. However, Puller is more often quoted as saying “”We’ve been looking for the enemy for some time now. We’ve finally found him. We’re surrounded. That simplifies things.” Some attribute it to Gen. Oliver Prince Smith (right). Others deny the quotation was actually ever made, here.
What was clear is that it was not MacArthur. I am not sure why Palin wants to portray herself as surrounded in the first place and coming up for another word for retreat. The more apt paraphrased quote from MacArthur would be something along the lines of “Alaskan Governors never die, they just fade away.”
Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will be inaugurated as the new governor at the end of the month.
For the full story, click here.
FFLEO,
I have neighbors that believe exactly the things you write about. Saying someone is doing god’s will can cover many sins. It’s what The Family thinks and their membership are some of society’s richest and most powerful people. That belief isn’t open to any challenge because it’s already a closed circle at birth. You have to step outside the circle to see how it’s wrong but no one is told about that trick.
rafflaw,
I’ll have nothing more to say unto thee until ye have repented. You’re one of them Christians for separation of church and state and we don’t need your kind around here.
BIL:
“I respect epidemiology. It’s a valuable science. I’d like to throw out a couple of things to consider though.”
I agree with your conclusions. H1N1 is a political “bug” for whatever reason. I have thought that from the beginning of this “pandemic”.
Buddha,
“Had the clerk given all three men $1.67 each, there would have been no crime, no missing money and the rounding of the $25 is nullified by recouping the fractional cent lost in dividing 5 by 3 as he would have returned a net of $5.01 ($24.99+$5.01=$30).”
Eh hem…
“Excuse me, excuse me…and then I says, tell me I’m wrong! and he says, ‘I can’t, baby, ‘CAUSE YOU’RE NOT!'”
AY:
“Three men go to a hotel and pay 10 each for one room. The manager realizes that they have been over charged by 5 dollars and decides to refund 5 dollars. He/she wants to make sure that each is given back equally so he pockets 2 giving each one dollar back. What happened to the other dollar?”
There is no other dollar.
$30 – $5 = $25
$25 + $3 to 3 men + $2 in manager’s pocket = $30
The trick is to corrupt the order of operations for the listener by saying…
“Now three men have spent $9 each; 9×3= $27, plus two the manger kept is $29 — where did the other dollar go?
rafflaw,
Many Republicans, especially those beyond 60-years-old, are seeing their world changing and they fear the future of what they see as impending socialism. Ms. Palin champions those concerns and, if she runs, she will gain much more support than she received on the McCain ticket because the Republicans are incensed with Obama, as I am.
Had McCain chosen Romney, I think that the Republicans would have done much better and might have won. I would still not have voted for McCain on any ticket but I *might* have voted for Romney and a moderate running mate had I known how abject a liar and a coward Obama is.
If Obama continues with Bush/Cheney style politics and lies, the Democrats are going to lose a lot of support from Independents and conservative Republicans like me who understood we needed dramatic change *and* retribution for war crimes, unlawful wiretapping, and the torture issue. Obama has backed away from all of those and we are losing as many or more rights under a Democratic Administration and Congress than we did under the Republicans.
The saving grace against Palin is that she is such a religiously fanatic fool that she will likely do something so stupid that enough people could not, in good conscience, vote for her.
Well, the retreat quote does go way back, and was attributed to Smith, not McArthur. It was reported by Time Magazine at the time. It only remains to be seen whether Time was accurate. (The link to Nexis requirees registration).
In those days, the reporters filed their notes with New York editors, who wrote the magazine in vivid, sensationsal Time-style, with no by-lines, giving the weekly news summary a fictional tone. There is no telling what happened in rewrite.
QUOTE ON Monday, Dec. 18, 1950
War: Retreat of the 20,000
“Retreat, hell!” snapped Major General Oliver Prince Smith, commander of the 1st Marine Division, with which he had fought on Guadalcanal, New Britain, Peleliu, Okinawa (TIME, Sept. 25). “We’re not retreating, we’re just advancing in a different direction.”*
“We’re gonna get out of here,” said Lieut. Colonel Raymond L. Murray, commander of the 5th Marine Regiment. “Any officer who doesn’t think so will kindly go lame and be evacuated, but I don’t expect any bites for that offer.” There were no bites.
Said Colonel Lewis (“Chesty”) Puller, famed battle-scarred commander of the 1st Marine Regiment: “We’ll suffer heavy losses. The enemy greatly outnumbers us.
They’ve blown the bridges and blocked the roads . . . but we’ll make it somehow.” UNQUOTE
Karl Rove guided ex President Bush into office once, if at all, in 2004. In 2000, the supreme court guided Bush into office by a 5 to 4 partisan vote.
I suspect Rove is right about Palin nonetheless. What ever the motive may be, the act has eliminated any possibility of her being nominated in 2012. If the Republican party is in such disarray that it actually did nominate her, the gift would fall exclusively to who ever was running against her. It is pure fantasy.
It is not fantasy, however, that that there are ardent Palin defenders out there. And the more she sees Russia from her window, the more she claims to have read all newspapers without being able to mention a single one, the more total lack of experience she can point to as a badge of independence, the more she froths about ignorance as the passport of the patriot, the more ardent their support will be. And bailing out of the job she accepted in the interim is an excellent way of deepening and rounding out those very qualities. Her defenders, meanwhile, are a small group, many of who will be too busy shouting at cars on street corners to remember election day, never mind what precinct they are in.
Former Fed,
If it is true that many caring families like Palin, then why did she(and McCain) lose the election? She is a far right wing religious nutjob that was not able to work in the center ring the last time, so why do you think she has what it takes to attract moderate Americans to her religion and government mixture?
Mike A,
I agree that this seemed to play very well with her base, and my guess is that this is strategy. Wether or not it is good or bad strategy or what it is meant to accomplish, I have no idea. If she still has political designs this seems like terrible strategy as it makes independents view her as erratic – maybe she’s trying to be elected queen of “real America”.
Most of my relatives, especially the women, love Ms. Palin. They say she is a strong-willed, god-fearing woman and she is there for a *reason*.
There are simply many decent, good, smart, caring familys who like Palin; I know, that defies all logic, but it is a fact.
anon, you’re probably right. I had a discussion with my father-in-law this weekend about Sarah Palin and offered my opinion that she could never be elected to the presidency. He emphatically disagreed, which gives you an idea of how strongly her supporters feel. But her appeal doesn’t extend beyond the hardcore. Perhaps there are some insiders who believe she can be molded to bring in the hardcore vote behind a more moderate Republican, but the whole thing makes no sense to me. Then again, no one has ever accused me of being a brilliant political strategist.
Mike Appleton: “My opinion has always been that she doesn’t have the intellectual heft to handle a national office.”
I agree, but I didn’t feel that George W. had the requisite intellectual capacity either. Palin is a puppet, in my opinion. (She wasn’t John McCain’s choice as a running mate, I’ve heard.) I believe that that there are others who are pushing Palin in order to advance their agenda.
If Gov. Palin seriously believes she can make a run for the presidency in 2012, quitting her present job is hardly an intelligent decision. Although I am certainly no fan of hers, I continue to be mystified by the poor quality of the advice she receives from her political team, assuming she has one. My opinion has always been that she doesn’t have the intellectual heft to handle a national office. It may be that she doesn’t have the stomach for it either.
“Karl Rove who successfully guided President Bush to the White House twice, was remarkably cold on Sarah Palin’s decision to resign as governor of Alaska during an appearance on Fox News Sunday. The former Bush strategist and current Republican commentator argued that it was “not clear” what Palin’s strategy was in resigning just two-and-a-half years into office, adding that the move was risky,m left her vulnerable to her critics, and would damage her chances of becoming president.”
“WASHINGTON — One of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s potential presidential rivals said Sunday that her abrupt resignation won’t help her dodge scrutiny. President George W. Bush’s chief political adviser said her strategy is, at best, unclear.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Palin’s announcement that she would not seek a second term — and leave office before finishing her first — simply doesn’t make sense in a conventional political setting.”
Here is the kicker:
“McCain says Palin to play leadership role as ex-Governor”
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5624MB20090704