In a bizarr-o pre 4th of July press ocnference. Anybody see the clip of all the GOP biggies pronouncing here dead politically? Its soemthing.
I didn't see this coming. i knew she thought she was a player for 2012 (though I doubted it highly) but now I doubt she even gets past the first couple of primaries.
Strange, starnge episode in American politics - from start to finish.
I feel sorry for her. She's been subjected to meritless charges of ethics violations and meritless lawsuits that have personally cost her hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend. Its sad to know that under our current "American system" of lawsuits, where both sides bear their own legal expenses, that politics and free speech can be silenced by abuse of the legal system.
Well, regardless of her personal reasons, good and bad, the presentation of "since I'm not going to run for re-election, there was no point in finishing the term" is political suicide. It will be used against her by opponents from both parties. And they'll be right. Her career as a political office holder is pretty much done.
Her reasons are actually very valid. If she finishes her term she will need to spend a bulk of that time defending meritless ethics charges against herself while collecting tax payer money. It is funny how it is glossed over that she is not willing to waste the taxpayer money and collect a paycheck for not doing her job. I an day when most politicians waste as much tax payer money as they can we prosecute one who isn't.
Also, I would not jump to the conclusion that it is political suicide. She is still a lightning rod that people feel the need to constantly attack her unprovoked. Those types of attacks are usually due to fear.
Venryk said:
She didn't have any trouble collecting her governor's paycheck while out on the campaign trail (and not doing her job - and yes, I fault all the candidates for largely ignoring their current "job" while campaigning). It doesn't matter how valid her reasons are; it comes off as "it got too hard and I couldn't handle it, so I quit." Particularly given the "sneak out the back door" way she announced it in a hastily called press conference at the beginning of a holiday weekend. It is going to be very hard for her to live this down. And it's the GOP saying this!
Venryk said:
Sorry, but if she had her eye on national office, this was not the way to deal to the "constant unprovoked attacks." This episode gives her detractors more than enough to call her credibility as a politician in the office for the long-haul into question. If you know people are trying to burn you at the stake, you don't give them the wood!
ktom said:
Particularly given the "sneak out the back door" way she announced it in a hastily called press conference at the beginning of a holiday weekend. It is going to be very hard for her to live this down. And it's the GOP saying this!
I personally hope she finds a way to live it down, because I think she is one of the most exciting people in the GOP. People love Palin. People hate Palin. Nobody really cared one way or another about John McCain. If the GOP is going to compete with the enthusiasm that Obama brings, they need someone more exciting that Bob Dole or John McCain or some other old white guy.
The problem is, if that's not going to be Sarah Palin anymore, I don't know who it could be.
Oh - she's done. You can't just quit like that - no matter how she tries to spin it, she gave her primary opponents and easy and accessible sound bite to clobber her with. And now I doubt she'll even be able to raise the capital she needs to mount a run.
It was a weird little ten month run i teh spotligth for her. She was certainly the msot spectacularly unqualified candidate for higher office that I ahve seen in my forty some years, maybe excepting Dan Quayle, and I was surprised she maintained her cache with the base after the disaster of the general election. This Republican didn't fidn her compelling at all - unless by compelling you mean marginal and unelectable in a frigthening way. (Have you seen her numbers with moderates and independents?)
Stag Lord said:
She was certainly the msot spectacularly unqualified candidate for higher office that I ahve seen in my forty some years, maybe excepting Dan Quayle, and I was surprised she maintained her cache with the base after the disaster of the general election.
I think if we've learned anything from the 2008 General and Primary election, its that, to Hillary Clinton's great dismay, things like "experience" and "qualifications" just don't matter all that much in the end, as long as you have a pretty face and a nice voice.
We get you are a conservative, but please respect the intelligene of the people here enough not to trot out over used and invalid talking points. You may not agree with Obama, but he had more experience in public office than HRC did. As a professor of Constitutional law he certainly had a better educational background.
Sarah Palin's problem is that she never grew up out of that HS basketball player the Barracuda. She was reactionary, devisive, dismissive, incurious, and substituted ideology for fact. She is not someone who ever would have been elected into the position of POTUS in 2012 and likely not in 2016 because she was in the tank with independents and moderates.
As much as people like to talk about firing up the base, the base is not enough on either side to get elected to national office. The GOP and their pundits torpedoed their own party in a spectacular DNC style. They rag on and dismiss McCain when he was the "maverick" the only person who had a national presence and disagreed vocally with Bush on a number of occasions. He was the only one who had a real chance of pulling in the moderates and independents, at least until the base led by Rush and others started lambasting him. His run to the right seemed disengenious to the Arch conservatives and made him unpalatable to the middle.
The left accuse Obama of having betrayed his progressive principles, the right calls him a socialist, which in my book means he is probably more or less about where he should be, in the middle with most of the nation (I will certainly give you he is a bit left of center but then again most credible polls I've seen seem to indicate so is America minus "wedge" issues).
dormouse said:
We get you are a conservative, but please respect the intelligene of the people here enough not to trot out over used and invalid talking points. You may not agree with Obama, but he had more experience in public office than HRC did. As a professor of Constitutional law he certainly had a better educational background.
Sarah Palin's problem is that she never grew up out of that HS basketball player the Barracuda. She was reactionary, devisive, dismissive, incurious, and substituted ideology for fact. She is not someone who ever would have been elected into the position of POTUS in 2012 and likely not in 2016 because she was in the tank with independents and moderates.
As much as people like to talk about firing up the base, the base is not enough on either side to get elected to national office. The GOP and their pundits torpedoed their own party in a spectacular DNC style. They rag on and dismiss McCain when he was the "maverick" the only person who had a national presence and disagreed vocally with Bush on a number of occasions. He was the only one who had a real chance of pulling in the moderates and independents, at least until the base led by Rush and others started lambasting him. His run to the right seemed disengenious to the Arch conservatives and made him unpalatable to the middle.
The left accuse Obama of having betrayed his progressive principles, the right calls him a socialist, which in my book means he is probably more or less about where he should be, in the middle with most of the nation (I will certainly give you he is a bit left of center but then again most credible polls I've seen seem to indicate so is America minus "wedge" issues).
It was more of an attempt to be funny than a serious criticism, and it was certainly not intended to insult anyone's intelligence. The reason why I post in the Off-Topic Section is that I find everyone here to be very intelligent, which makes posting worth the effort. Trust me, I am anything but an ideologue shouting the party line from a mountaintop.
Ultimately, the American people decide who is experienced enough to be President, and overwhelmingly, to my great dismay, they chose Obama. I don't like Obama, and more often than not he scares me with his liberalism. But he did get elected President, and I'm stuck waiting for the GOP to provide a savior. All indications now point that Sarah Palin will not be that savior.
I disagree with you about the importance of firing up the base. You're right that firing up the base doesn't get you enough votes to successfully govern, and I'll set to the side the argument that George W. Bush won enough votes to be elected with his base alone. ;-) However, modern election campaigns need millions upon millions of dollars to run, and that's money that's generally provided by the base, not by moderates.
I probably wouldn't vote for Sarah Palin in a primary election, but its still sad to see her go, because many people loved her. The GOP needs more of that.
Stag Lord said:
Strange, starnge episode in American politics - from start to finish.
I found it odd, but not completely out-of-character (although, being north of the border, I doubt I'm as well informed as most of you). She certainly had a different political run than most. I assumed that being the focus of so much media attention simply wore on her.
However, there's always another "what-the-heck" run coming up. ~If nothing else, I'm sure Dan Quayle sent Sarah a thank-you card for outshining his media kick-about.