Magnificent Fail

When word came down yesterday that Sarah Palin was going to announce that not only was she not going to run for re-election next year but also that she was going to resign in the next three weeks I, like everyone else, was pretty flabbergasted. In many ways not running for re-election would make sense for her if she had designs on 2012, but resigning right now is just indefensible. So I put up my post yesterday soliciting opinions about what the real reason might be for her actions yesterday and also the video from her press conference. Well now I am going to expound on both of those.

First as to the predictions about why she stepped down. There seems to be quite a lot of divergence of speculation but there are a few predictions that have picked up steam. The biggest and probably most damaging and problematic of these is the notion that Palin and her husband Todd may be facing indictments soon over and embezzlement scheme having to do with the much talked about ice hockey rink boondoggle in her hometown of Wasilla along with the construction of their home. Now at this point this seems to be more smoke than fire, however that is not to say there isn't any truth there. Its just that nobody in an offiical capacity has confirmed anything about indictments being on the horizon. Still it definitely makes for compelling reading.

Now as for the rest of the speculation I can direct you to several places around the intertubes for all of them. But I wanted to thank all of my commenters for weighing in. So thank you cdrwayne, Jack T, an anonymous commenter, and especially Frieda who always has great information on Sarah Palin's many questionable activities.

I tell you what, the most entertaining thing about Sarah Palin's resignation, for me at least, has been the wingnut freakout that followed From wingnuts totally washing their hands of her to wingnuts furiously attempting to polish a turd it has been an amazing thing to watch.

On the issue of whether or not this precludes her from running in 2012, my question is how is this even an issue? OF COURSE it procludes her from running for damn near any position again for the rest of her life. I again point to Republicans' inability to notice the way the world is changing around them. Sarah Palin's rambling incoherent resignation speech will be on youtube or some next generation formulation of it forever. Along with all of the media reactions and all of the allegations surrounding her. We have moved well beyond the era where a politician could do something boneheaded and or morally wrong and expect for the public just to forget all about it. The reason being with google and youtube there are just too many reminders.

Besides that, simply on the merits of her decision from what we know so far, she has disqualified herself from major office. She has become the Vince Young of politics. With this move she has now cast herself as a quitter, someone who can't stand the heat so they got out of the kitchen. No one can come back from that kind of public perception. Especially when it dovetails with the public perception of her as a vindictive, self absorbed moron. And for that matter, if there was an advisor who advised her to do this in hopes of making it to the White House some day, that person should also be banned from ever working in politics again. That would be the very definition of malpractice to give that kind of irrational advice.

But the truth above all in this is that Sarah Palin never should have attained the status that she enjoyed. Based on a speech written for her that was full of verifiable lies delivered at the Republican National Convention, John McCain and our mainstream media pushed this woman on to all of us. Even in the face of all kinds of evidence that not only was she not very bright but that she was prould of that fact, McCain along with the media continued to try to sell us a dream that she would be ready to be Vice President on day one. And even since the election we have still been forced to sit through "news" report after "news" report about what this know nothing simpleton felt about everything under the sun. It didn't matter that she spoke only in slogans and bumper stickers, she was still supposed to be "compelling" for us. Give me a break.

That is the reason why I usually steered clear of posting about her. Because honestly I didn't think she was even worthy of any time or effort I might put into the keystrokes. I wouldn't say I saw her resigning, but to me it was readily apparent that her 15 minutes of fame would come to a close soon. She will probably always be popular to about 20-25% of the country, what is usually known of as the fringe, but she wasn't ever going to have much popularity outside fo that insular bubble. The decision she made yesterday just cemented that fact.

Now on to the speech itself. I want to take the time out to point out some of the more ridiculous aspects of this amazingly incoherent pile of dung.

Our destiny to be reached by responsibly developing our natural resources. This land, blessed with clean air, water, wildlife, minerals, AND oil and gas. It's energy! God gave us energy.

What in the hell does that even mean? I know people keep saying that Sarah Palin needs to study up on foreign policy but personally I would like to see her brush up on the English language. Its one thing for her to TALK like a blithering idiot, it is another thing altogether for someone to take time out to sit down and write out a speech making her sound like a blithering idiot. And then being so proud of said speech as to release it for publication. This deserves the Matt Taibbi treatment. With as much good work as he does taking on Thomas Friedman's illogical op-eds, taking down this Palin speech could be his masterpiece.

Even those debt-ridden stimulus dollars that would force the heavy hand of federal government into our communities with an "all-knowing attitude" - I have taken the slings and arrows with that unpopular move to veto because I know being right is better than being popular. Some of those dollars would harm Alaska and harm America - I resisted those dollars because of the obscene national debt we're forcing our children to pay, because of today's Big Government spending; it's immoral and doesn't even make economic sense!

And cue the black helicopters. I swear Palin and Michelle Bachmann must be wingnut twins separated at birth. To me this is almost a precursor to Palin getting her own TV show at FauxNooz.

Life is too short to compromise time and resources... it may be tempting and more comfortable to just keep your head down, plod along, and appease those who demand: "Sit down and shut up", but that's the worthless, easy path; that's a quitter's way out. And a problem in our country today is apathy. It would be apathetic to just hunker down and "go with the flow".

Nah, only dead fish "go with the flow".

This part of the speech could only make sense to the bizarro world wingnuts that currently make up the base of the Republican Party. In what world is not quitting the same as quitting and resigning not the same as quitting? Seriously? And what in the hell does the dead fish quote mean? Dead fish sink. Most live fish actually DO go with the flow. So can somebody explain to me what this ignoramous meant with that statement?

And so as I thought about this announcement that I wouldn't run for re-election and what it means for Alaska, I thought about how much fun some governors have as lame ducks... travel around the state, to the Lower 48 (maybe), overseas on international trade - as so many politicians do. And then I thought - that's what's wrong - many just accept that lame duck status, hit the road, draw the paycheck, and "milk it". I'm not putting Alaska through that - I promised efficiencies and effectiveness! ? That's not how I am wired. I am not wired to operate under the same old "politics as usual." I promised that four years ago - and I meant it.

It's not what is best for Alaska.

And that, my dear friends, is all she wrote. If there is any part of the speech that people will point to years from now as the section that closed the door on Sarah Palin in major league politics it will be this one. On the one hand she seems to have no concept at all of what a lame duck elected official really is. She had at least another year and a half to do some good things for the people of Alaska had that really been her goal. Nobody is buying that this was kind of selfless act by her. In fact its so obviously a selfish act that its surprising that nobody laughed out loud when she said it.

On the other hand she makes a pretty stunning admission, that she isn't good for Alaska. Nobody ever makes any Governor go on frivilous trips or just accept a check without earning it. If her reason for resigning is about those things then its apparent that she felt SHE would be engaging in them had she stayed. To me that says a whole lot about her own selfawareness.

Let me go back to a comfortable analogy for me - sports... basketball. I use it because you're naïve if you don't see the national full-court press picking away right now: A good point guard drives through a full court press, protecting the ball, keeping her eye on the basket... and she knows exactly when to pass the ball so that the team can WIN. And I'm doing that - keeping our eye on the ball that represents sound priorities - smaller government, energy independence, national security, freedom! And I know when it's time to pass the ball - for victory.

Ok now I realize that its easy to screw up analogies at times but this time its especially ironic that she blows this one since she is still playing up the fact that she was an average basketball player in high school. Now the analogy is supposed to be about keeping your eye on the goal and not being distracted. And so as the point guard of a basketball team trying to break a press she is right when she says they have to keep their head up (not necessarily on the basket however) so they can see their teammates and get the ball to them if they are open. But then she follows that up with a statement about keeping her eye on the ball. Well if you are a point guard and your eyes are on the ball whilst trying to break a press, your team will probably lose or you will probably be benched.

Of course in light of that it probably does accurately describe what Sarah Palin has been doing in Alaska.

In fact, this decision comes after much consideration, and finally polling the most important people in my life - my children (where the count was unanimous... well, in response to asking: "Want me to make a positive difference and fight for ALL our children's future from OUTSIDE the Governor's office?" It was four "yes's" and one "hell yeah!" The "hell yeah" sealed it - and someday I'll talk about the details of that... I think much of it had to do with the kids seeing their baby brother Trig mocked by some pretty mean-spirited adults recently.) Um, by the way, sure wish folks could ever, ever understand that we ALL could learn so much from someone like Trig - I know he needs me, but I need him even more... what a child can offer to set priorities RIGHT - that time is precious... the world needs more "Trigs", not fewer.

A few things here. First of all again this has to do with just silly wording. Sarah Palin says she got 4 yes's and one hell yeah from her kids. The only problem is the smallest child, Trig, isn't old enough to be able to understand the question nor answer it. So why even give the number 4 instead of just saying "my kids"? Just ridiculous.

Second of all nobody was mocking Trig and is absolutely disgusting to me how she uses all of her kids as political tools. It is never a good idea to use a politician's kids in any kind of a joke but that doesn't mean she gets to make up out of whole cloth the intent of those jokes. Of course after watching her use his technique against David Letterman to great effect I guess maybe she can after all.

And third of all what does that statmetnt mean about more Trigs rather than less Trigs? Again, I need a translator.

In the words of General MacArthur said, "We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction."

Now I haven't done my own research on this but it seems that it might be the case that MacArthur isn't actually the one who uttered those words. If true that would be the cherry on top of this cake made of word salad. I mean even if he DID say it, what the hell is up with the wording in that sentence? I swear man nobody who is this bad at speaking should be allowed to hold any national office. Im just saying.

Now here are a few other random observations.

Because Sarah Palin is now saying she wants to work outside of government to affect change, does that mean she is looking for work as a community organizer?

Here is a woman who has been called out for all the lies she was told, chose to run for Vice President knowing that her teenage daughter was pregnant out of wedlock, had two of the most disasterous interviews of a VP candidate ever and then decided against granting any more interviews to established media outlets. And yet she couldn't stand the heat and so she folded up her tent and went home.

By contrast, then Senator Obama had to contend with a guy publishing a book full of lies about him trying to paint him as a militant muslim, another group trying to label him a baby killer, a whole network trying to promote any and all smears against him, lawsuits about his birth certificate, and yet he still decided (wrongly in my opinion) to go on FoxNews and be interviewed by Bill O'Reilly, to go to Saddleback and "debate" John McCain and not only did he not quit, but he managed to become President of our United States of America.

So I think at this point she has effectively proven who was more prepared for the job. And it has nothing to do with the mythical "liberal" media.

This is hopefully my last word on Sarah Palin, ever.