So Sarah Palin has resigned as Governor of Alaska:
Gov. Sarah Palin will resign her office in a few weeks, she said during a news conference at her Wasilla home Friday morning
I won’t go on about this much. Even after all this time I’m still sick of hearing about her escapades.
On the face of it, this seems like a resoundingly stupid thing to do: to remove herself from elected office, thereby throwing away the last miniscule vestige of credibility she may have had. And why? Her garbled statements fails to shed any light. Was it because she would not stand by while taxpayer dollars were spent investigating her? Or maybe it was because staying on would be a quitter’s way out?
In any case, PalinSpeak is such a convoluted, contradictory mish-mash of talking points and vague folkisms that parsing it is a pointless endeavour. Theories abound as to why she’s taking the chance to quit now rather than end her term and not run for reelection, of course.
Ace of Spaces speculates that it could be ill health:
It’s over. You can’t resign from a governorship and then run for higher office. Barring some strong reason, like needing treatment for cancer.
I certainly hope that’s not the case. More likely, though: scandal.
I would not be surprised if this latest round of revelations shook something else loose that we haven’t heard about yet.
My guess is that regardless of the circumstances of her resignation, she won’t be leaving the spotlight anytime soon. To the ire of many who’d rather be getting on with more important things, a large number of Americans simply can’t get enough of her.
Prediction: She’ll accept a prime time show on Fox News, offering her a platform to further lodge herself in the public eye and secure a strong fan-base. Her first-night viewing figures will break records, and within 3 months of starting, her show will be in the top 3 most viewed shows on the channel.
Update 05 Jul 09 – Josh Marshall reports that Palin is now threatening to sue The HuffPo, Washington Post, NY Times and MSNBC for defamation after they all reported a possible scandal involving the contractors used to build the Wasilla Sports Complex.