Looks like Gov. Palin is resigning... speculate below

[longeyes]

One thing the election of Barack Obama proves is that anyone can still become President in America--if you have George Soros, the King of Saudi Arabia, and the NY media establishment behind you.

[Monkeyleg]

Barack Obama won the election because he was black, and would never have even made it through the Iowa caucuses if he were white. Even given that advantage, a good Republican candidate could have taken him out, regardless of Soros and the media. I don't think the Republicans expected anyone to win last year, so they didn't field a good candidate.

Palin is one of those people the media and the elites will ridicule and dismiss as a lightweight, only to be checkmated later on. She has a natural ability to connect with people that even Obama would love to have. Given the right coaching, I think she could be a serious contender. If that were not true, the media wouldn't still be working her over now.

Nor would she be the first person to disappear from the national stage, only to come roaring back. Nixon comes to mind immediately.

I doubt very much she's through with politics. She said as much in interviews this morning:

Sarah Palin says she's not a quitter, she's a fighter, but adds that, politically speaking, "if I die, I die. So be it."

The Alaska governor spoke in taped interviews on ABC, NBC and CNN broadcast Tuesday morning.

She told CNN that "all options are on the table" for her future.

But told ABC's "Good Morning America" that she recognizes she might not have political staying power after her surprise resignation Friday, which came just as she had been expected to elevate her national profile ahead of a possible 2012 GOP presidential run.

"I said before ... 'You know, politically speaking, if I die, I die. So be it,'" she said.

Speaking in fishing waders from the town of Dillingham, Palin said her administration has been paralyzed by fending off frivolous lawsuits.

"I'm not going to take the comfortable path. I'm going to take the right path for the state," she said of her resignation, which she characterized as a matter of progressing in an unconventional way.

"That caught people off guard. ... It's out of the box and unconventional. That's what we are as Alaskans and certainly how I am as a public servant."

[agricola]

Barack Obama won the election because he was black, and would never have even made it through the Iowa caucuses if he were white. Even given that advantage, a good Republican candidate could have taken him out, regardless of Soros and the media. I don't think the Republicans expected anyone to win last year, so they didn't field a good candidate.

I disagree.  Obama won because he had the support of the people who have the ability to make him win (as mentioned above, but I would also add Murdoch and nearly every other media baron to the list), not because he was black.  If Ron Paul, Al Franken or the clone  of Benedict Arnold dressed in a red coat recieved similar support then they would probably have won as well.

[longeyes]

Of course race was a huge factor, but "race" is a cultural predicate that has to be promoted and that takes "presentation."   Presentation costs money and requires ardent supporters.  There was big money behind BHO and true believers willing to outright lie, hide, and distort.  Money + lying often equal success.

I'm not sure, in this climate, that the Republicans had a candidate who could have beaten Obama last November.  Who would that have been?  Romney?  Jindal?  There were reasons McCain got the nod, and some of those can be ascribed to the Republican bosses and some to a confused Republican electorate.

[Leatherneck]

I think a major factor in Obama's win was that a great majority of Americans--especially the younger crowd--lack critical thinking skills. Interesting now to see media reports of so many Americans getting "more conservative."

TC

[Monkeyleg]

McCain had a slight lead right up until the economy collapsed. Given how weak McCain was, Obama should have been much further ahead. Obama wasn't closing the deal.

If a white US senator from Chicago who was only recently elected, who had run for state office in 1994 as a socialist, who worked and was friends with a domestic terrorist, who attended a church where the pastor regularly spewed racist hatred, who had refused to wear a flag lapel pin after 9/11 and whose wife had made disparaging remarks about the US, who advocated leaving infants to die after they had emerged from the womb following botched abortions, who talked about "redistributing the wealth," who promised to run the coal industry out of business...if that candidate had been on the ballot, he wouldn't have gotten near the general election. No amount of money could have propped him up, and no media fawning would have kept the public from seeing the candidate for who he was.

Barack Obama was elected because: a) the people wanted someone other than Bush; and b) they wanted to elect a black man to make history.

[longeyes]

Well, one thing's undeniable: that 54 per cent certainly made history.

Or did they unmake history?

[longeyes]

I think Leatherneck is correct: we have a critical mass of people with suffrage who can't reason and lack the curiosity and will to inform themselves.  The critical words in that sentence are "with suffrage;" citizens in a viable republic can't be empty-headed and expect to hang on to their freedoms.  Something needs to be done about voter requirements (I can dream, can't I?)  Of course we also now have elected representatives who apparently have no trouble voting on major legislation without reading it.  Doesn't bode well.

[stevelyn]

Interesting take, stevelyn.  Elaboration, please.

One of the major criticisms about Palin's political qualifications outside the state has been her lack of of experience at the national level. Don Young, our lone congressman is getting long in the tooth and is reportedly starting to have health issues. He just recently filed his candidacy for his 22nd term in the HoR.

However, it is possible that he could withdraw his candidacy if the right replacement were found to take his place. Sarah Palin would be a perfect choice as she is young enough to start building the seniority that's needed as a lone representitve for Alaska and her popularity would likely make her a shoo-in for Don Young's seat. That way she could build up a resume' at the national level for later ambitions while being an effective representive of Alaska.

The other side of this is that as a collateral effect, the Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell can finish out the next 18 months of Palin's term and still run for two terms.

There has been some speculation that she may be eyeing Lisa Murkowski's Senate seat. But I think most Alaskans have been pretty satisfied with her performance and she isn't in any danger of getting voted out.

Maybe Alaskans wear/grow wookie suits?

   

Never seen any wookie suits for sale up here, but I've seen plety of crusty fishermen, miners and trappers that attempt to grow them.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

McCain had a slight lead right up until the economy collapsed. Given how weak McCain was, Obama should have been much further ahead. Obama wasn't closing the deal.

McCain also had a lead for the week or two following the convention. Coincidentally, that was just the time Palin was front and center as the newly-chosen veep nominee.

[Leatherneck]

Yeah. And before the media decided to help savage her.

TC

[Waitone]

I remember McCain's slide beginning right after he voted in favor the bank bailouts despite having dissed the idea.

[agricola]

I remember McCain's slide beginning right after he voted in favor the bank bailouts despite having dissed the idea.

And all that weird campaign-suspension thing. 

[De Selby]

Picking Palin for a running mate probably rivals the economy in terms of reasons for the McCain loss.  She did not interview well and the word salad she'd get whenever a tough policy question came her way was bound to sink that ticket.

The latest twist in the Palin story follows the same course: it is obviously a political disaster, but some people have to imagine ways that it might be clever. "Maybe she's doing this, maybe she's doing that..." if you have to keep guessing to find a good reason for some event, that event was not a good political move.

[MicroBalrog]

Because the other guy's VP interviewed excellently.

[De Selby]

Because the other guy's VP interviewed excellently.

In comparison, Joe Biden might as well have been Ronald Reagan.  Those early interviews with Palin were more like something you'd expect from a high school student union rep.

[Jamisjockey]

Because the other guy's VP interviewed excellently.

Palin wasn't ready, she wasn't versed in McCain's policies and platform, and she wasn't prepared for the exposure to the national media.

[Balog]

Those early Palin interviews had more in common with a Michael Moore movie or Borat skit than journalism. Granted, she did poorly on some questions, but she did very well on some too. Guess which ones got left on the cutting room floor?

I'm not personally a Palin fanboi; I too think she lacks the thick layer of slime and ninja-like question dodging skills a serious poli-critter apparently needs these days. But the media's treatment of her is simply abhorrent.

[longeyes]

Go watch John Ziegler's video Media Malpractice and see for yourself how the media stacked the deck in the last election.

EVERYTHING that is happening right now is a "political disaster" because honesty and good faith and rationality are increasingly missing from the entire process.  As I said above, Obama versus Palin in 2012 will not be the answer to what's gone wrong with this nation.  We are watching a political Godzilla movie, not dealing with the root causes of the coming-apart.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

In comparison, Joe Biden might as well have been Ronald Reagan.  Those early interviews with Palin were more like something you'd expect from a high school student union rep.

Palin's error wasn't that she interviewed at poorly, it was that she tried to interview at all.  Anyone can be made to look foolish given a biased or hostile interviewer and a willingness to edit the interview to bring out the worst.

Maybe she should have known that they had it in for her and acted better to protect herself.  I duno.  But anyone who thinks the walking gaffe machine would have looked any better in the same circumstances hasn't been paying attention.

[roo_ster]

Biden is BHO's life insurance.

[Marnoot]

Biden is BHO's life insurance.

I think of Biden more like Obama's dead man's switch. Same idea though.

[Monkeyleg]

I think it's been pretty well documented that Katie Couric asked "gotcha" questions during the interview, that the interviews were edited, and that the McCain campaign handlers had Palin on such a short leash that she wasn't able to come across as herself.

We can replay the campaign all we want, but the results remain the same. I just don't like having Palin continue to be ripped for faults that are miniscule when compared to BHO or Biden, neither of whom was asked a serious question during the entire campaign, and both of whom were given free rides when they really messed up.

What burns me even more is having the likes of Kathleen Parker sniping at Palin. Or this snippet from today's Cal Thomas column:

Lastly, she needs a hair, makeup and wardrobe makeover. She is a beautiful woman, but appearance should not be the first thing one reacts to when people look at her.

So, she's supposed to "ugly up" to be taken seriously? Do we really want another candidate who looks like Hillary?

With friends like this...

[longeyes]

Again, go watch Ziegler's doc.  Palin was deliberately sabotaged, just as Obama was wrapped in gold.

Women in politics with "stuff" in America are still an anomaly, and Palin carries that burden.  She is strong but womanly, and it's clear that many people in this country don't have a clue how to deal with that.

My view of modern liberalism is that it is mainly about repressing our deepest instincts and lying about the ones that aren't repressed.  Is it any wonder that what is left to release often turns out to be tinged with viciousness?  We are able to discern "sexual rage" in Islamic extremists but not in our own intellectual elites.

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

So, she's supposed to "ugly up" to be taken seriously?

Wasn't that the purpose of the glasses/hairdo? And FWIW, I've never understood the "OMG HOTTTT" reception of Palin. It just seemed ridiculously over-the-top. She was decent-looking for her age, sure. Nothing spectacular.

She was taken very seriously, thus the constant railing against her. The railing against her was of a personal note because her political positions are pretty good ones. It's also easier to appear to be unbiased when you're not talking about what an idiot someone is for holding this position or that, and just focus on the fact that they peed in the lobby fountain of a Marriott in 1981, and are thus insane.