Palin links resignation to ‘higher calling’
Is there any universe in which Palin still has a political career?
Yahoo: Outgoing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Saturday laid the groundwork to take on a larger, national role after leaving state government, citing a “higher calling” with the aim of uniting the country along conservative lines.
A day after surprising even her closest friends by announcing she would step down as Alaska governor more than a year before her term was up, the controversial hockey mom was still keeping details of her future plans under wrap. But in a statement posted on Palin’s Facebook account, she suggested that she had bigger plans and a national agenda she planned to push after she resigns at the end of the month.
“I am now looking ahead and how we can advance this country together with our values of less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much-needed fiscal restraint,” she said.
Palin also cast herself as a victim and blasted the media, calling the response to her announcement “predictable” and out of touch.
UPDATE
Fox News Contributor Rips Into Palin: “The Woman Is Inarticulate, Undereducated”
FYI
Palin’s Move Raises Big Questions
AP-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s abrupt and unscripted holiday resignation is an odd way to launch a potential presidential bid and no help for a party battered by scandal and fighting for relevancy.
From a folksy figure who catapulted from obscure governor to conservative darling and vice presidential nominee, it’s merely the latest move in a political drama that has left Republican elders scratching their heads.
No one is sure why Palin took such an unusual path. All points suggest a strategy designed to maintain her political viability with an eye toward a 2012 presidential bid. Barring a personal surprise or scandal, little else makes sense.
Even in explaining her exit from the governor’s office during the middle of her first term, former aides to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and current allies criticized Palin for what they said was a typically erratic and seemingly irrational act. McCain, who named Palin his running mate in 2008, issued a terse statement wishing her well.
“If this is her launching pad for 2012, it’s a curious move,” said John Weaver, a former senior strategist for McCain’s presidential bids. “Policy is politics, and she has no real accomplishments as governor.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/05/palins-move-raises-big-qu_n_225808.html
FYI
Five questions for Sarah Palin
1. If you’re leaving your elected position with more than a year to go because you can’t handle negative publicity, personal attacks and GOP back-biting, how could you possibly handle the rigors of running for president — much less being President?
2. How can you say you didn’t take a “quitters way out” when you just quit?
3. Hillary Clinton, Liddy Dole and Gerry Ferraro had a secondary goal in their political strivings: tailoring their actions and statements to destroy the notion women couldn’t compete against men in the political arena. Palin suggested that was her goal too in ‘08 — and her defenders never hesitated to cry sexism when she was attacked — so what does quitting say about her commitment to furthering the image of women in American politics?
4. Is Alaska really ready for a “Mission Accomplished” declaration? The recently announced gas pipeline deal, for instance, is expected to have a major impact on the state. But it’s still largely a work in progress with many key details yet to be concluded.
5. How hard would it be to raise the estimated $500,000 you say you’ll need to pay for the defense of nuisance ethics complaints when you are the biggest fundraising draw in the Republican party?
more
The only thing left to close the circle on the GOP’s weird week would be the following headline:
Palin admits to affair with Sanford…the two former governors plan to run as a ticket in 2012.
I’m thinking perhaps she will run as an independent because of the backstabbing GOP staffers. Or as a national spokesperson for Right to Life organizations. I didn’t like the quitter attitude; however, I still admire her and wish she was more upfront with the reason. I hope it is not a health issue.
Got to be more to this story….
This situation ought to clear the air for many Republicans and tell ‘em this ‘un ain’t gonna fly, so keep lookin’ !!!
“Higher calling” ?
Isn’t that code for entering a convent?
Here’s Glenn Spencer’s take on what Sarah Palin is up to:
http://tinyurl.com/mldjlu
What did Ronald Reagan do after losing in 1976 to Gerald Ford
Sparknotes — “The former actor retired to his ranch in California, continued to make dozens of political speeches throughout the country, and let his popularity grow during the next four years.
As a result, when 1980 rolled around, Reagan was ready to run for the presidency again.”
Sounds like a decent strategy to me…Palin resigns after a very successful run as governor so that she can hit the speaking circuit as Reagan did. She will make some serious cash, raise money for SarahPAC (a Control Congress advertiser) and other conservatives seeking to overthrow Nancy Pelosi in 2010.
The more I think about it, the better I like her decision….I may not support her for the GOP nomination, but I admire her for doing the right thing (compare with Obama and Hillary, neither resigned from Congress while seeking the presidency, but they still got all the benefits w/o showing up for work.
One other thought that I have yet to hear any pundit mention….
Maybe Palin is going to announce her intention to run against Lisa Murkowski for U.S. Senate in 2010…she already kicked Lisa’s corrupt father out of office, maybe it’s time to do the same to the useless daughter posing as a senator.
Ah, bb?
Ms Palin can’t run for Speaker of the House unless she first gets a seat in Congress.
.
Kind of hard to run against Speaker Pelosi from outside the House.
Run for SOTH??? Where did I imply that DOR?
Palin will be a major fundraiser for all GOP candidates seeking office in 2010 if she wants to fill that role. She will make Nancy Pelosi cringe as the liberal SF congress chick realizes she may not have the majority after next year.
It’s easy to run against Pelosi DOR…but you wouldn’t know this because you don’t live in America. Stick to whatever it is you do for a day job.
bb,
What’s Palin up to kicked around on Hannity today –
Your speculation/his response:
#9 Senate run – nah – resigning wouldn’t help & she probably has bigger goals
#8. Get out of the “job analysis” & prepare for bigger things – best probability – can run around lower US and lay the groundwork for whatever her decision of higher calling is.
FYI
In the wake of Governor Palin stepping down from her job, new allegations have surfaced today in Alaska charging Palin with additional violations of the Alaska Executive Ethics Act.
Zane Henning — a conservative government watchdog from the governor’s hometown of Wasilla and an oilfield worker on Alaska’s North Slope — asserts in a letter to Alaska Attorney General Daniel S. Sullivan that Palin has “been charging and pocketing per diem to live in her home and has used the process for a personal gain since being elected.”
The Washington Post first broke this story last September during the 2008 presidential race, but until now, no formal ethics charges have been brought on the matter in Alaska.
In a detailed press release accompanying his complaint, Henning declared that:
Palin’s use of the per diem is in direct conflict with Section 39.52.120. (a) of the Alaska Executive Ethics Act….More than a thousand state employees commute from the Mat-Su Valley daily and none of them get to pocket free money.
Henning noted that “the State of Alaska provides housing in Juneau for the Governor.”
If she chooses not to live there, Alaskans should not have to pay for it. I am requesting that you and the Personnel Board direct Governor Sarah Palin to reimburse the State of Alaska all per diem funds, plus interest, and a fine that are related to charges while staying in her Wasilla residence.
Henning further argued that Alaska Statute 39.20.010 sets an “annual salary for the governor of $125,000.”
Sarah Palin has collected more than the amount established by law by cashing in her per diem checks. Alaska Statute 39.20.050 (Exclusive Compensation) states that the compensation fixed by law for the governor and lieutenant governor is in full for all services rendered by each of them in any official capacity or employment whatsoever during their respective terms of office. Per diem is therefore any added expenses incurred while in travel status, not when living in your own home.
According to Henning:
State travel regulations say that per diem can’t be claimed when travel is less than 50 miles from a state employee’s workplace. The IRS and state finance officer have already determined that the per diem is considered income. The governor’s workplace in Anchorage is only a 45-mile commute from her Wasilla home.
In February, Palin was required to pay back income taxes on thousands of dollars in expense money she received while living at her home overlooking Lake Lucille in Wasilla. Little more than two weeks ago she was forced to pay back the State of Alaska more than $8,100.00 for nine trips taken by her children that she had improperly charged as being part of official state business.
Henning contends the per diem is another way for the Alaska governor to line her pockets at the state’s expense:
As a Wasilla resident I know that thousands of valley residents commute into Anchorage for work every day. They don’t receive checks from their employers for sleeping at home. Governor Palin does. And it’s wrong, not to mention unethical, for her to even submit these per diem claims. To me, this is a roundabout way for Palin to give herself a raise.
“The Governor is quitting her job,” said Henning, “and now more than ever the State of Alaska, along with its residents, need to be reimbursed for the per diem charges, including interest and a fine…[I]t is up to private citizens, like myself, to hold our Governor accountable.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/geoffrey-dunn/palin-hit-with-more-ethic_b_226667.html
FYI
Sarah Palin Called GOP Leaders Before Quitting
Alaska Governor Called Dick Cheney, Rudy Giuliani In Weeks Before Stepping Down
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=8015150&page=1
FYI
The sins of Sarah Palin
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/24606.html
While the media and left continues wears Palin out – I got these questions with clever cartoons of O:
Presidential comparison quiz
If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had given Tony Blair a set of inexpensive and useless (to Tony Blair’s UK video formatting) DVDs, when Tony Blair had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had visited Austria and made reference to the non-existent “Austrian language,” would you have brushed it off as a minor slip?
If George W. Bush had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current on their income taxes, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had proposed to double the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had then proposed to double the debt again within 10 years, would you have approved?
So, tell me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive?
Can’t think of anything? Don’t worry. He’s done all this in 10 weeks — so you’ll have three years and nine-and-a-half months to come up with an answer.
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
Saltyd,
Would you approve if Obama lied you into a war? You can play those games both ways. Obama is giving you a taste of your medicine. If anybody deserves Obama as a President it’s the morons who helped foist 8 years of that disastrous George W. Bush on the country. Why did the GOP approve of Bush not only destroying a surplus but massively increasing the debt? why are they whining now when they didnt then?
I managed the wars from a bar stool – How many time would you like to rehash it ? G1 didn’t finish it – G2 along with most Republicans & Democrats let a two bit sword waving dictator who liked to kill Iraqi Kurds & Shittes and mouth off about his firepower to make the Iranians think he had something going – we took the bait…..
Find a post where I said something nice about the Bush administration – until we went from the frying pan into the fire…..
I believe GOP’ers were counted in those non-approval polls…..
saltyd,
Sadaam was a two bit dictator and not worth the wasted lives, time and money and it’s one of the reasons that the GOP is NEVER to be trusted again with any serious foreign policy decisions.
“the GOP is NEVER to be trusted again…” blah, blah.
But caroline will trust Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Schumer, et al…thanks again for being the voice of treason on CC caroline.
Bush took the wrong tactic – a better approach would have been to sit offshore & blow the hell out of them everytime they irritated us & just lump the collateral damage (minimal in these tech times).
The Carter Democrat way would be to hide at home & tremble and plead for “let’s talk”..
We should let Israel handle it for cost plus 10%….
Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Schumer, et al, aren’t GOPers. They have no record of needlessly wasting lives, honor and national treasure in an unnecessary war of aggression.
Yeah, I’ll trust them.
caroline & DOR,
You’ll enjoy this exercise program:
Sweatin’ with the Socialists
http://www.youtube.com/c1b1i1
“They have no record of needlessly wasting lives, honor and national treasure… ”
The entire great society ideal supported by all libs is a “waste of lives, honor and national treasure”, not to mention the destruction such philosophies cause on the overall potential of a free society.
saldyd,
Is that all the GOP has? Scream all call people socialists? The only people that works with are the necons. No one else cares. Your party is stuck in the past still fighting the cold war. I guess all that’s left of the GOP are the creepy fundamentalists and the timothy mcveigh types.