# Palin Resigns as Gov? WTF? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 3, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843 "2009-07-03T19:53:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/281 "2009-07-04T20:22:24Z")
If the right is using David Letterman and Bill Maher as evidence of the voice of the left wing, I feel that from this moment forward the collective voices of Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Malkin and other so-called “entertainers” be taken in similar vein. Otherwise, show some evidence of the evil liberal mainstream media “picking” on the Palin kids. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/282 "2009-07-04T20:26:04Z")
I’m renewing my commitment to quit the discussion. Everyone is talking past each other. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/283 "2009-07-04T20:27:07Z")
Maher is a damn comedian, are you counting Tina Fey also? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/284 "2009-07-04T20:28:12Z")
> [@ladyfoxfyre](#): > > I think you grossly overestimate her popularity amongst most Republicans. She was popular for about a week right after McCain first picked her, but the moment she opened her mouth the party as a whole has been trying to backpedal from her initial meteoric rise to fame. She didn’t unite the party, and she certainly won’t do it any better than Steele has. She’s created a lot of animosity against her particular faction of the party, and I don’t see “party spokesman” in her future anytime soon. Chairing a party is essentially a fundraising job. It doesn’t require any ability to appeal across party lines, just to inspire the base to write checks. I think Palin would be very capable of being a speaking draw and a fundraiser because she would be preaching only to choirs. I don’t think it explains why her resignation was so abrupt and unplanned, though. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/285 "2009-07-04T20:28:29Z")
I know people wish families were not mentioned. But, if you don’t have control or influence in your own family, how good are you at managing. (any family man will tell you what BS that is) . When she feels the need to continuously display her children on every stage she goes on, she should expect people to wonder about them. If they stayed home there would have been less scrutiny. What did she think would happen when she brought her pregnant unmarried daughter on the stage? When you consider what a slap in the face to her professed religious ideals it was, it is fully understood there is a story there. It was Palin’s fault. ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/286 "2009-07-04T20:31:53Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Chairing a party is essentially a fundraising job. It doesn’t require any ability to appeal across party lines, just to inspire the base to write checks. I think Palin would be very capable of being a speaking draw and a fundraiser because she would be preaching only to choirs. > > I don’t think it explains why her resignation was so abrupt and unplanned, though. That’s not the point: she managed to polarize her own party against her in the 2008 election, if the idea is to fundraise then her only hope is if the ultra-fundies are the ones with all the purse strings. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/287 "2009-07-04T20:31:58Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > I don’t feel sorry for her. Good riddance and all that, but her suddenly realizing she’s in over her head is least zany explanation I’ve heard. The nine year old pregnancy is pretty zany. So-stupid-it’s-brilliant tactic of running for president is zany. Divorce is zany. Does anyone seriously have a better explanation? This is a [comment on Wonkette.](http://wonkette.com/409643/so-why-did-this-crazy-palin-lady-quit-the-alaska-governor-job-she-just-started-two-years-ago#comment-354215) Take it for what little it’s worth, as an anonymous conspiracy-flavored hit job on a blog that’s hardly friendly to Palin to begin with. I’d be surprised if it turns out to be true – I lean towards the impending-federal-indictments explanation, myself – and most likely, in fact, it’s rubbish, but it will give you a taste of how far the theorizing has gone: > [@](#): > > Here’s the deal. I’m the anon who posted recently about the various media evidence of Sarah’s “dalliances” - in her early pageant contestant/seeking a journalism job days as well as video evidence of her affair while married to Todd. This was always in the hands of BOTH parties and I couldn’t figure out why it was being kept quiet. > > The whispers I’m getting as someone who knows people MUCH more connected to the inner circle of decision makers surrounding everything the Repubnicans do (and no, I’m not fond of them after the stuff I’ve seen) - is that after the Sanford scandal the Repubs are cutting their losses. They worry that the media/sex stuff will come out soon on Sarah if they don’t take her off the playing field for a while, and because she’s such an evangelical/right wing heroine, again it’s going to make them look VERY bad. (Family values party is already taking a major beating.) > > Karl Rove has been schooling Sarah quietly all along. Hence teaching her hate speech, how to always attack the other guy, etc. etc. instead of what sane politicians do which is to work for unity, functionality, etc. All the divisiveness that Karl is famous for. > > Problem is, Sarah isn’t a very good pupil. She’s too rogue, too nuts to be useful in the political arena anymore. And with various media icebergs about to potentially hit, (she’s been blackmailed about this stuff for a while I’m told, hence the extreme weight loss, etc.) they need her to pull the old “I’m resigning to spend more time with my family” speech (code: I’m resigning before a new scandal destroys my career.) > > She’s been promised that if she’s a good girl all that bad media info will magically “go away” (deals being quietly made in the background to make it disappear.) And she will get about two years of schooling and then be allowed to be a talking head at one of the right wing news organizations, possibly radio, possibly TV if she comes along really well and can get over her word salad problem. And she’ll make a helluva lot more money that way, anyway, plus she can rant about the family values stuff she’s so fond of since apparently her “people” are going to be directly responsible for the next coming of Jesus, etc. It’s very useful to have someone like her work as a paid propogandist. She was never really cut out for political office but will reinvent herself as a media talking head and also make up to $25,000 a speech on the speaker’s circuit. That’s what they’ll have her do first - lots of small speaking engagements out of the major cities to get her training, gradually working up to the big venues if she can handle it. > > Right now her handlers aren’t sure if she’s up for any of it, but they are making promises to her that if she goes along with their agenda she will resurface and resurrect herself within two years as an important “voice” for that segment of the party that loves the conservative hristian, right wing, point of view. > > The interesting thing is this - the Democrats have full knowledge of the media material that is so damaging on her. They’ve been holding onto it for a year or so. I’ve never been sure why they never leaked it. So will they wait until she establishes herself as a conservative Faux family values talking head, give her a year or so, and THEN leak the stuff? Or are the Repugs going to be able to make a deal and get them ot back off? I’m not sure what their strategy is but my intel says that at this point they are not going forward with leaking the material - unfortunately! ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/288 "2009-07-04T20:33:01Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Maher is a damn comedian, are you counting Tina Fey also? Sure, but Maher is a comedian with a political bent and agenda - Fey is just a comedian. Really, though, I like **ladyfoxfyre** ’s suggestion - I think the lefties around here will happily take ownership of those meanies Maher and Letterman if the righties will take ownership of the Hannity and Coulter creatures. So? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/289 "2009-07-04T20:39:17Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > …Also, I don’t get the feeling that she is really all that interested in the presidency. She seems to me to be more interested in promoting conservative ideology than in holding political office. She seems pretty damn ambitious and power-hungry to me. > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > …Has anyone floated that ridiculous pregnant 8-year old hypothesis outside this single message board in a single thread by a single poster?.. I saw the picture with that suggestion on reddit well before it hit this thread. Even though that was a joke in very bad taste, she hasn’t made much of an effort to keep her family out of the limelight. Instead of retreating to privacy, her older daughter became a spokesperson for abstinence (after stating abstinence was unrealistic). During her VP campaign, Palin brought her young daughter with her to drop the puck at a Flyers hockey game in a vain attempt to keep people from booing. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/290 "2009-07-04T20:41:33Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > I know people wish families were not mentioned. Politicians bring this on themselves. I know why they’re doing it - to demonstrate that they are good family men or women. I find it disgusting. I’d be a lot more impressed with how much they cared about their kids if they left them at home in school with their friends where they belong. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/291 "2009-07-04T20:47:16Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > She’s just not cut out for national political attention, and she’s trying to quit without looking like a quitter. Well, she failed. She looks like a quitter. I finally watched as much of her resignation video as I could stomach and once again I am baffled why this batshit crazy lady has any support of any kind. That woman is seriously, seriously full of herself. It’s repellent. But she’s a quitter. She looks like a quitter, she quacks like a quitter, she’s a quitter. BUH-bye. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/292 "2009-07-04T20:47:28Z")
Regarding the link from Wonkette, IMHO if the Democrats had such info on Palin last year, they would have used it. They didn’t use it because they didn’t have it. Anyone remember how Geraldine Ferraro got destroyed over her taxes when she and Mondale weren’t a threat in the first place? So the post is baloney. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/293 "2009-07-04T20:51:52Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Take it for what little it’s worth, … I take it as wingnuttery of the highest order, and I suspect the person’s source is their own febrile imagination. Or their pet goldfish, Eric. One or the other. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/294 "2009-07-04T20:52:47Z")
I have no opinion on the accuracy of the Wonkette post, but I don’t think that the Democrats would necessarily have used it. They would have had to get Barack’s ok for that, and he never would have given it. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/295 "2009-07-04T20:53:10Z")
I’m leaning towards the “ethics investigation” angle, specifically that stuff about thier lake home being built by the company that built the Wasilla Sports Arena. The scuttlebutt is that, perhaps, a lot of materials were siphoned off of the Wasilla project for the Palin home, labor and machinery donated. Todd says he built the house with a few of his buddies. Now, this is the sort of genteel corruption that doesn’t make for big shakes, nor does it leave receipts and smoking guns lying about. Why would it take so long to surface? Well, for one, the difficulty in getting evidence with real fingerprints, and two, Federal investigators walk to work in the morning past several heads on stakes, the guys who totally fucked the Stevens investigation, they will approach this investigation like porcupines screw, with great delicacy and caution. So, they found something. Something solid. Trouble with the theory is that nothing like that has surfaced in twenty four hours of hysterical and frantic bush beating. This is not something only two-three people know, but several dozens, and they could not all be kept quiet. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/296 "2009-07-04T21:04:50Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > I take it as wingnuttery of the highest order, and I suspect the person’s source is their own febrile imagination. Or their pet goldfish, Eric. One or the other. Yeh, I tend to agree with you, although I take **Diogenes** ’s point that Obama would not have okayed that kind of tactic. While it wouldn’t surprise me if someone on the Dem side, armed with such ammo, tried some unapproved solo blackmail to make her quit “to spend more time with her family” (which sorely needed privacy, protection, and more of her attention at that point), this I’m sure is 99 and 44/100th percent likely to be just vaporware. It’s too complex, for one thing, when the federal-indictments explanation is much simpler and much more likely, given what’s already known about the corruption that pervades Alaskan politics and the questions already raised about her ethics. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/297 "2009-07-04T21:17:35Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Trouble with the theory is that nothing like that has surfaced in twenty four hours of hysterical and frantic bush beating. This is not something only two-three people know, but several dozens, and they could not all be kept quiet. Maybe they’re waiting until after the July 4 weekend? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/298 "2009-07-04T21:19:14Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > So popping off and making crude, insulting jokes about Chelsea Clinton are okay then? > > Or is it only when the children of Republicans are concerned that the gloves come off? > > I’m going with the latter, myself. Rush Limbaugh seemed to think so: …On his TV show, early in the Clinton administration, Limbaugh put up a picture of Socks, the White House cat, and asked, “Did you know there’s a White House dog?” Then he put up a picture of Chelsea Clinton, who was 13 years old at the time and as far as I know had never done any harm to anyone… [Full article](http://www.motherjones.com/politics/1995/05/lyin-bully) Yes, Mother Jones is a biased source, but a Google search of this incident will bring up several other sources. I do remember this incident on the short lived Limbaugh TV show in the early 1990s. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/299 "2009-07-04T21:20:23Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > While it wouldn’t surprise me if someone on the Dem side, armed with such ammo, tried some unapproved solo blackmail to make her quit “to spend more time with her family” (which sorely needed privacy, protection, and more of her attention at that point), this I’m sure is 99 and 44/100th percent likely to be just vaporware. It’s too complex, for one thing, when the federal-indictments explanation is much simpler and much more likely, given what’s already known about the corruption that pervades Alaskan politics and the questions already raised about her ethics. It’s not just that it’s complex. I suspect the Dems would do much to _keep_ her in the spotlight rather than engineer her departure. She might be popular with the Republican base but I think she has zero appeal to non-committed voters and if I were a Democrat I’d be quite happy for the right to keep pushing her forward. I really am pleased she’s going, the Republicans might finally look around for someone with a little charisma. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/300 "2009-07-04T21:24:07Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Yeah, I think that something is up that she regards as positive. She seemed more excitedly hyped up during that speech than like someone who has the Sword of Damocles hanging over her head. > > Also, I don’t get the feeling that she is really all that interested in the presidency. She seems to me to be more interested in promoting conservative ideology than in holding political office. What gave you this impression? (Despite this being the Pit, I’m genuinely interested in seeing if she has some motive not evident to the majority of us … maybe you have a handle on something here.) Any speculations as to what might be “up”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843.md?page=16)