# 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:** 23
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/441 "2009-07-06T02:18:11Z")
[Rove Cold On Palin's Move: "It Hurts" Her Chances in 2012 | HuffPost Latest News](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/05/rove-cold-on-palins-move_n_225833.html) Here is Rove saying Palin screwed up. Much of the bad press is coming from repubs. She will have to fight 2 parties now. Many were not happy they got passed over for Palin. They will destroy her if they can. Politics is no place for thin skinned prima donnas. A lot of repubs have put a lifetime into clawing their way to the top of the heat. Now an Alaskan with very little experience will lead them. I doubt it. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/442 "2009-07-06T02:26:10Z")
> [@Not\_A\_Tame\_Lion](#): > > My zany guess: > > Tina Fey is tired of doing the Palin impression, so she teamed up with ExxonMobil to dig up dirt on Palin, and now they’re blackmailing her to step down as governor and disappear. The oil company gets its profits, Fey gets to focus on _30 Rock_ or whatever she’s doing, and their unholy alliance rids us all of this brunette ‘blond of the month.’ > > What? It could happen. That is ridiculous! I’ve watched that show from the beginning and NOBODY got tired of flogging their best bit LONG past when it whinnied and died. It’s all a matter of screen time, and for a stretch there Fey was on 30 Rock, SNL, Thursday Update, and the Sunday specials. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Stuart Smalley, even if Franken is now the real Senator Blutarski ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/443 "2009-07-06T02:37:36Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > **TWEEEEEEET!!!** > > What part of > do you folks not understand? > > The next post on that topic in this thread gets a Warning . > [/Moderating] Don’t be a jerk. You made a single, one-line post and i missed it. Big fucking deal. Not only that, but you yourself have twice weighed in on the Limbaugh issue in this thread, [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11307396#post11307396) and [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11307856#post11307856). I guess it wasn’t off-topic when you felt like addressing it. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/444 "2009-07-06T03:20:43Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Don’t be a jerk. > > You made a single, one-line post and i missed it. Big fucking deal. > > Not only that, but you yourself have twice weighed in on the Limbaugh issue in this thread, [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11307396#post11307396) and [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11307856#post11307856). I guess it wasn’t off-topic when you felt like addressing it. Cornflakes taste like urine, today? My last Mod post was a general statement aimed at the multiple posters who continued on after I noted that the issue was closed in this thread. Don’t be a jerk, yourself, and stop acting as though you have been singled out, (namelessly), for harrassment. The reason I called for the discussion to be taken out of this thread was that it had grown from a slight by-play to a major point that threatened to hijack the thread. I did not say the discussion was bad, only that it needed to stop in this thread where it had grown to be a cancer on the discussion. [/Modding] ---
**Author:** ![Salem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Salem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salem)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/445 "2009-07-06T04:02:58Z")
I was just reading an [interesting article](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090706/ap_on_re_us/us_palin_struggles) on Yahoo News about her alleged disinterest in Alaskan politics since she returned from the lost election. She hasn’t been in the news as much lately and this certainly has everyone talking about her again, doesn’t it? The woman clearly loves the attention and the limelight. She had a quick taste of fame and she’s hungry for more. Alaska is too far removed and not big enough any more. She has the news spotlight practically all to herself over the entire 4th of July weekend. She’s eating this up, I’ll bet. “What will Sarah do next? Why did she do it? What’s going on?” She is a hot topic and has everyone wondering, discussing, debating. She is way more ambitious than she is qualified for politics. She’ll do whatever it takes to keep the focus on herself, I’d say. And I’d say she may be also trying to take a page from Obama’s book. Community organizer, maybe a Senate run and on to bigger, oh, I mean “higher”, things. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/446 "2009-07-06T04:49:17Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > I am. > > Aside from any relevant commentary by Limbaugh on Palin, the subject of Limbaugh’s nonsense is closed. > [/Modding] Well [here that is.](http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2009/07/exclusive-rush-limbaugh-breaks-silence.html) A three minute recording from his golf vacation. Short version: he’s reserving his judgement and thinks that others are just making speculations but she is someone who is not formulaic, someone who goes out of the box, and who still scares the other side. Anything, including a Presidential run, is still open to her. (He states.) Bottom line here is this simple: if she keeps Rush’s support (as he learns more) then she indeed will have enough of that small bit of the population that both identifies as Republican and who get out and vote in the primaries that she will play a major part in the next two years GOP dramas. She’s playing in a small universe and her supporters, while a very small percent of the American population at large, are a significant and active segment of that small universe. They do not perceive anyone else as their champion right now (although Huckabee will perhaps make a play for them) and they will follow Rush’s lead wherever his snout snorrts. She aint politically dead yet and many who dislike her politics should be grateful for that. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/447 "2009-07-06T05:38:19Z")
One can only hope, my friend. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/448 "2009-07-06T13:17:45Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I don’t know. Ask **RTFirefly** , whose post I was answering. He’s the one who brought up health care, global warming and the recession? > > It’s amusing how you guys start screaming about off-topic responses you don’t like while invariably remaining mute about the off-topic claims that trigger them. I was commenting on how Fox was playing the Palin resignation - their link was titled “Sarah Palin Outsmarts Left.” The point I was making was that, while people on the left of center mostly want to _accomplish_ stuff through the political process (the specific issues weren’t the point; that fact was the point) the game for much of the right seems to have been reduced to attempts to outsmart or show up the left. That was all. I’ll admit that, in and of itself, that was getting off the subject. But the particular issues I mentioned were intended as examples of libruls wanting to accomplish stuff through politics. At the time, I was certainly up to defending whether they constituted valid examples of that - though in view of **tom~** ‘s recent efforts to keep this thread on track, even that debate, if worth continuing AFAYAC, should happen elsewhere. But I didn’t regard it as an invitation to debate whether such programs were _good ideas_, just that left-of-center politicians and commentators were oriented around advancing programs that they _believe_, rightly or wrongly, could make a positive difference in Americans’ lives. ---
**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 6, 2009, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/449 "2009-07-06T13:59:21Z")
It seems to me that from a local Party point of view, her resignation now is a longer-term benefit to the Republicans in Alaska, because her successor gets to run as an incumbent. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/450 "2009-07-06T14:37:00Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > It seems to me that from a local Party point of view, her resignation now is a longer-term benefit to the Republicans in Alaska, because her successor gets to run as an incumbent. That’s a pretty trivial benefit, given the general edge that Republicans enjoy over Dems in Alaska. OTOH, the current Lt Gov will enjoy a boost over any GOP rivals for the governorship in the GOP primary next year. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/451 "2009-07-06T14:54:49Z")
> [@Salem](#): > > I was just reading an [interesting article](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090706/ap_on_re_us/us_palin_struggles) on Yahoo News about her alleged disinterest in Alaskan politics since she returned from the lost election. I think we have a winner, in the motivation speculation contest. She now sees her job as governor in the same way a petulant teenager sees algebra. It’s stupid. It’s boring. It’s hard. Why do I need to know this junk? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/452 "2009-07-06T15:48:15Z")
Hilarious! I have no doubt she’s quitting to run for president, which is great stuff because it completely guts her “executive experience” bona fides. You might remember that in her RNC address, she said being a governor was like being a community organizer “but with actual responsibilities?” Now we know what she thinks of those responsibilities: they’re such an inconvenience to her presidential aspirations that not only is she not running for re-election in 2010, but Alaska itself is such a dead-end that she is quitting 18 months early. She can’t continue fulfilling her responsibilities, building up her experience and doing the great job she was doing until January 2011 because she’d have fallen behind Romney and Huckabee and the others in building a network and raising money. So as a result, despite all the tough talk we heard from her about being a hockey mom and a pit bull in lipstick, she’s quitting. While she’s got a stronger base than Romney and Huckabee, for starters, all they need to say in response to her purported achievement as governor is “Why did you resign, then? I served out my term. How committed are you?” ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/453 "2009-07-06T16:19:32Z")
It’ll play even worse when put up against Tim “I wanna be pres too” Pawlenty in 2012. He’ll be able to say something like, “Not only did I finish my term, I did it without raising any taxes or having any sorts of ethics investigations into my administration.” I’m no Pawlenty fan, but he can say the above with 100% honesty. ---
**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 6, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/454 "2009-07-06T16:28:42Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > So as a result, despite all the tough talk we heard from her about being a hockey mom and a pit bull in lipstick, she’s quitting. While she’s got a stronger base than Romney and Huckabee, for starters, all they need to say in response to her purported achievement as governor is “Why did you resign, then? I served out my term. How committed are you?” I’m not so sure she’s going to run for President, but the obvious retort to this is something along the lines of, “A State needs a full time Governor, not one who spends half their time campaigning for another job.” (Neatly reversing the jibe.) “I had to choose between Alaska and America and I chose America.” (Cue cheers by fan-boys.) But really, we have very little evidence of anything. The air will clear very quickly. And unless Obama really tanks, the Republicans - let alone Palin - haven’t a hope of the Presidency in 2012. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/455 "2009-07-06T16:32:02Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > I’m not so sure she’s going to run for President, but the obvious retort to this is something along the lines of, “A State needs a full time Governor, not one who spends half their time campaigning for another job.” (Neatly reversing the jibe.) It would be great if she said that because it does not apply to any of her “known” opponents. Huckabee and Romney were both out of office before they ran, and Pawlenty’s not running for re-election. Out of the four, the only one who spent a bunch of time campaigning for another job is Palin. Edit: If she’s not running, none of this applies. But I think she is. I think she’s quitting now so she can start raising money, creating an organization and message, and pretending to learn about the issues. Since some of her opponents are essentially unemployed - or at least not burdened with the job of running a state, particularly one that isn’t part of the contiguous U.S. - they’re already onto that task. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/456 "2009-07-06T17:43:12Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > I’m not so sure she’s going to run for President, but the obvious retort to this is something along the lines of, “A State needs a full time Governor, not one who spends half their time campaigning for another job.” (Neatly reversing the jibe.) “I had to choose between Alaska and America and I chose America.” (Cue cheers by fan-boys.) It may be a nice retort, but is there any evidence that one needs to ditch the day job more than three years before the next election? ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/457 "2009-07-06T17:59:36Z")
If Palin and her supporters think that this will help her become President they are completely delusional. If Palin just wants to cash in and make money then the move makes sense but not the execution. It was a terrible speech and while her base probably doesn’t care she will have more influence and make more money if she retains at least a vestige of credibility outside her adoring throng. I am not actually sure she has what it takes to succeed as a talking head. Aside from prepared speeches she is pretty awful and tends to mangle her right-wing talking points in the most absurd fashion. I think a book and the lecture circuit are the way to go and should be good for at least a few million. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/458 "2009-07-06T18:20:07Z")
The comedians of America applaud her decision. We need more and more of her public declarations. It gives them so much to work with. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/459 "2009-07-06T20:54:15Z")
> [@lavenderviolet](#): > > Well, hey, the internet people totally nailed it when they started talking about how Sarah Palin faked being pregnant to cover up the fact that Trig was really Bristol’s son, so I can’t see how they could be wrong about that. I heard she is really Eric Cartmans’ father mother something 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843/460 "2009-07-06T21:19:31Z")
Unless she has another act coming, I don’t think this even helps her on the lecture circuit. She will be forgotten or written off in these circles pretty soon, I would guess. The only thing I could think of is she will challenge Lisa Murkowski for Senate and become part of the Washington scene. I would guess the adoration of conservatives went to her politically unsavvy head, and she blew it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843.md?page=22) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-resigns-as-gov-wtf/501843.md?page=24)