# Why did Sarah Palin resign as Alaska's governor?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sarah-palin-resign-as-alaskas-governor/549736
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [August 9, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sarah-palin-resign-as-alaskas-governor/549736 "2010-08-09T17:54:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2010, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sarah-palin-resign-as-alaskas-governor/549736/41 "2010-08-10T01:37:04Z")
I’m somewhat gobsmacked that Palin is being called a kingmaker in this round of elections… in years past, losing a presidential election bid and quitting a governorship would have landed you the label of “failed politician”. But I guess it’s pretty much standard Republican strategy nowadays… why work and risk failure when you can get filthy rich by catcalling from the sidelines and tossing red meat to the base? Nobody’s ever going to come back and say “hey, your glib catchprases didn’t work.”
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### Author:  [@Cinebar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinebar)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2010, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sarah-palin-resign-as-alaskas-governor/549736/42 "2010-08-10T02:11:37Z")
> [@New\_Deal\_Democrat](#):
>
> She is better at reading speeches that are written for her than governing. As Governor of Alaska she would be expected to achieve things. Her shortcomings would be more obvious.
As long as the speech fits on her hands, she does ok.
But, seriously, to listen to her speak off the cuff gives me a headache. It’s like she’s never heard of periods and/or pauses. She seems to think the more words she can squeeze into a sentence the more she sounds like she knows what she’s talking about.
Whoever first coined the phrase “word salad” was spot on.
---
### Author:  [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2010, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sarah-palin-resign-as-alaskas-governor/549736/43 "2010-08-10T02:30:58Z")
> [@Recliner](#):
>
> I just wanna say, this is easily the most effective thread I’ve ever launched (in terms of almost imemdiate replies). Perhaps there just IS something about Palin? 😃
What I’ve found is that people tend to log on at ~6-9am EST, then in the early evenings. Most responses come at those times. If your post scrolls off by then, you get fewer responses unless it gets bumped at the right time.
Regarding the OP: I have two opinions:
1. Character flaw: when the going gets tough, she’s a quitter.
2. Ambition: usually for women, there’s not much farther they can get except Governor, and even that is hard. We’re still waiting for an elected female VP (Ferraro was on the ticket in 1988 or 1984 or something) and no female even ran as President yet in the Primary/General election format. However, with all the smoke blown up her ass when she was running with McCain, I think she honestly believes she has a shot at the presidency. However, she’s not intelligent enough to figure out that just because she’s the “best candidate” that the repugs could come up with doesn’t mean she’s a “good” candidate.
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### Author:  [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sarah-palin-resign-as-alaskas-governor/549736/44 "2010-08-10T02:47:02Z")
Definitely the character flaw thing.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DuKflKzmfRCw](http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DuKflKzmfRCw)
Notice her reaction. Simply amazing.
“You swore on your prescious bible you would uphold the (garbled) of this state, and then, when cash was waived in your face, you quit.”
Palin (eyes wide, smiles and claps hands together, happy - seriously!)
“Oh, you wanted me to be your Governor, I’m honored!”
I mean…holy shit, this woman is a narcissist!
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### Author:  [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2010, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sarah-palin-resign-as-alaskas-governor/549736/45 "2010-08-10T03:53:49Z")
> [@Recliner](#):
>
> I realize this is potentially divisive. But, really, why? I’m not a foaming-at-the-mouth Palin-Hater. Seriously. The line I’ve gotten, repeatedly, has been that she resigned because “she was going to be facing a lot of lawsuits from her political opponents, and she wanted to save Alaskans the money/hassle”.
>
> Bullplop. All politicians face frivolous lawsuits – it comes with the territory. My knee-jerk reaction is one of two things:
>
> (a) She wanted to do the speaker circuit, because she realized it was both more lucrative and, presumably, less grief-provoking;
>
> (b) It was a political move to distance herself from the GOP and establish street-cred with the more up-and-coming Tea Party movement.
>
> Kneejerk, though. I don’t really feel either of these really explains it without a better explanation. So, seriously – why’d she bail?
Well, shit I woulda done the same thing. Most folks were blaming me for contributing to McCain’s loss at the same time there were enough people who thought I walked on water for me to make a mint. She has charisma and isn’t to be underestimated but it is unlikely that she is ever going to run for office again, what’s she going to do, try for Stevens’ old seat when she can make $100,000 for one hour canned speech?
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2010, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sarah-palin-resign-as-alaskas-governor/549736/46 "2010-08-10T04:33:51Z")
> [@Magiver](#):
>
> > [@jk1245](#):
> >
> > The official line was that she couldn’t effectively govern with all the ethics inquiries against her. She was spending all her time on that.
> >
> > In reality, it was a career move, and one that’s paid off handsomely. Plus, it’s much easier just making comments here and there than it is actually governing. Most of us would jump at a job that paid (much) better and required less work.
>
> She couldn’t afford the cost involved with the lawsuits. She was basically sued out of office.
Nonsense. The Clintons faced far, far greater legal costs at the end of his presidency\* and he didn’t resign. She still could have written her book while in office and she could have served out her term and made plenty of money on the lecture circuit to pay back her legal bills. And for that matter she probably could have raised money through her PAC to pay her lawyers even if she stayed in office.
Here’s how I see it, and I hope this is a little more objective than just saying she was lazy and greedy: from a political standpoint, staying governor could hurt her and it couldn’t help her. The ethics complaints were going to keep mounting and hurt her reputation, and while her rivals for the 2012 nomination were getting busy shaking hands and securing endorsements in Iowa, she’d be thousands of miles away from anything. Instead, she quit and has tried to do favors for candidates in hope of getting their support in a year or two when she starts running. And as far as the lecture circuit goes, I stand by my point that she could have done it in another 18 months, but she did strike while the iron was hot.
\*([$8 million in 1998 according to the National Law Journal](http://www.faqs.org/abstracts/Law/Clintons-legal-bills-now-exceed-8M-and-counting-Starrs-investigation-creates-a-cottage-industry.html), and after they left the White House their legal bills were cited as a major reason he wrote his memoir.)
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### Author:  [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2010, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sarah-palin-resign-as-alaskas-governor/549736/47 "2010-08-10T06:18:26Z")
> [@Lobohan](#):
>
> I’m prone to argue that she’s lazy and stupid.
Ignorant, not stupid.
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2010, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sarah-palin-resign-as-alaskas-governor/549736/48 "2010-08-10T06:37:08Z")
No, she’s bone stupid too. Remember, she literally thought the way to stop the oil leak was to send a Dutch boy to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico to stick his finger in the hole.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2010, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sarah-palin-resign-as-alaskas-governor/549736/49 "2010-08-10T08:16:12Z")
> [@Cosmic Relief](#):
>
> I’m somewhat gobsmacked that Palin is being called a kingmaker in this round of elections… in years past, losing a presidential election bid and quitting a governorship would have landed you the label of “failed politician”.
That’s so 20th Century of you. Sarah Palin had to resign as governor to prove she’s not a quitter.
See how that works now?
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### Author:  [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2010, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sarah-palin-resign-as-alaskas-governor/549736/50 "2010-08-10T08:20:46Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> > [@Cosmic Relief](#):
> >
> > I’m somewhat gobsmacked that Palin is being called a kingmaker in this round of elections… in years past, losing a presidential election bid and quitting a governorship would have landed you the label of “failed politician”.
>
> That’s so 20th Century of you. Sarah Palin had to resign as governor to prove she’s not a quitter.
>
> See how that works now?
Like how the Patriot Act was designed to circumvent the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Amendments, and The Ministry of Peace in the novel 1984 was designed for war propaganda?
Yep, perfect sense.
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### Author:  [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2010, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sarah-palin-resign-as-alaskas-governor/549736/51 "2010-08-10T09:27:10Z")
She saw an opportunity to become a speaker and make a lot of money. If she waited until she was out of office, it might cool down into nothing. She is making boatloads of money with books, speeches and TV appearances. She will never have to work another day in her life. Good for her.
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### Author:  [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2010, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sarah-palin-resign-as-alaskas-governor/549736/52 "2010-08-10T13:51:25Z")
Good, maybe she could retire to a life of obscurity now. Since she doesn’t need the money and all.
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### Author:  [@Cinebar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinebar)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2010, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sarah-palin-resign-as-alaskas-governor/549736/53 "2010-08-10T14:23:49Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#):
>
> She saw an opportunity to become a speaker and make a lot of money. If she waited until she was out of office, it might cool down into nothing. She is making boatloads of money with books, speeches and TV appearances. She will never have to work another day in her life. Good for her.
Not “good for her.” She made a commitment to the people of Alaska (although, they’re probably lucky to be rid of her) that she didn’t keep for reasons that had only to do with what she saw was best for her.
She’s a quitter and an opportunist.
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2010, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sarah-palin-resign-as-alaskas-governor/549736/54 "2010-08-10T14:54:25Z")
> [@Cinebar](#):
>
> > [@The\_Second\_Stone](#):
> >
> > She saw an opportunity to become a speaker and make a lot of money. If she waited until she was out of office, it might cool down into nothing. She is making boatloads of money with books, speeches and TV appearances. She will never have to work another day in her life. Good for her.
>
> Not “good for her.” She made a commitment to the people of Alaska (although, they’re probably lucky to be rid of her) that she didn’t keep for reasons that had only to do with what she saw was best for her.
>
> She’s a quitter and an opportunist.
She was being hit with lawsuits she couldn’t afford and it was illegal for her to take money to defend herself. The “opportunists” were her political enemies.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2010, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sarah-palin-resign-as-alaskas-governor/549736/55 "2010-08-10T15:04:15Z")
> [@Magiver](#):
>
> She was being hit with lawsuits she couldn’t afford
See my note about the Clintons, who had 10 or 15 times the legal bills she did. I stand by what I said: she could have just paid the lawyers after leaving office since they knew her earnings potential would be considerable, or she could have written her book while in office (or just accepted a publishing contract).
> [@](#):
>
> and it was illegal for her to take money to defend herself.
I think you’re wrong about that. [There was an ethics issue with her legal defense fund](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/24/politics/main6615522.shtml), but the problem was not that she was accepting money for her legal costs, it was the fact that the site said it was her “official” defense fund.
> [@](#):
>
> The “opportunists” were her political enemies.
If one of the lawsuits was over a jacket she wore, then that was frivolous. But the legal costs were not the only issue. She’s raised way more than $500,000 since she left office.
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### Author:  [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2010, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sarah-palin-resign-as-alaskas-governor/549736/56 "2010-08-10T15:09:04Z")
> [@Chimera](#):
>
> Definitely the character flaw thing.
>
> [http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DuKflKzmfRCw](http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DuKflKzmfRCw)
>
> Notice her reaction. Simply amazing.
>
> “You swore on your prescious bible you would uphold the (garbled) of this state, and then, when cash was waived in your face, you quit.”
>
> Palin (eyes wide, smiles and claps hands together, happy - seriously!)
> “Oh, you wanted me to be your Governor, I’m honored!”
I read it slightly differently. She thought she was scoring an argumentive point that anyone angry about her quitting must feel that way because they crave her leadership. Anyone who would try to float that line in front of a 20x4 “worst governor ever” sign, to the face of the person who made the sign, has to be a fucking idiot.
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### Author:  [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sarah-palin-resign-as-alaskas-governor/549736/57 "2010-08-10T15:28:38Z")
That youtube vid is hilarious. I especially liked the goons trying to box out whoever was recording it.
Palin has a cult-like following and no matter what she does, those followers will blame someone else. I blame John McCain for foisting this idiot on the country. In one bold move he proved he didn’t have the leadership skills necessary to become president. I wonder if he regrets it.
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### Author:  [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sarah-palin-resign-as-alaskas-governor/549736/58 "2010-08-10T15:52:45Z")
> [@Magiver](#):
>
> > [@Cinebar](#):
> >
> > Not “good for her.” She made a commitment to the people of Alaska (although, they’re probably lucky to be rid of her) that she didn’t keep for reasons that had only to do with what she saw was best for her.
> >
> > She’s a quitter and an opportunist.
>
> She was being hit with lawsuits she couldn’t afford and it was illegal for her to take money to defend herself. The “opportunists” were her political enemies.
I was wondering if anyone could possibly buy that. I am not surprised who it is. It is amazing.
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### Author:  [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sarah-palin-resign-as-alaskas-governor/549736/59 "2010-08-10T15:55:17Z")
What gets me is how Americans differ from Canadians in regard to politicians that they don’t like. Around here we constantly demand resignations though seldomly rewarded.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2010, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-sarah-palin-resign-as-alaskas-governor/549736/60 "2010-08-10T15:57:40Z")
> [@Cosmic Relief](#):
>
> > [@Chimera](#):
> >
> > Definitely the character flaw thing.
> >
> > [http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DuKflKzmfRCw](http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DuKflKzmfRCw)
> >
> > Notice her reaction. Simply amazing.
> >
> > “You swore on your prescious bible you would uphold the (garbled) of this state, and then, when cash was waived in your face, you quit.”
> >
> > Palin (eyes wide, smiles and claps hands together, happy - seriously!)
> > “Oh, you wanted me to be your Governor, I’m honored!”
>
> I read it slightly differently. She thought she was scoring an argumentive point that anyone angry about her quitting must feel that way because they crave her leadership. Anyone who would try to float that line in front of a 20x4 “worst governor ever” sign, to the face of the person who made the sign, has to be a fucking idiot.
That video is so difficult to watch. Palin is so completely intellectually dishonest and disingenuous and contemptible. I cringe. But she’s also very skillful. She knows exactly what she’s doing and who her real audience is.
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