Ok last post today, and probably this weekend about this bombshell news, unless something else breaks over the weekend. I doubt it though. I’ve been reading different reactions/responses, a lot of speculation out there.
Erick Erickson had a few additional thoughts about this news, and he made an interesting point.
I’ve had this running thought all day, perhaps because I was watching it on TV in HD for the first time, that this is kind of like Ben Kenobi letting Darth Vader strike him down. Palin is not going to run in 2012, but by doing this she can now become Barack Obama’s worst nightmare, and help rebuild the opposition to Obama. How? Because were she to remain a 2012 contender, she’d keep having stories by anonymous McCain campaign staffers and other 2012 contenders going after her and her family. Take that ambition off the table and it neutralizes a lot of that. So she can focus on candidates and ideas without an ulterior motive focused on 2012.
Erickson also points out that her critics on the right (friends of his) who are criticizing her that she can’t take the heat, etc. “are also typically the ones who do not have small children.”
That dovetails well with what Charles Krauthammer said about her resignation and prospects:
HT: Stop the ACLU
David Brody of CBN is saying don’t bet against Palin in 2012, that this move could be a way to remake herself.
By stepping down as Governor, Palin can get away from it all. While working behind the scenes to see if a Presidential run makes sense, she can also hit the books. She can study up on Supreme Court decisions she may disagree with. Write some public policy "White Papers," go be an expert on a couple key domestic issues and play advocate in chief as she travels around the country pushing those issues.
By doing all of that, Sarah Palin can come back as Sarah 2.0. The bar is low at this point so imagine if she comes back running for President as a new and improved polished product. Something to think about.
Jonathan Garthwaite at at Townhall.com feels that she could play the role of Kingmaker.
If she’s really done as a candidate, we may find out she ends up having a greater impact as an activist, prolific speaker and fundraiser for conservative causes than she would have had as a candidate.
He also said, thanked her for “single-handedly (reducing) the Michael Jackson coverage today by two-thirds.” Amen to that!
Bill Kristol at the Weekly Standard is giving the contrarian take:
After all, she’s freeing herself from the duties of the governorship. Now she can do her book, give speeches, travel the country and the world, campaign for others, meet people, get more educated on the issues – and without being criticized for neglecting her duties in Alaska. I suppose she’ll take a hit for leaving the governorship early – but how much of one? She’s probably accomplished most of what she was going to get done as governor, and is leaving a sympatico lieutenant governor in charge.
And haven’t conservatives been lamenting the lack of a national leader? Well, now she’ll try to be that. She may not succeed. Everything rests on her talents, and on her performance. She’ll be under intense and hostile scrutiny, and she’ll have to perform well.
Matthew Continetti at the Weekly Standard says that these are “strange days” because “the politician who Republicans like the most is resigning her office, while the embarrassing Mark Sanford is clutching to his.”
The Anchoress wins the award for the most updated post, and also speculates that Governor Palin may be ill or someone in her family is ill or there are some personal problems:
Either she or someone in her family is ill, and she wants to keep it private and not subject it to the vulgarity of the Palin-hating beasts in the press, who savaged her last year, or…she and Todd are on the rocks, and she doesn’t want to subject her children and her marriage to the same vulgarity.
Can’t say I blame her in either case. And I hope I’m wrong on both counts.
Though, Governor Palin did tweet that this was good, and that her family is happy. I can’t think that would be the case if either of those scenarios were true.
Thomas Lifson over at American Thinker thinks that she is breaking the mold once again. Little Miss Atilla thinks this could be about giving her kids a break, that no politician has had to put up with the unprecedented attacks that she and her family has had to put up with. She also believes that she “out or playing the long game.” Joe the Mom thinks she could be leaving just to be a mom and “respects her more for keeping her priorities in order and acting as such.”
Sweetness and Light thinks it is also because she is sick of the attacks as well, and the impact it is making on her family. And to proof their point:
To their credit HuffPo has since pulled it down, but you can read the full text here. (HT: Hot Air). Sundries Shack believes Governor Palin gave the left “Christmas in July.” Dan Riehl believes that the harkening of her political death is premature.
Andrew Malcolm analyzes this unexpected move, and he makes a point regarding Lt. Governor Sean Parnell that I thought about at well.
Her departure now also gives her successor 16 months to be seen as an incumbent for the 2010 gubernatorial election he says he’ll seek to win.
Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs unequivocally supports Governor Palin and thinks that she just announced a 2012 run.
And finally (for now), a statement from RNC Chair Michael Steele:
I plan on talking to Governor Palin very soon. She is an important and galvanizing voice in the Republican Party. I believe she will be very helpful to the Party this year as we wage critical campaigns in Virginia and New Jersey. I am certain this has been a difficult decision for her to step down as Alaska’s governor. She has been a good governor for her state and I wish her and the Palin family the best during this transition.
I am leaning to think that 2012 is definitely out, but 2016, 2020, 2024 or even 2028 is potential. I mean she’s only 45! But who the heck knows? I think those of us who are supporters and those who want to throw her off the bus need to take a deep breath, step back, and see what more information comes up in time.
Update: Ah just when I thought I was done with this post, they keep pulling me back in. I don’t want to neglect Josh Painter’s thoughts on this:
This speculation business is easy, but unfortunately, it’s accomplishes little. It will not stop until Sarah Palin makes it stop by telling us what she plans to do. I’m willing to give her time to do that. I will neither condemn her nor cry in my beer if she decides not to run for president. God knows she has given much and received little reward and much punishment for herself and her family. Gov. Palin saved the GOP and John McCain from an electoral blowout of McGovern proportions, and she made Saxby Chambliss’ return to the U.S. Senate a sure thing with a safety margin of 10 insurance points. She’s been fighting for missile defense, fiscal restraint and energy security, among other things. She’s defended young girls and women of all ages against misogynistic attacks by dirty men both young and old. And she has been a source of encouragement to women everywhere to be all that they can be, and not just in the U.S. Army.
Whatever we have given her, she has repaid us with interest. Let’s see what her intentions are and support her decision, whatever it may be.