Sarah Palin stepping down as Governor

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The RNC can't control her, that's part of the problem. They learned that the hard way during the campaign.

I for one hope she stays out of the spotlight, so her kids can now have some semblance of a normal childhood. I just think there's no evidence to support this. She's too enamored with the spotlight to stay away from it for long.

Let's give it 3 months. If she can manage to keep a low profile for that long, I'll eat my words. I think that's long enough to prove she's "doing it for the family." My money's on some kind of stunt before then; whether it's a surprise candidacy announcement or embarking on a new punditry career. I still don't think there's a big scandal, but you never know with her.

 

His official campaign, sure. Anyone outside, not so much - and somewhere, you have to draw the line. Would you in all honesty hold McCain or Obama responsible for everything anyone posted on the Free Republic or Democratic Underground? Or for everything ever said by Bill'O, Ann Coulter, Olbermann or Maddow, and countless less known and more radical people? What would they do, get them on the phone and tell them "See, Keith/Bill, please don't do so, I know I'm not the one paying you or in charge of your network, but could you do it for me?" Because if so, then McCain - and Sarah Palin, who as a VP also would get heard if she said something like that - have to answer for a whole lot of s..t they did during the campaign as well, imo much more than Obama. From what I saw it was his campaign that seemed less prone to use offensive and inflammatory rhetoric.

Anyway, it does not matter all that much now. The elections ended some 7 months ago, and during that time coverage of Mrs. Palin has decreased significantly after her loss. I think that if there were no big scandals concerning her she would not be talked about much more than other governors - perhaps she would be among the more prominent ones. Hey, she did ran as a VP in the last election, that tends to enlarge one's public profile. I am somewhat puzzled by the whole lame duck argument anyway. If she cares for the agenda she is pushing, I think she can do a bit more in charge - no matter how hamstrung - than as a regular Mrs Palin, especially if a Democrat picks up the seat.

 

No, no, no, I like Snook's approach. It means we can hold GWB responsible for every completely insane thing everyone from Falwell to Limbaugh said from 2000-2008.

You're the best, Snook.

 

Thanks, and isn't that what was always done? Think back to John Kerry being swiftboated. Was there a single Kerry supporter who didn't blame Bush for what they were doing? It was a very effective approach. Bush stayed silent about it, this way he could pretend he wasn't involved. I'm sure there were multiple people from either the campagin or the RNC who were helping out. If Bush had wanted it to stop it would have stopped.

I seem to recall in the last election there was something that McCain said was off limits, but that could be me getting older

Falwell and Limbaugh are interesting points. While technically neither one is political (religious and entertainment) they both depend on politics a lot. I'm not sure Rush would do what anyone tells him to do as he marches to his own drum (there are plenty of Republicans he doesn't like and McCain is one of them). Falwell would buckle.

 

Followed by:

OK, but there is a big difference here. In the case of the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, they were a private political action committee. They're called 538s IIRC, and you're right in the sense that since they are private, if the candidates request that they stop, they can stop. Since it can be reasonably asserted that 538s are supporters of a particular candidate, this is entirely reasonable.

However, you then extend that generalization to the entire news media. The news media are not 538s, and are not supporters of a particular candidate (even the ones that provide endorsements - it doesn't mean that everyone working for a particular media outlet votes for the person that gets endorsed). The man in charge may well be in charge of what his supporters do, but to suggest that the entire media apparatus are part of Obama's supporters is absurd.

If you want a fair comparison, give me an example of a 538 that bashed either HRC or Palin.

 

Palin held the big media photo op yesterday out in the middle-of-nowhere. It was perfect: Lots of shots of her and Todd fishing, holding the kids, Sarah managing the fishing gear and looking all outdoorsy, with the Alaskian scenery as a great back-drop. It seems she is carrying on with the same strategy of selling herself as the "smalltown values" all-around mom and sportswoman, who just happens to want to be prez. As brilliant as that narrative is, it still will only work for the minority of voters, those who believe that being able to hunt and fish are real qualifications for being prez. And believe me, there are some of those out there.

The fun part was that the media was complaining that she's been "out of touch" for a whole 3 days (really only 2, but who's counting?). They just eat this stuff up.

http://www.people.com/people/news/category/0,,personsTax:SarahPalin,00.html

 

No, it's awesome. When marty talks about 5 million conservatives being more important than 10 million liberals, we get to blame Bush for that too. What about this arrangement disagrees with you?

Actually, it's even better than that; insofar as marty supports Palin, we can blame her for everything he says. Seriously, why aren't you down with this?

Did you read the email exchange between McCain's campaign manager and Palin on the subject of her husband's membership in the crazy party? That was gold.

 

...so Chandos, your saying she'll easily take Alaska, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Texas.

 

No, not 5 million...he said just 5. The scale of the vacuity is important for context.

 

Actually, I was talking about the people criticising Todd Palin for being a stay-at-home dad, even though that's a dream of the femenist movement today. He got called things like Dead-Beat-Todd for no reason whatsoever. I swear, things that would normally not have even made it to the tabloids made national news with the Palins.

As for Palin in politics, I think she's pretty much shot at this point. She may be able to become Mayor of some small town somewhere, but I doubt she'll even get a nomination for Pres.

 

Just because it can be used for my personal benefit to score debate points in no way affects the absurdity of the statement.

You know, that brings up an interesting point. While McCain was repeatedly linked and compared to Bush during the campaign, it was actually Palin that was more Bush-like than McCain. It was Palin that was the All-American. It was Palin that was the religious conservative. It was Palin that seemed uninformed about a number of issues and (important for the Bush comparison) seemed to wear this ignorance almost as a badge of honor.

The big problem with that is Bush does not have a positive legacy, and there is little I can see happening in the next three years that will improve that legacy. Being like Bush is not something that is going to win you many voters in 2012.

Um... like Wasilla?

 

I wouldn't worry -- her track record will scare away swing voters in droves. And whatever the "scandal"(?) is that is hanging over her head, well, if she makes a run for it, all her opponents have to do is say "hey, the scandal might come back! Do we want a President bailing mid term?"

 

Sure, but I think you're missing some perspective. If calling Todd Palin "Dead-beat Todd" is viciousness on the part of the media at large (as opposed to just a few a-holes), then what would you call Michelle Obama being called a "Gorilla," and Obama's "Bitter Half," and a huge racist who supposedly had a "whitey!" tape out there, and that she and her husband shared a "terrorist fist-jab," and references to a lynching party - all directed at Michelle Obama, all in the mainstream media (particularly Fox News), all for no reason whatsoever (and those are just off the top of my head). Where do those rank of the media viciousness scale?

If being called a "Deadbeat Dad" is the worst he got, Todd Palin got off light.

 

Ssssoo... does this mean DR won't be eating any words, then? I so wanted to see a picture of this.

 

DR, I didn't see that from anyone but Fox (and the Drudge Report, who linked to Fox), and they did get slammed for it.

 

You mustn't have been watching CNN....

 

I really like this piece by Maureen Dowd. It hits the nail on the head when it comes to Palin's constant "victimization" of herself:

Now that's funny.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/opinion/08dowd.html?_r=1

---------- Added 0 hours, 53 minutes and 47 seconds later... ----------

Here are the pix: "Hockey Moms Gone Wild."

http://www.runnersworld.com/photo/sarahpalin/slide7.html

 

Ouch

Gist of the piece is that Palin was in over her head, knew it, and used the 'people so mean' thing as a face-saving way to head for greener pastures. Which in this case means cashing in on her celebrity.

 

Absolutely - she can make a lot more in appearance fees than she can as governor. Which is good, because I understand that she has accumulated a significant amount of personal legal debt.