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Barone weighs in on Palin

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He’s baffled by those who think her her resignation is “a political masterstroke“:

How does resigning as governor strengthen her as a presidential candidate?

He wonders why she doesn’t serve out her term, but notes that “the volume of hate and vitriol directed at her has been stunning.”

Whatever the real reason for her resignation, it has kept her in the news over the Fourth of July weekend, no small feat, given all the competing stories.  It does seem to be news-heavy summer.

Comments

  1. “How does resigning as governor strengthen her as a presidential candidate?”

    Because as a Republican governor, she cannot get away with what Obama could. She cannot campaign for the presidency and against Barack Obama the way he began campaigning against Bush and for the presidency nearly as soon as he was elected to the Senate. Being a Republican, she would be held to a different standard. The left, the media (redundant I know) and probably many Republicans would complain that she is neglecting her duty as Governor while attacking Obama, and is just trying to increase her national profile.

    By resigning, she can do what NO other Republican has yet managed to do — which is to forcefully fight against the Obama/Democrat agenda.

    Doing that alone would make her the front-runner.

    *IF* this is her plan, and I’m not saying it is, it is an interesting gamble. She would be betting that she could develop the kind of grass-roots movement that put Obama on top. That kind of grass-roots movement is not going to be impressed by the idea that Palin has to finish her term in order to be viable. An argument that essentially says, “in order to defeat the status quo, you must uphold the status quo”.

    But Obama had the media carrying his water, indeed, running interference for him. Palin will NEVER have that. Can she do it anyway? Will be very interesting to see.

  2. GayWes: “… Whatever the real reason for her resignation, it has kept her in the news over the Fourth of July weekend, no small feat …”

    SG: Yes … No small feat, given that the probable objective in making a July 3rd announcement, at the beginning of a long weekend, amidst the Michael Jackson mania, was so the story would NOT have legs.

    Well as they like to say on the (R)ight …. Mission Accomplished! … Eh?

    Snerd

  3. GayWes: “… Whatever the real reason for her resignation, it has kept her in the news over the Fourth of July weekend, no small feat”

    SG: Yes … ‘Whatever the reason’, indeed. Ed Rollins (R) strategist said it best … You call press conferences to answer questions, not create them!

    Snerd

  4. Why does everyone not get the “real” reason? Read or listen to what she said, it’s very clear. This woman is very basic and real, that’s why people like her so much. She took an oath to protect the state and spend the peoples money in a responsible way. These people filed bogus claims to tie her down and in turn waste millions of their money. She could not move without it costing the people in more than one way. In the mean time she accomplished alot, which you can research yourself. The constant smear and hate towards her kids came to a head, and she had to fix it. No one has ever been at the other end of this kind of hate that I know of. The pundits that are now worried about protocol by quitting is laughable, we have 32 czars now. You see when people attack Sarah Palin they attack us, because she is just like most Americans.

  5. Jann,

    I do take her at her word. And part of what she said is that she is not quitting the fight, but that she is taking it to new, and bigger fronts — or something to that effect. But she did not say what she meant by that.

    That is what I am speculating on at least.

    Snerd,

    Yes … No small feat, given that the probable objective in making a July 3rd announcement, at the beginning of a long weekend, amidst the Michael Jackson mania, was so the story would NOT have legs.

    Which is why she put out a national press release, which the press has noted is something she never does?

    Bzzzzt. wrong answer. If you dont want the national press to notice a story, you dont invite them. She purposely did.

  6. I am an independent voter put off by the Democratic left and Republican cowardice and self-righteous stupidity. I also do not agree with the conservative social agenda. But–I like Sarah Palin.
    For me she is an underdog and I support her on that bais. In addition I support her against the vitriol and smear tactics of both parties. I hope at the very least that she learns aboput major national and international issues,speaks against the Democratic and Republican Moderate coalition and becomes a rallying point for oppositiion to this regime. And I hope she does run for president. If things are pretty much the same politcally as they are now ,I would vote for her inspite of disagreements on social issues because we need to get rid of current mob running our government

  7. Dan, I agree with Barone’s first analysis that the quirky move seems ill-suited for larger political gains… but she is a hockey mom and as a soccer dad of 3, I can tell you that we know hockey moms don’t listen to anyone else, don’t follow the pack, are stubbornly independent types and are tenacious in defense of the kids when the ref makes a bad call.

    We soccer dads work at carpooling other players, coordinating snacks for the team, making sure our kids don’t act like ball hogs to the detriment of the team’s greater interest and, frankly, each family follows the other family from game to practice to clinic to camp. Oh, and the ref is always right even when it is a bad call.

    Her announcement sounds like 150% hockey mom. Heck, she could be their poster grrrl, if there’s a natl group of ’em, eh?

    Flatlanders will never understand Palin… unless they are hockey moms.

  8. Conventional wisdom is, by definition, not thinking outside of the box.

    Jimmy Carter and team Carter were the first to figure out how to capture the nomination by capturing a majority of the delegates by winning the primaries.

    Barack Obama taught us that a Charismatic with black skin and a sticky gooey “hope and change” message and the thugs of ACORN can get to the Oval Office with no bona fides and no detailed, vetted agenda.

    Sarah Palin has not announced her intentions. Assuming she is aiming for beating Obama in 2012, I can assure you she is not depending on conventional wisdom. The number two question (#1 is what is she up to?) is how does she plan to pull it off?

    The MSM is aligned against her no matter what. The vast majority of liberal women in particular will trash her, no matter what. But fiscal sanity, a well run immigration process, a heathy market economy, security and restoring the belief in America as a good nation of good people is not a bad set of promises to spear Obama the Apologist with. Every conventional wisdom indicator points to massive deficits and high unemployment and further economic erosion in 2012. Jimmy Carter came in on a clever political calculation and he was dragged out while adhering to his “Rose Garden Strategy.

    Obama had best make some huge strides forward if he plans to lull people into trusting him to work round two of hope and change.

    Palin can go a long way just convincing people that she is a common sense, task master who will mind the store. Wouldn’t it be a hoot if she got Condi Rice as her running mate?

  9. Palin can go a long way just convincing people that she is a common sense, task master who will mind the store.

    The trouble, heliotrope, is that quitting as Governor doesn’t play into that.

    I think it’s entirely possible that Palin isn’t aiming for the Presidency at all, but just wants either to be a mom, or to launch a campaign for *ideas* that she believes in, or both. Time will tell.

    I’d love to see her stick it to her critics – in a classy way, of course; a way that shows off the contrast between what a good and normal person does and what empty, scheming hacks (her critics) do – Particularly some of her ugly critics within the GOP, whose representatives occasionally visit us on this blog.

  12. By resigning, she can do what NO other Republican has yet managed to do — which is to forcefully fight against the Obama/Democrat agenda.

    Doing that alone would make her the front-runner.

    Whoever does rally the opposition against Obama does become the de facto leader of the opposition against Obama.

  13. I, too, am perplexed by Governor Palin´s decision to resign. From the time she joined the McCain ticket she energized the base. She has successfully fended off all attacks on her person, as well as, how she has governed Alaska. If she is aware of pending attacks, I would think that she could allow her lieutenant run the day to day business of the office while she prepares her defense. As Michael Baone points out that sixteen months is not a long time. Her quitting will follow her for the rest of her life. At best, she will be no more than a cheerleader for the Party and a motivator for GOTV for Republican candidates.

  14. Her decision to resign doesn’t make sense from a political context, which is why, logically, it was a personal decision. And I think there were two major drivers.

    1. As a mother, she didn’t want to put her kids through 16 months of attacks.

    2. The mounting legal bills from those frivolous ethics complaints; $500K last I heard.

    The Palins are people of relatively modest means compared to the Bush’s, the McCain’s, the Gores, and the Obama’s. 500 Large is a lot of money unless you’ve got inherited wealth or a well-heeled sugar daddy.

  17. Yes, by ‘now’ I had meant 2012. But even for 2016 or 2020, it would help her to have had at least one full term + one re-election as a Governor. Reagan completed 2 terms (1967-75, or 1966-74 by the election years), and then became a movement leader and Presidential contender. Palin is young enough to have chosen that.

  18. I saw this in the comments on Stacey McCain’s blog.

    Anonymous said…

    This isn’t the first time Palin has resigned, the last time turned out to be a bloodbath for those who had crossed her. Mon Jul 06, 02:49:00 PM

    http://rsmccain.blogspot.com/2009/07/sarah-palins-surprise.html

    Here’s more details:

    1. If It Worked Before, Why Not Try It Again?
    Palin’s 2004 protest resignation from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC) catapulted her into the political limelight. Appointed to the AOGCC by then Governor Frank Murkowski, Palin quit when fellow board member Randy Ruedrich, who was also chairman of the Alaska Republican Party, refused to give up his party role despite what many saw as a conflict of interest. Palin accused Ruedrich of engaging in politics on government time, and he was ultimately fined $11,000 — the largest ethics fine in Alaska’s history. He resigned his AOGCC post (he remains to this day head of the Alaska GOP). Palin was perceived as a whistle-blower, willing to call out her own party. Less than two years later, Palin won Murkowski’s job. “She was going to stand up to the corrupt administration, she was going to expose wrongdoing, she was going to slay the evil dragon,” says Larry Persily, a former Palin aide who now works for a Republican state legislator. “She knows how to position herself. She knows how to appeal to the public, and that was a great move.”

    Source:

    http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1908800,00.html?imw=Y

    The TEA party movement is out there just waiting for someone to step up to be their national spokesperson.

    I plan to sit back and enjoy the show.

    otpu

  19. My guess is that the Palins had had enough. This is the politics of personal destruction played for keeps.

    I suspect Sarah has pretty thick skin – you can’t get very far in politics without it. But to see family and friends savaged in the media months after the election? It’s obscene.

    The really scary part is that the Democratic scorched earth attacks on Palin’s family didn’t backfire on Obama… there was a time when a candidate would have condemned attacks on, say, an infant with Downs syndrome. Who would have thought that acceptable? But the American electorate (and John McCain) to their discredit, stood by and let it happen.

    A political system that destroys decent people will soon find itself without decent people.

    I highly recommend this essay at NRO

    http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDE3MmE5MDVmMGM1YjQ2NmVhMjJkN2I2ZTcxMzhlNjU=

  20. If it’s your point 1, then, logically she won’t now run for President; it would put her kids through even more attacks.

    I’m not convinced that running for the presidency in 2012 is her game plan.