Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
The old adage goes something like this: when you find yourself stuck in a hole, stop digging. Sarah Palin seems not to have learned that. After making that absolutely bizarre resignation speech and walking away from her elected office, she's now offering a new reason for leaving:
Outgoing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Saturday laid the groundwork to take on a larger, national role after leaving state government, citing a "higher calling" with the aim of uniting the country along conservative lines..."I am now looking ahead and how we can advance this country together with our values of less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much-needed fiscal restraint," she said.
And of course, she's doing what seems to be a reflex reaction from social conservatives -- striking the martyr pose:
Palin also cast herself as a victim and blasted the media, calling the response to her announcement "predictable" and out of touch."How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it's about country," the statement said. "And though it's honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make."
Oh, and threatening to sue people who speculate about why she really resigned:
The abruptness of her announcement and the mystery surrounding her plans has fed widespread speculation. But Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein on Saturday warned legal action may be taken against bloggers and publications that reprint what he calls fraudulent claims."To the extent several websites, most notably liberal Alaska blogger Shannyn Moore, are now claiming as 'fact' that Governor Palin resigned because she is 'under federal investigation' for embezzlement or other criminal wrongdoing, we will be exploring legal options this week to address such defamation," Van Flein said in a statement. "This is to provide notice to Ms. Moore, and those who re-publish the defamation, such as Huffington Post, MSNBC, the New York Times and The Washington Post, that the Palins will not allow them to propagate defamatory material without answering to this in a court of law."
I think this fits in perfectly with what I wrote about the other day, the remarkable ability that Palin has to look straight at the camera and repeat the utterly moronic with total confidence. She also has the ability to simultaneously be both victim and bully.
Politics
Comments
Posted by: Herod the Freemason | July 8, 2009 10:08 AM
"She also has the ability to simultaneously be both victim and bully."
You could make this blanket statement about the religious right in particular, and social conservatives in general.
Whiners from day one.
Posted by: Rick R | July 8, 2009 10:10 AM
She probably meant "typical," but couldn't find the word
Posted by: rpsms | July 8, 2009 10:11 AM
And this-
"I am now looking ahead and how we can advance this country together with our values of less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much-needed fiscal restraint," she said.
Is there anyone still alive and paying attention who honestly believes these are the goals of modern conservatism? Anyone?
Posted by: Rick R | July 8, 2009 10:14 AM
She got one thing right: When you find yourself stuck in a hole, go fishing.
Posted by: Greg Laden | July 8, 2009 10:18 AM
The far-right yokels have been using the word "predictable" as an epithet since the 1990s. As in:
"The Earth is flat."
"No, dumbass, it's round."
"That response was so predictable! You're all the same!"
I wonder why they think "predictability" is such an evil quality. Common sense, learning from past experience, reason, objective reality, sticking to facts and not emotion and wild rumors, keeping your promises, sticking to your job and your duties, all of those things tend to make people predictable; so perhaps the wingnuts were traumatized by them and now thay have an implacable hatred of all things "predictable?"
Posted by: Raging Bee | July 8, 2009 10:26 AM
When you give a speech in which you state that not quitting your job would be that act of a quitter, while quitting your job isn't, it's predictable that people will call you an idiot.
Posted by: Taz | July 8, 2009 10:36 AM
I think Palin's latest spin attempts have a singular purpose. She's trying to make it appear that she's not a quitter in spite of the fact she quit. Her political ambitions obviously remain, contrary to what she told her staff last week.
If someone quits a lesser role to take on a greater role, they normally don't get criticism, nor should they in most circumstances. An example would be trying to equate UT's gov. Jon Huntsman resigning in his term to become Ambassador to China to what she's doing. Of course Palin has not announced or received a commission for a role greater than governor of Alaska or enhances her resume so her comparison is fatally flawed - if you are logical thinker where we know her base is not. Conservatives merely need a rationale, the strength of the argument is irrelevant.
And according to Palin whose already expressed this sentiment; if you don't agree with this comparison then you're just another un-American media-type out to persecute her in an unprecedented manner.
Her incompetency and lack of character coupled to her appeal is utterly fascinating.
Posted by: Michael Heath | July 8, 2009 10:45 AM
Of course, if you report that there are rumors of investigation, as apparently the blogger in question did, there's nothing defamatory, but who am I to stop the "Baracuda" from playing the victim card.
And when you resign without a discernable reason for doing so, people are going to wonder whether there's something else going on. Most of the time we don't want to believe our leaders are as flakey as Palin would have to be to just up and quit because the job got hard.
I mean, really, wouldn't it be better if there were a scandal behind all this? It would at least make her actions rational; right now she is just piling on the evidence for batsh*t crazy. It's like when Brittany Spears got married in Vegas for 55 hours, and then insisted she hadn't been drunk - really honey, it would have been better if you were drunk. If you were sober and decided to marry someone on the fly, you look crazy (and look what happened with Spears). Same thing here.
The weird thing is that the far-right is apparently now so able to construct their own reality (having now had years of experience) and twist facts to suit that reality, they're more than willing to see Palin's actions as those of a strong leader. WTF?
Posted by: CPT_Doom | July 8, 2009 10:48 AM
Dispatchers, start oiling your guns.
Posted by: James Hanley | July 8, 2009 11:02 AM
The most cringe-inducing part of it for me was the "It's about country" assertion. That just typified the empty-headed demagogy she has been practicing ever since coming on the national stage. What the fuck does that even mean?!!?
I think she must be gunning for a pundit role. If she just quit, why bother talking about a "higher calling"? If she is preparing for a presidential run in 2012, why quit so early? The only alternative that makes sense to me is she wants to be a political figure, but not actually in politics.
Or maybe CPT_Doom is right and she is just batshit crazy.
Posted by: James Sweet | July 8, 2009 11:05 AM
James Sweet asks (rhetorically):
Because she hates actually working as an executive administrator plus she knows that Alaska would not fare well with her as gov., i.e, she'd waste time with drudgery when more financially appealing opportunities exist that match what she likes to do, be on TV or in front of crowds speaking, coupled to her losing her sky-high approval ratings when the campaign starts given her pending failures as governor (she's already lost the confidence of both state parties).
The other argument that Ed and Andrew Sullivan have hung their hats on, which is not mutually exclusive, is that it's better to control one's resignation by leaving now rather than be forced out of office given some as yet undisclosed scandal.
The resignation itself may be logical to some degree, it's the arguments on why that are entertainingly absurd.
Posted by: Michael Heath | July 8, 2009 11:24 AM
according to an NPR article (http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2009/07/how_much_might_palin_make_mayb.html or http://tinyurl.com/l3ynls ) Palin might make as much as 20 million dollars as a conservative pundit, plus it would keep her in the public eye: far more than she could make as governor of Alaska, with the risk of falling into (deserved) obscurity or worse, having her incompetence be displayed to one and all as Alaska's economic troubles worsen. It's about country, yeah, right.
Posted by: becca | July 8, 2009 11:36 AM
I think this is about the best she can do at this point. I pity the poor staffer who had to write this tripe on a deadline; it had no chance to be good, because it couldn't contradict any of the "themes" raised in her initial speech.
As for why now, I don't go with the theory that the job is too difficult. The Alaskan Governor is not directly responsible for that much, and speculation has driven the price of oil back up so that there should be no fiscal crisis (thanks, TARP and the other bailouts; first we taxpayers get to pay for the bailout, now we have gas and food prices driven up by commodities speculation made possible by bailout money: win-win, right?). Rather, I think the reason she quit is it is impossible to campaign while being tied to Alaska, as it is a 12-14 hour flight from the east coast.
Not having a job is a great advantage if you're running for President. Unfortunately, Mitt and Huck are also unemployed.
Posted by: kehrsam | July 8, 2009 11:48 AM
"it's about country"
I think she meant to say "It's about money"
But she is playing to the base and they love it! that mean old librul media attacking my girlfriend!!
all 18% of the electorate them.
Posted by: Kevin (NYC) | July 8, 2009 12:00 PM
It's a moron's attempt to condescend to her intellectual betters. It's a perfect example of why I think Hitchens was right when he called Palin a proud, boastful ignoramus.
Posted by: Dr X | July 8, 2009 12:01 PM
For once I have to give her props. If those are her beliefs than her resignation removed a significant obstacle. Her policies expanded intrusion on the lives of Alaskans. Her actions on energy stunted efforts toward independence. She was weak on national security. And her fiscal policies were ruinous even before the recession hit. Good for her for recognizing the problem and eliminating it.
By giving up her Governorship she gave up leading a state in order to lead conservatives. May every conservative like her follow her excellent example, quit government, and get out of the way.
Posted by: Abby Normal | July 8, 2009 12:03 PM
Small correction: if the existence of rumors is a lie (i.e., if Shannyn Moore or whoever invented the "rumors" you're relaying), then the fabricator of rumors probably defamed Palin. But unlike the reporting of a false fact as true, the other people down the line (WaPo, HuffPo, etc.) probably can't get in trouble for reporting that there are rumors even if the first person made them up out of whole cloth, since by that point, there are in fact rumors.
Posted by: Chuck | July 8, 2009 12:16 PM
I can't even begin to imagine Sara Palin making a run for the White House. She is far too thin skinned to make it through the primaries. Furthermore it would be an act of suicide for the Republicans to nominate her as their presidential candidate. I just can't see it happening.
Perhaps she might make a run for Congress. That would be her only realistic option for national politics.
Posted by: Cheddar | July 8, 2009 12:48 PM
James Sweet wrote:
OR both. She wouldn't be the first batshit crazy pol to pursue punditry.
Posted by: chris | July 8, 2009 1:26 PM
I think we are pretty much done with Palin, unless there are scandals out there that bring her back into the news and into court. Her Presidential aspirations are gtoast. She would be crucified as "Bailin' Palin' by her Republican opponents -- many of whom, I'm sure, would rather see Obama in office than trust the White House to someone they view as unreliable, unintelligent, scandal-plagued and a loose cannon.
And I ask again what makjes anyone think she'd get a Fox gig. Her opinions are right enough (or far rihgt enough) to qualify, but, despite her sports broadcaster past, she is far from enough of a professional to get that gig. "Word salad" is not a dish even Fox watchers could take for more than a couple of days.
(And a footnote. Tv.com -- and their audience is far from liberal -- recently ran a poll: "Now Sarah Palin has resigned, what tv show cast should she join?" DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES got 30% of the vote. HANNITY -- the only news show -- got 4%.)
Posted by: Prup (aka Jim Benton) | July 8, 2009 1:30 PM
Sure, put her on "Desperate Housewives." Then Dana Delaney could reprise one of her earlier roles, and whip Palin into obedience. THAT I'd watch.
Posted by: Raging Bee | July 8, 2009 1:49 PM
Palin Keeps Digging
With what? She's too stooooopid to grasp the concept of a shovel.
Posted by: blf | July 8, 2009 2:34 PM
I was only able to listen to the sycophantic rationalizations of Fox News' resident pork-chop-with-eyes Sean Hannity for a while before I tuned it out. Or my mind rebelled and I slipped into catalepsis. Recollections are hazy.
On an unrelated note: neither "Hannity" or "catalepsis" are in Firefox's spell-checker. Though "Firefox" apparently is. COINCIDENCE?
Reading the snippets above, it hit me that Palin's litigious posturing might be a clue. If she's still planning on being a political player, maybe she's hoping that by leaving office she can better prosecute antagonistic bloggers for libel.
However, that's pretty wild speculation on my part. The suspicion that she's planning on becoming a private pundit seems much more likely.
Then again, it could really and truly be that she's simply cashing in her chips and retreating into exile. There's every possibility (as I see it, of course) that David Letterman's joke about her daughter getting knocked up by A-Rod was the last straw, and she set on withdrawing from public life to protect her family as best she knows how.
I think I'm going to stop speculating and get back to work.
~jdac
Posted by: jdac | July 8, 2009 2:37 PM
Am I the only person that actually feels sorry for Sarah Palin?
La la la, I'm the hockey mom miss teen alaska runner-up governer...
Wowie gee, McCain wants me to be vice president? You betcha!
*one year later*
Half the country hates me, my pregnant teenage daughter is all over the news, David Letterman made a mean joke, and I'm going to be five hundred thousand dollars in debt. I need to disappear from the public spotlight and make some money giving speeches to my fans.
So basically, she, like Joe the Plumber, was just a country bumpkin who found her way into the public spotlight. But unlike Joe the Plumber, she got way in over her head until there was no way to bow out gracefully. I am predicting she will not run for the 2012 election. My sense is that she is sick of politics and wants to be done with it forever.
Posted by: Brandon | July 8, 2009 2:49 PM
By the way, the platitude is wrong.
When you're in a hole too deep to climb out, it's time to break out the dynamite!
Posted by: D. C. Sessions | July 8, 2009 3:03 PM
The threts of lawsuits are not really directed at Palin's actual critics -- we know we have little or nothing to lose, and we know the threats are bogus and won't listen to them. They're directed at the big media outlets who would broadcast all the criticism, if they weren't so spineless in the face of even the most transparently frivolous lawsuits. They're the ones most easily deterred by such threats: despite being big enough, and rich enough, to fight a lawsuit, they're too terrified of losing any of what they have -- money, viewers, market-share -- to bother standing up to bullies. And that's why the threats from Palin's lawyer aren't really as incompetent as they look.
Posted by: Raging Bee | July 8, 2009 3:06 PM
Hmmm, Brandon gets me thinking... I had rejected the idea that she really was just legitimately retreating from politics, because of this blurb about a "higher calling" that she mentioned. But maybe that was just babble? I mean, it's not like Palin hasn't been known to spew random words when questioned by reporters...
If I ignore that "higher calling" remark, I do find it plausible to take the whole thing at face value.
Posted by: James Sweet | July 8, 2009 4:05 PM
Brandon:
Yes.
Posted by: democommie | July 8, 2009 4:15 PM
I have to say, if Palin really wants to just disappear, she's doing her usual incompetent job of it.
Posted by: Scott Hanley | July 8, 2009 4:59 PM
Close examination of the original speech text leads me to believe that Governor Palin is quitting to play for the WNBA, or maybe to swim upstream and spawn.
See:
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/07/04/great-decisions-2009/
Posted by: Mike Licht | July 8, 2009 7:40 PM
So maybe she will adhere to her values and have less to do with government.
Posted by: Mark Duigon | July 8, 2009 9:52 PM
Hey. I said months ago that Obama should have named Palin to be the ambassador to the Vatican. Would have served everyone right. Is it too late?
Posted by: Gerry L | July 8, 2009 11:29 PM
"I am now looking ahead and how we can advance this country together with our values of less government intervention"
Unless you're gay or a woman! Then government intervention is a-ok!
Posted by: marilove | July 9, 2009 5:40 PM