Rove Suggests Palin's Resignation a Ploy to Run

There has been much speculation as to why Sarah Palin announced her sudden decision to withdraw as Governor of Alaska Friday. Nate Silver at 538.com speculates:

There seem to be three* basic theories to explain why Sarah Palin decided to quit:

1. She's simply burned out;
2. There's some kind of "other shoe dropping";
3. She's so crazy she thinks this could actually help her for 2012, 2016, etc.

On FOXNews today Karl Rove stated:

Everybody's going to want to have her come campaign, or appear or make speeches and she no longer has the useful excuse of saying, 'Look, I would love to help you on that but I got to pay attention to my job . . . Now she's going to be torn. It's going to be very hard for her to say no continually to people who want her to get on the long flight out of Alaska and come down to lower 48.

This seems like a coy way of saying, "Palin will be in the public eye repeatedly now that she's not isolated in the boondocks."

However, additional clues as to the internal thinking were illuminated from Karl Rove via Twitter just moments ago in responding to a critic. Earlier today @kwhunter (identity unknown) wrote:

@KarlRove thinks Palin's decision is risky; perhaps for the GOP establishment who don't want her available to lead conservatives

To which Rove responded:

Disagree with @kwhunter on Palin. I've defended her against the commentators who have said she should not run in 2012.

This seems a rather pathetic ploy, if indeed it is a ploy and not a way of hiding potential allegations of wrongdoing. As Silver continues:

She may be crazy and narcissistic enough to think this will actually help her chances for 2012. It won't, of course. Politicians have survived and been re-elected after being stigmatized as liars, hypocrites, and flip-floppers -- but can someone who may forever be branded as a "quitter" become Commander in Chief? There's almost no way. I can't think of someone who has done something comparable to what Palin did today running for national office, let alone winning it. In her critics' imaginations, she's gone from being Dan Quayle to some permutation of Thomas Eagleton.