July 06, 2009

7/6: So Long, Sarah

Conservative bloggers and liberal bloggers rarely agree on anything, but virtually all of them think that AK Gov. Sarah Palin (R) has effectively ended any WH hopes that she may have had with her decision to resign 16 months before the end of her first term. Righty bloggers still have a lot of affection for Palin, but they were disappointed by her decision to quit, which they described as "incomprehensible" and "an appalling dereliction of duty". Some of them believe that ex-MA Gov. Mitt Romney is now the frontrunner for the '12 GOP presidential nod. Meanwhile, lefty bloggers agree with their righty counterparts that Palin is no longer a legitimate Presidential contender. Josh Marshall declares: "[W]hat very little shot she had as a future presidential candidate (and it was a much longer shot than I think many realized) is over. She's done."

PALIN: Stick A Fork In Her

Many conservative bloggers believe that Palin has permanently damaged any Presidential hopes she might have had:

• Hot Air's Ed Morrissey: "I liked Sarah Palin and supported her inclusion on the GOP ticket last fall. I thought she had more toughness than this. It's a big disappointment, and it's the end of any hope of Palin getting taken seriously as a politician on the national level in the future."
• The Next Right's Jon Henke: "[Palin's] Presidential prospects are done, and it's hard to see how Republicans will still consider her a potential leader of the movement."
• RedState's Erick Erickson: "Well, Nicolle Wallace, Andrew Sullivan, and the left can claim a scalp today. [...] Sarah Palin will not be President in 2012. She will not run for President. She will not run for any elected office ever again."
• Power Line's Paul Mirengoff: "It's not clear why Sarah Palin resigned her position as governor of Alaska, but it must have been for one of the following reasons: (1) there is a scandal that would have made her position as governor untenable, (2) she couldn't take the heat that was coming her way, or (3) she concluded that it was in her best interests to do something other than fulfill the duties associated with the position the voters of Alaska entrusted to her. In all three scenarios, Palin is unfit for high office, and certainly unfit to be the vice president or the president of the United States. Moreover, Palin's resignation confirms how disappointingly reckless it was of John McCain to choose the then-untested governor to be his running-mate."
• AmSpec Blog's Philip Klein: "I have absolutely no problem with those who are arguing that Palin's story is one of a citizen politician thrust into the national spotlight who left office to protect her family from merciless attacks. But for those still arguing that she can or should have a future as an elected political leader, let alone president, I'm baffled. [...] Last October, an ABC/Washington Post poll found that only 35 percent of Americans thought Palin was qualified enough to be president, yet now her boosters expect us to believe that an additional nine months in office is all she needed to assauge Americans' concerns, allowing her to resign and prepare for a presidential run."
• Townhall's Matt Lewis: "There are many, many things to say about Sarah Palin's announcement today, but one point has not really been made, and that is that quitting is not a conservative value. [...] If Sarah Palin has some personal or family issues which preclude her finishing her term, I certainly respect her decision to step down. But if she thinks quitting the job she was hired to do is somehow a wise political strategy for earning a promotion -- she's just plain wrong..."

Other righty bloggers were even more critical of Palin's decision:

• AmSpec Blog's Quin Hillyer: "Sarah Palin's resignation is an appalling dereliction of duty and a highly cynical move to set herself up for a presidental run for which she is manifestly unqualified. [...] Statesmen hang tough. Sarah Palin is cutting and running. 'Nuff said."
• NRO's Amy Holmes: "[Palin] has just labeled herself a 'quitter.' Someone who doesn't finish what she started. What in the world is wrong with Republican governors? One self-absorbed politician after the next. Governors: 'It's not all about you!'"

Meanwhile, several righty bloggers (Klein, Lewis) think that Romney is now the frontrunner for the '12 GOP presidential nod.

PALIN II: What The Heck Was That?

Liberal bloggers spent much of the weekend mocking Palin's resignation speech:

• Oliver Willis: "Holy crap did you see her statement? Welcome to crazytown."
• Balloon Juice's John Cole: "That [speech] was rambling and disjointed even by Palin's low standards. [...] It was manic. I have no idea what is going on, but this was just bizarre."
• digby: "I don't know if you saw her press conference, but I almost expected her to start babbling about soul mates and David and Bathsheba. The Republicans are getting more deeply weird every day."
• BooMan: "Her speech was totally incoherent and made more odd by the loud ducks in the background."
• Mother Jones' Kevin Drum: "True story: I was eating a bowl of popcorn when CNN cut to Palin's speech. Very appropriate. So have you watched it yet? If you haven't, do it now. Seriously. It was an instant classic, right up there with [Richard] Nixon in '62 as a resentment-fueled blast of grievance and self-pity mongering -- though this was sort of the breathless junior high school version."
• The Washington Post's Ezra Klein: "The main thing I'd point out about Sarah Palin's dazzlingly incoherent farewell is that it's pretty clear she wrote it herself. The proof is in the punctuation. The transcript was posted to her official Web site earlier today. The style is closer to a high schooler's angry diary entry than to an official speech."
• Firedoglake's Eli: "Wow. That really was something else. A little less WTF than the last Rambling Governor's Press Conference we saw, but at least [SC Gov. Mark] Sanford eventually explained what he was talking about. Palin's explanation for her resignation is one of the worst ever."
• Obsidian Wings' publius: "Today's announcement was so ill-timed and rambling that it's hard to believe she's seriously considering a presidential run. [...] Today only makes sense if she either (1) is done with politics entirely, or (2) is a looney toon."

Most liberal bloggers think Palin's presidential aspirations are over:

• Daily Kos' Jed Lewison: "Unless she's a total moron, there's no way she's running for president. Then again, maybe she is a total moron."
• TPM's Marshall: "She may resurface as a latter-day [Sean] Hannity or she may found some Palin-specific Anti-Defamation League dedicated to calling out obscure bloggers who've written mean things about her. But what very little shot she had as a future presidential candidate (and it was a much longer shot than I think many realized) is over. She's done. She's back to what she was -- a small person looking for someone to be angry at."

The Washington Monthly's Steve Benen isn't so sure: "The kinds of voters who participate in, say, the Republican presidential caucuses in Iowa in 2012, may not care whether Palin has thoroughly discredited herself as a credible and serious political figure. [...] Can Palin recover from her humiliating fall? She shouldn't be able to, and the country will be better off if she isn't able to, but I'm not quite ready to rule out the possibility."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Give Her Time, Conservatives

While many conservative bloggers are criticizing Palin for abruptly announcing her resignation, RedState's Josh Painter supports Palin's decision:

"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 [George] 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 with interest. Today, she asked us to trust her decision. Let's give her that much at least, see what her intentions are and keep her and hers in our prayers."

LEST WE FORGET: New England Journal Of Medicine Reports Mental Health Epidemic Among Republican Governors

The Huffington Post's Andy Borowitz:

"A new study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine warns of a 'mental health epidemic' afflicting the nation's Republican governors. According to the study, the symptoms of the epidemic include 'bizarre, uncontrollable behaviors' and 'grandiose self-ideations,' including an impulse to compare oneself to Biblical figures.

The study also says that the mental disorder is manifest in 'erratic, incoherent' speech and a syndrome akin to Tourette 'in which the patient does not appear to know when to stop talking.'

There are other worrisome symptoms, such as 'geographical dislocation,' in which the afflicted person may think he is hiking in North America when he is actually having sex in South America.

Finally, and most troubling according to the study, the patient 'may speak in basketball analogies that have meaning to no one but the speaker.'"

Posted by Ian Faerstein at July 6, 2009 12:44 PM