Palin Confirms — For A Second — That She’s Not Running For President
In a fascinating, unguarded moment during an interview just out from the Anchorage Daily News, Sarah Palin seemed to confirm, however briefly, that she’s not running for president:
Asked whether she planned to run for president, Palin squinted and shook her head, but then indicated she might.
“I can’t predict the next fish run much less what’s going to happen in a few years. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m going to keep working hard for Alaska, I’m going to be there for Sean Parnell when he needs me and if the staff and lawmakers, certainly any member of the public needs me, I’m going to do all I can for this state,” she said.
Palin said she “can’t see that I’m done with politics, I can’t see that.” But she doesn’t know if it will be in public office.
Look, this just doesn’t sound like someone who has any intention of running. It sounds far more likely that her handlers, such as they are, told her that it’s in her interest to keep alive the possibility that she might run. So after revealing her true intentions for a second, she reverted to doing that, albeit not as deftly as she might have.
On the other hand, given what we know about Palin, it wouldn’t be surprising if she’d changed her mind on the question in a split second during this interview. Which wouldn’t exactly speak volumes about her mental stability, and would suggest she could change her mind again just as rapidly.
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If she had class, this is what she should have said:
“Today I am announcing that I am resigning my position as Governor effective July 26. Over the last few months, I have faced constant scrutiny of my record and actions–and this has taken a significant toll on me, my family, and the state of Alaska. Our government is spending countless hours–at a cost we’ve estimated at about $(x) million so far this year–to address this scrutiny. This is just not fair to the taxpayers of Alaska.
While I am leaving my post as Governor, I do plan to work from outside the government to promote issues of importance for the citizens of our state and our country. Issues like energy independence, small government, and fiscal conservatism.
I thank you, the citizens of Alaska, for giving me the opportunity to govern this great state, and I am proud on all we’ve accomplished. I know I will have your full support in making this transition a smooth one for Alaska. Thank you.”
“Our government is spending countless hours–at a cost we’ve estimated at about $(x) million so far this year–to address this scrutiny. This is just not fair to the taxpayers of Alaska.”
I’d like to see someone in the media (Greg?) find out exactly how much Alaska has spent defending her against charges. I’d bet anything it’s not close to the millions she’s claiming.
I am already in the “who cares” mode about this story now. If she runs she is going to get her @ss kicked now. And please keep in mind that one of the only buffers to her getting absolutely beaten up was that she was in office as governor. Now I am sure you will see bombs hurled at her from all sides for the next year or so. Besides that, the more she talks the more she drives people in the middle away. Its called preaching to the choir….incoherently. She might be less viable a candidate than Mark Sanford right now. Personally I will be glad when these 15 minutes are up and the national media lets her fade into obscurity.
Hey gang, back from vaca with the conservative family in south GA, and the word down there is what SG is saying: Palin’s done and now even they are all laughing at her (like the birds in the background of her press conference were, my mom said).
I don’t have anything else to say on the Wasilla Hillbillies except, “amen sg, amen…”
Thanks, Greg. That clears up everything.
SGW: ” national media” do you mean “irrational media”? I see Candy Crowley, Andrea Mitchell and Jay Newton-Small in Alaska all getting a first hand view of the fishwife at work.
So long as the fish metaphors keep coming.
Bernie, how about this metaphor: John Boehner is a salmon, red fleshed and puffy, swimming upstream, fighting against the current, only be be mauled by a mulatto alligator at the end of his journey…
Is it possible that she’s as stupid as I think she is?
GD, you should be a speechwriter. That was clear and concise.
Palin delivered a confusing, incoherent, babbling, rambling resignation speech that made no sense, and then she gets upset because people speculate on what it might mean. Well, what does she expect? In between references of dead fish and basketball analogies, her message got tangled up, strangled, and died. Without a clear reason for resigning, no wonder people thought there might be a huge scandal about to hit.
Palin will win 2012 or 2016. She is going to be the one to change America for the better. She is looking out for the average American and wants what is best for us. Mark my words she will be one of the best Presidents the USA has ever had.
Some still find fascination sifting Airhead Bimbo’s trail of droppings for clues to her universe, I guess. Sorry I don’t share the fascination.
Personally, I hope Palin runs. She won’t win…nor do I want her to. But, by running she’ll act as a lighting rod and allow the other republican candidates to look great by comparison. It will also showcase the Left’s rabid hatred…show them for what they really are. Every time there’s a new anti-Palin screed, the republicans get a few more votes.
If what was done to Palin was “fair”…then we should do the same to Michelle Obama. A stupid, ignorant, america-hating goon if ever there was one. She was admitted to Ivy League schools on Affirmative Action quotas…she wasn’t close to qualifying on either SATs or grades. She was granted honors for a thesis filled with spelling and grammatical errors (the topic? you guessed it; what it’s like to be a minority at an Ivy League school). Upon graduation she started work (in the 80s) at $400K+ a year. Of course, supply and demand…not too many black female Ivy Leaguers around. And then what did she do? Married Barrack, and then really cashed in at the government trough.
And it’s not just that Michelle is utterly unqualified and incapable. It’s all the fawning that the Left and MSM do over her. I don’t like Palin…but I’ll take her any day over the First Goon.
Nice way to defend old Hog-waller – let’s bash the first lady? I bet you ten dollars that just one year ago, you would have considered it treasonous to say anything bad about the first lady. My how times change. You can read Michelle Obama’s thesis here – it may not be an earth-shaking piece of prose, but it is all spelled correctly. It is nothing like John R described. I wonder what else he lied about?
http://www.scribd.com/doc/2305083/PrincetonEducated-Blacks-and-the-Black-Community
Palin’s carreer seems to be taken from a soap opera, thats it!!!! I guess she could be a super star in the show bussines, or in circus… not in politics.
The more she talks the more she shows people who she really is.I agree that we are in time for the change, and have a woman as president, but Palin is not that woman.
Kevin K. — the total amount spent has been about $300k, not near the “millions” that Palin claims. Also more than half of that was to investigate Troopergate, an investigation that she had initiated because she didn’t like the conclusion of the legilature’s investigation in the same matter.
jzap – I too was struck by this bit from Greg’s post: “In a fascinating, unguarded moment . . .” Fascination aside, what exactly counts as a “guarded moment” in Palin’s universe? She is as extemporaneous a talker as I’ve heard in politics. Michele Bachmann says crazy things, but they all seem related to a playbook. Palin sounds like a weird Ipod mix set on random.
Palin lied her way into office so it’s no suprise watching her lie going out. She claimed she had millions in ethics suits before she started her legal fund, then it turned into a $600,000 webathon. The Legal Fund webathon really offended many of us true Alaskans because it was nothing but a big Ponzi scheme. They came out of the starting gate begging for people to donate and continued to beg for those who had donated to get their children to donate. I heard them getting the children to donate over and over. What kind of a sick woman begs from children? She has hired and surrounded herself with enablers.
JohnR, If Palin runs in 2012, the hatred during the primaries will come from within the Republican party. Once she has been dispatched, the hatred will flow back and forth between the parties.
As for Michelle Obama, you can certainly try to bring her down, but don’t you think that giving her the Palin treatment (and you’ve certainly provided a good example of hatred in your post), will have the effect you predict for Palin (that is, making people more sympathetic to her)?
She needs to STFU and go away. Far far away.
So if Palin’s true intention is not to run in 2012, this may be the first lick of sense we’ve seen from her in quite a while. Color me surprised!
@JohnR, correct me if I’m mistaken, but I do not recall Michelle Obama being a mayor who quit to run for Lt Gov, or an appointee on an Oil and Gas Commission board who quit because she couldn’t take the “unethical behavior” of fellow appointees, or a student who quit 5 colleges in 6 years, or a losing VP candidate, or a governor who quit with nearly half her term to go…
Michelle Obama is the wife of the President of the United States. Trying to make any comparison between the First Lady and the First Dingbat Quitter is foolish at best, malignant at worst. The First Lady is not running for any office.
On the contrary, the First Dingbat from Wasilla just may well be. Oh, and what “was done” to Dingbat Palin is a function of who Dingbat Palin actually is, what she’s said, when and how she’s blown it, and who she has shown herself to be.