Sarah Palin Divorces Alaska!
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Alaska is her tedious, petty, hectoring husband. The world is her glamorous, adoring suitor. Which would you choose? Today, Palin announces she needs to “effect change” on “another scale.” Translation: get the hell out of Alaska. And who can blame her? Back in what used to be home, she’s got Troopergate, piles of ethics complaint, enemies behind every snowdrift, and a growing entourage of petty thieves and OxyContin addicts. (Not to mention the car seat complaint. How small-fry can you get!) The minute she leaves that frozen wasteland she has cheering crowds, photo shoots, free clothes, and foreign ministers winking from every stateroom.
By that calculus, her choice is easy. Time to set her sights on the larger stage. But there’s one problem. To be a plausible presidential candidate, you need a convincing personal narrative. Palin used to have a great one: small town mayor of Wasilla battles the big meanies and saves her beloved state. With today’s announcement, the story has taken a turn. Now it’s: small town mayor of Wasilla gets tired of all the losers in Wasilla and dumps them so she can live her life on “another scale.” Not quite as endearing.
Hanna Rosin Double X co- editor, reporter, prefer my friends live.
Comments
Palin's Facebook statement
By: Starling | Sat, 07/04/2009 - 17:49
Today, Palin's got a few paragraphs on Facebook explaining herself and again lambasting (oh, you betcha!) the national media and "politics of personal destruction." The really telling bit, though is Palin's assertion that "sacrificing my title helps Alaska most."
Her title?
Someone should tell this woman that she's a governor, not Miss America. That's not a title you sacrifice when you get tired of the media attention, or decide it's not so fun. Sweetie, it's a JOB, not a tiara. (Oh, lord, now I'm writing like the woman.) Her reasons are nonsense--had she refrained from announcing she didn't intend to run in 2010, she wouldn't be considered a lame duck. And, despite her eloquent argument that going with the flow and doing the expected thing would make her a quitter, the cold, hard fact is that it is quitting that makes her a quitter.
Palin's plane
By: boredwell | Sat, 07/04/2009 - 15:22
Watching the soon-to-be ex governor of Alaska meander through her convoluted resignation speech was embarrassing. I mean to say, I was embarrassed for HER! In the absence of a dialogue and linguistics coach, Palin reverted to a pastiche of basketball and fishing metaphors in a narrative that prosecuted the media; proselytized her commitment to family, prayer and support of Great American causes; and quintessentially showcased her mercurial and wholly unabashed counter intuitive persona. Palin may have "moxie" as her debate coach Mr Murphy says, stating, upon their first meeting, she gets "up close in your face." Yet this bravado, if one were to assume, as Todd Purdum does in his VF screed, that the Alaskans he arbitrarily interviewed believed Palin's "moxie" to be indicative of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, then, yesterday, Palin's decision would be symptomatic of such. Watching her, I would say that she a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
thanks and no thanks
By: Neffs | Sat, 07/04/2009 - 11:13
No constant invoking of the word 'choice' in her near-incoherent statement is going to paper over the fact that she just gave credence to the argument that women are 'too flaky' to be trusted by voters with an important public office. Amy Poehler-as-Hillary is breaking that podium all over again in my head.
Funner without that annoying Responsbility: Her Own TV Show
By: Shasta | Fri, 07/03/2009 - 21:07
Politics are so 2008 to her. She's got to strike while the iron is hot, and while, um, she still is. She'll be getting her own FoxNews show. I predicted that the day after the election.
Her passion isn't "effecting change." It's being the center of attention. Of positive attention.
Whatever. Our country is a mess (thank you Bush/Cheney, may I have another). I am so over her. I'd rather read about Jacko. At least he had an excuse for his delusions.
If this is her 2012 strategy...
By: jerseygirl | Fri, 07/03/2009 - 19:48
then she needs a new strategist! I agree with the first poster. After all, she's quitting -- not just deciding against running again, but actually walking away from the job she was elected to do -- and I just can't imagine this is a great way to build credibility for a national presidential run. Any incumbent governor with an ounce of imagination can figure out how to run the state AND retain a public profile at the same time. I can't say whether there's a scandal brewing here, or she's just tired of being governor, but I don't see this as an effective political move.
Palin 2012
By: Luxbot | Fri, 07/03/2009 - 19:18
I don't think she is gearing up to run for 2012 -- politically, it makes zero sense to resign from your first term as governor. I think even Palin realizes that.
I think it's either a) Someone offered her a job that paid more and had more visibility, or b) Some crazy scandal is about to hit big and she's running for cover.