Gov. Palin resigns
That's unfortunate. People are speculating why, and I certainly hope it's not because of family illness. On the other hand, she was elected to serve a full term, and stepping down without a good reason is poor form, and not fair to the people of Alaska.
She's an extremely charismatic politician- one of the best I've seen, and (In my humble opinion) the best Republican Speaker since Reagan. And she was a very capable governor- her approval rating was over 80%, and she her track record showed her as a Governor who fought corruption (including against her own party) and with a Libertarian streak that belied her religious beliefs.
Did I think she should have been the Republican VP nominee? No. One half of a term as Governor is not enough experience to be in a position to run the country. I would have liked for her to remain governor for about 3 terms and then step onto the National Stage. And she wasn't prepared for dealing with the foreign policy issues of the day.
That being said, I found the treatment of her by the media to be absolutely vulgar. It was fine to question her opinions or competency. But there were more below the belt attacks at her, her husband, and her children than any non-President I had ever seen. Andrew Sullivan went from being an interesting writer who's opinion I respect to turning into a vile cheap shot artist.
And it continued, long past the election. No one attacks John McCain anymore. But Dave Letterman had no problem making a crack about her 14 year old daughter.
I'll be honest- I was really hoping she'd win just to see the people who attacked her choke on their bile. The attacks on her family was one of most disgusting things I've seen in politics, and I'm of the belief that most politics attacks are fair game.
It didn't happen, and maybe she's out of politics for good. It's going to be hard for her to restart after stepping down in mid-term (as it should be- barring illness, there's no good reason to step down as Governor)
Then again, maybe not. If she waited until she was as old as Hilary was in 2008, Sarah Palin would be running in... 2024. That's a long time, and a lot could happen.







