A day after she announced that she would resign as Governor of Alaska at the end of this month, Sarah Palin posted a message on the social media network Facebook late on Saturday slamming the media for its coverage of her resignation announcement as "predictable, ironic, and as always, detached from the lives of ordinary Americans who are sick of the 'politics of personal destruction.'" And a day after suggesting that she was resigning because she didn't want to be a lame duck Governor who "milked it," she now apparently has a higher calling.

"And though it's honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make," writes Governor Palin, adding emphatically that "it's about country."

And she was more forthcoming as to her plans. She admits that she is "now looking ahead" and to see "how we can advance this country together with our values of less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much-needed fiscal restraint."

Her full posting is below the fold.

There's more...

Matt Cooper of The Atlantic offers up three possible theories on the thinking, if one can call it that, behind Governor Palin abrupt decision to resign her office 18 months before the end of her term.

1. She has more bad news to report. There's something going on with her family again. There's more to come with the state's finance. Whatever. There's no good reason for her to suddenly up and quit the governorship, her one claim on elective experience.

2. She wants the money. Palin is probably turning down tons of lucrative speaking offers, corporate boards and others ways of getting rich while she bides her time waiting for the presidency. Maybe she just can't say no to the money any longer?

3. She's totally impulsive. Assuming this wasn't a well calculated, move maybe she's just being utterly impulsive. She got sick of the job, sick of dealing with declining revenue, sick of having to stay close to Juneau and Wasilla when she really wants to be in Manchester and Des Moines.

It might be all of the above and then a few more. Her "I don't want to be a lame-duck Governor now that I've decided not to run for re-election" simply isn't credible. Had she run for re-election and won would she then have resigned her office whenever she determined she was a lame-duck? Personally, I find this will be held against her should she ever choose to run for office again. For this reason alone, I think Sarah Palin is unlikely to run for office certainly in the near term and perhaps here ever after. Talk of a Senate run or a Presidential run in 2012 is just that, talk and speculative at that.

There's more...

Washington's Farewell Address it's not. The speech is rambling and incoherent, full of meaningless platitudes. Count the number of times she mentions "no more politics as usual." Here's Sarah Palin in her own words:

Hi Alaska, I appreciate speaking directly TO you, the people I serve, as your Governor.

People who know me know that besides faith and family, nothing's more important to me than our beloved Alaska. Serving her people is the greatest honor I could imagine.

I want Alaskans to grasp what can be in store for our state. We were purchased as a territory because a member of President Abe Lincoln's cabinet, William Seward, providentially saw in this great land, vast riches, beauty, strategic placement on the globe, and opportunity. He boldly looked "North to the Future". But he endured such ridicule and mocking for his vision for Alaska, remember the adversaries scoffed, calling this "Seward's Folly". Seward withstood such disdain as he chose the uncomfortable, unconventional, but RIGHT path to secure Alaska, so Alaska could help secure the United States.

Alaska's mission - to contribute to America. We're strategic IN the world as the air crossroads OF the world, as a gatekeeper of the continent. Bold visionaries knew this - Alaska would be part of America's great destiny.

Our destiny to be reached by responsibly developing our natural resources. This land, blessed with clean air, water, wildlife, minerals, AND oil and gas. It's energy! God gave us energy.

So to serve the state is a humbling responsibility, because I know in my soul that Alaska is of such import, for America's security, in our very volatile world. And you know me by now, I promised even four years ago to show MY independence... no more conventional "politics as usual".

And we are doing well! My administration's accomplishments speak for themselves. We work tirelessly for Alaskans.

We aggressively and responsibly develop our resources because they were created to be used to better our world... to HELP people... and we protect the environment and Alaskans (the resource owners) foremost with our policies.

There's more...

The announcement is stunning as it is abrupt. I did not catch the press conference but glanced at the press reports coming out of Alaska. Here's the report from KTUU-Alaska:

Speculation has swirled for weeks, perhaps months that Palin would not seek re-election in 2010 as she pursues a political career on the national stage. The former vice presidential candidate has long been rumored to be considering a run at the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

Palin did not address those rumors at the press conference at her Wasilla home, during which she did not take questions from reporters.

Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will be inaugurated as her successor at the Governor's Picnic at Pioneer Park in Fairbanks on Sunday, July 26, Palin said.

Parnell said he will seek election to the governor's office in 2010. Parnell ran for Congress unsuccessfully against Rep. Don Young in the Republican primary last year.

Palin made the announcement flanked by Parnell and all of her cabinet. She said that recent incidents brought up by national media and the spate of ethics complaints have been taking away from her mission to serve Alaska.

She felt that it would be best to step aside and let Parnell and her cabinet continue. Palin said she discussed the decision with her family, and they were united in their support of her decision to step down.

Palin's impending resignation will no doubt send shockwaves through Alaska's political landscape. Already among the Democrats, Bob Poe has announced he will run, state Sen. Hollis French has started the ball rolling toward a run, and former congressional candidate Ethan Berkowitz said that if he were to run for anything in 2010 it would be for governor.

"With so many fronts that have been left in a state of stagnation while Governor Palin has been pursuing her national goals, I think that it's a good statement on the governor's part that she's recognizing we do need a fulltime governor," Poe said. "She's stepping aside from that, I think that the campaign is obviously going to get much more interesting very quickly and I look forward to the debate and discussing with the future candidates how we can move Alaska forward."

I suspect that there is more news to come. Are there more serious ethics complaints that are yet to surface?

She's not wired? Seriously, please tell me she didn't say that.

There's more...

If you haven't read it yet, it is all the rage. Todd Purdum has written a masterful and entertaining article in Vanity Fair about the Governor of Alaska, that conservative pin up girl, Sarah Palin. While there are a number of new interesting tidbits, the general gist we already knew. Sarah Palin was a disaster. Even if she got the rabid conservative base to foam at the mouth to the rest of us she was clearly unqualified to be one wink away from the Presidency. He writes:

Palin is unlike any other national figure in modern American life--neither Anna Nicole Smith nor Margaret Chase Smith but a phenomenon all her own. The clouds of tabloid conflict and controversy that swirl around her and her extended clan--the surprise pregnancies, the two-bit blood feuds, the tawdry in-laws and common-law kin caught selling drugs or poaching game--give her family a singular status in the rogues' gallery of political relatives. By comparison, Billy Carter, Donald Nixon, and Roger Clinton seem like avatars of circumspection. Palin's life has sometimes played out like an unholy amalgam of Desperate Housewives and Northern Exposure.

More like at Northern Overexposure at this point. Sarah Palin may drive the conservative base into a frenzy who view her as some sort of female Ronald Reagan but to the politically astute, not to mention the just plain awake, she's just not all there. She's erratic, uncertain of facts and simply just not sufficiently prepared to play a leading role on the national stage. And if she's the last of the red hot conservatives, then truly the conservative brand is in trouble. If the GOP were to nominate her again even as Vice President, I am not sure the Republican Party would live to see another day. In the end, Sarah Palin will be a footnote in American history, the first female Vice Presidential candidate on a Republican ticket and the second overall on a major party ticket. She is as much trivia as trivial.

There's more...