Palin Pulls Me Back

wow... i went the entire month of june without a single post. i guess that shows how busy i've really been.

but wouldn't ya know it? it took sarah palin to bring me back to the blog.

now.... i've watched a lot of press conferences over the past several years. as i dig deeper and deeper into politics, i love a good presser.

governor sanford's "i've been unfaithful to my wife" press conference will go down as, probably, the most bizarre. but palin's announcement on friday that she would not only NOT seek a second term as alaska's governor...but would step down at the end of july... well, that's polling a close second right now.

i don't want to focus too much on the rambling, mixed-metaphor announcement.... but what i now see as her future.

i'm hearing and reading a lot of people saying "don't count sarah palin out." but i'm sorry.... she's out.

she can't even claim she's a one term governor anymore... she will NOT complete her first term. and if you can't handle one term in alaska... you will NOT make it in d.c.

and we could spend some time on why she's getting out now... her lame excuse that she won't be a lame duck... well - then DON'T be a lame duck. but i think we all know that she is probably focused on 2012 and a run for president.

sorry.... but you might as well forget it.

she can spend the next three years fine-tuning her folksy bullshit persona. she can actually learn a thing or two about domestic and foreign policy... but it will always come back to "you couldn't even finish a single term as governor of fucking alaska."

and yes.... she will now be free to tour the lower 48 and she can give speech after speech and start building up her own war chest. but it won't help her.

it's true that palin is very popular among the GOP base. and some of them may buy into this bullshit, "unconventional" move. but beyond that... she came to the national stage as a joke and this makes her even more of a joke.

so let's look at 2012. first up, as always: iowa. she'll do fine in iowa. there's a boatload of evangelicals there. but, of course, she'll have to compete with huckabee to win those votes.

then there's new hampshire...home of the independents. she won't even come close.

she may then take south carolina... after all, they've elected mark sanford so they clearly like 'em crazy. but then she's done.

she does not poll over 50% with independents...who you MUST have to win. she'll remain a national joke if she continues to stay in the news when she stated part of the reason she's stepping down is for her family (and yes, the press has been harsh on her family.... but they're hard on every woman. i give you hillary clinton).

and then....we once again return to: she couldn't even complete her first term as governor of fucking alaska.

i just see this as political suicide. and maybe that's what she ultimately wants. but i do think she's done it to set up a run in 2012... OR...there's something bigger that hasn't revealed itself yet.

but i read the vanity fair article and it was damning. and as matthew dowd said on this week this morning... she can have all the natural political ability she wants... but she doesn't have the discipline to make it on the national stage.

apparently...she doesn't have the discipline to make it on the alaskan stage either.

and, really, a life without sarah palin on my t.v. every day... is a life i welcome with open arms.

R.I.P. sarah palin's political career.

e.