The news that Sarah Palin will resign as governor of Alaska is a huge surprise, of course, but the rush of the mainstream media to put a negative spin on it and the willingness of Republican talking heads (who support other candidates) to help the media continue the anti-Sarah barrage is laughable.
Palin’s stunning announcement raised more questions than it answered: Is she bowing out of public life? Is there a more nefarious reason for her resignation after only two-and-half years in office – yet another G.O.P. scandal in the offing? Or is the woman who tops most G.O.P. 2012 shortlists to challenge Barack Obama stepping down to get a head start on her next presidential campaign? Palin took no questions after her unscripted, rambling address, and her comments seemed to hint both ways: that she’s “passing the ball” of elected office, and that she plans on working for all Americans, not just Alaskans.
It’s especially funny that the article constantly quotes Republican “experts” and “seasoned pros” who think Palin’s decision was a poor one, and the choices of “top Republican advisers” for this article were the ones guaranteed to get a negative reaction.
If they were so smart, maybe we’d have a Republican president and/or congress right now. John McCain would not have been our candidate for president. The national Republican party apparatus wouldn’t be acting the same old way, as if it learned nothing from recent debacles.
What’s telling, and typical: not a single person could be found by Time to say anything positive about the resignation, excepting a very tepid Schlafly comment. And a “local Anchorage talk show host”? His 15 seconds of fame, for sure. And he has to have known that if he said anything positive about Palin, his quote would be edited out of the final article. He’s a PBS kind of guy, and probably didn’t have that inclination in any case. Another instance of shaping the story by whom you ask for quotes.
The national political/media establishment just can’t wrap its head around someone who actually feels honor bound to do the job she is elected to do, or resign if she can’t. Plainly, it has become impossible for Palin to do that job, in her judgement.
I hope she is merely regrouping to run for national office. But if she isn’t, it’s our loss.
In the meantime, expect the major media to add “quitter” to the drumbeat on Palin, and to mention that in every single story on her, as she pursues her plans.
Ignore it. It’s probably wrong.
