She joins Romney as a one-term wonder. Unless she emerges as a well-versed candidate on big issues like national security, the courts, and taxes, she will find it challenging to build a coalition beyond her core supporters.

I like Palin a great deal, so I hope I’m wrong.

1) Politics is all about timing and her window is now.

2) She become too polarizing for retail Alaskan poltics.

3) She has a mega-million dollar book deal; lucrative TV offers and other speaking opportunities to indulge.

4) Even if she does not run in 2012, she serves cause and country better on the national stage in some capacity - talking head, RNC head, TV talk host…

Waiting seven years (2016) isn’t going to solve anything. That’s assuming that Obama is re-elected. If not, then that Republican has the keys in 2016 so she would have to wait eleven years.

Star power is a flash-in-the-pan kind of thing. Seven years from, she’ll be a “has been”. There will be dozens of new stars claiming the limelight.

All these people who want her to hang out for eleven years probably won’t have her back then anyway. She’ll have new enemies and new allies.

PLUS, she’s been the veep nominee already. People are acting like she’s a sheep in the woods. She has more experience on the national stage than anyone.

Plus, maybe she cares too much. Someone needs to stop Obama. Read my last diary. I am so sick of the infatuation with the unknowns. Two weeks ago, Sanford was next great thing. So I have little faith in all these unvetted dark horses. It will come down to people we know like Romney, Huckabee, Newt, etc. And think she may have the best shot at winning

and I think this is the right move for her. It probably would NOT be the right move for 48 other governors. But it has already been shown how difficult it is for her to build any national momentum from Alaska. Every time she leaves there, even for a single speech, she gets criticism. And not just from opportunistic Alaska Dems, but also Alaska Repubs (and even on Redstate!).

Being that far from the continental 48, she needs the “free time” to be able to travel freely to and within the lower 48. And like I’ve said here before, frankly, noone outside of Alaska really gives a hoot what she would “accomplish” in another year as Gov. And that’s all it would be, if that, before she would have to be on the national campaign trail full-time.

Join the RedState Strike Force

then this was a horrible mistake.

If she’s not running, I wish her the best of luck.

She’s already taken heavy criticism in AK for not announcing her intentions prior to this announcement.

It’s clear Dems, media and anti-Palin Republicans won’t allow her to serve out her term and run for president both, without giving her even more grief than she catches from these three groups in general.

- JP

OK, this goes from a bad mistake to a disastrous one.

It’s one thing to not run again. But it’s quite another to *quit* NOW.

I don’t know the details of AK election law, but if this leads to a special election, I’ll be even less impressed.

In any case, this puts me heavily into the ’skeptical’ camp, if it’s true.

She’s not running; she’s sick of politics, with the constant lawsuits and Letterman’s attacks.

It looks terribly irresponsible and unfair to the people of Alaska if she did this just to run for President. It doesn’t look all that good if she resigned just because she’s had her fill of it. But she’s through with national politics, either way. You don’t walk away from a governorship to fill some other ambition, or because it got nastier than you intended. She should have completed her term, either way.

And another Republican sideshow for the media to dwell on while Obama slips his agenda through Congress. What a shame.

Her numbers are far below their former stratospheric levels and, the Democrats would have moved Heaven and Earth to try to defeat her, and there are lots of Republicans who would be no more than dutiful in supporting her.

She’d win, but it would be a lot closer than would be comfortable to use as a spring board. Fox is all a’twitter about nobody knew, but I don’t know anybody who thought she was going to run.

form like the announcement Mark Sanford made, Had it been, there would be heads exploding all over the place.

The Democrats in Alaska are attempting to litigate her to death. By resigning as Governor, she stops what would be another year of expensive and distracting lawsuits.

For those in the ’skeptica’l camp, you are about to see Sarah Palin uncensored. She can now move into the national scene on her own terms.

From this point forward, liberals who continue to attack her do so at their own peril. They should be afraid, very afraid.

The GOP takes yet another punch to the gut. At this rate, we will be stuck with the exact same cast of clowns we had in 2008. And look how well that turned out for us.

Stunned. Shocked. Flabbergasted. Confused.

If it’s because of the critics, lawsuits and other political pressures, then it just makes her look like a wimp who can’t take the heat. If it’s because she wants to run for POTUS without the “distractions” of state politics, she looks like a selfish, run-of-the-mill pol who only cares about themselves and their own success. If it’s because of family, it says “I can’t successfully lead because my personal life gets in the way”.

No matter how you slice it, it looks bad.

… I wonder if she wants to take a stab at writing her bio herself w/o a ghost writer. Even though Hillary and JFK and everyone else had one (including Obama unofficially) You know the media is going to dump all over her for not writing it.

Just speculation. But I’d love to see her retreat for a few months; write her own book; watch it become a best seller; and give mainstream media two big giant birds.

Finally, a sensible ENERGY POLICY advocate we will be getting on the National stage is at least part of what I see we’ll FINALLY be getting….

related:
Climate $cam - Climate $cam
+Cycles/Shift - Climate Cycles/Shifts
+AccuWeather cool trend - AccuWeather COOL trend
+Another Liberal Schmuck recognizes, too late, Failed Democrat Enviro-Terrorist policies - Comedian Paul Rodreguiz’s Family Farm dying of Man-Made (read: Dem. Policy imposed) Drought and here
+Militarized Oil Drilling - using the Military to Drill (Natl. Defense Strategic issue)
+C&T excuses - How/Why MI Officials spin CAT being “okay”
+Polar Bear myth - Political Class’ diary: Polar Bear population
+China projects - China gets the Flood/Drought Cycles preperation right
+tidal-gen - Tidal power generation (finally)
+Earth 2100 - Earth 2100 TV special (Liberal propaganda)
+Mileage Taxes - Vehicle Mileage Tax - Incremental implimentation (Electric cars only FIRST!)

Fox News says that Governor Palin is “stepping down”.

ALL the other news outlets say Sarah Palin quits.

‘Nuff said.

She is on the radio now, and is making a long speech, I understand with no teleprompter. That means the attention is not on the one right now. He will croak over this, and especially because it is Palin. Yipeeee! I have to go and see her speech hopefully on Fox.

Everyone seems to be talking about the reasons we’d like to *think* she’s resigning — i.e., that she’s preparing to run for something. But if that’s true, why didn’t she say so? It would have been a more positive message.

Instead, she seems to be complaining about negative attention from the media. Doesn’t that run the risk of looking weak? After all, if you’re President or Senator, negative attention from the media is just as much of a given.

Fox News cut away from her speech so I haven’t seen all of it.

Assuming that there is no “Mark Sanford” type thing in the background causing this, and I have no reason to suspect that, I believe this will be a huge positive for her and for conservatives and a huge problem for Obama and his puppet masters.

She will be free now to become a spokesman for “American Energy Independence.” She will be able to write her book. She will be made all kinds of offers from the energy sector and she’ll be able to pick the best one for her and her family. She will be able to be on Fox News regularly to criticize Obama and his puppet masters and their bone-headed policies. Hell, she may become the new conservative Oprah.

If she made that speech without a teleprompter, and one of the reporters said she did, what I saw was a tremendous performance.

A couple of biased reporters said this was move by her was a negative — no surprise there.

I just don’t see that.

Now I just hope her husband, after she leaves office, demands a personal meeting with Letterman, alone. In a soundproof, locked room. If I was him, I would. And then beat the crap out of the pencil-necked geek.

Gov. Palin’s accomplishments speak for themselves, especially in terms of energy exploration/drilling. She’s been the victim of the worst character assassination I can ever remember in politics—-most from liberals/MSM, some from incompetent McCain advisors playing a game of CYA. She and her family are good, hard-working people, and too good for all this garbage.

I’d like to see her go to work for Exxon Mobil in a senior management position, making more $$ than she ever imagined. Preferably consulting on offshore drilling projects, everywhere from Alaska to Santa Barbara.

In her speech she basically said that she had been chased out of office by the media and by frivolous ethics complaints.

She won’t run again because she will expect any new office to be the same way.

This is not good either for Alaska or for the USA.

Unless she has a skeleton in the closet, she probably had to make this choice — to seize the top of the curve for public recognition. She needs to build momentum, not lose it.

Interesting she chose the Friday before July 4th to declare her independence from petty politics in Alaska. Was she trying to bury the story a bit, or just show her disdain for that type of consideration? She can “make” the news even on a Friday, that’s for sure.

It’s fine if she uses some of her new-found freedom to speak and raise funds for conservatives, but this is a perfect chance for her to invest significant time in her career by studying at the Heritage Foundation and other conservative think tanks — to develop her understanding of public policy in all areas.

The months ahead can give her a more solid foundation for statesman level leadership IF she’s willing to be vocal in her areas of strength, and be teachable in her areas of weakness.

Regardless of what Palin does, I’d like to see Mike Pence run in 2012.

the whys, wherefores and was this a good move or not because that’s all….speculation.

But here’s something I know for a fact. The GOP loses the single women’s/simgle mom’s vote in droves. EVERY single single woman in my office *loves* Sarah’s spunk and the fact that she’s authentic and has a man because she wants one not because she *needs* one. And these are the common, ‘lazy’, pay attention to politics about a week before the election (if then) She connects with them in a way that is unreal.

And, btw, they were universally po’d at the way that the MSM piled on her. My hunch is that the shameful treatment of here reminds them of the way that their ‘ex’ treated them - no respect…always critical.

I’m not saying she will or should run, or if she does, whether she will win. I just know that in my little corner of the world (which just sent Al Freaking Franken) to the Senate…my female colleagues *love* her.

with your ‘crossover’ success comment.

For *years* women have been told they can have it all but the people who keep telling them that are usually mean, bitter, ‘feminazi’ types. Most women believe that they can ‘make it on their own’ but most of ‘em aren’t into the “angry/bitter” lifestyle. Some of them have been crapped on by boyfriends/husbands, some are just trying to get some respect for having to balance home and kids and job and life.

Sarah *does* all that and does it with a smile and a chutzpah that rings genuine and true. People who frequent places like this (like you and me) want to examine all facets of a candidate’s resume before we decide what we’re going to do. Unfortunately, that’s *not* how far too many of our fellow American Idol citizens make choices. Witness the current occupant of the White House.

I’m not saying that I’m a big Sarah fan as far as her policy knowledge or governing ability which is why I’m intrigued by her but do not fawn over her every move. Having said that, folks like us are in a distinct minority in our country today. That may be sad; that may be how we ended up with a left-wing TOTUS, but as a party we’d be idiots to not recognize that Sarah *connects* with average Joe and Jane Six-Pack in a way no politician in our party has for a *long* time.

Unless there’s another shoe to drop here, we need to find *someway* to use her gift.

She’ll never hold office again and she’ll get absolutely blown out if she tries to run in ‘12. We don’t need a quitter at the top of the ticket, and like it or not that what she became today.

I hope to see lots of her making appearances for others. She can really work a crowd.

I also hope we’ve heard the last of people like Gary and, on this subject, Josh.

as a terrible thing, probably because I’m a political outsider. One thought recurs, though. Not comparing Sarah to Reagan, mostly because I was AWOL during the Reagan years, but:

Someone want to tell me how many times people said “he’s toast, he’s done” about the career of Ronald Reagan?

If I hear it enough times, I just may believe she’s going for it.

This allows her to travel the Country without anything holding her back anymore. She always has an incredible record to run on, certainly none of her rivals in either party can claim to have been remotely as sucessful, and she did it in less than one term! Certainly if Obama keeps running the economy into the ground, by the time 2012 comes around people will be wishing Obama had resigned early to go do something else . The fact that she’s leaving the state of Alaska in the hands of her right hand man, having built an incredible legacy for him to continue, means that the people of Alaska will be well taken care of while she spends her time preparing to help out the other 49 states as well, as President. A great move indeed!

tell me that there’s another shoe to drop. Not ALL of the ethics complaints have been dismissed; one remains in court. If it comes down the way I think it will, I won’t say, “I told you so” too gleefully. Or at least no more gleefully than I said I told you so about Senator Stevens.