What! You didn't even mention that she might still be post partum or maybe even having her period! Women are such liars and drama queens.

Sarah might say 'L'etat, c'est moi', but then again pigs might fly too.

So Pat,

What is your point? Are you suggesting that a well reasoned argument has no place on a blog?

She might even buy an additional set of hip weighters because the one's she been seen in lately are already full of moose poo. The MSM invented PALINaroundwithterrorists. They fed us a constant stream of crap that created a situation where her bile spewing is making her a very wealthy person. Nauseating...

Steve, I think you're giving Palin's explanation too much credence. In any political administration, my guess is that there are always lawsuits and always investigations (particularly at the statewide level) and my experience suggests there is a group of lawyers that, among other things, are tasked to handle all of this alongside their other responsibilities. The main drag on the governor's staff in terms of something like this would be document production, and I find it difficult to believe that competent staff couldn't deal with these issues as a matter of course and still fulfill all their obligations with regard to running the state.

I think Palin's explanation is utter nonsense. Either she's lying (which is standard for her) or, if she believes what she says, she's even more out of touch, and even less competent, than I originally thought.

She lives by the nature of her incredulously-dishonest spin---and she'll die on the roasting-spit of that same spin.

If you're a ReThug twit like Palin, then karma's a bitch---and then you die ugly....

Sarah Palin can't sneeze in public without liberal blogs spending most of the day wondering whether she has the flu or just the common cold.

This unhealthy fascination with Sarah Palin means liberals are scared to death of her.

Liars and Drama Queens.

Such as Mark Sanford and other political males in the RepuG Party who are screaming, with their eye shadow a'runnin' "Oh, President Obama is bringing the sky down upon us and Armageddon will be nigh if we don't cut spending".

I do believe that most RepuG males have extended "time of the month" problems, largely in their mouths.

Thank you, Berttheclock.

Palin is to normal politicians as Demolition Derby is to NASCAR. All the technical stuff is gone, & it's pure crashes.

So durn tooing to those saying that trying to make sense of her speech is a waste of time. Just point & laugh, baby, point & laugh.

I like Josh Marshall's take:

Maybe it really was just that she suddenly got tired of the accountability thing. Or couldn't wait the eighteen months left on her contract to start shoveling up the dollars.

As I think a number of others have said, I've always thought Palin's character was essentially that of a grifter. And when these folks blow out of town after a con has run its course, it's usually a pretty hasty exit.

So maybe it all makes sense.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/07/not_a_vote_of_support.php?ref=fpblg

I agree with David Frum. Palin is cashing in. She can make $$Millions on the book and talk circuit, but being the gov intereferes with that. Right now she is a hot media commodity who has a loyal fan base and generates a lot of controversy. Her opponents pay attention to her. She is the perfect "get" for driving up ratings on right wing media. She needs to cash in now. There is no guarantee that she will be nearly as hot in 2012 or even on the ticket.

Republicans are less like a political party and more like a kleptocracy that is only in politics to game the system and generate a patronage system. They are anti-government (What is more antigovernment that resigning as governor?) so they don't pursue the use of government to help people. Once in office, they have a huge pot of money that they don't want to use on social programs so they dole it out to their wealthy patrons. Once out of office, they get rewarded by their patrons.

The entire GOP agenda is cutting taxes and handing over the keys to the treasury to the wealthy so government money does not get spent on programs for the poor or minorities.

Could it be that she fired the competent, professional legislative advisor - for personal reasons though she denies it - and replaced him with someone who's not cut out for the job? Strategically, i'd think quitting while she's ahead makes sense for her. She hasnt really a clue how to be governor without professional advice. If she stays, she's bound to become an unspinnable flop, i.e. she even loses her base.

Palin reveals a pattern of juvenile quitting and glory mongering into the next higher peer community. Only a presidential candidate with his own set of personality disorders could have not seen through her serious character flaws. A really sad and shameful reflection on the state of politics that so many other Americans were swayed by this nonsense and that the media continues to exploit her sick celebrity appeal.

Ah, now I think I see how Palin erroneously assigned a Department of Law to the White House - "The $1.9 million "was arrived at by adding up attorney hours spent on fending off complaints -- based on the fixed salaries of lawyers in the governor's office and the Department of Law."

I have a burning question. With a Dept. of Law to fend off complaints against her, why did she have to spend $500,000 of her own money defending herself?

bako writes:"Palin is cashing in. She can make $$Millions on the book and talk circuit,"

Isn't it sad that there are so many people out there who will spend their hard earned dollars on this? Although, twenty bucks for a Regnery Press ghost written 'book' is one thing. Getting a member of the die hard Republican base to pony up 500/1000 smackers to hear an uninterupted hour of SarahSpeak is unlikely.

Steve, trying to make sense of SarahSpeak is like looking for faces in the clouds. A pleasant way to spend a summer afternoon, lying on one's back and staring at the sky, but hardly productive.

I know that Gingrich has, in the past, defended Palin. And Newtie was a cat who had some ethics issues authoring a book while in the Senate and planning to pocket the royalties. Maybe the two of them had a heart-to-big-floppy-boobie (that would be Newt's) talk about getting out while the gettin's good, so she's a private citizen when her book is released so she can reap all the benefits.

Let's spin the disk backwards, Johnny Fever fashion.
Wasn't it about ten years ago that Bill Clinton was being impeached? And wasn't he functioning as best he could as President to accomplish things he'd been elected to do? Wasn't that cited as the supreme example of compartmentalizing?
Now Sarah Barracuda can't deal with all the drama that a couple of reporters are raising. And we're seeing her academic transcript coming to life.

We can only congratulate the citizens of Alaska for being spared one minute more of Governor Heather. ANY replacement is bound to be an improvement.

Using Palin's logic, that it cost the state of Alaska "millions of dollars" because its lawyers were spending time on the ethics complaints that otherwise would have been spent on other issues, I would like to know how many "millions of dollars" it cost the state of Alaska when Palin was out of state, campaigning for the vice presidency, rather than attending to her duties as governor!

I have a burning question. With a Dept. of Law to fend off complaints against her, why did she have to spend $500,000 of her own money defending herself?

You missed the point. Unlike the White House, the Alaskan governor can't just automatically throw out non-sense cases such as Troopergate.

Palin is cashing in. She can make $$Millions on the book and talk circuit, but being the gov intereferes with that. Right now she is a hot media commodity who has a loyal fan base and generates a lot of controversy.

Exactly! This also perfectly explains her mumbo-jumbo talk about "affecting change outside of office" and her sad sad "Todd and I are spending our $$$$$". Can you say CHa-ChiNG.

With Republicans, its never country first or even state first. It's always "my bank account" first.

Another obfuscation in which Sarah Palin engages (and gets away with) is claiming that something like 18 ethics violations have been alleged and 15 have been dismissed. I think in at least two cases the charges have been "dismissed" after she reimbursed the state for monies she received improperly, like travel expenses for her kids.

She is unintelligible because her words are not of this world. Sarah is speaking in tongues.

Ms. Palin also claims that none of the ethics complaints were valid, but two were substantiated: 1)Her $8,100 misuse of state funds to pay for the travel of her children (http://www.adn.com/palin/story/841059.html) and 2)Her violation of state ethics laws in pressuring state employees to fire estranged brother-in-law Mike Wooten (http://www.pubrecord.org/politics/385-troopergate-report-says-gov-palin-broke-state-ethics-laws.html).

But she is missing out on a golden opportunity to fix these bad ethics laws.

Quitter.

This unhealthy fascination with Sarah Palin means liberals are scared to death of her.

You know, I am ashamed to admit that I had an unhealthy fascination with Britney Spears, back when she was shaving her head and walking barefoot through public bathrooms. But it sure as hell wasn't because I was afraid of her.

'But she is missing out on a golden opportunity to fix these bad ethics laws.'

Kevin, the current ethics law was her brilliant legislative accomplishment, and also why she retires from the field of battle.

YOU'RE NOT LISTENING TO ME!!!!!! JUST LIKE ANDREA DIDN'T LISTEN TO ME!!!!!!!!

"Political operatives descended on Alaska last August, digging for dirt. The ethics law I championed became their weapon of choice. Over the past nine months I've been accused of all sorts of frivolous ethics violations....

I guess all of these "political operatives" had to leave Alaska first to enable them to descend on her. I don't think I have ever seen a public figure whose brain and lips are so disconnected.

I must not have been paying attention, when did Al have a baby

"Sarah Palin can't sneeze in public without liberal blogs spending most of the day wondering whether she has the flu or just the common cold.

This unhealthy fascination with Sarah Palin means liberals are scared to death of her."

No, it's just human nature to watch a trainwreck, especially when you know it's coming.
Unless by scared to death you mean looking for a laugh.

What is fascinating is not Sarah Palin. She is a run-of-the-mill beauty queen faking her way through the serious question phase of the contest.

What is fascinating is how well so many of our countrymen respond to pure crap.

The bitterness of the remarks on this site are an interesting peek into the mind of crazy people. Just a small suggestion to the crazy's here at the Washington Monthly get a life!

What's going on with the economy? Iraq? Afghanistan? Etc.? Who cares, all Palin all the time.

No one gives a shit about this woman anymore, people face real problems, get a clue Benen.

Al Jr says: "Sarah Palin can't sneeze in public without liberal blogs spending most of the day wondering whether she has the flu or just the common cold.

This unhealthy fascination with Sarah Palin means liberals are scared to death of her."

Actually Al everyone pays attention to things that don't make sense since we want to know why! You see inquiring minds want to understand why people do what they do. We aren't scared of her..we are mystified. Big difference.

And you will continue to be mystified because Steve Benen is quite seriously distorting the situation up in Alaska that has kept the governor's office and the whole state government nearly paralyzed. The barrage of ethics complaints are a part of it, but far more important is that Palin hasn't been able to get a single bill through the legislature since she went off to campaign with John McCain.

You all may not realize this, but her allies in the legislature were the Democrats, not the Republicans, and they quit cooperating with her when she took on the role of attack dog for McCain. The Republicans haven't been willing to work with her from the beginning because of the way she tore down the GOP establishment up there on her way into office.

Secondly, for heaven's sake, realize that by stepping aside now, she gives her otherwise obscure lt. governor a huge leg up on the campaign for governor. If she'd stayed to the end of her term and continued to battle and get nowhere, she's quite right that it would have been bad for the state, and the governor's office would almost certainly have ended up going to the Democrats in the next election.

I'm relieved to see her out of elective office and unlikely to darken our lives as a candidate for national office ever again, but it's pathetic and deeply depressing to see the complete inability to grapple with the reality of Sarah Palin here and in most of the rest of the lefty/left-center blogosphere.

Kinda ironic, given Steve's outraged post above about Sean Hannity distorting reality by leaving important stuff out.

"This unhealthy fascination with Sarah Palin means liberals are scared to death of her."
Posted by: Al Jr. on July 9, 2009 at 8:29 AM |

Yes, it's true.
I admit it.
I - speaking for all liberals / progressives / socialists / Democrats (which are all, after all, the same thing) -- hereby confess that we are scared spitless of having to face Sarah Palin in the '12 Presidential.
PLEASE, o good Republicans, PLEASE don't make Sarah Palin your candidate!
If you do, we will surely lose horribly, and Karl Rove's permanent Republican majority will be realized.
And we fear that more than anything.
Except maybe a crucifix in the public square...

Love it - Palin decides to resign and not keep pretending to be an active elected official while possibly running for the White House... but not a peep from the adoring masses about Obama receiving his Senate paycheck for 18 months while campaigning and doing absolutely nothing for the state of Illinois. Nor the growing list of broken campaign promises Left-wing, naive rationale again.

The 14 frivolous lawsuits that have all been ruled in Palin's favor, and the 2 or 3 more pending against Palin, are ridiculous and a vile miscarriage of justice - journalists mocking Palin for not wanting to be involved in constant litigation because of the Democrat "marginalize and destroy Palin" machine, operating through a few paid bloggers and the Obama network of news stations, is amusing (attack, attack, attack... it's the Chicago way, right?). One of those vicious bloggers has posted that it is her personal mission to do whatever she can to bankrupt the Palin family. She's attacked Palin's children, especially the baby. Pay no attention to that left-wing extremist blogger behind the curtain...

Palin has really upset the statist apple cart with her resignation. Hilarious. Keep slinging the mud at her, libs - it's only strengthening her base. America loves a good underdog, after all. Should be a great show, with liberals' heads about to explode. And Palin is still what she's always claimed, an unpolished politician with a servant's heart. Obama's lofty, scripted Hallmark platitudes, foreign relationship gaffes, flip-flopping every week, and his dishonest dismantling of the Constitution are not a satisfactory replacement for patriotism, conservatism, integrity, and fiscal responsibility. I don't know how smart Obama is, because when he's not quoting the Alinsky handbook for socialists or parroting his teleprompter, he sounds like a dunce. He's making GW Bush sound like a genius more and more these days.

Love it - Palin decides to resign and not keep pretending to be an active elected official while possibly running for the White House... but not a peep from the adoring masses about Obama receiving his Senate paycheck for 18 months while campaigning and doing absolutely nothing for the state of Illinois. Nor a word about the growing list of broken campaign promises. Left-wing, naive rationale again.

The 14 frivolous lawsuits that have all been ruled in Palin's favor, and the 2 or 3 more pending against Palin, are ridiculous and a vile miscarriage of justice - journalists mocking Palin for not wanting to be involved in constant litigation because of the Democrat "marginalize and destroy Palin" machine, operating through a few paid bloggers and the Obama network of news stations, is amusing (attack, attack, attack... it's the Chicago way, right?). One of those vicious bloggers has posted that it is her personal mission to do whatever she can to bankrupt the Palin family. She's attacked Palin's children, especially the baby. Pay no attention to that left-wing extremist blogger behind the curtain...

Palin has really upset the statist apple cart with her resignation. Hilarious. Keep slinging the mud at her, libs - it's only strengthening her base. America loves a good underdog, after all. Should be a great show, with liberals' heads about to explode. And Palin is still what she's always claimed, an unpolished politician with a servant's heart. Obama's lofty, scripted Hallmark platitudes, foreign relationship gaffes, flip-flopping every week, and his dishonest dismantling of the Constitution are not a satisfactory replacement for patriotism, conservatism, integrity, and fiscal responsibility. I don't know how smart Obama is, because when he's not quoting the Alinsky handbook for socialists or parroting his teleprompter, he sounds like a dunce. He's making GW Bush sound like a genius more and more these days.

Best spoof ever, ClassicFilm. I bow to your superior talent.

The left wing Hate and Smear machine never stops. No wonder she resigned.

FAR less than Obama who campaigned for 2 Years on his US Senate Salary

Using Palin's logic, that it cost the state of Alaska "millions of dollars" because its lawyers were spending time on the ethics complaints that otherwise would have been spent on other issues, I would like to know how many "millions of dollars" it cost the state of Alaska when Palin was out of state, campaigning for the vice presidency, rather than attending to her duties as governor!

Its funny but I have noticed a consistency on these left wing hate blogs. They never mention Palins actual record in elected office vs Obama's. Because his record is pathetic. 10 years and none of you can tell us what he did. No meaningful legislation. Nothing.

Hee. Steve got linked from some right Wing random capitalization Blog.

I have to admit it. I love how the lefties start a rumor based on nothing squared, reference it amongst themselves until assumes the status of fact and then pontificate on what it means. It is a tremendous waste of pixels, but it does keep the small minds occupied. Have fun.

Rick

You Libs are tearing a good woman to shreds like a pack of wolves!!!!! Leave her alone lefty lupines!!!!!!

"...Sarah Palin can't sneeze in public without liberal blogs spending most of the day wondering whether she has the flu or just the common cold.

This unhealthy fascination with Sarah Palin means liberals are scared to death of her."...Al jr

Look...the troll begins feeding...
If Palin sneezed in Public she herself would call a press conference and accuse some blogger of blogging a flu to her.

Liberals are not "scared" of Palin...just disgusted by her since she clearly demonstrates the popularity of willful ignorance and personality disorder. You do not even state her accomplishments other than heralding how well she makes reasonable people vomit.

You love her insanity because it keeps you focused on personality rather than issues which might strain your tiny brain.

You love that she makes no sense when she talks because that way you don't have to play catch up or play "what she really meant was..." because she doesn't even know what she really meant. She has flipped out and needs a lot of alone time. She's so wretched though that one cannot even feel sorry for her...but we're so "scared of her" huh Al Jr.. I'm more afraid of her thousands of clones...you know...the Paliens.