Sarah Palin, heat in the kitchen?

03 July 2009 |permalink | email article

The Alaska governor announced Friday that she would resign her office by the end of the month and not seek re-election, a stunning decision which could free her to run for president in 2012 without the restraints of running while still in office. The timing is viewed by many Republicans and even among her loyal followers as a foolish gaffe. 

It’s not immediately clear why the overly ambitious Palin punted before half time in her first term but she said her decision had been in the works “for a while.” Since returning to Alaska early this year she’s faced repeated ethical inquiries but said she wouldn’t allow taxpayers money to be spent to investigate her.

Speculation that questions raised in the lengthy Vanity Fair story suggesting she’s overly erratic, temperamental and prone to ignore the advice of her own political advisers may also have hastened her decision.

Palin derided what she called “a superficial political blood sport” since emerging from obscurity to fame last summer as the Republican vice presidential candidate. Still smarting, she’s portray herself as a change agent. Sound familiar?

She hinted at a presidential run, crediting Gen. Douglas MacArthur: “We are not retreating; we are advancing in another direction.” (MacArthur got just 3% of the national Republican primary vote in 1948.)

The bombshell comes after two other Republicans known to be weighing runs for the presidency, Nevada Sen., John Ensign, and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, admitted having extramarital affairs with other women.

Saturday update: MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell reported that according to “people very close to Sarah Palin” she “told her supporters that she is is out of politics, period.”

Read ‘em and weep

“We’ve seen a lot of nutty behavior from governors and Republican leaders in the last three months, but this one is at the top of this.” John Weaver, the veteran Republican adviser and McCain acolyte to The Washington Post.

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