Monday, July 6, 2009

Palin resigns

This is arguably old news after the long holiday weekend, but Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced last Friday she plans to resign by the end of the month.

She made the surprise announcement at her home in Wasilla. Her husband Todd and members of her cabinet joined her, but the press conference, which came at a time many Americans were celebrating Independence Day away from their televisions and computers, sparked immediate interest as to whether she will seek higher office or whether she had an undisclosed skeleton in her closet.

The governor's apparent lack of experience and finesse during interviews after U.S. Sen. John McCain unexpectedly chose her as his vice presidential running mate made her an all too convenient punch line for the media and late night talk show hosts. Her family's plethora of less than flattering headlines in recent months, including her daughter Bristol promoting abstinence before marriage after she gave birth to her son Tripp last December, has not helped to heel this image.

Alaska Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell has repeatedly indicated Palin resigned, in part, because of the millions of dollars the state and her own family have spent to fight more than a dozen ethics complaints. Only two of these complaints have not been dismissed, but as one high ranking Democratic operative told me on Fire Island on Saturday, the "comic strip" that is Sarah Palin will almost certainly continue long after she leaves office in Juneau.

No comments: