My goodness!
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R)
announced this afternoon she will resign from office on July 26 and return to private life, a stunning decision by last year's Republican vice presidential candidate to leave office before the end of her first term.
I have been observing national politics in this country for about forty years, and I can't think of another case of flameout occurring so quickly after the politician's appearance on the national stage. Mark Sanford had been in Congress for six years before he became Governor of South Carolina. John Ensign had been in Congress for four years before winning a Senate seat in Nevada on his second try. John Edwards had been a Senator for six years when he and John Kerry lost the 2004 election, long before his affair took place. Larry Craig had been in the House for ten years and the Senate for eighteen before his arrest in the Minneapolis airport. David Vitter had been in Congress for four years before his election to the Senate.
Even if you go back in history, Wilbur Mills had served in Congress for thirty-seven years when he took that dip into the fountain in 1974. Dan Rostenkowski had been in the House for thirty-six years when he got caught exchanging stamps for cash at the House Post Office. Bob Packwood had served twenty-seven years in the Senate before his sexual harassment behavior became public knowledge.
Sarah Palin was elected Governor of Alaska in 2006 and today announced her resignation effective July 25, 2009. I think it's fair to say nobody in the Lower 48 (or out here in Hawai'i) had ever heard of her until Senator McCain announced she'd be his running mate on August 29, 2008. In eleven short months she's gone from VP candidate to lame-duck Governor.
What will the late night talk show hosts do? Will Tina Fey "do her" on SNL? These and other questions will be answered on the next episode of Crazy Gov. Lady.
Posted by: tomorrow at July 3, 2009 12:38 PMWill no one think of the comedians?
Posted by: Linkmeister at July 3, 2009 12:54 PMShe cost McCain the election, her folkyness, accent and winking do not ring true, her intellect is below par (our vivid memory of the last one who delegates and follows because of their lack of intellect), but lets face it with the right type of marketing (vote folky, vote god) it can be sold to US, history tends to repeat itself. God help us!
Posted by: Benito at July 3, 2009 07:19 PM