I can not conceieve of a man or woman with the stalwart character of a Ronald Reagan abandoning the governorship of California or any other state for a non-lethal reason. I also can not fathom how any principled conservative was not appalled by Palin leaving office for her stated rationalizations.
Just my opinion.
Would you stay in a job that started costing you twice what you made? She didn't have the wealth to withstand the frivilous ethics charges. For that matter, neither did Alaska.
Some seem to have short memories. Here's a excerpt from her Resignation speech.
Every one - all 15 of the ethics complaints have been dismissed. We've won! But it hasn't been cheap - the State has wasted THOUSANDS of hours of YOUR time and shelled out some two million of YOUR dollars to respond to “opposition research” - that's money NOT going to fund teachers or troopers - or safer roads. And this political absurdity, the “politics of personal destruction” ... Todd and I are looking at more than half a million dollars in legal bills in order to set the record straight. And what about the people who offer up these silly accusations? It doesn't cost them a dime so they're not going to stop draining public resources - spending other peoples’ money in their game.
I suggest everyone go back and refresh their memories by reading the whole speech.
http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/full-text-of-palins-resignation-speech.php