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early July, while most Americans were preparing for a long weekend of celebratory parades, charred meats, and noisy fireworks, Sarah Palin made some plans of her own. The Alaska governor had been the object of endless media attention and assorted calumnies since she became John McCain's vice presidential nominee last August. Now she wanted to try something new. So, on July 3, in a speech delivered from her home on Lake Lucille in Wasilla, Palin told her constituents that not only would she not seek a second term, but she would also be transferring authority to Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell...

Yesterday, on a comment thread I reminded readers of a particular sexist trick used to disembowel female pols—the old: she’s too polarizing theme. Specifically, I mentioned Hollywood’s David (Obama) Geffen’s charge that Hillary Clinton was “incredibly polarizing.” Geffen and Obama had put their male heads together and decided the best way to beat the bi$ch was to paint her as “polarizing.” Missy Maureen Dowd was contacted and she agreed to printed Geffen’s orchestrated remarks in her column. Hillary=Polarizing now with the NYTimes imprimatur. Polarizing = Bi%ch=manipulative=shrill, and on it goes. Today, I had no sooner posted a comment on the...

The Truth About Sarah Palin’s Resignation by John Ziegler

In early July, while most Americans were preparing for a long weekend of cheesy parades, charred meats, and noisy fireworks, Sarah Palin made some plans of her own. The Alaska governor had been the object of endless media attention and assorted calumnies since she became John McCain's vice presidential nominee last August. Now she wanted to try something new. So, on July 3, in a speech delivered from her home on Lake Lucille in Wasilla, Palin told her constituents that not only would she not seek a second term, but she would also be transferring authority to Lieutenant Governor Sean...

RESIGNATION: Daughter's ex-fiance says governor also missed family time. BY SEAN COCKERAM Levi Johnston, the former fiance of Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol, on Thursday joined the crowd offering up potential reasons for Palin's decision to step down. Johnston met with reporters to say that he heard her musing about a better life, one in which she could spend more time at home, reduce her stress, and accept the lucrative offers coming her way. Back in December, a month after her election defeat as John McCain's running mate, Johnston said that Palin "had talked about how nice it would be...

<p>Sarah Palin needs to stop whining about unfair media coverage and get over the fact that some people don’t like her, Dave Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, tells Newsmax.</p> <p>Palin doesn’t seem to get that politics is a tough game, says Keene, one of the country’s most astute political observers.</p>

[...] To me, one of the most interesting aspects of the story is how vehemently the Palin camp blames Barack Obama. From the story: For Palin, however, these aren't isolated incidents. She believes they grow from the same root, which is too big and too formidable to ignore. "A lot of this comes from Washington, D.C. The trail is pretty direct and pretty obvious to us," says Meg Stapleton, a close Palin adviser in Alaska. Awaiting a flight back to Anchorage from distant Dillingham, Stapleton adds that the anti-Palin offensive seems lifted straight from The Thumpin', which describes the political...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The former fiance of Gov. Sarah Palin's 18-year-old daughter says he thinks he knows why the Alaska governor is resigning — concerns over money. Levi Johnston, 19, whose wedding to Bristol Palin was called off earlier this year, says he believes the governor is resigning over personal finances.

I haven't commented on Sarah Palin's resignation as Governor of Alaska since Friday afternoon, when I noted the story and said that her resignation "seems bizarre to me." Here are some additional thoughts on the subject. I am, to begin with, an admirer of Governor Palin--the real Sarah Palin, not the creature of myth. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the Palin phenomenon is that the mythical version, a caricature of Palin as arch-conservative, especially on the social issues, and populist almost to the point of know-nothingism, has been embraced by many of her supporters as avidly as by her...

Despite announcing her resignation as Alaskan governor with 18 months to spare, Sarah Palin is still a sought-after asset in the Republican Party. The Des Moines Register is reporting that Iowan Republicans have extended a hand to Palin to headline the annual Reagan Day Dinner, set for this fall. Iowa GOP Executive Director Jeff Boeyink told the Register that the party had been pursuing Palin since January and that her resignation has increased the effort to secure her at the fundraising event. Boeyink's confirmation came after Senator Chuck Grassley told the The Des Moines Register Wednesday that he believes Palin...

Sarah Palin: It's Her Party And She'll Resign If She Wants To. by Chris Stigall It has been amusing to watch the speculation of the Alaska Governor’s motivations and future aspirations after announcing her resignation last Friday. Senate bid? “No, Alaskans would never forgive her for leaving them” said the Sunday shows. Presidential bid? “Not possible now,” say the smartest strategists and campaigners. Host a talk show? Sell books? Go on the lecture circuit? All possible, though not all probable. But the one thing most of the pundits on both the left and the right in Washington D.C. have declared...

I am a fan of Sarah Palin and I have avoided comment on this topic because too much is being said already and It becomes hard to decide what makes sense and what doesn't. Then I decided that it is possible that it is not that complicated and confusing after all.

People close to Sarah Palin say national political reporters and pundits have missed the real reasons for her surprising decision to resign as Alaska governor. The national media have dismissed or downplayed her real motives, which had little to do with any plans to run for president in 2012. Contrary to most reports, her decision had been in the works for months, accelerating recently as it became clear that controversies and endless ethics investigations were threatening to overshadow her legislative agenda. "Attacks inside Alaska and largely invisible to the national media had paralyzed her administration," someone close to the governor...

My guess is that she really doesn't know what she wants, or who she really is. It's probably dangerous to admit to a moment of empathy. I'll either get disqualified from ever becoming being a Supreme Court justice or asked to turn in my press card. But after watching reruns of Gov. Sarah Palin's resignation from the governorship, after hearing every grammatically challenged sentence and inconsistent paragraph dissected by some talk show host, I started to (blush) feel her pain. There was the frozen smile, the vulnerability, the odd grab bag of unfiltered, unedited, unintelligible un-reasons scattered across the lawn....

As a communication professional I have largely been at a loss to explain the judgments being drawn about Governor Palin by allegedly expert pundits. The general meme from pundits is that Palin is a quitter who cannot take the heat. It seems like the 'heat' has been more like hate -- maybe we are dealing with a simple spelling error? Journalism has gotten rather weak of late

There has been much talk over Sarah Palin’s shock announcement that she is resigning from her post as Governor of Alaska before the end of the first term. The primary questions in much of the coverage have been “What the hell is she up to?” and “Why on Earth does this help her?” I am convinced the answers are quite straight forward: Sarah Palin has decided to run for the 2012 Republican nomination for the President of the United States, and to do this she needs to get out of Alaska. Ever since she was picked as John McCain’s Vice-Presidential...

Sarah Palin’s decision to resign as governor of Alaska lifted her standing among Republicans, according to a USA Today/Gallup Poll. A USA Today story about the poll says, “Republicans are somewhat inclined to see her more favorably” in light of her announcement Friday. But neither that story nor one on Gallup’s web site gives precise numbers. Seven out 10 respondents in the poll, conducted Monday, say their views about Palin weren’t influenced by her departure as governor. Of those who were affected by the move, Democrats view Palin less favorably by a 4-to-1 margin and independents by a 2-to-1 ratio....

Apparently Sarah Palin's decision to quit her post as Governor of Alaska wasn't as misguided as it sounded at first, because it has certainly already begun to work it's magic on winning over the Republican party. According to a new USA Today/Gallup Poll, her popularity has surged amongst Republicans since she made the announcement. 71 percent of Republicans said they would vote for Palin if she ran for president in 2012, and three-fourths believe that Palin has been treated unfairly by the media. Two-thirds of Republicans want Palin to be "a major national political figure" in the future, while three-fourths...

Governor Palin first speaking event will be at The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum in Simi Valley, California. She has been invited to speak at the 50th Anniversary Gala of the Simi Valley Republican Women.

One of the most terrifying moments of my political life came last summer at the Republican convention in St. Paul. No, I don’t mean seeing John McCain careering around the Xcel Energy Center like Eyegore in Young Frankenstein, his face frozen in a Lon Chaney Sr. rictus grin as he reached across the aisle to his erstwhile friends in the media and got his hand bitten off. Rather, I’m referring to the aftermath of Sarah Palin’s outrageous acceptance speech, which whipped up the Rotary Club delegates into a frenzy of white-boy fury that not even heckling by a brave Code...