Palin to Resign Governorship of Alaska, Expected to Focus on Complaining

Today Sarah Palin announced that she would not seek a second term as Governor of Alaska — in fact, she will resign her position and step down at the end of the month. Lt. Gov. Sean Parnel will then be sworn in as Governor.

The 2008 Republican Vice-Presidential candidate didn’t take questions; local news outlet KTVA says Palin “cited many costly ethics complaints that she recently faced as contributing to her decision to resign.” Many observers assume she is preparing for a 2012 Presidential run, which will be easier without the distractions of actual government office. Alternatively, she can just spend her days denouncing talk-show hosts and Photoshopped images that offend her, which in these early days of the 2012 campaign may amount to the same thing.

Random tweets: “I would be[t] a red, white and blue snow cone that Sara Palin ends up in Mike Steele’s job as the Chairman of the GOP.” “There goes the Arctic Cat sponsorship!” “Palin is pregnant with Gov. Sanford’s love child #wildrumor.”

Update: More tweets: “Did it have anything to do with ‘those really tight spandex pants in Runner’s World?'” “Fox News talking to Bill Kristol in a live remote from Sarah Palin’s ass.” ” Palin is about to be outed on some level. She’s acting goofy-even for her.” Well, that ought to be enough outrage material to get her through the summer.

Rightbloggage on the subject is slow; they must all be at the beach or the firing range. “It’s over,” says Ace of Spades. “You can’t resign from a governorship and then run for higher office. Barring some strong reason, like needing treatment for cancer.”

“If she is stepping down because of what politics has done to her family,” says National Review‘s Kathryn Jean Lopez, “because of something in her family life she doesn’t want to see as David Letterman fodder, because it’s impossible to be governor, a star, and a mom to an infant … this is good. It demonstrates good judgment and priorities.” So: win-win, then.

“Either she or someone in her family is ill,” says The Anchoress, “and she wants to keep it private and not subject it to the vulgarity of the Palin-hating beasts in the press, who savaged her last year, or… she and Todd are on the rocks, and she doesn’t want to subject her children and her marriage to the same vulgarity.” Keep in mind these are her supporters we’re quoting here.

Update 2: Statement here: “Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional ‘Lame Duck’ status in this particular climate would just be another dose of ‘politics as usual,’ something I campaigned against and will always oppose.”

“Maybe the Left finally wore her down and she just decided politics wasn’t worth it anymore,” says Right Wing News. “…Indeed, it’s part of the Left’s strategy with conservative women. They try to make politics so ugly, so nasty, and so vicious that conservative women just quit.” So that’s why Liddy Dole never ran for President!

Update 3: Gateway Pundit works the persecution complex: “On FOX News Her brother just said that she was spending 80% of her time defending herself from the state-run press and bogus ethics complaints.” Others say Palin is too fierce to be bothered by such attacks: “Brutal, but like water off a duck’s back,” says Atlas Shrugs, who nonetheless calls for counterattacks: “New media better pick up the slack. Jugular for jugular.”

Favorite response so far: A Tigerhawk commenter says, “She is done politically. This will give more confidence to the attack-dog left that their tactics work. I think I know how Nazi Germany must have felt as the enemy relentlessly advanced.” The “preview” function is too little used. (Follow-up: “Bad analogy.”)

Jamison Foser: “Palin’s speech is the Big Lebowski of politics: gets funnier every time you watch it.”

Update 4: Lipstick on a pig: “If #palin resigning gets the libs this upset, her almost inevitable run for the WH will make their heads explode. =)” Jim Geraghty, who originally thought she was going to say she was pregnant, later held out hope that this would lead to a comeback because “She quoted Douglas MacArthur.” Bill Kristol calls it a “shrewd gamble,” which for some readers will be dispositive.