I do believe that Sarah Palin has just crossed a bridge too far.
First up a video, from a Conservative; Yes, that’s right, a Conservative Journalist:
Her point of, “What would Buckley think of her?” is quite valid. I tend to believe that Buckley would loathe this woman.
The Story via the Politico:
Ratcheting up her offensive against the news media, Gov. Sarah Palin’s attorney threatened Saturday to sue mainstream news organizations if they publish “defamatory” stories relating to whether Palin is under federal investigation.
In an extraordinary four-page letter, Alaska-based attorney Thomas Van Flein warns of severe consequences should speculation that until now has largely been confined to blogs about whether Palin embezzled funds in the construction of a Wasilla, Alaska, sports arena find its way into print.
“This is to provide notice to Ms. Moore, and those who re-publish the defamation, such as Huffington Post, MSNBC, the New York Times and The Washington Post, that the Palins will not allow them to propagate defamatory material without answering to this in a court of law,” Van Flein warned, citing Alaska liberal blogger Shannyn Moore.
I hate to say this, But Palin, as far as I am concerned; is history. She put herself into the spotlight, by being involved in public politics and now, wants to be treated special because she is a woman. This is nothing more than some threat of a frivolous lawsuit. Further more, it is an attempt to suppress freedom of speech. I do not know any judge, that is worth two dimes; that would even give a lawsuit of this nature a second look. My issue with this lawsuit threat, and her in general is not because she is a woman. It is because she embraces the whole notion of Female entitlement. The woman wants to be treated differently, because she is a woman. That is the antithesis of Conservatism.
Andrew Sullivan does not buy it either, and as much as I hate to admit it, he is correct here:
I don’t quite buy that this is a brilliant scheme to win everything back by running from the base as a martyr of librul-media meanies. Why? First off, she lies about almost everything, so one’s immediate response should be: if she said it, it’s probably not true. Besides, if she really thinks she could do more for Alaska by leaving it (a rare display of insight on her point), she could at least do the minimum and finish up her term of office. I mean: I know the endless photo-shoots and Greta interviews can take time, but it’s not like she seems to do very much. Her ratings my be sinking like a stone, but they have not incapacitated her. And as every Republican hack has pointed out, quitting a governorship before your first term is over is not exactly a good advertisement for being president of the United States. If she can’t handle a few Alaskan bloggers and Steve Schmidt emails, how is she going to handle Khamenei and al Qaeda? Maybe her base is so ga-ga they don’t care. But again the whole diva quitting-fit is totally at odds with the core image that turns them on – of a tough-girl, Thatcher-style, play-with-the-big-boys Alaskan Evita. You can’t do that and then throw a sixteen-year-old fit and slam your bedroom door when the press gets too tough.
[….]
Okay: she’s joining the Beck-Limbaugh-Hannity circus. It sure is more lucrative and far more fun than governing a state. Her main goals in life so far have been money and fame (and photo-shoots); and she doesn’t handle power, understand policy or manage people well. So why not earn money from being a celebrity rather than from that excruciatingly arduous thing called governing?But here’s why I can’t quite buy this either.
This was obviously an incredibly hasty decision, with no prepared speech, delivered almost to minimize its publicity impact on the Friday of a federal holiday before the Fourth of July. If she were really re-launching her career in a new media-driven, Fox-News, Huckabee-Limbaugh vehicle, she would surely have set up the launch a little better. She can do speeches. She could have done a great one – a rallying cry, a “You won’t have Palin to kick around any more” piece of bravado – and launched a big fundraising drive to get her on her way. But no: we get this desperate, unrehearsed, “I’m-not-a-quitter-because-I’m-quitting” stream-of-consciousness. Again, anything is possible, since she’s ga-ga, but this really felt to me like a very swift withdrawal to avoid what might be an almighty shoe about to fall to earth.
What could that shoe be? Some unknown ethics inquiry? Some big official scandal about to break? The free house-construction no-one quite resolved? Trooper Wooten’s revenge? Bristol can’t take the bullshit any more and has sold a tell-all? Levi just got a lot of money from the Enquirer? Sherri Johnston has implicated a Palin in her drug-bust? Did Track get in trouble again? Is there another unplanned pregnancy somewhere? Someone took a hike on the Appalachian trail? Has Lyda Green finally gone nuclear? Has Mercedes got a book contract? Or has she pushed Levi one step too far? Is Trig really Tina Fey’s child?
The number of potential enemies and victims with an ax to grind and a lucrative story to tell is endless. Who can say? But the abruptness of the withdrawal is so weird one has to wonder. I mean: she managed to face down a pregnant unwed daughter, an arrested relative, a delinquent son, a secessionist husband, 32 absurd lies (and counting), a completely loopy pregnancy story and carried on regardless, winking and posing away. I mean: those Runners World photos don’t look like a a politician in clinical depression, ground down by exposure. So what possible scandal could be big enough to force her to quit this suddenly, without a prepared statement, and shocking her entire staff? What could be so big that this extremely ambitious woman would do something that all but ends her potential credibility as a national politician? No one can elect a president who couldn’t even finish one term of office as governor because of press pressure. Right?
All I know is that if a shoe drops, we probably won’t hear about it first from the mainstream media. So stay tuned.
While all of the above might be a wee bit mean spirited, Andrew does have a point. I have to say, that I do agree. She has been caught some rather nasty lies. Something was brought to her attention, perhaps not a federal investigation; but perhaps a state one and they had dirt on her and she got the heck out of dodge before they went public.
The plain fact is, that she is out and the Liberal media won’t have her to bash any longer. But if she thinks that the media will stop talking about her; she is crazy. Because the Liberal media is on this mission and that is to destroy Conservatism and the Republican Party. Some Paleo-Conservatives would love to see this; I am not one of them. I think that there should be a counter to the Big Government idiocy of the Democratic Party.
The problem is, that party has no spokesman; Buckley is dead, Sanford is discredited, Ann Coulter is an idiot, Michelle Malkin is…. well, Michelle Malkin; there is just no one of great articulation. It is a tragic thing, but these things tend to happen; when the Party elects a President based upon family pedigree and then he proceeds to embark on a Wilsonian, Neo-Conservative guided mission of Global dominance in the middle east.
The burning question, which is in the back of everyone’s mind is this; will the Republican Party be able to pull out of this funk and find someone who can articulate properly the values of the party; Without coming off like sounding like some rich pompous ass? That is the problem with the party. The image is that of a “Rich Man’s Party.” and John McCain with his eight houses did nothing to help that image. Of course, I know that it is not a “Rich Man’s Party.” While I personally might not be in that Party, I know many middle class people who are.
As I said before, and have in many blog postings. It is going to be a long four to eight years in America.