Saturday, July 4, 2009

Why would she leave office? Let us count the ways.

[Updated (2) below.]

I listed four theories for Sarah Palin's abrupt resignation yesterday afternoon.

The Daily Beast put the total at eleven by early evening.

And, shortly before that, Kausfiles had already tallied fourteen (not counting the Scientology thing).

Methodological issues abound. Kausfiles and The Beast achieve length in part by slicing the baloney pretty thin: Is "fame withdrawal" (#2 at Kausfiles) really separable from "cashing in" (#3)? If you subscribe to "it was a whim" (#6 at The Beast), don't you also have to assume that "she's unstable" (#8)?

I stick to the virtues of my shorter list, but it has its own technical problems, too; as I noted on Facebook, I only tallied the explanations that had been explicitly offered up to that point--any that were too obvious to mention got undersampled.

I call for a Blogger Panel on Bizarre Resignations Methodology.

[Update: The Kenosha Kid offers four possibilities, partly historical, partly inspirational.]

[Update: The Washington Monthly lists seven possible explanations, of which only one--#6--explores new territory.]

5 comments:

Reaganite Republican said...

Palin’s move just puts yet more pressure on Obama to finally get some results, as the soaring rhetoric isn’t hypnotizing the plebes like it used to. This week Helen Thomas, Colin Powell, and Warren Buffet all turned on him. Polls are looking droopy for The One lately.

Obama’s porkulus program is a train wreck, all it’s done is bump interest rates and tank the dollar. We are being laughed at by bad guys like Tehran, Pyongyang, and Al Qaida who amazingly turned-down Barack’s timid friend-requests.

Palin could trounce him in 2012, when Americans would vote for the Gipper-in-Heels in droves- while begging for lower taxes, free enterpise, a defense posture with some backbone… an end to the radical, anti-American nightmare we’ve got now.

Go get ‘em Sarah-

http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com

Nothstine said...

Hey, RR--

I don't follow. How will Palin put more pressure on Obama as an ex-governor than as a sitting governor?

bn

fbear said...

In spite of the hopes of true-believers on the right, Sarah Palin's chances of winning the Presidency were already slim.

Her resignation, and the way she resigned, have likely eliminated any possibility of her becoming President, or even becoming the GOPpernee.

It may turn out that she did this for personal reasons, but doing it on a Friday of a holiday weekend, the traditional "we're doing this now so not many will notice" time for bad news dumps, raises suspicion. She actually would have been smarter to have done this today or tomorrow.

But then it's unclear whether Sarah Palin and smart have ever attended the same Getting To Know You dinner.

Nothstine said...

There is a certain class of politician for whom sentences beginning with the phrase "If they'd've been smart . . . " simply will never work.

Fbear, you are correct to put the once-and-former Governor of Alaska in that group.

Which isn't to say she's dumb. Like George Bush, she has a canny ability to know people's secret vanities and push that button.

bn

fbear said...

Actually, I have it all figured out. She quit so she could host her new TV show: Sarah Palin ParaSailin'".

Also in the works: Sarah Pal(l)in' Around With Terrorists.