Sarah Palin steps down. Speculation abounds.

[Rumely]

So, Sarah Palin is going to step down from her position as governor of Alaska. Everybody is speculating as to her unstated motives, and slightly confused by her stated motives. Is she done? Is she gonna run for president in '12? Is she being blackmailed?

If she does run for president in '12, she will likely find the primaries a painful experience, though a much needed dose of the realities of politics on a national scale. If she truly is the best the republicans can put forward and beats out the other contenders, the republican party is done for.

Putting a woman into serious contention for the presidency may be a good strategy, may possibly garner some of the votes of the frustrated Hillary supporters, but they would have to find someone (surely there IS someone) who is more experienced, qualified, and lucid than Sarah. If they could find a black or hispanic woman, so much the better.

[Mitchell]

I am also confused by her move. The only logical reason I can think of is the never ending lawsuits the Democrats are heaping upon her. Her family finances are in ruin due to legal cost of defending against the frivolous charges being brought against her.

As for experience she has far more executive experience than Obama did when he took office. But then again there is something to be said about experieince. Look at the mess inexpierenced Obama is making of the economy.

As far as finding a woman or black or Hispanic, shouldn't we judge people on their actions instead of what they were born with?

Would she be a viable candidate for the Presidency? Let me answer that with a question. Why do the Democrats so fear her? They have, even after the election, attacked her with a hatred I have never seen before. What is it ablout Sarah Palin that they fear so much?

Sadly, if you consider who the Republicans ran for President the last time you have to conclude the Republicans are scraping the bottom of the barrel. Without Sarah on the ticket I could not have voted for John McCain. He has often stabbed my beliefs in the back.

[Rumely]

The reason I said it would be better if the next Repulican were a black or hispanic woman is not because I buy into the notion of affirmative action or think race or gender should be a deciding factor, but the fact is that race and gender are often deciding factors. Obama may well have won the election because he was black. I'm just saying if the Republicans put up a minority woman, she would get some votes just for being a minority woman. Plus the race and gender card could be played in the campaign. Some would vote for her just because she would be the first woman or hispanic to be prez. Sadly, much of the electorate is no more sophisticated in their decision making than this.

Speculation continues that our own (MN) governor Tim Pawlenty may run in 2012. I'd have to hear his campaign promises, etc. but he strikes me as an honest (at least for a politician) and competent guy. There has also been some talk about the possibility of Newt Gingrich running, but I really don't think he has a chance.

[Mitchell]

Interesting you should bring up Newt in a topic on Palin. I have watched Newt since the early 90's when he took on Clinton. I watched the media attempt to do to him what they did to Palin, that is villanize him at every turn.

My own observations lead me to believe he is a very intelligent conservative. He is one of two men I classify that way, the other being **** Cheney.

I do not believe Newt is perfect, but I rank him as better than anything the Republicans have run since Reagan left office.

[Rumely]

It will be interesting to see what the political weather is like in a few years. A lot is going to depend on what happens during these Obama years. If the promised jobs don't start showing up and the economy doesn't make a vigorous recovery, the Dems may not be smelling so pretty next election. In any case, the Repulicans need to be gearing up for 2012 now.

I forgot to mention Minnesota's own former senator, Norm Coleman, who I expect will be tossing his hat into the ring. Of course, with Pawlenty announcing that he will not be running for reelection as governor, Norm may decide to run for that instead. One thing we can be sure of, is that Norm will run for something.

[mcswan]

Interesting comments here on Palin, and Gingrich, and Cheney, and Pawlenty, and Coleman. All good conservative Republicans. Are any of them going to be able to effectively run for president? We'll see.

As for Palin, I'm sure that Mitchell is right about the reason she's left the office of governor; she needs to be able to respond more effectively to the false charges against her. Her critics have tried to put her in a corner, politically, where no matter how she responds to their attacks they can pound her even more: 'she's neglecting her office, she's misusing her power, she's raising money illegally to hire lawyers, she can't take the heat, and blah, blah, blah' keeping up a constant negative barrage to which she can't respond because of the restrictions of her office. Now she is able to raise money and use the legal system to fight these vultures, and there are a lot of us conservatives willing to help. She is also now free to do what she does best, talk to huge crowds of conservative voters, revving us up to get this crowd of fools out of office. I really don't care if Palin runs for president or not, her value is in motivating the conservative base. Our candidate will emerge later.

None of this, however, will make any difference whatever unless the Republican party is willing to go back to it's conservative principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility, and ethical behavior. Right now I'm not optimistic about that happening. The party is too willing to take the position of 'we're socialists too, but we can do it better.'

[Mitchell]

Very well said!

[Rumely]

I don't honestly know whether Sarah Palin is truly suited to elective office, but one thing I'm pretty sure of, is that most, if not all, Americans' images would suffer considerably under the kind of scrutiny and spin the media has subjected her to. The vast majority of us could easily be made to look like fools by interviews of people with agendas, sound bites, mining our past with the assumption that we have not grown or changed in the years and decades since some of our past foolishness, twisting our words, etc.

I guess I've been thinking about this lately because Levi Johnston has been spouting off to the media recently. I don't know if he's being paid, or is hoping the attention will lead to some semi-celebrity, or what. Even if everything he said was 100% accurate, I think he should shut up and take care of his own business.