Several of you have written or commented asking me my thoughts about Governor Sarah Palin’s sudden resignation. I’ve been keeping a links notepad, hoping to find time to publish it. As you might imagine, we’re a little pre-occupied over here and a lot tired as well.

My thoughts, which should surprise no one: Palin was a horrible pick for McCain. The only thing that saved McCain’s career was that he didn’t resign from the Senate. Ultimately, the need for McCain to pander to the extreme views of the GOP core contributed to his disastrous VP pick and as time passed in the campaign, it was obvious that McCain’s decision-making abilities were called into question by independent voters.

Palin, kept her Alaska job as a fallback, but rather than finish the job she was elected for, decided to quit. Palin wasn’t (and isn’t) fit for national office, screamingly obvious in even the softest of interviews during the 2008 election as well as in the interviews following her surprise resignation.

The very core of the conservative base, the most fringy, the most extreme absolutely love Palin and apparently can look past things like coherent sentence construction and ability to function off-script. I’m glad she resigned. Nothing would please me more than seeing her vie for the White House in 2012. I thnk Palin is taking Obama’s Audacity of Hope to heart. I just wonder if conservatives can look past her bailing on her government job.

* * *

We begin the link cavalcade with the piece in Vanity Fair that may have caused the resignation. It’s not pretty.

This piece from Slate points out her incoherence and how her frustrations are weirdly inverted. Choice bit:

“Once you understand that Palin’s only actual message is the importance of loving and understanding Palin, it becomes easier to understand why she quit.”

Conservatives spinning it on Fox News:

“From a messaging standpoint Palin is perfect. She is also the only one who can reasonably argue that she hasn’t been part of either the Republican or Democratic web of Washington politics. No bailouts, big spending, or Buenos Aires lust romps.”

Pitch perfect? If no ability to form a sentence that says anything remotely resembling clear, lucid, coherent thought is perfection then I want what Fox News is smoking. Quitting mid-term is good? Quitting is a family value? Not governing = good?

People who live in real political life like Virginia gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell aren’t too sure about Palin’s motives:

“But McDonnell also predicted the contest would not be affected by any high-profile endorsements on either side and professed confusion about Palin’s abrupt decision to leave office with 18 months left in her term.”

“‘I don’t know how this recent announcement — which I still don’t fully understand; I only know what I’ve read in the media — how that fully plays out and whether she’s going to prefer a private life or whether she still wants to stay actively involved,’ McDonnell said.”

Watch this video:

from this story at LATimes.com.

This cutting gem from a blog at the Washington Post:

“Sarah Palin should live up to her self-proclaimed Christian ‘family values’ and do what she says is the moral thing to do: put her family first and help those who cannot help themselves.”

This column from the Chicago Tribune about Palin’s staying power and compares Palin & Harriet Meiers (the failed Supreme Court nominee before Alito was nominated). This column plays the babe card.

Disputing the “millions of dollars spent” line from her resignation:
Is this piece:

“A large part of the Palin administration’s $1.9 million cost breakdown is $560,800 for state personnel board work on ethics complaints. But the board itself recently gave a much smaller figure — $300,000 — for hiring outside investigators for the complaints, nearly all of which have been dismissed. Perez said the difference is the larger number represents contracts for services not yet billed.

“Around two-thirds of the $300,000 that has been spent was in addressing the ‘Troopergate’ issue last fall. Palin herself initiated the personnel board investigation on ‘Troopergate,’ saying that the state Legislature’s investigation of the matter was politicized and she was seeking the appropriate venue to deal with it. The Palin administration cost breakdown also includes what’s calculated as more than $100,000 worth of per-hour state lawyer time related to the Legislature’s investigation of the ‘Troopergate’ affair. The Legislature’s report found Palin abused her power, while the personnel board’s investigator disagreed.”

A long way from non-elite hockey mom to the conservative elite in Washington DC.

I think I agree most with this straightforward piece from boston.com:

“Palin was unprepared for the national spotlight, and quickly looked unqualified.”

Conservatives can whine all they want that Palin has been “mistreated” in the media. It’s not mistreatment if you can’t explain yourself or answer simple questions about your statements. The problem is that when you deal with a narcissist, they see themselves as above everybody else; narcissists only care what you think about them. As it’s clearly been seen, the media has a love/hate thing going with Palin. She likely puts butts in the seats, but when she opens her mouth, nothing of substance ever comes out. Palin is the perfect illustration of what’s wrong with the GOP. All PR and image, no ideas. By all means, nominate her for president. If she can’t handle being a governor of a lesser state, there’s no way she can handle being commander-in-chief.

Finally this bit of snark from Maureen Dowd. Rawr.

How long until we hear about her Fox News talk show?