Sister Sarah Throws In The Towel, Possibly Picks Up New Bigger Towel

Sarah Palin is apparently not going to run for re-election next year as Governor of Alaska.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is expected to announce Friday that she will not seek a second term, a Republican source close to Palin tells CNN.

Palin has scheduled a 3 p.m. ET news conference at her home in Wasilla. The governor’s office offered no further details about the subject of the news conference, but the sources tells CNN that Palin will announce her decision to forgo another run.

As the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, Palin is considered one of the frontrunners for the GOP nomination in 2012. Her decision not to seek another term as governor is sure to stoke speculation that Palin is seriously eyeing a run for the White House.

I still stand by this morning's assessment of Gov. Palin. She's too much like Bush in a number of uncomfortable ways.

But you'd better damn well believe she's going to go for the brass ring in 2012. It annoys me that I need a 2012 election tag already, but let the games begin.

[UPDATE 3:25 PM] Oh my stars and garters, she's actually resigning her office effective the end of the month.

Oh double hell yes, she's either going for the whole enchilada in 2012...or some sort of scandal so mega-huge is coming that she is resigning now.

(If it's the latter, I'm going to be pissed that I now have a 2012 Election tag with no actual viable candidates to run in 2012.)

[UPDATE 4:17 PM] According to the First Dude and FOX News, she's quitting now because Alaska is just too mean to her.

Todd Palin told FOX News that his wife will concentrate on "doing the things for Alaska and the country" that she is passionate about and can not do as governor with the limitation and constant opposition she deals with within the state.

Are you kidding me? I smell a disaster incoming, and she's right back to playing the "Liberal media is picking on me/Victim card" like she did during the election. Why is she doing it now?

[UPDATE 4:31 PM] Here's the heart of the speech, in all its incoherent glory, courtesy TPM and CNN.

Something is definitely not right here.

I don't know. Maybe she really is just quitting. Maybe there's an illness in the family, or she's sick, or she just wants the world to leave her alone...but why not reveal something like that? I would think the people of Alaska at least would want a straight answer, not to mention her base is not going to be satisfied with this statement.

Now, I wish no harm to Sarah Palin or her family. But a little honesty, please.

[UPDATE 5:47 PM] Bill Kristol: This is only good news for Sarah Palin!

If Palin wants to run in 2012, why not do exactly what she announced today? It's an enormous gamble - but it could be a shrewd one.

After all, she's freeing herself from the duties of the governorship. Now she can do her book, give speeches, travel the country and the world, campaign for others, meet people, get more educated on the issues - and without being criticized for neglecting her duties in Alaska. I suppose she'll take a hit for leaving the governorship early - but how much of one? She's probably accomplished most of what she was going to get done as governor, and is leaving a sympatico lieutenant governor in charge.

"Without being criticized for neglecting her duties in Alaska?" If Palin really is gunning for 2012, it means she quit 18 months before her term was up to run for an election 40 months from now. She completely neglected her duties in Alaska, she f'ckin quit.

[UPDATE 6:41 PM] Boy, did I pick the wrong morning to psychoanalyze Sarah Palin. Raw Story is reporting that Palin resigned as damage control ahead of a major scandal "not involving her family", and that even her family did not know of her resignation until the press conference. Short of being caught on tape transforming into an evil space alien, what the hell did she do that was worse than Mark Sanford's year-long affair with an Argentinian newscaster?