[hrothgar]

Palin just announced that she will resign as governor before the end of the month

http://www.ktva.com/ci_12746301

I suspect that this effectively kills any chance she has of any kind of presence on the national scene.

The saner three quarters of the nation heaved a sigh of relief.

[jdonn]

hrothgar, on Jul 3 2009, 03:19 PM, said:

I suspect that this effectively kills any chance she has of any kind of presence on the national scene.

Unfortunately, I don't believe that is true. Just look at Mitt Romney for example.

[luke warm]

i don't know what that means, i suppose we'll find out... maybe obama changed his mind and will now choose her for supreme court

[jonottawa]

jdonn, on Jul 3 2009, 08:37 PM, said:

hrothgar, on Jul 3 2009, 03:19 PM, said:

I suspect that this effectively kills any chance she has of any kind of presence on the national scene.

Unfortunately, I don't believe that is true. Just look at Mitt Romney for example.

Yeah, but Romney has magic underpants.

[Winstonm]

Damn - I'm gonna miss her on Saturday Night Live.

[kenberg]

I enjoyed my professional life as a mathematician but I believe I would have been fine as an auto mechanic or a truck driver. Not as a politician. So part of my reaction to Palin chucking it in is "What took you so long?". Fifty journalists sniffing my butt is not my idea of the good life.

But chuck it in she did. Any thought that this is a clever political move is pure fantasy. It may be her fantasy as well, but it is still fantasy.

[jdonn]

Just a thought. Not sure that I'm right so please correct me if I'm not. If McCain had been elected, and Palin had now quit as vice president, wouldn't Nancy Pelosi have become the new vice president? Or is it only that she becomes president if something happens to both of them, but if only the vice president leaves that the president gets to choose a new one?

[helene_t]

If Cascade and I both die then you will become the new official Water Cooler statistician, Josh.

[cherdanno]

helene_t, on Jul 4 2009, 10:10 AM, said:

If I and Cascade both die then you will become the new official Water Cooler statistician, Josh.

Oh dear. Can we go back to imagining Palin as president, please?

[kenberg]

When Agnew resigned, I believe there was no veep until Ford was confirmed. Since the speaker is already the designated successor, this seems sensible. So I think Pelosi, although next in line, would not become veep. But I also am not sure. The image of Palin turning over the "heartbeat away" role to Pelosi, whatever the exact details are, is amusing to contemplate. They will pry the vice presidency from my cold dead hands.

[jdonn]

helene_t, on Jul 4 2009, 10:10 AM, said:

If Cascade and I both die then you will become the new official Water Cooler statistician, Josh.

I think han is very offended by that remark.

[onoway]

She said she wasn't seeking reelection as governor but she certainly didnt discount having her eye on higher things...and who knew so many people would line up behind her in the first place? She's just so darn PERKY...

News story says she has started a Sarah Political Action Force organisation so it seems unlikely she is intending to fade into the sunset anytime soon. So everyone can look forward to another visit to the zoo in 3 or so years perhaps....

[Winstonm]

The concept of Palin ever being elected to national office is chilling enough to be made into a movie: Terminal Stupidity

[helene_t]

onoway, on Jul 4 2009, 05:51 PM, said:

Sarah Political Action Force

Sarah Political Action Movement would make a better acronym.

[kenberg]

onoway, on Jul 4 2009, 11:51 AM, said:

She said she wasn't seeking reelection as governor but she certainly didnt discount having her eye on higher things...and who knew so many people would line up behind her in the first place? She's just so darn PERKY...

News story says she has started a Sarah Political Action Force organisation so it seems unlikely she is intending to fade into the sunset anytime soon. So everyone can look forward to another visit to the zoo in 3 or so years perhaps....

I predict that in three years she will be one of the whos down in whoville. Litlle Sara Who who was not more than two. She presented one of those awful sports analogies about a point guard handing off the ball so the team can win. Her action is more like the point guard walking off the floor in the middle of the third quarter and vowing to be back for the really big game. Not likely.

Sure, anything is possible in politics. But I would place a heavy bet on her being only an embarrassing memory in 2012. I wish her no ill, but it would be a shame if she did not realize that it is over.

[ArtK78]

jdonn, on Jul 4 2009, 10:06 AM, said:

Just a thought. Not sure that I'm right so please correct me if I'm not. If McCain had been elected, and Palin had now quit as vice president, wouldn't Nancy Pelosi have become the new vice president? Or is it only that she becomes president if something happens to both of them, but if only the vice president leaves that the president gets to choose a new one?

Amendment 25 - Presidential Disability and Succession. Ratified 2/10/1967.

1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.

2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

[the rest of Amendment 25 not reproduced]

Yes, the Speaker of the House is third in line to the Presidency. But the Speaker of the House would only take office as President in the absence or incapacity of both the President and the Vice President. If there is no Vice President, the President nominates a successor and Congress confirms the choice. Gerald Ford was nominated as Vice President by Richard Nixon after Spiro Agnew resigned, and Nelson Rockefeller was nominated as Vice President by Gerald Ford after Gerald Ford assumed the Presidency upon Richard Nixon's resignation.

There was an episode of West Wing (one of my favorite TV shows of all time) titled "25" in which, after the Vice President resigned, and before a new Vice President was nominated and confirmed, the President's daughter was kidnapped and held for ransom by terrorists. The President decided that he was unable to properly lead the country under the circumstances, and the Speaker of the House, who happened to be of the opposite political party, assumed the Presidency during the incapacity of the President. The issue of what happens during an incapacity of the President is dealt with in the portion of the 25th Amendment that I did not reproduce above.

[cherdanno]

kenberg, on Jul 4 2009, 12:56 PM, said:

Sure, anything is possible in politics. But I would place a heavy bet on her being only an embarrassing memory in 2012.  I wish her no ill, but it would be a shame if she did not realize that it is over.

If she runs, she has a solid base of strong supporters in the Republican primary, and would probably have more and more dedicated volunteers for her campaign than any other Republican candidate.
It's not so clear she can ever expand beyond that base, but it's not such a bad starting point. Of course, the odds are she won't win the candidacy, but that is true for any candidate right now.

[luke warm]

if she runs she needs to become more knowledgeable about ... well, about most everything... but arend is mainly correct, she does appear to have a solid conservative (different from 'republican') base

[kenberg]

luke warm, on Jul 4 2009, 04:58 PM, said:

if she runs she needs to become more knowledgeable about ... well, about most everything... but arend is mainly correct, she does appear to have a solid conservative (different from 'republican') base

2012: I buy drinks for the two of you if she is even a remotely serious candidate. Dem or Rep, Lib or Cons, you can't just chuck the governorship and then come back and say you want to be pres. No party, Dem or Rep, would take such an effort seriously.

The base that will remain for her will now consist of people who have no interest whatsoever in winning the general election. That will not be enough. Whatever Dems may think, Reps are not totally nuts. I expect to see a conservative friend on Monday. I will ask him, but my guess is that Ms. Palin is past tense.

[luke warm]

well i did say 'if'... i agree with you, actually, and think there's more to this story than meets the eye