--Could Sarah Palin be bipolar?

I just watched her resignation on this site. A couple thoughts:

1) the Mayans were onto something when they predicted 2012 as the end and

2) Tina Fey -sorry your Palin gig is not up yet.

NO.

Who would be stupid enough to vote for a quitter. She can't even finish one term as a governor. Look at Palin's record----this is who she is. How many colleges did she quit before graduation? How many careers has she had? She cannot follow through with anything.

Besides, If she is complaining about her critics now, how could she handle a National campaign?

She is bailing before the other shoe drops.

I like the geese.

Do they run another election? Does the Assistant Gov move up? Do they dance around a firepit with antlers on their damn heads?

I saw a wonderful speech, actually. Not from my perspective, but from a Conservative (and not very bright) perspective, it was a work of art.

Basically it consisted of the following easily communicated idealets:

• Palin loves the state and loves being governor.

• The Liberals from New York were making it impossible for her to remain the governor.

• She is unwillingly resigning, because she loves Alaska more than being governor.

• She loves her family, especially the youngest.

Easy to remember, easy to raise to exalted status upon long reflection, familiar. Hits the base just in the right place.

Palin doesn't give a damn what readers of Salon think.

Faulk, get out your calendar. July 26 is the turnover date for Alaska's new governor. July 31 is the reporting date for biannual contributions to the Sarah PAC. The PAC was pushing hard for donations at the end of June, to put up a big number in July. That's what this is about.

More Sarah-ese translations. Her PAC leader put out a statement tonight on CNN fingering the ethics charges for her resignation. That's what Sarah meant earlier by millions in state, and hundreds of thousands of personal expenses, and her children not letting her stay as governor -- eating away the inheritance, as it were. It's also what is meant by the point guard pass to Lt. Gov. -- a Palinista over at Human Events explains how the conservative Lt. Gov. (and close Palin ally) will now get a critical leg up in primary 2010, and give Palin a legacy potential on her agenda (esp. Calgary pipeline) she would have lost with a mere endorsement, and not actually elevating him early.

This charge, incidentally (by the PAC leader), is pure Nixonian bunk. Palin can pay off the ethics bills with the help of her supporters, and everyone knows it. Sarah had three choices: (1) give a fine speech, which would have the misfortune politically of being remembered; (2) really go full Nixon c. 1974 and become overtly emotional over nonsense; or (3) filibuster through a half-Nixon. The goal was to get out of Dodge without having anyone really understand what happened, and to the extent, she played the situation like a hand made Tirolian violin.

I was thinking of Mark Sanford earlier today and wondering why no one resigns in the manner of Spartacus. In that film, the Crassus character melodramatically lays down control of his legions and retires to private life. But his rival Gracchus protests, wailing to the senate "He'll be back!" and adding, "We've all seen this kind of 'heroic' behavior before. I don't like the meaning of it!"

Well, today I got my wish. Looking around the web, I see a few stalwarts who got it right. Bill Kristol was one, but Howard Fineman was another. Most everyone else panned her performance because they can't think creatively, or strategically.

Remember, I think Sarah is sweet. I also think she's ruthless. I've compared her many times, as you'll recall from last year, to Scarlet O'Hara and Richard Nixon. Not to promote her, in that instance, but to explain her.

By the way, if I'm wrong, and she really is done, then I'll love her just the same. But in all likelihood, the real losers here, in terms of lost inheritance, are Mrs. Mitt Romney and the Romney progency. Dad is going to dig deep, I think, to fight Sarah's legions.

Yes. Bipolar or Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Or both.

hellman's right on. I never thought I'd hear Candy Crowley call a GOP statement "crazy."

Today at the grocery store I said to the clerk, "Did ya here that Sarah Palin resigned as Governor?" he looked at me and said, "And..."

"And what?"

"And what is the punchline?"

"No punchline, she really did."

"Oh, it just sounds like the set up to a joke."

So I started thinking about what the actually jokes could be.

I expect staffers at late night shows are frantically scribbling jokes this minute.

Wow! We thought the last few weeks would be hard to beat, but good ole Sarah knew she could top that. It amazes that after listening to that rambling nonsense, not a pundit, blogger or anybody anywhere has a clue what she was talking about. I'm sure there are many that have thought what might have happened if Mc Cain had won & are thanking their lucky stars or God or somebody that he didn't. It would have been the ONLY way she could have become POTUS, if something had happened to him, which is not all that unlikely. No one in their right mind, outside of a relatively small extreme right crowd would believe she could win if she ran on her own. Just thinking how close she might have become should scare all of us to death.

Once again Republicans refuse to accept personal responsibility and declare, "It's all the Liberal Media's fault".

The Republicans will eat this up. They love to play victims. FoxNews will be running "Victim Sarah" stories for years, right through the 2012 elections.

The reason the PAC money is important is that it goes to other candidates. Palin will be a one-woman RNC, and there are early indications her fund raising number will be a blockbuster. The Vanity Fair article noted that she raised $400,000 the week the PAC was created but before it made its first overt solicitation.

With the Lt. Gov in office by 7/26, and the PAC number released on 7/31, Palin can then spend the balance of 2009 working on her book (a $7 million advance is now a number of record) and campaigning for primaries in 2010. Think again about that baseball game in NY with Rudy -- the one that triggered the Letterman jokes. I bet we'll see Sarah in NY for Rudy's gubanatorial bid, and certainly in Texas for Perry, and lots of places in between.

The beauty of it all is: she doesn't even have to run for president in 2012. She can just be rich and popular, and wear whatever clothes she likes along the way.

Let the liberal teeth grinding begin!