For the moment Palin will go on the speaking circuit, likely garnering hefty fees. She's a rock star with the Conservative base of the Republican Party and in high demand as a speaker. She's also working on a book, scheduled to come out next year. Since the former-governor has incurred more than $500,000 in legal fees defending herself from 19 or so ethics complaints, all of which concluded that she did nothing wrong, except for one which is still pending, her first priority is understandably to make some money to pay those bills.
Governor Palin is also in demand to campaign for GOP candidates all over the country. Her popularity among Republicans, particularly conservatives, will likely keep her quite busy in the lower 48 from now until Election Day 2010.
As far as Sarah's professional or political future, in my opinion she has a number of options open to her. She could run for the U.S. Senate, though why she would want to be a member of that corrupt body is beyond me. She could be a possible replacement for RNC Chairman Michael Steele, who many are disappointed with, myself included. She might also decide to put her popularity to work as a political pundit or host a television show, like former-Governor Mike Huckabee. Her personality and looks make that a very real prospect, especially on the Fox News Channel. Another career move I haven't heard mentioned is a radio program. Fred Thompson, the former Tennessee Senator, TV & movie actor and presidential candidate has a very successful radio show with his wife Jeri. I think Palin would do a great job shaping policy and opinion from behind a microphone.
Getting back to the "quitter" label for a moment, I think that's an unfair criticism under the circumstances. From the moment John McCain tapped her as his running-mate last year, Sarah was savaged by the liberal media. She received more scrutiny in the first two weeks after she was picked as the GOP's vice-presidential candidate, than Barack Obama had in the two years he was running for president. She was accused of pretending that her child Trig was hers. The bloggers said that Trig, who has Downs Syndrome, was actually the child of Palin's eldest daughter Bristol. The mainstream liberal media instead of practicing journalism and investigating this ridiculous accusation, reported it as though it were fact. Of course this turned out to be completely untrue. Once that myth was debunked, she was criticized for having a child with Downs and then for working full-time while raising a family. Women's groups, instead of defending her for being a mother and a successful professional, either joined the chorus of critics or were noticeably silent. The traditional rule that the children of candidates were off limits was tossed out for Governor Palin. The press and the blogosphere relentlessly intruded upon and attacked the Palin children and it didn't stop even six months after the election was over. Given that and the frivolous ethics complaints I addressed earlier, I think it's very understandable that Governor Palin decided to step aside. As she said in her resignation announcement, the constant allegations were costing her and the State of Alaska huge amounts of money and making it nearly impossible for Palin and her staff to do the job she was elected to do by the voters, running the State.
I believe that Sarah Palin's options are vast. The reason that liberal pundits and Democratic politicians and operatives are still attacking and belittling her, is they recognize that she's still a force to be reckoned with and they are concerned about her. If they weren't, why would they mention her at all?
I enjoyed reading your comments concerning Palin and I concur. Her options are vast and the next 18 months will give everyone the opportunity to not only see what is on her mind, but how the public responds to her. My only concern as relates to Palin herself is, she is such a lightening rod. Time will dictate her ability to draw folks to her or.....
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime - GO SARAH!
Great insights Steve! I am dismayed that even pundits on the right fail to acknowledge Sarah Palin's many accomplishments (fiscal conservatism and willingness to wield a veto pen, resulting in solvency for her state; completed pipeline deal, etc), nor do they give any consideration to the extreme circumstances that left her little choice but to retire.
ReplyDelete$500,000 is a huge sum for us non-elitists, and Palin was forced to spend the majority of her time defending herself instead of tending to state business (an activity that was also costing Alaska's taxpayers dearly). I wish some conservatives would keep that mind when they join the left in branding her a "quitter." Not even President Bush had to deal with such relentless, repugnant character assassination. Saul Alinksy must be very proud of DNC operative Linda Biegel (one of the Trig photoshoppers) and all of the leftie minions who executed his strategy, and the Cloward_Piven strategy so brilliantly.
There is no doubt in my mind that the newly unleashed Sarah Palin is about to affect American politics in a positive, dramatic way -- whether as presidential candidate, grass-roots leader, RNC Chairman or some other role.
Thank you for the post!