"She is involved in multiple ethics cases, all of which she is cleared of."
Keep in mind that she was cleared by the ultimate authority who makes those decisions, the State Personnel Board, which is comprised of solely of members who are
appointed to their job by, ta-da!, the governor.
Palin declared she was not a quitter, and then promptly quit. And did so in the same speech! Made a promise to the people of Alaska, and then just changed her mind, gonna do suntin' else for a while. She's never really known what she wanted to do.
After graduating high school she spent one semester at Hawaii Pacific College, then the North Idaho Community College for two semesters, then she competed in and won the Miss Wasilla, and finished third in the Miss Alaska pageant, winning the coveted title of Miss Congeniality. She then transferred to the University of Idaho, for two semesters, and then transferred back to another community college in Alaska. She
then transferred back to the University of Idaho where she spent three whole semesters to finally obtain her communications BA in journalism. Journalism. Where she apparently learned the tough as nails skills of writing like a 12-year old on MySpace.
She then became an eye candy sports reporter for a couple of TV stations in Anchorage.
She ran for City Council and was elected, and then re-elected. But while barely into her second term she quit to run for mayor. She served two 3-year terms as mayor, then ran for Lieutenant Governor, but lost. She was appointed to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, as the Chair, which is an open-ended 4 year appointment, and quit after a year.
Still wildly popular, she was elected governor. Part of the problem is her popularity. She's just like us, she's one of us, she
IS us. Well, most of
us wouldn't be a very good elected official, either, and is why her popularity took a steady nose dive the longer she stayed in office. The other part of the problem is
us made her a star and she fell in love with being a star, and while she glowed in the limelight, she found herself wilting in the spotlight.
She discovered that she's not Sarah the Baracuda, a pit bull with or without lipstick, nor as syndicated columnist Ellen Goodman called her,
"The mother of five, moose killer and marathoner who juggled a BlackBerry and a breast pump."
After resigning as governor she has described her role in that office as being just plain ol' people, awe shucks and gosh darn it, "This is who I am. This is what I am." Never mind the fact that she doesn't know who she is, what she is, or what she wants. In her resignation speech she said, "Life is about choices."
Yeah, well, clearly for her the choices were to continue to fight with the state legislature, continue to pay her lawyers to defend her ethics charges, continue to put her kids through the ringer,
OR, take her show on the road and make a bundle as an author and speaking star before audiences that gosh darn it just adore her.
She says all her options are on the table, but you really have to wonder if she even knows what those options are. I think she'll run for president, or at least pretend to, in order to keep the speaking circuit alive and the money rolling in. For the right paycheck, she'd give it all up for a reality show. But if she does run for president, let's just hope that between now and then she learns at least as much about domestic and foreign policy as Katie Couric.
I like Sarah Palin, too, but good Lord, not for the President of the United States of America. We've already got Obama. Do we really want to lower our standards beyond that?
I'd go for Palin as Team Mom, tho. She's kewl.
