James Taranto on Palin's Bailin'

[jmichna]

From the Wall Street Journal's "Best of the Web Today" for July 6, 2009:

Why Palin's Bailin'
To spend more time with her family? "Hell yeah."
By JAMES TARANTO

Best of the Tube Tonight
We'll be appearing on "America's Nightly Scoreboard" tonight to discuss Sarah Palin's resignation with host David Asman. Tune in at 7 p.m. ET, with a repeat showing at 10 p.m., on Fox Business channel.

Why Palin's Bailin'
Maybe Sarah Palin really does want to spend more time with her family.
Go ahead and laugh. We can wait.

Are you finished? Good. Look, we know that this is a Beltway cliché: An official resigns, saying he wants to spend more time with the family, and no one believes it.

But this is different on several counts. For one, those Washington officials are almost always leaving appointive office. Elected officials, by contrast, seldom resign in the middle of their terms, except to move on to other (usually higher) office or because they are driven out by scandal.

Not surprisingly, then, most of the speculation about Palin's motives has centered the possibilities that she plans to run for president in 2012 and that some scandal is about to break. Even if either explanation is true, however, her resignation would still be highly unorthodox.

When politicians resign for higher office, they usually take the trouble to win the higher office first. Even Bob Dole and Bill Weld had been nominated for the offices they failed to obtain after resigning. And elected politicians don't typically quit to defuse scandals that have yet to emerge.

The other difference between Palin and those Beltway quitters is that they are hardly ever mothers of small children. (Most of them aren't even women.) If you've never met or had a mother, the thing to know about them is that they tend to be very protective of their children. Palin herself made this point during her resignation announcement Friday (quoting verbatim from the governor's office transcript; video here):

This decision comes after much consideration, and finally polling the most important people in my life--my children (where the count was unanimous… well, in response to asking: "Want me to make a positive difference and fight for ALL our children's future from OUTSIDE the Governor's office?" It was four "yes's" and one "hell yeah!" The "hell yeah" sealed it--and someday I'll talk about the details of that… I think much of it had to do with the kids seeing their baby brother Trig mocked by some pretty mean-spirited adults recently.)

As an aside, Trig, at 14 months, surely is not old enough to have expressed an opinion on this matter, which means somebody voted twice.

Of course Palin was a mother when she ran for governor in 2006. But her life has changed quite dramatically since then. At the time of her election, her youngest child was 5; Trig, born April 2008, was not yet even a gleam in the first dude's eye. Last year daughter Bristol got pregnant and this year she became a single mother, so that the Palin clan has grown by two babies who were presumably unanticipated when Mom took office.

Even more significantly, during and after her run for the vice presidency last year, Palin became a hate object for many on the left and some on the right. For whatever reason, Palin-haters have been unusually uninhibited in their cruel mockery of the governor's children, particularly Bristol and Trig. HotAir.com's "Allahpundit" notes that Palin's resignation moved one Erik Nelson to write a Puffington Host post titled "Palin Will Run in '12 on More Retardation Platform." (Trig Palin has Down's syndrome.)

Nelson thought better of the post, pulled it, and offered an apology. He should have apologized for being unoriginal. Last September the Onion published a fake op-ed attributed to Palin, lauding "my vote-stealing retard baby."

As for Bristol, it hardly seems necessary to rehearse the whole David Letterman kerfuffle. And along with the cruel humor has come a good deal of ugly commentary that is meant seriously, to the effect that Mrs. Palin, Bristol or both should have had an abortion (so much for privacy and choice!) and even, on the Web site of a once-respected magazine, endless fevered speculation to claiming that Mrs. Palin is actually her son's grandmother.

When Palin protested such treatment, as in the Letterman case, it didn't go away. Yes, Letterman eventually apologized, but Palin detractors continued to trash her for "playing the victim" by having the temerity to complain. Why should anyone be mystified that a mother, in the face of such indecent treatment of her children, would finally say enough is enough?

Are we missing something here? If you think so, prove Taranto wrong. We've set up a message board on Facebook's Fans of Best of the Web Today group. Click here to read and discuss, and click here to join the group.

I can hardly wait for KEVWYO's "contributions" here!

[ID_ford_boy]

Originally Posted by jmichna

I can hardly wait for KEVWYO's "contributions" here!

[KEVWYO]

Sarah IQUITAROD Palin.

[ID_ford_boy]

Originally Posted by KEVWYO

Sarah IQUITAROD Palin.

clever






























typical smart ass kevy reply...

[KEVWYO]

Originally Posted by ID_ford_boy

clever
typical smart ass kevy reply...

Glad to know it moved you enough to comment.

Please have a great day and don't get hit by a bus ... mmmkay?!

[Frenchy]

Originally Posted by KEVWYO

Sarah IQUITAROD Palin.

That is funny! We need a pic of her sled heading in the other direction, with a sign pointing toward Washington.

[DWARREN123]

Who really cares. She was, I think, a good governor and now she is doing something she thinks she needs to do woithout screwing the people of Alaska.
Leave her and her family be.

[KEVWYO]

Originally Posted by DWARREN123

Who really cares. She was, I think, a good governor and now she is doing something she thinks she needs to do without screwing the people of Alaska.
Leave her and her family be.

Even if she keeps putting her and her family out there for discussion? I guarantee you Palin will be back in the media spotlight inside of two or three months of her own choosing.

[amandaorange]

Originally Posted by KEVWYO

Even if she keeps putting her and her family out there for discussion? I guarantee you Palin will be back in the media spotlight inside of two or three months of her own choosing.

I highly doubt it was Palin's idea for people to make fun of her kids and tell her she should have had an abortion.

Besides, Obama drew attention to his family. He made that sappy speech that he "did this for the kids". But I never heard anyone make fun of his daughters.

[justgotback]

The liberal idiots are terrified of her...........