The most popular political parlor game right now is to deconstruct Palin's Independence Day eve announcement to decipher whether there is some grand plan behind her rambling front-lawn press conference. So in these back-to-back interviews, dubbed a "giant photo opportunity" by NBC's Andrea Mitchell, you'd think some clarity would emerge. It didn't in a big way--but maybe that's part of her strategy???
Here's what she did say: Knowing she was not going to run for re-election to a second term as Alaska's governor, Palin decided that another year of battling her adversaries, and fighting costly legal battles as more ethics violations are levied against her administration, would not be good for the state's coffers or for her family. So she decided to turn over the state to her lieutenant governor and go on her way--to what, besides the book she has a contract to write and speaking engagements, she wouldn't say.
Can you imagine yourself running for president? Mitchell asked her. "I don't know what the future holds," she answered. "Can't predict what the next fish run's gonna look like, much less the next couple of years."
"You haven't finished the job, some would say," Mitchell said, and Palin responded, curtly: "You're not listening to me as to why I wouldn't be able to finish that final year in office without it costing the state millions of dollars and countless hours of wasted time...." Her personal debt, she told Mitchell, is in the $500,000 range because of legal fees. But that is not the only reason she is leaving office now. Just one of the many reasons that added up to her surprise move to bail on a quarter of her elected term.
"I said before ... 'You know, politically speaking, if I die, I die. So be it,'" she said in more than one interview, meaning if her one elected term cut short cuts her political options, well, it's still worth it.
You get the sense that there's more bubbling beneath the surface of her decision to quit her job while trying to make it seem like a real quitter would put her head down, slog it out, and fulfill the four-year term she was elected to serve. But, maybe the fact that no one -- advisers, supporters, leaders in her party -- seemed to be informed about this decision and ready to talk about what's next means this may be an in-the-moment decision designed to move Palin and her family off the political hot seat and into another kind of spotlight. But which one?
Do you think there's real strategy behind this abrupt career move, or an attempt to stem legal fees and bad press in favor of spending time earning her book advance and speaking fees?
Here's the interview with NBC's Andrea Mitchell:
