Jakubczyk on Life

Sarah Palin – surprise move

Almost everyone with any sense of decency knows that the constant media assault on the life, character and family of Sarah Palin is one of the embarrassing chapters of the modern era in politics. It was bad enough during the 2008 campaign, but the continued attacks only confirmed the popular wisdom that the Left really fears what this woman could do in the future. So it was necessary to destroy her and send a signal to anyone like her to stay out of politics.

I will admit that my initial advice after the November elections was to go back to Alaska, continue the good work being done, make an occasional visit to the “lower 48” for some “face time” and “chill out.” Apparently that was never possible.

New reports are surfacing that not only enemies across the aisle, but also competitors for the Republican base were in Alaska full time trying to turn up something that would be fatal to any effort to run for higher office in the future. The stories of the millions of dollars spent defending bogus charges and costing the people of Alaska not only time and money but also the attention of those elected to serve the state apparently was more than this governor could handle. Perhaps the additional down side of not being able to be a wife and mother as she had done before also weighed heavily on her mind. So she decided to step down.

And she surprised everyone.

And for the last week she has been the major story, the subject of so many blogs and news articles and commentaries, most of which have attacked her for “quitting” or trying to read the tea leaves as to what she is going to do.

My thoughts are as follows.

1. If she thinks it is in the best interests of Alaska to resign and get the state of the crazy merry-go-round of a national media circus, and her successor can do the job, then why put up with the insanity.

2. If her concerns for her family life and a small desire to have even a little bit of normalcy means stepping down, along with the comments above, then by all means do it. Re-claim your life.

3. If she does have national ambitions, then being able to focus first on the family and then do some speaking and traveling without the burdens of the governor’s position would seem to be both fair to her, her family and the state.

4. I have a lot of respect for her abilities. She became governor against the odds. She did pretty well despite what the media and some disgruntled “loser” McCain staffers state. I do not know of many politicians who could stand up to such scrutiny.

As someone who held sacred the right to life, her position on abortion was the compelling reason for the media assassination of her character. Had she been ‘pro-choice,’ she would have been the media’s darling. But no, here was a successful political figure that not only defeated one of the most serious political machines in the country, but was very popular with a lot of people. She had the “it” that one speaks of in celebrities. She could not be allowed to become a poplar national figure. In the media’s eyes, she had to go.

Well she is gone… but not really. And it will be interesting to see what comes next.

posted by Jakubczyk on Life @ 4:43 PM