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Friday links – Palin resigning “within weeks,” Obama slammed on Honduras stance, etc

(Scroll for updates on Palin’s resignation)

Hey ya’ll – got a late start today on my errand running and am just now getting back. I suspect many of you are headed out of town for the holiday weekend, are already out of town, or are gearing up for fireworks displays. Whatever you do, have fun and be safe and – as always – remember the reason for the holiday: to celebrate out independence from those filthy Brits ;) (and I say that with much love to our strongest ally on the world stage!).

Here are some links for your perusal this afternoon:

—– Obama is being slammed on his stance on the Honduras “coup”: Octavio Sánchez, a former public official in Honduras, writes in today’s CSM [1] that what is going on in Honduras is not a “coup” but instead a “triumph” of the rule of law. Of course, anyone reading Fausta’s blog would have known this within hours of the so-called “coup” that it wasn’t [2] – that gals’ on top of things [3], as always. James Kirchick pens a blistering attack [4] on Obama’s Honduras “meddling” and proclaims that our celebrity President has chosen the wrong side. Erick Erickson takes a similar position [5], writing that “[Obama] aligns us with the interests of Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro and a long list of South American drug cartels.”

Hey, maybe it’s all part of the schmooze plan he embarked on during the Summit of the Americans conference he disgraced this country at earlier this year [6].

—– In other news, Gov. Palin is scheduled at any moment to make an announcement from Wasilla about whether or not she will seek reelection next year. CNN is reporting [7] that “sources” say she will not. As to why? Hmmm. Some suggest she may be gearing up for a 2012 presidential run, but I wouldn’t be so sure – having another term as governor under her belt (or partial term, anyway) would boost her executive experience creds. Maybe she’s had enough of the rough and tumble life of politics and wants some time away from the limelight? I’m sure we’ll find out in due time.

Ok – as I’ve been writing this, I see that Palin not only will not seek a second term as governor, but she will be resigning “in weeks [8]” (via MM [9]). What is going on?

More links to come in a few minutes.

—— The Washington Post is still obsessed [10] with pLamegate. Sigh.

—– Will Colin Powell [11] soon be joining the growing list of other Republicans who are second-guessing their decision to vote for Barry O?

—– Would you stand on this glass balcony/”skydeck” [12] 103 floors up on the Sears Tower and be able to look down without losing your lunch? Count me out.

—– Please say a prayer for our military abroad this July 4th eve. The AP reports [13] on how the Marines are “pushing deeper” into Southern Afghanistan towns in order to root out the Taliban. Close to 8 years later, the war in Afghanistan rages on.

—– The WSJ reports [14] that the Christian left has launched a campaign on Christian radio stations urging church-goers to … support the President’s agenda on issues like “global warming” and “healthcare reform” by painting both issues as issues of “Biblical morality.” I know the left normally frowns on interjecting God into the political debate but if it helps them win over a few votes on their pet issues, I’m sure that’s another “principle” they won’t have any trouble abandoning.

—– Ben Smith notes [15] that a second SC Congressman has called on Governer Sanford to step down.

——-

Update on Palin – 4:19 PM: Fox is showing a tape of her news conference now. She addressed her administration’s accomplishments, and is now addressing the unprecedented media scrutiny and hatefulness she’s had to fight since she was announced as McCain’s running mate last year and how it’s taken a lot of her time and money, and the state’s time and money as well to combat.

Jim Geraghty hits [16] on a point I hinted at earlier about the executive experience issue:

David Schuster is offering a typical sneering tone, but it doesn’t make it any less accurate: “If it’s true that she’s leaving the governorship before her first term is complete, her national political career is done.”

A broken clock can be right twice a day, and Schuster is right here. If Sarah Palin wishes to someday be President of the United States, then she had to serve at least one full term in statewide office. (Yes, Obama had been in the Senate for about two years before running for president, but he had a lot of stars align for him at the right moment. Beyond that, at some point, “but Obama did it that way” isn’t a persuasive argument.)

Departing with little or no warning, after about 30 months in office, is beyond surprising. I’m sure the Lieutenant Governor will do fine, but there’s definately a sense of leaving with work unfinished and as her career was just beginning to take off.

I know we’ve heard a lot of chanting “Governor, it’s time to resign,” but we meant Mark Sanford.

Indeed. Bill Kristol’s on Fox suggesting that this might have been a political move on her part in an effort to start work on a 2012 run. I doubt it.

So – Steele’s been a major disappointment as RNC Chair, Sanford’s presidential hopes have been dashed and political career all but over because he couldn’t stay faithful to his wife nor his state, ditto for Ensign in Nevada, and now Palin is (arguably) out of the race for 2012. If this was supposed to be the year that the GOP was supposed to launch its comeback, I’ve yet to see any evidence of it.

4:32 PM: By the way, best wishes to Palin on however she decides to conduct her life in the coming months. I think she endured more scrutiny in her two months of being McCain’s running mate (and beyond) than our President did in two full years of being on the campaign trail and she held up remarkably well in spite of it. That she’s decided to step down – whether it’s for her state, for her to get back to basics, both, or whatever – is a disappointment for the party obviously, but I hope she will finally get some peace away from the noise machine commonly known as the mainstream media and their cohorts in the Dem party, and at last be able to step back a bit and take a deep breath.

4:39 PM: More wise words from Geraghty [17]:

Not finishing her first term will provide a major, major, major obstacle to any presidential bid. I thought a 2012 campaign would be a mistake; from today’s comments, it’s not clear whether Palin is still interested in that option.

But the moment she expresses an interest in a presidential bid, every rival, Republican and Democrat, will uncork the ready-made zinger: “If elected, would she serve the full four years, or quit sometime in the third year again?”

But as noted, Palin is 45. Life will go on, after this upcoming presidential election, and the next. People thought Richard Nixon was through after the 1960 election. When Ronald Reagan failed to dislodge President Ford in 1976, people thought he had blown his best chance at the presidency. People thought Bill Clinton destroyed his political future with an endlessly long-winded speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention.

If Palin decides to seek the presidency at the age that Hillary Clinton was when she ran in the 2008 cycle, she will be running in… 2024. That’s a half a generation, and several political lifetimes, away.

Palin is departing the national political scene. But that does not discount a comeback, as a quite different figure, at some far-off date. She quoted Douglas MacArthur in her resignation announcement, referring to “not retreating, but advancing in another direction.” But the words most associated with Douglas MacArthur in American minds are “I shall return [18].”

We shall see.