[Updated: Via ThinkProgress, Max Blumenthal reports this may be an embezzlement pay-for-play scandal similar to that which led to Palin's fellow Alaskan Senator Tubez' defeat and near-conviction.]
Resist the urge to pick the low hanging fruit on Sarah Palin. Her abrupt resignation (transcript here) may be just the beginning:
I originally thought that this was simply another shakedown – like the Letterman imbroglio – just an attempt to pay off her half-million dollars-plus of legal bills related to her gubernatorial legacy of ethics violations by shaking down the rubes. The recent Vanity Fair expose certainly did her no favors. I fully expected their to be cries of sexism related to her Runners World ‘centerfold’ interview. She certainly has had an ‘interesting’ week. But then I saw this at the bottom of this FDL post by EdwardTeller:
Update: This just in my in-box, from a source connected sometimes to CNN:
“Here’s a quote I got from law enforcement here in Alaska yesterday afternoon regarding Palin “a criminal indictment is pending authorization.”
Jane Hamsher further speculates:
Bill Kristol is kidding himself if he thinks this is a “shrewd move” on Palin’s part. That press conference and everything about this make Mark Sanford look like a master of public relations. Nobody springs a “surprise resignation” as a way to guarantee an orderly transition just because you decide you don’t want to run for re-election. It doesn’t even make sense on the face of it.
It’s more like something you do because you cut a deal with a prosecutor.
The Daily Beast further speculates.
Tags: 2012, Jane Hamsher, law enforcement, resignation, Runners World, SARAH PALIN, Vanity Fair
