Palin's Puzzler

Well, that was unexpected.

When Alaska governor Sarah Palin, who was touted as the "Thrilla from Wasilla" before doing so much to sink John McCain's presidential ambitions, abruptly resigned yesterday, the big question was, "Why?" Palin supporters immediately pointed to her popularity in the Republican Party (or at least the know-nothing-and-damn-proud-of-it wing) and speculated that she's setting herself up for a presidential run in 2012.

But if a first-term governor is considering a White House bid, she does not up and resign with a year and a half left to go in her term. Especially when the next presidential election comes two years after the end of her term. Pre-announcement buzz was that she would not run for re-election, which would have made a lot more sense.

Her rambling speech, veering from attacking the media for reporting on her many ethical problems (you could almost hear her snarling, "and I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you meddling kids!") to comparing her time as governor to a basketball game, did not impress. Perhaps it was designed to appeal not to rational and thinking adults, but to mindless dittoheads. She is, after all, in a race with Rush Limbaugh to lead the ignorant wing of the GOP.

But why did she time her resignation speech the way she did - on a Friday right before the Fourth of July? Experienced politicos know that bad news is always dumped into the press on Fridays, where it will get lost in the much-less-watched weekend news coverage. That goes double for news dumps right before a holiday, and triple right before a weekend holiday. You just don't announce something under such circumstances unless you want it to vanish without a trace.

So it certainly sounds like Palin resigned to head off something bad. All indications are that she made a spectacular mess of the governor's office - e.g, being largely absent from Juneau ever since accepting the VP slot and alienating the GOP-controlled legislature to the point where her nominee for Attorney General was soundly rejected. And let's not even get into her murky ethics, from charging the state for living expenses in her own home to firing the head of the state police for refusing to fire her ex-brother-in-law arbitrarily.

Rumors are flying that she is about to be indicted on federal corruption charges. As mayor of Wasilla, Palin awarded a contract to build a sports center to a company which raked in the cash while leaving the town almost broke. In exchange, the company gave her free supplies to build her house, sponsored her husband's snowmobile team and hired her to do one of their TV ads.

And if all that isn't enough, Palin has threatened to sue anyone, including media outlets such as the New York Times and the Washington Post, for defamation if they report on said rumors. She (or her lawyers) surely cannot be this stupid. As a public figure, Palin must prove actual malice in order to make a defamation case stick against anyone, and in the case of news reporting or blog commentary, this is virtually impossible.

She must be doing it purely as an intimidation move, to try and shut up her critics - but she seems to have no idea what the First Amendment says. At a time when she needs every friend she can get, this is not a smart move.

We'll have to see what happens. But suddenly announcing her resignation on a political take-out-the-trash day does not bode well.