Sarah Palin says her settlement to renounce as governor of Alaska was motivated by “a higher avocation”, and she promised to hold fighting for conservative causes on a general stage.
With debate still swirling about the implications of her bombshell proclamation last week, Mrs Palin lashed public at coverage of her resignation in the media, which she said would never understand that “it’s about region”.
Meanwhile, her lawyer was threatening to sue media organisations that indulged in “defamatory” speculation about darker motivations for her resignation.
In her often rambling speech announcing her decision on Friday, the governor said that, having decided not to run again when her term runs out in 2010, she did not want to be a “lame duck” and would therefore go in the sight of the expiration of this month. She cited other reasons, too, including pressure steady her family, the mounting legal costs of defending herself against accusations of ethics violations, and the desire to carry on conservative causes from outside government. So vague was the talk mention that commentators interpreted it variously as the start of a 2012 presidential move swiftly and as a retirement from politics.
Mrs Palin has been seen in public only briefly since making her announcement, and was a no-show in the 4 July parade in the Alaskan capital Juneau, but she did post a narrative on her Facebook page which hinted that she saw a future role for herself in conservative party politics.
“I’ve never thought I needed a ground of claim before one’s name to forge progress in America. I am now looking ahead and how we be able to advance this country in company by our values of less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national defence, and much-needed fiscal restraint. I hope you will join me. Now is the time to rebuild and support our nation achieve distinction!”
And she reflected on the coverage of her announcement, saying: “The response in the main stream media has been most predictable, ironic, and as always, detached from the lives of ordinary Americans who are sick of the ‘politics of personal destruction’.”
Thomas van Flein, her lawyer, followed up her complaints with a four-page letter to the media, portent organisations not to give acceptance to long-standing rumours from the blogosphere that Mrs Palin might be under federal investigation in the place of ethics violations. “Just for the reason that power abhors a empty space, modern journalism apparently abhors any type of suitable sedulousness and fact checking before scurrilous allegations are repeated as fact,” he wrote.
The speculation as to the governor’s motives and her likely next steps in public life continued on the Sunday television talk shows.
Karl Rove, former president George W Bush’s chief political adviser, uttered he was “a little perplexed” all over the judgment to abandon her disgrace almost a year and a half early. “She’session not going to be adroit to escape media attention."
And a former Republican presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee, who some thought could be fighting Mrs Palin for the support of the party’s evangelical base in 2012, said he would have resigned as Arkansas governor after “the first month” if he had taken Mrs Palin’s approach. “The challenge that she’s going to have is people who say, ‘Look if they chase you out of this it won’t get any easier for you.’”
