The New York Times has an article up pointing something out that I haven't seen covered elsewhere, so far. It appears Lt. Gov. (and soon-to-be Governor) Sean Parnell went on "Fox News Sunday" and declared 'twas legal bills killed the pit bull. The NYT ascribes the following quote to Parnell in his Fox appearance (below the fold, emphasis mine):
“I think what I heard from the governor,” Mr. Parnell said on “Fox News Sunday,” “really had to do with the weight on her, the concern she had for the cost of all the ethics investigations and the like — the way that that weighed on her with respect to her inability to just move forward Alaska’s agenda on behalf of Alaskans in the current context of the environment. So that’s what I saw.”
Looking at that quote, some things come to mind:
- If this was truly the case, why wasn't it unambiguously stated in Palin's speech? Yes, she does cite $500,000 racked up in legal bills, but she does not clearly - and, far less, forcefully - lay her decision at the feet of the expenditures. Rather, her statement leaves so much room to interpret her ultimate motivation that even her champions are winging it on what the announcement portends.
- As pointed out by my bolding, Parnell seems drawing on perceived subtext in her remarks to him to reach his conclusion. One can gather, then, that Palin was no more specific when telling him why he was about to get a promotion than she was in her speech.
- Didn't Palin just ink a multi-million book deal? Coming from a banking background, I'm aware that it's quite conceivable that if the Palins needed access to more cash than on-hand, the book contract could be used as collateral against a bank loan.
I have to say, Sarah Palin is the quantum physics of the political world; the more one observes her unfolding decisions and behavior, the more counter-intuitive the findings become.