Saturday, July 4, 2009

Palin Campaigns Vigorously to Resign, Picks up McCain Endorsement

A day after Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced that she plans to step down from the governership later this month, she picked up the endorsement of former running mate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

"I fully support Gov. Palin in her decision to step down," McCain said, accosted by reporters at his Sedona ranch as he was carrying in racks of ribs for grilling Saturday.

"And now if she'll just shut up," McCain was heard to mutter to an unidentified aide as they disappeared into his house.

"Or go ahead and run in 2012; she's got so many opinions on how she could have done it better. I'd like to see her try and then be obliterated in the press," McCain added, apparently not a subscriber to Vanity Fair.

McCain's daughter, Meghan McCain, a commentator for The Daily Beast, who has refused to comment on Palin since the election, continued her silence on the matter, though she nodded darkly at her dad's comments.

Palin, meanwhile, continued to seek additional endorsements for her resignation, with William Kristol of The Weekly Standard offering her most prominent support to date.

Disgraced South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, a fellow Republican, said that while he respected Palin's decision, her contention about not wanting to be a lame duck and ineffective at governing did not in any way apply to his continued governorship. Sanford insisted in a phone interview that he would continue to be a capable chief executive, even as "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" played in repeat in the background.

Palin's staunchest supporters of her decision remain her family. "This isn't family friendly language so I won't repeat it verbatim, but when I asked my husband Todd about resigning his reaction was, 'expletive, yeah!' Palin said. "He celebrated by buying a new snowmobile. We couldn't have afforded it on my governor's salary but you betcha we'll be able to pay for it once I get on the talk circuit."

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