The Whore of Wasilla is resigning

Claiming she can be more effective outside government than inside (so can my left butt cheek, for that matter), Sarah Palin is resigning as governor of Alaska

Full text of Palin speech, from state website, is here.

According to Alaskan TV, July 26 is the effective date.

If, as all speculation claims, it’s to get an early start on a presidential run, she’s an idiot. Just like in this picture.

Given that there’s a fair amount of resentment to her within the party, and that many Alaskans in the GOP were seeing her as less and less effective by the day, this gives both state- and national-level operatives a chance to sharpen the long knives early.

And, unlike a year ago, and since this is within the party, those knives WILL come out.

She should have stayed in the governor’s mansion and tried to repair her image.

Beyond that, even with the earlier and earlier start to the presidential campaign season, she has two full years now to fall of the radar screen as well as to be sliced and diced.

That said, both that fact and the bald-facedness of her lies, per the second link, show that, without plenty of fortunate outside help, she’s incompetent as a politician.

Per the third link, from local TV, she claims she resigned to avoid lame-duck gubernatorial status since she wasn’t going to run again for that position.

Yeah, you idiot, but until you officially said so, nobody knew that for sure.

And, before the long knives are fully sharpened, after the recent escapades of Sen. John Ensign and Gov. Mark Sanford, some people are going to start speculating what’s in your rearview mirror.

Like, some new affair? More about the Trig Palin pregnancy? Who knows.

Looks like a fair chunk of the conservative blogosphere, starting with the often-insightful Allahpundit, agrees with me and with MSM analysis that this is a career-ender, not finishing out your first term as governor. It doesn't help when many of them talk about the quality of your speech with words like "rambling."

A good roundup of conservative takes is at the Anchoress, who herself speculates serious family illness.

Almost everybody out of more than two dozen commenters says she’s politically toast.

The one exception to the “almost”? Kristol.

Note: For more on “The Whore of Wasilla” and other Palin nicknames, head here.