I still don't think Sarah Palin will run for president in '12

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Alaska blogger Jeanne "Mudflats" Devon has obtained "internal emails" that, in her view, "provide the most conclusive evidence to date that Palin will be running for president." Specifically, a September e-mail from Todd Palin to Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller, SarahPAC Treasurer Tim Crawford, and Palin and Miller attorney Thomas Van Flein states that Sarah's earlier endorsement of Miller for Republican nominee (over incumbent Lisa Murkowski) shouldn't be "one sided," meaning that if she endorses him, which she did, he should endorse her. The problem is that he didn't reciprocate, instead saying, in an interview with Fox News's Neil Cavuto, that there are "a number of great candidates out there" (and dodging the question of whether Sarah is qualified to be president). This roused Todd's ire and indignation. In the e-mail, he tells Crawford to "old off on any letter of support for Joe."

I must say, this seems like much ado about not very much. While it's true that Todd seems to have wanted an endorsement of sorts from Miller, it's not clear that any endorsement -- and it's far too early for endorsements to mean anything anyway -- would have needed to have been formal. Perhaps it would have been fine if Miller had just praised Palin personally, setting her apart from the possible Republican field, instead of lumping her in with the other "great candidates" (if in fact he things she's one of them).

What we see here, once again, is that the Palins -- Todd as well as Sarah, are driven largely by pettiness and a sense of being disrespected, so utterly insecure do they seem to be (hence their constant attacks on "elites").

Is there really any indication here that Sarah is planning on running for president? Maybe, but it really doesn't appear to be at all definitive, if it's there at all. There's certainly no "strong evidence," as Devon says there is. After all, would the Palins really have wanted a "quid pro quo endorsement" from Miller at that time, so early in the game? Likely not, as any such endorsement would have been awkward and forced Sarah to address her future plans, which she has thus far been unwilling to do except through vague, non-committal comments. And were they really that "furious" with Miller that he didn't provide one? Again, all they may have wanted was a statement like, "I think Sarah Palin would make a great president." And, indeed, what Todd says specifically in the e-mail is that Sarah "put her ass on the line" with her endorsement and that Miller should have been able to "answer a simple question" -- is Sarah qualified? -- in the affirmative.

As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, I don't think she'll run -- for a variety of reasons, including that she'd lose and that much of her highly profitable appeal would burst. Sure, she might run, and she could be talked into it, not least if the sycophants who inhabit her little bubble appeal to her massive ego and delusional belief that she's divinely qualified to be president, but I really do think she has too much to lose and that it's better for her, and her quest for ever more fame and fortune, to remain a sort of celebrity kingmaker within the Republican Party. A loss to Obama, before which she'd be placed under a high-powered microscope, could effectively ruin her plans. (She'd probably be better off waiting until '16.)

Not that I care to give Sarah any advice, and not that her best interests are of any concern to me. I just don't think she'll run and I don't see much evidence, not least in this overblown e-mail, that she's made up her mind to do so.