[mrkredo]

Sarah Palin's resigning from office. What the hell? And she's now supposedly telling people that she's done with politics forever. The entire thing is sketchy. The announcement, reasoning, speculation, and more Friday news-dumping after the jump. The press conference was called suddenly and without warning, and the line leading up to the press conference was simply that she wasn't going to run for her office again. First, the bizarre, kinda teary announcement: Even Politico got hosed, sending out a breaking email alert before the conference started about Palin not running for her next term as Alaska's governor. Palin then went ahead with the resignation and didn't let on anything about the presidential run.

"I know when it's time to pass the ball. Some are going to question the timing of this. This decision has been in the works for a while," she noted. Says Gawker's John Cook: "They clearly deliberately leaked that she wasn't going to run for re-election an hour or two before the announcement in order to muddy the waters and get the "setting up for a presidential run" line out to blunt the obvious conclusion that a shoe is about to drop...." So people are convinced: some shit went down, and someone's definitely got something. Any ideas?

[WordTickler]

I think she's pulling out of the public eye to stay low-key until the election. You never know when all the conspiracy experts will hit paydirt. Even so, perception is reality in politics and there is too much time for her to stack up bad press. Outta sight, outta mind... for now.