SARAH'S 2012 TWO-STEP.

Palin's 2012 Two-Step
THE FIX
By Chris Cillizza | July 4, 2009


For those people who doubted whether the Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's (R) resignation decision yesterday was freighted with 2012 presidential implications, we present two pieces of evidence.

First, Palin released a statement on her Facebook page today that not only castigated the media for how they covered her announcement ("How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it's about country," she wrote) but only sounded a distinctly presidential note.

Said Palin:

I am now looking ahead and how we can advance this country together with our values of less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much-needed fiscal restraint. I hope you will join me. Now is the time to rebuild and help our nation achieve greatness!

Those lines would fit almost perfectly into a stump speech in Iowa or New Hampshire -- two states you should expect to see Palin in sometime soon.

The second piece of evidence regarding Palin's national ambitions came later today when her private attorney -- Thomas Van Flein -- released a four-page statement seeking to quash rumors that the Alaska governor's decision to resign was motivated by ethics problems.

The document seeks to detail Palin's ties to the Wasilla Sports Complex and insists that neither she nor her husband, Todd, gained any sort of benefit from the building of the complex.

Van Flein also notes that those publishing "defamation" regarding the sports complex will be made to answer for those charges "in a court of law".

Palin is trying to do two things simultaneously with these twin announcements.

The Facebook message is on the positive track -- making clear she has plans and a vision for her future and the country's.

The letter from the lawyer has a different goal: to make clear to her detractors that she will not take what she takes to be false attacks laying down.

The broad message? Sarah Palin is here to stay -- whether you like it or not.