This question was sent to an advice columnist in a Wisconsin paper.
Dear Tell All: While I don't agree with her politics, I've been mystified by Sarah Palin ever since she hit the national spotlight last summer. She obviously has a knack for climbing the career ladder. And similar to her frustrations with being governor, I'm tired of my job and don't feel like I'm achieving my professional goals. Should I follow her lead and just quit, hoping to be more effective through other means? Is this the latest trend in career building?
Fidgety in Fitchburg
I at first believed this to be a joke, but nope, it is serious. Somebody is seriously inspired by Sarah Palin's cut and run approach to doing her job.
And even more concerning is the columnists response to her question.
Dear Fidgety: Must...resist urge...to trash... Palin. Don't want...to end up in doghouse...like Letterman. Oh, what the hell. One paragraph can't hurt, right?
When Palin announced her resignation, she said that she could be more effective outside of government and that quitting was "doing what's best for Alaska." Then she got her maverick on and tromped away in her waders. That's a bit like an airline pilot announcing over the intercom that he can do a better job of flying the plane from outside the plane, and then bolting through the door with a parachute. But if the pilot is incompetent, maybe that is best. Let the co-pilot take over.
In a normal economy, it would be completely irresponsible for me to tell you to quit your job without having another one lined up. In this economy, it would be ludicrous. But then again, there are times when a fresh start is exactly what you need to bring out your own inner maverick.
But if you're looking for a role model, don't waste your time on amateur quitters like Palin or me. Look up to a legend. In 1993, Michael Jordan did the unthinkable and quit basketball, partly to pursue a childhood dream of playing baseball. After getting sand kicked in his face, he returned to basketball in 1995, then quit again in 1999, came back in 2001 and quit for good in 2003. By definition, you could say he was a professional quitter.
So if you quit, you're in good company. But do it wisely.
So is THIS the legacy of Sarah Palin? Has she just positioned herself as the idol of unhappy cubicle jockeys everywhere? Losers of the world unite, you have found your leader!
Well fine, if you are going to follow in our Twitter Quitters footsteps let em help you to choose where to start.
First quit whatever Sarah Palin fan club you belong to. Trust me it is destroying your soul.
Second quit giving money to SarahPAC. Believe me you need the money far more than she does.
Third quit the Republican party. They never gave a shit about you anyhow.
And finally quit looking to failed politicians and reality show celebrities for inspiration. These people are failures! If you can look in your bathroom mirror in the morning without having to fight the urge to cut your own throat you are already much healthier than these pathetic wastes of space.
Here is some advice for you vaguely remembered from my days as an athlete: "Winners never quit, and quiters never win". And you can take THAT to the bank.
In the corporate world we call her management style "management by crisis".
ReplyDeleteIn order to take complete control, the perpetrator fabricates crisis, or even sabotages a healthy situation to create a real crisis, in order to create a reason for declaring an emergency and a re-shuffling of priorities to the perpetrator's favor.
This, together with slash-and-burn take-no-prisoners attitudes to achieve short term goals with disregard for long-term consequences sums up Sarah's management style.
Indeed, many forms of Christianity are the epitome of such behavior. You will "lose your soul" without Christ; Armageddon is coming so you better join the Crusade, and many of these types of "christians" are infiltrating the government with a duplicitous agenda. Gain control of society in order to gain control of the allocation of wealth.
Sarah is one of these.
What does she teach us? Quit your private job and get one with the public sector?
ReplyDeleteBeing mystified by Sarah Palin is probably a mentally healthier reaction than getting tingles or wanting her to be one's BFF...paying $63,500 to spend time with her (and not even one-on-one!!).
ReplyDeleteThe columnist's response sounded kinda rational to me...as was yours, Gryphen.
After following Palin's ignorant snail trail through the election campaign, reading her comments chiding China, and now Iran (on the approaching Jewish holiday) re: Holocaust denial, is just so bizarre and unlike Palin.
I wonder if Palin followers really think Palin's world view has expanded enough since July 26, 2009 to know Hong Kong isn't on the Chinese mainland or that we aren't at war with Iran (which was a Palin goof last year)?
I'm not sure which way to take this 'advice' column. Technically, I live in Fitchburg (although am not 'fidgety') and Isthmus is a local paper that has been around here for years -- while many of the articles are quite legitimate, there is a fair amount of satire to be found in Isthmus as well. Based on my experiences as an off-and-on reader of Isthmus (print copy issued on Thursdays and is still distributed for free), and the kind of people who typically read it, my guess is that this was a bit of fun poked at $P's expense.
ReplyDeleteI'm praying really hard that this was a tongue-in-cheek
ReplyDeletedialogue between conspirators, because if this was serious it is so wrong on so many levels...
knittingbull
Interesting parallels - since there have been strong rumors that Michael Jordan didn't exactly "quit" basketball to play baseball.
ReplyDeleteThe rumor is that he was forced to take a break by David Stern, the NBA commish, to take care of his gambling habit.
Michael Jordan was known as the fiercest competitor ever... and he quit when he was on top? (that's where the comparison between the two of them ends).
It is interesting that Michael Jordon was used as the example of a quitter. Rumor has it that Michael was heavily involved in gambling. Not Pete Rose bet on your own team kind of gambling, but high stakes gambling with unsavory characters with unsavory connections. Michael was known to play high stakes golf and bet so heavily that he could lose hundreds of thousands, if not a million in the course of the game. Mind you, these were just rumors.
ReplyDeleteMichael was told that his associaton with bad boys and betting was going to get him suspended from the NBA. In order to save face, he was allowed to "quit" in order to pursue his dream (real or contrived) to play baseball. His absence from basketball amounted to the amount of time that he would have been suspended. When he returned, he was better than ever. With Michael, the Chicago Bulls won a number of national championships.
So, let's revist Sarah's resignation. I can just imagine the Personnel Board being faced with a possible ethics violation for Sarah that was so big that they would have to take some kind of action. I am imagining that it might have had something to do with misuse of PAC or Legal Defense Funds. The Legal Defense Fund was supposed to have been frozen, but it continued to solicite contributions. The amounts that Sarah owed in legal expenses had already been paid, according to her mentor, John Coale, leaving quite a hefty sum just aching to be spent someplace.
In my own mind, I can imagine the Personnel Board saying to Sarah something along the line of "This is too big to just give you a pass. We're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars here. You could not use your position as governor to raise money for your private bills."
The choice was to replace the money and all would be forgotten. Sarah either could not or would not. She had no choice but to resign.
When Michael gave his leaving basketball speech, no one believed him. When Sarah gave her quitting speech in that frantic voice, I don't think that too many people believed her. Something big was at work behind the scene. It is clear that she has not improved her mind, her speaking ability or anything else in her retirement. She certainly is not fighting for Alaska. She may be trying to position herself for some kind of national presence, but I think that Democrats would enjoy watching her try to run for anything without ever holding a press conference.
At least Michael tried to play baseball; he wasn't that good at baseball. I must also add, since I live in the Chicago area that Michael supported a number of charities. The one that was the most touching was his outreach program that involved inner city kids. They lived near the stadium, but they would never be able to afford the pricey tickets to see Michael play in person. So, he arranged for a row of seats at each home game, for the local kids, given as a reward for good grades in school. Sportscasters call Michael one of the greatest basketball players of all time, maybe the greatest. He had talent, and he encouraged the other players on his team. The big difference here is that Michael had talent and always played at the top of his game. I'll let you draw your own conclusion about Sarah's ability to bring out the best of her team mates, and whether or not she has any talent or ability.
Gryphen - this is funny as hell, and you were BRUTAL at the end. I'm afraid the fringe fanatics are far too gone to take your advice, although it's great stuff!
ReplyDeleteIt's time for the Republicans to dump these creeps so we can get to work. By their own admission, these fanatics don't believe in government so they are going to be pretty damn lost when that happens.
Why not let this person quit his or her job? It's a hard time and many people are looking for jobs, so let this nimrod do what's best: Outsource the jobs from dumb people admiring Palin to people with actual working brains.
ReplyDeleteThat's good! Great advice from both of you. I wish this would be in every paper across the world. She is a joke and people need to 'get it'.
ReplyDeleteI just wonder when they are going to confiscate Palin's legal fund - Palin and her attorneys are still lying when they keep referring to the millions in unfounded ethics complaints "while serving as Governor". They're still publicly announcing that legal amount lie in a sorry attempt to justify its existence and to continue to raise $$$$.
ReplyDeleteThis Palin legal scam continues to portray Palin as a "victim" during her non-governorship, and makes me sick every time I hear one of her supporters mention it. The people putting money into this fund are the victims.
The verbal and written justification for this legal fund has got to stop sometime. I'm sorry that Alaska's politicians haven't stepped forward to stop this shameful practice.
Alaskan Sisu
I would have to tell the quittin letter writer that most of the American population without a College Degree or specific Trade all hate their jobs.
ReplyDeleteWhen Lil Bush took over, so did the Corporations. They've always been there but it used to be a little bit more fair. Now there is NO fairness at all. Most everyone is underpaid, overworked and stressed out to the max!
So, even if you do have another job lined up, remember, The Grass Is Always Greener on the Other Side! (until you get there of course)
And to Gryphen & Alaskans,
Don't give up hope! n the long run, when memories get shorter and Palin is gone out of the spotlight, you just might be able to Capitalize on her very special brand of stupid. Especially you Gryphen and all the other great Alaskan bloggers. You've done a great job of documenting her stupid a$$. Maybe a book for you? I'll but one if you promise to autograph it for me.
I really love this blog!
I just saw the movie "The Informant," starring Matt Damon, about a tricky lying grifter who brings down his own corporation, and it so reminded me of Sarah Palin. Spoiler alert... I wonder if her story will end the same way: incarceration?
ReplyDeleteScarah's only talent is to divide and create chaos. None of which we need in this country.
ReplyDeleteKallie in Texas
I hope everyone has heard that the Arctic Cat ethics complaint is not dismissed! The ethics board now has 3 more questions they have to get Palin to answer.
ReplyDeleteDiva has the details. Palin is not out of hot water on other matters either. Her goose is still cookin.
She needs to be discredited asap. No way should people be paid big bucks speak. that's sick and she's taking advantage of her fans.
http://divasblueoasis.com/diary/856/we-took-her-at-her-wordapoc-rejects-staff-recommendation-regarding-palin
Another vote here for Gryphen to deactivate Google ads on this blog.
ReplyDeleteI think I can speak for most that we DO NOT want to see all those ads for SarahPac on this blog. It completely goes against message here and is quite puzzling. Is Gryphen really pro-Palin? Why is he supporting this site with ads for Palin?
Please turn off the Google ads. Enough already with SarahPac!
I am so confused. Palin is a quitter, who isn't even good at her job when she has one. Look at the destruction she wrought as Mayor, and then Governor. What is it that many people don't get about her?
ReplyDeleteI feel so helpless sometimes, (like I could do anything about it anyway) that she just isn't forced to go away.
I just finished reading Max Blumenthal's book. It was a great read, but horrifying. The book is filled with terrible facts about many well known republicans...yet they still hold sway.
What kind of voters permit this? Where is your media? I am not for one minute saying our Canadian media or politicians are better, but I will say this. I know only that our Prime Minister is married, and I believe he has 2 children. I don't know their names or anything about them. Same goes for other pols. Personal stuff is not talked about, and not reported. Well...not a lot since Pierre Trudeau. We don't hold our pols up as anyone special. We elect them...if they screw up badly, another election is called. Our prime minister is an evangelical christian, and although he would love to run this country according to his religious beliefs...he cannot. We have many christians in this country, but we do manage to keep it separate from government.
I'm just venting, because I am so frustrated that the likes of Palin could come so close to being the leader of the free world. I am so grateful to Gryphen, AKM, Shannyn, Diva and Phil and so many others. You make me believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
@anon 9:45. Gryphen doesn't choose to put sarahpac ads here. Thats the way the ad system works. I have never ever seen a sarahpac ad here, but I never go to a site that worships Palin. We all see ads that pertain to the sites that we frequent. I can't explain it any more than that...but Grypen can.
ReplyDeleteI do believe you can get back at sarahpac, by clicking on their site, at which time Grypen earns some cash.
Imagine. Just imagine....
ReplyDeleteA Liberal Democrat goes over to COMMUNIST CHINA, criticizes the policies a sitting president - and gets paid (conservative estimate) a quarter-of-a-million big ones for his or her trouble.
Can you even fathom the stink the right wing crazies would make at such a scenario? It boggles the mind.
I love Sarah Palin. I honestly and truly hope she never, EVER goes away. To a committed Lefty such as yours truly, she's just the gift that keeps giving and giving and giving and giving and giving and giving....
http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY