Sarah Palin‘s decision to resign from the Alaska governorship means she’s done, finito…a political corpse. If you have a job or a responsibility, you don’t walk away. That’s the responsible American way. You do your best and see it through as best you can. Unless…you know, you’re emotionally unbalanced and unable to man up and do the thing. Either way you’ve lost all credibility.

NBC’s Andrea Mitchell has just said that she’s heard Palin has told friends that “she’s out of politics, period…she doesn’t want to seek elective office.”

My first reaction — hell, everyone’s first reaction — was that nobody resigns from a major political office unless they’ve been pressured or squeezed out. Something clearly “happened.” Perhaps there’s some kind of smoking gun yet to be revealed? Or…this sounds silly and reaching but could Todd Purdum‘s Vanity Fair piece be responsible to some degree?

This from Rolling Stone:

“WTF? Sarah Palin has pulled the plug on her governorship. Before the end of her only term. At an impromptu press conference. At her house. On a Friday. Before the 4th of July. And refuses to answer questions.

“This is not in keeping with a woman with presidential ambitions.

“And certainly not in keeping with a politician who has learned to milk a media frenzy for every last drop (see Letterman, David.)

“No. This has the hallmarks of a politician slinking away before the shit hits the fan.

“Really. If this were some double-bank-shot designed to bolster her presidential standing (as the AP seems to suggest) would Sarah Palin choose to duck out on the first day of a three-day weekend? When the entire American mediaplex is off buying ice for the cooler?

“No way.

“Another shoe is about to drop, but what is it?