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Page from Nixon's playbook?

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 6, 2009

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's hastily announced news conference had all the earmarks of Richard Nixon's famous concession speech in 1962, after he lost the campaign for California governor to Democrat Pat Brown.

Reporters had been told that Nixon - a former congressman and senator who served as Dwight D. Eisenhower's vice president from 1952 to 1960 and lost the 1960 presidential race to John F. Kennedy - would not be making a public appearance.

Instead, Nixon surprised even his staff by taking the microphone and, at the end of a long, rambling, 16-minute discourse on national and state politics, dramatically leaving the stage:

"You won't have Nixon to kick around any more, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference and it will be one in which I have welcomed the opportunity to test wits with you."

Like Nixon, Palin seemed fraught with emotion. Like Nixon, she seemed angry at her critics.

To the surprise of his detractors, Nixon recovered. He spent the next six years stumping the country, and won the presidency in 1968.

Palin gave no hints of her future. Maybe Palin is planning to follow the Nixon playbook on that front too.

Los Angeles Times

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