Sarah Palin: "If I Die, I Die. So Be It"
Alaska guv says "all options" on the table
AP
The former veep candidate spoke with top Republican leaders in May ahead of her resignation.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said she's no quitter and if she committed career suicide by resigning, she's okay with it.
"Politically speaking, if I die, I die," she said. "So be it."
Speaking in taped interviews on ABC, NBC and CNN, the former veep candidate, who made the stunning announcement last week that she was resigning as governor, said this morning that "all options are on the table."
Palin said she doens't need a political position to cause "positive change" but isn't ruling out public service in the future.
"The choice I had to make was, how am I going to react to the circumstances, to the changed conditions?" she said on the "Today" show.
"Am I just going to keep plugging away, keep my head down and not going to effect any more change, because every time we try to do something we get hit with an ethics-violation charge or a lawsuit, because that's the political game that's being played right now, even though we've won every one of them that's been thrown our way."
Even though her resignation shocked most, documents surfaced that show Palin spoke privately with GOP bigwigs including former Vice President Dick Cheney and ex-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani weeks before she quit, ABC News reported.
Palin spoke with top Republican leaders -- Cheney, Giuliani and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, to name a few -- in May, according to documents obtained in an open-records request.
It is unclear who was doing the courting or what the nature of the conversations were, according to ABC News.
A May 4 entry in Palin's schedule reads "GOV: Telephone Call Into Governor Crist" and a spokeswoman in his office confirmed the pair spoke.
"It was a courtesy call," Erin Issac said. "They know each other, both being governors."
Crist may have wanted to promote his Senate candidacy, which he announced a week after the phone call with Palin, ABC News reported. John McCain endorsed the governor nine days later.
Palin spoke with Cheney on May 7 when she was at a Fairbanks airport during a refueling stop, according to the documents.
A spokeswoman for Cheney said the two discussed the Cheneys possible summer vacation to Alaska and refused to comment further, ABC reported.
On May 8, Palin's schedule has a note "GOV: Telephone Call w/Former Mayor Giuliani (JNU) and four days later she spoke with him again: "GOV: Tried to return requested call to Mayor Guiliani (JNU)."
The former New York City mayor tried to contact Palin to talk about a future trip to Alaska for a paid speech, according to his spokeswoman, but the meeting never happened.
Posted Thursday, Jul 16, 2009 - 8:37 PM CST
