Sarah Palin is Out! Break out the champagne! What's next?

Radio host Mark Levin has read a statement from Sarah Palin. In her statement, Palin stopped stringing everyone along and finally said what many of us have known for a long time: She won't run.

If you've got champagne, now might be a good time to open it. I got a can of Asahi "Dry" from my neighbor, an arch-conservative; he doesn't know what an evil "socialist" I am. If only he knew. The can contains 33.8 fluid ounces, about three times as much as an ordinary beer! I'm sipping it slowly, because I don't weigh a lot and should finish this post before the room starts spinning. Woohoo!

Sarah could have called major media outlets. There might have been a global, news-making press conference. But she didn't want to answer their questions. Instead, she had a conservative radio host read her statement, then she answered questions that he carefully framed for her, so that she could take one last parting shot at her critics. She phoned it in.

I'd like to think my post of this morning, "Uh-oh. Sarah doesn't have a campaign committee," finally smoked her out, but last Saturday's "Requiem for a Wannabe Queen" may have played a part.

Talking with Mark Levin, Sarah Palin rambled on-and-on about President Obama, and she thinks she'll have a role to play doing this: Sniping (for any reason, real or imagined).

If she does that, there will continue to be things to post about Sarah Palin. But there are more interesting things to write about, especially about politics and especially about politics and its intersection with economics. Many have been taken for a ride and have consistently voted against their best interests. I may start another blog for that or write about that here; those stories aren't difficult to associate with Sarah Palin, but there's something declasse about writing -- even reading -- about Sarah Palin. We'll see. Tonight, I feel like I got my life back.

The bare, unadorned text of Sarah Palin's announcement can be read at Mudflats' "Sarah Palin Will Not Seek the Presidency in 2012 – Country Comes Third."

Several media outlets have stories: Anchorage's Daily News has "Palin announces she won't seek GOP presidential nomination." ABC News has "Sarah Palin Will Not Run for President." The New York Times has "Palin Says She’s Not Running." USA Today has "Sarah Palin won't run for president." Last but not least, Fox News has a story pimping -- what else? -- Sarah Palin's appearance, tonight, on Greta Van Susteren's show.

You can hear Mark Levin reading Sarah Palin's statement at "BREAKING NEWS: SARAH PALIN'S 2012 ANNOUNCEMENT."

¡SALUD!

Hasta la vista, Sarah.


Update: Sarah finally got around to posting her statement on Facebook, here.

Update: AP has a story, "Palin statement on decision not to run," which simply quotes Sarah Palin's statement.

Update: It's the morning after. I drank about one-half the Asahi and put the rest in the fridge for later. Joe McGinniss wrote "Arrivederci, Sarah!" for The Daily Beast.

Update: ABC News has "Sarah Palin’s Die Hard Supporters ‘Stunned,’ ‘Disappointed."

Update: Fox News has "Palin Opts Against 2012 Presidential Run," which has video of Sarah Palin's appearance on Greta Van Susteren's show, last night.

Update: Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch has "Sarah Palin will not run. How will comedy survive?"