In a surprise announcement that’s only heightened speculation about her mental status, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said over the July 4 weekend that she’s leaving the job.

The door to the governor’s mansion bangs shut behind the Palin family July 26 – meaning Palin is walking out with more than a year left to her term.

Palin’s announcement, delivered in almost incomprehensible English – nobody was really sure what she was talking about, so it was printed verbatim – has set fingers pointing and tongues wagging, from Alaska to the D.C. Beltway.

How could she do it? How could one of the most charismatic figures of the Republican Party just walk off the job?

Susan Boyle, of Britain’s Got Talent fame, could understand this better than those of us living in relative obscurity.

Palin’s career really ended when she got the offer of a lifetime, as Sen. John McCain’s running mate. And under the presidential campaign spotlight, the feisty, self-described hockey mom started to unravel. She may have had unbelievable candor and common-man appeal, but she was not made of the Teflon that a huge and and brutal campaign like the presidency requires.

It wasn’t long before Palin’s imperfect life became tabloid fodder.

Who doesn’t know about the TV barbs traded with the snot-nosed brat who is the father of her illegitimate grandchild? Or the questions over her travel expenses? Or the investigation over an Alaska government employee who was fired, allegedly because he wouldn’t fire another worker that her family had a problem with?

Without a lot of special handling – “spin,” if you will – these are issues that could down even the most seasoned of candidates.

Then there was the Vanity Fair article last week that had McCain campaign aides wondering – with the advantage of anonymity – whether Palin was really equipped to handle the nation’s second-highest office.

And that’s where we need to stop and think.What makes Palin’s roughshod ride that much more painful to watch is the people who purportedly were there to help her.

Palin was surrounded by some vipers on the campaign – and they weren’t even members of the press. They were handlers.

We saw some of their tactics come to light after the Vanity Fair article and Palin’s announcement.

It’s disgraceful to hear the public accusations these people are now lobbing at each other – and even each other’s spouses.

Steve Schmidt, McCain’s campaign manager, is now spitting toxins at William Kristol, a newspaper editor and sometime advisor to McCain, because Kristol fingered him as the anonymous campaign aide in the Vanity Fair article who said Palin might be suffering from postpartum depression. Schmidt claims Kristol has a personal grudge against him because he, Schmidt, fired a friend of Kristol’s who was a top official in the McCain campaign.

That friend, Randy Scheunemann, also has joined the frey, sniping at Schmidt.

While slinging insults, they’re also throwing the Palin “postpartum depression” thing around like a beach ball, not to mention some other unsavory descriptors, including “diva.”

It’s sickening.

Sarah Palin was not big enough to fill the shoes of a vice-presidential candidate. She had far too many personal issues to overcome, in addition to a slew of live interviews that seemed like slow-motion trainwrecks.

But given the camp she was sitting in, with the snarkiness and infighting, is it any wonder that she started going “rogue,” as some campaign members have asserted, and began ignoring their advice (thereby really shooting herself in the foot)?

Maybe she’s doing what Susan Boyle did, when she checked into rehab.

Just getting the heck out of Dodge City.

Laura Pierce is Editor of the Kent Reporter. Reach her at lpierce@kentreporter.com