Palin pick an insult to our intelligence

[mgb_phys]

Her biggest flaw is her apparent near pathological shirking of any fault and revising any history that would be unfavorable about her. I suspect it will trip her up over and over along what will surely be a rocky road for her given her shallow grasp of issues and casual relationship with study.

I don't remember the young dynamic Reagan on the campaign trial in 1980 but was he a towering intellectual giant back then?

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

If she goes to the Senate, she can't even claim her limited executive experience any more.

Why not? She will still have had the experience.

 

[BobG]

I don't remember the young dynamic Reagan on the campaign trial in 1980 but was he a towering intellectual giant back then?

No. Maybe a little more so in 1964 when he made his "Time for Choosing" speech.

I think as he gained experience, Reagan opted more and more for images borrowed from his TV and movie past (wasn't he always the host of Death Valley Days?) and other's past (the 1980 New Hampshire debate could have been taken right out of "Mr Smith Goes to Washington"). The TV-movie image got him a lot better results than an intellectual image.

He seemed immune to all of his "Joe Biden" moments (or would it be better to characterize Joe Biden's miscues as Ronald Reagan moments?).

You could probably say the same thing about Bill Clinton in '92. He definitely projected more of a saxophone-playing, TV talk show host image than an intellectual image.

 

[Astronuc]

Palin conditionally comfortable with Obama on Iraq
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081112/ap_on_el_pr/palin_obama_iraq

I wonder if she will compliment him in 3 years, 357 days time.

 

[turbo]

Jendal as a minority candidate is not without his own flip flops and burdened perceptually by his North-Eastern Elite education.

Bobby Jindal has problems that never hit the mainstream press. When he was in college, he and some other radical Catholics restrained a young woman that he had been involved with, and he performed an exorcism on her. He wrote about the experience in a very conservative (fringe) Catholic Journal, including the claim that the exorcism cured the woman of cancer, as well as driving out the demon that had possessed her. He could out-Muthee Palin hands-down with that one incident.

 

[LowlyPion]

Why not? She will still have had the experience.

For what it will be worth on the scales of politics.

It's not like it will stack up too high against Obama's 4 years as POTUS.

 

[LowlyPion]

Palin conditionally comfortable with Obama on Iraq
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081112/ap_on_el_pr/palin_obama_iraq

I wonder if she will compliment him in 3 years, 357 days time.

I'm sure he is relieved to have her qualified approval.

Is it possible that anyone thinks her foreign policy experience qualifies her in any way to offer any opinion about how he might handle Iraq? (Any opinion of any particular value that is.)

 

[LowlyPion]

Sarah Palin gives interview at home:
http://community.adn.com/mini_apps/vmix/player.php?ID=2376415

There are several videos at the link.
(Not sure if you need a free account to view. It's not that hard to get.)

 

[physics girl phd]

I just hope Stevens loses the Senate (... http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/11/17/sen-stevens-slips-in-alaska-vote-count/" ) so Palin can't nab the job when he's kicked out. Then I hope Alaskans vote her out when her term is over.

 

[LowlyPion]

I just hope Stevens loses the Senate (... http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/11/17/sen-stevens-slips-in-alaska-vote-count/" ) so Palin can't nab the job when he's kicked out. Then I hope Alaskans vote her out when her term is over.

I'd say it's looking more and more like Stevens will lose. Tomorrow is when they are supposed to finish the final count. But it looks like more Begich areas remain than Stevens as the Mat-Su Valley - Wasilla country - is already completed.

As to her future ... who knows. She looks likely to be able to retain office in 2 years or maybe even oust Murkowski in her reelection bid if she chooses.

Reports today are that she is looking at a $7M book deal. (Maybe it will be about plumbing?)

 

[Hexnergy]

The 2012 republican presidential candidate will depend on how well Obama runs the country... (and with the current situation, I am sure he's going to fix a few things)... so Palin is the best lamb to throw to Obama the Wolf in 2012 if things get better... she's stupid enough to never realize what's goings on... lookin at this woman you sometimes wish there was 3rd gender because she's embarrasing to humans...

 

[LowlyPion]

The 2012 republican presidential candidate will depend on how well Obama runs the country... (and with the current situation, I am sure he's going to fix a few things)... so Palin is the best lamb to throw to Obama the Wolf in 2012 if things get better... she's stupid enough to never realize what's goings on... lookin at this woman you sometimes wish there was 3rd gender because she's embarrasing to humans...

I think that's a little extreme. Four years is a long time in politics. There is a lot that remains to happen in the next 4 years, including 2010 elections, and many others among the Republicans have plenty of time to emerge.

So long as Republicans cling to their extreme faith based interference agendas I suspect that they will continue to marginalize themselves. The Newt Gingrichs and the Sarah Palins of the world are little more than modern George Wallaces in the breadth of their base appeal. This last election cycle saw this more extreme element of the Republican Party dismantle the tent and drive out those Republican fiscal and social conservatives.

Let the wing-nuts rattle around inside the empty tent for awhile and when the echoes of their ignorance begin to make them lonely, maybe they can once again come to the party and celebrate the US along with the rest of us.

 

[lisab]

Four years is a long time in politics. There is a lot that remains to happen in the next 4 years, including 2010 elections, and many others among the Republicans have plenty of time to emerge.

Very true...after all, where was Obama four years ago?

 

[LowlyPion]

Very true...after all, where was Obama four years ago?

It's not like he wasn't on the radar after his Convention Speech in Boston in 2004. But I'd say the presumption was that he was going to be a possibility further out, maybe VP candidate sooner. Kerry lost and so I think Hilary has been the presumptive front runner through early this year.

Now Sarah Palin's challenge appears to me to be her need to recreate the truth to suit her image. 4 years of scrutiny will be quite a challenge for her Hillbilly ways I think. And it is surely not aided by her shallow grasp of issues. There are far too many problems that need addressing, for the country to think she will ever be suited to lead. She' no Ronald Reagan. Quoting him is likely about as close as she will ever come.

For the most part though it seems that there really is no clear front runner for the Republicans because each of the possibilities I see now looks flawed. Not the least of which is Palin herself. But as they say that there will be 30+ Governorships up for grabs in 2010, there's no telling who may come from that pack.

 

[LowlyPion]

Stupid is, as stupid does.

Joe the Plumber on Sarah Palin:

Q: Why do you and so many other Americans find the words “spread the wealth around” so troubling?

A: Well, I am fairly well read and have read Karl Marx’s work, and spread the wealth around is something that he mentions quite often. If you look up the word [socialism] in [Webster’s] Dictionary, the definition may not mention “spread the wealth,” but community work and sharing of goods all plays into it. Obama’s health-care plan is a very socialist experiment. [Obama’s plans] all revolve around socialism, and that’s what scares me about it.

... Q: You had the opportunity to campaign with Sen. John McCain in different areas of Ohio. What is your opinion with regards to Mr. McCain?

A: This is a tough question. [The McCain campaign] is trying to throw Sarah Palin under the bus. They are trying to allude to the fact that she is the reason that John McCain might have lost this election. That does not sit well with me. John McCain has not come out and said that Sarah Palin is an honorable woman and has not protected her. In terms of my opinion, he has my respect for being a war hero, and I told him that personally, but you got to get along to go along or go along to get along. Washington has been ingrained with that mentality.

Q: As a Republican, do you feel that Gov. Sarah Palin was the right vice-presidential selection?

A: Honestly, I think she shines too much. I think vice president no, president definitely. She has moral values. She has a record of change that ... John McCain had supposedly … Sarah was actually too big of a personality, too big of a person to be vice president.

http://www.tuftsdaily.com/an_interview_with_joe_the_plumber

And what exactly was he doing reading Karl Marx?

 

[NeoDevin]

Palin/The Plumber ticket in 2012?

 

[BobG]

Stupid is, as stupid does.

Joe the Plumber on Sarah Palin:

http://www.tuftsdaily.com/an_interview_with_joe_the_plumber

And what exactly was he doing reading Karl Marx?

The assumption being that Republicans only read books by Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and Bill O'Reilly?

That only a Democrat would be open-minded enough to read a book that might disagree with their world outlook?

Palin and Joe the Plumber lower the intellectual level of any discussion, but your closing question still seems way out of left field.

(On the other hand, - I can understand a person being left speechless by Joe's endorsement and, well, I wouldn't know how to respond either.)

 

[LowlyPion]

The assumption being that Republicans only read books by Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and Bill O'Reilly?

That only a Democrat would be open-minded enough to read a book that might disagree with their world outlook?

My guess is that he hasn't read all that many books to begin with, since maybe Goodnight Moon. I imagine he hasn't read Coulter or Limbaugh or O'Reilly either.

I'm uncertain at this point how many people that read books are even still in the Republican Party.

 

[jreelawg]

I am still awestruck that the Rep. VP candidate did not know that Africa was a continent.

She is pretty good for comedy though, have you heard this prank call.



I think it deserves to be in the mastercard "priceless" commercial.

"Long distance phone call, 10 dollars.

Prank calling Sarah Palin durring the campaign and helping her get defeated, priceless."

 

[mgb_phys]

I am still awestruck that the Rep. VP candidate did not know that Africa was a continent.

No, she just believes that it is one country really but was split apart by evil colonial oppressors.
Remember Sarah Palin is a black man - why do you think they had to spend so much money on hairdressers and markup artists during the campaing ?

 

[jreelawg]

She probably didn't know Alaska was a state rather than a country until McCain asked her to run for VP.

 

[Office_Shredder]

I am still awestruck that the Rep. VP candidate did not know that Africa was a continent.

This turned out to be false (probably)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/arts/television/13hoax.html?th&emc=th

 

[jreelawg]

All this makes me wonder if Colbert was right, and the LHC has plunged us into an alternate universe.

 

[LowlyPion]

This turned out to be false (probably)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/arts/television/13hoax.html?th&emc=th

Thanks for posting that link. I had missed that. It's pretty funny really. It's like news viruses. And where is the Norton Utility for that?

 

[LowlyPion]

Kathleen Parker's column today about taking G-O-D out of the GOP pulpit if they ever hope to win. I'd say she's got a valid point.

"I'm like, okay, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I'm like, don't let me miss the open door. Show me where the open door is... And if there is an open door in (20)12 or four years later, and if it's something that is going to be good for my family, for my state, for my nation, an opportunity for me, then I'll plow through that door."

Let's do pray that God shows Alaska's governor the door.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/18/AR2008111802886.html

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

This turned out to be false (probably)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/arts/television/13hoax.html?th&emc=th

This only exposes that the person who claimed to be the leak is not the leak. He was never the source of the information (gossip) on Palin. Meaning there is apparently a McCain staffer out there still who actually spread the gossip.

 

[Vanadium 50]

I am still awestruck that the Rep. VP candidate did not know that Africa was a continent.

And I am awestruck by the fact that the Dem. Presidential candidate didn't know how many states there were.

The only difference is that one of those statements is true.

We all make slips of the tongue, no matter how smart we are. Doggone few of us could be expected to be in front of a camera 6 to 8 hours a day for months and never make one. When we say that we know Sen. Obama is a smart guy, so it must just have been a slip-up, but we know Gov. Palin is an idiot and that this is evidence for this, we are merely reinforcing our prejudices.

The same behavior we are vocally critical of when it comes from the Right.

 

[LowlyPion]

When we say that we know Sen. Obama is a smart guy, so it must just have been a slip-up, but we know Gov. Palin is an idiot and that this is evidence for this, we are merely reinforcing our prejudices.

The same behavior we are vocally critical of when it comes from the Right.

OK. I would be thrilled to see a recitation of thoughtful policy responses from Sarah Palin. Do you seriously believe that her idea of solving energy problems is simply "drill baby drill"? That's a half-time cheer at a North Slope football game perhaps, but it is hardly thoughtful National Policy.

Perhaps when her erudition on policy questions begins to outstrip her gaffes and demonstrated infantilized grasp, your point might be valid. But even you must allow for the possibility that there is little more to her than a narcissistic personality disorder looking for a larger stage on which to bloom.

 

[LowlyPion]

Katie Couric on David Letterman talking about Sara Palin interview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfV8U16OkL0

 

[BobG]

And I am awestruck by the fact that the Dem. Presidential candidate didn't know how many states there were.

The only difference is that one of those statements is true.

We all make slips of the tongue, no matter how smart we are. Doggone few of us could be expected to be in front of a camera 6 to 8 hours a day for months and never make one. When we say that we know Sen. Obama is a smart guy, so it must just have been a slip-up, but we know Gov. Palin is an idiot and that this is evidence for this, we are merely reinforcing our prejudices.

The same behavior we are vocally critical of when it comes from the Right.

OK. I would be thrilled to see a recitation of thoughtful policy responses from Sarah Palin. Do you seriously believe that her idea of solving energy problems is simply "drill baby drill"? That's a half-time cheer at a North Slope football game perhaps, but it is hardly thoughtful National Policy.

Perhaps when her erudition on policy questions begins to outstrip her gaffes and demonstrated infantilized grasp, your point might be valid. But even you must allow for the possibility that there is little more to her than a narcissistic personality disorder looking for a larger stage on which to bloom.

I understand Vanadium's point - that turning your opponent into a cartoon caricature is a weak style of arguing. It seems based on the idea that if you're funny enough, then she's an idiot.

I'm not sure what your point is. I know you're not arguing that her simplification of a complex argument into a three-word slogan proves that one-liners are an effective and intelligent debate style.