# Dear God, thank you for not electing Sarah Palin **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 6, 2008, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399 "2008-11-06T03:01:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/181 "2008-11-13T06:59:13Z")
> [@Punoqllads](#): > > I think by “3 points” you mean 3 votes, not 3 percentage points. :smack: Yes, I meant to type 3 votes. 3 votes! Isn’t that amazing? And people say “It doesn’t matter if I vote, it won’t count” when, in fact, sometimes, it actually might! The Franken/Coleman race in Minnesota is within 200 votes and not called yet. Gore “lost” Florida by 537 votes in 2000. That’s like a movie theater’s worth of people. ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/182 "2008-11-13T07:03:58Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > They always forget [France](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Pierre_and_Miquelon) and [Denmark](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland). You forgot Poland. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/183 "2008-11-13T13:26:45Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > Sarah Palin in _The Governor’s New Clothes_. > > You know, I think you may be on to something. “Naylin’ Palin 2: The Governor’s New Clothes”. -Joe, wanted to put ‘Electric Boogaloo’ ---
**Author:** ![Mapache](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@Mapache](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mapache)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/184 "2008-11-13T13:55:37Z")
> [@Punoqllads](#): > > Okay, looks like I’m misremembering about the towel incident; I had thought that Fox had reported it (not Newsweek), and that it had been semi-confirmed by one of the people who was there. > > And I’ll ask you once again… > > Which of the following two statements [do you feel] are more likely to be true: > > Eisenstadt made up the Africa story and was one of Cameron’s contacts despite not actually working for the McCain campaign and none of Cameron’s contacts ever clued him in that Eisenstadt didn’t work for McCain and Cameron decided to run with the story with only Eisenstadt as the source on the story. > > or > > Eisenstadt is lying when he says he was the source of the Africa story. > [@Punoqllads](#): > > Fine. That leaves: > Cameron is known to have many contacts inside the Republican party. > Cameron is likely to have contacts within the McCain campaign. > It is standard journalistic practice to require multiple sources before running a story. > The Huffington Post, a left-leaning organization, says its sources confirm that Cameron’s sources are not Eisenstadt. > Eisenstadt says he was Cameron’s source on the Africa story. > No one else says that he [Eisenstadt] was Cameron’s source on the Africa story. > Eisenstadt is known for making shit up. > > And I say, though Fox is willing to spin news items, they don’t make shit up. Take, for instance, the towel incident. Palin did greet the McCain advisers covered up in just a towel. The way it was worded made people think that she opened the door for them while wearing just a towel. It appears that they had already been let in, and she peeked in and greeted them while only wearing a towel, and told them she would be ready soon. And I don’t think they’d fire a proven liar due to their high ethical standard. I think they’d fire a proven liar to avoid a public relations firestorm. > > And you still haven’t answered my question. Which of the following two statement are more likely to be true: > > Eisenstadt made up the Africa story and was one of Cameron’s [del]sources[/del] contacts despite not actually working for the McCain campaign and none of Cameron’s [del]sources[/del] contacts ever clued him in that Eisenstadt didn’t work for McCain and Cameron decided to run with the story with only Eisenstadt as the source on the story. > > or > > Eisenstadt is lying when he says he was the source of the Africa story. And just to make the worlda little more bizarre, now it turns out ([http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/arts/television/13hoax.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/arts/television/13hoax.html)) that “Eisenstadt” doesn’t exist. And not only is he a figment, Newton, lots of people apparently knew he was several months ago. So who did talk to Cameron, and what did they tell him? And Sarah should stick to field dressing moose. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/185 "2008-11-13T14:05:20Z")
I’m beginning to think Palin is VIP–no one knows what it is and it doesn’t really exist, but the demand is there. ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/186 "2008-11-13T14:36:43Z")
Here’s Andrew Sullivan on [Why Palin Still Matters](http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/11/why-palin-still.html): > [@](#): > > Let’s be real in a way the national media seems incapable of: this person should never have been placed on a national ticket in a mature democracy. She was incapable of running a town in Alaska competently. The impulsive, unvetted selection of a total unknown, with no knowledge of or interest in the wider world, as a replacement president remains one of the most disturbing events in modern American history. That the press felt required to maintain a facade of normalcy for two months - and not to declare the whole thing a farce from start to finish - is a sign of their total loss of nerve. That the Palin absurdity should follow the two-term presidency of another individual utterly out of his depth in national government is particularly troubling. 46 percent of Americans voted for the possibility of this blank slate as president because she somehow echoed their own sense of religious or cultural “identity”. Until we figure out how this happened, we will not be able to prevent it from happening again. And we have to find a way to prevent this from recurring. > > It happened because John McCain is an incompetent and a cynic and reckless beyond measure. To have picked someone he’d only met once before, without any serious vetting procedure, revealed McCain as an utterly unserious character, a man whose devotion to the shallowest form of political gamesmanship trumped concern for his country’s or his party’s interest. She’s still constantly [telling](http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/11/the-odd-lies--6.html) [lies](http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/11/the-odd-lies--5.html) for no discernable reason, btw. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/187 "2008-11-13T14:56:43Z")
Ouch. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/188 "2008-11-13T15:02:11Z")
Hey Boyo Jim, got another one for you! > [@](#): > > PALIN: …Sitting here in these chairs that I’m going to be proposing but in working with these governors who again on the front lines are forced to and it’s our privileged obligation to find solutions to the challenges facing our own states every day being held accountable, not being just one of many just casting votes or voting present every once in a while, we don’t get away with that. That’s from an interview with Wolf Blitzer. I see what she did there, made a swipe at Obama, she did. Otherwise, it’s pretty much gobbledygook. Palin 2012! Pleaaaaaase. ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/189 "2008-11-13T15:17:48Z")
Of course too we are always using gerunds- you know those are are real american parts of speech, not like some of those other parts of speech that I could mention. Also too there are the sentences that are running on- starting new thoughts with each phrase, of course filling in the spaces with meaningless filler, we have to be sure that we are doing that, fulfilling our re-spon-si-bil-i-ties to our listeners, having those values at our heart. ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/190 "2008-11-13T15:21:01Z")
Whoops another [seemingly pointless lie added](http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/11/the-odd-lies--7.html) right after my last post: > [@](#): > > VAN SUSTEREN: …Most Americans don’t understand. What is this $1,200 check these Alaskans are getting? > > PALIN: It is the Alaska permanent fund dividend check. Every year as oil development takes place and revenues derived from this development, a chunk of the money goes into the stock market and makes the money for Alaskans and it goes into the permanent fund. Actually, apparently it isn’t. That check was for $2,069. The $1200 was a little wealth redistrubution from taxing the wealthy oil companies. At least this lie may actually have a dark purpose behind it. After all the nonsense her campaign spouted about Obama spreading the wealth around, I can see how she may not want to chat about this little check. Yes, that’s where I’m setting the bar with Palin. I’m impressed when she actually lies for a reason. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/191 "2008-11-13T15:34:22Z")
I’m a registered Republican who voted for Obama in the general election. I have been so disillusioned with the Republican party over the last few years that I have considered changing parties. However, I think that I will remain a registered Republican in hopes of changing the direction of the party in the future. Also, if I can vote against Palin in any future Presidential primary, it will be worth staying in the party. She is an incurious, gibberish-spouting lightweight with no place in national politics. I think she could do more to damage our country than any other major-party Presidential candidate in modern U.S. history. I think she is positively dangerous. The analogy of a toddler waving around a loaded handgun is an apt one. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/192 "2008-11-13T15:51:06Z")
A _nuclear_ handgun. ETA: Or should that be “new clear” handgun? ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/193 "2008-11-13T15:52:50Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I think her staying on the scene will be of ginormous value to Democrats. If she is cast off in a Great Republican Purge, along with her no-nothing ultra social conservative ilk, the Pubs will bcome a threat again very shortly. But as long as they stay polarized, the Democrats win. Also, the Dems win if Palin and her fellow fruitcakes manage to win the Republican intramural war. I know several die-hard Repos and they are all gaga over her. This suggests that they don’t understand why\* they just lost the election. One of them said, “I hope she runs in 2012”, and I agreed. “You would vote for Sarah Palin?” “No, but her presence on the ticket will ensure that the GOP loses.” His response indicates that a goodly portion of the Republican base is living waist deep in the big muddy of a certain Egyptian river. \*No they didn’t lose primarily because of her, but she is a shining empty-headed symbol for why they lost. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/194 "2008-11-13T15:55:25Z")
Palin is everywhere now. She is giving out interviews on CNN. She is as scattered as ever. Wanders off the subject and gives few direct answers. It still appears she does not know the answers and is BSing like a student taking an essay question and one of the questions is on something he totally missed. You fill the sheet up and hope you bump into a point or two. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/195 "2008-11-13T16:01:14Z")
I just saw her yammerin’ away there, with the praise for that great american john s mccain and the love of country and for all the hard workin’ people and the jobs and all those fundamentals that make this great country a hard workin’ shinin’ light on the hill and hopin’ the new administration can keep evil away from the hard workin’ american fundamentals… Good gawd…can’t someone find the off button already? ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/196 "2008-11-13T16:01:42Z")
> [@robby](#): > > I’m a registered Republican who voted for Obama in the general election. I have been so disillusioned with the Republican party over the last few years that I have considered changing parties. However, I think that I will remain a registered Republican in hopes of changing the direction of the party in the future. Also, if I can vote against Palin in any future Presidential primary, it will be worth staying in the party. > > She is an incurious, gibberish-spouting lightweight with no place in national politics. I think she could do more to damage our country than any other major-party Presidential candidate in modern U.S. history. I think she is positively dangerous. The analogy of a toddler waving around a loaded handgun is an apt one. This is REALLY important for me to hear, to remind me that not all Republicans are batshit loonballs who support this woman and think she’s the savior of the Republican party. Thank you. Kudos to Andrew Sullivan too. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/197 "2008-11-13T16:14:46Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > Good gawd…can’t someone find the off button already? She doesn’t do that. That’s why she has five kids. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/198 "2008-11-13T16:21:22Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Palin is everywhere now. Now we know why the McCain camp kept her muzzled. I despise John McCain now, but he did two good things on election night: gave a pretty good speech, and kept her from speaking directly to her base. And she’s _still_ [going on about Ayers](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/12/palin-attacks-obama-over_n_143362.html)! I tell you what though, Piper Palin is adorable, and MUCH smarter than her mother. It’s disgusting how Palin kept her and Willow out of school for 2 months to use as props at rallys. In [this interview](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/11/piper-palin-talks-to-toda_n_143097.html) (article and video on the page) Piper says how she missed a lot of school and how hard it is to catch up. When she’s asked if she wants to do it again in 2012 she gives an honest answer (“I don’t know”) but then her mom prods her to say yes. In [this video](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/11/piper-palin-wears-high-he_n_143077.html) she’s obviously put on her mom’s high heels, something little girls do all the time and it’s cute, but she’s also holding Trig at the same time! That doesn’t seem very safe. ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/199 "2008-11-13T16:31:27Z")
> [@stolichnaya](#): > > Of course too we are always using gerunds- you know those are are real american parts of speech, not like some of those other parts of speech that I could mention. Also too there are the sentences that are running on- starting new thoughts with each phrase, of course filling in the spaces with meaningless filler, we have to be sure that we are doing that, fulfilling our re-spon-si-bil-i-ties to our listeners, having those values at our heart. I’m really sorry, but this was too coherent and possible to follow and parse to be true Palin-speak. You did your best, but I’m afraid that your own intelligence is shining through here too clearly. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/200 "2008-11-13T17:27:22Z")
> [@shantih](#): > > I’m really sorry, but this was too coherent and possible to follow and parse to be true Palin-speak. You did your best, but I’m afraid that your own intelligence is shining through here too clearly. Except that all those “-ing” words are present participles, not gerunds. A gerund is that form used as a noun, as in “Sarah Palin needs a good _spanking_.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399.md?page=11)