# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/61 "2008-11-06T19:06:29Z")
On election night, I told my wife that it would be a race to see who threw whom under the bus first (McCain vs. Palin). The side that would be able to throw first would be the winner. And these stories of Palin’s idiocy are the sound of McCain winning that race. These stories won’t come from McCain himself, but you can be damn sure he’s telling his aides to start talking to the media, and make it juicy. I think he’s going to do this for two reasons: 1) He wants to save face after this loss, and he deserves to. And 2) He realizes what a cancer this woman is, and wants to save the country from her political ambitions by poisoning the well fully and completely. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/62 "2008-11-06T19:14:19Z")
Seems like I heard from _Newsweek_ that McCain’s people didn’t let Palin deliver a concession speech election night. They probably won that race before Indiana was called. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/63 "2008-11-06T20:37:37Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > Of course I understand it. I also understand that FOX News is trying to do damage control. People mis-speak all time; such gaffes often make the news. However, the odd slip of the tongue is rarely fodder for serious campaigning. Obama “57 States” didn’t prosecute McCain “My Fellow Prisoners” for slips of the tongue, and vice-versa. > > But importantly, _slips of the tongue don’t cause people to hide from interviewers._ Joe Biden was famous for his verbal gaffes but **nobody** called him uninformed. > > The combined facts a) Palin was concealed from the media, and b) her disastrous Couric interview, make c) Palin is an uninformed buffoon much much more likely. She was not hidden in the beginning. She flamed out so badly ,she was an embarrassment. That is when she was pulled back and as scripted as possible. Biden ghas been around a long time and has shown he is bright and has a serious understanding of politics and the world. You insult him comparing him to The Wicked Witch of Wasilla. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/64 "2008-11-06T20:44:23Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > She was not hidden in the beginning. She flamed out so badly ,she was an embarrassment. That is when she was pulled back and as scripted as possible. > Biden ghas been around a long time and has shown he is bright and has a serious understanding of politics and the world. You insult him comparing him to The Wicked Witch of Wasilla. No, she was hidden in the beginning. Right after the nomination - after her speech at the RNC - people were clamouring for interviews or a press conference - two weeks later she gave the Charlie Gibson interview (which wasn’t too bad), then the flameout with Couric (anyone else guessing that she said “Its little Katie Couric - I talk about my kids and hockey - what can go wrong?”). ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/65 "2008-11-07T00:32:15Z")
> [@Slacker](#): > > BTW for those enjoying the Palin meltdown as much as I am, stay tuned to [Andrew Sullivan’s blog](http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/). > > I’m Lovin’ It™. 😃 I have to say that this comment of Sullivan’s: > [@](#): > > In a sane world, Palin would be a plaintiff on Judge Judy - and not potentially vice-president of the United States. Is just beyond the pale, in its level of insult. First of all, the plantiffs on _Judge Judy_ are much more articulate than Palin. Additionally, it says quite clearly in the credits of the show that they are _screened_ which Palin **wasn’t**. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/66 "2008-11-07T02:49:03Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > On election night, I told my wife that it would be a race to see who threw whom under the bus first (McCain vs. Palin). > > The side that would be able to throw first would be the winner. And these stories of Palin’s idiocy are the sound of McCain winning that race. These stories won’t come from McCain himself, but you can be damn sure he’s telling his aides to start talking to the media, and make it juicy. > > I think he’s going to do this for two reasons: 1) He wants to save face after this loss, and he deserves to. And 2) He realizes what a cancer this woman is, and wants to save the country from her political ambitions by poisoning the well fully and completely. Hmmm… so he suspects that the wing of the party that gave you GWB, the alliance of the Religious Wrong and the Neocons, is going to claim that the problem is the GOP didn’t go for a Hard-Right-enough candidate, and “curse you, John McCain, you’re a RINO”; and that they would seek to parade Sarah as their obvious next poster-child. So he (or his supporters, with his wink and nod) are making sure that she is damaged goods for that faction? …damn, if so, this man continues to perform heroic service to his country 😉 That said, I am of the opinion that SP is _NOT_ intrinsecally dumber than a sack of rocks, but that AS OF THIS CYCLE she was **unready** for this job in every aspect save\* the motivational, stump-speech \*one; and yet the Reps gambled on using that one strength to (a) catch the PUMA Dem women (b) energize the “base” (c) get someone who would NOT upstage Mac. THEN later the “bubble” startegy was itself IMO counterproductive, because how are you going to get good at facing the kinds of interviews a National Ticket candidate has to face, if you never get to face ANY? Let her make mistakes starting off small so she does not make them on the big stage. I could see also some of those gaffes as the effects of overcoaching that impressed upon her that every question would be a gotcha trick (e.g. South Africa/Southern Africa; look, not everyone was paying attention back in the 80s, believe it or not). Some others, OTOH, are just silly: saying that you know defense policy because you head the State National Guard? Please. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/67 "2008-11-07T03:00:58Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > Which explains why this is being reported by FOX News, who are known for their liberal partisan fervor? That suggests that the “throw Palin under the bus” theory is correct. To be sure, that is not mutually exclusive with the “she really is that stupid and ignorant” theory. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/68 "2008-11-07T04:02:43Z")
The World Studies teachers at my school constantly comment that when they teach world geography to the Freshmen at the beginning of the school year, an amazingly large percentage of them think that Africa is a country, not a continent. From this, I can now conclude that Sarah Palin is at least as smart as a typical 9th grader at Kelvyn Park. Palin 2012! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/69 "2008-11-07T04:19:17Z")
> [@Frostillicus](#): > > think that Africa is a country, not a continent. > Palin 2012! I can’t believe that. Nobody is that stupid. I can see confusing Southern Africa and South Africa. I can understand believing Australia to be a continent because it is so damn big. But Nobody Is That Stupid. Beat you, see my New Sig. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/70 "2008-11-07T04:37:24Z")
Funny thing, the Freepers are talking about how the left is “sexist” for saying how stupid Sarah Palin is, yet they’re all about how hot and sexy she is. Yes, I’m probably simplfying, but not by much. :rolleyes: (I once thought Africa was a country and Ethiopia the continent…when I was SIX.) ---
**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 7, 2008, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/71 "2008-11-07T04:39:49Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > So she thought when someone said “South Africa” they just meant the southern part of Africa, and not the country called, specifically, “South Africa”? > I wonder if she thinks her party won both parts of Dakota. Turns out The Real Virginia was West Virginia. Who knew? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/72 "2008-11-07T04:49:24Z")
A Palin-sympathetic commentary from Campbell Brown [here](http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/06/campbell.brown.palin/index.html?iref=mpstoryview#cnnSTCText)in which she says McCain’s top advisers “have been launching grenades at Palin and her supporters. CNN has found some of their allegations to be patently false.” It’d be nice (and more effective for her defense of Palin) if she actually mentioned \*which \*allegations they found to be false, but I guess that’s too much to ask. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/73 "2008-11-07T04:53:19Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > II can understand believing Australia to be a continent because it is so damn big. Psst - it is. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/74 "2008-11-07T04:55:00Z")
Now some Freepers are calling for a [boycott of Fox News](http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2127130/posts). We are through the fucking looking glass, people! ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/75 "2008-11-07T05:00:47Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > But Nobody Is That Stupid. Drop me a note the next time you’re in my neck of the woods, and I’ll introduce to some folks who most assuredly **are**. Thankfully, none of them hold elected office. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_from\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Man\_from\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_from_Mars)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/76 "2008-11-07T05:41:19Z")
> [@Nutty\_Bunny](#): > > His defense of her was laughable. When he said she’d been under a tremendous amount of pressure, I said “Oh, poor baby”. > > Even if only half of it is true, it’s still pretty bad. Particularly laughable was when he said her ignorance on matters of geography are not a problem because she “can be tutored. I mean, c’mon, she’s not stupid.” Actually, she is. Tutoring when it comes to geography is fine if the person is in third grade, not a person who has “executive experience.” ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/77 "2008-11-07T13:03:51Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > A Palin-sympathetic commentary from Campbell Brown [here](http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/06/campbell.brown.palin/index.html?iref=mpstoryview#cnnSTCText)in which she says McCain’s top advisers “have been launching grenades at Palin and her supporters. CNN has found some of their allegations to be patently false.” > > It’d be nice (and more effective for her defense of Palin) if she actually mentioned \*which \*allegations they found to be false, but I guess that’s too much to ask. Brown is right in that its a question of vetting - something that the McCain camp was miserable at. At the same time, she could have said “I just had a special needs child. I’m sorry, I can’t.” She wouldn’t have had to admit she wasn’t ready for the national stage. But that would have required a self awareness on her part. For all I didn’t like her, I suspect most of the root cause of the reason was she was (and I believe remains) naive. She knows too little to understand what she doesn’t know and is left with the self confidence of a fourteen year old kid who knows everything. ---
**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 7, 2008, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/78 "2008-11-07T14:25:59Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Brown is right in that its a question of vetting - something that the McCain camp was miserable at. > > At the same time, she could have said “I just had a special needs child. I’m sorry, I can’t.” She wouldn’t have had to admit she wasn’t ready for the national stage. But that would have required a self awareness on her part. I’m not eligible for the office, so it won’t ever be an issue, but I have to believe that almost anyone would have found it very difficult to say no to a chance to be VP - and to be the first female GOP nominee, I might add. I don’t blame Palin for this whole deal at all. Her options were “yes” and “no”; the party’s options were legion. ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/79 "2008-11-07T14:48:33Z")
Come, come people. Palin wasn’t thrown under the bus; she had already crawled under it. They just decided now was the time to put it in drive. She showed many occasions of being intellectually lazy and unwilling to bother to learn. Every speech was empty platitudes and stupid attacks. Is anyone really surprised that came back to bite her? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399/80 "2008-11-07T14:52:01Z")
Much as I would enjoy believing all this stuff, this seems to continue to be a one source story. Nobody else seems to be able confirm or dig up new supporting material. I’m moving this into my bullshit pile. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-god-thank-you-for-not-electing-sarah-palin/471399.md?page=5)