# How would a Palin presidency be worse/better than the Bush one? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 26, 2011, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-palin-presidency-be-worse-better-than-the-bush-one/572648 "2011-02-26T00:13:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-palin-presidency-be-worse-better-than-the-bush-one/572648/41 "2011-02-28T16:24:52Z")
Re: Palin resigning as Governor of Alaska: > [@gonzomax](#): > > She bleated about people criticizing her and her family when she became the “quitinator”. She also bitched about the cost of legal problems since she could not stay on the straight path. That was her big complaints. All her bitching and complaining about not being able to govern with all the distractions had nothing to do with the distractions and everything to do with the fact that she didn’t want to be stuck in Alaska anymore. The only way she’d use the same excuses as President is if she thought Supreme Ruler of the Universe was going to open up for nominations soon. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-palin-presidency-be-worse-better-than-the-bush-one/572648/42 "2011-02-28T17:06:05Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] What was his Washington experience? [/QUOTE] His dad had been in Washington for years, had been VP and President, he knew people and had connections to people who had been in Washington. It’s all about the network and the connections. -XT ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-palin-presidency-be-worse-better-than-the-bush-one/572648/43 "2011-02-28T17:09:36Z")
I don’t find those credentials any more impressive than Liz Cheney’s. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-palin-presidency-be-worse-better-than-the-bush-one/572648/44 "2011-02-28T17:18:33Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > For all the hate of Bush, he had experience, especially Washington experience, which is important to connect with what a modern presidents real job is…which is to bring in a competent staff and fit the mold of what a president is. Obama has done a decent job of this, despite not having as much DC experience as many other presidents, but I think it’s been a struggle for him as well. I expect he’ll do better in his second term. > > Palin though would be a complete loose cannon…totally off the wall IMHO. She wouldn’t know the job, doesn’t have the connections for a coherent and cohesive administration, so would be bringing in people piecemeal based on the support she got just in the campaign and election, and they wouldn’t mesh well most likely…which would give her image an even more chaotic impression than Carter had. I agree. I also think that Palin like many American’s would over estimate the power of presidency. She would take the 48% plurality of the vote that she received to be a mandate from the people to do what ever she wants. I would not be surprised if we had a constitutional crisis within the first year of her taking office. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-palin-presidency-be-worse-better-than-the-bush-one/572648/45 "2011-02-28T17:22:34Z")
If Liz Cheney was running for president it would give her an edge. _shrug_ You don’t like Bush, so you are going to see everything in those terms. I don’t like him either, but I’m realistic enough, and lived in the DC metro area enough to recognize a certain type of experience as being important (not to me but to others, especially insider DC types). Understanding how things work, how the game is played, who the players are and all that stuff is important. Knowing people and being able to set up cohesive teams is important. Bush, merely by being the son of a president, a VP, a senior civil servant was exposed to that sort of stuff just by being there. His dad would have brought vast amounts of insider knowledge that was at GW’s disposal in his own run. He would have had contacts and known people, and could have helped put together a team. If you think all this doesn’t matter then your head is buried in the sand and you have no appreciation for the fact that a supposed inexperienced clown got elected not once (which is hard enough) but twice to lead the most powerful country on earth. Even if you think he ‘stole’ that election, even that says something for the organization he could build and the insider knowledge that would take. And Palin ain’t got it. None of it. Oh, she has connections, but she hasn’t lived and breathed the stuff, she doesn’t have the huge network Bush could call on, the interlinked friends and relations and acquaintances. She was a fairly obscure governor of Alaska, far from DC, who was brought in to be a VP candidate in a losing effort (giving her at most the veneer of what Washington is about), and has since been mostly a talking head. She isn’t a total newb, but she isn’t even where Obama was before he announced his presidency (let alone how he is today). -XT ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-palin-presidency-be-worse-better-than-the-bush-one/572648/46 "2011-02-28T17:27:28Z")
> [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](#): > > I think a Palin administration would be much more hostile toward good environmental policies. We’ll kiss the EPA, alternate energy, and clean air and water goodbye. Why take care of the earth when the Rapture is coming soon? > You’ll see much more of an effort to turn this country into a theocracy. > She willl be even more incompetent at foreign relations > In short, I think Palin would be much more of a disaster than Bush They don’t need her to kill the EPA. The REpub congress is taking 1.9 billion out of their budget claiming the EPA regulation costs jobs. That pesky regulation has to be removed to allow the magnanimous corporate leaders to do their good works . ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-palin-presidency-be-worse-better-than-the-bush-one/572648/47 "2011-02-28T18:38:37Z")
\*\*How would a Palin presidency be worse/better than the Bush one? \*\* I try not to think about the possibility too much, but what comes to mind is [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Stillson). ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-palin-presidency-be-worse-better-than-the-bush-one/572648/48 "2011-03-01T20:50:30Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > If Liz Cheney was running for president it would give her an edge. _shrug_ You don’t like Bush, so you are going to see everything in those terms. I don’t like him either, but I’m realistic enough, and lived in the DC metro area enough to recognize a certain type of experience as being important (not to me but to others, especially insider DC types). Understanding how things work, how the game is played, who the players are and all that stuff is important. Knowing people and being able to set up cohesive teams is important. Bush, merely by being the son of a president, a VP, a senior civil servant was exposed to that sort of stuff just by being there. His dad would have brought vast amounts of insider knowledge that was at GW’s disposal in his own run. He would have had contacts and known people, and could have helped put together a team. > -XT This has nothing to do with liking Bush or not liking Bush. Reagan and Clinton didn’t have lots of Washington experience either. Having connections with old Washington hands is useful, but may or may not be a substitute. Bush Elder on the other hand had some really excellent Washington experience, and it showed. He was the boss, not the aides. But he was exceptional, as were Nixon and LBJ in the same way. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-palin-presidency-be-worse-better-than-the-bush-one/572648/49 "2011-03-01T20:53:29Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > What would be a difficult decision for Sarah Palin? I think she has an easy answer for everything; cut taxes, support the troops, etc. I’ve never seen her address an issue in anything more than the most superficial terms. That common sense approach will see her through everything from North Korean nukes to natural disasters to economics. > > So really, describe a scenario that would put Sarah Palin in a spot to even contemplate a difficult decision. I was thinking of a foreign policy decision, where you have to decide to send in troops or not, and where lives are on the line. It’s very easy to blather about it, a lot harder to actually give the order. I don’t think taxes would be a problem for her. She’ll do the wrong thing in perfect confidence, as many stupid people do, and then blame everything else when it goes wrong. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-palin-presidency-be-worse-better-than-the-bush-one/572648/50 "2011-03-02T00:13:43Z")
Bush was mostly stupid. Palin is all stupid Whereas Bush was a fundie who had some limits (for instance, I credit him for not actually pushing for an anti-gay marriage amendment or an abortion ban), I don’t believe such things will even cross Palin’s mind. Her first act will probably be something about abortion, 2nd one something about gay marriage, and third one locking up all illegal immigrants. Palin’s got no clue about politics. She’ll end up cursing out China and Russia and withdrawing from every international treaty we’re in. She would be much much much worse ---
**Author:** ![New\_Deal\_Democrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9d8465/32.png) [@New\_Deal\_Democrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Deal_Democrat)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-palin-presidency-be-worse-better-than-the-bush-one/572648/51 "2011-03-02T01:03:24Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Meaningless, he got a “gentleman’s C” thanks to his wealth and connections. Which means that he could have been a basset hound and graduated. I have read that George W. Bush’s IQ is about 135, and even that it is higher than John Kerry, although I find that hard to believe. It is easy for me to believe that Sarah Palin is much less intelligent than Bush. She may even be less intelligent than Ronald Reagan. Reagan avoided catastrophic mistakes because he had capable advisers, and he listened to them. During the campaign of 2008 Sarah Palin was known for ignoring the advice of her advisers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-palin-presidency-be-worse-better-than-the-bush-one/572648.md?page=2)