# Is Sarah Palin dumber than Ronald Reagan? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 21, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453 "2010-11-21T17:10:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 24
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/461 "2010-11-28T18:29:07Z")
Unbelievable. As if he wasn’t cynical enough to foist her upon us in the first place. . . [McCain compares Palin to Reagan](http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/28/mccain-compares-palin-to-reagan/) _“I think anybody that has the visibility that Sarah has is obviously going to have some divisiveness. . . I remember that a guy named Ronald Reagan used to be viewed by some as divisive. . . [Sarah Palin is] an incredible force in the American political arena [and] she’s keeping her options open. . . I think she’s doing great job. . . I think she’s motivating our base. I think she had a positive impact on the last election and I’m proud of her.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/462 "2010-11-28T18:41:35Z")
> [@Shayna](#): > > Unbelievable. As if he wasn’t cynical enough to foist her upon us in the first place. . . > > [McCain compares Palin to Reagan](http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/28/mccain-compares-palin-to-reagan/) > > _“I think anybody that has the visibility that Sarah has is obviously going to have some divisiveness. . . I remember that a guy named Ronald Reagan used to be viewed by some as divisive. . . [Sarah Palin is] an incredible force in the American political arena [and] she’s keeping her options open. . . I think she’s doing great job. . . I think she’s motivating our base. I think she had a positive impact on the last election and I’m proud of her.”_ McCain is as big a phony as Palin is. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/463 "2010-11-28T18:43:28Z")
> [@Shayna](#): > > Unbelievable. As if he wasn’t cynical enough to foist her upon us in the first place. . . > > [McCain compares Palin to Reagan](http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/28/mccain-compares-palin-to-reagan/) Wait a minute! Look closely at those two pictures. The chins, the noses, the ears. Hmmm. I’m just sayin’. 😉 \ **Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/464 "2010-11-28T18:51:26Z") > [@Chefguy](#): > > McCain is as big a phony as Palin is. Sorry, I’m going to have to bite my tongue on that one. Too many McCain worshipers around here. Oh what the hell, I’ll just keep it to this simple statement; he may have been a war hero, but he’s turned into a lying prick of a politician. [“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is working”](http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/28/mccain-says-dont-ask-dont-tell-is-working/), my ass. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/465 "2010-11-28T19:37:54Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > McCain is as big a phony as Palin is. Reread what he said, and see it from McCain’s perspective. She does motivate the base. She did have a huge “positive” effect on the 2008 election, as far as McCain’s campaign ended up. He may have decided to shove an unlubed hedgehog up our collective anuses, but from his craven perspective he spoke complete truth. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/466 "2010-11-28T20:03:44Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > Reread what he said, and see it from McCain’s perspective. She does motivate the base. She did have a huge “positive” effect on the 2008 election, as far as McCain’s campaign ended up. > > He may have decided to shove an unlubed hedgehog up our collective anuses, but from his craven perspective he spoke complete truth. > > -Joe Orrrrrr he’s sucking up in the hope that _she’ll_ select _him_ to be her running mate (for VP) in 2012. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/467 "2010-11-28T20:08:00Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Orrrrrr he’s sucking up in the hope that _she’ll_ select _him_ to be her running mate (for VP) in 2012. “Sorry, John Boy, I need someone sexier and less corpse-like.” Rand Paul (if you’re going to go crazy, go all the way I say) is more likely than that old fraud, and I think even he knows it. He’s all about party loyalty, even after Dubya shanked him in the back. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/468 "2010-11-28T20:19:09Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Orrrrrr he’s sucking up in the hope that _she’ll_ select _him_ to be her running mate (for VP) in 2012. Mr. Early Vetter again, NRT “Eddie”. Don’t worry, Palin’s not going to need a VP. Think positive. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/469 "2010-11-29T15:50:13Z")
> [@Shayna](#): > > Sorry, I’m going to have to bite my tongue on that one. Too many McCain worshipers around here. Oh what the hell, I’ll just keep it to this simple statement; he may have been a war hero, but he’s turned into a lying prick of a politician. I might quibble slightly with the “turned into”— but I think the bulk of the McCain “worship,” at least from the center leftward, largely dried up here and elsewhere after it became glaringly apparent that he \*was \*just another lying (and intensely self-serving) prick of a politician after all. So, I think you’re reasonably safe from lynching. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/470 "2010-11-29T16:08:19Z")
McCain is just saying what he has to in order to avoid admitting a major mistake in judgment in the one critical decision he had to make as an applicant for the Presidency. If he said anything else, he’d thereby admit being unqualified for the job he lusted over for so long. It’s too much to expect him, or any normal human, to do that in public or even to himself. But so what, we all know it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/471 "2010-11-29T17:45:15Z")
Well, just to contribute the latest Palin stupidity: > [@](#): > > Inexplicable: I recently won in court to stop my book “America by Heart” from being leaked,but US Govt can’t stop Wikileaks’ treasonous act? [Twitter.](http://twitter.com/sarahpalinusa) Seriously? ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/472 "2010-11-29T17:48:43Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Well, just to contribute the latest Palin stupidity: > > [Twitter.](http://twitter.com/sarahpalinusa) Seriously? The closing apostrophe is correct. No way she wrote that. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/473 "2010-11-29T18:05:31Z")
Someone needs to explain to this fool of a woman what the word “treason” means. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/474 "2010-11-29T18:19:12Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Someone needs to explain to this fool of a woman what the word “treason” means. The Twitter post is not about treason or the courts, neither of which she gives a shit about: it’s about creating an excuse to put the name of her new “book” in a Twitter post. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/475 "2010-11-29T21:19:54Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > it’s about creating an excuse to put the name of her new “book” in a Twitter post. I’m not sure “book” needs quotes. “Her”, maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/476 "2010-11-29T21:37:38Z")
Ok, pop quiz, everyone: which is more lamentable? Palin’s suggestion that Obama seek a restraining order against Wikileaks, or… THIS? [Link.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/23/sarah-palin-christine-odonnell-dancing-with-the-stars_n_787434.html) > [@](#): > > Sarah Palin reportedly lobbied producers of the ABC hit show “Dancing With The Stars” on Thursday night to bring failed Tea Party-backed U.S. Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell on as a contestent to the next season of the program. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/477 "2010-11-29T21:39:40Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Ok, pop quiz, everyone: which is more lamentable? Palin’s suggestion that Obama seek a restraining order against Wikileaks, or… THIS? > > [Link.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/23/sarah-palin-christine-odonnell-dancing-with-the-stars_n_787434.html) Well… I say ABC take a bullet for all of us and offer her the casting job for DWTS for say, the next 10 years or so… folks will be tired of her politics by then, right? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/478 "2010-11-30T00:08:39Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > “Sorry, John Boy, I need someone sexier and less corpse-like.” > > Rand Paul (if you’re going to go crazy, go all the way I say) is more likely than that old fraud, and I think even he knows it. > > He’s all about party loyalty, even after Dubya shanked him in the back. > > -Joe Actually, I think it’s more personal loyalty than party loyalty. Palin backed him in his re-election bid, generally against the wishes of the Tea Party. To him, that makes her a stand-up person, and he’s returning the favor. It’s not clear at all that supporting Palin now is what the Republican party wants or needs. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/479 "2010-11-30T02:08:52Z")
A few comments. First of all I’m just barely old enough to remember the end of the Reagan era as a quasi-adult (turned 15 in 1988), and come from a liberal family and a liberal region, and much as I might like to take a “what? we’d say that Reagan was dumb? Why of course we would not engage in such vile slander!” attitude, that’s definitely a meme that was out there (all though of course we didn’t call them memes back then). In particular, I remember the following joke: Q: Why are Reagan’s brain surgeons Zen Buddhists A: Contemplation of Nothingness As for my opinion from 20 odd years later (and they HAVE been odd years), I certainly don’t think he was a dummy or a nitwit. I’d rank him WELL ahead of Palin. However, I do think there was one pernicious influence he had, which was that however intelligent he may or may not have been, he had such folksy charm that I feel like he was the first president where it didn’t seem to matter if he was intelligent or not. Reagan did a great job of playing the role of “I’ve just got some aw shucks homey wisdom, and I apply that to presidential situations, and gee it all comes out right… except of course when my advisers do scandalous and treasonous things, everyone knows I wasn’t involved because, well, gee shucks”. However effective that may or may not have been for him, I think it was a BIG step towards our current “everyone wants to vote for the guy they’d have a beer with” state, where it would be shocking and somehow improper for a president to actually be obviously brilliant and respond to off the cuff questions with clearly impromptu learned monologues on the issue. Bill Clinton was (by all accounts) incredibly knowledgeable about the issues of the day, and probably more details-oriented-intellectually-prepared to be the leader of the free world than any other president of my lifetime, but he sure didn’t play that up as part of his public persona. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/480 "2010-11-30T03:07:57Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > The Twitter post is not about treason or the courts, neither of which she gives a shit about: it’s about creating an excuse to put the name of her new “book” in a Twitter post. What that dumbass bitch is too fucking stupid to know is, the U.S. government **has NO JURISDICTION** over Wikileaks – they’re a foreign entity whose site is operated overseas. The stupid just oozes out of every fucking pore of that woman. The notion that she is in any way, shape or form comparable to Ronald Reagan is utterly ridiculous. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453.md?page=23) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453.md?page=25)