# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/121 "2010-11-22T12:43:44Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > I’m not a big fan of democrats. I think they’re wrong on a lot of issues. But this sort of attitude is exactly a demonstration of why I cannot even fathom siding with republicans anymore. > > You people would want to see American burn if it meant that the liberals would be pissed off in the process. If you had any shred of dignity and honesty and concern for the country whose flag you wrap yourself up in, you’d be saying “I still support Republican ideals, but this woman represents the worst of us, I can’t support her”. I mean, for fucks sake, this board has some very intelligent conservative leaning folks, and despite this woman being the opposite of intellectual, curious people, you line up to support her because supporting your partisan tribe is more important than anything else. > > But instead, your attitude is “Well, she pisses off liberals, so she must be good!” - This is why level headed people who would otherwise be sympathetic to the ideals that republicans supposedly stand for are disgusted and leaving. You are so rabidly partisan that you’ll support anyone, no matter how worthless, if she carries a little R next to her name. > > Or, in your particular case, maybe you aren’t actually just knee-jerk supporting her in a partisan way, and you actually like what she is. Then you’re an asshole and an idiot, and not just a partisan hack. > > Liberals aren’t scared of Palin because OMG HER BRILLIANT IDEAS WILL SHOW US ALL HOW WE’RE WRONG you fucking idiots. They’re scared because of people like you, who will vote for a fucking incurious simpleton who wants to join [this church](http://gawker.com/5681802/sarah-palins-favorite-tweet-is-about-our-taliban-muslim-illegally-elected-president), who doesn’t know shit about anything and is proud of it. The scary thing is that people like you will support anyone who pisses off liberals, disregarding the reason she pisses off liberals is because she’s a hateful moron. > > You disgust me. It’s too bad this is too long to use as my signature. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/122 "2010-11-22T13:17:41Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Reagan was fond of reciting Winston Churchill’s observation that “_Anyone under thirty who isn’t a liberal has no heart, and anyone over thirty who is not a conservative has no brain_”. As a fan of Churchill and his quotations, let me interpose that [apparently](http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/2005/06/21/did-churchill-coin-that-over-30-maxim/), this quotation predates him. It has been attributed to Georges Clemenceau, David Lloyd George and, earliest of all, François Guizot. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/123 "2010-11-22T13:32:04Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Reagan was fond of reciting Winston Churchill’s observation that “_Anyone under thirty who isn’t a liberal has no heart, and anyone over thirty who is not a conservative has no brain_” :D, and he attributed his political conversion accordingly to the maturity that comes with age. Reagan was also fond of quoting Abraham Lincoln: > [@](#): > > You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help little men by tearing down big men. You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. The only problem was, Lincoln never said that. It was [written by William J.H. Boetcker](http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4053), a conservative minister who published them in a 1916 pamphlet. So, did Reagan deliberately misrepresent Lincoln, or was he just mindlessly parroting the right-wing narrative? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/124 "2010-11-22T13:57:05Z")
So if the OP is still defending his theme, which is that liberals attack Palin’s intellectual chops because of basic policy deisagreements they cannot otherwise refute… …then why do I do it? I mean, surely you can’t believe I’ve spent eleven years on this board honing a phony conservative reputation so I am perfectly positioned to attack Sarah Palin, right? I am a conservative, and I believe Palin would be a disastrous choice for President, because her intellect isn’t up to snuff. What’s my ulterior motive? ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/125 "2010-11-22T14:04:34Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > What’s my ulterior motive? You’re secretly a liberal, duh. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/126 "2010-11-22T14:06:32Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Reagan was also funny. He was capable of coming up with quick quips that disarmed his opponents. He was quick on his feet. “My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.” ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/127 "2010-11-22T14:28:51Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I am a conservative, and I believe Palin would be a disastrous choice for President, because her intellect isn’t up to snuff. > > What’s my ulterior motive? Yeah, yet another of these threads where the OP apparently is trying short-circuit all discussion from the liberal side by painting it as hypocracy, thereby eliminating any need to respond on point-by-point basis. It’s complete bullshit and I’m sick to death of it, regardless of which side does it. For the OP: is it your position that there is no such thing as legitimate criticism of Palin’s competency? Are you saying that you refuse to consider the possible merits of any such criticism? If not, could help us all out a bit and tell what degfree of criticism you will and will not accept? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/128 "2010-11-22T14:34:19Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > “My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.” And guess who could see the explosions? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/129 "2010-11-22T15:23:50Z")
> [@Shayna](#): > > I’ll take that bet. On June 25th, 2008, then-Governor Palin was **[ON THE NEWS](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H-26MOxH34)** decrying the Supreme Court ruling that severely reduced the punitive damages to 32,000 plaintiffs as a result of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Puget Sound. Not only did she completely forget about that ruling, a mere 3 months later, when Couric asked her if there were any Supreme Court decision with which she disagreed, but when she sat down to write her book when the election was over in November, she had the unmitigated gall to **[take credit for playing a part in the “successful” ruling](http://blogs.reuters.com/frontrow/2009/11/18/palins-exxon-valdez-account-draws-guffaws/)**. Hold on, I said I’d bet she can _name_ them, not state the holdings correctly! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/130 "2010-11-22T15:39:50Z")
Is it true that Bush “told friends the ex-Alaska governor isn’t qualified to be President”? Or a fabrication? If true, then I am – again – shocked at how American politics can lurch to the right. I am aware of the tendency to describe increasingly large segments of the political spectrum as “scared-to-death liberal” but I literally never before even imagined that being applied to George W Bush. I don’t agree with him about much, but if \he\ says someone is not qualified to be president, I am in this case inclined to give that some weight… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/131 "2010-11-22T15:43:36Z")
I don’t recall Reagan doing anything as dumb as Palin’s ‘refudiate’ thing. And I don’t mean the initial conflation of “refute” and “repudiate” (although that’s certainly not a point in her favor). The _really_ dumb thing was after being made fun nationally of she tried to correct it, and picked the wrong word out of the two. That’s weapons-grade stupid. Wouldn’t you make sure you used the correct word in something that so many people are looking at? Run it by a few people before you launched it into the world? Load up [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) and check a few definitions? She was either too dumb to check it it, or too dumb to even realize she might have been wrong. And yes, I’m one of those liberals “scared to death” she’ll get elected. It’s the same type of fear I have of giving a toddler a loaded gun. And I’m not afraid the toddler will do good things with the weapon that prove me wrong about toddler/gun issues. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/132 "2010-11-22T15:52:52Z")
> [@Shade](#): > > Is it true that Bush “told friends the ex-Alaska governor isn’t qualified to be President”? Or a fabrication? > > If true, then I am – again – shocked at how American politics can lurch to the right. I am aware of the tendency to describe increasingly large segments of the political spectrum as “scared-to-death liberal” but I literally never before even imagined that being applied to George W Bush. I don’t agree with him about much, but if \he\ says someone is not qualified to be president, I am in this case inclined to give that some weight… 🙂 GWB has ceased to exist and will continue his lack-of-existence up until the right wing has successfully managed to rehabilitate his image. So, it is irrelevant whether or not GWB said it up until such a time as he resumes existing. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/133 "2010-11-22T15:54:10Z")
> [@casdave](#): > > Whilst Palin isn’t the brightest around, even she had to know that governing Alaska is pretty small potatoes, makes sense for her to use whatever platform she can and get out, walking out on California would be damaging, walking out on Alaska - not so much and it probaly impedes her currying favour elsewhere. Yeah, how much media/press attention is given to what the Governor of North Dakota happens to say?.. about anything? How many thousands of people in other states turn out for rallies and speaking engagements given by the Governor of Vermont? Who pays any attention about what candidates all over the nation that the Governor of Montana gives an endorsement to? How many books has the Governor of Hawaii written, and how many books were sold? How many people watch TLC television series featuring the family of the Governor of Rhode Island? Bottom line: Sarah Palin is a very real and a very charismatic person. Both friend, and foe, fall over themselves to see and hear her her every word. Alaska is not big enough for Sarah Palin. I also cannot think of any other politician who would so fearlessly put themselves out there and say “This is who I am, this is my family, this is where I live.” I find it incredibly refreshing. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/134 "2010-11-22T15:55:58Z")
That was much more relevant when you said it in the thread about her show. Where she belongs. Because she has much more in common with Snooki than Reagan. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/135 "2010-11-22T16:01:44Z")
Nobody gave a damn about Palin until McCain picked her as his running mate. Which, I might add, he did precisely because even he thought it was a crazy decision; he just thought it was so crazy it might just work. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/136 "2010-11-22T16:07:35Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > Nobody gave a damn about Palin until McCain picked her as his running mate. Which, I might add, he did precisely because even he thought it was a crazy decision; he just thought it was so crazy it might just work. I think it was a more an attempt to get women voters who were previously going to vote for Hilary Clinton. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/137 "2010-11-22T16:13:58Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > I think it was a more an attempt to get women voters who were previously going to vote for Hilary Clinton. That’s why he was looking for a female running mate, yeah, but he went to Palin because she was an unknown. It’s been a couple years since I read the post-election article, but IIRC in his own words he was trying for a Hail Mary pass and it failed. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/138 "2010-11-22T16:24:17Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > And guess who could see the explosions? What I want to know is, could Reagan play the fiddle. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/139 "2010-11-22T16:26:06Z")
Now, having agreed that Palin is not tops in the brains department, I should also mention that I find irritating the tendency to criticize her for things she’s correct about. Remember “Party like it’s 1773!” Ha, ha, what an idiot; the Declaration of Independence was **1776**! Yes. But the Boston Tea Party was in 1773. This came to mind when Gawker published excerpts from Palin’s unreleased book. She tweeted angrily, asking if that was illegal. Gawker sneeringly replied: > [@](#): > > She tweets with rage: “The publishing world is LEAKING out-of-context excerpts of my book w/out my permission? Isn’t that illegal?” > > [Sarah: If you’re reading this—and if you are, welcome!—you may want to take a moment to familiarize yourself with the law. Try starting [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use) or [here](http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/). Or skip the totally boring reading and call one of your lawyers. They’ll walk you through it.] Of course, the party that got “walked through it” was Gawker, who learned that an author has a strong right to control her _unpublished_ material and that it’s NOT fair use to publish it ahead of the first authorized publication. Had Gawker actually read their own link and clicked through on it, they might have gotten a hint of this truth: > [@](#): > > 1. The Nature of the Copyrighted Work > > Because the dissemination of facts or information benefits the public, you have more leeway to copy from factual works such as biographies than you do from fictional works such as plays or novels. > > In addition, you will have a stronger case of fair use if the material copied is from a published work than an unpublished work. The scope of fair use is narrower for unpublished works because an author has the right to control the first public appearance of his expression. And [sure enough](http://online.wsj.com/article/AP6b85991d039f4f5bb9aa63f7e63fde89.html), the judge that was asked that question immediately ordered Gawker to take down their offending publications. Ha! Ha! That Palin. What a moron. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453/140 "2010-11-22T16:26:50Z")
> [@Susanann](#): > > Bottom line: Sarah Palin is a very real and a very charismatic person. Both friend, and foe, fall over themselves to see and hear her her every word. Alaska is not big enough for Sarah Palin. I also cannot think of any other politician who would so fearlessly put themselves out there and say “This is who I am, this is my family, this is where I live.” While at the same time bemoaning all the unseemly media attention. Right. Hate to break it to you, but I don’t actually fall over myself to see or hear her every word. Frankly I don’t much care if I never hear another word from her, although I do find her somewhat entertaining, just as I find, say, Michele Bachmann somewhat entertaining. In any event, I don’t think attempts to build a cult of personality were appropriate in Obama’s case; why would I think otherwise regarding Palin? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sarah-palin-dumber-than-ronald-reagan/561453.md?page=8)