# John Cleese Says Sarah Palin's a Parrot! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 14, 2008, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-says-sarah-palins-a-parrot/467809 "2008-10-14T00:57:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-says-sarah-palins-a-parrot/467809/61 "2008-10-15T20:09:52Z")
> [@Kal](#): > > Note the past tense. Nowadays, after all her strokes and with advancing age, Thatcher has dementia. > > I’m sure many here would agree that Palin is, indeed, like Thatcher: Demented. Well, her brain is in her shin after all. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-says-sarah-palins-a-parrot/467809/62 "2008-10-15T20:13:05Z")
> [@UnwrittenNocturne](#): > > And yet Americans seem to open their mouths about the politicians of other countries all the fucking time. Go ask Hugo Chavez, or for that matter damned near any world leader. Apart from the fact that Hugo Chavez is the only foreign leader most Americans can even name. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-says-sarah-palins-a-parrot/467809/63 "2008-10-15T20:19:54Z")
> [@sqweels](#): > > Apart from the fact that Hugo Chavez is the only foreign leader most Americans can even name. I’m not going to attempt to butcher the spellings of their name, but I think most 'Merkins know who’s running Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran, while a few more might know about Mugabe. ---
**Author:** ![Rack-a-Bones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rack-a-Bones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rack-a-Bones)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-says-sarah-palins-a-parrot/467809/64 "2008-10-15T20:23:22Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > I’m not going to attempt to butcher the spellings of their name, but I think most 'Merkins know who’s running Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran, while a few more might know about Mugabe. Sir, I’m afraid you over-estimate the intelligence of Americans by several orders of magnitude. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-says-sarah-palins-a-parrot/467809/65 "2008-10-15T20:37:00Z")
> [@Rack-a-Bones](#): > > Sir, I’m afraid you over-estimate the intelligence of Americans by several orders of magnitude. He’s hung around here too long. ---
**Author:** ![Rack-a-Bones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rack-a-Bones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rack-a-Bones)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-says-sarah-palins-a-parrot/467809/66 "2008-10-15T20:47:02Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > He’s hung around here too long. I am actually quoting him from earlier in this thread. I missed the edit window so I couldn’t give him proper credit. I’d wager vast sums of money that if you took a balanced poll that attempted to sample all walks of life from all over the country that you would find far more people could name the last three winners of Survivor or American Idol, or Dancing With the Stars, [insert reality show du jour here] than could name more than two the leader of Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan or Israel. Heck, I’d be surprised if they could name their own governor or a single state representative. ETA: Here are a couple of examples. I’m sure there are more recent ones [Simpsons v Constitution](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/01/politics/main1356854.shtml?cmp=EM8705) [Egads](http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060814005496&newsLang=en) ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-says-sarah-palins-a-parrot/467809/67 "2008-10-15T23:59:51Z")
> [@Rack-a-Bones](#): > > Sir, I’m afraid you over-estimate the intelligence of Americans by several orders of magnitude. ding! ding! ding! You said ‘Magnitude’, which is the secret word of the day. You, Sir, have won a YouTube video [designed especially for you…](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9amtW_XVrv4) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-says-sarah-palins-a-parrot/467809/68 "2008-10-16T12:14:51Z")
So whats the difference between a fart in the wind and one of Palins"Answers"to a political question? The fart doesn’t smell as bad. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-says-sarah-palins-a-parrot/467809/69 "2008-10-16T14:08:19Z")
> [@MikeG](#): > > I’m not going to get too involved in this but suffice to say that there are a lot of Irish people who disagree strongly. And English people. I don’t feel sorry for her at all. She’s earned the hell that is learning her husband is dead afresh every morning. Malignant, evil cow. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-says-sarah-palins-a-parrot/467809/70 "2008-10-16T15:46:21Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > TThe cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all, it is lager. Isn’t “lager” a variety/subcategory/type of beer? ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-says-sarah-palins-a-parrot/467809/71 "2008-10-16T17:21:16Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > This reminds me of the following (in the spoiler) From John Cleese. Lobsang, lengthy quotations are not allowed. Unless you wrote it, or it’s explicitly permitted in a copyright statement to reproduce without permission, our presumption is that it is copyrighted to the author and should be posted with a short quote and a link only. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-says-sarah-palins-a-parrot/467809/72 "2008-10-16T19:51:59Z")
> [@MikeG](#): > > I’m not going to get too involved in this but suffice to say that there are a lot of Irish people who disagree strongly. > [@tagos](#): > > And English people. I don’t feel sorry for her at all. She’s earned the hell that is learning her husband is dead afresh every morning. Malignant, evil cow. I guess I feel differently. I can support a “get your foot off my neck, NOW” sentiment, I just can’t bring myself to support “get your foot off my neck and then die a slow and terrible death” sentiment. Whatever harm her policies did, address them with policies which redress the wrongs. One is justice, the other is revenge. Similarly, I don’t want George Bush dead, I just want him out of power. I don’t even care if he lives a lush lifestyle for the rest of his days. I just want his foot off my neck, his hand off the trigger, and his hand out of my wallet. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-says-sarah-palins-a-parrot/467809/73 "2008-10-17T00:28:46Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > I guess I feel differently. I can support a “get your foot off my neck, NOW” sentiment, I just can’t bring myself to support “get your foot off my neck and then die a slow and terrible death” sentiment. Whatever harm her policies did, address them with policies which redress the wrongs. One is justice, the other is revenge. > > Similarly, I don’t want George Bush dead, I just want him out of power. I don’t even care if he lives a lush lifestyle for the rest of his days. I just want his foot off my neck, his hand off the trigger, and his hand out of my wallet. > > Enjoy, > Steven You know, I may not like W, but I don’t wish him dead. Still, he’s not the bastard who made millions developing and promoting the process of [injecting air into our kid’s icecream so that they get barely 1/3 of what we used to per scoop at a much much higher price.](http://www.elegantchaos.com/node/178) ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-says-sarah-palins-a-parrot/467809/74 "2008-10-17T12:47:30Z")
[Longer clip of the interview.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR3eUjD6y6o) > [@John Cleese](#): > > I’d like to say the Rupert Murdoch tortures small furry animals before he even has breakfast. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-says-sarah-palins-a-parrot/467809/75 "2008-10-17T12:59:01Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > I guess I feel differently. I can support a “get your foot off my neck, NOW” sentiment, I just can’t bring myself to support “get your foot off my neck and then die a slow and terrible death” sentiment. Whatever harm her policies did, address them with policies which redress the wrongs. One is justice, the other is revenge. > > Similarly, I don’t want George Bush dead, I just want him out of power. I don’t even care if he lives a lush lifestyle for the rest of his days. I just want his foot off my neck, his hand off the trigger, and his hand out of my wallet. > > Enjoy, > Steven Karma has caught up with a bad person who deliberately destroyed the lives of millions in the most savage, uncaring way. I’m just cheering Justice on and hoping the evil old witch isn’t buried at sea. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-says-sarah-palins-a-parrot/467809/76 "2008-10-17T18:50:26Z")
> [@tagos](#): > > And English people. I don’t feel sorry for her at all. She’s earned the hell that is learning her husband is dead afresh every morning. Malignant, evil cow. While I hold no extreme views one way or the other myself,many English people hold various degrees of antipathy to Thatcher ranging from dislike to outright hatred. But you must already be aware of that ?being English yourself as it says in your profile. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-says-sarah-palins-a-parrot/467809/77 "2008-10-18T18:41:48Z")
> [@fluiddruid](#): > > Lobsang, lengthy quotations are not allowed. Unless you wrote it, or it’s explicitly permitted in a copyright statement to reproduce without permission, our presumption is that it is copyrighted to the author and should be posted with a short quote and a link only. Well I didn’t get it off the web so I couldn’t link to it. But I accept what you’re saying. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-says-sarah-palins-a-parrot/467809.md?page=3)