# Lord help me, I agree with Sarah Palin **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 13, 2010, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-help-me-i-agree-with-sarah-palin/539361 "2010-05-13T23:34:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-help-me-i-agree-with-sarah-palin/539361/21 "2010-05-14T08:15:09Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > There used to be a wall of sorts around sports, that isolated it from politics. The Olympics used to do this very well. Sure. No country would bar their athletes from participating in an Olympics for political reasons. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-help-me-i-agree-with-sarah-palin/539361/22 "2010-05-14T09:39:34Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > I can. But I say, suck it up. I have olive skin and dark hair, and I used to have a beard. I guess could pass for light Middle Eastern, because after 9/11 I was usually singled out at the airport for extra scrutiny. Was it my choice? No. Was I happy about the hassle? No. But I understood that this was a cost of keeping another 9/11 from happening. But I was happy that steps were being taken and never whined one bit about it. In fact, I made it a point to be very polite and thank the people who were tasked with the job. > > As far as I understand it, there wouldn’t be grounds to stop him and ask him that—either person. He has to be stopped for something else. Only then can he be asked if he is a citizen. **Bricker** went into this is detail in the GD thread, I believe. > > To your larger point, I think, I do not feel it necessary to treat the northern border and the southern border identically. Why? Simply because we KNOW many, many, many more people sneak in from the south. Given limited resources, it’s right to put the resources where the problem is. If the numbers shot up in the Northern Peninsula, then I’d allocate resources there. I truly want zero illegal immigration. I know a lot of people are here illegally due to overstaying their Visas, and a dedicated look into that may mean overloading resources into communities that are known to harbor Visa-overstayers from, say, Ireland, or Eastern Europe. Hmm, keeping people out because you don’t like them is somehow equivalent to keeping the country safe from terrorists. Why should I just grin and bear it when the reasons to forbid anyone to immigrate boil down to statements that don’t make sense, jingoism/bigotry, and lawful evil people who follow laws without judging whether they are good or not? You want to stop illegal immigration? Make it easier to get here legally. Anything else, and you’re treating one class of people differently than another. BTW, I’m all for sports teams boycotting Arizona. Some of those fans might be Latino, and then would have to put up with police harassment. Why do that to your fans if you can get around it? You want to be a bigoted state? Then be prepared to be cut off from the non-bigoted states. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-help-me-i-agree-with-sarah-palin/539361/23 "2010-05-14T10:40:38Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > Consider this thought experiment. A police officer encounters a Mestizo looking fellow with a strong Spanish accent who has no ID. Just walking down the street, claims he left his wallet to home. What would you have the officer do? Let him go or make him go get his ID? If he follows the law as written (not as described by hystericals), he would let him go, since there’s no reasonable suspicion. I’m not saying you did this, but I am astounded at how much root the notion that “this law requires U.S. citizens to prove their citizenship, or they’ll be arrested” has taken, even in mainstream news sources. It has become a given, the actual wording of the law be damned. People offer hypotheticals of horribles, and we’re to accept that this is the natural and typical outcome, despite the fact that “reasonable suspicion” is not some new-fangled idea, crafted together hastily so we could arrest Mexicans. ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-help-me-i-agree-with-sarah-palin/539361/24 "2010-05-14T11:04:30Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Hmm, keeping people out because you don’t like them is somehow equivalent to keeping the country safe from terrorists. Like has nothing to do with it…However, I do have more respect for those that follow the rules. > [@](#): > > You want to stop illegal immigration? Make it easier to get here legally. I agree completely > [@](#): > > Some of those fans might be Latino, and then would have to put up with police harassment. Why do that to your fans if you can get around it? Might want to try actually reading the bill… ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-help-me-i-agree-with-sarah-palin/539361/25 "2010-05-14T12:57:22Z")
> [@stratocaster](#): > > if he follows the law as written (not as described by hystericals), he would let him go, since there’s no reasonable suspicion. > > I’m not saying you did this, but i am astounded at how much root the notion that “this law requires u.s. Citizens to prove their citizenship, or they’ll be arrested” has taken, even in mainstream news sources. It has become a given, the actual wording of the law be damned. People offer hypotheticals of horribles, and we’re to accept that this is the natural and typical outcome, despite the fact that “reasonable suspicion” is not some new-fangled idea, crafted together hastily so we could arrest mexicans. thank you ---
**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:** [May 14, 2010, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-help-me-i-agree-with-sarah-palin/539361/26 "2010-05-14T13:17:10Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > There used to be a wall of sorts around sports, that isolated it from politics. The Olympics used to do this very well. Now we have the opposite any sports team that disagrees with Arizona is intermingling the two. The Phoenix Suns and their idiot players voted to enter the fray with their Los Suns jerseys, the NBA throws in their support and then MLB puts in their own two useless cents. The interviews I saw with Steve Nash and others were friggin ridiculous. Not once did you hear the term “illegal”. Idiots should stick to the one thing that they’re good at that protects them from putting themselves at risk in the real world. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I take it you were equally disgusted about Curt Schilling waxing right wing on all sorts of topics during his career? … ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-help-me-i-agree-with-sarah-palin/539361/27 "2010-05-14T13:33:26Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > She looks kinda like one of Hitler’s chauffeurs in that all leather outfit. > What’s up with that? Did she pay for it herself this time? Yeah, I notice she’s been going a little heavy on the bondage-looking gear lately. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-help-me-i-agree-with-sarah-palin/539361/28 "2010-05-14T14:33:42Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > But not _real_ Americans, surely? > Not _ **Republican** _ Americans??!! They can be macacas. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-help-me-i-agree-with-sarah-palin/539361/29 "2010-05-14T15:23:35Z")
Honestly, every time I’m expected to stand during the 7th inning stretch while someone shrieks “God Bless America” at me, I’m being subjected to politics intermingling with sports. And damn, is that ever a crappy song. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-help-me-i-agree-with-sarah-palin/539361/30 "2010-05-14T18:36:30Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Yeah, I notice she’s been going a little heavy on the bondage-looking gear lately. I’ve been trying to figure out if that’s a flag pin she’s been wearing lately. It looks metallic; gold or silver colored, depending on the lighting. What’s the matter, Sarah, does red-white-and-blue clash with your glasses? ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-help-me-i-agree-with-sarah-palin/539361/31 "2010-05-15T00:22:38Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > At least for [the first 3 paragraphs](http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/05/sarah-palin-weighs-in-on-highland-park-hs-flap.html), anyway. Then she moves on to her usual wingnut talking points. > > But really, keeping a high school girls’ basketball team from playing in a tournament because you don’t like a law in the state they were going? That’s a ridiculous, knee-jerk overreaction that punishes nobody except the kids. > > We can ill afford to toss Palin things like this to be right about, lest she gain something resembling credibility within the next two years. FWIW, the always amusing, and reliably liberal [Jonathan Chait](http://www.tnr.com/blogs/jonathan-chait) [agrees with you](http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/74967/wow-sarah-palin-right-about-something-almost). I think we can all agree that occasionally “political correctness” goes a bit too far. And that, mainly by chance, reflexively railing against it is bound to eventually make one correct at _some_ point. It’s a bit disconcerting, but really just because you looked at your stopped watch at 9:47 and it said 9:47 doesn’t mean you shouldn’t throw it away. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-help-me-i-agree-with-sarah-palin/539361/32 "2010-05-15T04:36:37Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I take it you were equally disgusted about Curt Schilling waxing right wing on all sorts of topics during his career? Everyone knows the partianship brings brainless bias into the mix here. Do you really want to just add annoyance to the boards in the form of becoming a lefty **Shodan**? Because he’s incredibly boring and never actually adds anything to a thread. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-help-me-i-agree-with-sarah-palin/539361/33 "2010-05-15T05:30:08Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > Sure. No country would bar their athletes from participating in an Olympics for political reasons. As everyone knows, there was a period in the 70s and 80s when Olympics boycotts for political reasons were common. Nowadays I think it’s been pretty well acknowledged by most people that those boycotts were a bad idea, regardless of your political point of view. The people hurt the most were the boycotters’ own athletes. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-help-me-i-agree-with-sarah-palin/539361/34 "2010-05-15T13:50:28Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Honestly, every time I’m expected to stand during the 7th inning stretch while someone shrieks “God Bless America” at me, I’m being subjected to politics intermingling with sports. And damn, is that ever a crappy song. Just do what I do: sing [This Land Is Your Land](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Land_Is_Your_Land) instead. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-help-me-i-agree-with-sarah-palin/539361/35 "2010-05-16T15:32:39Z")
As a resident of the town in question, I have to raise a point that the media overlooks. The school is concerned in part about safety – there are a lot of Hispanics in our town, many of them (I am sure) are not documented. But the concern that’s not mentioned in the press is that Hispanic kids won’t even try out for the teams. Rightly or wrongly, there is considerable concern in the Hispanic community about this new Arizona law, and we don’t want kids afraid to try out because they wouldn’t want to travel to a tournament in Arizona. These are also high school kids: what proof of citizenship do they have? A birth certificate? Hell, I could provide hundreds of kids with birth certificates – there’s no photo ID on a birth certificate. Driver’s license? Lots of kids don’t drive. So, what, a person needs a passport to travel into Arizona? Ah, Tommy Jefferson, where are you now when we need you? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-help-me-i-agree-with-sarah-palin/539361/36 "2010-05-16T15:49:55Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I’ve been trying to figure out if that’s a flag pin she’s been wearing lately. It looks metallic; gold or silver colored, depending on the lighting. What’s the matter, Sarah, does red-white-and-blue clash with your glasses? Maybe she’s a fan of [Saves the Day](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ups_and_Downs_(album))? ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-help-me-i-agree-with-sarah-palin/539361/37 "2010-05-16T16:40:24Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > As a resident of the town in question, I have to raise a point that the media overlooks. The school is concerned in part about safety – there are a lot of Hispanics in our town, many of them (I am sure) are not documented. But the concern that’s not mentioned in the press is that Hispanic kids won’t even try out for the teams. Rightly or wrongly, there is considerable concern in the Hispanic community about this new Arizona law, and we don’t want kids afraid to try out because they wouldn’t want to travel to a tournament in Arizona. And, speaking to the current situation, the school doesn’t know if any of the students on the girls’ basketball team are undocumented, so they cannot sponsor a trip to a state where any of them might be put in jepoardy, and they don’t want be put in the position of having to ensure that the students are legal. So…Sarah Palin should STFU. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-help-me-i-agree-with-sarah-palin/539361/38 "2010-05-16T19:54:20Z")
> [@Sarahfeena](#): > > So…Sarah Palin should STFU. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. IMHO, that recommendation applies almost _every single time_ she speaks… ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-help-me-i-agree-with-sarah-palin/539361/39 "2010-05-16T20:39:14Z")
> [@Digital\_Stimulus](#): > > IMHO, that recommendation applies almost _every single time_ she speaks… Well, this one in particular makes me :rolleyes:. She doesn’t know anything about the community in question. She doesn’t know what the underlying issues are. She’s “raising money” for them when that has nothing to do with it (it’s not like they can go if the school won’t sponsor them, plus, it’s a well-off community where the parents could most likely easily pay for it themselves if need be). Plus, she’s being helped in this endeavor by a former local reporter, who Sarah Palin may or may not know was fired by her station for ethical issues. The whole thing is beyond ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-help-me-i-agree-with-sarah-palin/539361/40 "2010-05-16T22:01:27Z")
Yeah, this is ridiculous. But this thread has shed light on one more degree of it. The students on the team that have every right to be in this country and in that school and on that team and travel to play in another state are being deprived of the last opportunity because of people who shouldn’t even be here. and then people come in and say that’s the right things to do. Yeah, ridiculous, alright. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-help-me-i-agree-with-sarah-palin/539361.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-help-me-i-agree-with-sarah-palin/539361.md?page=3)