# McCain Supporters -- a question about Palin **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 29, 2008, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697 "2008-09-29T13:01:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/141 "2008-09-30T18:52:43Z")
Best description I’ve heard of Palin was to call her a “post turtle.” As in, you’re driving down the road, and you see a turtle sitting on top of a fence post. You wonder how it got there, you _know_ it doesn’t belong there, and you wonder exactly what idiot is responsible for putting it there. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/142 "2008-09-30T19:12:33Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Clark was talking about a specific set of so-called qualifications, and was not saying that McCain was unqualified. So, saying you don’t have qualifications is different from saying that you are unqualified. Good luck with that. > [@twickster](#): > > As the OP, I’ve gotta say this really pisses me off. Go back and read it again – my intent was not to pick a fight with y’all, but to ask “Palin is keeping a very low profile. If she were my candidate (or, more accurately – and reflected in the thread title – if she were my candidate’s hand-selected running mate), the fact that her profile is so low at this point in the campaign would give me pause. I would be concerned that the people running the campaign thought that sending her out might not be in the best interests of getting McCain elected. Does it bother you that she spent four days in the fifth-largest city in the country and was seen by no more than 100 people or so?” Because every time it gets answered by the only two McCain supporters in the thread, someone else calls it a hijack and tries to tell us what we are supposed to say. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/143 "2008-09-30T19:20:41Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > So, saying you don’t have qualifications is different from saying that you are unqualified. Saying that X is not a special qualification is not saying someone is unqualified. Clark was saying that McCain was not MORE qualified than Obama. The interviewer said Obama had never been shot down in an airplane. Clark correctly pointed out that getting shot down in an airplane is not a qualification to be President. It’s an irrelevant data point with regard to a _comparison_ of qualifications with Obama. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/144 "2008-09-30T20:14:26Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > [hijack]As a shorthand for a certain social class (one embodied by the folks in _Philadelphia Story_, for instance – which was actually set on the Main Line), it refers to the string of Philly suburbs on that line. **Twicks** is absolutely correct on this usage of “Main Line.” I’ll give you an actual example of how it is used from a conversation I had the other day. I was talking to a friend who’s son goes to West Chester University, which is about 35 miles west of Philly, and therefore very close to the Main Line. She was talking about the general political leanings of the campus population. I said “Are there a lot of Main Line types there?” She replied that no, the student body skewed more toward the rural and working-class side. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/145 "2008-09-30T20:44:36Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Perhaps stuff like this has some effect on our thinking - [Cite.](http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/09/28/palin-responds-to-federal-bail-out/) Is she some sort of hot-house flower that needs to be protected from the rabble? Is so, she’s in the wrong profession. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/146 "2008-09-30T21:03:51Z")
Tim Russert, last April: > [@](#): > > “[After] all my discussions with presidents, both while in office and after they left, and their advisors, while in office and after they left, and in my reading of history, particularly presidential history, I am ever more convinced that a leader cannot make tough decisions unless he or she is asked tough questions. It is the only vehicle that brings them to closure, that forces any sense of intellectual rigor, that forces them to find a way to reconcile the political advice or the political pressures brought to bear. It will not be enough in a democratic society to simply have those on the left or right who are the pamphleteers and unwilling to challenge the views of people they support. Tough questions need not be the loudest or most sensational or the most theatrical, but rather probing and, hopefully, incisive.” I’ve never seen a high-profile candidate so terrified in being confronted with tough questions (or any questions, for that matter). Sexist agendas? Liberal media? Gotcha journalism? Suck it up! You’re running to be next in line for the most powerful position on Earth. All the excuses and evasions become increasingly conspicuous whenever she does open her mouth. The thing the campaign doesn’t seem to understand is that it’s such an affront to democratic principles, and it’s such an insult to the American people. I don’t mind that she and I are diametrically opposed on just about everything, but that she should somehow feel that she doesn’t have any obligation to demonstrate that she is ready for such an important job (especially given the numerous doubts and questions that have been raised and mulled over in the vacuum of her non-responses) is a disgrace. Even Dan Quayle had a press conference within a week of getting announced on the ticket! It’s beyond sad–not for her (though the GOP, by shooting their wad so early with her, have likely completely ruined her political career), but for us. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/147 "2008-09-30T21:19:21Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > I’ve pointed out that she’s drawn a crowd of 60,000 against Biden’s small numbers of 200-600. That implies that she’s getting better support. It certainly implies that she is more of a “celebrity”! Maybe she’s even “the one”? Gawsh, she may even be up to Paris Hilton level! Nah. Even Paris Hilton has better brains. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/148 "2008-09-30T22:56:49Z")
> [@treis](#): > > It doesn’t really matter where Palin is drawing the crowds. She is clearly the more dynamic and charismatic of the two VP candidates. Biden couldn’t draw 6,000 people to a rally if he gave out free donuts and booze. If I were in the Villages .I might have stopped by to look at her. That does not mean I support her. Crowds can be there for curiosity and boredom. Everybody there is not a supporter.Wouldn’t you go look at her? ---
**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:** [September 30, 2008, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/149 "2008-09-30T23:03:08Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > So, saying you don’t have qualifications is different from saying that you are unqualified. > > Good luck with that. > > Regards, > Shodan Do try to read without the filter of your ideology. Dio responded very well. Clark, as a more successful military man than McCain, was just injecting a dose of reality into that particular claim of qualifications. Since I explicitly said that McCain is qualified (and Clark never said he wasn’t) I don’t know what you’re going on about. Have a better example? ---
**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:** [September 30, 2008, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/150 "2008-09-30T23:06:53Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Tim Russert, last April:I’ve never seen a high-profile candidate so terrified in being confronted with tough questions (or any questions, for that matter). Wow, that’s a great quote. Thanks for posting it. Science works by making sure no contribution goes unquestioned. Having a limited number of reviewers give comments doesn’t guarantee that something is correct, but the alternative, science by press conference, usually works out badly. I’m looking at you, cold fusion. if you’re scared of peer review you have some more work to do. That’s why the conferences that have sprung up that just accept papers are considered jokes. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/151 "2008-10-01T16:59:38Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Three cites of Palin taking questions on the trail? A day later and still no response. Not surprising, really… ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/152 "2008-10-02T02:13:29Z")
For your watching pleasure (note these are autoplay video clips): [Palin vs. Biden on Roe v. wade and other Supreme Court decisions](http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4493093n) [Palin vs. Biden on separation of church and state](http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4493091n) ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697/153 "2008-10-02T15:40:43Z")
And [Jon Stewart on the Couric interviews.](http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=186764&title=gamsgammer) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-supporters-a-question-about-palin/465697.md?page=7)