# Palin says she has "Fire In the Belly." Is it just gas? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 20, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-says-she-has-fire-in-the-belly-is-it-just-gas/582614 "2011-05-20T20:07:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Profound\_Gibberish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Profound\_Gibberish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Profound_Gibberish)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-says-she-has-fire-in-the-belly-is-it-just-gas/582614/141 "2011-06-07T15:17:40Z")
The most telling thing about this whole Paul Reveere thing is that she steadfastly refuses to believe or admit she made a mistake. She could have laughed it off with a “It was long day, that was a silly answer, oh well. . . .” and no one would really care. But, to defend her error and say that she knows her history reveals what I have heard for quite awhile: She is _never_ wrong. _Ever_. Now don’t you want THAT in a leader? In addiiton, calling it a “gotcha question” (Q: “What have you seen here today and what will you take home with you?”) just again shows that she is a pure idiot. Good riddance, Sarah, I think your trip was very beneficial to the voting public 😉 ---
**Author:** ![JimH52](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@JimH52](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimH52)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-says-she-has-fire-in-the-belly-is-it-just-gas/582614/142 "2011-06-07T16:32:59Z")
Palin is in it for the money, plain and simple. She is a camera hog with the IQ of a toe nail. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-says-she-has-fire-in-the-belly-is-it-just-gas/582614/143 "2011-06-07T17:40:50Z")
> [@JimH52](#): > > Palin is in it for the money, plain and simple. She is a camera hog with the IQ of a toe nail. Aren’t you being a bit hard on toe nails, here? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-says-she-has-fire-in-the-belly-is-it-just-gas/582614/144 "2011-06-07T17:42:24Z")
Not the growing part – the part that gets cut off and tossed in the trash. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-says-she-has-fire-in-the-belly-is-it-just-gas/582614/145 "2011-06-07T19:07:48Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > [http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/06/sarah-palin-badly-mangles-the-story-of-paul-reveres-ride-in-statement/](http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/06/sarah-palin-badly-mangles-the-story-of-paul-reveres-ride-in-statement/) > Learn from Palin as she describes the ride of Paul Revere. Wow, while the reports on this read pretty poorly, watching Sarah deliver that history lesson live was cringingly painful. Sounding less Presidential every time she opens her mouth. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-says-she-has-fire-in-the-belly-is-it-just-gas/582614/146 "2011-06-22T16:59:48Z")
What, not Scottsdale? [http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/06/22/report-palin-quits-bus-tour-halfway-through-retreats-to-alaska/](http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/06/22/report-palin-quits-bus-tour-halfway-through-retreats-to-alaska/) > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON – Amid diminishing media interest, Sarah Palin has quit her high-profile bus tour halfway through and returned to Alaska with her family, according to RealClearPolitics. > > The move puts a damper on widespread speculations that Palin’s “One Nation” bus tour, which launched on Memorial Day, was a precursor to a potential White House bid for 2012. Palin never made it to her scheduled stops in the key primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire. > > RealClearPolitics, which originally broke the story about the bus tour, reported Wednesday on Palin’s “extended hiatus.” The remaining legs of her trip, according to Scott Conroy, are “in limbo” as “Palin and her family have reverted to the friendly confines of summertime Alaska.” ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-says-she-has-fire-in-the-belly-is-it-just-gas/582614/147 "2011-06-22T17:19:33Z")
I was just wondering today what happened to the Palin bus tour. So she quit. Again. I’m gonna miss her ringin’ those bells for Freedom. Or lanters. Or bullets . Or whatever it was she was going to ring! ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-says-she-has-fire-in-the-belly-is-it-just-gas/582614/148 "2011-06-22T17:22:08Z")
Sarah “Never a Quitter” Palin: Presidential material, all the way. Wait, wait: not “never a quitter.” _[“The Undefeated”](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/10/sarah-palin-movie-amc-national-theater-release_n_874760.html)_. _Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight_… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-says-she-has-fire-in-the-belly-is-it-just-gas/582614/149 "2011-06-22T17:59:17Z")
So how’s she trying to spin this one? She stopped campaigning for President to focus more time on campaigning for President? And is anyone ever going to pay her for a public speaking engagement again, if there’s only a 50-50 chance she’ll even show up? This just doesn’t make _any_ sense, from a point of view of running for office, getting attention, _or_ raking in money. All I can figure is that what we’re seeing is just plain a genuine meltdown. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-says-she-has-fire-in-the-belly-is-it-just-gas/582614/150 "2011-06-22T18:05:08Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > So how’s she trying to spin this one? She stopped campaigning for President to focus more time on campaigning for President? > > And is anyone ever going to pay her for a public speaking engagement again, if there’s only a 50-50 chance she’ll even show up? This just doesn’t make _any_ sense, from a point of view of running for office, getting attention, _or_ raking in money. All I can figure is that what we’re seeing is just plain a genuine meltdown. She needs a vacation from her vacation. Clearly. -Joe ---
**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:** [June 22, 2011, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-says-she-has-fire-in-the-belly-is-it-just-gas/582614/151 "2011-06-22T18:17:12Z")
nm ---
**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:** [June 22, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-says-she-has-fire-in-the-belly-is-it-just-gas/582614/152 "2011-06-22T18:50:25Z")
I’m guessing the dwindling media attention is what did it. She probably envisioned her short bus tour as becoming some kind of snowballing media event, building more and more attention and excitement along the way until it reached a crescendo in Iowa. She’s as big a pure famewhore as we’ve ever seen in politics, and not getting the kind of fevered media attention she craved was making her dopesick. She wants to run, but she doesn’t actually want to have to pay for the publicity like everybody else. She wants it for free. She wants to campaign without having to spend any money or answer any questions. Both of those things would be unfair to her. She’ll get nuts for attention again soon, especially if people like Bachmann keep getting it, and she’ll find some other stunt to get it. She won’t be able to help herself. I think she desperately wants the attention of running for (and in her delusional fantasies) becoming POTUS, but she doesn’t want to work for it or earn it. She just wants to be anointed. That will never happen, but don’t expect her to stop trying to make it happen. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-says-she-has-fire-in-the-belly-is-it-just-gas/582614/153 "2011-06-22T19:25:32Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I’m guessing the dwindling media attention is what did it. She probably envisioned her short bus tour as becoming some kind of snowballing media event, building more and more attention and excitement along the way until it reached a crescendo in Iowa. She’s as big a pure famewhore as we’ve ever seen in politics, and not getting the kind of fevered media attention she craved was making her dopesick. She wants to run, but she doesn’t actually want to have to pay for the publicity like everybody else. She wants it for free. She wants to campaign without having to spend any money or answer any questions. Both of those things would be unfair to her. > > She’ll get nuts for attention again soon, especially if people like Bachmann keep getting it, and she’ll find some other stunt to get it. She won’t be able to help herself. I think she desperately wants the attention of running for (and in her delusional fantasies) becoming POTUS, but she doesn’t want to work for it or earn it. She just wants to be anointed. That will never happen, but don’t expect her to stop trying to make it happen. I think Gingrich got into the race with a very similar rationale, though with an “intellectual” twist. I think he expected Republicans to come running to him with open arms as some kind of savior candidate, and they would make him the nominee by acclamation. He is still waiting for them all to realize his potential, but “working” for it is beneath him. Some day soon… they will come begging for him, once they realize what a once in a century candidate he is. Uh huh. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-says-she-has-fire-in-the-belly-is-it-just-gas/582614/154 "2011-06-22T19:29:30Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > So how’s she trying to spin this one? She stopped campaigning for President to focus more time on campaigning for President? > > And is anyone ever going to pay her for a public speaking engagement again, if there’s only a 50-50 chance she’ll even show up? This just doesn’t make _any_ sense, from a point of view of running for office, getting attention, _or_ raking in money. All I can figure is that what we’re seeing is just plain a genuine meltdown. Did she have to cancel any paying events? Did anyone even know where she was going? I thought the media complaint was that her bus tour stops weren’t being revealed in advance. Did she have any scheduled speaking engagements at all? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-says-she-has-fire-in-the-belly-is-it-just-gas/582614/155 "2011-06-22T19:38:32Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Did she have to cancel any paying events? Did anyone even know where she was going? I thought the media complaint was that her bus tour stops weren’t being revealed in advance. Did she have any scheduled speaking engagements at all? According to [RealClearPolitics](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/06/22/palin_bus_tour_takes_extended_pit_stop__110313.html): > [@](#): > > Though Palin and her staff never announced a timeline for the remaining legs of her trip, aides had drafted preliminary itineraries that would have taken her through the Midwest and Southeast at some point this month. But those travel blueprints are now in limbo, RCP has learned… And: > [@](#): > > Her political action committee’s website still greets visitors with a stale banner, announcing the nationwide bus tour beginning “[t]his Sunday, May 29th.” I’m debating whether the most apt comparison is to Amy Winehouse, or Spinal Tap’s farewell tour. ---
**Author:** ![pythonzzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9e8a1a/32.png) [@pythonzzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pythonzzz)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-says-she-has-fire-in-the-belly-is-it-just-gas/582614/156 "2011-06-22T19:41:49Z")
Via PZ Myers: _“She’s done. She’s been on this cross-country bus tour to promote her folksy ways, and now she has quit halfway through. This is a woman with a very short attention span and a complete lack of discipline and focus; she couldn’t complete her governorship, she can’t finish a bus tour, there’s no way she could cope with a grueling presidential campaign. And if, by some bizarre fluke, she were to actually get elected, I think she’d get bored halfway through the presidential oath of office and decide to go moose hunting, instead.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-says-she-has-fire-in-the-belly-is-it-just-gas/582614/157 "2011-06-22T20:01:09Z")
I’m not even convinced she could complete a moose hunt without quitting. ---
**Author:** ![Profound\_Gibberish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Profound\_Gibberish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Profound_Gibberish)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-says-she-has-fire-in-the-belly-is-it-just-gas/582614/158 "2011-06-22T20:14:44Z")
I cannot find any other news site mentioning her quitting the bus tour. Guess I will have to get the straight dope from the Daily Show. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-says-she-has-fire-in-the-belly-is-it-just-gas/582614/159 "2011-06-22T20:18:25Z")
> [@dbx820](#): > > I cannot find any other news site mentioning her quitting the bus tour. Guess I will have to get the straight dope from the Daily Show. She’s accomplished everything she set out to do and Jesus and America and only dead buses flow with the traffic and apple pie god bless Reagan. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Profound\_Gibberish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Profound\_Gibberish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Profound_Gibberish)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-says-she-has-fire-in-the-belly-is-it-just-gas/582614/160 "2011-06-22T20:28:08Z")
That, my man, is some Profound Gibberish. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-says-she-has-fire-in-the-belly-is-it-just-gas/582614.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-says-she-has-fire-in-the-belly-is-it-just-gas/582614.md?page=9)