# Sarah K. Palin, Will You Please Go Now? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 22, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-k-palin-will-you-please-go-now/518531 "2009-11-22T16:19:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-k-palin-will-you-please-go-now/518531/201 "2010-01-17T12:44:38Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > No, the hardball questions I was speaking of wasn’t the newspaper question, though it was a snotty question and she was definitely taken aback by it. Again, I don’t consider her reaction stupid but more of a “wow, that’s pretty bitchy, I’m not sure how to answer that”. The question and the way it was asked, made it VERY obvious that she was insinuating “I’m pretty sure you’re too stupid to read anything but…” type question. You have got to be yanking my pud. The question was a high-arc, slow-pitch, soft-ball – hanging-curve-type. The way it was asked? What, you mean in English? It was a simple get-to-know you question and Palin responded like a deer in the headlights. If you interpret that interaction as you’ve described above … you’re fucking hopeless. ---
**Author:** ![Fritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Fritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fritz)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-k-palin-will-you-please-go-now/518531/202 "2010-01-17T13:22:42Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > My question is, how is she stupid or incompetent? The above is possibly an example of how the media and talk radio might consider her beliefs to be inconsistent. > > If it’s not her new job, or her publicity stuff with the book that you’re all complaining about, what IS it then? She’s out of politics and out of anything to do with the running of the country. As I said above, she likely will remain so for the good of her family. The thread title was “…please go away now…”. RE: politics, she DID, her presence now is more in line with the whole broadcasting thing. Don’t worry, you’re “safe” (or as “safe” as you can be with this disaster of an administration). > > As to the pregnant daughter issue. Um so? How does that have anything to do with HER beliefs? Or are some of the opinion that an 18 year old can be controlled with absolute certainty merely due to one’s religious beliefs? And how does it make her “stupid”? Or maybe a better question would be, what is your (collective your) definition of “stupid”? Because that again, is a “difference of beliefs” not “stupid”. > > No, the hardball questions I was speaking of wasn’t the newspaper question, though it was a snotty question and she was definitely taken aback by it. Again, I don’t consider her reaction stupid but more of a “wow, that’s pretty bitchy, I’m not sure how to answer that”. The question and the way it was asked, made it VERY obvious that she was insinuating “I’m pretty sure you’re too stupid to read anything but…” type question. > > And as I said, yes she wasn’t well prepared for the campaign. That’s called inexperience. There’s a big difference between that and stupidity or incompetence. With inexperience you learn and get better which she did and still is. Is she perfectly learned on every single interview fact now? No, but she’s learning and I still don’t see where that is “stupidity”. > > The examples I keep seeing here that are supposed to prove her “stupidity” are really describing differences of beliefs or opinion, and the fact that she’s got an annoying voice and mannerisms (annoying STILL isn’t the same as stupid). And no, that is NOT an Alaskan accent :D, we don’t have accents. So…do you think she would be a fine President? ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-k-palin-will-you-please-go-now/518531/203 "2010-01-17T13:58:06Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > If you interpret that interaction as you’ve described above … you’re fucking hopeless. Well, that _is_ exactly how Sarah Palin interpreted it, after all. At least in retrospect. When my eye doctor asks me if I look at a computer screen a lot, I interpret it as his accusing me of not having a job and being too poor to own a computer…doesn’t everybody? ---
**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:** [January 17, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-k-palin-will-you-please-go-now/518531/204 "2010-01-17T14:46:53Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > As to the pregnant daughter issue. Um so? How does that have anything to do with HER beliefs? Or are some of the opinion that an 18 year old can be controlled with absolute certainty merely due to one’s religious beliefs? I think some people are of the opinion that 18-year-olds can not be controlled with absolute certainty, and abstinence-only sex education should be dropped in recognition of that fact. > [@](#): > > No, the hardball questions I was speaking of wasn’t the newspaper question, though it was a snotty question and she was definitely taken aback by it. Again, I don’t consider her reaction stupid but more of a “wow, that’s pretty bitchy, I’m not sure how to answer that”. The question and the way it was asked, made it VERY obvious that she was insinuating “I’m pretty sure you’re too stupid to read anything but…” type question. I agree with **jack Batty** , that was a softball question. What’s wrong with just answering it and moving along? And so what were the hardball questions Palin was asked during the campaign? > [@](#): > > And as I said, yes she wasn’t well prepared for the campaign. That’s called inexperience. There’s a big difference between that and stupidity or incompetence. With inexperience you learn and get better which she did and still is. Is she perfectly learned on every single interview fact now? No, but she’s learning and I still don’t see where that is “stupidity”. If she wasn’t prepared to campaign for the vice presidency, do you think she was prepared to be the Vice President? She seemed to think so, and she seems to still think so. Everything that went wrong was either McCain’s fault, or her handlers, or the press. Like with Bush the Younger, I don’t get any sense of self-examination from her. The first step in gaining experience is admitting that you still have things left to learn. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-k-palin-will-you-please-go-now/518531/205 "2010-01-17T17:45:25Z")
So we have a person from well outside Washington, with a spotty academic record, who is not well known, and who has no experience in the Federal government. What a great question for her. She could have used it to show that just being from outside Washington does not make her uninformed. She could have knocked it out of the park: “Well, Katy, I subscribe to The NY Times, Newsweek, and US News and World Report and I try and read them as much as I can given my busy schedule, but I also still read the Wasilla Tattler. I find that looking at the perspective of Main Street folk reminds me that government is of the people, and for the people. Not just the important people in the Capitol, but the people who teach our kids, and build our roads, and run the small businesses that create most of the jobs in this country.” ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-k-palin-will-you-please-go-now/518531/206 "2010-01-17T19:25:23Z")
How is that a bitchy question? If somebody asks you about he weather, are they an asshole? You’re fucking ridiculous. When I first read your posts in this thread I figured you were a December '09 join date troll, but nope, you’ve been around. Sure fooled me. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-k-palin-will-you-please-go-now/518531/207 "2010-01-17T21:47:07Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > You have got to be yanking my pud. The question was a high-arc, slow-pitch, soft-ball – hanging-curve-type. The way it was asked? What, you mean in English? It was a simple get-to-know you question and Palin responded like a deer in the headlights. > > If you interpret that interaction as you’ve described above … you’re fucking hopeless. It was bad enough when the softball questioner Couric was accused of gotcha journalism for a simple and non political question. What she exposed is the bitch does not read. Then when Beck the guy who is famous for being tough on conservatives asked her another softball question she had no answer. She did not know who the founding fathers were. The half term governor has less intellectual curiosity than Bush. Perhaps we should call her the halfinator. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-k-palin-will-you-please-go-now/518531/208 "2010-01-17T22:02:30Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > What she exposed is the bitch does not read. Not only that, but she lacks the mental horsepower to lie about that convincingly. It doesn’t take much for even a non-reader to drag up a few names like ‘The Denver Post’ or ‘The Atlantic Monthly’, but she couldn’t do it. ---
**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:** [January 17, 2010, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-k-palin-will-you-please-go-now/518531/209 "2010-01-17T22:46:06Z")
To be fair to Sarah, she had to be at least as careful about not saying some well known publications, whether she reads them or not. Imagine if she spat out the _New York Times_ or the _Washginton Post_! OTOH, she could have said, “I’ll tell you what I DON’T read – the _New York Times_ or the _Washginton Post_!”, and won the hearts of conservatives everywhere, and bought some time to think of something warm and fuzzy to conservatives, like _Mein Kampf_. Let’s face it, she’s a loser. ---
**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:** [January 17, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-k-palin-will-you-please-go-now/518531/210 "2010-01-17T23:41:57Z")
If Palin’s supporters are still so outraged about the “what do you read” question, then I think it’s only fair that Barack Obama should be subjected to the same treatement. He should have to o on camera with Katie Couric, and she should ask him, straight up, right to his face, what he likes to read. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-k-palin-will-you-please-go-now/518531/211 "2010-01-18T00:00:58Z")
Dio, that’s a lovely sentiment, but we don’t have all night! ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-k-palin-will-you-please-go-now/518531/212 "2010-01-18T14:14:19Z")
If you are running for the Presidency or VP position you should be able to give a pretty good summerary of the geo-political situation of the time and how the main players have interacted over the last few decades. You should understand the implications of the end of WWII, Cold War and many many other things. You should also have a fair idea of how the economy works. These are the very minimum you need. Yes, you have advisors etc. for the details but you should be able to understand the big picture. This bint was asked what she read and couldn’t answer it, FFS! ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-k-palin-will-you-please-go-now/518531/213 "2010-01-18T14:26:25Z")
Asking Palin what she reads was not a softball question. It was a very hard question – so very hard that Palin could not come up with an answer. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-k-palin-will-you-please-go-now/518531/214 "2010-01-19T03:22:42Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Asking Palin what she reads was not a softball question. It was a very hard question – so very hard that Palin could not come up with an answer. Reading is harrrd. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-k-palin-will-you-please-go-now/518531/215 "2010-01-19T03:27:53Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Reading is harrrd. It’s not her fault. The Witch-hunter at her church told her that if she reads while pregnant she’ll have an \*Elitist \*baby. In fact, for he last baby she made sure not to read anything at all, not food labels or even street signs… oh… wait… ☹ ---
**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:** [January 19, 2010, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-k-palin-will-you-please-go-now/518531/216 "2010-01-19T05:57:47Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > No, the hardball questions I was speaking of wasn’t the newspaper question, though it was a snotty question and she was definitely taken aback by it. Again, I don’t consider her reaction stupid but more of a “wow, that’s pretty bitchy, I’m not sure how to answer that”. The question and the way it was asked, made it VERY obvious that she was insinuating “I’m pretty sure you’re too stupid to read anything but…” type question. And, as it turns out, that insinuation was perfectly correct. So, what were the “hardball” questions? Something more like this? > [@](#): > > UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Governor Palin, there has been quite a bit of discussion about your perceived lack of foreign policy experience. And I want to give you your chance. If you could please respond to that criticism and give us specific skills that you think you have to bring to the White House to rebut that or mitigate that concern. > > PALIN: Well, I think because I’m a Washington outsider that opponents are going to be looking for a whole lot of things that they can criticize and they can kind of try to beat the candidates here, who chose me as his partner, to kind of tear down the ticket. But as for foreign policy, you know, I think that I am prepared and I know that on January 20th, if we are so blessed as to be sworn into office as your president and vice president, certainly we’ll be ready. I’ll be ready. I have that confidence. I have that readiness. > > And if you want specifics with specific policy or countries, go ahead and you can ask me. You can even play stump the candidate if you want to. But we are ready to serve. ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-k-palin-will-you-please-go-now/518531/217 "2010-01-19T14:58:07Z")
**RNATB** , she truly said that??? ---
**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:** [January 19, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-k-palin-will-you-please-go-now/518531/218 "2010-01-19T15:19:04Z")
Yep. The transcript is from [here](http://crooksandliars.com/2008/09/18/epic-fail-palin-cant-answer-softball-question-about-national-security-experience-at-first-town-hall-meeting#comment-823553). I think [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2QbhsT5BF8) is video of it but I can’t hear sound 'cause I’m at work. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-k-palin-will-you-please-go-now/518531/219 "2010-01-19T15:57:36Z")
The audio for that Palin video was of Miss South Carolina. For the matched audio/video of Palin, try [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvzim5rCeFw&feature=fvw](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvzim5rCeFw&feature=fvw) Sad to say, the most articulate Palin videos are found on xvideos. ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-k-palin-will-you-please-go-now/518531/220 "2010-01-19T18:05:02Z")
Respectfully, **RNATB** , does Crooks & Liars count as a reliable source? Does CNN have the same transcript or video? A situational slam even on Ms Palin deserves to be checked against a reliable source. Oh wait, this is the Pit, not an encyclopedia. Sourcing is not necessary. Ms Palin and her political advisors may want to strongly consider keeping her gagged during all unscripted town hall meetings, interviews, and other public appearances. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-k-palin-will-you-please-go-now/518531.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-k-palin-will-you-please-go-now/518531.md?page=12)