# Sarah Palin: I can beat Obama in 2012 **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 18, 2010, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-i-can-beat-obama-in-2012/561080 "2010-11-18T09:33:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-i-can-beat-obama-in-2012/561080/101 "2010-11-20T17:14:39Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > To those who think she would never win, what if 2010 had been a presidential election? she would have won in a landslide. She would have? How do you figure? ---
**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:** [November 20, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-i-can-beat-obama-in-2012/561080/102 "2010-11-20T17:18:10Z")
If it had been a Presidential election it would have gotten a Presidential turnout. Mid-term elections benefit the out-party because they are more motivated to turn out. A lot of Obama’s voters (especially the youth vote) didn’t turn out. If Palin was an actual Presidential candidate that would scare everybody and their pets into voting. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-i-can-beat-obama-in-2012/561080/103 "2010-11-20T17:28:50Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > To those who think she would never win, what if 2010 had been a presidential election? she would have won in a landslide. She would have been creamed. her stupidity was too recent. Her “gotcha journalists” ,who asked unfair questions like" what do you read" was too recent. She has had a lot of time to bury her ignorance and play to her audience . That is what she is doing. The Supreme Court decision, to allow unlimited corporate money in campaigns ,works in her favor too. Her campaign is carefully crafted and has been ongoing since McCain picked her. She is greedy and controllable. Big money thinks she is electable. They have enough money to" put lipstick on that pig". And apparently people like you will buy it. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-i-can-beat-obama-in-2012/561080/104 "2010-11-20T19:14:30Z")
> [@Oy](#): > > And your father _told_ you that that’s what the union told him? “You vote for this guy if you know what’s good for you?” How was the union supposed to be able to know for whom your dad voted in order to enforce this threat? Why did your dad belong to a union that was threatening him? Why would he believe the threat enough to vote the way he was directed to? This was the nineties, a period of economic boom and significantly weaker unions than in the first half of the twentieth century. If your dad believed the unions to be that corrupt, there were plenty of non-union jobs available; why would he belong to one? > > I don’t find your version of these events very plausible. If we were in the 1930s, yeah, maybe, but the 90s? With a dozen reporters on every street corner just dying to do an expose on someone, anyone? Wow. You’ve never worked with a union, have you? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-i-can-beat-obama-in-2012/561080/105 "2010-11-20T21:00:51Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Wow. You’ve never worked with a union, have you? I was forced into joining a union last year and the union literature has been pretty clear on who we should vote for… NO ONE, they’re all crooks. According to the local union guys, Democrats are just as bad as Republicans (especially Andrew Cuomo, they think he’s the worst) :rolleyes: I swear to Christ, I hate unions. With the way they act, how they still exist in 2010 astounds me. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2010, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-i-can-beat-obama-in-2012/561080/106 "2010-11-20T23:25:02Z")
She scares me. At first I just dismissed her as an idiot. But have you seen her latest ad? Pretty freaking slick, and that new tv show - one long ad for her agenda, sweetly packaged up in shots of beautiful Alaska. The big business that is, 24hr news, etc, thirsts for more, more, more. More shocking, more outrageous, more flames to fan. The rightwingers thrives on stirring up the ill informed with jingoisms, patriotism and buzz words, who then respond with outrage and misspelled signage. And the ‘news’ outlets eat it up because it sells commercial time. We’re living in a world where fame/celebrity/power can be had by crashing a party, releasing a sex tape, getting arrested. Eliot Spitzer is a freaking news commentator! Caught spending public money consorting with high prices whores, to a tv show cohost! It cracks me up that her, and her daughter, only have one line about the baby daddy, “He’s just seeking publicity!” I’d love to see a reporter ask how that’s any different from what these two attention whores are doing. All I can do is pray that her ego and maverick nature will keep her from taking the high paid handler advice and she’ll do or say something beyond the pale. Given enough rope, and she’s got a couple of years. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-i-can-beat-obama-in-2012/561080/107 "2010-11-21T00:38:02Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > It cracks me up that her, and her daughter, only have one line about the baby daddy, “He’s just seeking publicity!” I’d love to see a reporter ask how that’s any different from what these two attention whores are doing. Because she’s not just seeking publicity. She also wants money and power. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-i-can-beat-obama-in-2012/561080/108 "2010-11-21T01:13:12Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > She scares me. At first I just dismissed her as an idiot. But have you seen her latest ad? Pretty freaking slick, and that new tv show - one long ad for her agenda, sweetly packaged up in shots of beautiful Alaska. > > The big business that is, 24hr news, etc, thirsts for more, more, more. More shocking, more outrageous, more flames to fan. The rightwingers thrives on stirring up the ill informed with jingoisms, patriotism and buzz words, who then respond with outrage and misspelled signage. And the ‘news’ outlets eat it up because it sells commercial time. > > We’re living in a world where fame/celebrity/power can be had by crashing a party, releasing a sex tape, getting arrested. Eliot Spitzer is a freaking news commentator! Caught spending public money consorting with high prices whores, to a tv show cohost! > > It cracks me up that her, and her daughter, only have one line about the baby daddy, “He’s just seeking publicity!” I’d love to see a reporter ask how that’s any different from what these two attention whores are doing. > > All I can do is pray that her ego and maverick nature will keep her from taking the high paid handler advice and she’ll do or say something beyond the pale. Given enough rope, and she’s got a couple of years. Spitzer is a flawed human being but he was a terrific AG in New York. He did the peoples work. He pursued cases of banks inflating stock prices to the buyers, price fixing in computer chips, fraud at AIG, predatory lending practices and other corporation frauds. He went after environmental protection, white collar crime and securities and internet fraud. His fun with prostitutes was not unknown but he pissed off too many powerful people. He did not need public money ,he comes from a very rich family. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-i-can-beat-obama-in-2012/561080/109 "2010-11-21T01:31:02Z")
> [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](#): > > My co-worker voted for Bush because he is cuter than John Kerry. Seriously. I know you think I am making this up. I am not. Why would we think you’re making it up? In this very thread we’ve had **Balthisar** state that his mother voted for Clinton because he was “cute”, and no one seems to be finding that unbelievable. Do you seriously think no one voted for Obama because of his looks? And with regard to Palin, I think her relative lack of intelligence may actually be something of an asset. People look around at where this country is and the kind of shape that it’s in and realize it’s all the “smart” politicians we’ve had who have run it into the ground. They think that maybe what we need are people in office who aren’t too smart by half but who instead have the proper values and common sense needed to get the country back on course and who will put these qualities into play in deciding how to run the country. This is the type of thinking exemplified by William F. Buckley when he said that he’d rather be govened by the first two thousand names in the Boston phone book than by the faculty of Harvard University. In other words, there are people who think the country would be better off being governed by average, everyday citizens rather than by an intellectual elite. How this would play out in practice is anyone’s guess, but as we’ve seen with Obama, intelligence alone does not make for a great leader. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-i-can-beat-obama-in-2012/561080/110 "2010-11-21T01:33:14Z")
I don’t question his record of good works, only comment on his career arc. Publicly humiliated and driven from office to political commentator, you gotta shake your head. ---
**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:** [November 21, 2010, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-i-can-beat-obama-in-2012/561080/111 "2010-11-21T01:39:50Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > And with regard to Palin, I think her relative lack of intelligence may actually be something of an asset. People look around at where this country is and the kind of shape that it’s in and realize it’s all the “smart” politicians we’ve had who have run it into the ground. The conservative way… be wary of them there smart people. Get back to core values like lying, joining a church that wants to use the blood of jesus to fight our taliban muslim president, and absurd claims of victimhood. ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-i-can-beat-obama-in-2012/561080/112 "2010-11-21T02:53:54Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > And with regard to Palin, I think her relative lack of intelligence may actually be something of an asset. People look around at where this country is and the kind of shape that it’s in and realize it’s all the “smart” politicians we’ve had who have run it into the ground. They think that maybe what we need are people in office who aren’t too smart by half but who instead have the proper values and common sense needed to get the country back on course and who will put these qualities into play in deciding how to run the country. This is the type of thinking exemplified by William F. Buckley when he said that he’d rather be govened by the first two thousand names in the Boston phone book than by the faculty of Harvard University. OK, this doesn’t quite follow with me. On the surface it makes sense, but Dubya was widely regarded as a few lightbulbs short of a Big Mac, and has “Christian values” out the wazoo. Basically, a male Sarah Palin. So how, when many Republicans turned against him near the end of his presidency, where his ratings were so low you’d need to bring a canary with you to view them, and when many Republican candidates were distancing themselves from him in 2008, would “people in office who aren’t too smart by half” with “proper values and common sense” be appealing? Does the American public have the memory of a goldfish? Have they forgotten that the last guy that fit that profile even his friends didn’t like him? ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-i-can-beat-obama-in-2012/561080/113 "2010-11-21T03:26:06Z")
Well, first of all it doesn’t necessarily follow that every “everyman” is going to do an equally good job. 🙂 Secondarily, Bush’s popularity suffered because of the wars in the Middle East, due to both the nature of the reportage of them and his utter failure at making his case before the country. It’s like he decided he was just gonna hole up and do what he was gonna do and not have to explain himself to anyone. He also strayed from what many conservatives would consider to be conservative principles with regard to illegal immigration, spending and so forth. So it doesn’t necessarily follow that just because someone happens to be a “good ol’ boy” (or woman) that they will invariably do the right thing. But I do think that many conservatives feel that to the degree ordinary, everyday types of people are in charge, the more likely it is that the country will follow the right course. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-i-can-beat-obama-in-2012/561080/114 "2010-11-21T03:31:08Z")
> [@dhkendall](#): > > OK, this doesn’t quite follow with me. On the surface it makes sense, but Dubya was widely regarded as a few lightbulbs short of a Big Mac, and has “Christian values” out the wazoo. Basically, a male Sarah Palin. So how, when many Republicans turned against him near the end of his presidency, where his ratings were so low you’d need to bring a canary with you to view them, and when many Republican candidates were distancing themselves from him in 2008, would “people in office who aren’t too smart by half” with “proper values and common sense” be appealing? Does the American public have the memory of a goldfish? Have they forgotten that the last guy that fit that profile even his friends didn’t like him? To repeat, the American people have the attention span of an Irish Setter puppy. They also have the memory of a dead clam. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-i-can-beat-obama-in-2012/561080/115 "2010-11-21T03:55:33Z")
So anyone who doesn’t agree with you is simply mentally deficient, huh? ---
**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:** [November 21, 2010, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-i-can-beat-obama-in-2012/561080/116 "2010-11-21T04:42:00Z")
That’s not a valid interpretation of his statement, but even if it were, that’d be good, right? I mean, being dumb is proof they’re good people! Smarts are for pointy headed know it all types! ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-i-can-beat-obama-in-2012/561080/117 "2010-11-21T11:07:09Z")
> [@dhkendall](#): > > OK, this doesn’t quite follow with me. On the surface it makes sense, but Dubya was widely regarded as a few lightbulbs short of a Big Mac, and has “Christian values” out the wazoo. Basically, a male Sarah Palin. So how, when many Republicans turned against him near the end of his presidency, where his ratings were so low you’d need to bring a canary with you to view them, and when many Republican candidates were distancing themselves from him in 2008, would “people in office who aren’t too smart by half” with “proper values and common sense” be appealing? Does the American public have the memory of a goldfish? Have they forgotten that the last guy that fit that profile even his friends didn’t like him? Yes they have forgotten. And may I remind _you_, that we elected him twice. (Sort of . . .) ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-i-can-beat-obama-in-2012/561080/118 "2010-11-21T11:24:53Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > So anyone who doesn’t agree with you is simply mentally deficient, huh? If this was addressed to me, the answer is yes, it is self evident. If you don’t get the joke in what I just said, then I rest my case. No, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, no matter how ill-informed I consider that opinion to be. If you believe that Sarah Palin is a force for good in this country, so be it. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-i-can-beat-obama-in-2012/561080/119 "2010-11-21T13:41:28Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > So anyone who doesn’t agree with you is simply mentally deficient, huh? I feel that it would be appropriate, at this point, to mention the concept of _sets and subsets_… but if you haven’t figured that out by this point, you’re unlikely to get it now. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-i-can-beat-obama-in-2012/561080/120 "2010-11-21T15:07:06Z")
> [@dhkendall](#): > > On the surface it makes sense, but Dubya was widely regarded as a few lightbulbs short of a Big Mac, and has “Christian values” out the wazoo. Basically, a male Sarah Palin. “Widely regarded” meaning “amongst people with whom you associate.” George Bush may have been a bad Republican, but he wasn’t a stupid man. Whereas, Sarah Palin _is_ a stupid woman. Equating the two of them isn’t at all correct. Sarah Palin scares me precisely because of her demonstrated, apparent lack of intelligence. George W. never scared me; he just infuriated me with his pandering to the social right, his Democrat-style overspending, and his taking away more of our social liberties. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-i-can-beat-obama-in-2012/561080.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-i-can-beat-obama-in-2012/561080.md?page=7)