# Sarah @!?#@! Palin in Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World? (WTF!) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 2, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-in-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people-in-the-world-wtf/538045 "2010-05-02T17:29:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-in-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people-in-the-world-wtf/538045/21 "2010-05-03T15:12:52Z")
> [@](#): > > Reading that now and, am I showing my age, but when did Time become a tame version of Cracked? What’s with the pithy attempts at snark? Am I really old for remembering Time as a respected news magazine? _Time_ has always had a snarky side. It was a running joke at _Mad_ magazine during the 1960s that _Time_ was trying to be their competition. They regularly ran jokes about TV sitcom writers stealing material from _Time_, and the like. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-in-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people-in-the-world-wtf/538045/22 "2010-05-03T15:14:15Z")
> [@AWB](#): > > I wish I were dead, so that I could spin in my grave. Consider this line stolen. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-in-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people-in-the-world-wtf/538045/23 "2010-05-03T15:37:55Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > For what it’s worth, Time also has a list of the [least influential people](http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1984685_1985389_1985284,00.html). I enjoyed this one: _Mayor McCheese Mayor “I’m not aware of his stance on a single issue.” — Ross Autry, personal adviser to this project on Facebook, where I asked for help from anyone. Hey, 100 is a lot of people._ He probably doesn’t have much support in Israel. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Dave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/46a35a/32.png) [@Great\_Dave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Dave)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-in-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people-in-the-world-wtf/538045/24 "2010-05-03T16:04:48Z")
> [@Harborwolf](#): > > You think her being named as influential is bad? You should read what she wrote for Glenn Beck’s influential person article. This is what I came in to say. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-in-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people-in-the-world-wtf/538045/25 "2010-05-03T17:32:16Z")
I just finished reading the whole issue over lunch, because it was all I had for reading material. What a waste of paper! The whole issue was nothing but a bunch of short, inconsequential fluff pieces on celebrities “written” by other celebrities. Palin’s piece on Glenn Beck was written far too well for it to be written by her, for example. The best part of the issue was Joel Stein’s column, which is kind of pathetic, really. Whoever compared _Time_ to _People_ magazine is right on the money–at least for this issue, anyway. And this counts as a “double issue”?! What a load of crap. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-in-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people-in-the-world-wtf/538045/26 "2010-05-03T23:19:57Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Consider this line stolen. You’re welcome. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-in-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people-in-the-world-wtf/538045/27 "2010-05-04T01:13:57Z")
> [@AWB](#): > > I wish I were dead Just wishing won’t make it so! ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-in-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people-in-the-world-wtf/538045/28 "2010-05-04T01:19:51Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Just wishing won’t make it so! Exactly. First you need socialized medicine. Then you need to see a death panel. Then, if they authorize it, you’ll be killerated in the middle of the night a combination of Trotskyists and Black Panthers. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-in-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people-in-the-world-wtf/538045/29 "2010-05-04T12:15:35Z")
Sarah Palin is influential. She is widely admired and respected, and looked to as a role model, and source of important ideas. No, really. Vomit all you want, yet it is a fact. Don’t ever forget that the world is like that. Tris ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-in-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people-in-the-world-wtf/538045/30 "2010-05-04T17:10:14Z")
> [@Triskadecamus](#): > > Sarah Palin is influential. > > She is widely admired and respected, and looked to as a role model, and source of important ideas. > > No, really. > > Vomit all you want, yet it is a fact. Don’t ever forget that the world is like that. Agghhhhhh MAKE IT STOP!!! _ **MAKE IT STOOOPPPPPPPPP!!!** _ ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-in-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people-in-the-world-wtf/538045/31 "2010-05-07T04:22:43Z")
> [@Triskadecamus](#): > > She is widely admired and respected… > Vomit all you want, yet it is a fact. Watch what you ask for. I now want to vomit gigaliters. ---
**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:** [May 7, 2010, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-in-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people-in-the-world-wtf/538045/32 "2010-05-07T04:34:32Z")
My contempt for Sarah Palin borders on mental illness, but I don’t think it’s inaccurate to call her “influential.” To a non-ignsignifant part of the American population she is a totem and an oracle. ---
**Author:** ![Oldeb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ea666f/32.png) [@Oldeb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oldeb)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-in-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people-in-the-world-wtf/538045/33 "2010-05-07T04:53:41Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Most influential in the world is crack smoking babble. This. She gets talked about enough in the US that I’ll concede her a spot on a national influence list. But does the rest of the world even care? I suppose English speakers might be aware of her just through shared media, but I can’t imagine anyone outside the US is really paying attention. Does Europe have anything to say about Palin? Does China? India? For a world influence claim don’t you have to be able to affect the world in some way? ---
**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:** [May 7, 2010, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-in-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people-in-the-world-wtf/538045/34 "2010-05-07T04:59:48Z")
“In the world” is out to lunch. I agree with that. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-in-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people-in-the-world-wtf/538045/35 "2010-05-07T18:44:48Z")
On the same list (albeit in the entertainment category): Conan O’Brien and Ashton Kutcher. Popular, yes. Successful, yes. But among the most influential people in the world- even in entertainment? Not really. How influential is somebody who just lost the Tonight Show due to low ratings and an actor with a string of lackluster movies and a popular prank show but who’s most famous for shagging/marrying/tweeting with the older MILF ex-wife of a superstar whose most popular movie alone probably outgrossed all Kutcher’s movies combined? In entertainment the most influential people are probably people whose names are unknown to most people outside the industry and thus they wouldn’t make good copy and nobody wants to see a glossy of them. True, they can greenlight a $240 million remake of GRAPES OF WRATH set on a space station with a signature or turn a pizza delivery boy into a superstar overnight with a phone call but- they themselves look like Larry Bud Melman and nobody ever asks for their autograph. What O’Brien and Kutcher are is “talked about” and “popular” and in the media all the time- they have super high Q factors, but that’s different from influence. I think Sarah Palin is exactly the same. There are officials in India and China whose actions directly affect hundreds of millions of people but Americans wouldn’t recognize their name and they might not have any attractive 8 x 10s so let’s go with Sarah Palin: she’s on TV all the time, even her enemies admit she looks good, and it’s a lot better than some name our readers don’t know who affects a billion people they’ll never meet. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-in-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people-in-the-world-wtf/538045/36 "2010-05-08T14:05:58Z")
> [@descamisado](#): > > If you can get me to read the first part of “Pain came knocking at my door, and its name was Comcast” as "Palin came knocking . . . " every time I see it, you’ve had plenty influence. 😃 Thank god I’m not the only one. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-in-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people-in-the-world-wtf/538045/37 "2010-05-20T15:17:09Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Thank god I’m not the only one. Someday, you will join us. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-in-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people-in-the-world-wtf/538045/38 "2010-05-20T17:46:36Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > $240 million remake of GRAPES OF WRATH set on a space station When hungry people can’t eat at the moons of Nibia, I’ll be there. And when some cop is beatin’ up a guy at the Antares maelstrom, I’ll be there. I’ll be there in the way guys yell when they’re mad 'round Perdition’s flames. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-in-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people-in-the-world-wtf/538045/39 "2010-05-20T18:12:58Z")
Maybe they use the number of times she has a thread devoted to her on the SDMB as one of the criteria… ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-in-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people-in-the-world-wtf/538045/40 "2010-06-03T11:42:47Z")
> [@AWB](#): > > I wish I were dead, so that I could spin in my grave. > > Used to be, failed VP candidates just faded into the history books. (Successful ones too.) But this “soccer mom” just won’t go away. Her gathering in of all the Dittoheads that have been hanging their heads in shame when the Big Gasbag turned out to be a drug addict has kept her afloat just like a turd that won’t go down the toilet. > > The best thing about her: if (and maybe when) she’s the GOP candidate for president or VP in 2012, Obama’s a shoo-in. Remember; being influential is not necessarily a good thing. Sarah is nothing like Hitler but he had a lot of influence on the world.Look at WW2! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-in-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people-in-the-world-wtf/538045.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-in-time-magazines-100-most-influential-people-in-the-world-wtf/538045.md?page=3)