# Sarah Palin - Seriously? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 7, 2010, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-seriously/528029 "2010-02-07T14:42:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [February 7, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-seriously/528029/21 "2010-02-07T15:53:56Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > Is this the future voice of the country? I don’t want to get into a Republican/Democrat debate. I want to discuss her, period. I want your opinions. If you want to debate, start another thread in GD. If you want to flame her, go to the pit. This is a sincere opinion thread. I am genuinely curious of what you think the appeal is. > > She \*\*\*SOUNDS \*\*\*like an idiot. No, [this guy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL_zOyk44Mg) sounds like an idiot. And he IS the vice president! Where’s your outrage there? ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-seriously/528029/22 "2010-02-07T15:54:20Z")
As one who did not vote for Oboma, if it is Oboma V Palin. I vote Oboma ---
**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:** [February 7, 2010, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-seriously/528029/23 "2010-02-07T15:57:30Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > No, [this guy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL_zOyk44Mg) sounds like an idiot. > > Where’s your outrage there? He sounds orders of magnitude smarter than Palin. By the way, are you ready to admit that you were utterly wrong in your previous statement? Will you in good faith retract the statement about Obama in the school, since it was not in any way true? Well? ---
**Author:** ![Fritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Fritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fritz)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-seriously/528029/24 "2010-02-07T15:57:32Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > No, [this guy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL_zOyk44Mg) sounds like an idiot. > > And he IS the vice president! > > Where’s your outrage there? Huh? How did he sound like an idiot in that clip? ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-seriously/528029/25 "2010-02-07T15:58:54Z")
She quit as governor of Alaska. How can that be forgiven? She does not even know who the founding fathers were. She thinks a gotcha question is "what do you read’. She is below lightweight. She is totally indefensible. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-seriously/528029/26 "2010-02-07T15:58:55Z")
> [@Snnipe\_70E](#): > > As one who did not vote for Oboma, if it is Oboma V Palin. I vote Oboma How about if it’s Ob **a** ma vs. Palin? ---
**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:** [February 7, 2010, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-seriously/528029/27 "2010-02-07T15:59:31Z")
> [@Snnipe\_70E](#): > > As one who did not vote for Oboma, if it is Oboma V Palin. I vote Oboma When you’re in the voting booth, don’t complain to the staff if the ballot is spelled _Obama_. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-seriously/528029/28 "2010-02-07T16:00:21Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > No, [this guy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL_zOyk44Mg) sounds like an idiot. > > And he IS the vice president! > > Where’s your outrage there? Are you comparing Biden’s lack of knowledge of movies with Palin’s lack of knowledge about foreign policy? How is not knowing about the movie Avatar even remotely the same thing as not knowing what North Korea is? Why are they the same thing? [http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2010/01/11/cbs-60-minutes-story-bashes-palin-ignores-embarrassing-democrat-commen](http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2010/01/11/cbs-60-minutes-story-bashes-palin-ignores-embarrassing-democrat-commen) > [@](#): > > HEILEMANN: Her foreign policy tutors are literally taking her through, ‘this is World War I, this is World War II, this is the Korean War, this is the – how the Cold War worked, this is the new war on terror.’ They’re trying to teach her everything, because Steve Schmidt had gone to them and said, ‘she knows nothing.’ **A week later, after the convention was over, she still didn’t really understand why there was a North Korea and a South Korea. She was still regularly saying that Saddam Hussein had been behind 9/11. And, literally, the next day, her son was about to ship off to Iraq. And when they asked her who her son was going to fight, she couldn’t explain that.** How can you compare not knowing what North Korea is or who did 9/11, or what the Iraq war is about to not knowing much about movies like Avatar? ---
**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:** [February 7, 2010, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-seriously/528029/29 "2010-02-07T16:02:52Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > She quit as governor of Alaska. How can that be forgiven? She does not even know who the founding fathers were. She thinks a gotcha question is "what do you read’. She is below lightweight. She is totally indefensible. Her fans aren’t smart people. They’re angry, uneducated people who think there are simple answers to complex questions. They defend here because in their dull bovine existence she speaks for them. ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-seriously/528029/30 "2010-02-07T16:02:55Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > When you’re in the voting booth, don’t complain to the staff if the ballot is spelled _Obama_. 😃 Oops ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-seriously/528029/31 "2010-02-07T16:04:11Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > What am I missing? Is she popular because she appeals to the bulk of the American voters, who can relate to a person that speaks like she struggled to get her GED? This is the best we can do as a country? > > \ I grew up in a pretty conservative part of the country and a lot of people there see her as one of them - a plain spoken soccer mom from a working class background who attends church regularly and didn’t go to an elite school. I’m not saying that that in any way qualifies her to run for public office, but a lot of people will vote for her based just on those merits before they vote for someone with a foreign sounding name and an Ivy League education who also “talks faggy” - and most importantly happens to have a D next to their name. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-seriously/528029/32 "2010-02-07T16:21:10Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > I am genuinely curious of what you think the appeal is. I think the appeal is that her fans find her to be “like them.” I think her lack of specificity in addressing whatever ills she’s complaining about (and her appeals to “common sense”) cue her audiences that she’s not a policy wonk, and that she won’t talk above them. Plus she’s able to sound aggrieved, and many of her fans and Tea Partygoers appear to be aggrieved, although perhaps their grievances are not her grievances precisely. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-seriously/528029/33 "2010-02-07T16:25:23Z")
Huey Long with tits. ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-seriously/528029/34 "2010-02-07T16:26:29Z")
Palin is only a symptom. The issue is the total loss of democracy - control of the offices of state by the corporations, and of which Palin is a contrivance. If you had a critical, objective mainstream media, Palin wouldn’t have got to be Governor, let alone this farrago of fuckwitery. Without critical, objective media there is no informed opinion and democracy cannot exist. ---
**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:** [February 7, 2010, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-seriously/528029/35 "2010-02-07T16:29:43Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I really don’t know. Say what you want about the policies of people like Nixon, Cheney, Carter, Obama, Clinton, etc. These are all extremely intelligent people who could at least understand the issues. Palin cannot. The fact that so many people didn’t care in the slightest is bothersome. Why does Palin want to be president? Apart from “drill, baby, drill”, what policies has she personally advocated throughout her career? If she’s the empty parka to Bush’s (the younger) empty suit, who would be her Dick Cheney? Without McCain’s people handling her, who is now helping to guide her decisions? If she does get elected, could her administration be improved by a reasonable and intelligent vice president pulling the strings, and who would that be? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-seriously/528029/36 "2010-02-07T16:33:04Z")
Has no one mentioned this yet? [http://thinkprogress.org/2010/02/07/palin-war-ira/](http://thinkprogress.org/2010/02/07/palin-war-ira/) \*\*Palin: Obama could win reelection if he ‘played the war card’ and declared ‘war on Iran.’ \*\* > [@](#): > > This morning on Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace conducted a 25-minute interview with Sarah Palin, a paid contributor to Fox News. Palin told Wallace that she doesn’t think President Obama will win reelection in 2012 if he “continues on the path he has America on.” However, Palin indicated that his chances of winning would dramatically change if Obama simply declared war on Iran: > > WALLACE: How hard do you think President Obama would be to defeat in 2012? > > PALIN: It depends on a few things, say he played — I got this from Buchanan — say he played the war card. Say he decided to declare war on Iran or decide to really come out and do whatever he could to support Israel–which I would like him to do. That changes the dynamics of what we can assume will happen between now and three years. Because I think if the election were today, Obama would not be elected… Offered without comment, none being necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-seriously/528029/37 "2010-02-07T16:33:49Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > IIf you want to debate, start another thread in GD. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > Moving thread from IMHO to Great Debates. :dubious: ---
**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:** [February 7, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-seriously/528029/38 "2010-02-07T16:34:48Z")
> [@Snnipe\_70E](#): > > Oops Shouldn’t that be “Oaps”? 😉 I used to regard her as a joke, couldn’t possibly win the Presidency. Now, with the right combination of events, I think she would have a real shot at it, and that is the stuff of nightmares. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-seriously/528029/39 "2010-02-07T16:53:07Z")
I posted this in another thread, but figure it can go here too. Anyway, I guess when Lardass Limbaugh uses “retard,” it’s just “satire.” [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0)…\_n\_452602.html > [@](#): > > “They are kooks, so I agree with Rush Limbaugh,” she said, when read a quote of Limbaugh calling liberal groups “retards.” “Rush Limbaugh was using satire … . I didn’t hear Rush Limbaugh calling a group of people whom he did not agree with ‘f-ing retards,’ and we did know that Rahm Emanuel, as has been reported, did say that. There is a big difference there.” > “I didn’t hear Rush Limbaugh calling a group of people whom he did not agree with 'f-ing retards,” she said. That’s exactly what he did!!! He called liberals retards. What a fucking idiot. Also proof that though the Republicans have the fortitude to kill HCR using bullshit arguments, they still lack the balls to stand up to Limbaugh. ---
**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:** [February 7, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-seriously/528029/40 "2010-02-07T17:03:10Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > He sounds orders of magnitude smarter than Palin. You have got to be kidding me! He’s asked a simple question about whether he and his wife have time to watch movies, and he’s apparently so deeply dishonest that he feels compelled to wing it and pretend that he’s seen a movie that he’s only barely aware of, stutters and stammers for what seems like an eternity before finally pretending to have seen it, then refers to the movie as a “program” and then finally stammers out a lame prediction that it will win an Oscar. I’ve yet to see such stammering and loss for words coming from Palin, and I’ve yet to hear her call a movie a “program”. (And I’m certain I would have heard of it for days around here if she had.) A person would think I’d be used to the blatant and hypocritical double-standard that exists around here by now. Oh, wait…I am. In fact, I’d pretty much predicted the responses myself even as I was typing the post. > [@Lobohan](#): > > By the way, are you ready to admit that you were utterly wrong in your previous statement. > > Will you in good faith retract the statement about Obama in the school, since it was not in any way true? > > Well?? Soitenly! It appears I was done in by one of the board’s [favorite sons](http://rawstory.com/2010/01/jon-stewart-rips-obamas-teleprompters-middle-school/). 😃 Still, the fact remains that further investigation reveals that the teleprompters were used by the president while addressing the media after the kids had left the room. The fact also remains that Obama feels the need to work from a teleprompter when speaking to the media, which is even worse than an outline, and an outline is pretty much all Palin was using when delivering her speech. How come Obama gets to speak to the press with a teleprompter and gets no grief while Palin gets called stupid for using a three or four point outline when delivering her speech herself? I’m sure some of you will try the out of claiming that speaking to the press is more important than speaking to a group of righties, but hey, words is words and if Palin is stupid for not relying on her own memory to deliver her speech (and likely a longer one), why is Obama not even more stupid for having to have every word laid out in front of him? Answer: Neither is stupid, and accusations of Palin stupidity are no more than hypocritical partisanship. And again, lest it get lost in the excitement over my admitting an error, I’ve never heard Palin stammering around like Biden did in that clip I posted, and I’ve never heard her refer to a movie as a “program”. And Biden’s history is so laden with dumb comments that he’s famous for it. So again, why Palin=stupid/Biden=good old Joe? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-seriously/528029.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-seriously/528029.md?page=3)