# Sarah Palin vs. Vanity Fair editors (funny) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 21, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-vs-vanity-fair-editors-funny/503782 "2009-07-21T21:06:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-vs-vanity-fair-editors-funny/503782/21 "2009-07-22T06:11:28Z")
The only thing that is incoherent to me is why anyone would think that what she is saying is difficult to understand. William Jennings Bryant she is not and never will be, but I can understand what she’s saying perfectly fine. Why can’t you? You keep telling me it’s incoherent, but it’s not. I am reading it and comprehending it just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-vs-vanity-fair-editors-funny/503782/22 "2009-07-22T06:15:15Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > The only thing that is incoherent to me is why anyone would think that what she is saying is difficult to understand. William Jennings Bryant she is not and never will be, but I can understand what she’s saying perfectly fine. Why can’t you? > > You keep telling me it’s incoherent, but it’s not. I am reading it and comprehending it just fine. You know, it’s not a binary condition, either incoherence or “Harvard English.” Believe me, there’s a wide range in between there, and Palin falls somewhere in the middle. If she turned that in to me as a speech for a high school senior-level speech assignment, I’d have marked it up similarly. Is that acceptable for you coming from a governor? It’s not, to me. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-vs-vanity-fair-editors-funny/503782/23 "2009-07-22T06:18:09Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > You are accusing liberals of being elitist, but do you think that the Republicans would be so much more generous to a liberal who was as inarticulate as Palin? I doubt it. Yes, I think Republicans are equally capable of being mindlessly partisan regardless of which of the 57 states the represent. > [@](#): > > I actually do possess a love of intellectual rigor. Those red marks on that page? I do that for a living. I think it’s important for people to write well, and while that speech is not an atrocity, it’s not up to the standards I would expect for a state’s governor. I would be equally disappointed and chagrined if a liberal state governor wrote it. And I think your insults towards Robot Arm are excessive and misplaced, as I think the speech lacks substance also, and some of its content is ironic considering the reason she was delivering it. I know you do, you’re a school teacher. So what’s your point? I agree with you that some of its content is ironic considering the reason she was delivering it. But I don’t see anything that is incomprehensible. > [@](#): > > That’s your opinion. I think it’s a lot more sophisticated than that. There are errors of fact in that speech, and some pretty basic errors of grammar and usage as well. It basically makes fun of itself. Are you totally unable to see that? If so, then you are as blinded by partisanship as you claim your opponents are. Blinded by partisanship? Pshaw, I have no love of Sarah Palin past that I thought she was hot in her Sex in the City wardrobe. It’s just amazing that a second rate politician from a backwater state raises this much ire in people. That’s what blows me away. If it’s really about a love of intellectual rigor how come I never see Maxine Waters being pitted around here? That woman’s every bit as dumb as Sarah Palin or Michelle Bachman, but you just don’t see it around here do you? Why? Because she’s a Democrat of course. > [@](#): > > Then don’t read it. I’m not going to cry big crocodile tears for Palin, who after all, wants to be in the spotlight, and thus invites scrutiny such as this. It’s not a personal attack. It’s very clearly a fact based attack on her written words, which is about as objective as you can get. Whatever, she’ll get her show on Fox News soon enough. > [@](#): > > Yeah, that’s it. We’re stupider than you, who gets all worked up into a froth over a Vanity Fair article. A true sign of an enlightened mind, that is. Note that I never once said it was incoherent. Poorly written and badly in need of editing, though? Fuck yes it was, and I am not saying that because I hate Sarah Palin. I’m saying it because I have some respect for and understanding of my mother tongue. Well I can’t understand what other reason someone would have for saying it’s incoherent when it’s not. If someone finds it incoherent then they must be a real moron right? > [@](#): > > Try harder not to take shit personally when it isn’t personal. The “Palin hate” is no more over the top on the left than the Clinton hate is on the right, for example. You want to pay, you have to pay. Things like this are par for the course. Don’t like it? Stay in private life. Right, you guys are as low as the Republicans you despise, wonderful argument, makes me proud to be an American here in the lower 55. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-vs-vanity-fair-editors-funny/503782/24 "2009-07-22T06:19:11Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > You know, it’s not a binary condition, either incoherence or “Harvard English.” Believe me, there’s a wide range in between there, and Palin falls somewhere in the middle. If she turned that in to me as a speech for a high school senior-level speech assignment, I’d have marked it up similarly. Is that acceptable for you coming from a governor? It’s not, to me. YMMV. No, but the point is calling it incoherent when it’s not incoherent. Poorly written yes, but whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-vs-vanity-fair-editors-funny/503782/25 "2009-07-22T06:19:43Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Conveying a clear idea is relevant to the intended audience, not to people who will be intentionally obtuse in order to participate in a pedantic in-group circle-jerk. I lean Republican, as you’ll see from both my profile and the current thread about independents. There’s nothing in-group about it. Palin may be a perfectly nice woman, but in terms of being able to state a clear idea, to possess intellectual curiosity, or to accept criticism, she really is unsuited for the job she recently held and especially the one she might have had. That’s just reality; and reality is outside the scope of partisanship. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-vs-vanity-fair-editors-funny/503782/26 "2009-07-22T06:21:38Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I lean Republican, as you’ll see from both my profile and the current thread about independents. There’s nothing in-group about it. > > Palin may be a perfectly nice woman, but in terms of being able to state a clear idea, to possess intellectual curiosity, or to accept criticism, she really is unsuited for the job she recently held and especially the one she might have had. That’s just reality; and reality is outside the scope of partisanship. I agree, and there is nothing controversial in that statement. It’s just the petty nastiness that is another Palin thread every five minutes around here. All I have to say is 1 down thousands more to go from both parties. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-vs-vanity-fair-editors-funny/503782/27 "2009-07-22T06:24:47Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > I know you do, you’re a school teacher. So what’s your point? How could you, who are so much less stupid than I am (according to you) miss my point? When I read vapid, poorly written crap, regardless of the context, I want to mark it up. Apparently the editors of Vanity Fair felt the same way, but to you, that’s petty. Fuck the English language-- cut poor Sarah a break! > [@](#): > > But I don’t see anything that is incomprehensible. One person in this thread said it was incoherent. ONE. So maybe you could back off on riding that particular adjective into the ground like it was some universally delivered condemnation, eh? > [@](#): > > Blinded by partisanship? Pshaw, I have no love of Sarah Palin past that I thought she was hot in her Sex in the City wardrobe. It’s just amazing that a second rate politician from a backwater state raises this much ire in people. Did you forget that, if the Republicans had their way (and they’re still bitching about it now), this second rate politician would be an old man’s heartbeat away from the Presidency? When she writes lame crap like this, we can all feel collective relief that she LOST. OK? That’s the difference between Palin and Maxine Waters. I can’t believe I need to lay this out for you. > [@](#): > > Well I can’t understand what other reason someone would have for saying it’s incoherent when it’s not. If someone finds it incoherent then they must be a real moron right? They must be using a bit of hyperbole. A real moron? No, I wouldn’t say that, because hurling insults in this thread seems to be your gig. > [@](#): > > Right, you guys are as low as the Republicans you despise, wonderful argument, makes me proud to be an American here in the lower 55. :rolleyes: Oh my god, quit freakin’ whining and deliberately missing my point. Politicians are scrutinized and mocked. This is no more petty or over the top than anything else. Stop making such a big deal over it. Jeez. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-vs-vanity-fair-editors-funny/503782/28 "2009-07-22T06:28:04Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > All I have to say is 1 down thousands more to go from both parties. Dunno, I haven’t seen any other politicians who seemed less suited to the job at that level. I assume there have been plenty of single-term governors/senators/congressman who were of equal ability–but I don’t generally pay all that much attention to politics so she’s at the bottom of the heap for me. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-vs-vanity-fair-editors-funny/503782/29 "2009-07-22T06:50:02Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > :rolleyes: Has someone been reading Lacan? ::gasp:: Heaven forbid anyone read, be intellectually curious, or, evil of all evils, attend Harvard. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-vs-vanity-fair-editors-funny/503782/30 "2009-07-22T06:56:38Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > How could you, who are so much less stupid than I am (according to you) miss my point? When I read vapid, poorly written crap, regardless of the context, I want to mark it up. Apparently the editors of Vanity Fair felt the same way, but to you, that’s petty. Fuck the English language-- cut poor Sarah a break! Was it the impulse to save the English language or the impulse to fuck with Sarah Palin that was the real impetus. Come on now, be honest. 😃 > [@](#): > > One person in this thread said it was incoherent. ONE. So maybe you could back off on riding that particular adjective into the ground like it was some universally delivered condemnation, eh? LOL, yes Ms. Rubystreak. 😉 > [@](#): > > Did you forget that, if the Republicans had their way (and they’re still bitching about it now), this second rate politician would be an old man’s heartbeat away from the Presidency? When she writes lame crap like this, we can all feel collective relief that she LOST. OK? That’s the difference between Palin and Maxine Waters. I can’t believe I need to lay this out for you. Yes, I recognize that, but meanwhile Maxine Waters is voting on legislation. If John McCain had not died while in office that would have meant that during the 8 years people were bitching about having an airhead bimbo from Alaska for the Vice President Maxine Waters would have done far more significant damage than Sarah Palin. You have already breathed your collective sigh of relief. This isn’t about relief, this is about hate. > [@](#): > > They must be using a bit of hyperbole. A real moron? No, I wouldn’t say that, because hurling insults in this thread seems to be your gig. :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > Oh my god, quit freakin’ whining and deliberately missing my point. Politicians are scrutinized and mocked. This is no more petty or over the top than anything else. Stop making such a big deal over it. Jeez. Except that people talk about Sarah Palin day in and day out. There are thousands of other politicians in both parties being just as stupid. You’re not correcting their speeches now are you? ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-vs-vanity-fair-editors-funny/503782/31 "2009-07-22T06:57:43Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > ::gasp:: Heaven forbid anyone read, be intellectually curious, or, evil of all evils, attend Harvard. I’ll take that as a no. You probably haven’t been reading Lacan. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-vs-vanity-fair-editors-funny/503782/32 "2009-07-22T08:32:20Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > William Jennings Bryant she is not Do you mean William Jennings Bryan or William Cullen Bryant? She’s neither an orator nor a poet, of course, but it’s nice to know the difference. Or do you come from the Palin school of “Hey, gimme points for making an effort–I came real close to expressing my ideas!!” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-vs-vanity-fair-editors-funny/503782/33 "2009-07-22T10:28:16Z")
> [@masonite](#): > > > [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > > > I would have felt much better about the small expenditure if I[del] saw[/del] **had seen** that in the print version. > > 😛 Please don’t change text in quote tags. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-vs-vanity-fair-editors-funny/503782/34 "2009-07-22T11:47:17Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Wow Vanity Fair is such a petty fucking magazine. Most of those corrections are for style. > > Retarded. Well, yes, they are for style. But how well would memorable speeches hold up if they were not produced with style in mind? “December 7, 1941, a day we will remember.” “Eighty-seven years ago, our relatives established a new country here.” “Don’t ask for things from your country, go do something! You know, like all patriotic-like things.” As Mark Twain said, “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-vs-vanity-fair-editors-funny/503782/35 "2009-07-22T11:50:50Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > No, they aren’t. What is this bullcrap about “Harvard English”? There’s only one kind of English, and Palin’s speech could have been better written in it. No one is expecting the Gettysburg Address from her, but my god. There were also some factual errors in there (she didn’t know in whose cabinet Seward served? wikipedia could have told her that) that are inexcusable. No, it was Palin who insulted the people of Alaska, not Vanity Fair, both by resigning and by doing it with such a shitty speech. > > And that “pointy headed liberals” comment is just so much anti-intellectual reactionary bullshit. Seriously, it’s elitist now to expect a person to write a grammatically and factually correct speech if she is the Governor of Alaska? That’s too high a standard? Please. My poor English teacher’s heart can’t take it. Seward was Lincoln’s Secretary of State, and continued as Johnson’s after Lincoln was killed. The purchase of Alaska happened during Johnson’s term. So Palin appears, unlike you, to know in whose cabinet Seward served, but not when the purchase of her state happened. I think most people, even most English teachers, would acknowledge that there are many dialects in English. Standard Written English is important, but it is not the sole form of English. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-vs-vanity-fair-editors-funny/503782/36 "2009-07-22T11:53:36Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > there are many dialects in English. Standard Written English is important, but it is not the sole form of English. And the “Redneck Yokel Illiterate” dialect is preferred for Alaskan Governors. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-vs-vanity-fair-editors-funny/503782/37 "2009-07-22T13:32:07Z")
[moderator tiara on] This has gotten way too heated for MPSIMS – I’m going to switch jurisdictions over to Great Debates. [/moderator tiara off] Speaking as a poster – and as a professional editor – the “problem” with that text is that it was the transcription of remarks made without a script. If _any_ of us – including those of us who make our livings through our skills with the English language, like editors, writers, and teachers – spoke extemporaneously for five minutes and then read the transcript, we’d be appalled: there would be sentence fragments, incomplete thoughts, lack of agreement between subject and verb, redundancy out the wazoo, etc. That’s what oral speech is. And that’s why most politicians and others making public pronouncements write their remarks out in advance and read them. It’s Palin’s failure to do _that_ that is the mark of her … (stupidity/lack of understanding of the role of the politician/disrespect for Alaska/disrespect for the American people/fill in the blank) … here, not the fact that a transcript of off-the-cuff remarks needs numerous fixes to bring it in line with Standard English. ---
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-vs-vanity-fair-editors-funny/503782/38 "2009-07-22T13:43:35Z")
Shouldn’t she have a better grasp on grammar, considering she has a degree in communications with an emphasis on journalism? At this point, Palin is a living, breathing joke. She’s a walking caricature for the Republican party. She quits office and fervently denies being a “quitter.” Someone should at least buy the poor woman a dictionary so she can look up the definition of the word. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-vs-vanity-fair-editors-funny/503782/39 "2009-07-22T13:57:49Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Harvard English is alienating to the audience People made that argument in favor of “ebonics”, to the derisive hooting of conservatives. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-vs-vanity-fair-editors-funny/503782/40 "2009-07-22T13:58:25Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > How could you, who are so much less stupid than I am (according to you) miss my point? When I read vapid, poorly written crap, regardless of the context, I want to mark it up. Apparently the editors of Vanity Fair felt the same way, but to you, that’s petty. Fuck the English language-- cut poor Sarah a break! It is petty. However, the shallow little twat decided to spend pretty much her entire time in front of a microphone picking a fight with every media outlet imaginable. So, someone pokes back at her. How terrible! How unforgivable! Don’t pick a fight you can’t win. Apparently lil’ Sarah doesn’t realize that. Must not be part of that country learnin’ she’s so proud of. -Joe [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-vs-vanity-fair-editors-funny/503782.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-vs-vanity-fair-editors-funny/503782.md?page=3)