Sarah Palin's book

[MPB_in_Salt_Lake]

@TWDuke

Anywhere between 0 and 40 percent of voters may have responded “no opinion.” You can’t just split the difference and take it as a meaningful result. Besides, we don’t know what the poll question really was (“Would Sarah Palin make a good president?” is much different from “Does Sarah Palin meet the minimum qualifications to run for the presidency?”). We also don’t know who the respondents were. There is no such thing as a purely random selection, but some surveys are better randomized than others.

You are right, and I dont recall if they actually gave the specific survey wording or not.

That said, I am (seriously, not trying to be an antagonist) absolutely shocked that even say 5% of regestered voters would think that Sarah Palin could possibly be a suitable President.

I understand that I am probably WAY out of touch with the actual current political landscape of the country, so I will say no more on this subject…

[bengangmo]

@Bricker

One or two?

Finding number two from the Branchflower Report:

The best the Branchflower Report says is that he finds it likely that the refusal to fire was a factor – and even then, not the sole reason. You can hardly call her denial a clearcut and indisputable lie. Not a lie. Lie vs. Total Score: 0-1.

She didn’t campaign for it, but she sure expressed an intention to use the funds. Clearcut lie. Lie vs. Total Score: 1-2.

This seems like Clintonian parsing. She says “'There’s been no meeting, no actual terminations.” But the letter given to the chief, at least, said, “I intend to terminate you…” So she might have been technically right, but to me, if someone says, “I’m going to fire you,” it’s highly disingenuous to claim that I haven’t been fired. Lie. Lie vs. Total Score: 2-3.

I can’t tell.

Every report on this says that Rick Steiner requested and got e-mail correspondence that proves Palin lied when she said that an Alaska study showed polar bears were not in danger. Steiner is an environmental activist, and the e-mails are never quoted. In page after page, it says: “Polar bears are in danger, records show.” It’s very odd that the actual e-mail giving lie to Palin’s claim is never quoted or reproduced. So what this comes down to is Steiner calling Palin a liar, and a zillion anti-Palin source srepeating it uncritically. Not enough to call it a lie. Not a lie. Lie vs. Total Score: 2-4.

She said she begana pipeline. But beginning a project doesn’t mean breaking ground; any project like that must begin with planning and budgeting and securing permits and conducting studies. To say that this is a lie because the actual ground-breaking was years away is absurd. Not a lie. Lie vs. Total Score: 2-5.

And it’s possible she doesn’t pass judgement on them. Obama’s membership in Rev. Wright’s church was not a reason to impute “God damn America” to Obama. Why is Palin’s church different? It’s unclear what she means by “judgement,” in any event. Not a lie. Lie vs. Total Score: 2-6.

Lie. Lie vs. Total Score: 3-7.

I might have said she was simply mistaken, but she was given a chance to clarify and her revision was still off the mark. I’ll give this one a ‘lie’ score. Lie. Lie vs. Total Score: 4-8.

She said: “The teleprompter got messed up, I couldn’t follow it, and I just decided I’d just talk to the people in front of me.” McCain-Palin campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds says no, and Sullivan accepts this as the gospel. But McCain-Palin spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker says yes, “She was off the prompter at points.” I suppose it’s possible that the machien worked fine and she simply got confused, but Sullivan’s point is that the script was followed, and both Palin and Hazelbaker deny this. Why is the word of one campaign source solid and the word of another dismissed? Insufficient evidence to call this a clearcut lie. Not a lie. Lie vs. Total Score: 4-9.

Lie. Lie vs. Total Score: 5-9.
Not a lie. Her comment: "“As mayor I took a voluntary pay cut, which didn’t thrill my husband; and then as governor I cut the personal chef position from the budget, and that didn’t thrill my hungry kids.”

The actual truth: “As a Council member she voted against hiking the mayor’s salary from $64,000 to $68,000, but it passed anyway. When she came in as mayor, she passed the ordinance which brought her salary down to $61,200. But that may not actually have taken effect, and Council-mandated raises brought her actual salary up to $68,000.” She cut the salary. It’s true that subsequenty, cost-of-living and other raises brought it back up. But she clearly took a cut which she initiated. Not a lie. Lie vs. Total Score: 5-10.

I’m going to stop here, unless someone believes that the remainder of the “lies list” will produce a much different ratio.

Now, don’t get me wrong… 50% lies is an abysmal ratio to find in a collection of statements. At the same time, the claim that the vast majority are clearcut is… well, let’s put it thsi way. If Palin had made that claim about that list, it would BE on that list.

Even under your overly liberal interpretation the woman lies 33% of the time…and you are trying to defend her? No wonder people decry partisan politics

[gonzomax]

Palin is a combination of ambition and blind religious belief. When she had a chance to become VP and maybe president, almost anyone would have stopped to think about it. Most people would have been afraid a little at the enormity of what was possible ahead of her. They would have wondered about whether she was up to the job. But Palin thought god chose her . How could she argue with that. It gave her a chance to get rich too. As governor of Alaska her chances for big power and money were limited. She had no trouble dumping the office and chasing the cash. You can not heap enough ridicule on her. She is an over reaching ambitious woman with little talent and intellect. How can any body with firing synapses take her seriously.

[Biggirl]

They may think she’s qualified but less than 1 in 4 view her favorably.

Rasmussen says that 59% of Republicans share Sarah’s values. I don’t know what percentage of United Statesians are Republicans, though.

[Tabithina]

I might check her book out at the library someday if I want to torture myself, but I think I might opt to buy this coloring book instead. It’s sold out at the moment.

Amazon.com: Going Rouge: The Sarah Palin Rogue Coloring & Activity Book:...

[Lok]

Nate Silver at 538.com thinks that Palin will run for President in 2012. He even thinks she has a decent chance to win the nomination. Enough so that he made 2 bets with one of the other writers there, Tom Schaller.

Mr. Schaller has his own opinions about the chances of Palin running or winning the nomination.

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

As much as I would love to see her get the nomination, I can’t see it happening. The people who run that party would have to put a stop to it sooner or later.

Besides, she would have to actually do stuff like press conferences and debates, and answer real questions from people who aren’t Fox News shills or Oprah Winfrey. She would never be willing to do that.

Whatever adults are left in the GOP would dynamite the tracks before they’d ever let that train get away from the station.

[Lok]

That is pretty much what Schaller concludes also. OTOH, I have seen quite a number of people on the intratubes statying that democrats/liberals/progressives are frightened of the idea of Obama having to face Palin in 2012. Shoot, I personally know someone that still thinks she was a great choice for VP and has potential. With the current Republican trend of throwing out the moderates with the bathwater, stranger things could happen.

[Icerigger]

Andrew Sullivan to his credit has been very hard on Palin from the beginning and lamenting what has happened to his beloved conservative party. He is in such a unhinged state over the responce to her book he can’t even speak.

This is only the second time in its nearly ten-year history that the Dish has gone silent. The reason now is the same as the reason then. When dealing with a delusional fantasist like Sarah Palin, it takes time to absorb and make sense of the various competing narratives that she tells about her life. There are so many fabrications and delusions in the book, mixed in with facts, that just making sense of it - and comparing it with objective reality as we know it, and the subjective reality she has previously provided - is a bewildering task. She is a deeply disturbed person which makes this work of fiction and fact all the more challenging to read. And the fact that she is now the leader of the Republican party and a potential presidential candidate, makes this process of deconstruction an important civil responsibility. We take this seriously as we always have. We want to be fair to her, and to her family, and to the innocent people she has brought into the spotlight. And we are not reporters. We are merely analysts trying to make sense of evidence already in the public domain, evidence that points in all sorts of directions, only one of which can be true.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/

[Bosstone]

@Lok

That is pretty much what Schaller concludes also. OTOH, I have seen quite a number of people on the intratubes statying that democrats/liberals/progressives are frightened of the idea of Obama having to face Palin in 2012.

Thing is, it’s true. Not because I’m (I can only speak for myself) scared that, gosh, a Republican might take the White House and do a better job than a Democrat, but because it’s quite likely she’ll wind up Twittering while Rome burns.

[Equipoise]

@Lok

I have seen quite a number of people on the intratubes statying that democrats/liberals/progressives are frightened of the idea of Obama having to face Palin in 2012.

That’s still one of the most hilarious things rightasses say regarding Palin, that liberals are “afraid” of her. HA! Maybe before the election, when we weren’t quite sure if enough of the country was sane and there could have been a real possibility of her being a heartbeat away from the presidency, but now, HA! She and her little band of idiot followers have no chance of ever ever getting anywhere near that office. I’m not afraid of her. I hope she runs, oh boy do I hope she runs. That would be the best free entertainment ever. I drool with anticipation at the thought of President Obama facing Sarah Palin in a debate. Oh please oh please oh please someone make it happen!
Thanks for the Andrew Sullivan link Icerigger. I had forgotten to check what his reaction was.

[Fuzzy_Dunlop]

@Diogenes_the_Cynic

As much as I would love to see her get the nomination, I can’t see it happening. The people who run that party would have to put a stop to it sooner or later.

Besides, she would have to actually do stuff like press conferences and debates, and answer real questions from people who aren’t Fox News shills or Oprah Winfrey. She would never be willing to do that.

Whatever adults are left in the GOP would dynamite the tracks before they’d ever let that train get away from the station.

I don’t think she’ll win the nomination but your assumptions may be off. There’s nobody left at the top of the party with enough influence to put a stop to her. Who’s going to do it? Steele, Boehner, and McConnell? They couldn’t even keep the world’s most boring man from costing them NY 23 where they had a huge registration advantage.

The media loves reporting on Palin enough that I think she could eschew doing interviews and press conferences with real journalists and still get enough coverage in the real media to stay relevant. She’s actually a good debater given that her audience is the bottom quintile of the country dumb enough to admit to being a Republican. She makes nasty personal remarks to deflect from discussing the merits of her ideas, but you pretty much have to when everything you think is wrong. The people voting in the primaries love her for that nasty bitch style. They’re also the type of people who are unwilling to consider how widely unpopular she is among most of the country.

[Fuzzy_Dunlop]

@Lok

That is pretty much what Schaller concludes also. OTOH, I have seen quite a number of people on the intratubes statying that democrats/liberals/progressives are frightened of the idea of Obama having to face Palin in 2012. Shoot, I personally know someone that still thinks she was a great choice for VP and has potential. With the current Republican trend of throwing out the moderates with the bathwater, stranger things could happen.

Well remember she is incredibly popular with real Americans and she’d probably win 95% of women, on account of their kind traditionally voting for anyone with boobs. I can’t think of anything I’m more afraid of than the GOP nominating Palin.

Shhhhhhhhhhh. We’re trying to bait them into nominating her.

[joebuck20]

As much as people on this board dis her (and believe me, and I’m no fan of her’s either), having grown up in a conservative small town in the Midwest I can understand the appeal she has among certain groups of people - working mom, regular churchgoer, involved in her kids’ activities, plain spoken, proud of the fact that she didn’t attend an Ivy League or other type of “elitist” institution. She would be right at home in the town where I grew up.
And it doesn’t matter that she’s whiny or doesn’t have a good grasp of the issues. What matters to a lot of people is that she appears to be one of them. You could make an argument that that’s why George W. Bush got elected. Not because voters believed he was the smartest candidate, but because he was the type of guy they wanted to have a beer with. Well, Sarah’s the type of gal these people want to share a beer with.

[elbows]

But after 8yrs of GWB shouldn’t it be obvious, to even republicans, what’s wrong with electing a leader based on how much fun they’d be at your BBQ?

[joebuck20]

@elbows

But after 8yrs of GWB shouldn’t it be obvious, to even republicans, what’s wrong with electing a leader based on how much fun they’d be at your BBQ?

I’m not saying that’s a good thing, I’m just saying that’s the mindset that a lot of voters have. And no, they didn’t learn from 8 years GWB. They may not be fans of him anymore, but that’s going to stop them from voting for the next candidate who appears to be a good ol’ boy (or girl).

[Lok]

@joebuck20

I’m not saying that’s a good thing, I’m just saying that’s the mindset that a lot of voters have. And no, they didn’t learn from 8 years GWB. They may not be fans of him anymore, but that’s going to stop them from voting for the next candidate who appears to be a good ol’ boy (or girl).

I have to agree with this. I am taking a class right now with several people that think GWB was one of the greatest Presidents this country has ever had. I don’t try to dissuade them because frankly, if they are that delusional at this point in history, nothing I say will have any affect at all.

[Least_Original_User_Name_Ever]

@Equipoise

That’s still one of the most hilarious things rightasses say regarding Palin, that liberals are “afraid” of her. HA! Maybe before the election, when we weren’t quite sure if enough of the country was sane and there could have been a real possibility of her being a heartbeat away from the presidency, but now, HA! She and her little band of idiot followers have no chance of ever ever getting anywhere near that office. I’m not afraid of her. I hope she runs, oh boy do I hope she runs. That would be the best free entertainment ever. I drool with anticipation at the thought of President Obama facing Sarah Palin in a debate. Oh please oh please oh please someone make it happen!
Thanks for the Andrew Sullivan link Icerigger. I had forgotten to check what his reaction was.

Three weeks.
If there was a way for the McCain campaign to have held off the naming of Sarah Palin for the Vice Presidential nomination three weeks before the election, they might have pulled it off. I knocked doors every day as campaign staff for Obama. I can’t tell you how rough it was (and I say this as the only state that expelled the McCain campaign from it) when she was named.

“Do you know why I like Sarah Palin? She’s a Barracuda. She’s a pit bull with lipstick.” “You know, I was leaning towards Obama before, but I love Sarah Palin. When they named her, that pulled me over to McCain.”

Those were two responses I remember clear as day very shortly after she was announced. The first was over the phone to an older woman and the second was in person when I knocked on his door. He and his wife were sunbathing in the backyard.

Now that she’s a known commodity and she is who we think she is, if she gets the nomination in 2012, Obama’s second term is a slam dunk. This isn’t even counting for the massive ground game that would be reunited for the reelection campaign and the people that missed it the first time around were brought into the fold. Write it in stone. If Palin is the nominee, it won’t be even close, barring some big, major event in which Obama completely and utterly fails between now and then.

[carnivorousplant]

@Least_Original_User_Name_Ever

“Do you know why I like Sarah Palin? She’s a Barracuda. She’s a pit bull with lipstick.” “You know, I was leaning towards Obama before, but I love Sarah Palin. When they named her, that pulled me over to McCain.”

Now that she’s a known commodity and she is who we think she is, if she gets the nomination in 2012, Obama’s second term is a slam dunk.

I don’t understand. Why would those folks change their opinion of her?

[Jolly_Roger]

@joebuck20

As much as people on this board dis her (and believe me, and I’m no fan of her’s either), having grown up in a conservative small town in the Midwest I can understand the appeal she has among certain groups of people - working mom, regular churchgoer, involved in her kids’ activities, plain spoken, proud of the fact that she didn’t attend an Ivy League or other type of “elitist” institution. She would be right at home in the town where I grew up.
And it doesn’t matter that she’s whiny or doesn’t have a good grasp of the issues. What matters to a lot of people is that she appears to be one of them. You could make an argument that that’s why George W. Bush got elected. Not because voters believed he was the smartest candidate, but because he was the type of guy they wanted to have a beer with. Well, Sarah’s the type of gal these people want to share a beer with.

Which is a rather silly way to choose poltical leaders. I like Obama but I don’t want to have a beer with him. I don’t want to hang out with him, or go see a game of hoops with him. I’d rather elect somoeone on the merits for the job than the ridiculous notion that they’re just like me.