# Sarah Palin's Intelligence Level **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 10, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667 "2010-04-10T20:41:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/41 "2010-04-11T05:31:22Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Sarah Palin is not “classically rich”. Her parents were a high school teacher and school administrator. Todd Palin was born to slightly better off parents, but still wasn’t rich by and stretch of the imagination. > > The current Palin wealth (such as it is) was built entirely off speaking and other fees she’s collected since being named McCain’s running mate. From what I understand they also made quite a bit of money off their fishing business and may even have been millionaires before she became nationally famous. So at least someone in the family has a good head for business. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/42 "2010-04-11T05:58:44Z")
A million dollars may seem like a lot of money if you don’t have much. It’s pretty hard to look at retiring if you own your house, toys and only have a million bucks in the bank to live off of. Even if you’re able to get a low risk 5% yield off your million dollars - that’s $50k before taxes. It’s not dire poverty but it ain’t a lot of money if that is what you are living on. ---
**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:** [April 11, 2010, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/43 "2010-04-11T06:00:04Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > What kills me the most about the whole pathetic mess is that I actually had a lot of respect for John McCain at one point; the man was an American hero, and he let Washington turn him into a vile piece of shit, and is now someone who is as craven, foul and self-serving as any politician in recent memory… I bought into him too. I used to say I would have voted for him over Kerry. I don’t know if he changed, or if he was never as advertized in the first place, but I can’t say I’d ever vote for him anymore. I still respect him for what he went through as a POW, but no longer as a statesman. ---
**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:** [April 11, 2010, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/44 "2010-04-11T06:04:08Z")
> [@kenmore](#): > > Maybe I’m missing something, but if McCain wanted a female, couldn’t he have picked Condoleeza Rice or Christine Todd Whitman? Palin is a caricature of a politician by contrast. Like I said, those women are all pro-choice. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Olympia Snowe, Christie Todd Whitman, Condie Rice, Susan Molinari – all in favor of baby killing. They had to go all the way down the ladder to Palin to find a pro-lifer. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/45 "2010-04-11T06:30:27Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Edit: Just Wiki’d her **[Condi Rice]** and learned that she’s got lots of liberal bent to her , but is loyal to Republicans because they were the ones who let her father vote during the era of Jim Crow laws. Apparently she’s a talented dancer and pianist, too. Not to mention super smart. Hey, that will be perfect! She can go on Dancing with the Stars with Palin!! What a ratings draw that will be!! Tris ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/46 "2010-04-11T06:35:14Z")
I have this creepy feeling that Sarah Palin combines the utter ruthlessness for power of Angela Lansbury’s character from The Manchurian Candidate, with the utter cluelessness of her Senator husband from the same movie. Think about it. I think she would do pretty much anything to get more power, money and face time on TV. I think she is truly dangerous if only for that reason. Call me paranoid; I hope I’m wrong. But she gives me chills. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/47 "2010-04-11T06:57:00Z")
> [@kenmore](#): > > I disagree. Palin is both stupid (at least in comparison to her competitors) and willfully ignorant… \ …the speaker and her audience identify with each other on the basis of mutual stupidity. I agree. I think it really is that simple. . ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/48 "2010-04-11T07:05:03Z")
Palin is a living example of the [Dunning-Kruger Effect.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect) ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/49 "2010-04-11T07:36:50Z")
I’m surprised nobody here has yet pointed out that the Palin-Africa hoax was _not_ the report that she thought Africa was a country; rather, it was the _claim of credit_ for leaking that information. The [very same _NYT_ article](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/arts/television/13hoax.html?_r=3&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin) linked in the quote above, goes on to say, > [@RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA / NYT](#): > > The pranksters behind Eisenstadt acknowledge that he was not, through them, the anonymous source of the Palin leak. He just claimed falsely that he was the leaker–and they say they have **no reason to cast doubt on the original story**. For its part, Fox News Channel continues to stand behind its story. [Here](http://www.eisenstadtgroup.com/2008/11/10/eisenstadt-the-source-for-sarah-palin-africa-leak-and-proud-of-it/) is the hoax itself, [QUOTE=Martin Eisenstadt] By now you’ve all heard the Fox News report last week that “unnamed” former McCain advisers leaked that Sarah Palin was confused about whether Africa was a continent, and which countries were in NAFTA. I was perfectly happy staying under the radar as an anonymous source for Fox News‘ Carl Cameron, but now that Palin has accused her accusers of being “unprofessional…jerks…cowards… taking things out of context, and then tried to spread something on national news” and begun to cast doubt on the Fox News report, maybe she’s right to a certain extent. For those of us on the McCain campaign who thought that she acted like a rogue diva and lost John the election, maybe we DO have a responsibility to come out in public. But Sarah… careful what you ask for: some of us may have more to reveal. So yes, to be clear, last week I was the one who leaked those things to a producer at Fox News… [/quote] That’s all. The report which preceded this, the actual story about Palin, _that_ wasn’t invented by “Eisenstadt.” Now, strictly speaking, I don’t know whether that report was based on legitimate information or not. But it was **not** the “hoax” that the _New York Times_ “admitted.” ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/50 "2010-04-11T07:46:55Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > I’m surprised nobody here has yet pointed out that the Palin-Africa hoax was _not_ the report that she thought Africa was a country; rather, it was the _claim of credit_ for leaking that information. > > The [very same _NYT_ article](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/arts/television/13hoax.html?_r=3&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin) linked in the quote above, goes on to say, > > [Here](http://www.eisenstadtgroup.com/2008/11/10/eisenstadt-the-source-for-sarah-palin-africa-leak-and-proud-of-it/) is the hoax itself, > > That’s all. The report which preceded this, the actual story about Palin, _that_ wasn’t invented by “Eisenstadt.” Now, strictly speaking, I don’t know whether that report was based on legitimate information or not. But it was **not** the “hoax” that the _New York Times_ “admitted.” … … I don’t know what to believe anymore, lol. But yeah, I wouldn’t even call falsely claiming credit a hoax. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/51 "2010-04-11T11:56:21Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > Palin is a living example of the [Dunning-Kruger Effect.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect) That reminds me of high school dropouts (even people on this board) describing some other high school dropout as “the smartest person they know” as an argument against higher education. They only seem so smart because that person has such a narrow range of intellectual experience. That’s the secret of Sarah Palin. She just says things that confirm what idiots already “know”. ---
**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:** [April 11, 2010, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/52 "2010-04-11T12:43:56Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > That’s the secret of Sarah Palin. She just says things that confirm what idiots already “know”. More than that, though. She makes them feel _good_ about it, claiming that “common sense” is a virtue greater than knowledge and that by calling an expert a liar or a socialist or an idealist, you’ve somehow demonstrated superiority over the expert and thus license to be smug. It’s certainly a seductive message, and it plays very well among a segment of the population. They can’t prove how smart they are, but they damn well feel good about how moral/pragmatic/grounded they are, as _true_ Americans. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/53 "2010-04-11T13:51:45Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > A million dollars may seem like a lot of money if you don’t have much. It’s pretty hard to look at retiring if you own your house, toys and only have a million bucks in the bank to live off of. Even if you’re able to get a low risk 5% yield off your million dollars - that’s $50k before taxes. It’s not dire poverty but it ain’t a lot of money if that is what you are living on. Well, a million dollars is more than I or pretty anyone else in my circle of family, friends, co-workers has. Besides I can’t imagine they just had a million socked away somewhere and planned on just living off that their entire lives. They after all continued working their regular jobs and drawing regular incomes. Sure they may not have been Warren Buffet rich, but they were certainly pretty well off. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/54 "2010-04-11T14:56:50Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Sure they may not have been Warren Buffet rich, but they were certainly pretty well off. Yeah, I could get a little tired of hearing that people with a million dollars are really the next thing to poor. Tell that to the folks making 8 or 12 dollars an hour working for McDonalds, or Barnes & Noble, or Joe’s Lawn Care. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/55 "2010-04-11T17:04:26Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Were there any other conservative female politicians who McCain could have picked to counter Hilary? I could understand Palin as a last resort pick I guess… Err, Kay Bailey Hutchison and Christine Todd Whitman were both arguably more qualified for the role of President than McCain himself. Hutchison, of course, is a moderate, relatively pro-choice Republican, and thus not palpable to McCain’s neo-con handlers, but she would have been an excellent choice. Whitman is a bit more problematic given her ties to energy lobbyists, but there wouldn’t be any genuine challenges to her basic experience at holding executive office. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/56 "2010-04-11T17:09:47Z")
Neo-con handlers? Sounds more like paleo-cons. ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/57 "2010-04-11T17:30:44Z")
I don’t think it necessarily has anything to do with “intelligence”, per se. I suspect she is actually pretty intelligent, whether we base that on IQ score or on innate ability to respond creatively to her environment or both. But the demographic she is appealing to are, on average, likely less so, and tend to be suspicious of intelligence and intelligent people overall. JMHO. Judging by the shit they tend to swallow whole and their overall contempt for “intellectuals” and others who see in shades other than black and white. :rolleyes: Hence she hammers away on the “common sense”, “we don’t need a constitutional scholar”, “elite”, “liberal biased media”, “gotcha” angle. She is smart ENOUGH to give the people what they want. I don’t underestimate her intelligence; I think her persona is mostly an act. (it’s a shame she can’t play herself as well as Tina Fey can, though:)) FTR, I don’t think Bush was stupid either…most of his gaffes were, on close examination, the result of losing track of his line of thought or his brain getting ahead of his mouth (i.e. “The terrorists never stop looking for ways to hurt America, and neither do we.” Brilliant and hysterically funny, but not an example of stupidity given the context…more of ADD if anything) He was, in my educated opinion as a 3rd generation Texan, putting on the cowboy act for the same reasons Palin puts on the good ol’ gal, common sense, anti-elitist act. ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/58 "2010-04-11T17:46:17Z")
To add, I DO think she is often appallingly uniformed, and that her beliefs are astoundingly simple and primitive (see, there I go, just proving I am one of those damn “intellectual elites” she is always talking about:p) But that doesn’t mean she is unintelligent, just ignorant. And yes, willfully so, since it fits perfectly into her attitudes regarding the relative value of intellectualism vs gut reaction. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/59 "2010-04-11T19:07:12Z")
> [@InterestedObserver](#): > > But that doesn’t mean she is unintelligent, just ignorant. And yes, willfully so, since it fits perfectly into her attitudes regarding the relative value of intellectualism vs gut reaction. What in her behavior would lead you to believe that she is more intelligent than she appears? Even as a manipulator, she’s weak and inconsistent; she’s not a Karl Rove or Bill O’Reilly, or even Glenn Beck in terms of her ability to sway an audience. Unless you regard this as being part of a deliberate ploy of engendering sympathy, she just appears borderline incompetent as a candidate. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/60 "2010-04-11T19:36:34Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > What in her behavior would lead you to believe that she is more intelligent than she appears? Even as a manipulator, she’s weak and inconsistent; she’s not a Karl Rove or Bill O’Reilly, or even Glenn Beck in terms of her ability to sway an audience. Unless you regard this as being part of a deliberate ploy of engendering sympathy, she just appears borderline incompetent as a candidate. > > Stranger The fact that she’s managed to turn her appeal into a whole lot of cash is a pretty good sign. Candidate? she was smart enough to realize she would never be a credible one, she is in it for the money now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667.md?page=4)