# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/101 "2010-04-12T16:53:25Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > Don’t confuse a lack of knowledge with a lack of intelligence. Sarah seems to have almost a natural gift for appealing to subliminal instincts in mob mentality. That gift is a kind of intelligence. It survives, even thrives, in ignorance. Look at the crowds cheering Palin-Bachman the last few days. (Speaking of Armageddon!) > > Now the question is how much of a mob will the conservative elements become over the next two and a half years? Will this insanity burn itself out? > > As for Sarah Palin’s actual I.Q., I would guess it to be average – probably about 8-10 points lower than George Bush’s real I.Q. score. That’s an educated guess from someone who took lots of graduate educational psychology courses, but is not an expert in the field. Really? I’ve no love for the woman, but I’d be very surprised if her IQ score weren’t well above average. This is a college-educated woman who had a relatively short, but reasonably successful, career in statewide politics. This doesn’t mean she’s a genius - and I think she’s very, very far from that - but I can’t believe that she’s just a flat 100. ---
**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 12, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/102 "2010-04-12T16:59:38Z")
She struggled for years through a battery of community and state colleges to amass enough credits for a Bachelors Degree. That doesn’t take any special intelligence. I am also of the belief that incuriosity is a sign of low intellect, and Palin has an abundance of it. I don’t believe there is any serious policy subject for which she has anything but the most superficial knowledge about, and even the knowledge she does have has only been acquired within the last couple of years. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/103 "2010-04-12T17:00:05Z")
> [@OrvilleWright](#): > > Barack Obama infinitely reflects the increasing stupidity of our country’s population. Obama has snookered liberals everywhere, promising “change” and “hope” and delivering lies, deceit, corruption, tax-dodging incompetents, > socialist thugs, and much more. > > Obama was reared at the feet of Saul Alinsky. > His “mentor” was radical racist Jeremiah Wright. > > His fund-raiser and pal was unrepentant terrorist William Ayers. > > Obama has embarrassed America by his stupidity and naivete Austria, claiming he doesn’t speak “Austrian.” > > Obama returned Churchill’s bust to Britain, gave the Queen a schoolboy gift, > insulted the French by sending a letter to the FORMER president of France, thinking he was the CURRENT president. > > Obama doesn’t know how to pronounce “corpsman.” > Obama thinks he has “visited 57 states” and has “2 more to go”. > > Obama said “ax” instead of “ask.” > > But above and beyond Obama’s profound stupidity and ignorance, he has no common sense, no decency, no judgment. > > Harry Truman was a simple man, but he had common sense and integrity, both of which are permanently missing from Obama the empty suit. > > It is inconceivable that any random person would be a worse choice than Barack Obama for president. Whereas millions of people boasted that they had > voted for the empty suit a year ago, it is difficult to find anyone who will admit to this personally. > > Online, perhaps. In person, no. I hope you are having fun at the Tea Parties. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/104 "2010-04-12T17:22:11Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > She struggled for years through a battery of community and state colleges to amass enough credits for a Bachelors Degree. That doesn’t take any special intelligence. > > I am also of the belief that incuriosity is a sign of low intellect, and Palin has an abundance of it. > > I don’t believe there is any serious policy subject for which she has anything but the most superficial knowledge about, and even the knowledge she does have has only been acquired within the last couple of years. Wow - you know, I hadn’t realized just how bizarre Palin’s education was. From wikipedia: > [@](#): > > She attended Hawaii Pacific University in the fall of 1982 and North Idaho College in the spring and fall of 1983.[28] (In June 2008, the Alumni Association of North Idaho College gave her its Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award).[29] She attended the University of Idaho in the fall of 1984 and spring of 1985, and attended Matanuska-Susitna College in the fall of 1985. She returned to the University of Idaho in the spring of 1986, receiving her bachelor’s degree in communications with an emphasis in journalism from there in 1987.[4][28][30][31] I’ve nothing against people who go to community colleges on their path to a BA - they’re cheap, they can correct deficiencies left by lackluster high schools, and they often have really good and dedicated teachers. Nor do I have anything against transferring colleges - I have friends and family who’ve done that. Sometimes an institution just isn’t a good fit, and there’s no shame in that. But Palin went through _four_ schools on her way to a BA. That’s … insane. It makes it all but impossible to form real relationships with profs or other students. It ensures that you’ll derive little or no benefit from any curriculum which is meant to last longer than a semester - classes don’t have time to “build” on one another as the profs intended. All you’ll get is, well, superficial knowledge in your field of study. It looks like Palin went about as close as you can get to _not_ going to college, and still come out with a BA. Unless she had some sort of family crisis, or serious illness, that speaks volumes to her concern for knowledge. (Even poverty wouldn’t explain the transfers - if you need to drop out for a semester to raise cash, that’s no reason to head to an entirely different school every year.) ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/105 "2010-04-12T21:37:32Z")
I’d like to see a cite for the claim that she “struggled for years through a battery of community and state colleges to amass enough credits for a Bachelors Degree.” She did switch schools several times, but that’s not the same thing at all. I do agree that one can generally get a better education by sticking with a single school. Without knowing why she switched schools though, I think the prudent course would be to reserve judgment on this matter. It would be kinda loutish to insist that she must have done so in order to scrounge up enough credits for a bachelor’s degree. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/106 "2010-04-12T22:03:50Z")
Person 1: “Sarah Palin is not as dumb as you think she is…” Person 2: “Yeah. She couldn’t be…” ---
**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 12, 2010, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/107 "2010-04-12T22:13:54Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > I’d like to see a cite for the claim that she “struggled for years through a battery of community and state colleges to amass enough credits for a Bachelors Degree.” She did switch schools several times, but that’s not the same thing at all. > > I do agree that one can generally get a better education by sticking with a single school. Without knowing why she switched schools though, I think the prudent course would be to reserve judgment on this matter. It would be kinda loutish to insist that she must have done so in order to scrounge up enough credits for a bachelor’s degree. Heck, I never assumed her academic career meant she was dumb. I’m not even sure she is dumb. She sure _talks_ dumb, though, and panders to a hooting audience who are, quite clearly, louts. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/108 "2010-04-12T22:50:37Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > **OrvilleWright** , your head movies makes my eyes rain. Especially since everyone here knows how liberal and socialist I am. Fight the power, comrade! ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/109 "2010-04-12T22:54:39Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > I’d like to see a cite for the claim that she “struggled for years through a battery of community and state colleges to amass enough credits for a Bachelors Degree.” She did switch schools several times, but that’s not the same thing at all. > > I do agree that one can generally get a better education by sticking with a single school. Without knowing why she switched schools though, I think the prudent course would be to reserve judgment on this matter. It would be kinda loutish to insist that she must have done so in order to scrounge up enough credits for a bachelor’s degree. Would it disturb you more if she was actually stupid, or just acting stupid? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2010, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/110 "2010-04-12T23:08:49Z")
> [@Gustav](#): > > Does it really require intelligence though to tell people platitudes they want to hear? Doesn’t take much brains to figure out what platitudes to dish out if you’re a paid speaker at a teabagger convention. Seems like most people could do that just as well as her, as long as they have no moral scruples and happen to get handed a VP nomination for no reason. I don’t think she’s dumb for spouting ignorant crap at teabagger conventions. Some people who have brains no doubt did the same - in fact speaking intelligently at a teabagger convention would probably get you lynched. I think the evidence of her stupidity was her inability to answer even the softest of questions during the campaign, and her inability to learn. Interviews are good publicity - I’m sure her handlers didn’t keep her away from them for fear she would intimidate the reporter. And BTW, she didn’t exactly take rocket science classes in college. How could someone who supposedly studied journalism not be able to answer a question of what magazines she reads? ---
**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 12, 2010, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/111 "2010-04-12T23:38:51Z")
The answer I’d’ve liked from Palin re: “what magazines do you read?” “I really like to go through \*Popular Science _and Popular Mechanics. Todd buys them all the time and I steal them, often before he gets to read them first. I like reading about American ingenuity and what crazy stuff is possible now, or five or ten years from now. Sometimes, though, I flip through old issues, though, and it makes me a little sad, because there were so many interesting ideas that just never happened, maybe they didn’t work out well, or nobody could make them affordable. Then I think about what could happen if the Democrats start pushing a lot of wild ideas and they fizzle out, doing more harm then good. Sometimes you gotta improve what you have instead of reaching for something new, just because it_ is \*new. It’s being careful and realistic that makes me a conservative.” ---
**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 12, 2010, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/112 "2010-04-12T23:43:20Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > The answer I’d’ve liked from Palin re: “what magazines do you read?” > > “I really like to go through \*Popular Science _and Popular Mechanics. Todd buys them all the time and I steal them, often before he gets to read them first. I like reading about American ingenuity and what crazy stuff is possible now, or five or ten years from now. Sometimes, though, I flip through old issues, though, and it makes me a little sad, because there were so many interesting ideas that just never happened, maybe they didn’t work out well, or nobody could make them affordable. Then I think about what could happen if the Democrats start pushing a lot of wild ideas and they fizzle out, doing more harm then good. Sometimes you gotta improve what you have instead of reaching for something new, just because it_ is \*new. It’s being careful and realistic that makes me a conservative.” lol ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/113 "2010-04-13T00:03:59Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > I’d like to see a cite for the claim that she “struggled for years through a battery of community and state colleges to amass enough credits for a Bachelors Degree.” She did switch schools several times, but that’s not the same thing at all. > > I do agree that one can generally get a better education by sticking with a single school. Without knowing why she switched schools though, I think the prudent course would be to reserve judgment on this matter. It would be kinda loutish to insist that she must have done so in order to scrounge up enough credits for a bachelor’s degree. She started at Hawaii Pacific University, transferred to North Idaho College (a community college), thence to the University of Idaho, Matanuska College (another community college, near Wasila), and back to Idaho for one year. I agree that it’s not definite evidence that she was a poor student, but I think it’s fair to say that getting educated was probably not one of her priorities at the time. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > Would it disturb you more if she was actually stupid, or just acting stupid? Acting stupid. Bush II managed to play the folksy outsider card even though he was the Yale-educated son of a former President and Director of the CIA- proof positive to me that he’s actually a pretty smart guy- and look at everything _he_ managed to fuck up once in office. ---
**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:** [April 13, 2010, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/114 "2010-04-13T00:23:50Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Acting stupid. Bush II managed to play the folksy outsider card even though he was the Yale-educated son of a former President and Director of the CIA- proof positive to me that he’s actually a pretty smart guy- and look at everything _he_ managed to fuck up once in office. No, it was Bush I – George Herbert Walker Bush – who was head of the CIA. ---
**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 13, 2010, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/115 "2010-04-13T00:24:51Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > No, it was Bush I – George Herbert Walker Bush – who was head of the CIA. That’s what he meant. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/116 "2010-04-13T00:25:41Z")
I know. You were supposed to read it like this: > [@](#): > > Bush II managed to play the folksy outsider card even though he was [the Yale-educated son of] [a former President and Director of the CIA]- proof positive to me that he’s actually a pretty smart guy- and look at everything he managed to fuck up once in office. ETA: What **AClockworkMelon** said. ---
**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 13, 2010, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/117 "2010-04-13T00:28:13Z")
Just imagining Bush43 in charge of the CIA… Democrats getting waterboarded, the ACLU undergoing rendition to Syria, Cindy Sheehan in Gitmo… ---
**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:** [April 13, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/118 "2010-04-13T00:37:05Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I know. You were supposed to read it like this: > > ETA: What **AClockworkMelon** said. Ah, I see what you two are saying. Yes, one can (and should) read it that way; but you do have to admit that the phrasing was sufficiently ambiguous to admit of my reading, at least on first glance. ---
**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 13, 2010, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/119 "2010-04-13T00:42:42Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Ah, I see what you two are saying. Yes, one can (and should) read it that way; but you do have to admit that the phrasing was sufficiently ambiguous to admit of my reading, at least on first glance. I don’t think you’re an idiot for misreading it or anything, don’t worry. 😉 But its potential ambiguity didn’t even cross my mind until you pointed it out. ---
**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 13, 2010, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667/120 "2010-04-13T00:57:00Z")
Incidentally, Palin left that college in Hawaii because she didn’t like being around Asians. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-intelligence-level/535667.md?page=7)