# So why Palin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 30, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-palin/491339 "2009-03-30T18:28:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [March 30, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-palin/491339/21 "2009-03-30T20:12:56Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > her approval rating in Alaska is somewhere over 60% A potted geranium could get a high approval rating for running a state that can give out free money and not make people pay incomre or sales taxes. ---
**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:** [March 30, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-palin/491339/22 "2009-03-30T20:16:43Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > She’s a maverick. like McCain, with her breaks with Don Young and Ted Stevens. Actually, that “break” is more like “complete agreement”, in this sense of the term: [QUOTE=Emperor Charles V] My cousin Francis (I of France) and I are in complete agreement – he wants Vienna, and so do I. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-palin/491339/23 "2009-03-30T20:29:32Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > She’s a maverick. like McCain, with her breaks with Don Young and Ted Stevens. How incredibly daring to speak out against an indicted and later convicted politician. And then to flip flop on the highway to nowhere. How mavericky. > [@Shodan](#): > > In contrast to the slime of Chicago politics out of which our current President emerged, she championed ethics in state government. She deserves kudos for her work on ethics in government. Well, at least her work on other politician’s ethics. > [@Shodan](#): > > She cut the Alaska construction budget by the second largest amount in their history, and famously sold the jet, and generally showed her ability to cut the budget in matters large and small (she declined a pay raise as governor). [Cite for all of the above](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin). She also deserves kudos for cutting much of her predecessor’s outlandish spending. That was good work. So, she cut construction spending and fought against other politician’s ethical lapses. Two very solid positives. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-palin/491339/24 "2009-03-30T20:49:03Z")
> [@Maeglin](#): > > Alaska is not exactly a random and representative sample of the opinion of the rest of the US. Enough said. Well, lots of people around here were enthusiastic about Howard Dean when he ran - his state if anything is less representative than Alaska. ---
**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:** [March 30, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-palin/491339/25 "2009-03-30T20:53:59Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > A potted geranium could get a high approval rating for running a state that can give out free money and not make people pay incomre or sales taxes. Especially notable is her windfall profits tax on oil companies in Alaska which she used to distribute checks to every man, woman and child in the state, regardless of whether they worked or paid taxes, and which she specifically referred to as “sharing the wealth.” ---
**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:** [March 30, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-palin/491339/26 "2009-03-30T20:55:27Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > Well, lots of people around here were enthusiastic about Howard Dean when he ran - his state if anything is less representative than Alaska. Who around here ever said his state was representative? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-palin/491339/27 "2009-03-30T20:59:14Z")
Nobody - but I never saw that noted as any kind of disqualification either. Did you? ---
**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:** [March 30, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-palin/491339/28 "2009-03-30T20:59:16Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Who around here ever said his state was representative? Since the righties keep on saying the US is going socialist, maybe they do think Vermont is representative. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-palin/491339/29 "2009-03-30T20:59:45Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > A potted geranium could get a high approval rating for running a state that can give out free money and not make people pay incomre or sales taxes. I’d simply say, “This,” but that’s become a cliche here. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-palin/491339/30 "2009-03-30T21:04:07Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > Well, lots of people around here were enthusiastic about Howard Dean when he ran - his state if anything is less representative than Alaska. Maybe. But no one was saying that he was a person of substance due to his job approval rating in said unrepresentative state. ---
**Author:** ![Anduril](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c0e974/32.png) [@Anduril](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anduril)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-palin/491339/31 "2009-03-30T21:05:57Z")
> [@HorseloverFat](#): > > Well, I can see some advantages: > > 1. **She’s a novelty**. Her novelty would help wear down Obama’s “celebrity.” > 2. \*\*Its a progressive move \*\*which makes the pick “mavericky.” > 3. There’s the idea that if you can get wives to vote, you can get reluctant husbands to vote along with them. > 4. She’s a social conservative. McCain has often been criticized for being too moderate. > 5. **Has that folksy charm BS** that charms conservatives. > > What McCain didnt care about is that **she’s a walking, talking disaster**. She cant think on her feet and really is a pretty dim bulb overall. > > _From what I know shes a crazy nutjob.._ > > That’s because youre not a social conservative. Here you have an openly anti-abortion woman **who is photogenic and when she has a prepared speech can seem okay**. Im sure in McCain’s mind a conservative woman who is also attractive was probably a slam dunk. I think this just shows you how out of touch he truly is. Not to mention it would be rude for him not to endorse her in 2012. Afterall, he created her. Snubbing her would also mean that he made a mistake in picking her in the first place. > > I honestly thing the GOP is hurting for star power. Right now they have Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Bobby Jindal, and Sarah Palin. Out of that rogues gallery perhaps Palin is the sanest and the most likely to win a vote. No person would want to vote for Palin, not when there are so many more qualified. The VP spot would be a nice training ground for anyone but Palin strikes me as someone with only average intelligence. I just posted here to note that the parts I have bolded will apply equally well to Obama. Obama without the teleprompter is a joke. He keeps on making stupid gaffes without it. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-palin/491339/32 "2009-03-30T21:12:38Z")
> [@Maeglin](#): > > The claim was, 60% of Alaskans think of her favorably, therefore there must be something “more to her”. Again, I don’t see anyone making the claim that her approval ratings are all that there is to her. In any case, feel free to read my post for some of the other things in her favor besides her approval ratings. > [@](#): > > Approval ratings might not be the best way to gauge whether or not the candidate has “substance”. I certainly agree, which is some of the point regarding Palin’s approval ratings a month or so after her election as governor vs. Obama’s ratings a month or so after his election to the White House. The argument is generally made that Obama must be doing a good job, because his approval ratings are around 60%. Palin’s ratings at the same point in her tenure were a third higher, so she must have been doing a 30% better job as governor as Obama is as President. > [@](#): > > Fortunately, the clear majority of the American people decided otherwise. For once, the opinion of the SDMB seemed to be closer with that of rank and file Americans. Not particularly - the SDMB hates Sarah Palin well past the point that they can be rational on the topic. Witness **Shayna** ’s revenge fantasies that Palin was going to be impeached and run out of Alaska on a rail. Or the silliest Pitting I can recall of the election cycle - the one where Palin described (quite accurately) what the job of VP entailed. And the lathered frenzies of the Usual Suspects screaming, over and over again, "NONONONO!!!PPALINISWRONGWRONGWRONG!!!LIARLIARLIAR!BADBADBAD!!!’ And people pointing out patiently that she was completely accurate and correct. As well that Biden had said almost the same thing (except his answer was several paragraphs instead of a few sentences, and left off the Constitutionally mandated part of the VP job). And still the screams continued. If Palin said it, it must be wrong, even if it isn’t. > [@Steve MB](#): > > A potted geranium could get a high approval rating for running a state that can give out free money and not make people pay incomre or sales taxes. I’m guessing Sarah Palin’s predecessor would not agree. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-palin/491339/33 "2009-03-30T21:13:29Z")
> [@Anduril](#): > > No person would want to vote for Palin, not when there are so many more qualified. The VP spot would be a nice training ground for anyone but Palin strikes me as someone with only average intelligence. I just posted here to note that the parts I have bolded will apply equally well to Obama. \*\* Obama without the teleprompter is a joke. He keeps on making stupid gaffes without it\*\*. Like what, specifically? ---
**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:** [March 30, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-palin/491339/34 "2009-03-30T21:20:52Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > Nobody - but I never saw that noted as any kind of disqualification either. > > Did you? No one said it was a disqualification for Palin either. An assertion was made that her approval rating in Alaska was evidence of substance. The rebuttal is that it’s evidence of nothing either way, not that it’s a disqualification. > [@Shodan](#): > > Or the silliest Pitting I can recall of the election cycle - the one where Palin described (quite accurately) what the job of VP entailed. And the lathered frenzies of the Usual Suspects screaming, over and over again, "NONONONO!!!PPALINISWRONGWRONGWRONG!!!LIARLIARLIAR!BADBADBAD!!!’ And people pointing out patiently that she was completely accurate and correct. You mean that time when she stupidly declared that the VP “is in charge of the Senate,” and then the righties went into ultra-sophist spin mode trying to pretend that what she said wasn’t asinine? I remember that. FYI, she was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-palin/491339/35 "2009-03-30T21:23:25Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Again, I don’t see anyone making the claim that her approval ratings are all that there is to her. **Sam Stone** cited her approval ratings and then suggested that there might be more to her. Perhaps the latter is a complete non sequitur. I believe that **Sam** is implying that clearly Alaskans see something to her that we don’t. > [@](#): > > In any case, feel free to read my post for some of the other things in her favor besides her approval ratings. I did, and I see very different things in them that you do. I recognize that reasonable people clearly can differ about these matters, even if I myself cannot exactly empathize with that point of view. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-palin/491339/36 "2009-03-30T21:32:20Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > And whining about “mud being thrown at her” is incredibly disingenuous given the facts that a.) it isn’t really true. Palin was protected like a puppy for the most part, most of her media troubles were self-inflicted, and much of it came from fellow Republicans (including some very prominnt and respected ones like Colin Powell) and b.) she hypocritically led the way in throwing slime at Obama and working her imbecile crowds into borderline lynch mobs. (a) Not correct (b) Correct ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-palin/491339/37 "2009-03-30T21:35:13Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > You mean that time when she stupidly declared that the VP “is in charge of the Senate,” and then the righties went into ultra-sophist spin mode trying to pretend that what she said wasn’t asinine? I remember that. FYI, she was wrong. That was the Pitting. No, she was entirely correct. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-palin/491339/38 "2009-03-30T21:46:05Z")
And **Bricker** , did you have a link to where Palin called for someone to be lynched? Or was that just [hyperbole](http://www.celiberal.com/showCeliberal.php?id=1)? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-palin/491339/39 "2009-03-30T21:48:55Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > In contrast to the slime of Chicago politics out of which our current President emerged, she championed ethics in state government. I had to come in and applaud this incredible construct. Yes, our current President came from a city famous for corrupt politics. Of course, a two-year political colonoscopy didn’t turn up anything but a possibly shady deal over a piece of property, but no matter–he came from the Land of the Machine. Meanwhile, Alaska has been a political cesspool at least since Palin was on the Greater Moose’s Taint City Council, so she’s going to have some stink on her, too, right? No, because she _stood up against it!_ She _opposed_ corruption! I’m sure that if you look back, you’ll find that Obama has probably, at one time or another, said that corruption is bad. He has probably also said that babies are cute and that ice cream is delicious. I’m not going to get into a discussion of their own relative ethical lapses, because it’s been hashed out before, and frankly, I’m tired of arguing about Palin. She’s a punchline. She’s everything wrong with the Republican party (and everything America has rejected about it in the last two elections) rolled into a nicely betitted package. She has about the same chance of being the next President as my cat, and I’m pretty sure he’s a communist. ---
**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:** [March 30, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-palin/491339/40 "2009-03-30T21:50:41Z")
Want to see the youtubes of people yelling “kill him?” The point, in any case, is that’s disingenous for anyone to complain that “mud” was thrown at Palin when the worst mud thrown by any of the major candidates was thrown by Palin herself. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-palin/491339.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-palin/491339.md?page=3)