# They say Sarah Palin isn't smart enough to be POTUS **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 18, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063 "2009-11-18T20:15:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/121 "2009-11-19T23:03:44Z")
Hey, anyone want to talk about politics? ---
**Author:** ![Camus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ba8739/32.png) [@Camus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Camus)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/122 "2009-11-19T23:20:42Z")
> [@coyote2009](#): > > You mean, in the same way Obama is dumbstruck when the teleprompter breaks? Because Obama stammered and then quickly recovered? Enough of the bullshit. If you can’t make a point without wild hyperbole, that’s a sign that you either don’t know what you’re talking about or you’re a partisan hack who doesn’t care about things like facts and accuracy. In any event, piss off. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/123 "2009-11-19T23:22:12Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Is what he claimed about drill bits melting if you drill too deep in the earth correct? I dunno a thing about drilling that deep. FWIW the deepest hole ever drilled in the [Kola Superdeep Borehole](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kola_Superdeep_Borehole). It’s final depth was a bit over 40,000 feet which was about 1/3 of the way through the earths crust. At that depth the temperature was 356[sup]o[/sup]F. That seems far too low to melt the metal of a drill bit. I would think friction on the drill would be substantially higher but perhaps the effectiveness of cooling fluids at those temperatures makes a difference. Clearly it is a difficult thing to do. It took them many years to get that far and they expected a few more years to reach 49,000 feet (at which point the article says the temperatures of 570[sup]o[/sup]F would render the drill inoperable ). To the OP you gotta be kidding me. I will take Gore on my debate team or pay him to take my SAT for me (or any class excepting flute playing) or advise me on investing or most anything else beyond moose hunting way way waaaaay before I’d sign Palin up. ---
**Author:** ![Cort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/77aa72/32.png) [@Cort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cort)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/124 "2009-11-19T23:26:29Z")
> [@coyote2009](#): > > You mean, in the same way Obama is dumbstruck when the teleprompter breaks? No. Obama is generally very eloquent. Witness his engaging and fluent performance in these four difficult interviews with Bill O’Reilly: [Part 1](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5rfc54il6Q) [Part 2](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS-zjbI2q_Q) [Part 3](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGkTOl3HEgI) [Part 4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMu_YgOg3Fc) Now that you’ve seen this proof that Obama can speak very well, even to a hostile interviewer, without the need of a teleprompter, can I get your word that you won’t spread this falsehood again? By the way, I’m going to press you for an answer on this. ---
**Author:** ![Gustav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/919ad9/32.png) [@Gustav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gustav)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/125 "2009-11-20T00:01:41Z")
Wow, that’s a brutal interview. I don’t suppose anyone has a link to an equally hostile interview with Palin for comparison? ---
**Author:** ![Ichini\_Sanshigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d9b06d/32.png) [@Ichini\_Sanshigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichini_Sanshigo)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/126 "2009-11-20T00:34:12Z")
> [@Cort](#): > > Now that you’ve seen this proof that Obama can speak very well, even to a hostile interviewer, without the need of a teleprompter, can I get your word that you won’t spread this falsehood again? > > By the way, I’m going to press you for an answer on this. > [@coyote2009](#): > > Obama has lots of foreign policy experience. > > Give the man a break. > > He IS a foreigner. :smack: Don’t bother, dude. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/127 "2009-11-20T00:39:02Z")
> [@coyote2009](#): > > The mathematics of thermodynamics is outside the skill set of most people and virtually all politicians. So in this venue we are not able to explain what is wrong with what Gore said or what you said in your post. Actually, all you’ve just demonstrated here is that you are a poor scientist. If you can’t explain, in such a way that a layman can understand, whether there is actually a problem with what Gore said for his overall argument about geothermal energy, then you probably shouldn’t be opining on the issue anywhere except in an advanced physics class. One of the defining characteristics of some of the best scientists in human history is that they can offer intelligible explanations of their core concepts to non-experts. Let me ask you this, physics genius: I made an assumption, based on an inexpert understanding of physics. That assumption was that, for the purposes of talking about our ability to adopt Gore’s plan for geothermal energy, there would be a difference between trying to do this if the temperature down there is 5-6000 degrees, and trying to do it if the temperature down there is “several million degrees.” So, is there a difference? Would it change things? If the answer is yes, it makes no effective difference to my original point. If the answer is no, then i was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/128 "2009-11-20T11:46:47Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I dunno a thing about drilling that deep. > > FWIW the deepest hole ever drilled in the [Kola Superdeep Borehole](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kola_Superdeep_Borehole). It’s final depth was a bit over 40,000 feet which was about 1/3 of the way through the earths crust. At that depth the temperature was 356[sup]o[/sup]F. That seems far too low to melt the metal of a drill bit. I would think friction on the drill would be substantially higher but perhaps the effectiveness of cooling fluids at those temperatures makes a difference. > > Clearly it is a difficult thing to do. It took them many years to get that far and they expected a few more years to reach 49,000 feet (at which point the article says the temperatures of 570[sup]o[/sup]F would render the drill inoperable ). While I make no claims of expertise, I do know a bit about deep drilling, and borehole stability is probably the critical factor. Deep rotary drilling relies on circulation of high-density fluids to carry the cuttings to surface and prevent the borehole from collapsing around the drill string. As depth increases, pressures exerted by the overlying rock (and increased plasticity of the rock due to temperature effects) will eventually overcome the counterbalancing pressure of the circulating fluid. There is a technique wherein one can drill whille simulataneously lining the borehole with steel casing, but frictional effects would eventually prevent the bit from progressing further as well. It’s fairly safe to say that there is no current technique that would allow successful drilling to any depth where temperatures would approach the melting point of the drill string materials, but there’s no particular reason to expect that a layperson, whether Al Gore or Sarah Palin, would know this without doing some research first. That doesn’t mean that Mr. Gore does not sometimes mangle his facts, or that Ms. Palin often does not seem to have a clue what the facts even are, of course. Hey, see how I sorta kinda turned that back from a complete hijack at the last possible moment? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/129 "2009-11-20T13:52:02Z")
> [@coyote2009](#): > > You mean, in the same way Obama is dumbstruck when the teleprompter breaks? When you said—a mere seven posts ago—that you’re a physicist, I assumed you must be smart. Thank you for the prompt reminder of the danger of making assumptions. ---
**Author:** ![Paleface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f19dbf/32.png) [@Paleface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paleface)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/130 "2009-11-20T14:30:58Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > No, you don’t understand because you’re stupid. And you’ve really revealed a superior intellect with that retort? How typically liberal. > [@](#): > > Why can’t we have smart conservatives again? See, here we go, “conservatives are stupid”. No, you intellectual pissant, it is the political left that is intellectually inferior to the political right, for the simple reason that the left actively recruits the stupid. The “useful idiots” lenin referred to, many of which were spawned by the “Great Society” programs and the changing of the immigration policy of the 60s, and then propogated with the dumbing down of public education to accomodate that which the left has spawned. And where has this leftist ideology brought us? Our physicians, engineers and scientists also have to be imported. No wonder the left is such a big proponet of open borders and one-worldism. Their ideology has killed America’s golden goose. Oh, as for those “intellectually superior” Democratic politicians, sometimes they would be better served by abiding by the adage, “it’s better to keep your mouth shut and let others think you’re a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt”. Remember when the current Democrat Vice President, Joe Biden wanted to appear more knowledgeable than he was, so he just decided to make something up to say? > [@](#): > > When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the princes of greed. He said, “look, here’s what happened.” Well, when the market crashed, Roosevelt was not President and television was not publicly available. If it were, I’m sure Roosevelt would have opted for television rather than radio broadcasted “Fireside Chats”. ---
**Author:** ![Paleface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f19dbf/32.png) [@Paleface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paleface)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/131 "2009-11-20T14:42:11Z")
But all that’s beside the point, 'cause Sarah Palin’s stupid and “Four legs good, two legs bad”. ---
**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:** [November 20, 2009, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/132 "2009-11-20T14:44:46Z")
> [@Paleface](#): > > And where has this leftist ideology brought us? Our physicians, engineers and scientists also have to be imported. Our physicians, engineers and scientists have always been imported, you cretin. I’m impressed, though. Even **Starving Artist** never blamed liberals for ruining the school system. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/133 "2009-11-20T15:07:14Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Our physicians, engineers and scientists have always been imported, you cretin. I’m impressed, though. Even **Starving Artist** never blamed liberals for ruining the school system. Bullshit. Our greatest advances have been made by great Americans like Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein and Werner von Braun. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/134 "2009-11-20T15:09:33Z")
> [@Paleface](#): > > But all that’s beside the point, 'cause Sarah Palin’s stupid and “Four legs good, two legs bad”. Anyone who’s such a weenie that he goes running to the mods over an obvious joke doesn’t deserve to quote Orwell. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/135 "2009-11-20T15:10:14Z")
> [@Paleface](#): > > See, here we go, “conservatives are stupid”. You’ve got things mixed up. No one was saying “conservatives are stupid,” just that you are stupid. It isn’t our fault you’re a conservative. But I love that you misconstrued a direct insult to you as a broadbrush condemnation of conservatism, and the first thing you do is broadbrush all liberals: > [@](#): > > And you’ve really revealed a superior intellect with that retort? How typically liberal. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/136 "2009-11-20T15:36:06Z")
> [@Gustav](#): > > Wow, that’s a brutal interview. I don’t suppose anyone has a link to an equally hostile interview with Palin for comparison? Don’t give them this opening. They will just trot out the Katie Couric interview as an example of how the “mean, liberal MSM” abused poor Sarah Palin by asking her tough, hardball, impossible-to-answer questions like: “What magazines do you read?” just to make her look stupid. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/137 "2009-11-20T16:24:02Z")
> [@Gustav](#): > > Wow, that’s a brutal interview. I don’t suppose anyone has a link to an equally hostile interview with Palin for comparison? Well, you know there was that mean ol’ Katie Couric who assumed Palin read… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/138 "2009-11-20T17:17:31Z")
Responding to the OP, politics is like outrunning a bear. You don’t have to be the best - you just have to be better than the other guy. So all Al Gore had to do in 2000 was be smarter than George Bush. ---
**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:** [November 20, 2009, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/139 "2009-11-20T17:27:04Z")
Apparently that _wasn’t_ all he had to do. After all, he lost. ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/140 "2009-11-20T17:43:06Z")
> [@Katriona](#): > > Well, you know there was that mean ol’ Katie Couric who assumed Palin read… She does. News sources? She reads them [**ALL**](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9go38MgZ4w8). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063.md?page=8)