# 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:** 8
**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, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/141 "2009-11-20T17:57:27Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > 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. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Apparently that _wasn’t_ all he had to do. After all, he lost. Well, Gore did outrun the bear, it’s just that the Supreme Court shot him once he was in the clear. ---
**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, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/142 "2009-11-20T18:02:31Z")
No… Katherine Harris shot him. The Supreme Court just refused to operate. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/143 "2009-11-20T18:19:57Z")
I like Gore, but I think his technical knowledge is weak. There is just no need for a huge temperature differential to make geothermal work, anything over 100c is enough to make steam. Even under that, heat pumps can use the earth’s temperature to make heating and cooling more efficient. If we did drill down to a million degree zone, what would we do with it? It would melt any sort of equipment that could be used to tap energy. And why would we drill that deep anyway? Couldn’t we just stop a few feet sooner and use a 1,000 degree source? ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/144 "2009-11-20T18:57:29Z")
> [@Paleface](#): > > And you’ve really revealed a superior intellect with that retort? I was trying to make it simple so you would understand it. > [@](#): > > How typically liberal. 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. We all like hearing your ignorant conspiracy theories, but lets settle down to Earth for a second and talk some reality, kay? 52% of Republicans think that ACORN stole the election for Obama. Sorry Chester, your party is stupid. And from what I can tell, you belong there. > [@](#): > > And where has this leftist ideology brought us? Our physicians, engineers and scientists also have to be imported. And the left caused this? You know, just saying things doesn’t make them true. > [@](#): > > No wonder the left is such a big proponet of open borders and one-worldism. Their ideology has killed America’s golden goose. Again, the ramblings of a mental deficient. Stating something like that without evidence to back it up just shows that you’re a simpering blind ideologue who can’t think for himself. You’re a fucking lemming, and you can’t wait to leap off that cliff. > [@](#): > > 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”. _Irony!_ > [@](#): > > 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? > > 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”. Heh. That’s what you got? Uh, maybe Biden meant radio? Maybe, you know, he misspoke, like he’s prone to do. You do understand that slipping of the tongue doesn’t mean you don’t understand something, it means you’ve made a momentary gaffe. Like when you misspelled “proponent” above. I assume you actually know how to spell it, but you just made a momentary flub. But I guess by your standards you’re a fucking liar who makes up words when you want to appear knowledgeable? Do us all a favor and shut your fool mouth up before you underline your stupidity any more. It’s embarrassing. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/145 "2009-11-20T18:59:26Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > 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: Heh. I was just talking about him, but that doesn’t mean that a lot of conservatives _aren’t_ stupid. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/146 "2009-11-20T19:08:16Z")
Just in case no one has brought this up: To produce electricty from Geothermal energy requires temperatures of about 300-700 degrees Farenheit. There are some demonstration projects testing lower temperature geothermal (i.e. 185 degrees). ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/147 "2009-11-20T20:35:06Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > Just in case no one has brought this up: > > To produce electricty from Geothermal energy requires temperatures of about 300-700 degrees Farenheit. There are some demonstration projects testing lower temperature geothermal (i.e. 185 degrees). I was in Iceland last February and was awed by their geothermal usage. They extracted live steam from wells and used it to generate electricity. They extracted hot water from shallower wells and ran it to houses for heating and hot water. Left over warm water was run through pipes under the sidewalks to melt snow and ice. They have a unique situation of course, but it was still amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/148 "2009-11-21T00:18:07Z")
Impromptu tea party for Sarah in Noblesville, Indiana: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8mAZhOJIfI) Maybe signing a few books for fans really is too stressful for her, but even a political amoeba should be smart enough to know that you don’t leave your fans hangin like that. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/149 "2009-11-21T01:00:49Z")
The problem isn’t so much that Sarah Palin isn’t smart enough to be President, but that the people who think she’s Presidential material and idolize her are too stupid to be voters. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/150 "2009-11-21T01:55:31Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > the people who think she’s Presidential material and idolize her are too stupid to be voters. Yet from this datum it appears that they might well [pass a literacy test for voters](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=540439). We are DOOMED! ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/151 "2009-11-21T04:29:18Z")
And I can understand some of the confusion after all, eight years of George Bush could easily lead one to think perhaps intelligence isn’t really a skill set requirement for the position. While everyone, even his opponents, were willing to admit he was nice enough and personable, he ran the country into the ground, lied to start a land war in Asia, deregulated wall street to the brink of crashing the world economy. He did not campaign for his party’s replacement candidate, or leave office with a book deal or extensive lucrative speaking tour, which all speaks volumes about what people thought of him by the end of his term, damned lies that statistics are completely aside. That you, an avid supporter, aren’t smart enough to see why, she’s not smart enough to be president, hardly shocks anyone, I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/152 "2009-11-21T05:06:59Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > 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. Don’t blame him - he’s a physicist. They suffer from the same problem as mathematicians (though of course, theirs is a much less rigorous problem) : most of their time is spent in a thoughtspace where abstract constructs codify and determine reality, only coming back to our collective one to jot things down and eventually blow stuff up. Being only tenuously connected to a carefully selected body of facts, ignoring the rest as irrelevant\_in\_this\_context, and growing even more distant from the actual, existing problem they’re trying to figure out over time, integrations and rounding errors is their ground state. Now, assume a spherical, frictionless President. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/153 "2009-11-21T06:00:35Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Now, assume a spherical, frictionless President. Thanks a heap for the mental image of a greased William Howard Taft. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/154 "2009-11-21T06:28:39Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > 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. People that wander onto message boards and immediately announce that they are physicists, usually aren’t. Real physicists know that they don’t have to announce that they are physicists to do pretty basic unit analysis. Also, you are correct that being a physicist does not automatically make you smart. There may be slightly fewer dumbasses than the general population. ---
**Author:** ![Taber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/155 "2009-11-21T07:55:14Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > [Yes.](http://www.journalism.org/node/13307) You posted an absolute claim that Republicans presidential candidates always get worse negative press than Democratic presidents in the last thirty years, no matter what. I showed you a link that shows a Republican presidential candidate getting less negative press than a Democratic presidential candidate. A different Republican candidate getting more negative press than his Democratic rival doesn’t really support your point. > [@Shodan](#): > > [no](http://www.runet.edu/~kmagee/Research/Liberal.html) Did you miss their section on conservative bias? Or did you hope that I would? > [@Shodan](#): > > [matter](http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/003355305775097542) If we were arguing about whether there was a net bias one way or the other, this would be a pretty good cite, I’ll admit. > [@Shodan](#): > > [what](http://us-elections.suite101.com/article.cfm/obama_and_msnbc_media_bias). Again, not really that relevant. Whether or not MSNBC has a liberal slant or not doesn’t address the original claim. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/156 "2009-11-22T17:59:30Z")
I’ve changed my mind. Based on this well thought-out and cogent answer Ms. Palin gave to Bill O’Reilly on why she would make a good president, I now see that there are hidden depths to her intellect. Very well-hidden depths… > [@](#): > > Palin: I believe that I am because I have common sense, and I have, I believe, the values that are reflective of so many American values. And I believe that what Americans are seeking is not the elitism, the, um, the, ah – kind of spineless – a spinelessness that perhaps is made up for that with elite Ivy League education and – fact resume that’s based on anything but hard work and private-sector, free-enterprise principles. Americans could be seeking something like that in positive change in their leadership. I’m not saying that that has to be me. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/157 "2009-11-22T18:12:30Z")
Here’s an example of a typical lib for you… quoting her out of context and then “conveniently” lopping off the rest of what she had to say. :rolleyes: > [@Frostillicus](#): > > I’ve changed my mind. Based on this well thought-out and cogent answer Ms. Palin gave to Bill O’Reilly on why she would make a good president, I now see that there are hidden depths to her intellect. Very well-hidden depths… > > > [@](#): > > > > Palin: I believe that I am because I have common sense, and I have, I believe, the values that are reflective of so many American values. And I believe that what Americans are seeking is not the elitism, the, um, the, ah – kind of spineless – a spinelessness that perhaps is made up for that with elite Ivy League education and – fact resume that’s based on anything but hard work and private-sector, free-enterprise principles. Americans could be seeking something like that in positive change in their leadership. I’m not saying that that has to be me… …because uh, some, people out there, in our nation don’t have maps. and uh… I believe that our education like such as in South Africa, and the Iraq, everywhere like such as… and, I believe they should uh, our education over here, in the U.S. should help the U.S. or should help South Africa, and should help the Iraq and Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future, for us. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/158 "2009-11-22T20:51:21Z")
Of course, in context, that made, mmm, much more sense. Well, it went over my head, but our politicians/leaders _should_ be smarter than me. I mean, it sounds really smart! Anyone else who didn’t understand it is probably a typical lib, putting down Palin because she’s so far advanced in her thinking that she leaves them in the dust. So _there_! ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/159 "2009-11-23T03:35:16Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Here’s an example of a typical lib for you… quoting her out of context and then “conveniently” lopping off the rest of what she had to say. :rolleyes: > > …because uh, some, people out there, in our nation don’t have maps. and uh… I believe that our education like such as in South Africa, and the Iraq, everywhere like such as… and, I believe they should uh, our education over here, in the U.S. should help the U.S. or should help South Africa, and should help the Iraq and Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future, for us. I see what you went and did there. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lj3iNxZ8Dww/hqdefault.jpg "Miss Teen USA 2007 - South Carolina answers a question") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww) Sarah Palin is her role model. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063/160 "2009-11-23T10:09:12Z")
Damn, and I thought that was an actual Palin quote. Bad enough that it was by a real person. So, **Frostillicus** , how did _you_ know who it was? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-say-sarah-palin-isnt-smart-enough-to-be-potus/518063.md?page=9)