I Overestimated Palin

Eric Garris, September 26, 2008

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The Katie Couric interview with Sarah Palin revealed her lack of understanding of the world. This would be funny if she wasn’t so close to actually becoming Commander-in-Chief:

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Comments to “I Overestimated Palin”

Eugene Costa
September 26th, 2008 at 8:06 am

Recall Bush was from Texas, as was Johnson. And Texas is next to Mexico.

Couric is still overestimating Palin perhaps. One might wish to the ask the good governor what her foreign policy positions are in regard to New Mexico.

Tim Swanson
September 26th, 2008 at 8:31 am

Haha, she’s quite the geography whiz.

Reminded me of the response from Miss Teen South Carolina: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww

But then again, Miss South Carolina isn’t trying to become the veep.

Joe C
September 26th, 2008 at 9:09 am

It’s scary enough that this person could be veep and a heartbeat away from the presidency…what’s scarier is that a lot of people will watch this and be pissed off at Katie for getting on her case. However this gives me hope that swing voters who are not ideologically driven to knee-jerk support a pro-life candidate will see through the sham and deny these two the whitehouse. I’m still writing in Ron Paul but McCain/Palin must not win, otherwise…well it’s too horrible to even contemplate.

Lear K
September 26th, 2008 at 9:51 am

Remember Bush was elected for a second termeven after he was exposed as fraud,and a liar ,for those who voted for him the second time will also vote for Palin/McCain ticket.

Roger Stevens
September 26th, 2008 at 9:56 am

How about that beauty queen, …Sarah Palin? She makes Don Quail look like a Genius!!
Very scary!!!

Brad Smith
September 26th, 2008 at 9:58 am

So Palin isn’t exactly well versed big deal. McObama are just as big a threat. I don’t understand how anyone can stomach the thought of voting for either of these two republicrats, or their chosen groupies. Write in Paul, Kucinich, or none of the above at least your not endorsing these criminals.

Peace!

richard vajs
September 26th, 2008 at 10:11 am

I wonder if Palin will still be selling Amway and Mary Kay products out of the Blair House?

Doug
September 26th, 2008 at 10:19 am

Yeh my dad will vote for them! Makes me cringe.

Phyllis Guest
September 26th, 2008 at 10:46 am

I wish Katie Couric — and for that matter, Charles Gibson and Sean Hannity — had asked follow-up questions based on her answers rather than just following their own scripts.

For example, when she “defended” not getting a passport by saying that she had to work and had two jobs before she had children, she should have been asked what jobs, for how long, and under what circumstances. A second follow-up could have been whether she had worked at all five colleges she attended.

You see, I DID work all through college and my parents NEVER had the money to send me abroad. I got a passport as soon as I went out on my own and started traveling the minute I had enough money to buy tickets.

I believe she is just incurious, ignorant, and arrogant. Exactly what we do not need in yet another administration.

RK
September 26th, 2008 at 10:51 am

There is more black comedy:

http://www.nysun.com/national/palin-only-flag-in-my-office-is-israeli/86671

I suppose she meant the “only foreign flag.” I truly fail to see what some of the libertarian and paleo-conservative crowd are gaga about. The woman gave a speech (with all the neocon points emphasized I might add) wrote by some ex-Bush speech writer, and suddenly people started living in parallel universes. I applaud Daniel Larison for injecting some sanity into this farce.

Geo8rge
September 26th, 2008 at 11:00 am

Headline should read: I Misoverestimated Palin – You blew it big guy.

Will
September 26th, 2008 at 11:06 am

McCain scares me more than Obama. Actually, McCain scares me a lot. I would always prefer Ron Paul. But given the options I would select Obama out of fear of McCain.

petey
September 26th, 2008 at 11:43 am

true story: my wife’s father once tried to cash a check drawn on an NM bank as was firmly told by the teller that “we don’t accept foreign checks.” so he asked the teller to refer the check to the branch manager, and after consultation she came back and repeated that “we don’t accept foreign checks.” sheer humanity prevents me from naming the bank and branch (tho’ it wasn’t in AK).

Corkey
September 26th, 2008 at 11:55 am

As Moe Howard of the 3 Stooges once observed about Curly:

“What a brain! Belongs right up on the meat counter.”

Katy Couric looks like a rocket scientists next to this one.

Ali
September 26th, 2008 at 12:13 pm

Palin’s credentials are exactly her ignorance. That is what the American majority, as put forward in two consecutive elections, is looking for. I remember George Bush Sr. defending his credentials as a top notch American university graduate. Even then he actually had to remind the American people that having a good education is not a handicap. Now, the idea has matured into Palin and McCain. In fact the neocons must have had a very hard time, finding someone like Palin, as every mayor or governor or member of congress in America must know something about the world outside of America. Ironically, even people like Pat Buchanan regard the ignorance and vulgarity of that queen mother a plus, when he calls her a “princess of the right” about to be “corrupted by the neocons”.

Gary
September 26th, 2008 at 12:28 pm

“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

- H.L. Mencken

goldhorder
September 26th, 2008 at 12:35 pm

hahaha…yes she sounded terrible there. I don’t think she is that pathetic. She spoke well at the convention. She is probably really screwed up in the head right now from being trained by an army of neo-con handlers. That is what has her so tongue tied. She has only become a neo-con since being brought on McCain’s ticket. She has not memorized the Neo-con talking points yet. She does fine when she talks the more libertarian anti big government talk that got her elected in Alaska but she hasn’t memorized her lines yet for a national stage. If she ever was a decent person it is being killed by her neo-con handlers filling her head with garbage.

liberranter
September 26th, 2008 at 12:46 pm

Mine too. One of the tens of millions of brainless, knee-jerk pseudo-evangelical Republibots who couldn’t dream of pulling the lever for anyone other than a Republican, however transparently unqualified for office or reprehensible or criminal his/her character. These people (and they have their counterparts among the ranks of registered “Yellow Dog” Democrats too) are the nails in the coffin of constitutional republican government.

AJ
September 26th, 2008 at 12:52 pm

Some where an Alaskan village has lost its idiot.

I think I will vote for Pedro for president and Napoleon Dynamite for Defense Secretary.

Eric
September 26th, 2008 at 2:17 pm

Yep; my sister will will vote for her. One of the above posters got it right: the very numerous idiot Republican voters will be angry only at Kouric for asking such mean, sneaky questions.

Of course, most of these idiots will never see any of the interview anyway, unless Fox airs it.

belle
September 26th, 2008 at 2:24 pm

Palin is an empty suit and that was apparent from the beginning. She is the political equivalent of a trophy wife and was picked to appeal to the fundamentalists that Huckster Huckabee attracted.

Vote for a third-party candidate – any candidate – and send a big fat message to Washington.

If you keep doing what you are doing, you will keep getting what you are getting.

Colin C
September 26th, 2008 at 2:52 pm

“what’s scarier is that a lot of people will watch this and be pissed off at Katie for getting on her case”

Exactly. This idea that asking Palin tough questions amounts to ‘attacking’ or ‘getting on her case’ is just too ridiculous to pass. It did for a while, after the RNC, but it was something that certainly couldn’t be sustained until the election.

Vassili
September 26th, 2008 at 2:56 pm

Was not he a genius?

“Freedom is slavery, Peace is War, Ignorance is Power”

fortunately, I’m out… I prefer any kind of autocratic rule to THAT D-thing.

That is why the idea to give masses some kind of right to elect the Govt. is absurd.

Mike Morris
September 26th, 2008 at 3:03 pm

“Palin’s credentials are exactly her ignorance. That is what the American majority, as put forward in two consecutive elections, is looking for.”

You may be the only regular visitor to this site who doesn’t know that W lost the popular vote in 2000.

Ali
September 26th, 2008 at 3:20 pm

“That is why the idea to give masses some kind of right to elect the Govt. is absurd.”

Actually, the whole electoral system in America was designed to prevent just that. But somehow, and the way the “American constitution” is the water tight corpus of wisdom that it is, the masses slipped through. Hence George W. Bush, henceforth Palin-McCain. They knew their masses, alright.

Ali
September 26th, 2008 at 3:28 pm

Au contraire, I am perfectly aware of that. From the moment that Al Gore told his driver to step on it, to the moment that the AIPAC stormed the voting stations with John Bolton and all sorts of maggots in tow, to the moment where James Baker finally stole it for his master.

However, you seem to be the only one here, that does not know that the American people voted for George W. Bush for a second time in 2004 after he had lieeeeeeeeeeeeeed them into war and torture and dictatorship.

Jim Griffin
September 26th, 2008 at 3:50 pm

This was excruciating to watch. Palin was asked what her foreign policy credentials were and she gave general answers of geography. When redirected how geographic realities enhanced her foreign policy she cited the existence of trade missions between Alaska and Russia. So her FP experience comes from…osmosis?? Jeez, leave it to the neocons to put forth another empty vessel to mould in their hideous image.

BTW, I want to be the CEO of Microsoft. My neighbor has a computer with Windows, so I believe my Pallinian credentials are in order.

God help our country!

Eugene Costa
September 26th, 2008 at 4:18 pm

You don’t seriously think the CEO of MS knows anything about Windows, do you?

If he did, he would be the only one in the company that did.

MetaCynic
September 26th, 2008 at 4:53 pm

Speaking of Obama. Not only does he have a law degree from Yale, he also taught constitutional law at the college level. So how does he apply, what one would assume is his superior knowledge of the Constitution, to his everyday activities in the Senate? He votes to reauthorize the PATRIOT act! This constitutional scholar had five years to think about what any grade school civics class student would immediately recognize as brazenly unconstitutional, and he consciously violated his oath of office.

I certainly have no love for either McCain or Palin, yet how does her ignorance of geography compare with a constitutional scholar’s willful and dangerous ignorance of the supreme law of the land?

Simon
September 26th, 2008 at 5:26 pm

Someone should ask her the name of the Russian state that borders Alaska and the name of its governor or whatever they have there. Not that I know or care but she used it as an example of her foreign experience so she should at least know the answer to those 2 questions. I be she doesn’t. And wow would she look stupid having to fess up.

Apparently the chunk of Russian real estate bordering Alaska is the “Chukotsky Autonomous Okrug” and the Governor equivalent is Roman Abramovich .

MetaCynic
September 26th, 2008 at 6:05 pm

Why all this talk of experience? Experience is necessary only for busybody statists. Being President should be a no brainer job for anyone with libertarian leanings. If the President is capable of signing something more than an “X” as his/her name then he/she can simply veto every bill that comes out of Congress. A few decent ones may end up in the trash, but, hey, we’re talking about a no brainer job here.

Somewhere among all the laws which Congress has passed allowing the President to rule by decree, there must be one allowing him/her to simply order home all American troops stationed overseas. Goodbye Empire.

What about the hundreds of thousands of poor souls incarcerated for victimless crimes? If the sleazy Clinton can pardon real criminals, our libertarian leaning President can issue a blanket pardon in a single sentence freeing all these innocents. Possessing a sense of humor, he/she can even demoralize the police and bureaucracy by issuing a pardon in advance for all those yet to be convicted of a victimless crime.

Finally, although this takes a few minutes of work, he/she can point out that the Constitution recognizes only three federal crimes: Counterfeiting, treason and piracy. He/she can then direct the DOJ to prosecute only those three crimes and nothing else. Being a stickler for justice the President can then arrest the Federal Reserve board of governors for counterfeiting and order the Fed shut down. Following that he/she can order the DOJ to prosecute the key members of the former Bush administration for treason for lying us into war.

There you have it. No foreign policy experience required. No need to know which nation lies where and who speaks what language to whom. No need for charisma with which to charm Congress. Other than the ongoing need to keep signing one’s signature, an entire four years of rule can be compressed into one morning of work. Perhaps there’s even a decree somewhere allowing our lazy chief executive to stop Congress from interrupting the presidential golf outings and poker games with their annoying bills.

Andy
September 26th, 2008 at 7:43 pm

Russia borders fourteen countries. Does that make a typical Russian an expert on people as diverse as Finns and Chinese? Poles and Kazakhs?

Michael
September 26th, 2008 at 8:01 pm

Sarah Palin is a pretty lady with a lovely family including a special needs bsby that needs his mom. I think she should go home and take care of them.

Eugene Costa
September 26th, 2008 at 9:42 pm

Amway was co-founded by Richard DeVos, whose son, Dick DeVos, just happens to be brother-in-law of Eric Prince, owner and co-founder of Blackwater.

Does that explain perhaps ex-SEAL Born Agains selling Artistry eyeliner in smalltown mall complexes across Greater Yooperstan?

Fan of Raimondo and Garris
September 26th, 2008 at 10:13 pm

LOL @ your last statement! Good one!

Orville H. Larson
September 26th, 2008 at 11:16 pm

When Couric asked Palin about Israel, the latter spewed all the Israel Lobby bullshit: We can’t second-guess anything Israel does, we need them and they need us, blah blah blah. Palin, like McInsane, is an Israel Lobby-controlled Goddamn liar.

As tonight’s presidential “debate” showed, Obama’s only a bit less bellicose than McInsane.

R. Nelson
September 27th, 2008 at 1:09 am

Excellent point. The Constitution was written such that even a mediocrity could do well as the chief executive. Experience as such is a good thing, but it doesn’t rate as well as good judgment and sound principles. There are many highly experienced buffoons in Washington, e.g. Joe Biden.

Although knowledge is better than ignorance, what does a president really need to know about foreign affairs past what George Washington had to say on the matter? If a country’s not a threat to the U.S., then leave it alone, though I think there can be room for diplomatic pressure and jawing if a dictator turns hyper-murderous.

So while ideally Palin would be comprehensively versed in, say, Russian history and current events, she really only needs to know that if it poses no threat to us then we shouldn’t aggravate it or yap about maybe going to war.

DiceOfDeath
September 27th, 2008 at 1:20 am

The last thing we need is another VP who is likely to shotgun-blast someone in the face. If she is elected, I guess John “Mooseface” Kerry better keep his distance!

Give Peas A Chance
September 27th, 2008 at 5:54 am

Whether Bush won the 2004 election is up for debate. There were massive cases of GOP vote fraud across the country, but especially in Ohio. Go to BradBlog.com: Brad Friedman has details on all the GOP rigged “elections.”

I personally made calls for Kerry in Ohio (don’t hate me, I was driven to madness by the thought of Bush getting to pick Supreme Court Justices) and I heard many first-hand accounts of people who were not allowed to vote despite that there was no legal reason that they couldn’t.

By the way, the Secretary of State of Ohio at the time, Ken Blackwell, who was in charge of the voting there, was on the board of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA). McBush is one of JINSA’s favorite speakers. It’s a small, Zionist-run world, isn’t it?

Give Peas A Chance
September 27th, 2008 at 6:19 am

If you really don’t want Palin “elected” tell every woman you know that when she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska she approved making rape victims pay for their own rape kits. This in the state, Alaska, with the highest rate of rape and incest per capita in the U.S.

Here’s some back-up proof to show anyone who will not believe that a woman, especially a “Christian” woman like Sarah Palin, could do that to her fellow females.

And these rape kits aren’t cheap — they run between $500-$1200, which I would venture to guess would be considered expensive, even if one isn’t a poor woman (and poorer women have much more chance of being raped, because they often use public transportation, live in higher-crime neighborhoods, and don’t have alarm systems, etc.) living in a small Alaskan town:

USA TODAY
Palin’s town used to bill victims for rape kits
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-09-10-rape-exams_N.htm

McClatchy (the news wire that I respect the most)
Under Palin, Wasilla charged rape victims for exam
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/52266.html

CNN
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/22/cnn-covers-palin-rape-kit_n_128424.html

Corkey
September 27th, 2008 at 6:59 am

Simply stated, she is clueless. Just like her running mate and the two other jerks who are running against her. 4 jokers, none of which I would waste my vote on.

Lester Ness
September 27th, 2008 at 8:15 am

I thought Roman Abramovich was in prison? Maybe in the Chukotsky Autonomous Okrug.

JDonald
September 27th, 2008 at 8:28 am

We Canadians are watching the McCain/Palin drama with much amusement. Our country borders the state of Alaska (and other states) and that must make us experts on Alaskan (and other states) politics. Once the humor is laughed off, it is pretty scary to think that our great neighbor to the south may elect a VP with essentially no experience in anything. How she became governor of Alaska is alreaady disturbing. But the American love of “mom and pop” businesses suggests that that mentality might carry over to the White House and the Blair House. If Palin is qualified to run for VP in the USA, especially after watching Bush ( a Yalie) bumble through his two terms, then there is no hope for the rest of the world. We can conclude that the “worship of ignorance” in the USA will always win the day.

Brad Smith
September 27th, 2008 at 9:39 am

MetaCynic has it right on this one for sure.

Ali
September 27th, 2008 at 12:34 pm

“Whether Bush won the 2004 election is up for debate.”

So, you are of the opinion that for two elections, the American people have been cheated out of the choice that they made? The hardly exonerates the American people. I would bet that if George W. Bush could stand for a third term as the Republican Party candidate, he would be elected to the White House again. You say, McBush. Why not Bush?

Besides, what was the 2000 elections about? 1,000 votes? That hardly changes the general map of a people, even if Al Gore had prevailed.

Lester Ness
September 27th, 2008 at 3:41 pm

“So, you are of the opinion that for two elections, the American people have been cheated out of the choice that they made?” – Ali.

Sure. Jack Kennedy stole the election of 1960, too.

Lester Ness
Kunming
China

Corkey
September 27th, 2008 at 4:20 pm

And now its leaking out from the inside of the camp that she is clueless too. These guys really deserve to lose by trying to sell us this “tomato” as a serious candidate. She isn’t the only vegetable on the ticket either.

http://www.wegoted.com/

Eugene Costa
September 27th, 2008 at 4:28 pm

There was a whole American movement who were called, rightly, “The Know Nothings”.

If you look closely there are some rabid anti-intellectuals on this site, pretending to be Libertarians, like Paul pretends to be Libertarian.

They tend also to be very enthusiastic supporters of “English only”.

Bush and Rice were fine with them at one point, exactly because they pretended to speak Spanish and Russian respectively.

Baron of Grey Matter
September 27th, 2008 at 4:28 pm

I really resent you saying that JDonald about us Americans. I totally agree with you but I really resent you saying it.

Vassili
September 27th, 2008 at 6:51 pm

Don’t mix up Abramovich and Khodarkovskij.

kacenka
September 28th, 2008 at 2:06 pm

She may have spoken well at the convention but do not forget that was a speech. I could have read that and do a great job! Very few, if any, politicians write their own speeches. Some chip in more, some none at all. An interview or a debate tells much more about the true ability of a candidate.

kacenka
September 28th, 2008 at 2:12 pm

Well all of the above may be true when it comes to domestic politics, economy and even international politics. BUT! There is one thing that the U.S. president does uniquely in comparison to the rest of the world. He (she) is a true commander in chief. Though that title is true about other heads of states neither of them has the true power of US president when it comes to a conflict. A though of this woman with her finger on a nuclear button makes me sweat.

Eugene Costa
September 28th, 2008 at 3:35 pm

At Athens most magistrates and assemblies were chosen by lot (from a preselected pool). Two major offices were elected–general and architect. This at least partly, as most Americans are now constitutionally unable to grasp, because election by majority vote was considered “undemocratic.”

The “power” of the American presidency as a military command is more closely modeled on the Roman concept of imperium, though the judicial and military power were split.

With the veto power, the presidency also has an element of what the Romans called potestas.

The American political system, on the other hand, is very short of auctoritas, another sort of “power” in the Roman res publica.

Not that any of this is of any interest whatever to Joe Six-Pack, is it?

The English-speaking world is, therefore, at least partly as a matter of language, as deprived and unsophisticated in the matter of “power” as it is in the matter of “love”, which is also size fits all in gist.

“Love”? Philia, eros, or agape?

Eugene Costa
September 28th, 2008 at 3:42 pm

corr: “one size fits all”.

MetaCynic
September 28th, 2008 at 8:35 pm

Q: What’s splashier than lipstick on a pitbull?
A: Lipstick on a SEAL

Eugene Costa
September 29th, 2008 at 12:59 am

Bullseye.

Darren
September 29th, 2008 at 10:50 pm

Americans lack the intelligence to vote for a reasonable sane option.
Sarah Palin will be Vice President as most Americans lack the intelligence to see through her ways.Working and middle class Americans can relate to this woman better than any other candidate because of her grassroots apperance.This is why a moron like George W Bush has been president of US for 8 years. I’m ashamed as an Australian that our government in Australia follows Washington D.C on nearly everything it does.America is falling apart like the old roman empire and its satellite states like Australia are doomed to follow.

Brad Smith
September 30th, 2008 at 4:28 am

“Americans lack the intelligence to vote for a reasonable sane option”. I don’t think it’s so much the lack of intelligence as the lack of awareness. The American people need to wake up to the reality that our two party system is a farse. It’s a one party system and it’s not a party of the people but a party of the rich people. The propoganda machine in this country works equally as well on the educated as on the uneducated. Many itelligent people in the country simply refuse to vote at all. It’s always said that they are apathetic, no one ever seems to say that they are simply fed up with not having a choice.
Just think about the great “choice” we had in the Kerry/Bush election. Two frat brothers from Yale running against each other is not a choice.

I don’t know what the education system is like in Australia but I can tell you how it works in the US. You sit in class spending tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands only to recieve the same degree as the clueless person who sits next to you. They hand out degrees to anyone who has the money and time to buy one. Case in point George Bush. All it takes is the ability to stroke the ego of your Professor and pay big bucks with your government subsidized student loans and you too can become the next graduate. Heaven forbid but if you can stomach it for long enough you can become a politicain or even a Professor.

The media loves to portray the average uneducated US citizen as some hillbilly with a dip in his cheek and his nocked up cousin cooking in the kitchen. Movies abound where some poor helpless city folk venture out into the backwoods only to be attacked by some redneck. That is not how it is in reality. Are there idiots living in the country yes. Are there idiots living in the cities, yes. Are there idiots teaching in our Universities, yes. Serving in our armed forces, government, local counsels, YES. However,the majority of US citizens are intelligent, hardworking good people. The divide between Rich and Poor, educated and noneducated, city and country, is simply class warfare meant to keep us from coming together as a whole. It’s a Brave New World and I’m so glad to be a Beta.

“Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they’re so frightfully clever. I’m awfully glad I’m a Beta, because I don’t work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki. Oh no, I don’t want to play with Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse. They’re too stupid to be able to read or write. Besides they wear black, which is such a beastly color. I’m so glad I’m a Beta.”

Peace!

Darren
September 30th, 2008 at 4:57 am

Its been over 200 years since the United States broke away from the corrupt over taxing British.
But the United States still holds onto the same style of system they once fought against. You still have the British class system as we have in Australia and the UK.You still measure things in inches,feet and yards. Thats very British
Our countries run a two party system and a rich and poor class system. We look at America from our part of the world and wonder how on earth you guys run things by having the crazy gun laws and high crime rates. Having a complete moron as your leader never speaks well for the US population. Having stated though i do not regard a lot of Australians as intelligent so if i’ve offended you i apologise. We had a leader in Australia called John Howard and he idolised Ol dubya. He used fear tactics on things like national security and the race issue to hoodwinked our redneck conservative hill billy population into re-voting them. Sound familiar (i.e Republicans)
Our neocons in Australia call themselves the “Liberal party” enough said.

Brad Smith
September 30th, 2008 at 5:28 am

Darren, you haven’t offended me. In fact I think your points are valid. I was just pointing out that it’s not so much lack of intelligence as a broken and corrupt system, that has led to the problems we have. My talking points were not meant for you entirely but also for the others on this site who point out the anti-intellectual bent without ever refering to the bias that is held against the uneducated. I have met enough educated idiots and intelligent illiterates to know that true wisdom comes in many forms and from all classes and ethnic groups.

Peace!

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