In Defense of Sarah Palin

I plead guilty to being a schlub -- but I'm afraid Sarah Palin remains a deeply ill-informed and stupid woman. Calling her a "successful" mayor/governor is highly qualified (running a town less than 1% the size of Brooklyn that had no debt when she came in, and ended up having tens of millions of dollars in debt does not strike me as particularly successful.)

On the question of banning books and rape kits: Sure, there are internet rumors about the "list" of Palin's banned books which were obviously false (just as there are ridiculous lies spread every day about Obama -- too many and too stupid to count) but to looking at the snopes article that you yourself cited, Palin absolutely met with the Wasilla librarian about "the possibility of removing objectionable books." 

http://www.snopes.com/politics/palin/bannedbooks.asp

I find that objectionable enough.

On the rape kit charge, I frankly don't know what you're talking about. According to factcheck.org, while it might have been the chief of police who was defending the practice in public, wasn't Sarah Palin mayor while this horrific travesty was going on?

http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/did_sarah_palin_make_rape_victims_pay.html

Sorry Karol. I'm unconvinced. Sarah Palin is a nightmare.

Again, may we all be so stupid that we successfully run a state as a wildly popular governor.  Or is Alaska not big enough to count either?

It's so disingenuous, this "fear" of Palin.  Why not just say you disagree with her on the issues?  Why make her a boogie man?  It's just a little too hysterical for my liking. 

Believe me, I'm comfortable saying I disagree with her on the issues...

Nor do I have any real interest in turning her into a boogie man. But I do think that intellectual curiosity is an important requirement for the presidency. Everyone messes up interviews now and again -- what worried me when watching her on Charlie Gibson was not that she gave the wrong answer to the "Bush doctrine" question (any number of answers could have sufficed) it was that she looked like she had never heard of it before.

When she says that she reads "all of 'em" when referring to all the national newspapers and magazines -- well... I don't believe her.

Why don't you believe her about the newspapers? Staff can highlight the relevant stuff, but yes, all high level executives do that. Every day. Think for a minute. How could they NOT?

As for her "looking like she had never heard of the Bush doctrine", that's just a look. The klieg lights might have been in her eyes for a moment. It's not a phrase people use every minute, either.

Listen, we do not need Elvis as president. We need an executive. Anyway, Palin is not running for president. If McCain becomes president, my impression is he will not die in office. He looks strong.

Bill Clinton was from an even pokier state, Arkansas. Didn't stop him. He seems to identify with her. He was illegitimate, and her daughter is pregnant.

At least she lives in the real world. At least she cleaned up a state. You are not going to pretend Obama cleaned up Chicago, are you?

The whole school textook industry is infected. By the left, not the right. Now, Obama is banning reporters from his campaign airplane.

You can't run Alaska and be stupid. You can blink a little in the new attention, but you can't be stupid. You may disagree with George Bush, but notions that he is stupid are themselves stupid. He puts that face on so he can get on with what needs to be done. I wish he had communicated better. Maybe it would not have been possible or prudent to talk too much. There was, and still is, ugly work that must be done, or we are all toast. We almost were.

Palin has things to learn, but she is formidable and impressive. She is much, much fresher than the tired old lefties who have found this first-term senator to front for them - mostly because he has a dark face. He is totally Ivy League. Nothing black about him. Palin is blacker than he is, by the way. She is from the Common Man level.

Obama voters are picking what they wish they were themselves! They are voting their envy and aspirations. They wish THEY were as handsome and Ivy-League as Obama. THAT is why they don't like Palin. She's too much like them! Her kid is pregnant. Her hair gets in her eyes. She wears glasses. Her taste in clothes is boring. Well, so's yours. Be proud. Be proud of her. She's you. If SHE can go this far, so can you. Without Harvard. Without a fashionably dark face. You know a lot of it is his face. People are in ecstacies over the man's complexion, for Pete's sake. That's just an accident of birth - his father was Kenyan. He has always been in a position of privilege. He's never been poor or disadvantaged.

Anybody who says different doesn't know what poor is.

Karol

The great thing about Palin is that she exposes the hate and viciouis impulses of the left.

In response to anonymous' comment: I concede that plenty of busy people rely on their staffs to brief them on the important news of the day rather than taking a newspaper in hand themselves. However, most of these people (if they're bright) at least retain something from these news briefings.

If Sarah Palin reads as much as she says she does, I find it difficult to believe that she can't handle a press conference all by herself. And the fact that she has to be tutored by Joe Lieberman says that she hasn't really been delving too deeply into Foreign Affairs or The Economist. In the few interviews that she's granted, her answers have been extremely muddled and devoid of any detail that would make a reasonable person assume she knows her stuff.

Just how stupid is Sarah Palin? I have no idea. But when she says that Alaska's proximity to Russia makes her some kind of expert of Russia... quite frankly that's a stupid thing to say. And being that's all I have to judge her on, that remains my take on the lady.

As for the claims about Obama's ivy league pedigree -- I concede that he's an extremely handsome, educated and intelligent guy. But I don't think that should disqualify him from the presidency...

Palin: First Amendment Rights Threatened By Criticism
The Huffington Post   |  Rachel Weiner   |   October 31, 2008 02:02 PM
ABC News reports:
In a conservative radio interview that aired in Washington, D.C. Friday morning, Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin said she fears her First Amendment rights may be threatened by "attacks" from reporters who suggest she is engaging in a negative campaign against Barack Obama.

Palin told WMAL-AM that her criticism of Obama's associations, like those with 1960s radical Bill Ayers and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, should not be considered negative attacks. Rather, for reporters or columnists to suggest that it is going negative may constitute an attack that threatens a candidate's free speech rights under the Constitution, Palin said.
"If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations," Palin told host Chris Plante, "then I don't know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media."

Salon's Glenn Greenwald explains why this argument is frighteningly wrong:
If anything, Palin has this exactly backwards, since one thing that the First Amendment does actually guarantee is a free press. Thus, when the press criticizes a political candidate and a Governor such as Palin, that is a classic example of First Amendment rights being exercised, not abridged.
This isn't only about profound ignorance regarding our basic liberties, though it is obviously that. Palin here is also giving voice here to the standard right-wing grievance instinct: that it's inherently unfair when they're criticized. And now, apparently, it's even unconstitutional.
According to Palin, what the Founders intended with the First Amendment was that political candidates for the most powerful offices in the country and Governors of states would be free to say whatever they want without being criticized in the newspapers. The First Amendment was meant to ensure that powerful political officials would not be "attacked" in the papers. It is even possible to imagine more breathaking ignorance from someone holding high office and running for even higher office?
_______________________________________
Tuesday - Nov. 4, 2008 - VOTE !!!!
HBH

"As for her 'looking like she had never heard of the Bush doctrine', that's just a look. The klieg lights might have been in her eyes for a moment."

Next paragraph:

"Anyway, Palin is not running for president. If McCain becomes president, my impression is he will not die in office. He looks strong."

I'll concede that it's not entirely fair to judge someone's intellect by a brief slack-jawed look during an interview.  (Judging her intellect by her subliterate responses to fairly simple questions, on the other hand...) But I can't help myself from thinking that it's more foolish to judge a man's longevity based on his "strong" appearance.  

Plenty of people who look strong today are going to drop dead tomorrow.   Not many half-wits will wake up tomorrow with foreign policy expertise.

<i>Plenty of people who look strong today are going to drop dead tomorrow. Not many half-wits will wake up tomorrow with foreign policy expertise.</i>

 McCain's mom is in her 90's while Obama's died young.  Talk to a Actuary about what that means.

 Max, if I were asked what I read, I too would say "everything".  In the age of the internet, and in particular Google News, it's true that I do indeed read everything.  And yet I'm sure you could stump me, maybe even with an easy question, it happens.  Also, the fact that the guy who coined the phrase "Bush Doctrine" doesn't think there is one or two or five definitions means it makes sense for Palin to ask for clarification.

First of all the rape kit thing is totally true. I am confident it wasn't done maliciously, but it certainly was done thoughtlessly.

One of the things that bothers me most about Sarah Palin - and the list is very long - is her church's association with Jews for Jesus. Her pastor is featured in the J4J promotional video and the David Brickner of J4J spoke at her church in mid-August and she was there for it. J4J is a direct attack on Judaism and has been denounced by the ADL. It also bothers me that she attended 5 different schools to get a BA in Communications. The third thing that really bothers me about Palin is that her political rise was mentored by the Alskan Independence Party, a secessionist movement that her husband belonged to until 2004 and whose convention she addressed as Governor.

I just don't get it. You say you are for equal pay for women, yet could vote for someone against it? How about choice? How about the ongoing war?  How about our standing in the world?

For me, it isn't only about the issues. Her record in Alaska is not stellar.  Besides the existing ethics violations determined by a bipartisan committee, and denied by Palin even after the report was released, the fact is the violations seem to be growing by the day.  You say she cleaned up the government, yet Alaska still has among the top earmarks of any state in the nation.  And this to a state that pays no income taxes. She took the low road this election, this cannot be denied.  "Palled around with terrorists"? And the fact that she didn't respond tyo or address some of the nastiest behavior I have ever seen at a political rally including racial and violent language, well, I think that says a lot about her as both a person and as a candidate.

And if all of that wasn't enough?  Her faulty description of what the Vice President does sent chills down my spine.

Dude, have you seen her rallies? She turns ignorance into a virtue and scorns anyone more educated than her as elitist.  She traffics best in inciting angry mobs and seems to enjoy herself the most when she has the whole audience booing her opponents. And maybe it's none of my business, but why aren't any of her kids in school?

It's neither her intelligence, nor her extraordinary executive abilities that are in question, but just because she has these qualities doesn't mean she's qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.  It's not "gotcha" to see if an aspirant to national office is interested in grasping the complexities of the issues our nation confronts. And it's not unreasonable to ask her for specifics on how she will address our manifold problems. But all she says is "rooting out corruption" and "he's the maverick and he's got the scars to prove it." And now when pressed for more, she claims that the press is violating the First Amendment.

You call this hatred or elitism?  I feel sorry for you.

Karol

We seem to have so many guys here frightened by a strong and outspoken woman. They should go watch the "Nalin Palin" video for 10 5 minutes and post again. They will feel more confident.

Wha astonishes me is that nobody seems to see in America that Lafferty's brainiac sarah article is in fact a satire and not a praise.

Here are the clues for me that it's a satire:

" I'd heard rumors around the campaign of her photographic memory "

A photographic memory has never been a proof on intelligence for me; even monkeys can have it.

"She is not a right-wing nut, and all the rest of the Internet drivel—the book banning at the Library, the rape kits decision – is nonsense. I digress"

She is purposedly quoting the book banning and the rape kits decision to make a contrast with the "she is not a right wing nut"; that makes a comical effect; in fact she means: Yes, she is a right-wing nut.

" Look, I am obviously personally pro-choice, and I disagree with McCain and Palin on that and a few other issues", knowing that Palin is strongly anti-abortionist, even in case of rape, and that Elaine says just before she is pro-choice, the "few" must be understood as "many"; learn to decode, for god's sake!

"I also happen to believe Sarah Palin supports women's rights, deeply and passionately." Does she have to say that on a comical tone, for you to understand?

In France, when someone bores us, instead of saying him right away "you are boring" like you do in America, we use to say:"Oh you sound very interesting!"; that means the same thing.

Given, what Elaine mentioned just before: The book banning, the rape kits decision, the extreme anti-abortionist Palin, this takes a completely comical and fake sounding connotation.

"I'm just a country lawyer"… Yup, Palin is that smart.", well if she is that smart, then she is not really smart! (and Sam Ervin, a staunch segregationist, what a comparison!)

"But how sad for feminist leaders to sink this low, especially when Palin has worn glasses since she was 10 years old.", for a silly explanation, this is a silly explanation...or it just means to sound silly!

"At least the blogger didn't go as far as NOW's Kim Gandy and declare that Palin was not a woman." better and better; I hope Elaine never does my praise.

" Palin is a harder sell, she looks and sounds different", oh yes, she sounds different, but does she sound different the good way?

"If you only vote on how a person personally feels about abortion, you will never want her to darken your door. If you care about anything else, she will continue to intrigue you. "

I have longly examined this sentence, and I'm still looking for the praise; please, could you tell me where it is?

"Sympathy and subtlety are seasonings rarely applied to political red meat"; "rarely" takes all its meaning with Palin.

"Will Palin's time come next week? I don't know. But her time will come"; at least Palin believes it; of course, she is the messenger of God!

In France, we are very familiarized with the sublime art of satire, we have newspapers which make only satire! We probably are the kings of the world in that domain.

Even a young french kid would see this is satire.

It perplexes me that some are afraid of Palin because of questions regarding book banning, payment of rape kits, lack of star quality in front of the cameras and poor responses to “gotcha” type questions.  Is anyone afraid of Obama’s relationship with anti-Semitic fringe characters?  Is anyone afraid that he has ties to Rashid Khalidi, William Ayers and Rev. Wright?   Not to mention, he has loose ties to Louis Farrakhan and Jesse Jackson is talking about a dramatic policy change in the Middle East?  Does that frighten any of you that are afraid of Palin? On the issue of the size of Alaska, I’m assuming those of you critical of the size didn’t vote for Bill Clinton because he was from Arkansas and I also assume you have great concern that Joe Biden is from Delaware.  And, what states no longer qualify because their size makes them insignificant? 

Sarah Palin has proven herself fit for a fight within her state and whilst in the running for this year's presidential election.  Herein lies my misgivings about the woman. 

In international politics diplomacy is of major importance. It is Palin's constant fighting spirit that shows her to be unprepared for the role of vice-president, a role in which the use of diplomacy is paramount to prevent confrontation.  Even great generals who have entered politics have known this; DeGaulle, Dayan, Eisenhower, to name an illustrious few.  

 Palin  worries me for at no time have I heard her say, in a statesman like manner, that the fight is not of ultimate importance.  Certainly in her political wranglings in Alaska there should have been some example where she used negotiation instead of force.  Where are these examples?

 Is Palin your 'homegirl"?  Yes, she is.  As a homegirl she will knock the lights out of anybody that goes against you.  And, it is specifically for this reason that hommie Sarah Palin should not be vice-president.

In international politics diplomacy is of major importance. It
is Palin's constant fighting spirit that shows her to be unprepared for
the role of vice-president, a role in which the use of diplomacy is
paramount to prevent confrontation

I've always maintained that the essentially useless and harmless role of Vice President is the perfect role for an addlepated nitwit like Joe Biden. We certainly can't trust a woman like Sarah Palin to attend foreign funerals and ribbon cuttings and exhibit the sort of "well, what else do you expect me to do?" vibe that Joe Biden has been giving off since he flushed his actual chance to be taken seriously down the toilet when he "channeled" the spirt of Neil Kinnock way back when.

Obviously, we have all forgotten Delaware Joe's decades of collecting dust on Senate subcomittees gives him just the experience one needs while sitting around and waiting for the president to croak.

There are legitimate arguments for being a Republican, but the two things that seem to afflict every defense of Sarah Palin are (1) Intellectual dishonesty (e.g., VP role isn't importat, "executive experience" matters, unanswerable questions are "gotcha"); and (2) A higher concern for Israel's interests than America's.

Say whatever you want, vote however you want.  But in a public forum, you embarrass yourself by dsimissing legitimate concerns about a woman who delights in her own ignorance.  As for shady associations, as soon as Ashley Todd reported her cooked up racist attack story to the police, Palin publicly called her family and John McCain called Ms. Todd.  That's associating with a sociopath to exploit a phony story of black thuggishness in order to help their comapaign.  That's direst association and a leveraging of bigotry to help their campaign.  Defend that before you start linking Obama with a guy who said he wanted to cut his nuts off.

Politics work best when we remain open-minded. I am listening for legitimate reasons to embrace the idea of Sarah Palin holding national office that places her next in line to leadership of the free world.  That she makes you feel warm and fuzzy or that she jumps at the opportunity to pander to Jews by voicing her deep love of Israel and derisively mispronouncing Arab-sounding names just aren't convincing.  If those are the best you got, how can you possibly be proud of your position?

This election is about lesser of evils! After forty years of voting, I can tell you that most elections are!

White men are treif now; so, you get Sarah Palin! YOU created her!! He had to find a woman. He had to find someone pretty. Luckily, she has executive experience. YES experience matters. We are HIRING. The president is our EMPLOYEE.

You don't like cutesy people with little experience? Well, HOW could you vote for Obama? That's all he is, too. Sarah Palin is the same, plus exec experience, and WITHOUT the terrifying Ayers. Ayers is really the one running! Obama will ask Ayers what to do before he so much as scratches his ear. Ayers is not for you, my friend. You have no idea.

The "Alter Caka", McCain, is all that's on offer! He is a garden-variety president from Home Depot and he will serve the purpose.

A President Palin would need to be curbed. But she can learn. Moving to the Center from the Right is easy. It's the other way that's hard.

A President Obama would give away the store. He just wants to enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. There is no spine, except for himself.

A President Biden ... please.

A President McCain would be a big boy, a realist. He is the grown-up in the picture.

(As for The Economist and Foreign Affairs, those are heavily lefty. You don't even know that. You think they represent "The Way Things Are". No! They are quite partisan. Palin doesn't need to read them. I don't read them either, and I know my stuff.)

I used to read the Economist. I cancelled it in disgust. I cancelled The New York Times, too, which my family has read since 1900.

Sarah Palin didn't appear unintelligent because she "flubbed" a question or two.  She appeared unintelligent because she IS unintelligent.  Her performance throughout the interviews with Charles Gibson and Katie Couric left little in doubt about her lack of awareness of foreign policy issues.  And although anyone with poor staff support could be "pranked" by a couple of Montreal radio comedians,  it was clear she had no idea who the prime minister of Canada is, or who Johnny Hallyday is.  She detected nothing the least suspicious about the head of state of the French Republic referring to a pornographic mockumentary of her or becoming excited about the prospect of  "taking life" in a helicopter hunt.  Oblivious.

This is a woman who required six years at four different colleges  to get journalism degree from the  University of Idaho. Presumably based on her performance in high school, she was admitted to Hawaii Pacific University, but soon transferred to North Idaho College, then to the University of Idaho, then to Matnuska-Susitna College in Alaska, and  finally back to Idaho from which she graduated.  At none of these schools did she distinguish herself, either academically or by taking any leadership roles in campus organizations.   

This background is entirely consistent with the consensus that Palin has little intellectual curiosity,  is not a serious reader, and professes a disturbing belief in notions of natural history that appear to be based more on Christian fundamentalism than on generally-accepted science.  

 Reasonable people simply can't accept having a woman of such limited understanding and intellectual horsepower being a 72 year-old heartbeat away from the most powerful and critical position in the modern world.

 Recall as well that the population of the entire state of Alaska is  under 700 thousand.  The mayors of Austin, Texas, Jacksonville, Florida and Columbus, Ohio each have responsibility for more people.  (In 1992, when Clinton ran for president, Arkansas had a population of 2.6 million--almost four times the current population of Alaska.) And the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska (current population less than 10,000) doesn't even have responsibility for the school system, the fire department, or even for social services.   It shouldn't be too difficult for Sarah Palin to be a popular governor;  thanks to the oil companies, no one in Alaska pays any state income tax, and the 2008 Permanent Fund dividend for every citizen of Alaska was $3,289. Even recipients of public assistance receive the "dividend" without any diminution.   So much for "executive experience".

Nothing about Palin's performance, even sheltered as it has been, inspires confidence in her wisdom or intelligence, and dealing with the dismaying array of challenges the current Republican administration will leave behind requires a surfeit of both.  Send Sarah Palin to a world economic conference?  Have her represent our  country at a podium before the United Nations?   Imagine Sarah Palin at Yalta.

 This is serious business that requires serious people.  It is one thing to parrot zingers at a debate or a rally--it is quite another to provide leadership to the best minds of our generation in solving the intractable problems we all face.  Sarah Palin is inadequate to the task.

Well, we have her because a woman was needed. We have Obama because a black person was needed. I'ts Central Casting. That's what you get when you decide "white males are all very bad". Actually, there are better women, and better blacks, than these two. But, they might be middle-aged, not cute to look at, and not First Ladies. Just folks who can do it. But, the country needs a Lefty Dream! These others might be realists. Wrinkled realists! Yuck!

I had to Google to find out who Johnny Hallyday is. Were you being funny? Like some French singer is important? The Prime Minister of Canada, yes, that's important. Are you sure she didn't know who he was? That strains credulity. As for the French president's alleged snarky remarks, you know no lady responds to stuff like that. What is she supposed to say?

Yes, she hunts. So what. So do lots of people. In Alaska, some people say moose are cockroaches with antlers, because they destroy things. Like the deer in the Northeast.

I would prefer a President McCain to a President Palin. But, I would prefer a President Palin to a President Obama. Palin has a bit to learn, but the other one is not acceptable in any way. Good luck to us all.

And, McCain looks strong. I do not think he would die in office. And the other guy is just a Palin equivalent, who will give away the store. At least Palin would not give away the store. Consider: being famous with Obama's backing and schooling is relatively easy. Being famous with Palin's lack of backing and utter absence of fancy schooling is much harder. Doesn't that mean she has more brains?

"Consider: being famous with Obama's backing and schooling is relatively easy. Being famous with Palin's lack of backing and utter absence of fancy schooling is much harder. Doesn't that mean she has more brains?"

 No, it means you have fewer.

Why? Hasn't she done more with less? Obama's way was smoothed by his family's money. And his looks and personal charm. and intriguingly unusual background helped too. None of that is his fault, but it does mean all he had to do was go in the direction he was pointed.

On top of being a complete nobody, lower class, Palin is also female. Perhaps you have never been female. It's not the same. It's not an easier world to state your case in, when you are female. She actually has to have a fair bit of stuffing. Yes, because of needing an answer to Hillary, they suddenly needed a female VP, but Alaska didn't particularly need a female mayor or governor, and she made her way, in a particularly macho state. (Without Monica L, there would have been no Senator Hillary, so Palin is actually a gift from Bill Clinton.)

The places she ran were small, but they are bigger than the places Obama ran, because he has never run anything at all.

Here are excerpts from a transcript of the prank call to Sarah Palin:

 Avengers: I follow your campaigns closely with my special American adviser Johnny Hallyday, you know?

(My comment:   Hallyday is the Fracophonic version of Elvis Presley.)

Palin: Yes, good.

.....

Avengers: Exactly, we could try go hunting by helicopter like you did. I never did that.

Like we say in French, on pourrait tuer des bebe phoques, aussi

(My translation: "One can also kill baby seals.")

 Palin: Well, I think we could have a lot of fun together while we're getting work done. We can kill two birds with one stone that way.

Avengers: I just love killing those animals. Mmm, mmm, take away life, that is so fun. 

.........

Avengers: Some people said in the last days and I thought that was mean that you weren't experienced enough in foreign relations and you know that's completely false. That's the thing that I said to my great friend, the prime minister of Canada Stef Carse.

(My comment: Stef Carse is a Quebequios pop singer perhaps best known for a version of "Achy Breaky Heart".  The prime minister of Canada, of course, is Stephen Harper.)  

Palin: Well, he's doing fine, too, and yeah, when you come into a position underestimated it gives you an opportunity to prove the pundits and the critics wrong. You work that much harder. 

 ........

Avengers: I was wondering because you are so next to him, one of my good friends, the prime minister of Quebec, Mr. Richard Z. Sirois, have you met him recently? Did he come to one of your rallies?

(My comment:  Richard Z. Sirois is one of the radio co-hosts of the Masked Avengers.  The actual premier of Quebec is Jean Charest.)

Palin: I haven't seen him at one of the rallies but it's been great working with the Canadian officials.... 

.....

Avengers: You know my wife is a popular singer and a former top model and she's so hot in bed. She even wrote a song for you.

Palin: Oh my goodness, I didn't know that.

Avengers: Yes, in French it's called de rouge a levre sur un cochon, or if you prefer in English, Joe the Plumber...it's his life, Joe the Plumber.

(My translation: "Lipstick on a pig".) 

Palin: Maybe she understands some of the unfair criticism but I bet you she is such a hard worker, too, and she realizes you just plow through that criticism.

........

Avengers: Gov. Palin, I love the documentary they made on your life. You know Hustler's Nailin' Paylin?

(My comment: http://www.hustlerworld.com/ )

Palin: Ohh, good, thank you, yes. 

........

The entire transcript, as well as an audio recording of the call, is available at http://www.monacome.com/2008/11/palin-sarkozy-prank-call-transcript.html 

Res ipsa loquitur. 

Hee hee!!!

You are basing the biggest political decision of our time on this?? She probably couldn't understand him through his theeeck accent, which you reproduce so accurately. It is also entirely possible she was having him on! Would YOU take a call like that seriously and answer in solemn tones? Where is it written that a fine-looking woman can't have a sense of humor??? Marty Beckerman sure never decreed that she can only be one thing at a time, whether good-looking or funny but not both, and this is his thread.

Maybe she had you on, too?

He is disgusting. And stupid. Please, get your news somewhere else. Even the horrible leftist Economist has to be better source than snarky idiot French frat boys. You haven't complimented yourself much, with this heavy-duty citation.

But, thanks for the laugh. I wasn't having a good day, and I needed it.

Ecoutez: When a very, very pretty woman, who could be a fashion model, thin as a stick, curvy as an eel, with great teeth, and marvelous skin, comes slam-bang into the public eye, sounding off loud, THERE ARE GOING TO BE REACTIONS LIKE THIS.  How you say? Boys veel be boys? Zay both excited and threatened, and all nutty. Zay have knickers in total twist, epecially when, on top of being mouthy and full of herself, and an elected Governor, the chick actually HUNTS FROM A HELICOPTER. He probably lost his fluids, in a certain way.

Listen, G-d bless America and G-d bless democracy. Let us all be fellow citizens tomorrow, and time will tell. In eight years, neither of them will president, and life has to go on.

Hee hee! NOBODY knows who French pop stars are, except the French. If that's all you've got on Palin, she may be the next Elizabeth I.

If you have been having ME on the whole time, quoting this French guy as a serious knock on Palin, well, I will just have to hide under the desk. I didn't get the joke at all.

Someone who isn't a Harvard or Yale legacy still has the chutzpah to think they could, at least theoretically, be president someday? Especially without attending law school, or at least being pre-law! Doesn't this silly bint know that's, like, a requirement for our modern ruling class?

Someone needs to rescue us from such audacious poor and middle class white trash. This woman is just so tacky!

McCain lost his Presidential bid for 3 reasons.  (I know there are more than 3)

 1.  The John McCain of 2000 was nowhere to be seen.  That McCain might never have won the 2008 Republican nomination but certainly that McCain would have had a better chance in the general election.

2. Saying the economy was strong just a couple of weeks before all hell broke loose and the stock market fell in the crapper.  Where is a "plumber" when you need one?  Suspending (?) his campaign and returning to Washington thinking he was Mighty Mouse and/or Superman was a knee jerk reaction that had 2 chances of success.  Slim & None.  The political advisor who made that suggestion should look for another career.

3.  Sarah Palin.  Thinking that the polar opposite of Hillary Clinton would attract the PUMA population had to be the same advisor mentioned in #2 above.  It's difficult to believe another human being could be that dumb.  The odds are just too great for that.  Thankfully, today Sarah is traveling on the "Bridge to Nowhere" back to her igloo.  One can only hope that Tina Fey's career is not over.

We all were excited about her at first till our prof. had the class do research on her to get to the truth and Obama. Turned out she's a bonafied hypocrite and feels she can tell intelligent Americans anything & we'd believe whatever came out of her mouth, b/c she lost 15ibs & wears Saks 5th Avenue. Two classmates has family & friends in Alaska and it turns out that she's demanding, uses ppl and very manipulating. If you research images before she was nomonated as VP, you'd see that she never cared about fashion, until she was able to spend the someone else's money which she took full advantaged of. True enough she kept her baby son but does she even want to stay home long enough to care for him? Even when her pregnant daughter started using drugs she left it to Todd to deal w/, until the girl came home pregnant. She didnt even bother to teach her about the dangers in practicing unsafe sex. The only reason she sent her daughter to another school far away after becomeing pregnant is b/c she was worried how it would effect her position as gov. Last night on MSNBC Lawrance O'Donnell said Palin has been begging the media to keep her in the news promising to do interviews w/ them. I thought is was suspicious how suddenly they were saying she didn't cause McCain to lose when major newpapers & repulicans openly stated they weren't voting McCain now b/c they were disappointed in his VP pick. Turned out that he didnt even pick her & regret it. Calling the media to keep her in the news was the same thing J. Lo and Brittney did till ppl got sick of them. I have to get to class but I'll leave some links for ppl to do their own research.

(McCain didn't know Palin before pick)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DD_Ds_mWjQ&feature=related

(More Sarah Palin lies, scandals, and corruption from Alaska) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3iQdGtxBJs

(Sarah Palin Explains Why Women Should Be Forced To Bear Their Rapists' Babies) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v77WekmM8F8

(Alaska rallies against Sarah Palin) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNlcYaEOLRM&feature=related

(CNN Documents Sarah Palin's Truthiness Problem) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Tc7BF_Fd7I&feature=related

(ONCE ELECTED, PALIN HIRED FRIENDS AND LASHED FOES)
 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/politics/14palin.html

(PALIN ATTENDS 5 SCHOOLS IN 6 YEARS)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/04/palin-attended-5-
colleges_n_124036.html

(Palin redistributes wealth) http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/27/palin-shares-wealth/

(Alaska Women Rally Against Palin And Are Threatened)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8pewzwBybc&feature=related

The election was over, and I am happy to put the rancor of the campaign behind us and try to be as gracious as John McCain was on election night.  

 It might make you feel better about having Obama for your president to read the book he wrote in his 20's, "Dreams From My Father".  One of the things you might find interesting is that Obama had no "family money".  His mother was on relief for a time, but even when she was working, she had, at best, a modest income.  His father, of course, returned to Kenya shortly after his son was born, and did not meaningfully contribute to the family's income.   Obama was raised by his mother and by her parents, and they also were of modest means.  His grandfather had a number of jobs, (including furniture salesman and life insurance salesman), and his late grandmother, whose income largely supported the family, worked her way up from a secretary to a more responsible position in a local bank.   Barack Obama had no financial advantages growing up, and borrowed heavily to pay the then $25,000 a year for Harvard Law School.  His success is the result of his mother's and his grandparent's devotion to him and to his education and development.  He was considered for admission to the very prestigious Honolulu high school that prepared him for the Ivy League on the recommendation from his grandfather's employer who was an alumnus of the school.  As Obama puts it, his first encounter with Affirmative Action had nothing to do with race.

 In any case, I hoped you'd be interested.  

Best of luck.