Idiot Watch 10/4: The Straight Talk Local
Sarah Palin's got more than a few problems. She's fast and
loose with the facts, she has extreme views on abortion and she's untried and
uninformed for the Executive Branch of the United States Government.
So attack her on the issues. Going after her because she winks and says words
like "gol'darn" with no apparent irony is just poor sportsmanship -
and petty. Somebody posted a comment to a recent blog entry that Palin is
stupid. She's not that. Not by a long shot. The fact that someone disagrees
with you, or even with the rest of the world, does not make someone stupid. But it can make you fodder for ridicule.
So she hunts moose. So what? This makes her a raving lunatic in the eyes of
many. She advocates "predator control" of wolves by licensed hunters.
Well, I've lived in Alaska... knew a family who had to move on with their lives
after the wolves claimed too many livestock. There's a diff between tech-savvy
terminators hunting elk and ridding the area of predators. This latter is
called wildlife management. Good grief, I even read columnists attack her as a
"baby factory" because she's got 5 kids!
I've been hearing much about how the Obama-Biden campaign is a CHANGE (yes, in
capital letters) from politics as usual. Well, the personal attacks on Palin
and McCain make me think otherwise. And make me ashamed to be considered
"liberal" by so many.
No less a statesman than Joe Biden advised us all to question judgment, never
motives. Sage advice. And that does make me hopeful about the Democratic
ticket.
And a few more tidbits for you ravenous carnivores out there: Biden played fast
and loose with the facts, too, during the debate. McCain does not favor
abortion for rape and incest, even though I've seen Internet ads that claim he
does. And Palin did not try to censor books in the Wasilla, Alaska library, has
never been a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, and has never insisted
that creationism be taught in schools. We also know that she and Biden feel the
same way toward gay and lesbian civil unions.
You know what? She's got a big family, she's driven, and she's intelligent.
Get over it, already.
I must differ with your assessment.
Sarah Palin is not intelligent. She lacks the capacity to formulate a coherent sentence. She lacks the ability to process questions and formulate answers. She lacks knowledge that a "B" student in high school should possess. She lacks the ability to memorize and regurgitate talking points force-fed to her by her handlers. She cannot supply the name of even her innocuous local newspaper, The Wasilla Frontiersman, as one of the periodicals she reads to keep herself informed.
In my book, that is "stupid."
Joe Conasen, writing at Salon.com, reminded me of the conservatives' angst just a few short years ago that by allowing minorities (and women) into the nation's institutions of higher learning, standards would be lowered -- dumbed down, if you will -- to the detriment of the country as a whole. These conservatives touted the findings of "The Bell Curve," which purported that whites are inherently and genetically superior. Their champion was William Bennett, then Secretary of Education, who promoted his books on character and values, on the critical reading list that every college student needed to master, and more.
Why, asked Conasen, are the conservatives not bellowing at the damage Palin is doing to their "superior" philosophy?
This is not about her family (although one can reasonably argue that evidence of her small-town "family values" conflict with the conservative and evangelical mantra that sex before marriage is verboten. Her pregnant teenage daughter is proof of that.) This is not about her moosehunting. PETA is well-equipped to deal with that cause.
This is about the audacity of John McCain to put someone so blatantly ill-equipped, ignorant of the world she inhabits and so intellectually vapid that, were he and she to be elected, she would single-handedly put this country in its most vulnerable position since 9/11, if not Pearl Harbor itself. This is about the foolish ambition of Sarah Palin which prevents her from acknowledging that she is simply out of her depth, her skillset, to even consider being Vice President of the United States. Ambition is no substitute for intelligence.
Do not consider this woman as anything other than what she is: unfit to serve, unfit to be considered to serve, ignorant and unintelligent.
And for the record, Palin did fire the Wasilla librarian for questioning Palin desire to remove books from the library -- specifically a book call "Daddy's Roommate." The public outcry returned the librarian to her job after a day.
Palin's husband has been a member of the Alaska Independence Party (from 1995 to 2002), Palin, including as governor, has spoken to the group's convention numerous times. See TPM's front page this evening.
I am not certain, based on your sentence construction, whether or not you mean to suggest that Biden said anything about McCain stance on abortion, and whether you inadvertantly included "not" with regard to "McCain does not favor abortion for rape and incest," because "not" aligns his position squarely with Palin's, who reminds us that she "would choose life" even in the most heinous situations.
As for Palin's position on civil unions, my review of the debate suggests Palin circumlocuted her way to a position that resembled Biden's, but I do not think that was her intention.
It boggles my mind that you would give this woman a pass for failing to meet a minimum standard of competency, especially when the standard by which you would be judged would be far more rigorous.
October 4, 2008 10:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, somebody's got to boggle.....
October 16, 2008 1:02 AM | Reply | Permalink