Is Sarah Palin simply stupid? Updated

Posted on December 8th, 2009 by ecthompson

Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks believes that Sarah Palin is the box of rocks kind of stupid. I don’t think she’s stupid. I think she looks for sound bites or talking points instead of answering simple questions. Maybe that is stupid.

From HuffPo:

But remarkably, they didn’t slink away embarrassed after this answer, so we have the latest example of her buffoonery. In this interview with Bill O’Reilly, he asks her if she is smart enough to be president. Her answer has to be seen to be believed. Don’t get me wrong, just because you see it won’t mean you’ll understand it. So, I put a transcript of her answer below so that you can try to decipher it in your spare time.

Bill O’Reilly: Let me be very bold and fresh again, do you believe that you are smart enough, incisive enough, intellectual enough to handle the most powerful job in the world?

Sarah Palin: I believe that I am because I have common sense and I have I believe the values that I think are reflective of so many other American values, and I believe that what Americans are seeking is not the elitism, the uhm, the ah, a kind of spineless, spinelessness that perhaps is made up for that with some kind of elite, Ivy league education and, and a fat resume that is based on anything but hard work and private sector, free enterprise principles. Americans are could be seeking something like that in positive change in their leadership, I’m not saying that that has to be me.

Can anyone really be biased enough to think that was a smart answer? The great irony is that he asked her if she’s smart enough to be president and she gave what might be her dumbest answer yet. That answer was so bad it almost made George W. Bush look smart. Can anyone in good conscience defend that answer and say with a straight face that she should be this country’s leader?

If you say yes, then there is no sense in talking to one another anymore because we are not operating in the same reality, or planet. We’ll never be able to agree on anything if we can’t agree that was just about as incomprehensible and stupid an answer as you can possibly come up with. And that settles the debate, because you either live in the reality based world and realize she is obviously not qualified, or in the immortal words of Stephen Colbert you believe that “reality has a well-known liberal bias” and she would make a great president.

Update: Why? I don’t know. I’m not sure why I’m updating this post. I saw this last night on C&L. I said nope. But watching Sarah Palin is like watching a car crash. You just can’t take your eyes off action.

So, Junior Genesis Levi Johnston is on CNN with Joy Behar. Why? Why would he go on this show if he doesn’t want to start something.

Watch the video, Levi is priceless:

Tags: Other Political Thoughts, Party Politics // View Comments

  • ecthompson
    I'll have to do something about this later on this evening. If I get 10 new comments on something that I wrote over a month ago, that raises the red flag. All from the same IP address. Odd.
  • ecthompson
    I'll have to do something about this later on this evening. If I get 10 new comments on something that I wrote over a month ago, that raises the red flag. All from the same IP address. Odd.
  • Joe White
    Looks like Jen posted three times, then spammed the board as she answered herself under a variety of pseudonyms.

    We get it, Jen. You think you're smarter than Sarah.

    Fine.

    Spamming is not all that smart though.
  • Joe White
    Looks like Jen posted three times, then spammed the board as she answered herself under a variety of pseudonyms.

    We get it, Jen. You think you're smarter than Sarah.

    Fine.

    Spamming is not all that smart though.
  • Jen
    Sarah Palin, son in the military insetad of jail, almost in law Levi's mom in jail, sister-in-law in jail for drugs and breaking into a house, daughter knocked up. Sarah Palin runs around spewing hate and looking for money. She is nothing but a opportunist and does nothing constructive. Where are her fresh ideas? She has none, just meandering talking points and more nonsense coming from this country moron!
  • Jen
    Totally agree, Sarah Palin is a moron, and delusional. She doesn't want to take the time to learn, she spews hate and divides people, you against us. This woman is a hick and needs to go away. She can't even take care of her messed up family let alone run a country. Tell this backward hick to go home to Alaska, we don't need her or want her. But Miss Sarah has dollar signs in her eyes and shes hear to make money and start trouble. I blame tham other moron John McCain for unleashing this disaster of a women!
  • Jen
    Sarah Palin, son in the military insetad of jail, almost in law Levi's mom in jail, sister-in-law in jail for drugs and breaking into a house, daughter knocked up.  Sarah Palin runs around spewing hate and looking for money.  She is nothing but a opportunist and does nothing constructive.  Where are her fresh ideas?  She has none, just meandering talking points and more nonsense coming from this country moron!
  • Jen
    Totally agree, Sarah Palin is a moron, and delusional.  She doesn't want to take the time to learn, she spews hate and divides people, you against us.  This woman is a hick and needs to go away.  She can't even take care of her messed up family let alone run a country.  Tell this backward hick to go home to Alaska, we don't need her or want her.  But Miss Sarah has dollar signs in her eyes and shes hear to make money and start trouble.  I blame tham other moron John McCain for unleashing this disaster of a women!
  • MH
    I watched the mini series John Adams. I just hear so many people state differing opinions on what something is meant. I don't think the democrats want to micromanage every aspect. But when we just had to bail out banks and AIG for being too big to fail. How is that bad to have in place items that would keep them from doing that. I agree there are things that seem to allow the free market take care of itself. Then it should and not expect others to bail it out by threatening the collapse of civilization as we know it. It was the perfect crime and the bank managers know it. They threaten all the time that they will go somewhere else if they don't get their huge bonuses. Well let them go.... It is going to raise everybodies utiilties bills if we quit poluting.

    I have not read the constitution in many many many years.
  • MH
    I watched the mini series John Adams. I just hear so many people state differing opinions on what something is meant. I don't think the democrats want to micromanage every aspect. But when we just had to bail out banks and AIG for being too big to fail. How is that bad to have in place items that would keep them from doing that. I agree there are things that seem to allow the free market take care of itself. Then it should and not expect others to bail it out by threatening the collapse of civilization as we know it. It was the perfect crime and the bank managers know it. They threaten all the time that they will go somewhere else if they don't get their huge bonuses. Well let them go.... It is going to raise everybodies utiilties bills if we quit poluting.

    I have not read the constitution in many many many years.
  • Joe White
    In writing the Constitution the main challenge the Founding fathers attempted to address was how to keep political power from being concentrated in one man or small group of men.

    Same challenge we face today.

    Democrats want control over every aspect of American life. They want to micromanage everything.

    btw we don't have to guess what the Founders meant. Every part of the Constitution was thoroughly explained and it's intent examined by the signers themselves in the Federalist Papers.

    Have you read them?
  • Joe White
    In writing the Constitution the main challenge the Founding fathers attempted to address was how to keep political power from being concentrated in one man or small group of men.

    Same challenge we face today.

    Democrats want control over every aspect of American life. They want to micromanage everything.

    btw we don't have to guess what the Founders meant. Every part of the Constitution was thoroughly explained and it's intent examined by the signers themselves in the Federalist Papers.

    Have you read them?
  • MH
    You know what is interesting is that everybody states that she is for what the founding fathers wanted. All about defending the constitution. But it is open to ones own opinion. Just the same is for the bible. You take a word or phase and make it mean what you want. Mr. White Ms Palin can not just state that she is for the constitution and the founding fathers. Ask her what she means by that and how you would run a country specifically. There are broad based interpretations and that is why we have courts to help determine how it should apply in this time period. It is written that way. You have to admit that it was written the challenges we have now were even thought out.

    Most people will pick one part of the constitution and stress that one part. Not the whole thing.
  • Anonymous
    She started off her answer by contrasting the concept of 'intellect' with 'common sense', so she was actually addressing the question.

    btw I'm not even a big Sarah fan.

    She's not even in my top 5 for President in 2012.

    But if given a Palin vs Obama choice in 2012, I'd vote for her.
  • MH
    You know what is interesting is that everybody states that she is for what the founding fathers wanted. All about defending the constitution. But it is open to ones own opinion. Just the same is for the bible. You take a word or phase and make it mean what you want. Mr. White Ms Palin can not just state that she is for the constitution and the founding fathers. Ask her what she means by that and how you would run a country specifically. There are broad based interpretations and that is why we have courts to help determine how it should apply in this time period. It is written that way.  You have to admit that it was written the challenges we have now were even thought out.

    Most people will pick one part of the constitution and stress that one part. Not the whole thing.
  • ecthompson
    I find it interesting that you didn't have the same criticism of her answer. Since she didn't really answer his question. My first sentence was an answer to the question. The question was are you smart enough to be president. And she and the question that you are qualified means that you're smart enough. You don't have to use the exact same words in order to answer the question but then again you know this.

    I don't need a reason to bash Sarah Palin. She's a walking talking point. She has no grasp of policy.

    Finally, I guarantee that she was not asked the question off the top of Bill O'Reilly's head. She was prepped. The folks that prepped her, had to have talked about her qualifications for president.it is an obvious question. The only small twist had to do with her intellectual powers. She could have used her patent answer and still answer the question.
  • ecthompson
    I find it interesting that you didn't have the same criticism of her answer. Since she didn't really answer his question. My first sentence was an answer to the question. The question was are you smart enough to be president. And she and the question that you are qualified means that you're smart enough. You don't have to use the exact same words in order to answer the question but then again you know this.

    I don't need a reason to bash Sarah Palin. She's a walking talking point. She has no grasp of policy.

    Finally, I guarantee that she was not asked the question off the top of Bill O'Reilly's head. She was prepped. The folks that prepped her, had to have talked about her qualifications for president.it is an obvious question. The only small twist had to do with her intellectual powers. She could have used her patent answer and still answer the question.
  • Joe White
    Dr Thompson,

    The first half of your answer:

    "Bill, I'm plenty qualified to be president. I have executive experience as a governor of Alaska. You don't need to be in the US government for 20 or more years like Joe Biden in order to be qualified. Our founders did not put that in the Constitution."

    had nothing to do with the question, which was about intellect.

    You had time to think about an answer, and still 50% of it wasn't pertinent.

    She answered on the fly, and I think she made the same point about not needing an Ivy League education , as you did in the second half of your proposed answer.

    I think you're just looking for an excuse to bash.
  • ecthompson
    well stated. Thanks for your comments.
  • ecthompson
    I don't need a smooth politician to get the job done. I did sit in several English classes and I don't see where she anything like what you wrote. Sure she might of meant what you wrote because that is exactly what all Republicans have been saying since and before Reagan (elitism, Ivy league, common sense, free enterprise) but that's not what she said. All she did was throw up a series of republican talking points.

    Joe, I respect your thoughtful discussion because it has been... thoughtful. You and I both know that Sarah Palin could've answered that question thoughtfully without throwing out a word salad. Try this conservative answer on for size -- Bill, I'm plenty qualified to be president. I have executive experience as a governor of Alaska. You don't need to be in the US government for 20 or more years like Joe Biden in order to be qualified. Our founders did not put that in the Constitution. you don't need to go to Harvard or Yale in order to be president of the United States. I am well educated in schools from the heartland. Bill, I am more than smart enough to be the President of the United States.

    what I just said was not particularly eloquent but it answered the question. It was a conservative answer. It made sense.

    Thanks your comments.
  • Joe White
    Dr Thompson,

    The first half of your answer:

    "Bill, I'm plenty qualified to be president. I have executive experience as a governor of Alaska. You don't need to be in the US government for 20 or more years like Joe Biden in order to be qualified. Our founders did not put that in the Constitution."

    had nothing to do with the question, which was about intellect.

    You had time to think about an answer, and still 50% of it wasn't pertinent.

    She answered on the fly, and I think she made the same point about not needing an Ivy League education , as you did in the second half of your proposed answer.

    I think you're just looking for an excuse to bash.
  • MH
    Yep and she would bomb Iran the first week she was in office. I am sorry i don't want to have to read and reread to figure out what someone is trying to say. All she is going to say is you didn't understand what i was trying to say when anything went wrong.... Just like Bill Clinton and the definition of " IS "
  • ecthompson
    well stated. Thanks for your comments.
  • ecthompson
    I don't need a smooth politician to get the job done. I did sit in several English classes and I don't see where she anything like what you wrote. Sure she might of meant what you wrote because that is exactly what all Republicans have been saying since and before Reagan (elitism, Ivy league, common sense, free enterprise) but that's not what she said. All she did was throw up a series of republican talking points. 

    Joe, I respect your thoughtful discussion because it has been... thoughtful. You and I both know that Sarah Palin could've answered that question thoughtfully without throwing out a word salad. Try this conservative answer on for size -- Bill, I'm plenty qualified to be president. I have executive experience as a governor of Alaska. You don't need to be in the US government for 20 or more years like Joe Biden in order to be qualified. Our founders did not put that in the Constitution. you don't need to go to Harvard or Yale in order to be president of the United States. I am well educated in schools from the heartland. Bill, I am more than smart enough to be the President of the United States.

    what I just said was not particularly eloquent but it answered the question. It was a conservative answer. It made sense. 

    Thanks your comments.
  • MH
    Yep and she would bomb Iran the first week she was in office.  I am sorry i don't want to have to read and reread to figure out what someone is trying to say. All she is going to say is you didn't understand what i was trying to say when anything went wrong.... Just like Bill Clinton and the definition of " IS "
  • Joe White
    What she is obviously saying is that a diploma from an Ivy league school is not necessarily better than someone who has principles and will stand for them, namely looking out for Main St and attempting to act in their best interest.

    If she isnt eloquent, and didnt frame her answer in a pretty way that's not necessarily a big negative either because we've got an eloquent President now who can't even lead those in his own party, (much less the rest of the country), to a consensus on issues like health care and Afghanistan.

    Eloquence and a diploma aren't what we're looking for.

    I don't think her answer is that tough to understand. Maybe it sounds foreign to you because you'd prefer a smooth politician who can sing a nice tune.
  • Joe White
    What she is obviously saying is that a diploma from an Ivy league school is not necessarily better than someone who has principles and will stand for them, namely looking out for Main St and attempting to act in their best interest.

    If she isnt eloquent, and didnt frame her answer in a pretty way that's not necessarily a big negative either because we've got an eloquent President now who can't even lead those in his own party, (much less the rest of the country), to a consensus on issues like health care and Afghanistan.

    Eloquence and a diploma aren't what we're looking for.

    I don't think her answer is that tough to understand. Maybe it sounds foreign to you because you'd prefer a smooth politician who can sing a nice tune.
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