The would-be Veeps

THX1138

"Sarah Palin is incapable of recalling the name of a single newspaper or magazine then I think it says a lot more about his own prejudices than it does about Sarah Palin."

Well how many times have the wingnuts on this blog go on about Obama and the 57 states gaffe.

Do anyone in the REAL world really think that Obama doesn't how many states in the USA?

Richard

Very fair. Unlike the liberal media...

Snorri Godhi

Well, Stephen, you did a great job of lowering expectations ahead of the debate*. Now the wait is almost over. I'd think that anybody who has read Il Principe, and is aware of the facts in the Baker article, could make mincemeat of Biden in a debate; but I suspect that Palin did not read Il Principe.

* and so did the arch-conservative, THX.

Snorri Godhi

PS: don't forget that there are good reasons why Obama, not Biden, is in the top slot.

THX1138

I think she didn't what to admit to reading any of the Latte Librul elite newspaper stuff that so infuriates the wingnut base.

The only stuff they read is the bible and the Tim LaHaye guff about The Rapture, newspapers are the devils talk.

Edward McLaughlin

Good to see some of the more waspish anti-Palin wallahs in full sail and displaying their drab colours for all to see. Thanks for that Stephen.

All the criticism of her seems to come under the 'Americans are thick' category - a popular section in the UK media, which serves a populace not especially noted for its cerebral might.

She can't remember the names of magazines? Shocking. Elsewhere, the heinous crime of making a flip remark about her proximity to the Russian land mass, has been pumped up to bursting point, just as Obama's Christian/Muslim slip was.

A frequent charge against the world of politics is that there are no characters left, and that all we are left with are anodyne mouthpieces. But the only people who can operate at the pernickety level that the political media seem always to deal in, are precisely those who excel in minute correctness; and these people by definition, have never in their lives felt able to stray from the supplied script. That's what characters feel brave enough to do.

None of us know what either Palin & Co or Obama & Co are if we're honest, and yet we have such polarised views cast around. At least one commenter here seems intent on having Obama's love child.

I'm available for Sarah anytime.

Hannah

Interesting slant Stephen; that you perceive Palin 'could' but refused, to name a relevant publication; suggests either contrariness, arrogant grandiosity (or both).

Surely the American public have a right to know how a prospective VP or (God Forbid) President acquires information on the world?

Having viewed the performance with Katie Couric, I doubt she reads anything apart from her own press cuttings. An ambitious 'babe', incoherent and incapable of finishing a sentence, she is terrifyingly ignorant of her own intellectual limitations.

Seven years through five colleges to gain ONE minor degree in sports journalism?

It is a fact that one acquires credits (towards a degree) in certain US colleges merely by attending courses. I have personally verified attendance at my own course for visiting American students.

Palin's ignorance of the Bush Doctrine is not a trivial point. The 'Doctrine' is a summary of a world view that has guided American foreign and military policy for seven years.

The comprehension 'gap' she has exhibited is an insult to all rational Americans; politics is NOT a reality TV show, a PTA meeting or a 'big' ball game. Alaska, from my reading, is NOT a microcosm of enlightened western civilization; it reads like something out of a John Ford movie - 'Red River' or 'Fort Apache' come to mind.

"During her mayoral administration most of the actual work .. was turned over to an administrator. She [was] pushed to hire an administrator by party power-brokers... some trouble over precipitous firings...

During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over
33%... the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%... She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners.... She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it
with indebtedness of over $22 million."
(http://www.andrys.com/palin-kilkenny.html)

A self-promoting, fiscal incompetent with glaring intellectual deficits - just what America needs in the middle of a recession.

Charlie

Gladstone and Churchill were extremely well read. Is it not time that we expected our leaders to be worldly, cosmopolitan, erudite, well read and blesssed with wisdom based on experience

Fabio P.Barbieri

Ah, yes, THX, the open-minded, who would never think of applying hateful insults to anyone. Unless, of course, she did not like them.

Why not admit that you repeatedly made a fool of yourself? Ah, but that would be unacceptable. THX is never wrong. In the same way as she is a conservative.

Umbongo

"A self-promoting, fiscal incompetent with glaring intellectual deficits"

Of course Senators Obama and Biden are (to their supporters) self-evidently in the Einstein-Gandhi-Mandela class but, setting aside such partisan observation of the US scene, what a wonderful description that is of the UK's glorious PM.

Ross

Hannah wrote- "Seven years through five colleges to gain ONE minor degree in sports journalism? "

People who cite this "fact" to undermine Palin are in fact revealing that they are too stupid to count past three. She went to four institutions, if you think there were more feel free to list them.

I realise innmueracy is a widespread problem in society, but surely people should be able to handle numbers in single digits!

AwShucks

Get this chaps.

http://www.youtube.com/themouthpeace

It'll help explain what going on. Then spread it around. It's a touch on the fast side, so you'll need to hit the pause button, but it's great.

You'll be think of the parallels to the UK's crisis.

The Truth Hurts

"There are enough substantial reasons to worry about Gov. Palin"
Stephen Pollard

We all agree with you Stephen.