Politics Sarah Palin

She did do something that few other liberal or conservative politicians do: she got nominated for Vice President, and subsequently was taken seriously as a presidential possibility. Those things made her emormously more visible (at least for a time) than any ordinary governor or senator.

Think of Paul Ryan, say, or John Edwards, or Joe Lieberman. Once a politician gets to that level, they become almost more a symbol than a person.

I'd venture to say that Sarah Palin was far better known in her time than vastly more powerful contemporaries like Dennis Hastert or Nancy Pelosi or Condoleeza Rice.

 

It's really her anti-intellectual, facts optional approach that offends me. Loading up the airwaves with hypocracy, then claiming to be a victim when you are called on it, is a bit over the top. Intellectual honesty would not seem to be one of her stronger points.

 

Populist??? I have never had nor have any populist views. The spectrum of my views are not even easily characterized. I am conservative, but socially liberal. I believe in free market principles but see value in some socialist policy. I support limit government but strong military with no problem with preemptive action. Marriage between a man and woman is special but I do not think public policy should reflect that. The real problem is in a failure to hear what others say, I put special effort into it, do you?

 

Palin's is the little guy and that is part of her popularity, it is not that she is popular speaking empty rhetoric about the little guy, i.e. Bill Clinton or remember John Edwards. Palin a real small town person, from the least populated state, a few years removed from the PTA, raising a real family with real issues, a small business owner, etc - she understands and speaks for "the little guy" in ways others do not. For the record there are many different categories of "little guy". For example small business owner often feel neglected by Washington insiders, the lawyers, bureaucrats, professional politicians, academics, high paid lobbyist, unions and many other groups. It is always refreshing when someone voices real concern and understanding of what it means to run a small business in this country. And the fact she is not a polished speaker, saying all the right things at the right time, enhances her appeal to many of us - because I know if I were thrust into the limelight I would make my share of mistakes on the national stage. The more people attack, it is then with that much more vigor I will defend. leave her alone and I will not bring her up.

 

So Palin is worried about the national debt...Why don't we cut the defense dept by 66%, close down a bunch of military academies, Sell off unneeded bases for real estate, close down foreign bases, cut the highway fund, tax financial transactions on Wall St., increase the gas tax $1/gallon... That will make a difference. Whatever Palin suggests won't do much, and the "Drill, Baby, Drill" will just cause more problems for anyone not getting those checks from the oil companies.

 

My biggest issue with Palin was that she was the least qualified person to run for national office (Pres/VP) in my lifetime and it was evident, to me at least, that she was not ready for prime time. Her depth of knowledge of major public policy issues was abysmal and her responses to the simplest questions were nothing more than trite sound bites with no substance (much like the Tea Party members of Congress today). And when pressed, she blamed the questioner and made it all about the "lame stream" media and personal attacks and attempted to build herself up as a real American standing up to those who want to tear the country down. Demagoguery at its worst. She was a fraud, was outed as a fraud and in over her head and responded in the only way she knew...blame everyone and everything but her own shortcomings.
--- merged: Nov 19, 2013 at 5:42 PM ---
Palin in her own words on her foreign policy credentials:

Ace..do you believe that this "experience" provides real foreign policy credentials? And to question it is a personal attack?
--- merged: Nov 19, 2013 at 5:46 PM ---
Ace...was this a "gotcha" question or a reasonable attempt to understand where Palin stands on important Supreme Court decisions?

High school kids have a deeper understanding of many landmark Supreme Court decisions.

edit: maybe not high school kids, but certainly TFP members are more knowledgeable about Supreme Court decisions.

 

Palin's a professional victim and attack dog all at the same time. She spews forth bullshit like death panels and Putin invading US airspace, something as CNC of the Alaska Air National Guard she should have known was horseshit. She tosses out the victim card anytime she make a asinine comment and people point out it's crap. About one thing I respect about her is I believe she's made as decent of effort as most people to be a good parent, I don't think that's an act. I also rather doubt her faith is an act, I do wish she spend a little more time reading Jesus' quotes and little less Ayn Rand . Her "look I'm a hunter" and "look I know a lot about______ (insert just about any political or historical subject here)" is all stage craft and bullshit. Her bitching about Obama needing a teleprompter while she herself not only uses one but can't get through a simple Q&A without reading notes off her hand is just more utter nonsense.

In short she's an embarrassment politically and history will bare that out. I don't hate her, hating folks says more about the hater then the hatee. I simply have no interest in her running any part of our federal government.

 

as a conservative i totally forgot about her after they lost the election. i mean she shows up on talk radio and tv shows, but i think the left makes her more important than she is. this was years ago, is she really this relevant still?

 

Let's be honest here. The so-called left would not make any noise about her if the right didn't keep waving her about like a red flag in front of a bull.

She is low-hanging fruit that (let's face it) anyone can point to as what is wrong with populist politics.

 

I heard she was coming to the city nearest me next week, I believe.
I felt a chill upon hearing it.

 

You know I think I'd go. For the same reason I went to a few Tea Baggger events. The right kept saying "oh, these rallies and event are being portrayed as racists and homophobic and full of people threatening violence, they're nothing like that." BULLSHIT, I went, I saw I listened. They're being portrayed as something they are, not something they're not.

 

I'll just leave this here.

 

The sad part is that when she ran for governor she had support from many of Alaska's liberals (a very different beast from lower 48 liberals but liberals all the same).
She had stood up to the good old boy network and ran as a centrist. Her first two years were a bit mixed but not awful.
There was something called Troopergate but we won't get into that.

Then she got picked to be Vice-President and it was like a switch was flipped.
Some of it was Alaskan conservatism - Drill, baby, drill, is coded in their DNA,
But it seemed like she was listening to conservative talk radio and writing all her talking points on her hand for her speeches.
If you read some of the books about the campaign they talk about how frustrating it was working with her.
She had one idea in her head of how it was going to work and refused any other approach.

In general people in Alaska (even the conservatives) dislike her and they are in a position to know her best.
As to picking on her lifestyle, I will never forget the TV show with her hunting and walking around with her finger in the trigger guard.
I learned not to do that when I was ten.

So what's all this verbiage in aid of?
It's basically saying, she's a quitter, a grand stander with little or no substance and I don't dislike her because I'm a liberal.
It's because she gave Alaska a bad name and every damn time I tell people I'm from there, they want to know about her.

 

Good news for the Palinistas!

Rogue TV is coming soon...for only $10/month.

 

Wow! What a deal. Only 10 bucks a month for advice from Sarah Palin.