I can’t believe that some smart people, including Ann Althouse (I’m using “smart” in the sense of “accomplished academic” here), still think that Sarah Palin is a viable political candidate. In case you’ve missed Palin’s latest string of mind-dump gaffes, check out her explanation of Paul Revere’s famous Midnight Ride:
Transcript:
He who warned, uh, the British that they weren’t going to be taking away our arms uh by ringing those bells and making sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free.
Paul Revere warned the British? Trying to enforce the yet-to-exist Second Amendment?
Apparently Althouse thinks that Palin is a viable candidate because many Americans feel that she’s “just like them.” Frankly, I’d rather have someone running the country who is not like me, i.e., not a hothead lacking diplomatic skills. Running a country is a big, hard job, just like brain surgery. And if I needed a brain surgeon, I’d sure as hell look for one who was smart—not dumb and folksy like Palin.
Please, please, please FSM, let her run for and win the Republican nomination.
The two months in 2008 of her vice-presidential candidacy were the most entertaining of the season.
No one knows how to get her word salad tossed like St. Sarah Palin.
Quit raggin’ on Sarah. Her FOXP2 is all busted and shit. She caint hep it. One if by land, two if giraffe. Think about it
Why do you think she couldn’t win if nominated? They elected Dubya (or near enough) twice; Reagan twice; even Dan Quale.
And they elected her as Governor and very nearly elected McCain/Palin for the Pres/VP. At times during the campaign they were polling ahead and, while we can never know for sure, it could have been the economic collapse which put Obama into office, not Palin’s insanity.
I tend to think it was actually McCain’s insanity (all his wacky campaign stunts–including the picking of Palin as his running mate) and his egregious personal and political history and had little to do with Palin, funny as she was when she wasn’t stirring racism about Obama.
Agreed. McCain ran his campaign almost as if he *wanted* to lose.
You beat me to it.
Quite honestly, even George W and Dan Quale are left looking smarter by comparison standing next to her.
I just can’t help thinking she’s on drugs. No one in a sober state could be that supid.
The real problem is that she does not know how to say “I don’t know”.
Something all scientists learn very early in the piece.
Instead, she confabulates.
Would you say that she is in the category, “doesn’t know that she doesn’t know”? Or does know that she doesn’t know, and doesn’t care?
I don’t know.
Sam Harris has the perfect take on Palin:
http://www.newsweek.com/2008/09/19/when-atheists-attack.html
Stupid, damned proud of it, and confident. Holy Hoppin’ Hank help us if she ever gets control over the nukes!
I got it … she’s “Confabulous” !!!
Oh, come on, you just made that up! 😉
This woman is mindnumbingly stupid. Ugh, I have a feeling her and Michelle Bachman are going to run together. I just have a hunch. And I don’t have enough trust in the American people to NOT vote for them. . .
Exactly. People may not want mediocre brain surgeons or accountants, but many apparently want a government leader at least as dumb as themselves. They regard anyone with half a brain with suspicion – as part of the ‘elites’ (it is telling that this word has a uniformly pejorative meaning to many Americans). This sorry situation has developed over my lifetime. Political discussion has hit rock bottom when ‘debates’ center around flag pins and who is ‘pallin’ around with terrorists.’ I can’t imagine the Kennedy-Nixon debates (worth listening to) getting into whether one of the candidates wears a flag pin often enough.
Can you blame them though? It can feel like the corporations run everything of substance and all that’s left for the people to approve is the superficial face pasted on. If that’s the case then why not vote based on superficial traits like sexiness and who’s the most fun to laugh at?
I am American, and I for one would prefer an “elite” as President. I suffered through Bush Jr; I don’t want to suffer through another like him. Unfortunately, when we voted Bush in for a second term, I lost huge amounts of trust in the American people, so I fear we may very well see a Palin or a Bachmann in office.
“Professorial” is the term media bloviators have latched onto to describe Obama. Re: maureen Dowd. It’s apparently not meant as a compliment.
American Philistines prefer “Huh?” to “I beg your pardon?”
Dija know that Paul Revere invented the silver bullet?!
I often run through the Paul Revere capture site (where he was taken on horseback, unarmed) and laughed at Palin’s idea about how to conduct an insurgency. Derisive laughter at anyone who takes Palin seriously is the only response one can take.
That’s how he defeated the Royal Werewolf Brigade.
didn’t folks say they were more comfortable voting for GW because he was the candidate they’d rather have a beer with? So, skip supporting Palin and ask her to a hockey game, Althouse.
Informant – you are probably too young to recall Ronald Reagan’s first election. When he got the nomination Dems were over the moon – so sure were they that American’s would NEVER elect him. Poor Barnum, to be have his truisms so easily forgotten.
Hi litchik – That wasn’t true in my neck o’ the woods (Washington State). In fact there was a well-organized effort for Dems to go to Rethuglican primary caucuses to lobby for John Anderson as the opposition candidate.
My brother and I voted for John Anderson, unbeknownst to one another. We were in our early twenties.
We were visiting with our grandfather and he asked us who we voted for. (There was no question he wouldn’t ask, and no one he wouldn’t interrupt or cut off in mid-sentence. Bet you know someone like that too.)
So, we told him. (Can’t tell your grandfather it’s none of his business, eh?) He was quick to lecture us that “you need to vote for the man who can win.” (Of course, that was the sentiment directed at Ralph Nader supporters years later.)
I wanted to tell him not to track dog manure in the house and expect my grandmother to clean it up.
I think she’s smart enough to know that running for office and worse, actually being elected is hard work. You’ve actually got to do stuff. Quitting the governorship to become a highly-paid media shill was the best decision she’s ever made and I can’t believe she’ll give this up.
I’m hoping that Michelle Bachman tries to run. She can bring the crazy even better than the Palin.
Palin’s real issue isn’t that she doesn’t know dick all about history, politics, government, or any other topic relevant to someone thinking of running for President of the United States.
It’s that she’s so stupid she doesn’t even realize she’s stupid, ignorant, and utterly misinformed.
The sad part is that very likely her boosters are blissfully unaware what a distorted view she presents.
“It’s that she’s so stupid she doesn’t even realize she’s stupid, ignorant, and utterly misinformed.”
Yeah, she’s a Republican. They’re almost all like that, and she’s far from the worst of the lot. Yet, these dolts get elected to pubic office regularly, probably because many voters either pay no attention or are themselves no better informed.
Do I seem unreasonably cranky today?
“Yet, these dolts get elected to pubic office regularly, probably because many voters either pay no attention or are themselves no better informed.”
Or because the dolts provide a simple, easy answer, that affirms their biases and the hate most of them barely conceal, to every question – just as the religiously indoctrinated have come to expect.
Dunning-Kruger. The depressing reality is that Palin and Bachman are given authority because there are enough fellow Dunning-Kruger aflictees in the population. It would never occur to these people that a carbon-copy of themselves might not actually be who they’d want running a country. They can’t see how woefully unqualified they are to wield such power and bear such responsibility.
“Please, please, please FSM, let her run for and win the Republican nomination.”
I agree,what with Mitt Romney and his magic Mormon underwear and dumb as shit Palin Obama must be laughing his ass off.
exactly.
so why the hell isn’t Obama starting to cater more to the progressive base at this point?
It’s time for him to stop playing re-election bingo with the willfully stupid, and actually start working on a real progressive legacy.
oh, if only wishful thinking could make it so.
that said, mark me down as saying that Obama already has re-election sewn up.
-he has NO scandals, of any kind, in his administration so far (I think that’s some kind of record at this point)
-his opponents were never taken seriously in the LAST election, let alone this one
-americans seem to prefer re-election of someone, regardless of record, over electing someone new.
Obama is smart enough to know all this, so can we PLEASE get on with some progressive legislation?
pretty please, with sugar on fucking top??
“Obama is smart enough to know all this, so can we PLEASE get on with some progressive legislation?”
I fear we’re not going to see anything. Even if Obama started really trying, there appears to be no way in hell he can get anything sane through the Rep. hamstrung congress. Unless there is a big change at the next election, we’ll continue the downward drift.
I fear we’re not going to see anything
I know. In fact, I left the states because of that.
I can dream though.
How are we ever going to win if the people with their heads screwed on properly keep running off?
there’s a simple answer to that, but you’re not gonna like it.
Do tell.
He’s not a Progressive.
True, looking at his policies he’s a Reagan Republican who’s mellow on social issues instead of being enraged to the point of frothing insanity by them. Something like Obama’s Dems is currently in charge here in Britain, and they’re the right-wing party. They’re cutting government funding everywhere they can get away with, and currently attempting to gut socialised healthcare without anyone noticing. People are PISSED.
Technically, she’s right. Before the revolution, American colonists actually did think of themselves as British.
D’Oh! I doubt it will happen, but I’d love to see her try to spin it that way.
A Palin fan has already started an alternative spin that Palin was right ( http://bit.ly/m3UK8X ) for a different reason. See, the British soldiers were under orders to disarm the colonists and Revere was captured following the famous midnight ride and did try to scare the British soldiers after they captured him by exaggerating the size of the colonial militia, and it apparently worked once the gunfire started and he was let go as his captors fled. And she may have just learned this from a tour before the interview. So, it supports $arah Palin’s version if you allow her explanation to be a laughably incoherent jumble of key words.
Yes, he warned the British on his way to Lexington, Kentucky. He was to light one lantern if the Continental Army brought sand, and two if they brought bees.
I hope she runs and gets the Republican nomination. She and someone of comparable stupidity (Say, Santorum) would work well together. They both have that “Deer in the headlights” look. Plus, they’d pretty much guarantee an Obama Victory.
Is that Santorum or Sanctorum?
Does anyone besides me suspect Plain might have early-onset Alzheimer’s?
I read that she has a vile temper. That and an obviously disfunctional thinking process.
I have read also that Alzheimer’s often begins manifessting at a relatively young age.
Palin. (I might have it too.)
Dysfunctional …. manifesting ….
sometimes there are moments of lucidity …
I feel your pain, I’ve just gone to the bedroom and then stood their for a minute trying to remember why I went there:-(
“Does anyone besides me suspect Plain might have early-onset Alzheimer’s?”
No, I doubt she was ever any sharper than what we see now. I think this is normal for her.
That’s a sad and scary thought.
Re: the “vile” temper. Guess that’s why the eldest daughter has moved some distance away?
From “Fiddler on the Roof”:
Young Rabbinical Students: “Rabbi, is there a proper blessing for the Tsar?”
Rabbi: “May God bless and keep the Tsar – far away from us!”
Not Alzheimer’s….a raging case of pathological narcissism is more likely, I think. There is no “No”, in her world, other than the “No” that comes out of her mouth. She is a circus sideshow – which makes her all too viable a candidate in this fractured, ignorant, desperate and grasping USA. After Bush II, I have no delusions of a “rational” American voting public. I retire to Bedlam….or, at least the Caturday special. I take my balm where I can get it.
Give me the kittehs!!!
“Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” -George Orwell, 1984
Either that or she’s stupid.
OH MAN!
Sarah Palin = comedy gold!
even Bush couldn’t force himself to say anything that stupid!
I think what Sarah Palin has is an overactive illusion of confidence. The parts of her brain that tell her that what she things, feels and experiences is absolutely 100% right, is overactive. So within her own mind everything she says is 100% correct by definition. This illusion of confidence is tied to her ego which reinforces her self-importance. It is the same reason so many people go onto reality talent shows even though they have no talent. They have the illusion that they have talent, and are so tied into their self-image that they have no conception of what other people think of them.
So what she is doing right now is very similar to a reality-tv show, where she tries to see how far she can get before getting booted off the island.
Unfortunately the voting public in the US may think that their participation in elections is just for voting in a reality talent show. FSM help us all
I think what Sarah Palin has is an overactive illusion of confidence.
have you ever head of mr. Dunning and mr. Kruger?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
Certainly! It goes further than just Dunning and Kruger, with memory as well on top of confidence.
It might be amusing if Sara Palin were asked what she thought of Dunning and Kruger, given what she said of Paul Revere. Perhaps she would say how they were two of here most admired of all of the founding fathers that promised to keep the government out of congress and keep our guns to get goin’ on drill baby drill, so the founding fathers would not depend on foreign oil and getting all second amendment on those lamestream gotcha freedoms and rights. Also.
Awesome.
It is easy to copy her technique which is to simply to use Word Salad tossed with D-K’s Self Deluding Awesome Sauce Dressing.
Perhaps she would say how they were two of here most admired of all of the founding fathers
LOL
perhaps she would at that.
Has anyone read the original paper on the Dunning-Kruger effect? By Kruger and..er..Dunning. I haven’t I admit, but it is hard to get through apparently – a colleague expressed it as “the authors appear to be suffering from the same effect that they are writing about”. Perhaps we could change it to the “Palin-Bachmann effect”. Unless we need to keep that for the apocalypse.
That would be the “meta” Kruger-Dunning Effect.
Is that Piper Palin with her? I think she said, “Shut up mom, you’re embarrassing me!”
Even though she would appear to be unelectable now, who knows what might happen come election day. After all W got in twice (I won’t say got elected twice because the first time he wasn’t). I don’t want her name on any ballot for any elected office anywhere, ever, especially not one for the presidency of your country. She would be little more than a puppet or figurehead and I would be scared shitless of whoever the “power(s) behind the throne” might be. It could be someone worse than Cheney.
There is an argument for her to be the Republican nominee:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/27/kimmel-sarah-palin-ad_n_867901.html
I don’t think she knows it but actually as Wikipedia says “About 700 British Army regulars, under Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith, were given secret orders to capture and destroy military supplies that were reportedly stored by the Massachusetts militia at Concord.”
So they were trying to take away our guns
I cannot attribute Palin’s decision to attempt to bluff her way through her ignorance to anything but a congenital liar’s confidence that, “If I say it with feeling, it doesn’t matter what the facts are…”
I’m certain in my aging years, I could not give a decent account of Paul Revere (apart from the erroneous poem) but, no harm in saying, “You know, I might get the details wrong; it’s been a while since 8th grade American History…c’mon newsguys, let’s walk over and review the facts on display here. Certainly I can learn something I didn’t know.”
Why make this type of doofus decision to “fake it”? I’ll tell ya…too many years bluffing your children. That’s exactly how it sounds.
Really, all you have to say is that he warned the colonists of the approach of the British, and that’s detail enough for most purposes.
Whatever. If she eventually manages to get elected, at least I’ll be able to point and laugh at you Americans during the first minutes of her presidency… till she orders a massive nuclear attack against that enemy nation known as Foreign.
Heck, I would’t put it past her to use nukes against any enemies, foreign or domestic, that are not Real Americans ™. You know, all those lamesteam east coast elites with their fancy big words and soft lattes. Or those underdressed west coast softies with their high-falutin’ teckonology that doesn’t need the god given oil that the US of A was given to by the founding fathers. Also.
Rixaeton: if she wins the nomination, you should totally channel her in a blog. I’d read it every day and LOL.
If the Democrats ran a brick against Palin, I’d vote for the brick because it could out think her.
How on earth do people take her seriously or as a serious candidate. He’s an idiot and serving as governor of Alaska was too much for her to handle…can you imagine her as president?
Re: that “I’ve read ’em [newspapers, opinion articles, think tank quarterlies, etc.]all” commnet in her interview with Charlie Gibson(?).
WTF? That wasn’t just “folksy”, that was inco-bloody-herent. I swear, the woman is a 3D multimedia implementation of Dissociated Press.
I think we could give Sarah Palin some break here. Paul Revere did make contact with the British and told them they were mobilizing.
Not exactly what she said but she’s not astronomically wrong on this one, it seems.
oh come on.
like was said above, it’s not like she knew the finer points or anything.
it was a complete, asinine, flub.
no breaks warranted.
Jerry and all of you who are saying Palin was wrong. Please stick to evolution.
As for Sarah Palin, this is from:
http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/
“Here is the original historical text written by Revere (spelling in original, bold added):
I observed a Wood at a Small distance, & made for that. When I got there, out Started Six officers, on Horse back,and orderd me to dismount;-one of them, who appeared to have the command, examined me, where I came from,& what my Name Was? I told him. it was Revere, he asked if it was Paul? I told him yes He asked me if I was an express? I answered in the afirmative. He demanded what time I left Boston? I told him; and aded, that their troops had catched aground in passing the River, and that There would be five hundred Americans there in a short time, for I had alarmed the Country all the way up. He imediately rode towards those who stoppd us, when all five of them came down upon a full gallop; one of them, whom I afterwards found to be Major Mitchel, of the 5th Regiment, Clapped his pistol to my head, called me by name, & told me he was going to ask me some questions, & if I did not give him true answers, he would blow my brains out. He then asked me similar questions to those above. He then orderd me to mount my Horse, after searching me for arms
Palin’s short statement on the video was less than clear; that sometimes happens but the part of the statement which has people screaming — that Revere warned the British that the colonial militias were waiting — appears to be true.
I’ve learned something new today, about Paul Revere.”
And now, thanks to Sarah Palin, you too have learned something new today about Paul Revere.
I can’t believe how after all this time the left still thinks Palin isn’t Presidential material. She sets up the left and they fall into the trap every time. Every freakin’ time.
Give me a break! Revere revealed that information only after he was captured and had a gun put to his head, which he didn’t expect to be. Telling the British what was transpiring was clearly NOT the purpose of his ride, and that was, equally clearly, what Palin was talking about with the “bells” and “ride”.
As for the “please stick to evolution” part, I’d suggest you stick to other websites where your rudeness (and inaccuracy) may be more welcome.
You deserve the appellation “dumber than Palin”.
Palin clearly thinks (1) that purpose of Revere’s ride was to warn the Army about the insurrection; (2) that Revere was armed, firing “warning shots”; (3) and possibly that the signal lanterns used in the North Church to indicate an approach across the Charles River or not were actually bells rung by Revere along his clandestine mission!
There’s not one bit of Palin’s account that’s not drooling with stupidity.
That’s exactly the spin I linked to above, and it sure is funny. $arah Palin as a national historian? LOL!
I swear, Palin must purposefully be as incoherent as possible to allow her fans to see whatever they want in her comments. It’s like a ritual throwing the bones–push her in front of a “lamestream media” camera and see what comes out, then interpret!
She is too arrogant to keep it simple. Revere: “American Revolutionary War Hero”. She is paid millions to be stupid; why should she change?
And if I needed a brain surgeon, I’d sure as hell look for one who was smart—not dumb and folksy like Palin.
Like Michael Egnor?
“if I needed a brain surgeon, I’d sure as hell look for one who was smart—not dumb and folksy like Palin.”
John: “Like Michael Egnor?”
Not Igor?
I think it must have Palin’s brain that Igor brought back by mistake.
Frankenstein: Abby someone. Abby who?
Igor: Abby… Normal.
Frankenstein: Abby Normal?
Igor: I’m almost sure that was the name.
Unfortunately, like the Kardashians, whoever the hell they are, and Paris Hilton, we’ll be putting up with the Palin’s for quite some time.
Palin used to rant and rave about the Lame Stream media focusing on her kids, but on the Blast to the Past Bus Tour there’s Willow front and center like a little apprentice momma grizzly.
It would be nice for one “news” organization to simply pull the plug on All Sarah, All the Time, Film at 11 coverage and let that bus roll into an empty parking lot.
Well, I for one, am glad of the all-Sarah, all-the-time coverage.
Because I do believe that the American public is not quite as stupid as we think they are.
Back in the 1970s-80s, Ohio’s Governor was Jim Rhodes. He reigned for 16 years, backed in large part by the Republican newspapers (including the one I worked for). But Jim started slipping mentally, and when he decided he was going to run again, the publishers started doing something that they had never done before, which effectively killed his candidacy.
They started quoting him accurately.
Today, we have Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
Even my 85-year-old mother, who has probably not voted for a Democrat in her life, thinks Palin is “a moron”. And yes, that’s a direct quote.
Palin is the intellectual child of one Leo Strauss.
Very nearly alone he created the culture of fear, subsidised by deliberately cultured ignorance of the masses*, through which the elite in charge of international businesses could live in luxury & power.
And which rendered politics as a mere side-show, with no power whatsoever without the consent of business leaders.
__________________
* Esp via TV & newspapers run by plutocrats.
the intellectual child of one Leo Strauss.
I’m sorry nobody else gave you kudos for noticing this.
you’re exactly right. Those thinking Strauss was a genius gave us Ronald Reagan.
I find it disturbing that Prof. Coyne’s alma mater and employer (U of Chicago) has a centre dedicated to “Promoting the Study of Leo Strauss’s Thought”.
That’s not how I use alma mater…
“She is paid millions to be stupid; why should she change?”
Seriously. And here I struggle and work my ass off to keep my family sheltered, fed, health insurance – and she actually gets millions to be…wait for it… STUPID???? THAT is her job? It breaks my heart that someone so undeserving is given so much attention. Please kill me now. Jesus. Fucking. Christ.
That’s not nearly as bad as the quarter million Bristol got paid to tell people about… wait for it…
the importance of abstinence.
Sigh – I had forgotten about that.
She’s not paid millions to be stupid. She’s paid millions to be eye candy.
America’s Trophy Wife. Sounds about right.
…and it wasn’t actually Paul Revere who completed the ride to Concord. His name just rhymed better for Longfellow’s poem.To quote from SOCIAL STUDIES FOR KIDS”Paul Revere Never Finished His Ride
Elsewhere on the Web
• The Midnight Ride
• Famous Paul Revere Poem
We all know about Paul Revere’s Ride, right? We all know about how Paul Revere rode from Lexington to Concord to warn the Americans that the British were coming. We all know about how he rode through the streets yelling, “The British Are Coming! The British Are Coming!”
We all know about it; yet it isn’t true.
The truth is that Paul Revere never finished that ride that come to be named after him. Paul Revere was stopped by a British patrol on his way to Concord. He never made it!
In fact, he was riding with two other men, only one of whom succeeded in warning the Americans in Concord that the British were coming.
William Dawes also rode with Paul Revere that night. He, too, was stopped by a British patrol. He managed to escape, as did Dr. Samuel Prescott, the third rider.
Revere, meanwhile, didn’t escape until much later, and without his horse. He walked back to Lexington and made it there in time to witness part of the battle on Lexington Green.
Dawes, meanwhile, got lost in the dark and never made it to Concord.
Only Dr. Samuel Prescott reached Concord, where he delivered the warning, “The British are Coming!” And when the British came to Concord, the Americans were ready.
Why is Paul Revere famous? Several reasons:
He was a well-known figure in the Revolutionary community. He was a silversmith who made lots of things out of silver and sold them to all kinds of people, including the Sons of Liberty.
He made the famous engraving of the Boston Massacre that stirred up so much hatred for the British.
He was the subject of the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem that became very famous. “
Listen, my children, with the ears you’ve got
To the midnight ride of Sam Prescott…???
Hmmmm…
…though you’d rather not?
…though it’s freakin’ hot?
…who gives a jot?
…as well you ought?
…while you sit on the pot?
Love it. And your comment about why you don’t want to vote for someone like you is precisely what I’ve been trying to say less concisely for years. Thank you.
Well, but that’s just it, Jerry – Americans like the guy that smart people think is dumb, because they know smart people think they’re dumb.
It’s abundantly obvious that she could never be a viable President but she’s a viable candidate simply because she’s in a position to exploit people’s racial, class, and achievement resentment about a black president who got something over on whites (as they view it) by the dirty tricks of being smart and working hard.
You just know Obama wants her to win the GOP nomination. That’d sure be a fun debate series. But if that happens, it means the GOP gave up this election just so they could put “first woman to run for president” on their side of the blue/red divide.
Some people prefers smart politics that knows what must be promised to be elected – like Chavez or Obama..
But another people prefers politics that knows what must be done and knows how to do this – like Reagan or Palin 🙂
And for your next trick, why don’t you demonstrate how cutting taxes on the rich will result in the government getting more money?
Palin doesn’t even know how to form a sentence properly. She wasn’t pulled into national politics for what she knows, she was pulled in for what she looked like.
LMAO! I hated this woman. But I’ve given that up. Now I just sit back and laugh.
My mother used to read the poem by Longfellow when I was a child.
Thanks for the warning!
dom
pp The British
Sam Harris has the perfect take on Palin:
http://www.newsweek.com/2008/09/19/when-atheists-attack.html
Stupid, damned proud of it, and confident. Holy Hoppin’ Hank help us if she ever gets control over the nukes!