Why Won't Sarah Palin Go Away?

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-19-2006
Why Won't Sarah Palin Go Away?
344
Thu, 11-13-2008 - 5:20pm
Everyday, she is out there, whining about how unfair she was treated.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-09-2008
Mon, 11-17-2008 - 2:34am

LOL! Palin wasn't running for President...and Obama's election didn't make him magically qualified.


iVillage Member
Registered: 10-24-2008
Mon, 11-17-2008 - 3:06am
Bush never tried in any way, to work with the left, much less appease them. He never cared what anyone wanted, or thought, unless it was in lock step with him. He never went out of his way to do anything with the left. Quite the opposite!
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-12-2003
Mon, 11-17-2008 - 6:28am

you know Sue, i read your post #34 and found it thought-provoking...i *assumed* it'd be discussed aplenty...i figured i'd jump in once it got going...i've been disappointed the following 70+ posts haven't touched on your points...and i was thinking what a drag it'd be for me

    

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-04-2003
Mon, 11-17-2008 - 9:18am

<>

I was actually referencing a post I wrote earlier in the thread (that got no responses) that was in reply to other comments that Palin was stupid (and the post to which you refer, is related). You'll note, that I didn't call her stupid either:

http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv-elpoliticsto&msg=18356.34

As for the claim of ignorance, that would not necessarily be an issue (as everyone is ignorant about something....and usually a great many things....myself included). My opinion....based upon hearing Palin speak is that she IS ignorant about many topics crucial to a politician who wants to be on the national stage and hold high ranking positions.

Ignorance (particularly if one is intelligent) need not be a chronic condition. It can easily be fixed by making a concerted effort to inform oneself in the areas of knowledge that one lacks. There's no denying that the woman has skills, but at this point, these are incomplete (they don't match her ambitions). It would be very impressive if she were to brush up in areas she doesn't know very much about and then come back out onto the national/international stage. If she doesn't care to do this, well, that's another story (and would point to a character flaw....the least of which would be denial and/or intellectual incuriosity).

To quote Sarah Palin...."Thanks but no thanks".

We've had more than enough of this under bush and it has been a disaster. At this point, I am happy to suspend judgement....Hence my statement that the ball is in her court.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-04-2003
Mon, 11-17-2008 - 9:33am

Thank-you...I think maybe the post will now be getting some attention and am looking forward to discussing it further with other posters.

I really AM willing to give Palin the benefit of the doubt. If she can come back out into the spotlight some time in the future, proving that she really has done the work required to gain a deeper understanding of the issues, this will impress a lot of people (and also make her more suitable for taking on more serious roles on the national stage and more influence within the Republican Party). Many will forgive her previous lack of preparedness if she can show that she is serious and self-aware enough to fill in the gaps of her knowledge base (and that she is capable of doing so).

Personally, many of her views/ideologies do not mesh with mine, but I can respect a politician who comes at issues with a background of understanding, a strong knowledge base, and a willingness to look at things from a variety of angles. Some have said that the "left" is "afraid" of her...I can't speak for the left in the USA....but she certainly made me nervous, and it was her ignorance and lack of understanding of important issues that was frightening (not so much her undeniable charisma or even her more right wing views).

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 11-17-2008 - 10:22am

I am an independent, but cannot speak for others.

Gettingahandle

Ignorance is Nature's most abundant fuel for decision making.

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-01-2008
Mon, 11-17-2008 - 11:11am

Because a whole group of people elected an elitist neophyte into the Oval Office, and a whole group of people rally around to attack Sarah Palin. Kind of calls into question, the judgment and intelligence of a whole group of people.


Whoa, I saw a rightwingie say that only liberals whine.

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 11-17-2008 - 12:01pm

Whether a candidate is "intelligent" or "stupid" is a debate not really necessary IF there is instead a clear laundry list of desirable traits.

Here's mine:
A national leaders must have a national view AND an international view.
Leader must be inquisitive and curious.
Leader must be able communicate ideas and thoughts clearly and logically.
Leader must consider nation/state/whatever as paramount to party, pragmatist rather than ideologue.
Leader must be calm, cool-headed, willing to gather as much information as necessary to make wise decisions. At the same time, leader must be able to act in an instant if necessary (no seven minute period of dazed and glazed inaction while the nation is under attack).

I don't think Palin has most of those traits. She doesn't communicate cogently or coherently, she's displayed an amazing (for a state governor) lack of knowledge about national and international issues, and because of that lack I have serious doubts about her intellectual curiosity. I do think that Palin is ambitious, tenacious, and loyal, for the most part, to her party. Her possession of the last trait remains unclear---the Couric interview wasn't pretty. I missed the Lauer one and therefore cannot comment on it.

edited to insert a word and comma

Gettingahandle


Ignorance is Nature's most abundant fuel for decision making.


Facts stifle the will, hobble conviction.

Gettingahandle

Ignorance is Nature's most abundant fuel for decision making.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-04-2003
Mon, 11-17-2008 - 12:51pm

<>

I do happen to agree with you (and also have issues regarding her ideology and how rigid this may be)...However, if it's a simple matter of trying to determine if she's actually stupid....I'd hesitate at this point to put my hand in the fire and come to that conclusion.

I personally think that a lack of intellectual curiosity is a far greater sin than stupidity (one can't help the mental capacity one was born with) or, for that matter, ignorance (one can always take measures to inform oneself or consult with people who have greater knowledge than they do in a given area and learn from them).

Currently I have SERIOUS doubts about her intellectual curiosity or her capacity to recognize or acknowledge flaws/faults in herself. As for her ideology, I probably could never be able to align myself with it....but if she were to prove that she is willing and able to step up the the plate and learn the things she should, it might go a long way in enabling me to at least respect her and consider her a viable candidate in the future.

As it stands, it isn't looking too good for her redeeming herself (as far as having any credibility/ability as a national politician). I'm wondering how she can adequately govern her state having taken so much time off for campaigning and now spending time on this media blitz with a book deal in the offing and perhaps that rumoured guest spot on Desperate Housewives. Seems like quite a schedule for a state governor and mother of 5 (one of them an infant). I think she should be selective as to which door cracks she wants to indiscriminantly barge through and whether her priority is really the welfare of the nation or simply the welfare of Sarah Palin (irregardless of the form it may take and any way she can obtain it).




Edited 11/17/2008 12:57 pm ET by suemox

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-07-2007
Mon, 11-17-2008 - 2:24pm

~Ghostwriter, M.A.







“If, by a ‘liberal,’ they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people – their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties – someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a ‘liberal,’ then I’m proud to say I’m a ‘liberal.’”


~Ghostwriter, M.A.


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