palin 2012 will be a DIFFERENT campaign and she will be a DIFFERENT CANDIDATE than in 2008

[unblock]

of course, she will still be a wingnut dingbat who reached her level of incompetence on the local news.

but remember that she appeared so amazingly ill-informed because her candidacy was a complete surprise even to herself. she had zero prep time. now, we can criticize her lack of interest in federal politics as a separate matter, but the point is that she appeared ill-informed because she WAS ill-informed.


looking forward to a 2012 campaign, what do you think sarah palin is starting to do RIGHT NOW? if she has any remotely decent campaign advisors, she's studying up right now. sure, she'll always be better at reading scripts and reciting talking points than at thoughtful analysis, but then so was reagan and so are many other republicans. one way or another, she'll be FAR more polished and FAR more prepared to be on the national stage given that she's got 2+ years to prepare for it.


having said that, she'll be running against an incumbent who by then will be presiding over an improved economy and an improvement in world standing. not to count any chickens before they're even conceived, but obama will likely be tough to beat by anyone in 2012.

[FightingIrish]

1. Sh will have to get through a brutal primary in a very divided party.

She won't be able to hide behind the party's nominee. She will be the next Rudy Giulliani.

[Cosmocat]

13. YEP ... this is how big of a twit this lady is ...

she is stupid enough (with a real healthy dose of ambition) to BELIEVE the hero worshipping that has swirled around her since McCain brought he up from rookie ball.

[givemebackmycountry]

2. I don't give a shit if she waits until 2042 to run, she still be unfit.

And this post once again reinforces my theory that:

Not all Republicans are stupid but all stupid people are Republican.

Go ahead and run Sarah, please, please, run.

[saltpoint]

3. She has no base of operation in the contiguous states.

I think that hurts her in an independent run for the presidency.

She can hire people, of course, but she still has no operational base outside Juneau.

Huckabee went on to win several primaries, even after McCain had the nomination locked up. I don't think Palin would be able to pull that off.

I don't think she's smart enough and I don't think she has the operational base to compete in GOP primaries against good organizers like Huckabee and big-money types like Romney.

[crispini]

6. Very good point.

Being in Alaska is going to present her some severe logistical difficulties that just don't happen to other candidates. Even the time zone is going to be a PITA. Not to mention the (and long) expensive plane rides.

[kid a]

4. Bill Maher summed it up: If you are still ignorant at age 44, you're stupid

[John Q. Citizen]

8. Yep!

[Cattledog]

5. The woman does not have the demeanor or the intellect

for in-depth study of what are often mundane topics. Once someone dangles millions of $$$$ in front of her she will soon forget politics and move into what she really craves. Celebrity.

[unblock]

19. she'd certainly find a happier home at fauxsnooze.

[countingbluecars]

7. I hope that the media

will remember some of her hate provoking words that are now on the record.

[DemNoir]

9. Enough!

Sarah is all gone, she's not coming back. Please find a way to build some kind of life without Palin.

[lapfog_1]

10. she isn't simply ill-informed

somehow she made it through our education system without learning that Africa is a continent. My 6th grade niece had to name ALL of the countries in Africa (by memory). Palin didn't know which countries signed the NAFTA. That means she either didn't know what "NAFTA" is an acronym for or she doesn't know which countries are in North America.

When Charlie Gibson asked her about the "Bush Doctrine", she tried to both dodge the question and simultaneously get some clue about the question with her response "In what respect, Charlie?" answer. A pure high school debate tactic, and not a good debate tactic. She was completely unaware of what the Bush Doctrine was... she is both a politician and candidate to the second highest office, a successor to the person who likely conceived of the "Bush Doctrine". When asked what newspapers she read, she prevaricated in the worst possible way, saying "Any of them, all of them, whatever is put in front of me". What she didn't want to say was that, in truth, she doesn't read any newspaper... except for the pamphlets of the John Birch society (which she DOES read).

Sarah Palin is the product of our "dumbed down society". She is the end result of decades of celebrating people who do not think and are not curious about their world. Ignorance is wisdom. Stupidity is a virtue.

She is a more perfect Bush than Bush.

Ill-informed I can handle, but as one redneck comic says "You can't fix stupid".

[saltpoint]

11. If anybody is interested in how she got to where she was on the ticket,

I recommend Jane Mayer's excellent piece in the 10/27/08 NEW YORKER:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/27/081027fa_fact_mayer

Excerpt:

- - -

"McCain had met Palin once, but their conversation -- at a reception during a meeting of the National Governors Association, six months earlier -- had lasted only fifteen minutes. 'It wasn't a real conversation,' said the longtime friend, who called the choice of Palin 'the fucking most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.' Aides arranged a phone call between McCain and Palin, and scrutinzied her answers to some seventy items on a questionnaire that she had filled out. ... By the time he announced her as his choice . . . , he had spent less than three hours in her company."

- - -

[Danmel]

12. She can "study up"all she wants

But will she LEARN?

She has no love of learning, clearly she isn't interested in learning for learning's sake. She doesn't read anything, she doesn't think about anything. Her limitations are clear to anyone who looks for more than 30 seconds.
So I think four years or forty years would make no difference in the "Education of Sarah Palin"

As to McCain- I wouldn't hire someone I knew as long as John McCain knew Sarah Palin to feed my cats and clean their box while on vacation. So either I'm nuts or he is and I think that's pretty clear too.

[hlthe2b]

18. Exactly... Willful Ignorance is not readily remedied. She does

not respect the need for knowledge, but, like Bush* thinks her 'gut instincts' or assumptions on a "message from God" will be all she needs.

Someone who named her childhood female realtor friend, AK Secretary of Agriculture-- based only on her professed "like of cows"-- is not going to change.

[krawhitham]

14. What is she going to get a brain transplant?

[unblock]

20. remember that republicans don't need their candidates to be smart

they simply need their candidates to not be laughed at.
if she can better commit a few talking points to memory and regurgitate them at the right times, that's all republicans need.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

26. Why don't Democrats run ads that are hard-hitting like that?

In an ad, show several clips of video revealing what an idiot Sarah Palin is, following by the words: "Maybe Republicans don't need their candidates to be smart. But do you?"

[unblock]

32. sadly, most republicans, and many independents, see "smart" as synonymous with "evil"

there's this anti-intellectual myth that you have to be smart to be evil, or that stupid people are inherently good.
i have no idea where this myth originated, but for some reason americans are way too trusting of stupid people and way too distrusting of smart people.

[saltpoint]

15. Palin wants the GOP nom in 2012. So does Huckabee.

The GOP fundie base would be split in the primaries between Huckabee (who won in Iowa this cycle) and Palin, who is said to excite the fundie base. That's a split vote, likely advancing Romney's chances of winning in Iowa.

Sam Brownback almost beat Huckabee in Iowa this cycle. It was very close -- a classic split between two very conservative fundie candidates -- but relatively civil.

I think the fundie vote in Iowa would split again, but I think Palin is not as clean a fighter as Brownback. I think it would get real dirty real fast.

[TheBigotBasher]

22. A candidate who was "none of the above"

got them no where this year. McCain excited no-one, but got the nomination because he was not Romney, not Huckabee, or Guliani. Only Palin gave him a chance of success.

Romney will not run in 2012 unless he thinks he can win the General. Lesson from 08 learnt. The others will.

Palin may be laughed at by those of us on here, but so was Reagan, never underestimate how much the Repugs love her - they already like her more than Reagan in 1976.

[saltpoint]

23. The fundies who believe Jesus is due any minute likely would prefer Palin,

but Huckabee will compete for conservative "values" Christian votes also.

I think Huckabee, building on his January win in Iowa this time, knocks Palin out before midnight of the Iowa caucuses.

[TheBigotBasher]

24. Even the fundees of the Republican Party call Huckabee

bigotbee. It must take a lot to be called a bigot within the Republican Party.

[saltpoint]

25. LOL. True. When you're called a bigot by Republicans, you

might very well be unsavable.

[TheBigotBasher]

37. Or PUMA?

Those bigots are claiming they saved McCain from getting even fewer votes than he did.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

16. Nah

Palin is arrogant and unteachable. She supposedly told a friend of hers that she wanted to be President over 10 years ago and she's clearly intensely ambitious. She couldn't be bothered to study then and she won't be now, with her newfound celebrity status. The things she didn't know are the kind of things that any politico, particularly one with her sights on the nation's Executive Branch, should know.

[CitizenPatriot]

17. no, this was not a complete surprise

she was petitioning for the job for years. she was entertaining high level GOP people, taking them on Alaskan hunts, woooing them. She never bothered to study then -- and she didn't want to be tutored when she was offered it.

Alaskans say she doesn't like to WORK, and you can see that in the way she governs (never showing up) and in the way she ran her (his) campaign.

I think she'll have some of the basics down, but she's not going to get to work learning things. She isn't THAT person. That person takes criticism and regroups and is willing to work to better themselves.

She is a special person, whom God wants to be in charge of the US to help fight holy wars. That person doesn't need to study things. She's special, when will you people get it? (sarcasm)

[louis-t]

21. I doubt she will study up.

She, like bush, believes she already knows what she needs to know. She thinks she's good at making excuses and that people believe her. She doesn't feel she needs to be informed. She seeks office for one reason: To force a Christian Conservative ideology on this country. Anti-gay, anti-abortion, pro-gun, pro-war theocracy.

[DrToast]

35. She has no interest in politics. She just wants the power associated with it. n/t

[KittyWampus]

27. Palin barely managed to avoid her and Todd's affiliation with AIP. Her Republican adversaries

will use it.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

28. This is a person who did not know Sarkozy speaks

maybe 3 words of English. That prank call exposed the depths of this woman's stupidity more than all the other gaffes combined.

Palin will be a grease spot on the driveway by 2012.

[WinkyDink]

29. No, "she appeared so amazingly ill-informed because" SHE IS AN IGNORANT REPUBLICAN. Got that?? She

is TOTALLY UNEDUCATED.

She will not be ANYTHING politically in 2012. Get over it.

[Drunken Irishman]

30. Not really.

Your fatal flaw is your assumption that it had to do with only prep time. That is not the case. This woman is about as stupid as a post and no matter how hard you try, you can't fix stupid. They can prep her all they want, but she's still Dan Quayle in a dress. I mean, Quayle was as dumb the last day he was in office as the day he entered the campaign, nothing changed.

[Cosmic Charlie]

31. is this really what you spend your time on?

[unblock]

34. why yes, of course it is!

:hi:

[FrenchieCat]

33. Should I really give a shit about what the Losing Veep is going to be in 4 years?

No.

[unblock]

36. know thy opposition!

if she is to be a nobody, then no, you shouldn't care.
if she is to be the or a candidate running against obama, then yes, you should care.

[Mz Pip]

38. Two words

Ronald Reagan. He got some national attention at a GOP convention. People wrote him off as being not that bright. The rest is history.

I would not underestimate the stupidity of the Republicans, or the gullibility of the American people. Sarah will be back. I really want to be wrong on this but I don't think I will be.