Sep 26th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Palin: I’ll Promote Democracy By Thinking Happy Thoughts
Here’s Sarah Palin being asked how should we promote democracy and replying that she would do it . . . by trying to promote democracy:
51 Responses to “Palin: I’ll Promote Democracy By Thinking Happy Thoughts”
Register
RSSLogin
Advertisement
Visit Our Affiliated Sites
Books By Matthew Yglesias
Topic CloudView topics sorted by popularity
Abortion
Afghanistan
Basketball
Blanche Lincoln
Budget
Cars
China
climate
Congress
Crime
DC
Demographics
Economics
Economy
Energy
EU
Finance
Football
Gender
Health Care
History
Inequality
Infrastructure
International Relations
Iran
Israel
Media
Monetary Policy
National Security
NBA
Pakistan
Palestine
planning
Political Reform
Public Health
Public Opinion
Race
Regulation
Sarah Palin
Sports
Stimulus
taxes
Technology
Trade
transportation
Featured
Subscribe to the Progress Report
Contact Matthew Yglesias
Use this form to contact blog author Matthew Yglesias.
ArchivesBlog RollAbout Matt YglesiasContact Me
Donate
September 26th, 2008 at 11:02 am
Palin suffers from glossolalia.
September 26th, 2008 at 11:04 am
It would seem she doesn’t know what several words mean.
Are they going to dress her in a clown suit for her VP debate that will never happen if McDumbass has anything to say about it?
September 26th, 2008 at 11:05 am
This should be used as the heading for any future posts on Ms. Palin.
September 26th, 2008 at 11:13 am
the astounding thing is:
how did they find the one person in america who can give katie couric gravitas?
i mean–katie is a lightweight’s lightweight.
and yet, talking to palin she looks like a seasoned policy wonk and a take-no-prisoners prosecutor.
September 26th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Palin couldn’t find her asshole with a funnel.
September 26th, 2008 at 11:14 am
6 1/2 COLLEGES, ALAN
September 26th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Im experiencing a dilemma here. On the one hand, I can see shes full of shit but on the other…well, she’s pretty hot so Im struggling to think straight. Im sure Im not the only man who is being more forgiving of her shambolic performances because of her looks?
September 26th, 2008 at 11:19 am
In some of the other snippets she does come across as a stuttering idiot, but really, what’s she supposed to say here? The correct answer, from McCain’s point of view, is “Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran.” I assume McCain would duck the same question.
September 26th, 2008 at 11:27 am
don’t worry, africa boy.
listen to her for another two minutes and you will not feel any attraction whatsoever.
(tho i must say–i have never seen teh hotness there. and this despite the fact that i’m at an age where women in their forties are babes in the cradle to me. tina fey? oh yeah. but she actually has a brain in there.)
September 26th, 2008 at 11:32 am
I’ve met kumbayah hippies who have more realistic plans for achieving world peace.
September 26th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Exactly kid bitzer,
Just listen to her for a little while, it’s like straight-man’s kryptonite!
September 26th, 2008 at 11:35 am
“how did they find the one person in america who can give katie couric gravitas?
“I mean–katie is a lightweight’s lightweight.”
I’ve held that view in the past, but this was a very good interview. Bill Maher compared Palin to Couric the other day and it’s completely unfair. The interview was very devastating to Palin because Couric was quite direct about important things without being contfrontational. Very unlike, say, Russert, who would badger interviewees about meaningless things.
Palin has this condescending tone that she goes into when she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. It’s exactly the kind of thing that drives people up the wall about Bush.
September 26th, 2008 at 11:40 am
My thought exactly- it seems like only a few months ago Katie Couric looked like the dumbest bunny in the coop, and now I’m suddenly thinking more like Edward R Murrow.
It’s a scary roller-coaster ride where Bush starts looking Presidential compared with McCain and Couric has gravitas.
But this is all part of our slide to third-world status too, kind of Eva Peron type stuff. You or I see a person with brain damage, Palin supporters see a fearless leader who understands them.
Think about this- she took a job where you don’t have to do anything- Mayor of Wassilla- and by the time she was done they’d had to hire another person to do the job and they were $20 million in debt. She’s a walking black hole of governance, protected by a bodyguard of lies.
Fortunately, little tiny blackholes on earth spontaneously collapse.
September 26th, 2008 at 11:50 am
My wife’s take: Couric is better prepared to be McCain’s VP than Palin.
Part of me can’t help but laugh at Palin’s “performance” in these interviews. Let’s face it folks, had anyone from McCain’s campaign really sat down with her and asked her comparable questions, there is NO WAY they pick her for VP. I mean, it’s an insane pick in retrospect.
OTOH, there is the very real possibility she could be VP in Jan. There is also the very real possibility she could be POTUS if McCain falls ill. This is serious stuff. It really cannot be ignored. I expect to see an increase of calls from the right for her to bow out.
September 26th, 2008 at 11:51 am
It may be a mistake to assume Palin means what she is saying, or is even aware of it. But if she does understand and mean it (bear with me), then prepare for more Wilsonian crusades for democracy around the world. The purpose of the United States, it seems is spread the fires of democracy around the world with our sacred flamethrower. Awesome.
September 26th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Laugh all you want, but she’s right. You can’t promote democracy without promoting democracy. Sure, she may sound stupid, but she knows, for example, that reduced taxes must be part of any tax reduction. She’s really on the ball.
I liked the part about how we’re going to promote democracy to people who want us to spread freedom and independence. So apparently we’re going to take votes (democracy in action!) to see who wants freedom and independence, then go over there and promote democracy.
September 26th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
There is no way that Palin will be VP. How could Obama lose at this point? As I said within an hour or so of McCain picking Palin, the election is a foregone conclusion. The only question is how much Obama will win by.
September 26th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
I have watched all interview segments repeatedly (read: obsessively).
I see a woman who is flummoxed at being challenged while her superpowers lie inert. She flashed her winning smile, assumed her piercingly confident gaze, and used every mom-and-apple-pie cliche she could muster. How could Couric be immune to her charm? The old defaults–leaning forward a bit, tugging the hem of her skirt modestly/provocatively, arching her Naughty Monkey clad foot–were futile.
This is where sadness becomes hopeful for me. If our girls can reflect on Palin as a cautionary tale, it may be worthwhile that she had her 15 minute spin.
Heaven help us if that 15 minutes is for any reason extended.
September 26th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Good God! The more I see of this interview, the more I think that the main goal of McCain’s stunt in going back to DC was to turn attention from this stunningly bad performance.
September 26th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
As facile as it sounds, this is the problem with a candidate who lacks basic background knowledge.
I’ll accept that Palin may have some decent political skills. The reason they don’t translate in these interviews is that she has no background knowledge whatsoever to fall back on. And it appears that her briefers have done things exactly backwards. Assuming that she has some political skills, the key is not to feed her prerecorded answers, but to give her some basic facts which *she* can translate into answers. Instead, all they’ve done is give her talking points, which not only does nothing to address her knowledge deficit, but detracts from whatever natural political talents she may have.
September 26th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Has anyone seen this performance at Palin’s church? Yes, it is real. The last 30 seconds of this video deserve 5 Nobel Prizes and 12 Academy Awards:
http://www.theway.org/Current/Mar07/Mar07Flash4.htm
September 26th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Joe – I honestly agree. On top of that the mega-hypocrisy of the Rick Davis the lobbyist campaign manager got short shrift.
CBS reportedly has even more damning interview segments.
Consider this. If that report is true, what we have seen so far is the relatively flattering part of the interview.
September 26th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Before you start bashing Couric too hard, check out Fallow’s point – “What are the pros and cons” is the smiling assassin’s strike…
September 26th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Actually, it seems the word she does not understand in this clip is how.
September 26th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
I’d love to see her run the campaign. She plans on winning the election by…winning elections. That is, she will get more votes, by having voters vote for her. She is truly some sort of Zen savant.
September 26th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
I hope to god the follow-up question was “How do you plan to to usher those values in?”
September 26th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Your average opinionated uncle gives more coherent political opinions over the Thanksgiving table.
And that’s where Palin fails as a public figure. Whatever your political failings and misbeliefs, a lot of people will support a politician because, “that politician thinks the same way I do!” Anyone who spends the time to watch and read the news — as wrong as they might be — probably as a political opinion and a strong one about issues, and will be willing to tell you what he or she thinks. Even if that opinion is ill-informed and wrong. But Palin responds to questions as though it’s the first time she’s ever heard these questions before and has a hard time saying something in response. That will kill her among potential voters.
September 26th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Maybe we’re all being unfair, gosh darnit, and these mean old reporters should be asking her questions she can actually handle.
Questions like, “Sarah, how do YOU get that “fresh all over” feeling?”
September 26th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
this is palin’s response to every “why” or “how” question.
For example:
Q: “Why does living close to Russia give you foreign policy credentials?”
A: “Because they’re close.”
she did this throughout the entire interview. how do we promote democracy? by promoting democracy. how do we fix the economy? duh, by fixing the economy, stupid. how does proximity provide foreign policy experience? by providing foreign policy experience?
as palin would say, “reporters…”
September 26th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Katie Couric comes across as a lightweight when she’s trying to play a serious journalist/news reader, but she spent a lifetime on the Today Show doing interviews. That’s always been her strength (as much as she has any).
September 26th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
She’s like a character on ‘The Office’. Except not funny.
September 26th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
She’s so easy to mock that I can see why she’ll wrack up some sympathy votes. She’s a victim in all this.
Luckily McCain gets the blame for picking her and shredding any political future she could have had.
My personal lesson from this is not to ever accept any big opportunities I am not ready for.
She has now been comprehensively Petered.
September 26th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
“My personal lesson from this is not to ever accept any big opportunities I am ”
what?!?!
you can’t do that! you can’t blink!
you have to have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can’t blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we’re on — reform of this country and victory in the war — you can’t blink.
got that?
now stop blinking!
how?
by not blinking, dammit!!
September 26th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
“She’s so easy to mock that I can see why she’ll wrack up some sympathy votes. She’s a victim in all this.”
Yes, she is! She’s basically a very local, parochial politician who fell prey not just to McCain’s political instincts, but also to the GOP’s current recruitment program, which is biased against competence and independence, along with a “bad Disney movie” populism in American culture that actually takes these kind of absurd stunts seriously.
September 26th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Palin may not know anything, but by god she is a hottie.
September 26th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
So, who else is really looking forward to the debate with Biden?
September 26th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
20: Instead, all they’ve done is give her talking points, which not only does nothing to address her knowledge deficit, but detracts from whatever natural political talents she may have.
It’s really not clear to me that they’ve done even that. A lot of these questions were not that hard to see coming and could have been answered fairly well with some simple talking points. I.e., for the bailout question a simple, “Increased spending won’t be enough to keep the financial system in the US from going into a tailspin and that’s something that would hurt everyone.” would have pretty much covered it. I watch these and it really seems to me that they just sent her in there with no preparation at all.
@34: ” … She’s a victim in all this.”
Yes, she is! She’s basically a very local, parochial politician who fell prey not just to McCain’s political instincts, but also to the GOP’s current recruitment program, which is biased against competence and independence, along with a “bad Disney movie” populism in American culture that actually takes these kind of absurd stunts seriously.
We might add to that list: “her own clearly absurd level of arrogance”. This is someone who is almost certainly not qualified for the position she has, let alone the position of Vice President of the United States. It’s hard to produce much sympathy for someone who’s so cavalier with the lives of 300 million, heck, 6 billion people.
September 26th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Palin is starting to get my sympathy. In the last Great Depression, the people were cheered up by the great comedians on the radio – but where are they today? Whereas I’ve never yet seen a Palin interview that didn’t leave me howling with laughter. My cares briefly went away. A song was in my heart.
McCain was thinking of the people, the little people like me, when he carefully chose her. I’m sure their one meeting left him with the same feeling I have. “I support the health care tax rebate plan you proposed for getting people back to work in Iraq, to make us all stronger and promote stronger healthcare as we get stronger, future President McCain.” He thought, irresistible.
September 26th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
She’s like a character on ‘The Office’. Except not funny.
So, just like The Office.
@Ohmy, to add to what kid bitzer said @ 33, don’t blink. Blink and you’re dead. Don’t turn your back. Don’t look away. And don’t blink. Good Luck.
September 26th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
I remember some debate Matt Yglesias was on about how the right nowadays are intellectually unserious. The examples given then were the ascendancy of morons like Ann Coulter and Jonah “Liberal Fascism” Goldberg and their ilk.
The latest manifestation is to watch the entire right-wing machinery pretend Palin has any kind of depth whatsoever.
It seems to me that right-wing thinking processes are driven more by what would annoy liberals, and finding Red-State resonant catchphrases, than by making factual sensible arguments.
The right has lost the right to be taken seriously. They just don’t do serious well.
September 27th, 2008 at 12:11 am
She has now been comprehensively Petered.
After five (or is it only four?) children, I wouldn’t have thought any doubts lingered on that subject.
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:40 am
levitraI want to say – thank you for this!
March 11th, 2009 at 4:23 am
Great site. Good info
March 22nd, 2009 at 6:00 am
tramadol
Great site. Good info
April 2nd, 2009 at 5:02 am
It is the coolest site,keep so!
buy cheap viagra
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:05 am
I bookmarked this site. Thank you for good job!
cheap brand pfizer viagra
April 7th, 2009 at 12:51 am
Wow! Thank you! I always wanted to write in my site something like that. Can I take part of your post to my blog?
April 7th, 2009 at 5:43 am
I keep listening to the news speak about getting free online grant applications so I have been looking around for the best site to get one.
April 9th, 2009 at 5:07 am
Great site, Good info viagra
April 9th, 2009 at 10:29 am
If you ever want to see a reader’s feedback
, I rate this post for four from five. Decent info, but I just have to go to that damn yahoo to find the missed parts. Thanks, anyway!
April 16th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
Hey. Any transition serious enough to alter your definition of self will require not just small adjustments in your way of living and thinking but a full-on metamorphosis.
I am from Lebanon and also now teach English, give please true I wrote the following sentence: “By clicking above, you agree to the following terms and conditions.”
Thanks
. Jiro.